𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐀'𝐒 𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐁

XX

"Boring," he vibrated his lips together. "You should come work with me, try on clothes, maybe even do some modeling. Killa, would I be able to borrow her from you in the future?"

"I would love to," My eyes lit up at the opportunity. "I've always wanted to try modeling,"

"I thought you said you weren't gonna steal her from me?" Killa raised an eyebrow at Lewis and sucked his teeth. "If she's up for it, I don't see anything wrong with it. We can talk more about it after the event. Babe, can you stay right here for a second?"

I remember him having an earpiece for the show, so I figured someone was either calling him or there was an emergency he needed to attend to.

"Lewis, can you keep your eye on her?" He said putting his hand up to his ear. "I'm on my way now,"

He leaned down and kissed my cheek before breaking our physical connection off.

"Yes, let the girls have some fun," he said shooing him off with his hand, Killa just chuckled and walked off. I kept my eye on him until he got lost in the body of people. He hasn't left me alone all night so whatever it is, it had to be important.

Lewis offered his arm for me to link onto his. And based on his height I was a bit taller than him. "Where are you from?"

"I'm from Philadelphia," I answered rather quickly, it was the only thing I didn't have to lie about tonight. "How about you?"

"California," he nodded as we proceeded to weave through the crowd of people. "Would you mind sitting at the bar, I need to sit down,"

"Yeah, that's fine," I shrugged, I could also use a break from standing.

The event was full and I wasn't even sure we'd make it to the bar without one of us passing out from a lack of oxygen. "Do you know where Kilante is going?"

"Um, not sure. He doesn't really tell me much," he shrugged his shoulders and began to lead the way, dragging me along with him.

"Yeah, he's not the most open," I raised my eyebrows in agreement with Lewis. Killa only told me what I needed to know, doesn't mean I didn't get to be a bit curious.

"So, I'm putting together a photo shoot next week for a few of my new models. If you were interested we'd love to have you. Do you have any modeling experience?" He said as we finally approached the bar.

"Hi, can I get you guys anything?" A deep yet familiar voice spoke, it was almost triggering for me. It was like an alarm went off in my head and I was trying my best to stay undercover. "Iris?"

The moment I glanced up, we directly made eye contact and it was this knot inside my stomach. Was he gonna blow my cover? Do I say nothing?

"Iris, honey are you okay? You look like you saw a ghost," Lewis leaned over beside me and I nodded rapidly.

"I'm fine," my voice cracked as I tried to paint the image that I was fine and I wasn't but I was trying to be.

"Iris, it's Ryan. You don't remember me?" The bartender tilted his head and of course, I didn't bump my head and forget him, we worked together for a while.

"No, it's just been awhile," I grinned, trying to play it off cool. "How have you been?"

"I mean I've been okay, but you disappeared on us. We were hearing so many things. Someone from the club thought you got kidnapped," He threw his white towel over his shoulder and rested his elbow on the counter. "I see you're doing well though, got hitched by a billionaire that's pretty awesome,"

Lewis just grabbed his glass and began to sip from his straw with wide eyes.

"Yeah," I took a deep breath, just hoping and praying this man didn't say anything questionable in front of Lewis.

"Well, can I get you something to drink? I can whip up something for you like old times," Ryan looked up at me with soft eyes.

"She is married, I see how you're looking at her Ryan," Lewis squinted his eyes, holding his drink close to his mouth.

Ryan dropped his head and poked his cheek with his tongue. "It's not like that, we just go way back,"

"Yeah, okay," Lewis nudged me and smirked.

"Oh, stop. I am not interested in anyone but Kilante," I laughed at him and put my attention back onto Ryan. "Give me a shot of Vodka,"

"You need a chaser? We have Sprite back here," he implied but I never liked to chase my drinks for some reason, I guess all the high school and college party drinking made me numb to alcohol. I wasn't heavy on drinking but I did use it as a coping mechanism to deal with everything I had going on in my life at the time.

I just shook my head and raised an eyebrow. Ryan pushed his arms against the bar and walked to the wall of alcohol, grabbing a bottle of Grey Goose and pouring it into a shot glass.

He slid it to me and proceeded to accompany others attending the party. I grabbed the glass and jerked my head back as the alcoholic liquid filled my mouth with a static feeling. I squinted my eyes together, and took a deep breath as I sat it down on the counter.

"He seems friendly," Lewis spoke with a snicker behind his words.

I just rolled my eyes playfully and tapped my fingers against the shot glass. I was starting to get a bit worried about Kilante's whereabouts but a part of me was advising me to relax. I don't need to be upsetting myself by overthinking.

"He's cool, I guess," I shrugged my shoulders. I knew he was just trying to make conversation but I didn't want to talk about Ryan. And we weren't like that, he was just an old co-worker.

I watched him as he walked back to my seat, he proceeded to ask if I wanted another shot but I politely declined. I should probably get some food in my system.

The crowd was beginning to thin itself out. The table full of refreshments wasn't too far away.

"I'm gonna go grab something to eat," I turned over to Lewis and he just gave me a small nod.

I weeded my way through the crowd, it smelled like money in this outfit. No one wore wrinkled clothes, there was just a bunch of rich folks here to watch the fashion show. It had already begun and I was watching with Kilante but so much happened I got distracted. It was well put together, everyone dressed in black and white and of course Lewis stood out but he put together all of the designs.

I figured he should be in the back calling shots but that was none of my business and the show must go on.

As I tried to get to the food I ended up bumping into someone. I shouldn't have been looking down but when I looked up I saw Kilante. He wore the same tux but a few things were off. He had a busted lip and a wrap around both of his knuckles.

"Killa, what did you do?" I raised an eyebrow and gave him a strong glare.

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