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A brow cocked over Sami’s blue eyes. “I don’t know. Heseemed pretty brutal when he was making sure my brother can’t father children.Not that he should. He’s a child himself, but still. Shouldn’t there be someprofessional courtesy?”
“He kidnapped TJ’s girl, and from what I understand hadplans to seduce her. That’s not the act of a friend, and you two have known TJsince you were children,” Kala pointed out. “The same with me and my siblings.You knew we were Agency, but you didn’t bother to mention you two had gone thesame route with MI6. Should I expect Archie to show up with a team to rescuehis siblings?”
One of the things Lou had recently learned was that Damon andPenelope Knight had three children, the aforementioned Oliver, the oldest, andSamantha, the baby of the family. Archie was in the middle.
“Not at all. Archie is the intellectual of the family. He’sworking on his doctorate in criminology. It’s why I believe him when he saysOllie’s a sociopath. Look, the only reason we know you’re Agency is you neededhelp from my parents,” Sami pointed out. “You ran that op in London. Your firstop. My father used his connections to get you the meeting you needed, and mymother helped with the coded messages you received. Ollie and I haven’t neededhelp, so you didn’t need to know.”
Kala’s eyes went cold. “And you kidnapped my best friend.What do you think I’m going to do to you, blondie? I can assure you I won’t goberserker on you. See, this is how TJ and I have always looked after Lou. Hebeats the shit out of the boys, and I plot an elaborate revenge that will ruinthe rest of your posh and perfect life. You won’t know what it is. You won’tknow when it will start. You’ll just know it’s going to happen.”
“Kala,” Lou began.
Sami frowned, seeming to think that over. “I think I’drather do the boy thing. I’m mentally unprepared to think about what you’ll doto me for the rest of my life. That’s actually an excellent threat, and youhave a perfect delivery. I apologize profusely. I noticed there’s a sparringring downstairs. Shall we? Only if we’re friends after. I promise to neveragain allow my brother to talk me into something so atrocious as kidnappingLou.”
Kala stood, her decision made. “All right. Let’s do thisthing. No faces. Everything else is fair game. See, I don’t get how they saywomen are the emotional ones.”
Sami joined her. “Absolutely not. We’re the rational ones.Hand to hand only. No knives.”
“You’re no fun,” Kala said as she strode out the door.
Lou was about to try to stop that when suddenly TJ was atthe door. He’d cleaned up and changed clothes, but there was a cut over hisleft eye that let her know Oliver had gotten a couple of licks in. She wantedto go over to him and check him for whatever wounds he had and baby him likeshe always would.
A vision of him in a baseball uniform struck her. He’dgotten hit by a pitch and everyone told him to walk it off, but Lou had foundhim after the game and held his hand under the bleachers while the aspirinshe’d gotten from a first aid kit kicked in. He hadn’t wanted his dad to knowhow much it had hurt, but he’d told Lou.
They weren’t those kids anymore.
“Is Kala about to kick Sami’s ass?” TJ asked, looking downthe hall.
“I think so. They’ve decided to handle it like gentlemen.”She forced herself to sit there, to not get up and put her arms around him andask if he was okay.
TJ stared at her before entering the conference room. Hisuncle was still yelling at Damon Knight, so TJ closed the door. “I think weshould talk.”
“Yes, we need to figure out why all these people thinkyou’re in league with this Jester person.” They should be professional. Shewasn’t sure she could handle another personal confrontation right now. She’dalready had a lecture from first Zach, and then Big Tag on getting caughtwithout a weapon. She was sure TJ was about to talk about how stupid it was forher to date.
“You’ll figure it out. We both know I’m not going to behelpful in that situation,” he said with a frown as he took the seat acrossfrom her. “You can ask me questions, but I don’t know anything. However, weneed to talk about why you wore that dress.”
That was what it all came down to. “I was going on a date,TJ. I tend to dress up for those.”
“That’s not an I-want-to-look-pretty dress. That’s a fuck-medress.”
It was. She knew that because she’d bought it for him.“Well, it didn’t work on the guy I originally planned to use it on. He lookedme over and called me a weirdo and told me to put my jeans back on.”
“We were going hiking.” His jaw clenched. “Lou, I can’tchange the past. I can’t go back and say all the things I should have said. Idon’t think it would have worked, but it’s clear to me that you’re going to payme back. That’s why you put on that dress. That’s why you rolled out of bedwith me and got gorgeous and put on heels and did your makeup for another man.”
“I fell asleep. I didn’t mean to spend the night with you,and I certainly didn’t cheat on you.” Frustration clawed at her. She was in acorner and not sure how to get out. “I made it clear I was going to date. Itold you back in Australia, and you didn’t have a problem with it then.”
“I didn’t have to watch it then,” TJ admitted. “I assure youif you’d showed up at my sister’s party in a couple of days with some assholeholding your hand, I would have had a reaction.”
She wasn’t so sure about that, but she could go down thisroad with him. “So you only want me if someone else has me. How does that work?Do you dump me the minute you lock the relationship down? Do I have to findother men to tickle all your jealousy bones so you stay interested?”
“That’s not what I’m saying,” TJ argued. “I’m saying Ifinally saw a different side to you, and it made me realize our relationshipcan work, that it’s worth risking our friendship over. I’ve come to the conclusionthat we’re not risking anything at all because we were meant to be together inevery way possible.”
If only he’d said those words to her even six months ago.“So I kill a dude and you get horny. That’s an interesting fetish.”
His eyes closed briefly, and she saw the frustration therewhen he opened them again. “You are twisting every word I say.”
“And you are treating me like a cheating girlfriend whenI’ve been clear that we are not together.” She hated this. Hated arguing withhim, but she had to stand up for herself. “You don’t get to ignore me most ofour lives and then snap your fingers and get everything you want.”
“Ignore you?” TJ asked, utterly incredulous. “I’ve neveronce ignored you. I refused to kiss you twice because I wasn’t ready. I knowthat hurt, but you don’t get to rewrite history because I hurt your ego.”
