“You should be sorry.” I ignore the bird she flips me. “But I guess… you’re right. He is courting me. I just never would have phrased it that way.”
“You don’t feel the need to be perfect because of anything he’s said or done?”
“Sheesh, Camille. No. I’m about to walk into a room where the city’s most brutal press is hovering around the edges, waiting for me to fuck up.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“Bullshit. You know Maxim’s done well for himself in the last couple of years.” I can tell she doesn’t want to agree with me, so I blurt out, “What’s your problem with him? He helped us at a terrible time.”
“He negotiated with me for you, Victoria. Sorry if I’m not head over heels in love with the man like you are.”
“What’s with all the shouting?”
Turning, we find Eoghan and Brennan hovering in the doorway.
“Where’s Inessa?”
I sniff because of course those would be Eoghan’s first words to me.
“She’s napping,” Camille informs him.
“Why are you two bickering?”
“Because I don’t love Maxim.”
Brennan’s scowl’s immediate. “I should damn well hope not.”
Camille tuts. “I didn’t meanin love, darling. I just meant in the sense that I would prefer him to be dead.”
I gape at her. “You wouldn’t!”
“Well, no. Not if he makes you happy. I just don’t like him.”
“He’s trustworthy.” As always, Eoghan sounds disinterested.
If it’s not Inessa-related, he barely cares.
I’m pretty sure I only exist to him because Inessa loves me. Not that I’m offended. How can I be? He can’t help being strange.
“You don’t know that!”
“Sure I do. We’ve worked together plenty over the years. He always backs us. Always. He knows he’s at the top thanks to our assistance and he pays it back tenfold.”
Brennan nods. “Dislike him all you want, gladly, baby, but he hasn’t let us down.”
“Yet.”
“Camille!”
She flings her arms in the air. “What does it matter? You’re going to get with him anyway. You’ve been obsessed since I told you about howPapadied.”
“It was the head that made me obsessed,” I correct.
Camille rubs her temple. “I swear you should have been born a boy.”
“If I had,Papamight not have been such a cunt.”
“She’s surprisingly bloodthirsty,” Brennan agrees, his pride shining through.
