London cackles, like straight out-of-pocket laughs, and I have no idea what I could have said that was so funny.
"I know exactly who it is. Or well, sort of." London grins. "There was this woman there, I only saw her briefly, but she wasstunning, like gay-panic kind of gorgeous."
Seven cuts her off."You're gay?"
"Aren't we all?" London gives him a vague answer and continues. "But anyway, I saw her pickpocketing people, snatching wallets and watches. It was glorious, really. They had no idea." She covers her mouth. "Sorry, this isn't very girl’s girl of me."
"Why didn't you tell someone?" I ask her out of curiosity, not that I really care someone was there stealing from the rich.
"Well, the first guy was a total creep, so I wasn't bothered. And then once she hit a few more targets, I was impressed. Then, she disappeared out of thin air, and I never saw her again." London pauses to catch her breath. "Everyone in that place had far more than they needed, I didn't think she was doing anything wrong."
"That's my little firecracker." Seven raises his fist and London bumps it with hers, the two of them bonding over crime.
"That's fair," I tell her. "Honestly, that's what I told Leo, that he had it coming, that he probably deserved it. Plus, I thought he was with Grace, which only made it more fucked up that he was asking me to help him find this mystery woman."
"He and Grace aren't exclusive," London says.
"They aren't together at all," Seven announces and that's when it hits me, the reason why Seven is floating on cloud nine. He has no chance with Grace, but if Grace is with Leo, it means she's off-limits. Now, she's back within reach and he thinks he might have a shot of getting with her. He's a strange sort of predator—his sights locking on to someone and not letting up until he's gotten what he wanted. Grace is one of the only women who has ever turned Seven down, making her possibly his biggest challenge, and that means he'll never stop pursuing her.
"Man, what the hell, I feel like such a bad friend, I had no idea." London turns toward me. "Where's my phone?"
I reach into my back pocket, pull it out, and hand it to her. "Here."
"Shit." London scrolls her finger along the screen, no doubt catching a glimpse of what she missed while she was in the hospital. "Yeah, I have three missed calls, and a few texts from her. They definitely broke up."
Seven's smile grows, reaching all the way to his eyes. I don't think I've ever seen my brother this happy, not even when he murdered six men and was covered in their blood. That image is forever ingrained in my memory, speckles of red on his face, his filed-down teeth showing in his toothy grin.
"Is she okay?" I ask London.
"Yeah, I'm sure she's fine. Grace is resilient. Plus, I don't think things were ever serious between them."
"Probably because she wants me." Seven is so full of himself that it hurts to witness.
"I doubt it's that," I say, not trying to hurt his feelings, not that he has any of those to begin with.
"I should probably get going." London braces herself in her attempt to stand up.
"What do you mean?" I rise to my feet. "You aren't staying here?"
She shakes her head. "I need to go home, Archer."
"You are home."
Seven makes a hissing sound. "Oh, sounds like trouble in paradise."
"You know what I mean, Archer." London ignores him.
"Stop saying my name like that," I spit out, unsure why it is annoying me so much.
"Like what?"
"I don't know, like you're talking to me like I'm a child." I hate how each word slips out of my mouth without first going through my brain to process how insane they are.
"Archer…"
"London, so help me God." I motion to the kitchen. "Stay for a few days, at least. I can cook for you. You shouldn't be alone right now. You need someone to take care of you."
"I don't need anyone to take care of me." She glares at me like she wants to set me on fire, and I can't say I blame her. London never seemed to be the type of person to ask for help, not really. Sure, she showed up on my doorstep needing a place to stay, but that was different, that was life or death.