After knocking him out earlier, I pressed my lips to his, tears streaming down my face as I wished things didn’t have to be so damn complicated.
It was bad enough that the twins hated us. That they hated me after lying to them once again.
Alexander’s secret daughter is no longer a secret.
Someone is offering up good money for my head.
And my salon is gone, poor Joel was collateral…
Everything I touch gets destroyed.
When will enough be enough, Lily?
At some stage I must’ve dozed off, because I wake with a startle at the sound of the hotel room door clicking shut.
Bolting up off the bed, knife already in my hand, I come face to face with AJ.
“Damn. Not really a morning person, are you?”
I blink at him, only now noticing daylight streaming through the gap in the shabby curtains.
“How… What…”
AJ chuckles as I fail to string a sentence together.
“I told you I’d find you.” He shrugs, innocently.
“You’re just… creepy,” I admit, my voice raspy from sleep.
“I’ve been called worse,” he admits, a grin tugging at his lips. “You look like shit, Lil.”
Lil… that’s the first time he’s called me that. It reminds me of Asher…
Shit! Asher!
Spinning away from AJ, I hurry to find my phone on the bed.
Checking it, I find messages from the twins, one from Barrett saying he got the boys safe, but nothing from Asher.
“How did you get into the room?” I mutter as the disappointment of not hearing from Asher sinks to the bottom of my gut like a lead weight.
“This place isn’t exactly Fort Knox,” AJ chuckles. “Anyway, you wanna know who blew up your life?”
“Duh,” I mutter, acting like a teenager instead of a thirty-seven-year-old woman.
As AJ lifts his phone, a loud pounding fist bangs on the door, and I lurch back from AJ like we are about to get sprung.
With wide eyes, I meet his, and he simply shrugs as a familiar voice comes from the other side of the door.
“It’s Barrett.”
Relaxing in relief, I momentarily wonder how I’m going to explain AJ to my cousin, and as if he knows exactly what I’m thinking, AJ leans closer.
“We’re nothing more than old friends who met on the job. You reached out for help, and I’m here to deliver.”
I nod slowly, hating that I’m lying once again, and to Barrett of all people.
But shit, I don’t think AJ’s ulterior motive will make my cousin too happy since it involves his dad.
