Lockout (The Alpha Group 2)

"So you weren't born into all this?" I asked.

He laughed. "Hell no. I grew up in a shitty little two bedroom fibro house down on the outskirts of Melbourne. I never had more than a few hundred bucks to my name until I started at Fraiser."

"Sorry. I just kind of assumed this was an old money sort of crowd."

"Oh it is, for the most part. But a few of us worked our way in from the ground up. Sebastian is one of them actually."

My eyes widened. "No way. Really?" Thomas nodded. "But he seems so... comfortable here. So in control."

"He's always been like that. But yeah, he comes from some little town in Europe somewhere."

"So how did he wind up here?"

Thomas shrugged. "Not sure exactly. Fraiser Capital is multinational. We've got branches all over the place, so I assume he got recruited by one of them, but beyond that I don't know. He doesn't talk much about his past. He's kind of a private guy."

I laughed. "I'd noticed. He's got the dark and mysterious thing down to a T."

Thomas studied me for a few seconds, his expression growing sober. "You haven't been with Sebastian long, have you?"

I shook my head. "We only met a little over a month ago."

"Right. Well, can I offer you a piece of advice?"

"Sure, I guess."

"Try not to get in too deep."

I shifted uncomfortably. "What do you mean by that?"

He sighed. "Look, I don't know what sort of relationship you have with him and I don't want to know. It's none of my business. I'm just saying, be careful. He's a great guy, but he's also not the sort who stays put for very long, if you catch my drift. You seem like a nice girl and I'd hate to see you get hurt."

He was the third person tonight who'd seemed to think that maybe my feelings for Sebastian ran a little stronger than a casual fling. It made me uneasy. I'd thought I had a fairly good grasp on what our relationship was, but now I was starting to question that.

"I can take care of myself," I replied, a little more forcefully than I'd intended.

He raised his hands defensively. "Hey, I don't doubt it."

At that moment, we were approached by another man. "Hiding all the beautiful women outside again, Thomas?" he said, with a friendly grin. He was incredibly young looking, with a smooth round face that barely seemed like it should be out of high school.

"How else am I meant to protect them from the likes of you?" replied Thomas.

The stranger gave a little laugh. "Hi, I'm Trey," he said, extending his hand.

"Sophia," I said.

"Lovely to meet you. Please don't tell me you're here with this lout."

"Actually," replied Thomas, "she came with Sebastian."

"Ah," said the other man. "Well that makes more sense."

"Trey here is another of our illustrious colleagues," continued Thomas. "He's what you might call the baby of the group."

Trey sighed good-naturedly and rolled his eyes. "I'm twenty six," he said to me. "Thomas here is just threatened by my youthful exuberance. He knows it's only a matter of time before he's the one answering to me."

"Yeah, that's definitely it," said Thomas.

"Does that mean you're his boss?" I asked, spotting a chance to learn a little about the company.

The two men shared a glance. "In a manner of speaking," said Thomas. "Fraiser has a pretty loose hierarchy. Most of the time everyone is working on their own projects and can pretty much do what they want, but when push comes to shove there's a certain order to how we operate. It helps keep the ship on course."

"Makes sense," I said with a nod. "Although it's funny, I can't really see Sebastian taking orders from anyone."

Thomas smiled wryly. "Most of the time he ends up giving the orders, even if he perhaps shouldn't"

"Now that I can see."

I felt a set of hands slide around my waist. "My ears were burning," said Sebastian. "And it's a good thing, too. I leave you alone for ten minutes and the vultures start circling." Again, there was something so personal, so possessive about the gesture. No wonder people suspected something more serious between us. It was easy to forget the nature of our relationship when he behaved like that.

Tilting my head to the side, he leaned in for a lingering kiss. I could almost feel the testosterone radiating from him. The message was clear: mine. These were his friends, but still he couldn't help laying claim to what was his. I don't know why, but I liked that masculine jealousy.

Trey cleared his throat. "Lovely to see you too, Sebastian."

"They're both being perfect gentlemen," I told him. "Are you done already?"

"No, not yet. There's one more person I need to talk with, but he's not here yet, so I came to see how you were doing."

"I'm fine. Just learning a little more about you, Locky," I said, not quite able to contain my grin.

Sebastian's lips tightened, before curling up ever so slightly. "I should have known better than to leave her with you, Thomas."

He raised his hands defensively. "Hey, it just came up okay?"

A man approached from inside. "Gentlemen. Any of you feel like losing a little cash? A seat just opened up in the game."

I shot Sebastian a questioning look.

"Most Fridays we run a small poker game," he said.

"I know a little about poker," I replied. "Can I watch you play?"

As a child I'd spent more than a few Friday nights watching my father and his buddies play cards. Games have always fascinated me. I love the challenge of working out how to beat an opponent within the confines of a specific set of rules. I think that's why I became a lawyer. When my dad realised how interested I was by it all, he took me aside and taught me how to play. Most of the time it was just the two of us, but occasionally he let me sit in with his friends. "The big game," he called it. Over time I learned to hold my own, although I hadn't played for years now.

Sebastian pondered for a second. "Sure, why not. Excuse us."

"Sure. Good luck," replied Thomas.

I leaned in to Sebastian's ear as we were led inside. "Your friends seem like fun. Perhaps I actually might be able to land Ruth a sexy venture capitalist of her own."

He chuckled. "You might be barking up the wrong trees there. Thomas works even harder than I do. He's a company man through and through. Relationships just get in the way, according to him. And Trey has been off the market for the last year or so."