Say It Again (First Wives, #5)(61)

Trina turned away, reached on a high shelf, and removed two more sweaters. “We all do. If you gave us half a chance, you might realize that.”

Sasha paused midstream, looked up from the suitcase. Her heart did a double beat and the feeling of blood rushing too quickly from her head had her sitting on the edge of the bed.

“I’m sorry . . . that wasn’t called for,” Trina said.

“No. It’s not uncalled for.” Sasha tossed a shirt into the suitcase and stared at her hands. Then, in Russian, she muttered, “I don’t know how.”

Trina set the sweaters down and sat on the bed next to her.

“I came to that conclusion a long time ago. I just thought that with time you’d realize that there are people here who care about you and that maybe you’d let us in.”

She wanted to say she was trying but knew that would be a lie.

“I remember when you texted me after Wade proposed. In fact, I took a screenshot of the message because it meant so much that you reached out to congratulate me.”

Sasha remembered that night. Wade had pulled his then girlfriend up onstage during a concert and then proceeded to propose to her in front of thousands of fans. Sasha had been in the wings, playing security without Trina even knowing she was there. Like everyone in the audience, she’d been stunned to see the open display of love and affection and more than a little moved by it.

“You deserve happiness,” Sasha said.

“So do you. From where I’m sitting, you deserve more happiness than any of us. You’ve touched the lives of everyone here. You were a big part of helping Reed and Lori, keeping her away from your fath—Ruslan.” Trina stuttered on the word father. Ruslan Petrov may have been the sperm donor, but he wasn’t her father.

“You’ve gone into battle with Neil and his team. You stopped Ruslan from destroying all of our lives. You helped Avery find and chase away her demons, and you even flew all the way to Barcelona just to tell Shannon to stop being selfish and think of others before flying halfway around the world to escape her problems. Now you’re helping that poor girl and AJ, a man you’ve only known a few weeks.” Trina stopped long enough to stare.

Sasha took a deep breath.

“You help everyone. We trust that you’ll be there. When will you trust that we will be here for you?”

“The moment you trust someone to be there is when they leave,” Sasha muttered.

Trina squared her shoulders, placed her hands on her knees like she was going to stand. “You can’t say that about anyone here. You trust us all, right now, just by being here. Now all you need to do is open the door a little wider and realize people love you.”

She flinched.

Trina grinned and stood. “So, what is your disguise going to be? The Valley girl housewife or something completely different?”

The change of subject put Sasha at ease. “I haven’t decided yet. Depends on what will throw AJ’s father off the most.”

Trina removed a long coat, tossed it on the bed. “I hope for AJ’s sake his father isn’t involved in any of this.”

Not likely. “I agree.”

“You know, I didn’t quite see you with a guy like him.”

Okay, now they were moving into completely uncharted territory. Sasha stood, took a defensive position over the suitcase, and continued to pack. “I’m not with him.”

“That’s not how it looked to me.”

“He’s an itch.” Even saying it out loud felt like a violation.

Trina grinned. “Well, I haven’t seen you scratch anyone. I kinda always pictured a guy with more tattoos than suits and riding beside you on a motorcycle.”

She couldn’t stop her amusement. “I’ve scratched that guy a time or two.”

Laughing now, Trina nodded. “I knew it. AJ just seems so, I don’t know . . . normal. Not a rebellious bone in his body.”

Sasha thought of the night before, the way he held her down when he crawled on top of her. His occupation.

“Ohhh, I want to know what caused that expression,” Trina teased.

Sasha wiped the smirk off her face. “He knows when to be defiant.”

“I’ll remember that.”

The two of them finished packing a suitcase full of borrowed clothing and walked out of the room.

“And don’t worry about Claire. Between hoop jumping for Neil and helping me out with Lilly, we’ll keep her busy.”

“I wasn’t worried about Claire,” Sasha lied.

“Sure you weren’t. Just take care of you. No crazy risks.”

“I’ll try.”



AJ sat across from Sasha on yet another private plane, this time just the two of them and a plane that belonged to an oil company. Apparently there was no end to the wealth accumulated by her friends. They were an hour out from DC, where they had a rental car waiting.

Sasha was transforming. First the blue contacts went in, then the pale foundation that washed much of the color from her face. It was as if she were diluting her genes out of her system right before his eyes.

“Who is the one celebrity that you’d give it all up for to be with for one night?”

Her question caught up with his brain and he stuttered. “Ex-excuse me?”

“Celebrity crush. Who is it? Or artist. I’m not sure what blows your horn more.”