Chapter Twelve
Alex
As soon as Soren and I are done fucking, I leave him in the cleaning closet, joining the sea of students flooding the parking lot with their security teams. I instruct mine to follow me to the D’Hautpoul mansion, where I wander inside with Adelaide, who squeezes my hand.
“Tommy is treating me like a big girl,” she tells me. “He gave me a gun for my birthday.”
I raise my eyebrows and grin warmly. “Really? He did?”
She nods while nodding upstairs, tugging on my hand. “Can I show you?”
“Of course.”
In a flash, we’re in her bedroom, where servants are working on removing the princess wallpaper and replacing it with brown and pink stripes. It looks more sensible, more grown for her. I can tell these past couple of weeks have changed her in ways that are irreversible. She’s not a little girl anymore.
Realizing that must frighten Tomas as much as it does me.
But I try to retain my smile as she procures the gun from the locked safe beneath her bed. She sets it on the mattress, handling it with the care and caution of someone who is experienced. The sight of her treating her gun with respect makes me proud.
The piece is small, user-friendly, and plainly colored in matte black so it can be concealed in the dark. She gives me a beaming grin while saying, “Tommy says it’s a good beginner gun.”
“I think so, too,” I agree. “What do you say we grab your brother and take it to the boathouse?”
She bounces on her toes. “Really?” She stops bouncing, smooths her hands over her jeans, and nods curtly. “I mean, that sounds like an excellent idea.”
“I’ll tell you a secret, Addie,” I say, while tucking the gun into its holster and handing it to her. “You can totally be girly and dangerous at the same time.”
“Like you?”
A blush explodes on my cheeks. “Well, sure.”
Nobody looks up at me like Addie is right now. It’s a satisfying sensation, one I figure I would have if I had been blessed with a little sister.
Evelyn is as close as I’m getting to that, I think selfishly while following Adelaide to the door. I would hate to have anyone else in this world subjected to our family drama.
Tomas appears at the top of the stairs with a look of confusion. “What are you doing here?”
“Tommy, Alex says we can go shoot at the boathouse. Do you want to come with us?”
“Shooting, huh?” Tomas grins at me. “You going to show her how to use it?”
I nod. “Absolutely.” I pause for a second, playing with a loose lock of hair as I shrug and add, “I mean, if you’re okay with that, I can do it.”
“I think I’m okay with that.”
The affection in his voice makes me grin bashfully. Adelaide loops her arm with mine, guiding me down the steps after her brother. We take a small team of security with us to the boathouse, where Tomas sets up a series of targets at the other end of the docks. I teach Adelaide how to stand, how to keep her eyes open, and how to hold her gun.
“Remember to keep it pointed at the ground,” I tell her, my father’s voice echoing in the back of my mind, “until you’re ready to kill.”
Watching her shoot soothes my anxiety. She shows promise, learning quickly about safety and stance. I’m so proud to see her working with her brother, and I don’t miss the looks of admiration that Tomas shoots every so often.
By the time we get back to their home, she’s wiped out and excuses herself to her room for a nap. I’m standing in the foyer with my hands tucked into my pockets when Tomas gestures toward the staircase.
“Want to…come up and hang?”
I study him carefully. “I thought I was just pussy to you.”
“Yeah, well…” He plays with his lip ring, tugging mindlessly at the silver. “I just figured we could talk in my bed or something.”