Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Lou felt herself blush because Big Tag was talking to Drake Radcliffe. She could barely hear him because she’d taken a seat at the back of the jet, hoping if she sank down maybe people would forget she was here. And that she’d pretty much had not one, but two orgasms in public.
Her dad was going to kill her.
Or he would hug her and tell Big Tag to leave her alone. That was the scenario most likely to happen. Her dad kind of treated her like a princess who could do no wrong, and that could lead to some serious spoilage, but her early years had tempered her. She would do anything for her dad.
Something flew across the cabin, hitting Big Tag right in the noggin.
“Hey, I meant Erin. I know you’re a delicate flower,” Big Tag shot back.
It was usually funny to watch the Taggart brothers squabble, but she was feeling… She wasn’t even sure how she was feeling. She’d avoided TJ after she’d fled the conference room. She’d spent those last hours in Bavaria helping Zach make sure the handover of the guard to German intelligence went smoothly.
All the while she could feel TJ’s eyes on her.
When they’d found their seats on the luxurious jet, she’d picked one of the single seats instead of the doubles, or the comfy couch-like seating Tasha and Kenzie were currently occupying. Kala was sleeping in the lounger across from Lou, having taken the seat before TJ could.
Cooper was in the cockpit along with Zach, who could fly the plane but not the way Coop did. Cooper had been fascinated with airplanes since he was a kid. He’d gotten his pilot’s license at sixteen, though he’d been flying with supervision before then.
They were the only team who had their own plane and pilot. Mostly because the plane wasn’t the property of the Agency, and Ian Taggart was allowed a kind of freedom with this team no other handler had.
No wonder everyone called them the Princess Team.
Big Tag and Theo were arguing and she heard something about leaving the kids alone and Big Tag saying he wished he could leave them alone, but they were on his freaking team, and poking to make sure they were alive was his literal job.
She wished she could sleep, but she worried if she did she would see that blood on her hands again.
Or she would dream about TJ and make an idiot of herself by drooling and calling out his name.
Kala’s eyes came open, and she yawned. “You okay?”
She was getting a lot of that today. “Sure.” She leaned over and snuck a peek at the front of the plane.
TJ was sitting by himself on the couch across from where Kenzie was napping and Tasha was working on her laptop. He sat there, staring out the window at the night around them.
He looked sad and lonely and remote.
“You’re not okay.” Kala stretched and leaned forward. “You’re weird, and I’m wondering what’s going on in your head. You know no one really believes you two were playing at the conference table. What did he do to you? Try to pull your skirt up and touch your thigh or something? You know you can punch him in the face. Or tell me and I’ll do it for you.”
She wasn’t ready to have this conversation with her bestie, but she suddenly remembered one she did need to have. “I didn’t think you needed my permission to do that.”
Kala frowned. Lou could tell a lot from Kala’s frowns. Some people had a bunch of different smiles, but Kala’s mood could always be mapped by her frowns. This one was her “what do you know that I should have hidden better from you” frown. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
It was good to have Kala on the ropes for once. She wasn’t truly pissed about what Kala had done in high school, but she wanted to make sure she wasn’t still doing it. “I had a date with Dennis Sims right before this mission.”
There was Kala’s “I should know this, but I don’t” frown. “Going to have to refresh my memory.”
“Prom.”
And a “yeah, I got caught” frown. “I told that asshole what would happen if he told you.” She shook her head. “Wait. You had a date with that asshole? How did you have a date with him?”
“We matched on a dating app and I was curious,” Lou admitted. “And I don’t think he’s an asshole. I think he was young and stupid. He seems nice now. He pointed out that you and TJ kept a lot of people away from me in high school.”
Kala’s eyes hooded. “I was trying to protect you.”
Lou reached out and put a hand over hers. She’d been so young, and she’d clung to Kala. Now she realized how much Kala had clung to her, too. “I know and I appreciate it. You were right. It was better for me to think he was just a jerk. I would have been so embarrassed had I known the rest of it. I wasn’t calling you out.”