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“I’m telling you,” I said, just to drive the point home, “I’m not part of the Deadly Rose’s empire or her family anymore in any way that matters. Everything you could possibly dig up about my activities here in Tokyo or the months last year when I left Austin should confirm that. My mother has all the control here. I’m just clinging to the little scrap of freedom I’ve been able to steal away.”
There was a moment of tense silence. Then both of the men holstered their weapons.
“I’ll pass on your remarks to my employer and see what he makes of them,” the Bright Dragon’s man said with a brief dip of his head.
The March Wind’s rep let out a huff but nodded in a brusquer gesture than his companion’s. “Yeah, yeah. We’ll look into it. I don’t think the boss will be happy about it though, so you’d better be ready to do some more explaining.”
They split off from each other, moving quickly to their respective vehicles. I didn’t take another full breath until the cars had rumbled, one after the other, out of the underground garage.
As the guys put away their own guns, my shoulders sagged. “Holy hell.”
I tipped my face toward the dark ceiling. “No more surprises, okay, universe? I can’t take another one.”
FOUR
Rafael
Lou had always beengood at putting on a tough front. It would have been one of the very first lessons she learned living under her mother’s roof. But I knew her well enough to see the slight stiffness to her movements as she reached for the plates to clear the table after our dinner, to notice the way her smile faded too quickly when Quentin made a teasing remark.
I could understand why she’d be stressed. Not only did she have Niko to worry about, even if he’d been looking even better during our visit this afternoon, but now she was facing more intrusions and threats from our old life.
If it’d been up to me, I’d have sheltered her from everything except the parts of her life she loved. But I hadn’t managed to fully protect her even when she’d only wanted to train with Coach Balakin back in Austin. Who would I be kidding if I tried to convince myself I could shield her from everything coming at us now?
I kept an eye on her as she rinsed the dishes, but I didn’t push. When she was ready to talk through whatever was at the front of her mind, she would.
As I wiped off the compact apartment’s small table, Quentin switched to hassling Jasper about some skating thing I couldn’t give a shit about.
“I can’t believe you’d put that Daimos routine in your top five. He didn’t even manage to land the full triple Axel.”
Jasper shot the younger guy a look that was more exasperated than outright angry. “Of course he did. I’ve watched that performance dozens of times.”
Quentin shook his head. “No way. He pulled out a split-second too early. Anyone with eyes would have noticed that.”
“The judges scored it like he completed the rotation.”
“Right, and we all know that judges never make mistakes. Especially when they’ve got a world champion they’resupposedto fawn over in front of them.”
Jasper let out a huff and motioned for Quentin to follow him. “There’s an easy way to settle this. I’ve got a video recording on my computer. We can even play it in slow motion if you insist.”
“You’ll be the one crying afterward.”
Their voices dwindled as they stepped into Jasper’s bedroom. Lou watched them go and rolled her eyes. “Boys.”
I couldn’t hold back a smirk. “Hey, you’re the one who wanted them around.”
“It’s a good thing they have so many good points as well.” She managed a wider grin and came over to grasp my hand. “But this means I can get a little one-on-one time with the only guy who won’t argue about rotations or leg angles.”
I laughed and let her guide me over to the sofa. Like the other furniture in the apartment Niko had arranged for us, it was smaller than I’d have preferred. I guessed there weren’t a whole lot of Japanese men with quite my height and heft. But I could make do with the narrow cushions in exchange for a cuddle with my woman.
Lou tugged me down beside her and tucked her legs over my lap while resting her head on my chest. I slung my arm around her automatically. She sighed, relaxing into my embrace in a way that was as gratifying as making her moan between the sheets.
“Have you heard anything from the people who’ve been watching Izumi Tower?” she asked. “Any sign that my mother’s people have poked around there?”
I stroked my thumb over the peak of her shoulder. “My main guy has only been in place for a few hours, but so far, nothing. I don’t think we can draw any conclusions until we’ve given it at least a couple of days, though.”
“Yeah.” Her next sigh sounded tense again. “What do you think I should do about those three turncoats who came looking for me? Even if they don’t tattle to my mom right away, that’s no guarantee they won’t later. And then there’s the asshole reps from those two Devil’s Dozen bigwigs… What if they’re not satisfied with the answers I gave them?”
She was asking me? I hesitated, willing my muscles to stay loose beneath her body so she couldn’t feel me tensing up.
