‘What? What makes you think that?’ she asked while watching his eyes as they flicked around the room. He was alert all the time and she wondered if it wore him out.
‘I’m working here tonight.’ And as if to prove it, he pointed to his black shirt with the white R on it.
‘Oh.’ She admired the fitted black t-shirt over his lean body. Anna was so right about him being ‘hot’.
He bent down, speaking near her ear, his breath caressing her skin. ‘And if I was doing my job, I would be kicking you out right now. How did you even get in?’
Ryan smelt good. A clean mixture of soap and deodorant as if he’d just stepped out of the shower and came straight on duty.
Jaz glanced up and smiled, and tried to bat her eyelids. Hey, it always worked in the movies. ‘I have my secrets.’ She could see Ryan was trying hard not to smile. His jaw was tense as he fought it off.
Raising a strong arm, he held out his hand, palm up, waiting. ‘ID?’
With a sigh, she pulled out her ID from its hiding place in her bra. She found it cute that he averted his eyes. Jaz placed the warm card into his hand.
Ryan studied it carefully. Glanced at her and then studied the card again. ‘Where did you get this?’ he queried.
‘I can’t give away my sources,’ she said to him frankly. ‘It’s good, right?’ With a quick movement, she swiped the card back and hid it back down her top.
‘Hey!’ Ryan ran his hand over his head when he realised he wasn’t getting the card back. ‘Jaz, please. Where did you get it? Who’s selling them to you?’
Jaz was wondering what it was to him. He looked concerned and she hoped he wasn’t a cop or something.
‘Are you going to dob us in to the cops? Are you a cop? If you are, I can’t tell you anything.’
‘No Jaz, I’m not.’ He sighed while still surveying the room, yet he was still focused on their conversation. ‘I just want to know. You’ll be fine, I promise.’
Jaz thought about it for a minute, then pulled Ryan closer and whispered in his ear. ‘It was a home job, we did it ourselves.’ Jaz figured if she implied they all had done it then Anna couldn’t get into trouble.
‘Really?’ Ryan looked shocked. He opened his mouth again, but no words came out.
‘We just did it for us, we’re not selling them or anything like that.’ Had she done something wrong by telling him this? Her heart raced.
Ryan must have seen her panic as he put his hand on her shoulder kindly. ‘It’s okay, Jaz. Your secret’s safe with me.’ His attitude towards the IDs had taken a complete turn. It left her slightly confused.
His eyes flicked to the side as if something else was also holding his attention. ‘Look, I’ve gotta go, but please be careful tonight. Don’t leave your drink unattended.’ His eyes came back to her for a second and she saw fiery warmth in them. ‘A pretty girl like you could attract a heap of attention.’ He took his hand away, it paused by her hair as if he was going to touch it but then dropped quickly. With a deep breath, his eyes flicked back to the far corner of the room where the noise level had gone up. ‘Ah, shit.’
‘What?’ Jaz asked. ‘What’s up?’
Ryan’s eyes darted back to her and then back across the room. She couldn’t see over the heads of the people but Ryan could. She wondered what was going down. A fight?
His eyes came back to her again. ‘Can you do something for me?’ His gaze was serious and dark as if his life depended on this simple request.
‘Sure.’
Ryan bent down towards her ear. ‘I need to go sort out that fight, but can you go sit over there and watch that man in the corner? He has on a fedora and a white suit. Can you see him?’
Jaz glanced across to where he’d motioned with his eyes and caught sight of the man. He was hard to miss. He looked important and reeked of money. Maybe he owned the club? ‘Yeah.’ She nodded.
‘Keep your eyes on him and tell me if he meets up with anyone new. If he does, use this to take photos but pretend you are texting someone.’ He put his mobile into her hand. ‘Can you do that?’
‘Yeah, but — ?’
‘Look, I gotta go. Just do what you can. But I’ll be back, just make sure to watch him please. Thanks.’
Ryan disappeared. She was left surrounded by a dancing crowd and with his phone in her hand. His phone. This was all too weird.
Jaz moved through the crowd to the bar and bought herself another drink. She figured she couldn’t sit at a table and not be doing anything. She sat and made sure to be opposite the fedora guy.
Why would Ryan want her to watch this guy? Maybe he was the club owner and Ryan didn’t want to get caught doing something? Heck, was he out the back robbing this guy? Really, Jaz had no idea what she was doing. Could she be aiding a criminal?