I barely have time to hug Riggs before I’m upside down, thrown over Roman’s shoulder as I squeal and laugh. He slaps my arse and I thank my foresight for wearing boxers so I don’t flash everyone.
“Stop purposely winding him up!” I hear Atlas mutter as we reach the hallway.
“Come on, admit it, it’s fun,” Riggs laughs.
“NO FUCKING MY SISTER, GO TO HERS!” Felix shouts as we reach the stairs, Roman marching me straight to his room.
“One day I’m killing them all, Tink. Be prepared, because I really don’t want to hurt your heart,” Roman mutters, still stomping down the hallway.
The most messed up part is that all I really hear is that he doesn’t want to hurt my heart.
Cute.
CHAPTER 19
FAE
My phone buzzes as I pull up outside my house and I groan out loud. I already know what it is before I even look at it. That tone only ever means one thing. I grit my teeth and sit there staring at the steering wheel. If I close my eyes and leave it long enough, will it just disappear? Maybe I could be the one to disappear, like Robyn, and then I wouldn’t have to deal with this.
I scoff at the thought. Even if I went missing, they’d probably find me just to put me straight back to work.
Leaning over, I grab my phone from my bag, unlocking it as I bring it up and stare at the incoming message.
Secure message:
Target: Daniel Hargrove: terminate
Location: The Black Briar, East London
Deadline: 12 hours
Failure is not survivable
I drop my head back against the seat and close my eyes, exhaling slowly through my nose. Hopefully it’s like Charles andI won’t actually need to do anything explicit with this mark. Another notification comes through before I can even breathe and I open one eye, pulling it open as I flick through the file attached. Daniel’s photo stares back at me, followed by a slew of information I don’t need to read to understand who he is.
I’ve seen enough versions of him already.
My jaw tightens as I hit the one line I didn’t want to see.
Undercover escort.
Fuck.
How am I going to explain this to Roman? Can I even explain it to him?
The last few days have been blissful in a way I didn’t know I was capable of. We’ve been gently pushed out of the main house, left to our own space, and I’ve spent almost all of my free time with him at mine and Robyn’s. It’s been a bubble, one I already feel slipping through my fingers and I was counting on these couple of weeks before initiation to carry me through whatever comes next.
I never knew it could be like this. I never knew men could be like this. It’s the way he looks at me, like I’m something worth holding onto, something rare, and the way he touches me without it turning my stomach or making my skin crawl that has my heart picking up every time I see him.
“Fuck,” I mutter, tossing the phone back into the console and pushing the door open before I can sit there long enough to start thinking about it properly.
I slam the car door harder than I need to and stand there letting the cool air hit my face as I try to force my body back into something functional. My hands feel too tight at my sides, like I’m not quite settled in myself and now I have to go and pretend I am.
The front door sticks slightly when I push it open and I step inside, flicking the lock behind me. The house is quiet again. It’sempty in that way that feels suffocating. I couldn’t stand it when Robyn first left, but Roman helped bring life back into it. Now every corner of the flat reminds me of him, of his hands on me, of the way his body took from mine over and over again.
Is this cheating if I do this? Do I need to tell him, or will he block it and ultimately get me killed? And more importantly, why the fuck am I letting a man dictate how I do my job? I exhale slowly as I lean back against the door, tipping my head up to the ceiling as I let my eyes fall shut.
I have twelve hours to get ready, find him, kill him, and get back home. I need to get my head in the game. This is my reality and nothing I can do can change that.