I stab the knife down into the desk and stare at it. The red handle glints in the dim lighting, sending disjointed flashes of me shoving the knife deep into the neck of Alejandro’s man. Funny how killing someone warps time. It happened a handful of hours ago but feels like a lifetime.
“I told you that I’d call if anything changed. Have you told Jax your plan yet?” She’s eager to know what he thinks about using drones as remote-controlled assassins. I swear, I think she has a crush on him. Too bad that he’s mine.
“Not yet, but soon. Have you tracked down Rita yet?”
I’m sure the guys still think she’s at Domenico’s safehouse, but after finding out she’s been secretly meeting with Julio, I highly doubt she’d remain there. My cousin was always a clever, duplicitous bitch.
“Pearson sent a couple of men to go check the place out. Said it was quiet as a mouse and dark as midnight.”
I pretty much figured that’d be the case. I really do need to meet this Pearson guy. The man did buy me clothes. But so far, our paths haven’t crossed, which is weird, seeing how much he’s mentioned in my presence by everyone else.
“Has anything popped up regarding Julio or Alejandro?” Tessa has been searching for their whereabouts using her software.
“If I said not yet, are you going to kung-fu me?”
“I’m not Neo fromThe Matrix.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” Her light chuckle puts a small smile on my face.
“Could you do me a favor?” I ask her.
The clicking sound of her fingers tapping away at the keys of her laptop is heard over the phone. “Shoot. And I didn’t mean that literally.”
I roll my eyes, even though she can’t see me.
“I heard that,” she quips, and I laugh.
The sound feels so foreign. When was the last time I truly laughed? Like an honest-to-goodness belly laugh that crinkles your eyes and makes your stomach hurt in a good way. I’m floored when I realize that it had been with Rafe, the week before everything with us went to shit and I was sent away to Switzerland.
It was such a stupid thing too, come to think of it. We had met each other around one in the morning at the park we liked to go to. That night, Rafe had asked me to dance with him under the full moon. I was a horrible dancer with two left feet, but he didn’t seem to mind. Every time I would accidentally step on his foot, he would howl up at the moon. Like I said, it was so stupid, but he had me hysterically laughing the entire time. I even started intentionally missing the dance steps, just so I could hear him howl.
“You’re not even paying attention, are you?”
“Huh?”
“What favor did you want to ask?”
I dislodge Jax’s knife and put it back inside its holster. “Could you set up a phone or something next to Rafe’s bed and have it play music?”
The keyboard tapping stops. “Anything specific?” she asks, but her dreamy sigh comes through loud and clear. Tessa was always a hopeless romantic.
“You can loop ‘From This Moment’ by Shania Twain, ‘This Kiss’ by Faith Hill, and ‘Love Story’ by—”
“I knew you’d be dropping Taylor in there!” she exclaims. “How many times did we karaoke that song?”
Too many. And I blame tequila.
I jump in my seat when Keane says, “Do tell?” He’s standing on the other side of the desk, his mouth twitching when he sees my face blush hot knowing he heard everything she said. Well, shit.
“Was she any good?” he asks Tessa, who is more than happy to spill my secrets.
“She can sing Taylor under the table and does an awesome rendition of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’ Just don’t make her hit a high D like Mariah. It’ll crack Jax’s glasses.”
“Shut it, Tess!”
Giggling, she singsongs, “Hanging up now.”
Keane sits on the edge of the desk and looks down at what I carved. “See you’ve been redecorating.”
