There’s an awkwardness between us. He’s avoiding eye contact while he dresses quietly. I don’t do well with rejection, so I take a deep breath and smile. “Well, thanks for that. Saves me using Jeeves tonight.” He glances up for an explanation and I laugh before adding, “My battery-operated boyfriend, Jeeves. He had to have a name so . . .” I shrug, leaving the sentence hanging.
“Look—” he begins and I practically dive from the bed, causing him to fall quiet again.
“You’d better be off. Now we’ve got that out of our systems, we should be able to be civil around one another. Sexual tension is a beast,” I joke, opening the door. “And I’m tired, so I’ll see you around.”
He walks to where I stand. He looks confused and maybe conflicted as he lingers. I continue to smile at him until it becomes more creepy than friendly and then he steps outside onto the balcony, and before he can turn around to say goodnight, I slide the door closed and pull the curtains across. I let out a breath. What the fuck did we just do?
Monday is a bitch. If it had another name, like if the Queen decided to rename the days of the week, I’d vote for Monday being named Bitch. I slam my hand on the desk and Eva glances over. “This damn laptop is slower than a fucking . . .” I rack my brain for something slow and then groan. “Fucker that’s slow.”
“Okaaay,” says Eva with a laugh. “Someone got out the wrong side of the bed this morning,” she adds. I slam the laptop closed. It has more to do with the fact that I didn’t wake up next to or with the person I really wanted to. If I was getting out of Blu’s bed this morning, then maybe I wouldn’t feel so shitty. When I met Eva in the kitchen this morning, she proudly announced that Cree was her security today. She was delighted, I was pissed. Blu had gone to Riggs and told him he had some stuff going on so could he be replaced, and if that doesn’t scream regret, I don’t know what does.
“Could it have anything to do with Blu?” asks Cree, idly staring down at his phone.
“Why the hell would it have anything to do with him?” I ask.
“Just asking,” he says with a smirk.
“Has he said anything to you?” I snap and Eva glares at me.
“What does that mean?” she asks.
“I was just guessing, and it looks like I hit the nail on the head.” Cree grins, proud of himself.
“I prefer it when you’re moody and yelling at everyone,” I hiss, which just makes Cree laugh harder.
“Do I need to call a friend-ter-vention?” asks Eva, her tone threatening.
“You can call the damn SAS and I’m still not talking about it,” I snap.
An hour later, I’m sitting in the office with Anna, Eva, Leia, and Raven. I don’t know when Eva started adding Raven into our group, seeing as Leia feels like she’s a threat to her and Chains.
“Okay, talk,” says Anna in a bossy tone.
“I don’t want to,” I say and then sigh heavily. “I slept with Blu.” Gasps escape the lips of everyone and I roll my eyes. “Let’s not be so dramatic.”
“I knew that was coming,” says Leia, rubbing her hands over her giant pregnant stomach.
“I didn’t even know that was coming, so how the hell did you?” I demand.
“He’s very distant,” says Anna.
“And moody,” adds Raven.
“He’s not really old man material,” says Eva.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I say, waving my hands about. “We had sex and now you guys are marrying us off? Come on, haven’t any of you had one night stands?”
Anna scoffs. “He’s a Kings Reaper with all the traits of an alpha male. You think that was just a one night stand?” she asks, her eyes wide. “Don’t be stupid.”
“He got out of there quick sharp,” I point out. “He practically ran.”
“What about the guy you’re supposed to marry?” asks Eva.
“That’s not a thing,” I say. “I just need to break it to my brother.”
Cree pokes his head in the door. “Can I come back in yet?”
“No,” we all shout in unison. He huffs and slams the door closed.
“So you think he’ll want something more?” I ask and the girls nod. “He’s so closed off, I don’t think he’s capable of anything more.” I look at Raven because she knew him back when they were in Manchester together.
“I didn’t know him that well,” she says. “Sorry. You said yourself, he’s like a closed book. All I know is that he never visited any of the club girls’ rooms. He kept his head down and got shit done, but he never used club girls.”
“That’s weird, right?” I ask.
“Not all of the guys like to sleep with the whores,” points out Leia. “No offence,” she
