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Her lips quirked into a smile. “Yeah. It sucks.”
Darting a glance between them, I noticed the embers of camaraderie stirring into being.
Intrigued, I wondered if they might actually be able to help one another if they became friendly—Eoghan’s PTSD was getting worse and Star’s headspace couldn’t be considered ‘healthy.’
Trying not to get my hopes up when both made rattlesnakes appear cuddly, I said, “It’s too small a world for you two not to have come across one another at some point.”
“Is there a question in there?” was Eoghan’s cool retort.
“Have you met before?”
Star peered at me like I was crazy. “Of course.”
“Were you friends?”
Eoghan snorted. “No. We’renoddingacquaintances.”
“What does that mean?”
“Exactly what it sounds like,” Star quipped. “He was in the class before me at sniper school. I followed his career trajectory, even after I was recruited by the CIA. Saw him crash and burn his position there with that dishonorable discharge.”
“Which I still don’t regret.”
“Why would you? Not like it hurt your career if you were enlisted overseas.”
“Oh, yeah, that was a real promotion,” he mocked before he muttered, “I should have just stayed out of things.”
Then, a thought occurred to me. “Wait a goddamn minute.You knew of him?”
Star frowned. “Yeah.”
“Then why did you hack into his apartment on his freakin’ wedding day—”
“Jesus, yeah. Why the fuck did you do that?”
Her shoulder hitched up in a half-shrug. “Because I could.”
Seeing as that was the most ‘Star’ answer in the universe, I just rolled my eyes, but Eoghan snapped, “You had that fucking woman waiting on my sofa with no clothes on, and Inessa and I—” He froze. Blinked. Rubbed his chin. “Huh.”
“Huh?” I questioned, unsurprised by his anger because I’d been pissed as fuck that day too.
A smile danced on his lips. “Nothing.”
Star and I shared a look—clearly she’d been waiting for the explosion to hit too. “I mean, it wasn’t just about being smug. I needed to rile ‘aCooooig’ too. Get his feathers bristling.”
I had to laugh. “It worked.” Glad that had lightened the mood some, I got the subject back on track. “Anyway, Eoghan, Kuznetsov’s actually Star’s grandfather.”
“How’d that happen?”
“When a mommy and a daddy decide they really love one another—”
“Kid,” Eoghan grouched, his exasperation explosive. “I know howthathappened. I meant which parent is related to him?”
“Her mom.”
“Okay, interesting. She worked for the CIA too, no?”
Star cleared her throat. “She was a plant and she worked as a double agent.”
