I shoved myself further into the corner of East's plush couch then nodded sheepishly. "Admittedly not my finest moment, but I don't really know what happened. We were fighting, and I was mad. I was really, really mad. And then, next thing I knew, we were shagging in the back room of the pub."
Emma chortled as she popped a piece of Manchego into her mouth. "Oh my God, you should have seen them when they came out. East was so ruffled. Hair in disarray, clothes askew. I know Ben is the self-proclaimed pretty boy of the group, but East likes his clothes, and he likes them just so. Clearly, Nyla did something to him."
I flushed. "Oh my God, I was going to ask if anyone knew what was going on."
Emma howled with laughter. "Are you kidding me? The lads were all doing their best to keep it together and not say anything in front of you. I'd bet you the moment we left they gave him an earful."
"Ugh, great. Fantastic. They knew what we did."
Telly shrugged. "So what? You just needed to get some. Look, admit it… You two are in love."
"That's debatable," I muttered under my breath. We had only just recovered from what happened before he shot me. Was this love? It was all too new.
She waved her hand dismissively. "No, come on. You're mad at him. And well, he did”—she glanced over her shoulder looking for Hazel and whispered—“shoot you.” In a more normal voice she added, “So we're all mad at him for you, but you love each other. We all know that for a fact. It’s just taking the two of you a minute to sort yourselves. Sometimes you bang. That's a given. It’s just what happens. Even when you're still mad. And you're perfectly within your rights to still be mad."
"God, he's just so irritating."
Hazel came in from the kitchen with a fresh bottle of wine. "Well, I mean it could be worse. He could actually be a bad guy. You know, hurting people and things. But he's not, right?"
Livy pinched me so hard that I almost yelped, but I knew better. Amelia just coughed and downed her glass of wine. Telly looked around and grinned wide, but she knew better than to spill the beans. Hazel had been an unforeseen interruption in our girls' night. She'd come by to ‘check on me.’ Presumably because Denning asked her to, but then she saw that we were hanging out and did that thing where people didn't want to interrupt, but then they totally did and became part of the hang session. Even so, the girls were nice to her.
Emma, however, was suspicious. "Nope, no bad guys here. He's just overprotective.”
Things would have been a lot easier without Hazel being there. As it was, we had to tiptoe around what we said lest we clue her in on all the happenings. After all, she was engaged to the enemy.
She nodded and poured herself a liberal glass of rosé before taking a huge gulp. "Okay, so if he's not an actual bad guy, what's he done that's so bad? Being a little overprotective isn’t so bad, right?"
I sat up straighter, careful not to slosh my wine over my hand. East would kill me if I stained his couch.
"That's not it. He's very overprotective. He thinks that I shouldn't do my, uh…" I glanced around, trying to think of the best phrase for it.
Amelia, ever helpful, jumped in. "He thinks Nyla shouldn't do her job, what she's been trained to do. He thinks that she should, uh, do desk duty."
Hazel winced. "Oh God, this is a tough one, because then you aren’t in the crossfire."
She didn't get it. She couldn't get that he was only happy that I was Interpol when it suited him, but when it didn't suit him, he didn't want it. Which was hypocritical to say the least. But God, did she have a point? Hazel continued. "All I'm saying is that when you love someone, you want to keep them safe. Don't you want to keep him safe? If someone was shooting at him on a daily basis, wouldn't you want it to stop?"
I frowned. "Well, of course, but I don’t get shot at on a daily basis."
"But sometimes you do, and you can’t fault him for seeing that there’s a safer way for you to do your job and wanting you to take it. That’s just love, but you guys have to agree on some kind of middle ground."
Emma just stared at her. "So you're suggesting she needs to pretend she's not who she is, you know, to make things harmonious?"
She shook her head. "No, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying they need to figure it out. But he should realize that wanting to take care of her isn't going to help."
God, why was she here? She was so annoying. But she also had somewhat of a point. One, I was horny. Two, I was horny. Three, it was hard to keep fighting with someone who was constantly trying to take care of me. And it wasn't that I was ungrateful. It was that I wanted him to recognize that I was strong on my own and that I didn’t need him but I wanted him. I need him to understand that I didn't need to be protected.
"Ever since I got shot, it's like he's in protective overdrive."
"Yeah, and you've been the perfect patient, right?" Hazel asked with a raised brow.
Livy stifled a giggle. "Oh, she's the worst. She's even worse than me."
I whacked Livy on the arm. "Thanks for that vote of sisterhood."
She laughed and popped some popcorn into her mouth. "Hey, it's the truth. I mean, he's overbearing. Honestly. The handwashing of your knickers, that's some next level dedication."
"I'm pretty sure he's doing something untoward with those knickers. I don't want them back."
Everyone laughed except Hazel. "What do you think he's doing with them?"
Telly wheezed with laughter. "Oh, poor Hazel. I should really explain the birds and the bees to you."
Hazel flushed a deep red. "I understand what the birds and the bees mean. Hell, I'm engaged. I just don't understand what he could possibly do with her knickers."
Clutching her side as she laughed, Telly rolled onto her back on the carpet. "Um, very likely he's sniffing them and then wanking off."
Hazel went pale. "Oh. Oh. Wow. Okay, I did not need that visual."
Telly spread her arms. "Hey, I tried to warn you."
I snorted a laugh because I couldn't help it, which sent Livy into a fit of giggles. Emma joined in. Bryna, who had been in the bathroom, came out. "What are we laughing at?"
Hazel explained, and Bryna froze. But then immediately her face contorted into this twisted expression, and she fell out laughing.
As much as we were all enjoying ourselves, Amelia turned her attention on Hazel. "Okay, my dear, since you are the one who is engaged and dating Nyla's ex, we have to know… Why Denning? All due respect to my boss and all that, but why him? You're young and in a terrific graduate school. Your whole life is ahead of you. Why him? Of all people?"
Hazel tucked herself into the club chair in the corner. "I don't know. I know he's not always great or kind, and sometimes he can be a real dick, but to me... To me he's always perfect. He treats me like gold. And I didn't have a lot of that in my life. So that's fine with me."
Emma looked like she wanted to gag, but she mostly held it together. It was Telly who asked, "Right, so he's nice to you but mean to everyone else?"