Sobering a little while tears of mirth drip down her cheeks, she smiles broadly at me. “Hell no. Want to guess how many ménage fantasies I had about being in the middle of a Mr. Dubois and Mr. Radcliffe sandwich?”
Now it’s my turn to gawp at her. Mr. Dubois was our advanced calculus teacher, and Mr. Radcliffe was our English professor. Both were in their midthirties and hot as hell. Mr. Dubois had the sexiest French accent, while Mr. Radcliffe looked like the young version of David Beckham. Let’s just say, most of the girls at school would’ve dropped to their knees in a heartbeat for either man.
“I can see that,” I acknowledge.
Going back to my nails, Tessa hums in delight. “I want deets. All of it. Leave nothing out. I need something to tide me over during my dry spell. It’s been a long time since my girlie bits got any attention that wasn’t from my hand or Mr. Rabbit.”
I make an unladylike snort of amusement. My girlie bits have gotten more attention this past week than in the last five years.
Once she’s done shaping and polishing my nails, she holds up the two nail polishes. One red and one black. She knows me so well.
“Both.”
She shakes them vigorously to mix. “I figured. Half and half or alternating?”
I purse my mouth in consideration. “Surprise me,” I tell her. She chooses to paint one hand with red and the other with black.
“Your niece is a cutie pie,” Tessa comments as she concentrates on gliding the small brush over each nail, making sure that the color doesn’t bleed into my cuticles.
Sarah was so excited to see me and the guys when we video called her. She and Rafe prattled on in Spanish for a good five minutes with me only catching about a fourth of what they talked about. Something aboutla playa, the beach. I really do need to bone up on the language.
Sarah didn’t once ask about Meribella, and that bothered me. A lot. Wouldn’t she have been curious or concerned about why her nanny suddenly went MIA? But she seemed happy and was very excited about visiting Ireland. The people Declan has caring for her are a youngish couple, maybe twenty-five or twenty-six. Hannah and Eoghan. Declan flew them over in one of his private jets so they could accompany Sarah back to Ireland. When she asked why we weren’t coming with her, I promised her we would visit soon. It’s a promise I will keep. I want to see where Declan came from. I want to meet all the cousins he told me about. I want to know about that part of me that was kept secret my entire life. We ended the call with reading her some of Shel Silverstein’s poems that I pulled up on my phone, “Sarah Cynthia Silvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out” being her favorite.
Tessa finishes my right hand. I gently blow on my scarlet-tinted fingertips while she starts on my left hand with the black. As she works, I catch her up on everything that has happened since I left Switzerland. She gets all righteously indignant on my behalf when I tell her about the “initiation tests.” When I come to the pantry escapade, sex with Jax, and Keane’s talented tongue, she’s like a rabid Chihuahua as she peppers me with question after question which make me blush hard and laugh harder.
Just as quickly as I forgave her, she does the same for me over the lie I told her about me being on vacation in Greece, when in actuality, I’d come back home to destroy Maximillian Rossi.
Eventually, after talking for hours, we wind up cuddled on my bed, watching a Netflix movie, our stomachs settling after we gorged on a bowl of popcorn that we poured a bag of M&M’s over.
I stare at the flickering images on the large-screen TV, but I’m not really seeing them. My mind is a tornado of thoughts about what happens next.
“Hey, Alex?”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t want to piss you off or anything, but I’m not going to lie to you either. What you’re doing really scares the hell out of me.” Her voice is soft, wary.
It scares the hell out of me too. Can I really take down a drug cartel and the East Coast families? I’m just one girl. Anger, revenge, and a shitload of stubborn determination are my weapons.
Tessa comes from a nice British family with loving parents who only want the best for her. One year when Kellan wasn’t able to visit me in Switzerland for Christmas, I spent the holiday with her at her family’s home near Oxford. I got to see the inner workings of how a real family should be. The love and support and closeness. Tessa may be one of the smartest people I know, but she doesn’t belong in my fucked-up world of death, guns, and violence.
I turn on my side, so we are lying face to face on the bed. “I want you on a plane back to London tomorrow.”
A fierce fire of resolve erupts from her. “I’m not leaving you.”
Closing my eyes, I sigh wearily. “Tessa, the things I’m about to do… like with Sarah, I need to know that you’re safe. I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to you.”
Out of nowhere, Tessa pinches my arm. Hard.
“What the hell was that for?”
“That was for being stupid and making decisions for me when I’m fully capable of deciding for myself. I’mnotleaving,” she tells me with a scathing tone. “Sista friends to the end. I’m not budging, and you know how stubborn I can be.”
I send her a pointed look. “I could knock your ass out and have Liam drop you on the next plane out to London.”
“You could, but I’d just come right back. Like a bad cold.” Her grin is infectious. “You’re my bae, Alex. My best friend and I love you. Besides, there’s too much testosterone around here. You need me to help even out the balance.”
God, this girl.
