Page 21 of Girls Night
“I don’t know. We can go to the movies, go shopping? Lay in the sun? Anything is fine.”
She nods her head vigorously, and I roll my eyes as I take a bite of my toast and begin to chew thoughtfully.
I’m not in as much pain as I thought I would be today, so I take that as the smallest victory of a battle lost.
“Besides,” I say as I lean back in my chair, “there’s something I want to ask you.”
Tati looks into my eyes when my tone shifts from carefree to even. She knows good and damn well what I want to know, and if she’s smart, she’ll find a way to put back what she took from me before I find it in her room.
“That’s fine, we can go for a walk on the property after breakfast,” she suggests quickly.
“Right after breakfast.”
I don’t want to give her the opportunity to put the spoils back in my room before we have a chance to leave, and she knows it.
Tati blows out her breath and rolls her eyes as she nods.
“Have you been in Sofi’s room again?” Papa asks her sharply. I look over at him as I take another small bite of my toast and do my best to suppress a smile.
It’s not often that he “fathers” us in the traditional sense, but when he does, he takes it as seriously as he does his business.
“No,” she replies softly, slumping slightly into her chair.
“No,” I echo her as I lean my elbows on the table and look over at him. “I think I lost something at the party that night, and I just wanted to know if she found it.”
Besides the obvious.
With a grunt, he goes back to his paper, and we finish our meal in silence. When Anabella appears to take our plates, I smile up at her in thanks and give her arm a squeeze as I get to my feet.
I can see the tears dangerously welling up in her eyes, but if I was able to not spill tears over what happened to me, then no one else should either.
* * *
“Where’s Mateo?” I hiss at her once we’re outside. Tati attempts to wring her arm out of my grip, but I’m not in the mood for the innocent girl routine bullshit.
I dig my nails into her flesh. I don’t mean to, but I guess I’m still not as over the incident as I thought I was.
Maybe I need three more months in solitary confinement,I think with a grunt as I let her arm go.
And before I can stop myself, my eyes lower to the shoes she’s wearing. I know there’s no way it was Tati—she doesn’t have a cock, though she does like to steal things from me sometimes, and who knows what the fuck else she took from Mateo since I didn’t have a chance to get rid of him yet.
I wrinkle my nose.
Wherever the fuck he is, I hope it’s not my shack. It’ll take more than few power scrubs to get the smell out, and I’m not up to that yet.
Folding my arms over my chest, I turn my face away for a moment.
Know your enemy, trust no one, always be prepared to fight for your life.
Another lesson learned quickly when I was let out of my cage to run the streets of Navolato.
“Just tell me where he is,” I say in a tired tone as I turn to look at her again.
Tati shrugs.
I reach over and slap her in the face, the sound resonating on the back patio. The sound is amplified by the columns and high ceiling, but nothing compares to the look of shock on her face.
And mine too.
