Page 51 of Rum & Coke
“Well, you said I wouldn’t need to strip, so I’m not exactly sure what I’m being hired to do.”
“You’re to sit by my side and watch a fight.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“Am I Tessa or Scarlett?”
“Who do you want to be?”
I thought for a moment because I wasn’t sure. I was only Scarlett at Red Diamond and when I worked bachelor parties, but I was with my boss now. Deciding I was going to stick with Scarlett for stripping, I answered, “Tessa.”
Sebastian smiled, and it calmed me. “I like Tessa better.”
I smiled in return. “Thank you.”
We sipped our champagne as the driver drove us toward the arena. I had yet to go to anything at the T-Mobile Arena though there had been several concerts I’d wanted to attend. We pulled up to the oval building, and I looked out the window at a digital sign advertising the fight between Williams and Campbell.
“Who are you rooting for?” I asked.
“Doesn’t matter.”
I blinked. “Really?”
“I don’t come to the fights because I like the fighters.”
“Then why do you come?” The driver opened the door and extended his hand. I took it and slid out of the car. Sebastian followed.
“I come for business.”
“To find girls?”
“Not exactly. Red Diamond isn’t my only business.”
“Really? I had no idea.”
“I’m a man who loves money, and I do what I need to do to get it.”
I had no idea what that meant, nor did I care. I was only here to sit with him and get my thousand dollars.
A man in a black suit with a white shirt stepped behind us, and I turned slightly to look over my shoulder at him. He nodded once. “Who’s that?” I whispered.
“That is Mateo, my bodyguard.”
“You have a bodyguard?”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me. For one, I always have to get nachos when I come to a fight.” Sebastian winked at me and then hooked his arm with mine. We took a few steps until I stopped. He looked down at me. “What is it? You don’t like nachos?”
I snorted. “No, I love nachos, but I just need to know what you don’t want me to say. I’m not sure what you meant the other night, and I don’t want to say something I shouldn’t if someone does speak to me.”
“Do you seriously not know what I’m talking about?”
“I don’t think so.”
The wind blew, and he brushed a piece of my hair behind my ear. Something that Vinny had done too. Something Ionlywanted Vinny to do. “Then you have nothing to worry about.”
“What if I do say something?”
