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Ana’s head tilted and she waved her hand in dismissal. “Oh, I don’t want to bother you. I can call … ”
“You can’t,” I ground out. “Killian bought the building.” When we first met I thought it was the wine that gave me loose lips. Now I knew better. Ana was the truth serum.
She blinked at me. “I, oh,what?”
“So there’s nothing between you two and he just happened to buy the apartment building you live in to keep you safe?” Jess’s droll voice cut through the silence. When I looked up, the mirth in her brown eyes told me what her tone didn’t, that she wasteasing me. “While rich people do stupid and weird things with their money, that doesn’t seem like Killian,” she continued.
My heart squeezed painfully. How did she know what he was like, and why would it not seem like Killian?
Jess shook her head. “He and I have only been friends.” Either she read my mind, or once again my lack of a poker face betrayed me.
“And don’t forget the wardrobe he purchased for you,” Lexi apparently decided now was the time to drop that truth bomb.
I fidgeted in my seat. “He was just being nice. We’ve known each other since we were kids.”
“Listen guys. The whole point of book club isn’t to make anyone uncomfortable,” Ashlyn said in a firm tone, having the grace to look ashamed as she chastised everyone.
I smiled gratefully at her.
“And it’s also not a time we blow smoke up each other’s asses.” I was beginning to understand that Jess said what she wanted. “We don’t know each other, but maybe that’s what you need. An outside perspective. Don’t be like Hazel here and miss all the signs.”
“What the h-e-double-hockey-sticks, Jess?!”
I tried not to snort-laugh at the cute phrase that I had last used when I was in middle school. Hazel, I’d learned, did not swear, which is why her apparent friendship with Jess was so fascinating.
“Boo, I love you, but we both know it’s true. You and Jareth were so oblivious and so dense. You tookwaytoo long to get together.”
The nods around the table told me everyone agreed.
“She’s not wrong.” Hazel sighed. “You’re amazing, Tris. If you like him, fake dating might make things harder between you. And it already sounds like Killian’s making moves to show you how he feels, even if he hasn’t said it.”
Something clicked in my brain. Something I wasn’t sure I was ready to face. Something that might end this carefully-crafted friendship I was desperate to get back with Killian.
When we kissed, it hadn’t felt fake. At least not for me. What if I took that leap and told Killian I was having feelings for him?
Fear and uncertainty clawed at my chest, making it hard to breathe. While I understood the girls’ perspectives, Killian had always been protective over me. What if I told him, and everyone was wrong?
Things were already changing with Peter.
I couldn’t lose Killian, too.
Chapter Twenty-Four
KILLIAN
My heart pounded as Max pulled up to Trissa’s apartment building. After our surprisingly intimate sleepover, I’d made it a point to keep texting, and used impromptu gift-giving as my main source of contact. Especially since Peter had kept Tris busy the past three weeks and we’d only been able to grab a quick lunch every so often.
Yet strangely enough, I realized that the familiar, hollow ache that had often settled in my chest over the years, had eased a little now that I focused my attention on our pseudo-relationship—and on her specifically.
My phone dinged with an incoming text message. It was Judd. He’d been checking in fairly regularly to let me know they still hadn’t found Nikol Petrosian and to watch my back just in case he’d figured out I was involved with the DEA. I knew he felt guilty bringing me into all this. I’d reminded him several times I’d known the risk.
JUDD
Checking in with you.
KILLIAN
Any word on Petrosian?