Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
“True.” He nodded. “Didn’t shoot anybody. Didn’t threaten to shoot anybody.”
“Must be nice.” I’d been executing the traitors and chasing the cowards.
“If you don’t want the job, Nico is next in line since Mael moved on.”
“That’s not the problem.”
“Then what is the problem?” he asked. “Because there are waves of resentment crossing the table right now.”
Bryan appeared then, bringing our hot plates of food at the most contentious moment. He laid everything out without saying a word or making eye contact then walked off.
Bastien was hungry but didn’t touch his food.
“It’s not resentment.”
“Then what is it?”
I wasn’t sure what the problem was. I didn’t think about these sorts of things too often. But when I was put on the spot, I was forced to confront the emotions I suppressed. “It all happened so fast. Fleur appeared out of nowhere, and within just a couple of months, our lives were forever changed. I didn’t expect you to leave so quickly and so suddenly. It’s just not the same without you.”
It was a testament to our friendship when he didn’t make a joke or sidestep my words. He held my gaze and confronted it. “So, you miss me.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“But you kinda did.” A slow smirk moved over his lips.
I rolled my eyes. “Saying it’s not the same is not the same thing as saying I miss you—”
“I miss you too, man.” His fair skin was a little darker from lying by the pool on his vacation, but his blue eyes were still hard and brilliant at the same time. “I’m really happy with my life with Fleur. Wouldn’t change it for anything. But now that the honeymoon is over and we’re back to normal life, there’s definitely a void there that she can’t fill. A purpose that’s missing, a lack of speed and adrenaline. If her safety wasn’t so heavily braided into the job, I’d be back. No question.”
That shouldn’t make me feel better, but for some reason, it did.
“My life was easier without Fleur. But not better. One day, you’ll understand what I mean.”
I scoffed before I grabbed my fork and started to eat.
“I said the same thing, remember?” He started to eat too, pouring the syrup all over his sweet stack of pancakes. “Look at me now.”
“We aren’t the same, Bastien.”
“But we aren’t different either, Luca.”
I paused and looked at him before I bit the piece of hash brown off the fork.
“So, what’s going on?” Bastien asked.
“It’s fine. You’re done with this stuff.”
“Doesn’t mean we can’t talk about it,” he said. “What else are we going to talk about?”
I shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind hearing more about this little bikini Fleur has…”
He chuckled before he took a bite of his pancakes. “Can’t even describe it.”
4
ALIÉNOR
I slept with my gun under my pillow. Kept a low profile.
My apartment was small and cramped, and my neighbors were nosy and weird and clearly dealing drugs out of their apartment. The street was littered with people all throughout the night, some homeless and others who did their business between midnight and dawn.
Despite the obvious threat that surrounded me, I actually felt safer being buffered by low-level crime. I had a loaded gun and a solid right hook, so I wasn’t worried about handling myself if I needed to.
I was still trying to find a job, and with no real work experience or education, I was stuck in customer-service types of positions, like bartending and waitressing, work that would barely get me by unless I was in a Michelin-starred place where each table was spending at least five hundred euro on a single meal.
I was at the two-seater dining table in the small kitchen with a laptop in front of me, something I’d purchased with the cash Luca had gifted me when Dominic texted me.
I’m gone for a couple days, and you just leave?
Dominic was one of the waiters at Septime. The two of us had clicked the moment we met. Wasn’t working out.
Why? I know you hate Diane, but everyone hates her.
I wasn’t sad I wouldn’t have to see that bitch again. It’s not her. Too far from my apartment. If I’m going to make the same wage either way, may as well be closer. He didn’t know where either of my apartments was, so he wouldn’t know it was a lie.
Well, this sucks. Where are you going to go?
No idea.
So, you quit without a backup?
Don’t worry about me. I always land on my feet.
A cat with nine lives…
I had way more than nine lives.
Let me know where you end up. We should meet up for coffee.
Sounds good to me. He was the only friend I had right now.
The phone screen went dark, and I returned my focus to my laptop. It was nighttime outside, but the lampposts that made this place the City of Light were visible outside all my windows. The smart thing to do was leave Paris and start over somewhere else, in a place where I could really let my hair down.