Page 22 of Watch Over Me

CHAPTER TEN

Eddie tugged at the cuffs of the jacket he was wearing as he grimaced at himself in the mirror.

"This is why I prefer working behind the scenes," he told Martinez, who only just finished helping him with a bow tie.

A bow tie. Eddie could count on one hand the number of times he'd ever had a bow tie on, and all of them involved family events—including Rebecca's wedding.

"Well, Iamjealous that you get to wear pants you sleep in to work—"

"I don't!" Eddie protested, but Martinez ignored it and went on.

"—but look at you now! You look gorgeous." He gave Eddie another once-over. "We didn't want you to bring any attention to yourself tonight, but the kind you're going to get, you may enjoy," he told him with a wink.

Eddie rolled his eyes. "Sure, in the room with men like you lot,I'mgoing to be the one attracting attention."

Martinez muttered something inaudible, but then he shrugged and turned Eddie to face him again.

"Okay, remember that you're not there to be the security detail." Eddie snorted at the mere idea, but Martinez cut him off with a shake of his head. "No, listen, this is important. You're going with us so that we have someone who knows what they're doing in case something computer-related comes up. If you manage to blend into the crowd and learn something useful, great. We all know people like to talk after a glass or three at those things. We still have no idea if there's really someone after CyberMode or not, but if there's any talk about it, that may bring us some leads. Also, any talk about their product may be useful."

"I know all that, we went over this," Eddie reminded him, taking a step back and glancing at the mirror for one last check. The tuxedo was tailored on the company's dime, so it was better fitted and thus restricting his movements more than he was used to, but he could suffer through it for tonight. "Trust me, I have no desire to be James Bond. I see myself more as Q."

"Once again, there are so many jokes I could make right now." Martinez shook his head, taking his own jacket from the chair he'd dropped it onto earlier. "Come on, we'd better get going or our Prince Charming will throw a fit."

Eddie snorted. "Jeremy is many things, but charming, he is not."

"I'll tell him you said that."

"I'm pretty sure he knows and doesn't care."

And he was right. Jeremy simply rolled his eyes and motioned for them to get into the car.

Eddie took a deep breath once he clicked the seatbelt into place. He was a mix of nervous and weirdly excited, but whatever the evening would bring, he was ready for it.

He hoped.

* * *

The venue's main hall was already filled with people when they arrived.

Eddie raised his eyebrows. "That's quite a party."

"It's a big market, even—or especially—for politicians these days." Jeremy paused next to him and looked around. "Digital dominates in most fields and everyone wants to be on top of things."

"I'm surprised your better half isn't here tonight," Martinez told him.

"If you make a joke about being on top—"

"I actually wasn't going to, and that's a missed opportunity on my part." Martinez sounded truly regretful. "But I meant more in the way of him working his ass off and being basically everywhere."

"Ah." Jeremy's eyebrows barely twitched. "Well, I told him he needed to narrow his focus, since he can't do it all."

"He took it as a challenge, didn't he?"

"At first, yes. But once he realized I was serious, he relented a bit. We're working on a compromise."

Eddie muted his two companions, far more interested in his surroundings. The entire venue was ultramodern, with glass, weird lighting, and geometrically-shaped walls. Not his preferred architectural style, that was for sure, but for this particular party, it was actually fitting.

Then he saw James, walking ahead of Senator Corner and her husband, with Ryan at their six.

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