Page 38 of Sweet Little Spies

Kenzie’s nose wrinkled. “Yeah, I should warn you about that.They kind of broke in and took over the office, so you should know they’reprobably going to be here in the morning. By probably I mean will be.”

“Unless you want me to get rid of them.” Kala’s expressionhad brightened.

“They have their own place to go to.” She’d assumed theywould go to their house or to the apartment close to the hospital she and Aidanhad recently moved into. There were no rooms at this particular inn. They werekind of filled to the brim at this point.

The twins’ sister, Tasha, had moved out, but it hadn’t beenmore than a few days before Tristan’s sister, Brianna, had moved in. She’dlived in her parents’ guesthouse for a long time and had jumped at the chanceto be on her own. Kala had explained how it didn’t hurt they now had someonewho could easily watch after the big mutt they called Bud Two and the housewhen they were off galivanting around the planet.

So all four bedrooms were full, and no one apparently wantedto stay in the office.

“Cooper tried to convince them to come back to his place,but they were not listening,” Kenz said. “Like not even to each other. Theyboth argued the other one should go to Coop’s or The Hideout, and then theyargued about how the other one was trying to cut them out. It was a lot of boydrama. Are you sure you want two dudes? It feels like a lot of emotionalturmoil.”

It normally wasn’t. It had worked for so many years, andthen it simply hadn’t. “Well, I probably don’t have to worry about it now. Imean afterward. I really have to worry about it now since I’m stuck with themuntil we get back from Canada.”

Uncle Ian had gone over the parameters of her mission.

Don’t get fucking killed.

He had a way with words. Basically they were going soTristan and Kala/Kenzie—who would be playing her bestfriend/companion/bodyguard—could get access to Huisman’s estate and hopefullyfind some dark lair where he kept all his secrets. They talked about him likehe was some comic book villain who could murder her with a snap of his fingers.She was there to look pretty and be quiet.

She got that a lot these days. It was starting to rankle.

“Or you could, like, talk to them,” Kenzie said quietly.“They’re out in the living room arguing about who should take the first watch.”

“There’s a watch?” They must have come in after she’dshowered and gotten ready for bed. Likely because they’d had to get Tristan’sbags from wherever he’d left them. “Also, why did you let them in? I thought wewere going to be an all-female refuge. Well, all women and TJ and Bud Two.”

“Bud’s kind of half dude since he lost his balls. And TJ isproof you can’t trust any men. I mean he’s good for carrying heavy things andstuff, but he folded when the guys showed up,” Kenzie admitted. “They startedwhining about how they would sleep outside your window and he let them in.”

“I would have told them to go for it,” Kala replied. “Ihappen to have a great trap on the window. You can totally go out of it if youneed to, but anyone coming in is getting some new scars, if you know what Imean.”

Her cousin was terrifying. “They were going to sleepoutside?”

“They have sleeping bags and everything,” Kenzie explained,sinking to the bed with a wistful sigh. “I kind of thought it was romantic.”

“It’s stupid,” Kala corrected. “But the fun part was Briannayelling at her brother.”

“Because he’s a butthead.” Brianna stood in the doorway, thefrown on her face softening when she looked at Carys. “Hey. Sorry, I was on thephone when you came in and then you were in the shower. Are you doing okay?”

Her parents had blessed her with three brothers and not asingle sister. Her relationship with Aidan and Tristan had given her thesisters she’d so desperately desired. Brianna Dean-Miles was precious to her,and the idea of not being in her life made Carys ache. She held open her arms.“I’m okay, sweetie. How are you?”

Brianna sniffled and walked into her arms, hugging hertight. “I was so worried about you. I’m sorry. Tristan is being an idiot, and Idon’t know what to do.”

Carys hugged her. She remembered doing this the first timeBri got her heart broken. Bri and Daisy O’Donnell had been her baby sisters,the ones who looked up to her, who came to her for advice. Even more so thanher cousins. The twins were a force of nature and had Tasha to look up to. ButBri and Daisy had been hers.

“There’s nothing for you to do,” Carys said, stroking Bri’sgold and brown hair. “None of this is your fault.”

“No, it’s Tristan’s,” Brianna replied.

Damn. This wasn’t like a normal breakup. It was like adivorce. She’d never thought about all the people who’d come to depend on thethree of them being together. They were breaking up whole family systems. Shehadn’t even thought about how it would affect her parents. They were all soclose.

All of her life she’d simply accepted she would marry thesemen, and this was her family.

Did she honestly know what she was doing? The first thingshe had to do was love her friends and make this easy on them. She squeezed Briand then leaned back so she could look her in the eyes. “Sweetie, it’s not hisfault. He was trying to do his job, and it got away from him. I don’t think hemeant to get so lost and hurt me, but sometimes we don’t have control overoutside forces. I’m going to be okay. You’ll be okay, too, and even though I’mnot with your brother anymore doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”

“We’re more than friends.” Brianna brushed away her tearsand stepped back. “And it was his fault. I love you for trying to protect him,but I’m not a kid anymore. I know when my brother screws up. I can be mad athim and still love him. He’s not only doing it to you. He’s locked me and ourparents out. I feel like I’ve lost my brother, and I can’t lose you and Aidan,too.”

Her heart ached for her little sis. “You won’t. You can’tlose me, Bri. I’m always here for you. Why don’t you try talking to him? I’veheard he’s around.”

Bri sighed. “Not tonight. I’m too tired. He should know ifhe doesn’t talk soon, I think Dad is going to do something. I saw our parentsplotting tonight. There was a meeting, wasn’t there? Back at the MT building.”

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