“Don’t you want to have your dinner?” I ask her after a while.
“No. I ate earlier with Mum.”
“Where is Mercy?” Beatriz looks at her in question.
“Working. You know Paris haute couture week is coming up, and she’s got a lot going on.” Of course, their mother is the director for one of the biggest fashion brands in London.
They go on to talk about the trends and that sort of thing. Normally, it would be my kind of conversation, but not today.
“We should probably take her up,” Casper tells me when he and Leo finish whatever discussion they fell into.
“Okay.”
He takes Grace from Arabella, obviously trying not to unsettle her so that she doesn’t stir too much.
“Are we still going into the town tomorrow?” Cassie asks as we’re about to head up.
“Yeah,” Leo tells her. “We’re dropping your mum off at the airfield with Mercy, and then we’re out for the day.”
He and Casper exchange glances with Christopher. Of course they’re up to something. It’s obvious, and it can’t be good because Casper makes small talk the minute we leave them.
We’re almost to the bedroom when Ryan comes bounding down the corridor with his large bag thrust over his shoulder. I haven’t seen him in so long that for a moment I stop.
Casper stops beside me, his hand closing around my nape as Ryan comes closer and stops in front of us.
For all the mortification that I’ve felt since he witnessed Casper fuck me, the shame of being so exposed to him, none of that really seems to matter now that we’re standing face to face.
CASPER
Ryan smiles down at Fleur, and although she reciprocates the nicety, she stiffens. I feel her spine steel and straighten the longer we stand in silence.
We’ve kept our distance since that day. It’s the way we do things. We’re not like all the other fuckers around us. We do and we move on. We know where we stand, and he knows better than to harbour any feelings towards Fleur. Or rather better than to believe anything can ever come from them.
There won’t be any doubts either, given he’s heard it from her.
“You’re leaving.” I nod at his deployment bag. Still the same one we were issued by our regiment, “Murphy” emblazoned on one of the shoulder straps. It still amazes me how that one bag can carry most of your life in it for so long.
“Francis and Benedict asked me to handle something.” He doesn’t say what it is, but Francis let me know that he was being assigned to the Chief of Defence staff.
“Yeah, I know.”
He puts his bag down, looking at Grace, and smiles before turning to Fleur and saying, “She’s loud.”
“She is,” Fleur chuckles. There’s aff
ection etched on her face that makes me jealous of the time they spent together, even though it was nothing compared to how long I’ve had her. Even though it’s as plain as the love she has for Christopher and Leo.
I see it now, and I try to look for any regret over how I handled everything, but there’s none. Ryan made an underhanded play for her, and I snuffed it right out.
“Well, we know who she takes after, then, don’t we?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her reply is quick and smart, flushing the apples of her cheeks a ruddy pink.
It takes Ryan a moment to realise that his statement has unintentionally brought up what happened between the three of us.
He colours as she clears her throat.
“If you need anything…” I break up the heavy silence before awkwardness swallows us all.