CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Rose covered her eyes against the flashes of the cameras. Her heart beat loudly in her chest—a mix of dread and nerves—but she'd be damned if she let the annoying insects know that. Questions were shouted at her, but the noise and racket ensured that she couldn't hear any of them; she was occupied enough trying not to get her bones ground to dust.

She stopped for a moment. The pretty, but risky, new heels she was in weren't the best shoes for the situation she was in at the moment. She looked to her two sides, blocked. She couldn't see anything below her, and the camera flashes ensured that looking up was like looking directly at the sun, dammit.

Just beyond the noise of the journalists, she heard a male voice growl, "Clear off." 

Her heart beat out another rhythm, Laurent? 

The reporters parted around her like waves, and she could once again breathe in fresh air. She looked up at the hands that were definitely not Laurent's stretched out towards her. This man's arms had a snake tattoo curled to his wrist, and his tan was much darker.

He shook his hand, "Come on, let's go, Rose." 

While she took the time to think about it, the reporters became aware again, shouting questions like, "Who is this, Rose Blackwell?" and "Are you guys in a relationship?"

Before they could get more creative with their questions and their quest for answers, she took the hand and he pulled her completely out of the throng.

"Come on," he whispered as he pulled her very close to him. 

Dazed, she followed him as they headed to the hall, the shouts of the reporters fading behind the barricade. Finally, she could breathe a sigh of relief as she tapered her fast trot into a walk.

"Thank you." she said, looking into his face.

He came to a stop and smiled broadly at her. "You're welcome, Rose."

She looked at him closely. She couldn't remember ever meeting the man, but the way he called her name sounded like he was familiar with it.

"Do I know you?" she asked directly and he laughed out loud.

"Oh, no. You just happen to be a friend to a friend."

Even with his tattoos, his laugh, the light shining in his eyes and his animated expressions, she felt a strange sense of ease with this probable stranger. Moreover, they were in public, just a few steps shy of the hall entrance. She didn't think he was a serial killer going toattack at any moment, so she smiled back.

"What friend?"

"Max!" a shout came from behind her and she turned around in shock to see Laurent glaring at the guy.

Max only smiled back at her, his feet carrying him backward, but he still shouted, "Does that answer your question, Mi 'lady?" Then he stopped and bowed his back briefly, a smile playing on his lips. "It was a pleasure to finally meet you physically, Miss Blackwell. I'm Max, a hero and defender of damsels in distress." Then he hightailed it out of there.

Laurent headed closer and then passed her, heading after his friend. She bit her lip to curb the urge to call him back. What business did they still have together? 

She heard his footsteps come to a stop, and then he came back to stand in front of her with a tentative look on his face.

"Hi,"

She stared back, and he scratched his head. "I thought you weren't coming. I just wanted to... never mind," he finished, walking away.

She remained on the spot, watching him walk back into the hall.

Shuddering out a breath, she waited a few minutes before following him. Anna had insisted she show up at the party; she hadn't insisted she behave herself. Unlike the quietness outside, the hall was brimming with activity. Men and women networked together, some people had paired up on the dance floor, and she was sure the group of five men seated around the couch were discussing business, not their latest conquests.

She'd never get used to the difference between the average man's party and those of the rich. For one, her eyes weren't already hurting because this bulb emitted white light. The colored ones were only on the dance stage. She headed straight to where the bar was.

"Give me a glass of the strongest drink you have?" she requested before she sat down.

The bartender looked at her strangely but did as she commanded, sliding a glass of something dark in front of her.

She took the cup and stared at the liquid musingly. She waited for Good Rose to warn her against such a mistake but it was like every part of her was in agreement at the moment. She smiled and placed the cup on her lip but before she could drink it, it was snatched out of her hands.

She looked up angrily and her eyes met those of Laurent's friend, Max. She narrowed her eyes at him.

His smile only grew wider as he placed the glass in his mouth.

"You wouldn't," she gasped, to which he threw her a grin and swallowed the contents of the cup. 

He immediately started coughing, his eyes watering.

"Fuck!" he cried out, "What the hell was that?"

Fortunately, it was just her and the bartender within hearing distance. She let him keep coughing, hiding her amused smile. When he could eventually get his breath, he turned dark eyes at the man cleaning the cups and arranging them.

"What the hell did you give her?"

The young man, recognizing the danger, immediately raised his hands up, "It's what the lady requested, I promise."

He turned those eyes back to her, "Are you crazy? Are you trying to kill yourself? This type of vodka is usually taken diluted."

She shrugged, uncomfortable, "I wasn't going to gulp it down like you did."

He closed his eyes and she could imagine him counting to 5. She wasn't going to let him finish, though.

"Moreover," she added, "you stole my drink. It's your fault if you get what you get."

He huffed out a breath and his lips twitched in a smile again, transforming him from threatening to jovial once again.

"I guess." He nodded at the stool beside her with a smirk, "Anybody there?" 

She snorted and rolled her eyes, pushing the cup back to the boy.

The kid only looked at the cup, shot dirty eyes at her and dumped it into water. She sighed, that marked the end of her drinking career then.

She turned to Max to find him already staring at her.

"What?" she asked and he shook his head, his smile growing.

"Never mind then," she grumbled, coming down from the stool. 

Max's footsteps followed her, but she ignored them, heading towards the suites placed strategically around the hall.

"Where are we going?" he asked cheerfully and she finally turned to him, surprised she hadn't recognized it before.

"You're drunk." she said, a laugh startling out of her.

He smiled too. "Yup, not much though, just about this size," he cupped his two hands close to each other.

She snorted. He called that not much. 

She entered the next passage and glimpsed Laurent heading in that direction up front. She quickly turned back and dragged Max too, holding a finger to her lips.

He nodded, also mirroring the motion and she couldn't help the smile.

When she peeked back, he was at the end of the corridor. She turned back to her new puppy.

"How do you feel about breaking and entering?"

His eyes widened before he started nodding, his finger still on his lips.

"Cool. Let's go commit a crime."