“Oh fuck no,” she laughs. “I don’t want you to sell anything to those assholes. Are you kidding? Savannah, I’m here because I want to make sure you don’t plan on selling anything.”

A smile forms on my lips as I watch her swallow down the rest of her dry martini. I like this girl, and under different circumstances, I think we could be good friends.

“Well, thank you, but I don’t think any of that will be up to me,” I lie.

She leans to the side, eyeballing the guys through the window into the kitchen. “Sure, you don’t,” she laughs, her words dripping with sarcasm.

I can’t hide my smile as she breaks out into a hearty laugh. “I had a feeling that there was something going on there. You two were electric at the gala.”

“It’s just for fun,” I say, holding back another painful truth.

“Sure, it is. Either way, you have more sway over him than anyone, and I know he hates Colin more than he hates anyone, so I don’t have to convince him to keep it, but I wanted to talk to you first. Just make sure he’s ready to fight off the wolves.”

“Oh, he’s ready,” I say, taking a drink.

“Things are going to get really ugly around here if Colin doesn’t get his way.” It’s a warning, and it makes the hairs on my arm standup. “He may not look intimidating, but he doesn’t fight fair.”

“Thanks for the heads up.” I send her a reassuring smile. She reaches across the table and grips my wrist in her hand.

“I’ve known Murph from a distance for a long time. He seems to be anything but fun. Be careful with that one.”

I thank her and keep my mouth shut. She’s not wrong. I do have to be careful of Murph, but it’s not because he’s the dangerous one.

Blondie stuck around for over an hour, stealing Savannah’s attention when all I wanted was to sweep her away and finish what we started before Lucy walked in. As much as I loved sitting around with the kid listening to her talk about mundane things like her favorite colored pencils and which flavor of Starbursts were the best, I had other ways of relieving my stress, and I was hungry for it.