Children of Fire (Complete)

twenty-three

Emerson

Two men in white suits stood at the double doors that lead to the inside of Callahan's Victorian mansion. When Gideon and I arrived in front of them, they both gave us small nods of their heads and pulled the doors open, revealing a grand staircase that wound upstairs, and two great oak doors that were held open by two more men in suits. Behind the oak doors was a vast ballroom, and I had a hard time believing that we were in Texas and not some fairytale.

"Damn, Callahan is fucking loaded." I said quietly to Gideon, whose eyes were darting around the rooms, no doubt looking for an easy escape or something suspicious. He looked down at me and plastered a smile on his face, letting it be known that even though bikers weren't quite on the same social status as a lot of the people that would no doubt be here this evening, he wasn't bothered and he felt rather comfortable in this setting. I hoped my face didn't show how out of place I was feeling, so I took a deep breath and steadied myself. Poker face. Game on.

"He does have a lot of money, but he also enjoys being flashy. Where we make a lot of investments, Callahan just buys shiny things to show off with. It just goes to show that he's careless, which means he is more likely to make mistakes when it comes to his business because for some reason he feels like he has to prove that he's better than others. It's stupid, if you ask me." He said, shrugging his shoulders slightly. We had walked through the second set of oak doors into the vast ballroom, and my eyes were darting all over the place just as Gideon's had been a few moments prior. There were beautiful chandeliers dangling from the ceiling, they were gold with crystals dripping off of them like wax melting from a candle. There were tables pushed to the outer corner of the room, each one had placecards and I could only assume there would be dinner served here. I didn't really know what to expect.

Gideon veered off to the left and made his way towards a group of men dressed in suits that I was sure cost more than a years worth of my rent. In the middle of the group was an older man with perfectly groomed gray hair and a white beard. He definitely didn't have the whole Santa Claus look going for him, because there was no way Santa could ever be this... handsome. I found myself studying him, drinking in every inch of him as we approached. I know it was probably frowned upon to be checking out another man while I was arm-in-arm with Gideon, but damn if this man wasn't the best looking silver fox I had ever laid eyes on.

Finally, we approached the group of men that were talking, and Gideon gave them all a nod, reaching his hand out to shake the silver foxes. "Callahan." He said, his voice staccato. Ah, so this was Callahan. Damn, I know he saw me eye-fucking him while we walked across the room, I could only hope he didn't take it personally.

"Gideon, so nice to see you. And who is this beautiful woman on your arm?" He asked, turning his gaze to me. His eyes slowly raked over me, and I knew he had definitely noticed the way I had been looking at him earlier, because he was clearly returning the look. When his eyes finally landed on mine, he gave me a small wink and I could feel Gideon tensing beside me.

"This is Emerson. Emerson, Callahan." He said, leaving his introduction short and to the point. I gave Callahan a warm smile and stuck my hand out, which he took gently and brought to his lips, giving me a small kiss. Wow, what a charmer.

"It is truly a pleasure to meet you, Miss Emerson. You can call me Hunter." Callahan said, his voice was like velvet and there was a glimmer in his eyes that told me immediately that he couldn't be trusted.

"It's very nice to meet you as well, Hunter." I said sweetly, tightening my grip slightly on Gideon's arm. "Gideon has spoken very highly of you." I told him.

The look of surprise on his face took me by shock as well, I had a feeling that he had been anything but kind to Gideon in the past, but I knew I had a role to play so I would play it well. Gideon smiled down at me and placed his free hand over my own, demanding my attention. "Emerson, would you mind going to the bar and grabbing us a drink, please? I've got a few things I need to speak about with Callahan." He asked me.