Or how I suddenly felt as empty on the inside as my room felt without him in it.
Why him of all people?
I was happy when he was near.
And then, when he was gone, I had this longing, and it pissed me off that somehow Tank was connected to it.
Then again, he’d always been connected.
I kicked my suitcase and then flopped back onto the bed.
Mexico.
With Tank as my babysitter.
Which meant he was forced to be in my presence—didn’t choose to be.
It also meant I only had another few weeks by his side before he made a choice—the Family or the FBI.
With a grin, I jumped up and unzipped my suitcase, then promptly tossed all my underwear onto my bed and zipped my bag back up.
Sorry, not sorry, Tank.
Let the games begin.
Chapter Five
Tank
“Mexicoooooooo!” Junior shouted once we were all in the black SUVs that had been waiting at the private airstrip for the G-V I was on to land. Altogether, we took three of the jets. I still wasn’t over the fact that each of the Families had their own jets. Yes, plural. Jets.
Thirty-million-dollar jets.
I’d looked it up.
Then promptly tried to forget how much a luxury like that cost. The last thing I needed to know was just how illegally rich they were and why.
“Dude.” Ash shoved Junior and then wrapped an arm around Annie. It still made my teeth clench.
I knew they were right for each other.
But at one point last year, I had thought Annie would eventually see that he was toxic, that he couldn’t love, and that our friendship could turn into something more.
Then the asshat had to come in and confuse her with all his feelings bleeding all over the place like a continuously erupting volcano.
Again, I got it.
I was okay with it.
But that didn’t mean I enjoyed watching him basically devour her face in front of me as he pulled her into his lap and started whispering what I could only guess were sexual innuendos in her ear as she blushed beet-red. Her hair was growing longer, another sign that she was his since she’d cut it to piss him off.
“Wonder what they’re going to do once they get to the hotel,” Tiny said without looking up from her phone, while Maksim laughed behind her, only to earn a glare from Izzy as if he weren’t allowed to think about sex unless it was with her.
Damn awkward breakup that one was.
Yet again, it reminded me why all the bosses had told the kids that they weren’t allowed to date.
It only created drama.
I put on my black Ray-Bans and waited for the arguing to start. The kids, even though they weren’t kids and almost all in their early twenties, did nothing but bicker, tease, fight—it was a true family. All the bosses were nice enough to let us stick together in our own private villa while they stayed across the hotel in another with the younger siblings.
Which meant I would have zero backup when it came to Tiny.
Serena clinked her chilled glass of champagne with Junior as they locked eyes across their seats. “You ready?”
He licked his lips. “I was ready to marry you at sixteen.”
“And here we go,” King said from the front seat as he flipped around with a scowl. “You know some of us aren’t getting regular sex, sooo if you guys could just—”
“Wait!” Maksim gripped the leather seat. “You stopped seeing your tutor?”
It was Valerian, his adopted brother’s turn to snicker. “Dad said, and I quote, ‘I will pull your liver through your pee hole if you keep fucking your twenty-five-year-old tutor,’ or something like that.”
“Very specific.” Maksim whistled with a cheeky grin. “Huh, King?”
King flipped the entire van off and lifted his chin in defiance. “I’ll have you know she was my first love.”
Everyone burst out laughing—me included.
“Bullshit! You’re eighteen!” Ash called him out.
“Um, Valerian’s twenty-one, you’re twenty, and all of our parents got married when they were young, thus all of them still looking like they belong on a calendar.”
“That was creepy, bro, just saying.” Maksim shuddered.
“Agreed,” I grumbled.
All eyes fell to me. “What? Look, yes, your parents are attractive—wait a second, why the hell are we having this conversation?”
Ash burst out laughing. “Tank, I say this with love, but I’ll probably choke you if you decide to choose the FBI instead of us…” He grinned. “All in favor…”
Everyone raised their hands but Tiny.
Shocker.
Izzy elbowed her.
She looked up from her phone. “What?”
“Cold-hearted Abandonato girls…” Maksim just shook his head. “The only females that terrify me.”
Izzy waved at him.
He paled and looked away.
“What’s so important that you can’t participate in adult time, Tiny?” Ash asked.
“TikTok,” was her cold response. “Some guys reacting to my favorite mac and cheese recipes.”
“Wow,” Junior mouthed in my direction.
Serena shared a look with me that I couldn’t decipher and then whispered something to Junior.
His face fell a bit.
Shit, were they talking about her?
Again?
Everyone wanted to reach her.
Nobody could.
It was pointless to even try.
She had every single guard up that she could find.
And as far as I knew, nobody had apologized for last year. I was sure she knew why Ash had lashed out, but that didn’t make it any less painful or embarrassing. The feeling of not belonging with the people you loved the most.
They pretended like it didn’t happen.
But I still felt the elephant in the room, which pissed me off because that meant I wanted to defend the devil.
The van pulled up to a huge resort that I knew probably cost more than my yearly paycheck to stay at. There was a long line of hotel staff waiting for us at the front with more trays of champagne.
I wasn’t used to this sort of extravagance, so I just followed the guys when they all started piling the luggage outside the van.
I’d never been to Cabo—it wasn’t like I was dripping with money from the FBI. If anything, I almost felt guilty that this was part of my job, following the terrifying girl who had me by the balls without even realizing it…and trying like hell to figure out how to crack that same scary façade in order to gain intel.
Seducing her just seemed like a really easy way to get castrated while on vacation.
Then again, sometimes, she stared.
I wasn’t sure if it was because she found me attractive or if she was just curious by nature at what the hell an FBI spy was still doing at her house, helping.
“Here you go.” Ash held out a tip to one of the bellmen.
I nearly choked when I noticed it was two hundred-dollar bills.
The bellman said, “Thank you,” refusing to look down, and then a lady in an all-white uniform smiled brightly at us. She had red lipstick, curly brown hair, and curves I knew King was already memorizing since Maksim smacked him on the back of the head when she turned around, showing a tight ass.
“What?” King rubbed his head. “I was appreciating Cabo!”