Keep Me In | DR3 | BOOK 1

04 - Away We Go

"Once dessert is over and Zak gives his closing speech, Rory, Lando, and I were talking about all dipping out of here."

"Let's do it"

--

I returned back to our table a bit after Daniel did. For one I had to actually use the washroom, and also I also didn't want to implant any ideas into Carlee and Carson's minds by us returning together. When I sat down, I raised my eyes at Rory, letting him know I was suspicious of him asking Daniel to invite me, rather than just asking me himself. He looked at me and furrowed his brow, acting confused. The fucker.

I turned to Carlee, mouthing the words "after-party" to her. She nodded back with a smile. Carlee never asked any questions when it came to a party, she was always all in.

As far as the plan, all Daniel told me was that we would make time to drop the cars off at the converted plane hangar that Rory and I use for storage. We would then take my Range Rover, conveniently parked there, into London. We will all be ending up at Daniels' apartment. From there we would go to a bar or a club, or even just stay and hang out at his place. This all worked out great for me, as his apartment in London wasn't too far from mine. I had to go in that direction anyway.

As dessert was being served, Rory leaned behind dad and poked me in the back. I looked at him, whispering "what?", he motioned to his phone, meaning he wanted me to check my phone. He sat properly in his chair and watched me as I pulled out my phone to read his text.

Ror 🃏
après la fête at dans? u in?

I looked up at him confused, but thought he was probably just double-checking that I had said yes.

carl and i in. drop cars off at hangar first?

Rory read the text, looked up, and nodded as we both put our phones away.

Dessert came and went, and so it was time for Zaks speech. He got up from the table, walked up onto the stage, and picked up the microphone from the stand, signaling the tech guy to turn it on.

"Alright you hungry animals," Zak started to get everyone's attention, "the official dinner is done, and so if you want more, you're going to have to wait an hour while they set up the late-night snack buffet."

"Can't believe we're leaving, I had no clue there would be a snack buffet," Lando mumbled from across the table. Zak continued with his speech, which after a couple of glasses of wine in everyone, was reading more like a comedy routine.

Dad turned to me as he whispered, "It means a lot to me that you came, Shark."

I looked up at him and smiled, "I couldn't have missed it, Dad. I know how excited you are about this opportunity. Especially after all we've been through."

He gave me a full-hearted smile and put his arm around me, giving me a shoulder hug. "This couldn't have been easy, being around all these people talking about you and your career. I know it was hard for me to hear when I came here a month ago," he sighed.

"But I don't want you to forget how proud of you I am, your resilience is what keeps me motivated. I mean, start with those cars parked outside. No one believes they're part of your operation!"