"Okay, party pooper."
As it turned out, he made it worth my while when I rolled out of bed and he rolled with me, scooping me up quickly.
I giggled and squealed. "Put me down. I'm heavy."
"Please. You weigh barely anything."
"Ugh, I'm tall. I'm not one of those petite little things you can toss around."
He set me down gently, and then his thumb and forefinger tenderly gripped my chin. "Hey, you are a badass. Anyone who ever told you differently was a complete and total arsehole. Do you understand?"
I nodded. "Yeah. I understand."
"Good, now you have a three-second head start before I chase you into the loo."
I knew he was serious. All he had to do was say one, and I took off running. But he didn't even give me till three before he was already charging after me.
And what ensued was lots of kissing. Soapy, delicious snuggling, and then, well, he had a satisfying breakfast after all. Of me. In the shower. And as I gripped the towels and closed my eyes, I couldn't believe just how lucky I'd gotten, because how was this my life?
I could have this. All the time. I just had to let that other part of me go.
As East kissed my neck and lifted me gently off my feet, placing me against the wall, my brain was unable to think clearly except for one tangible thought; no one had ever made me feel like this before. And I was never going to let that feeling go.
Thirty minutes later, after I tossed on some joggers, a T-shirt, and a hoodie, and then East had gotten dressed in the same clothes he had worn the night before, we left my flat together. He had to go to the guest parking lot to grab his car, and I just indicated I was going to take the tube. It was faster. Then he gave me a long kiss as he left me at the tube. "I'll text you later."
"Send me nudes."
He chuckled and gave me another soft kiss on the nose before heading to his car.
I jogged down the stairs, but instead of heading left, I turned right. It was time I let the London Lords go. I was going to focus on my future and what was going to make me happy instead of listening to that niggling part of my gut. My gut was wrong. My gut sucked. Two stops later, and I was at the address Amelia had texted me the day before.
Giving up, are you?
I'm turning my focus to something else.
When I unlocked the flat, I found Amelia with a stack of papers, cleaning something up. She turned to me and said, "Jesus Christ, there you are."
I wrinkled my brow. "What? Have I been missing?"
"I've been calling you since last night."
I winced. "Ah, I might have turned off my phone." And then I winced again when I realized I hadn't charged it either. I'd mindlessly grabbed it this morning without even looking at it. "Sorry, I hope it wasn't urgent."
“I just wanted to make sure you still wanted to pack all of this up. I can’t believe you’re just abandoning this investigation after all the work you’ve put into it.”
"Shit, Amelia, I'm sorry. That was my bad. I should have texted you right away. I went to see Dad yesterday, and he benched me. He suspended me."
Her brows popped. "Wh-wh-what?'"
"I know. Indefinite suspension for insubordination."
She sputtered. "That son of a bitch. That is some serious bullshit. All this shit Denning pulls, and what he's done to you, and he tags you on insubordination?"
"Yeah, that’s basically what I said."
Amelia started pacing. "Oh my God, I am going to write a complaint so big."
"To who? He's section chief."
"We can get a lawyer, you know?"
"What? I'm going to sue my dad? I'm just— I'm so tired of the bullshit. And I told him to take his suspension and shove it, so I'm probably pretty fired."
Amelia shook her head in disbelief. "No. Don't you dare. There's a lot of work to do."
"Look I know this is going to feel like I'm abandoning you, but honestly, I just— I'm really tired. Things are changing with East, and I sort of just want to enjoy that for a minute."
She blinked at me. "East. No, no, no, no, Nyla. Don't tell me. No."
"Yes." I shrugged and gave her a wink. "Yes. Maybe. A little. Don't judge me."
Vehemently, she shook her head. "No, Nyla, no."
"What is wrong with you? Look, I like him, okay? You were right, I have feelings for him."
The words tripped out and felt foreign for me to say.
Amelia cursed under her breath. "Fuck. Nyla, no."
"Yes. I thought you'd be happy for me. You, of all people, wanted me to get in touch with my yang."
"No, Nyla, it's not that. Look, that's another reason I was trying to call you last night. Remember when I told you a few days ago that I was going to follow the money trail? That whatever the London Lords were up to, these things usually followed money?"
"Yeah. You said you couldn't find anything."
She shook her head. "No, we couldn’t because we were looking at their business. Yes, we had a cursory look at their personal finances, but found nothing untoward. Rich bastards. Money, properties, that kind of thing."
"Yeah, I know."
"But what we didn't do was really pay attention to the finances of people they know. Did you know that they had some kind of monthly dues scenario? I didn't flag it immediately because it was made up of one lump payment, going back five years. All three of the London Lords made the same payment to Elite Pops Ltd. Care to hear how much their membership dues are?"
I winced. "I'm pretty sure I don't want to know."
"Each of them paid a lump sum of one million pounds."
My eyes went wide. "Jesus Christ. What was it for?"
"Well, at first, I didn't know. But since they all made the same payment in the exact same amount, I
