“You think?” said Toni. “What exactly do you think she deserves? Should I have her in Gage’s bedroom? Maybe Hunter can keep her company.”
Tristan shook his head and clenched his jaw, holding back some of the choice words that came to mind. “Why can’t she sleep in a bedroom alone?”
“Because she’s a stranger, Tristan. The fact that I even brought her here is a testament to my faith in you and your judgment. Even that has limits. We don’t know her relationship with Blackthorne. We don’t know why Damask is so upset with her. And quite frankly, I don’t want some stranger wandering the halls alone. I had her in your bedroom, and was monitoring the cameras, but I don’t plan to stay awake all night babysitting your girlfriend. You keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn’t call anybody she shouldn’t call, and I’m okay having her here. But she does need to be supervised.”
“I’m not a fucking babysitter.”
“I agree. You’re not. Like I said, there are other people who can watch her. You tell me who you want me to assign and I’ll happily do that.”
The thought of Gage or Hunter sharing a bedroom with Shae filled him with a whole new kind of rage. “I can’t babysit her all day.”
“I know. Melissa is on her way over.”
Tristan frowned. Melissa, Slade’s sister, wasn’t one of them. Sure, she’d been doing paperwork and various other office jobs for them, but she wasn’t a trained professional or anything. “What would Melissa do?”
“Melissa is a normal person. She can interact with normal people in a normal way and not scare the hell out of them. Which is more than I can say for any of us, quite frankly.”
“When is she supposed to get here?”
“The plane lands tomorrow morning. Can you handle babysitting duty for one night?”
One night. That seemed almost manageable. Well, for him. He had a feeling Shae wouldn’t be too happy to see him wander back to her room. But he knew Toni’s stubborn face when he saw it. It was pretty much her normal face. She was steadfast on this. “Okay. I’ll give you one night.”
Toni snorted. “Gee, thanks for your generosity. So happy you’re allowing me one night. Get the fuck out of here, Tristan. Oh, and by the way. The next time you start banging on the door to my bedroom, you’d better be wearing a shirt.”
“I second that,” said Hart, one of his few contributions to the little argument. From the little smirk on his face, it seemed as if he enjoyed watching the fight. Probably because he knew Toni would win. She had an unhealthy habit of doing that a lot.
Tristan made his way back to his room, taking a small detour in the kitchen. He figured after the bad impression he’d just made, he could at least try to make it better. Toni, as much as she annoyed him sometimes, was good at planning. Not just strategically, where Hart excelled, but with little things that he normally wouldn’t think of. Like having the pantry set with a whole array of junk food.
He pulled out some chips and a little plastic container full of brownies. Then he grabbed some beers and sodas out of the fridge. He had to carefully balance the load and tried extra hard to keep the cold beverages from touching his bare skin.
When he made it back to his room, he didn’t bother trying to turn the knob. Instead, he knocked softly. He was sure that by now she had locked the door on him, but he knew he could pick the lock no problem. However, considering he was supposed to be spending the night with this woman, it would help if she opened the door for him. After a few seconds of nothing, he knocked once more. He was about to formulate how he could set all of his stuff down and find something to pick the lock with when the door opened and Shae glared at him through the crack. “What do you want?”
“I, um, I brought a peace offering.” He held up the food.
Shae eyed the items warily, as though expecting them to jump out and attack her somehow. He thought she was going to slam the door in his face, but instead she asked, “Are those brownies?”
“Totally fresh,” he said, hoping he wasn’t lying.
“I don’t want you here.”
Apparently she wasn’t so seduced by the chocolate. “I figured as much.”
“But you’re here. And I’m guessing you’re not just going to go away.”
He nodded. “That sounds accurate.”
“Do you want to be here because you want to be, or is Toni making you?”
He debated being honest with her, but that seemed too out of character. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be alone after everything you’ve been through tonight.”
“Liar,” she said even as she pushed the door open. “Come on in.”
Tristan did as she said, setting all the grocery items on the nearest dresser. “I don’t really know what you like, you know, besides steak, but there’s more stuff in the kitchen if this isn’t good enough.”
Shae just grabbed the brownies and moved to sit on the bed. She sat cross-legged and tugged the sundress down to protect her modesty before setting the brownies on top of her lap.
He pointed to where he’d dropped his shirt when he’d originally walked in. “I managed to pick up your purse before I left. Don’t use your phone until Toni has a chance to disable the GPS. Until then, keep it off.” Her eyes lit up in interest at the possibility of getting her phone back, but she didn’t say anything. “If you want to sleep, that’s fine. I’ll stay here, and I won’t say a word.”
“What does it matter if you’re not saying a word? You lie about everything anyway.”
“I don’t lie about everything.”
“Then tell me one thing you said the truth about.”
“I really am trying to bring down Blackthorne. That wasn’t a lie.”
“And is it true what Toni said? Are you really some kind of weird do-gooder?”
“No,” he said instinctively. “I mean, yes. The deal is, I’m not a do-gooder. I’ve never been a do-gooder in my life. I’m here because I get paid for it. I don’t want you getting misconceptions about me.”
“If you don’t want me to get any misconceptions about you, why lie?”
He winced. He didn’t know how to tell her what he was feeling. Maybe because he never actually talked about his feelings to anybody. “The version that you met of me, the advertising exec who traveled all the time, yada yada yada, that isn't me. I lie. I lie to everybody. Quite frankly, I don’t know how to tell the truth. And I don’t want to.”
“How can you have any friends if you never tell the truth?”
“Do I want any friends? What do I care if people like me? You want to know what friends are? A liability.”
“So Toni isn’t a friend?”
He scoffed. “I barely know her. If anything, she’s my boss.” He felt suddenly defensive. “Hey, it’s not like I see you trying to get a cell phone to let all your friends know you’re okay.”
“I don’t have friends because I move around a lot.”
“What exactly do you think I do?”
“At least I’m nice to people where I go.”