She coughed a bit on biscuit crumbs. “Thank you, I think. But being young and being a child are different things. I’ve seen more than enough in my life already to warrant being treated as an adult.”
Her tone, matter of fact and not offended, proved that point to me more than her words.
“Then,” I said, sitting back and taking a sip while it was still hot, “I will ask you straight out, woman to woman, why is it that when Alec sees you, even hears your name, he acts like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs?Yet here you sit looking at me with the same eyes as he has?”
Now she took a scalding sip, then a breath, then she carefully put down her mug and folded her hands on the table. “I think you should ask Alec about that. It’s not my story to tell. Or, rather, it’s not my story to tell you.”
I wondered if I would. I wondered what he would tell me.
“We should go back, before their detente breaks down,” I said, cleaning up the cups and the crumbs.
“Do you think they would want tea?” she asked.
“Possibly. I am sure Alec can find the kitchen if they do.”
Chapter Twenty
In which Alec and Alastair do business with an old friend. Also, guns.
Alec…
Fee was lying in my bed, cackling as she switched between coverage of the ashen-faced mayor of Lynn, Massachusetts being escorted out of his office in handcuffs, and a Lee Ville Industries spokesperson standing at a fair distance from Leevil’s dye factory in Canada, stumbling over a weak statement about the “unfortunate incident” that closed the factory for an “undetermined period of time.”
I shrugged on my suit jacket and she glanced up. “Where are you going? I thought we were going to…” her knees spread invitingly, “...celebrate. Again.”
“And again, and again, darling.” I groaned as I leaned down to kiss her. “However, even though I’m enjoying our revenge crime spree, I do have other legitimate and non-legitimate activities to attend to. Do you think you can hold off from sowing chaos and mayhem without me for the remainder of the evening?”
My required ‘activities’ currently involved overseeing a massive shipment of weapons from Eastern Europe, but I had no intention of sharing this information with Fee.
Her grin faded as she examined my expression. “You know, I’m beginning to…” she sounded like she was gargling gravel,“likeyou. I’m pretty certain that the more I know about what you do the less I’m going to be able to put up with you.”
I knotted my tie in the massive mirror hung near the bed. I could see her behind me, her expression grave. “It’s possible,” I agreed. I sounded cold and indifferent, I knew that. But I was responsible for all the men and women who worked for me, who’d risked their lives for my mafia. I’d wasted too much time at the bottom of a bottle and self-pity after the revelations with Alastair and my mother two months ago, and it was time to focus.
Prowling across the room, I leaned over her, planting one hand on either side of her and caging her in. “I suspect that you have witnessed far more dirty dealings in your role in corporate security than the more… straightforward criminal activity I conduct.” Fee listened to me with her full attention and her eyes searching mine. “There are things I can’t change. I can never walk away from what I do, or who I am.”
“In the same way I can’t,” she reluctantly agreed. “But I do believe that we are more alike than we think.”
Kissing her, I let myself enjoy her lush mouth, her fingers sliding into my hair and gripping it lightly. Therewasa similarity to us that I could never have anticipated. Not just in bed - though these moments with Fee were spectacular, filthy, and carnal in a way I’d never experienced - but that we both had our own perverse sense of justice that matched beautifully with the other’s.
Perhaps… it was enough to build upon.
“You’re pensive this evening.” Alastair eyed me curiously as we pulled into our private docks and warehouse area near South Dock in Rotherhithe where we were meeting the Pakhan of the Kovalenko Bratva.
“Is that your transparent way of prodding into my personal life? I thought your ambush with Sorcha the other daywould be enough.”
“You do know I’m never giving up on you, yes? It seems like you hate me somewhat less than you did.” His tone was humorous, but his expression was a bit pained.
“As much as it nauseates me to agree with you, you are correct,” I said stiffly. “I… I have a better understanding now of what it is to start as enemies and end as something else.”
A huge grin split his face and I instantly regretted saying a word. “Would this new revelation be due to a certain Irish… Scottish… woman of indeterminate origin based on whatever accent she uses on any given day?”
“What you just said makes absolutely no sense, but if you’re referring to Fee, you would be correct.” I glanced out the window, hoping for the Kovalenko cargo ship to pull into the harbor and end this conversation. “Nothing is as black and white as it was. And it’s fucking infuriating.”
“Yes, welcome to a functioning relationship, brother,” he said, patting my shoulder in a condescending way that made me want to break his wrist. “It feels like your sanity’s being pulled in two different directions, doesn’t it?”
“Something like that, yes,” I sighed.
“Do you think you and your acid-tongued environmentalist have a future? Sorcha would certainly be happy to hear it. She’s lonely here in London and those two got along well, as completely dissimilar as they are.”
