Page 49 of Breaking the Rules
When Burke eased up to the curb in front of Volt, Xavier held her arm in his warm, strong grasp. “I’m not leaving your side this time,” he promised her.
“She might not talk in front of you,” Waverly warned him. “I need whatever information she’s got, X. And if that means you have to take a couple of steps back, I need you to do it.”
“I’ll give you six feet.”
It was better than nothing.
She made another move for the door, and again he stopped her. “I need you to be careful.”
“Xavier,” Waverly said, squeezing his knee. She realized that tonight had stirred up a lot of memories for them both, and he was probably thinking about the last time he’d taken her to a club, the night she’d been abducted. “I swear to you this time is going to end differently.”
Reluctantly, he let her go when Burke opened the door for her. But he was sliding out directly behind her, and his hand settled on her back before she made it to the bouncer. There was a line outside the club, but security took one look at Waverly and waved them in. Cellphone flashes were still puncturing the night behind them when they entered the club.
The pulse of the music was loud enough to feel throughout her entire body. Lights flashed lavender and yellow over them. Xavier kept her close, never breaking contact with her.
Waverly angled her head toward his ear so he could hear her over the thumping electronic dance music. “She’ll be in the VIP section.”
“What’s under your jacket?” he asked.
“My wallet,” she said casually. She didn’t want to find out what his reaction would be to her carrying a loaded .38 into a club. “Come on. VIP is up there,” she said pointing to the loft area above the dance floor.
He climbed the metal stairs behind her, and she could feel his gaze burning into her ass as it swayed in front of his face. But it wasn’t the time to lose her focus. The section hostess put them at a small white vinyl couch overlooking the packed dance floor.
Waverly spotted Petra against the far wall of the section. She wore a hot pink halter dress and was giggling at a horseshoe-shaped banquette filled with the young and beautiful European crowd she usually attracted in L.A.
Anatoli, the bodyguard with the leg wound, was nowhere to be seen, but his friend Yurgei was. And by her count, there were three others in plainclothes. It looked like Grigory had stepped up the security on his little girl.
“I count four,” Xavier said quietly in her ear.
Waverly nodded. “I can’t sneak past four. I need a diversion.”
“If I start another fight in another club, I’ll be banned from L.A. nightlife forever,” he quipped.
“Funny. Hang on. I have an idea.”
She pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket and snapped a picture of Xavier. “What are you doing?”
Waverly grinned. “Payback for breakfast at the café, Saint.”
He saw phones at nearby tables light up.
“What did you do?”
“Celeb Spotting’s app alerts all users to nearby celebrities,” she said, pushing back from the table and standing up. “Brace yourself.”
“Waverly—”
“Well, ladies,” the DJ announced over the music. “It looks like your wet dreams just came true. We’ve got a real live hero here tonight. Let’s give it up for Xavier Saint in VIP.”
The women on the dance floor below, fueled by too many overpriced Cosmos, erupted as a lone spotlight centered on Xavier. It froze him in place when he would have come after her. Waverly could feel his rage following her as she slipped away into the crowd. Every table in VIP emptied as everyone tried for a better look at Xavier.
Petra’s guards were doing their best to direct the flow of traffic away from their client, but with the chaos, Waverly was able to weave her way around them and come up behind the girl.
“Hey, Petra,” she said, leaning over her shoulder.
Petra’s face morphed from curiosity to happy surprise to wariness. “Hi, Waverly. Uh, I’m just going to catch up with my friends—”
Waverly put her hand on Petra’s arm. “I really need to talk to you, Petra. It’s life or death.”
