Thinking of Lana, I am off to drop her off at the hotel.
***
“Hi, little hummingbird,” I tell her as I kiss her while my thumb is underneath her chin. She looks up at me with those big, beautiful eyes, and I immediately melt.
“Hi, handsome.” Her voice is intoxicating, as always. We get into my car and drive to the hotel.
“When will you be done today?” I ask her as I put my hand on her left leg.
“I start work at two and will be done at around six. Do you want to come pick me up?”
“I thought that was a given?”
“Obviously.” She laughs, and I wish I could bottle up her laugh and take it with me everywhere I go. We arrive at the hotel, and she wants to open her door, but I stop her.
“If you ever open your door while I’m in the car.” I take a gun with a silencer on it from my glove compartment and put it against my forehead. “I want you to shoot me right here.” Lana’s eyes widen, and she starts laughing nervously.
“You seriously don’t expect me to shoot you?” I take her left hand and make her hold the weapon. Very surprisingly, she is holding on to the gun a little too well. It’s like she has held a gun before. I brush my concern off for now because I’m getting lost in her gaze.
“Right. Here.” My words are final, and she exhales through her nose. She nods at me and lowers the gun, handing it right back to me. I put it back into the compartment and step out of the car so I can open her door. Once she is out, I press her against my door and slam my mouth onto hers. We come up for breath, and I trace my fingers over her shoulder, the place where the tracker used to be.
“Getting nostalgic about the tracker?” she asks me with a raised eyebrow.
“Not really,” I answer honestly. It was fun tracking her around, but after our night in the maze, I became obsessed with chasing her. To earn what I want. I give Lana one last kiss before I see her again later tonight.
“Have fun, Lana.”
“Thank you. See you tonight.” She goes into the hotel, and I start driving to my penthouse. Once I am there, I exercise my patience. To kill time, I call Hana.
“How is my favorite cousin?” I ask her while sipping coffee.
“I’m actually fucking fantastic.” And I don’t think that she is kidding, Hana actually sounds cheerful.
“Really?” I ask her.
“Yes. I passed my exam from that fucking asshole professor!” Fucking finally.
“Fuck yes! How much school have you got left?”
“This semester and then I’m done. In June, I will finally have my degree.” Hana’s joy is palpable, and I love that for her. I have always valued education, and will for the rest of my life, because it’s rebellion. A part of my rebellion, especially against my father in the past. He always dictated how I should live my life, but my education? That was all fucking me. I fucking did that.
And that’s why I ask every single one of my employees to have a degree. It’s a big-ass fuck-you to my father and a great backup plan if somebody wants to stop working in our line of work.
“I’m so proud of you, Hana. I truly am.”
“Don’t get all sappy, M.” My cousin, ladies and gentlemen. “Listen, I have a question.”
“Shoot.”
“I had a stressful couple of months, and I want to decompress. Will it be okay for you if I go on vacation with my friends in less than two weeks?” Her request catches me off guard, and not because I don’t want her to go. It’s because I do.
“Yeah, of course. Why would I say no to that?”
“I thought that you might need me to do a job.”
“Hana, please go on vacation. How long will you be gone?”
“For about three weeks. I’m going to go to Bali with some friends.”
