“I’m sure it was uncomfortable to find me in his room.”
Tristan had thought he covered his disorientation well, but based on Ele explaining herself, he hadn’t quite pulled it off. He wasn’t jealous. Mostly. Seeing Ele taking steps to be more independent made him experience this stupid rush of pride. But finding her in his best mate’s room hadn’t exactly been expected or comfortable.
“It was fine. I’d trust Rowan with my life.”
Her brow knit. “But not me?”
“We’re getting there,” he answered truthfully.
“Fair.” Ele shifted, pulling one leg up on the sofa so she faced him more fully. “I explained my panic attacks to Rowan and told him Juliana kissed him to pull the attention off of me.”
“Well done, E.” His grin was wide and unfettered.
This was big for her. To approach someone she didn’t know. To put her insecurities before that person. Two months ago, Ele’s inner circle had been a tiny microcosm; to Tristan, it seemed to be expanding.
“That must have been difficult for you, but Rowan will guard your secret and maybe forgive Juliana. Eventually.”
She laughed somewhat humorlessly. “He’s a tough crowd,” she admitted.
“Aye. But when you get him, he’ll have your back forever.”
“No chance of that then,” she quipped.
“Went bad?” He wasn’t too concerned.
It had taken him forever to win Rowan over. And he was sure Rowan had wanted to hit him more times than he could count their first year.
“Worse than,” she confirmed.
“Don’t sweat it.” He shrugged.
Tristan didn’t spend any time worrying about whether or not someone liked him. They either did or they didn’t. But he understood Ele didn’t open herself up to many people, so dealing with Rowan must have been daunting.
“I watched the press conference earlier today.”
Tristan reared back in surprise. “Really? Why?”
“It’s something we do. Like a hospital morbidity and mortality conference. Have to get to the bottom of what deadly mistakes we made.” It was delivered frankly, but he could sense the sarcasm underneath.
/> While Juliana might have been the focus today, Tristan imagined Ele had been in the spotlight plenty.
“That sucks. If I had to watch every time I said something off script with the press, I’d spend a lot of my time in—what did you call that?”
“Morbidity and mortality. We call it M and M, and we usually do it with wine. But not today. Today was undertaken stone-cold sober.”
She looked away from him, and he wondered what about today had most bothered her.
“After that, I had to speak to the queen and Jamie. It’s been a long day.”
“What happened?”
“Before I came to the States, the queen met with me. She told me if anything happened with Juliana, I would be responsible. I didn’t want her to get the opportunity to order me home, so I trumped her and struck first.”
“Did you get what you wanted?”
“I did.”
“That’s my girl.”