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“As I said before, security. Same thing, Kenz.”
“Do you work for him, then?”
“If by him, you mean Rile, not really. Although when we were both with MI6, he outranked me by quite a bit.”
“I’m confused. Did the Queen hire him?”
“What do you think, Kensington?”
“That is what I’d suspected initially.”
When she didn’t say anything more, I looked out at the island of Manhattan below us, thinking how I used to love spending time in New York City. The few trips I made into town while staying with Kiki had been disappointing. Even visiting the Whitney, my favorite museum in the world, left me feeling uninspired. The first real excitement I’d felt since I arrived at my mother’s compound was when I heard Cortez’s voice an hour ago.
Once back in London, I was sure I’d forget all about him, especially with Teagon around. “I’ve missed you,” I said, looking over at her.
“Me too.”
She landed the helicopter seemingly with ease and helped me get out of the complicated harness system.
“I’m afraid we have some time to kill.” Teagon was chewing the inside of her cheek. “But Rile insisted I get you here as quickly as possible.”
I raised a brow at her use of the name; she appeared to be intimidated by the idea of him. “Explain to me again, do you work for him?”
“Not officially, but this is his mission. You could say I’m on loan to his firm.”
“Mission? I’m a mission?”
“It’s a figure of speech.”
“Did he say we couldn’t leave?”
“No, but…”
“How long before his flight lands?”
“Another three hours, at least.”
“What do you say we head over to Buvette?”
“That would be bloody brilliant. I haven’t been since we were last in Paris.”
Two hours, thirty minutes, five texts, and three unanswered phone calls from my irate mother later, we were back at Teterboro Airport, waiting for the arrival of Cortez’s plane.
“Are you okay?” Teagon asked.
“You mean because of Kiki?”
“Has she given up?”
I looked at my phone. “No, but she has gone from ‘where the fuck are you’ to ‘you’ve embarrassed me for the last time you ungrateful brat.’”
It didn’t matter what my mother said or did; it never had, if I were being honest. I was happier than I’d been in months, and I had Cortez to thank for it. Or was it the Queen I should thank?
Teagon told me over a bottle of Burgundy that her “assignment” with me would last through the new year.
“I’ve an excuse not to spend the holidays with either of my parents thanks to you.”
Not wanting to spend time with our parents was something Teagon and I had in common.
