Read In Her Sights (The Thousand Words Series Book 2) for Free Online

his wrist in one hand, he swore threatening to break it. Every time Jess started to look away, Kenny twisted, bringing pain to hold Jess’s attention. Jess was stunned by the assault, it was more like something Dev would do than Kenny.
    Finally his best friend released him and Jess rubbed his wrist.
    “What the hell was that about?” Jess demanded.
    “Don’t look at her. Now, you’re going into the lounge to find Bryan. He’s talking to some local TV executive. Stay there with him,” Kenny ordered.
    Jess wasn’t fond of this business-like tone Kenny adopted. It wasn’t that he was used to being on equal footing with the lead guitarist, he knew that was never going to happen, but it wasn’t usually this bad.
    “Dev, take him for a walk, keep him there. Apparently, I get to have a chat with Miss Great Lakes,” Kenny finished. “Jess, I’m keeping your drink.”
    “How come the rules don’t apply to you?” Jess demanded.
    “I’m smarter.”
    “You’re not supposed to drink. I’ll tell Flynn.”
    “Way to put Dev in a good mood. Be careful he doesn’t throw your ass overboard now. This will be the only one. It’s only half-full anyway. Thanks for that, asshole. Haul him off, Dev.”
    “Yes sir,” Dev saluted. He led Jess off toward the lounge where he could look forward to a completely boring evening listening to executives cry on Bryan’s shoulder.
     
    ○ ○ ○
     
    Kenny watched Dev lead Jess off with mixed emotions. He wanted the safety of going with them. Whatever Miss Great Lakes wanted, it couldn’t be good. While he was busy telling off Jess, she turned and focused her attention on him.
    He immediately stopped and estimated the distance between them, then tried to remember if he’d accidentally raised his voice enough to be heard. Kenny prayed she didn’t hear.
    Glancing quickly at the other guests, no one else seemed to be taking undo notice of them, except for the photographers of course. Damn them. Miss Great Lakes smiled and Kenny could almost see Jess’s point in offering up his infatuation with Cassie in trade. He wasn’t buying it for a second, but he could see what prompted the desperate offer.
    Jess started to look back her direction too, and that would be a problem. Kenny didn’t like to get physical, wrestling was Jess and Dev’s thing, but he could hold his own and people constantly underestimated him. Keeping Jess distracted was easier than he thought it would be. Just a little pressure ...
    Miss Great Lakes raised one perfect eyebrow in amusement and beckoned him to her with one finger. A clear ‘come here’ gesture.
    Kenny felt Dev shift uneasily beside him. Who was she beckoning to? Dev would almost certainly run scared. Kenny looked at the younger man to his right, he had a light sheen to his skin that promised worse if he didn’t do something. Kenny nudged him and Dev looked at him. Jess started to look up and he applied renewed pressure to his wrist to recapture his attention. Jess flinched.
    Returning his attention to Miss Great Lakes, Kenny subtly used his other hand to gesture to Dev, hoping she’d realize he was asking who exactly she was summoning. She shook her head. Kenny pointed to Jess. No, thank God. Kenny pointed to himself. She nodded and smiled brighter, he didn’t know that was possible.
    Kenny gave her a brief nod of acknowledgment and released Jess, then sent him off with Dev. Now he had to face the music. Taking a deep breath, he took a step toward where Miss Great Lakes was, to find that she’d come to meet him.
    “That was amusing,” she said.
    Kenny felt his insides turn to jelly. How much did she hear? “How so?” he asked carefully.
    She smiled, but it was an amused one, like he’d told her a joke. If she started laughing next no one around them would be surprised. “You’re fishing for how much I heard?”
    Kenny looked around. “In this, I’m surprised you heard anything. Was I that loud or obvious? No one else acted like