Page 79 of G.O.D.S Omnibus

“I know, just play along. This will all be over soon.”

Taking a deep breath in, I step back with a sniffled “I missed you so much.” Then I turn back to Mr Z. “You have your meeting. Let me know when it is good for you.”

He nods, then looks to Trace. “I trust you can take Jolie back to her table.”

Mr Z leaves the room and Trace just looks at me. He types a message out on his phone, and I read as he writes.

Trace

I’m here. Fight me.

Case

WTF how?

Trace

He used finding me as a pawn. He is up to something.

Trace

Get mad at me for taking her. He will believe it.

Case

Roger that, will fill the guys in. You message yours.

Trace flicks a group message to Chester, Creed, Brennan, and Kai before pocketing his phone.

“Can’t he track your phones and texts?”

“He could if we didn’t have Marlow’s mad skills. We can block out what we need. We send general messages and have our regular conversations so he can track us, but we secure the lines on nights like this.”

“Oh, okay.” I guess that makes sense.

“Your phone is completely untraceable. Marlow has it set to show random messages and calls to your friends. But obviously they don’t get them.” He holds out his arm to me. “Let’s do this. Case needs to hit me. Just play your part—he will understand.”

We both head back through the service entrance that is now filled with staff. No one directly looks us in the eye, keeping their heads down and doing the job they have been paid to do—which is smart thinking on their part. These rich assholes would probably cause them more problems than it’s worth just for looking at them.

Once we get back into the main room, Summer’s team is on a stage in the middle of the ballroom, demonstrating how well they can use what looks to be swords. Summer is kicking theguy’s asses, and I wonder if it’s because she is better than them or because they all love her. I saw how protective they were. Summer looks over at me as she does a fancy spin and winks. She must be happy Laughn has left them alone, though I have a feeling it’s only because he has been too busy trying to take down Mr Z.

Trace leads us to a corner of the room that is away from everyone, but close enough they can witness this fight.

Case approaches, and he looks as mad as a cut snake. The others are still spread around the room, pretending to be engaged in conversation with random people. I spot Jimmie, Sinclair, and Danika mixed among the guests.

I wave at them and have a few seconds before Case rips me away from Trace. I stumble back more than needed, emphasising the movements to make it look real.

“Get away from her!” The yell is loud enough to get the people’s attention across the room.

“Calm down. Case, let me explain,” Trace says with a smirk. Bloody hell, is he intentionally poking the bear?

Case launches himself at Trace, throwing a punch to his jaw, and I scramble forward, pulling at Case’s jacket. “Case, get off him.”

Moving my body in closer, I see the rest of the guys run over. Knowing a punch is going to be thrown, I slide behind Case so his elbow connects with my jaw.

Crying out, I fall and exaggerate the pain, even though it wasn’t that bad.

Laughn rips Case off Trace and throws him away from us. Boston storms over, picking him up by the scruff of his shirt and pointing to me. Case looks like he just killed the family dog.

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