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“Fine, but I’m… frustrated.” I blow a loose strand of hair out of my face. “I didn’t want to let the club down.”
If she’s going to run back to Alaric to tell him everything I say, I want to make damn sure I’m saying the right things. The reality is, adjusting has been more challenging than expected. I’ve always felt at home at HQ, but since returning, I’ve become extra vigilant and can’t shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen.
“You’ll make it up to us,” she says, wrapping her arm around my shoulder and squeezing it tightly. “You’re Ivy-fucking-Penrose. One of our very best.”
Praise like that used to make me burst with pride, but her words don’t hit in the same way anymore. What’s wrong with me?
I fake a smile. “How mad is Alaric?”
“He’ll get over it.” She shrugs. “The Dukes are going to die soon enough.”
“Is he going after them now?” I ask, ignoring the creeping dread bubbling in my stomach.
I shouldn’t care about our marks and what happens to them. I can’t!
“Not yet,” she replies, smoothing down her waist-length blonde hair. “We’ll give them some time to re-group, and then we’ll let them come to us. It’ll be an excellent test of our security measures.”
Every few years, a gang gets caught up in the Killers Club’s operations. Some of them even try to track us down, but none of them succeed.
“So, Frederick James…” she says. Her watchful stare scorches the side of my face, and I imagine a wrinkly eighty-year-old with balls that hang down to his ankles to distract me from thinking about Freddie. “How do you know him? He seemed very keen to protect you at the restaurant.”
Lying comes easily. “We knew each other years ago. We went on one date, and that was it.” Again, I use my principle of basing a lie on the truth to make it more convincing. “I completely forgot about it until I saw him again at the bar.”
“That one date must have made quite an impression on him,” she says. “Not many men would jump in front of a bullet for a woman he hardly knows.”
“He’s old-fashioned,” I say. “He likes to play the saviour and be a knight in shining armour. Macho bullshit.”
“He could be my saviour any day.” She nudges me in the ribs jokily. Her shoulders relax, like I’ve passed her test and signal that she’s out of work mode now, but I can’t let my guard down. “The guy is smoking hot.”
“You better make sure Alaric doesn’t hear you say that.”
“So, what happened between you?” she asks, wiggling her eyebrows. “Did he and Seb fight over you?”
Think of shrivelled wrinkly balls, Ivy!
“It’s real life, not a why choose romance novel,” I say. “They thought I was a journalist and just wanted to keep me safe. Protecting people is what they do.”
“Boring!” she cries in a sing-song voice. “Who would you rather fuck? Freddie, the Italian stallion, or Seb, the pretty prince?”
Bothmy inner voice answers immediately,preferably together. I think of the most unsexy things I can: dirty fingernails, pus-oozing penises, and shit-stained underwear… anything that stops my mind from straying to what happened in front of the fireplace the night Freddie and Seb gave me the most pleasure I’ve ever experienced.
“Seb,” I answer, sticking to the safer choice. She already knows we slept together. “I wouldn’t have ever gone on a date with him if I knew who he was.”
“You slept with him again, didn’t you?”
“What choice did I have?” I say. “I had to keep my cover.”
“Don’t tell Alaric, but…” She looks over her shoulder to check we’re alone. “There’s something hot about fucking someone you’re about to kill, right? I’m not saying sex with Alaric isn’t incredible, because it is, but knowing you’re going to end the life of someone you’re screwing is the biggest power trip. I swear everyone should try it. It makes my orgasms ten times more intense.”
Has Stephanie always been this fucking crazy? A few days with the Dukes has messed with my head somehow, making me see everything with a different perspective. All of this is their fault! They made me feel something for the first time in years. Emotions I didn’t think I was capable of, and now I’m questioning things I shouldn’t.
“You’re unbelievable.” I roll my eyes, keeping it light-hearted. “That’s why you’re the best honey trap.”
She flicks her hair over her shoulder and flashes me her perfect, dazzling smile like a shark before it rips apart its prey. “I know.”
Alaric steps from the shadows, phasing out of nothingness. “What’re you talking about?”
“Nothing for you to worry about.” Stephanie winks. “Just girl talk.”
