Dead Drop (The Guild #2)(9)

I glared at them both, fighting the embarrassed blush that wanted to rise in my cheeks. “You guys are drunk,” I muttered unconvincingly. “I need to pee. Sabby, you’re on drinks.”

Their teasing laughter followed me as I headed to the bathroom, and I grumbled curses about how I needed new friends that weren’t trained in espionage.





My head pounded and my mouth tasted like something had crawled inside and died at some point during the night. What fucking time was it? Jude, Sabine, and I had continued drinking and gossiping well into the night until Jude had run dry of alcohol and we were all too drunk to buy more. That was when we’d decided to call it a night and all crashed out in Jude’s bed.

I rubbed the heel of my hand over my crusty eyes and groaned.

“Shit,” Sabby moaned from somewhere to my left. “What time is it?”

I cracked one eyelid to peer at my watch. “Fuck, it’s only seven. Go back to sleep.”

Instead, she did the opposite, sitting up with a yelp and shouting a curse. “Fuck! Shit, fuck! My flight leaves in two hours! Crap!”

In her scramble to get out of bed, I caught an elbow to the boob, and Jude cursed her out when her leg got kicked.

“Sorry!” Sabine yelled out, disappearing into the bathroom to pee with the door half open. “I gotta go, or I’m in real shit.”

Jude and I exchanged a smile, and I yawned as I sat up. “Do you wanna take Carlos’s plane, Sab?”

There was a pause from the bathroom, then the toilet flushed and our friend appeared in the doorway with a big smile. “Only if you insist, DeLuna.”

I rolled my eyes, and Jude hid her face under a pillow as she shook with laughter.

“I absolutely insist, Sabine. I won’t be held responsible for you catching a bullet between the eyes if your contract gets exposed. Besides, I’m only heading home from here anyway, and I don’t need the jet for that.” I hauled my hungover ass out of bed and pushed Sabine out of the way so I could pee.

“In that case, I probably don’t need to rush,” she replied. “Hey, did hottie-psycho ever reply to your message?”

I froze mid-pee. “What?”

A moment of silence met my question, and I could feel Sabine and Jude exchanging a look. My skin was prickling with dread, though, and I was in no mood for teasing. I quickly finished on the toilet and returned to the bedroom where I could glare at my friends.

“What message?” I demanded, hands on my hips.

Sabine wrinkled her nose, and Jude winced.

“Oh shit, you don’t remember? You drunk dialed Leon,” Jude informed me as she leaned forward to massage her scarred leg.

Cold sweat dripped down my spine, and I swallowed heavily. Vague, vodka-hazy memories flitted across my mind, confirming that I had indeed done the unthinkable. I groaned, scrubbing a hand over my face.

“I didn’t.” It was pure denial; I already knew I had. Shit. Had he replied? “Where’s my fucking phone?”

I started a frantic search around the couch while my friends watched me with far too much amusement all over their faces. Fuck. I needed new friends. Would Mo have let me do a dumbshit thing like that? Ugh. Probably yes, except it would have been a hundred times worse if I’d called Kai instead of Leon. Or would it? I had no idea. My brain hurt.

“I hate you both!” I shouted as my fingertips found my phone stuffed between the couch cushions. “Real friends would have stopped me!”

“Uh, pretty sure we tried,” Sabby replied on a laugh. “You literally shut yourself in the bathroom and locked the door so we couldn’t take your phone away.”

I cringed. Ugh. I had. Damn it.

My thumb swiped the screen, unlocking it, and I quickly located the message thread with Leon.

Fuuuuuuck.

“You two,” I gasped, shooting an accusing glare at Sabine and Jude, “are the worst friends ever!”

I scrolled the thread, reading my drunken message to Leon… and all his replies. Shit. Shiiiiit.

“What did he say?” Jude asked, grinning like an asshole. Ugh! Why did I drink so freaking much?

My response was to flip her my middle finger as I clicked the photo attachment on one of Leon’s messages. Then I needed to swallow hard. The teasing comments from my friends faded into static as I speed-read the rest of the messages and clicked through the numerous pictures he’d sent.

Then I swallowed hard and shut down my phone.

“I need to get home,” I told the girls, a little numb with shock. I needed to process, and I needed to not be in Jude’s home to do that.

Jude frowned, all traces of laughter gone. “What happened? Are you okay?”

I nodded quickly, my lips tight with worry. “Yeah. Yes, yeah, nothing to stress about. I think I have just overstayed my time here.” I tried to offer a smile, but neither one of my friends was buying it.

They both just stared at me for a moment, then Jude sighed and nodded, knowing full fucking well I wouldn’t talk unless I wanted to talk. And this? No, I definitely didn’t need to tell her about Leon’s messages. Or about the photo he’d sent, taken from the street outside Jude’s flat sometime last night while Sabine and I were dancing on her dining table.

“Alright. I think that’s officially the end of our fun weekend,” Sabby said with a sigh, giving me a sympathetic look. “You’ll call me if you need help, won’t you?”