She looked concerned last night. That hurts almost as much as the bruises or the guilt of my recklessness. She wouldn’t have seen any of that if I hadn’t led her there.
“It’s too hot,” Alex complains. “It’s inhumane.”
He’s draped in one of the sun chairs, turning an old saber over in his hands. The dull blade glints in the sunlight.
“Where the hell did you get that?” I ask.
“From your attic. There’s another one.” He nods down toward the dock, where James has disappeared to swim. “I’ll challenge him to a duel when he comes back.”
“He will win,” I say.
“Of course he will,” Alex says. “He fences all the time, and I do not. But it’s something to do.”
“If you want something to do,” West calls from the pool, “read the financial statement your company sent you.”
“Not work. The answer is neverwork,” Alex says in adisgusted tone. “Where is your new wife, Rafe? Maybe I can spar with her.”
“If you impale my latest investment,” I say, “I will be very angry with you.”
Alex grins. “She’s fiery.”
“She is.”
“Good thing I like getting burnt.”
“Stay away from her,” I say. She was still sleeping when I left the bedroom. I haven’t seen her since. Hopefully she’s not busy packing her bags and fleeing far, far away from me. Who knows what she’s thinking?
The NDAs we signed are iron-clad. She won’t talk to anyone about it, at least. I hope.What kind of trouble are you in?she asked.
Her, I think.She’s the trouble.
“Don’t worry. You’ve already marked your territory. I saw that loud and clear,” Alex says. He’s still grinning, and I give him a look to shut up.
Nora swims toward my side of the pool. She’s wearing giant sunglasses too. “I really like her.”
I run a hand through my hair. My ribs protest at the movement, and the feeling grounds me. “You really couldn’t stay away, could you?”
“No,” she says. “I think cutting her uncle out should makeyoulike her.”
“Family is everything,” I say. It comes out tired. Paige’s family is either dead or malicious and unhinged. She’s double-crossed her uncle, yeah. But that’s what I wanted from her.
“If my uncle was Ben Wilde, I’d do what she did, too,” West says. He comes up behind Nora in the pool and wraps his arm around her waist.
It should be easier to see them together, but it’s still new. Only a few weeks since I found out. I look up at the sky instead, and the wispy clouds that flock above.
“Are you an advocate for her now?” I ask.
“I told you this was a bad idea back in New York,” West points out. “But maybe it was time for you to make a bad decision.”
“Yes! Finally,” Alex says. Whether it’s his hangover or the new beer he’s drinking, his Scottish accent is stronger than usual.
He hated every single Latin class.
Alex does not think pain is useful.
“You don’t mean it that way, but it sounds like a compliment,” I say.
“Your other decisions have been very thought out,” Nora says, “but sometimes the unexpected is… I don’t know. Good.”
