“Already am.” I shrugged. It was a first, considering I’d never packed a week before anything—I was that excited.
“You?”
I nodded toward my Louis Vuitton luggage.
“I’m almost afraid to ask what you packed for the Mexico trip,” he admitted, which earned a laugh out of me.
“Oh, Tank, it’s a surprise.”
“Was afraid you were going to say that,” he grumbled and then shot me a glare. “Promise me you at least brought…underwear of some sort.”
I fluttered my eyelashes. “Why are you suddenly so concerned with my underwear?”
He clenched his teeth, his jaw ticking with annoyance. “Because it’s my job to make sure you don’t end up pregnant at eighteen, and flashing men your goods just to piss me off sounds like the sort of thing you’d call ‘fun.’”
“Cute air quotes.” I laughed. “And I guess you’ll find out.”
“Another sleepless night, how wonderful,” he grumbled.
“Dream of me, old man.”
His answer was a middle finger as he walked out of my room and slammed the door.
Of course, he didn’t see how my smile fell.
Or how I suddenly felt as empty on the inside as my room felt without him in it.
Why him of all people?
I was happy when he was near.
And then, when he was gone, I had this longing, and it pissed me off that somehow Tank was connected to it.
Then again, he’d always been connected.
I kicked my suitcase and then flopped back onto the bed.
Mexico.
With Tank as my babysitter.
Which meant he was forced to be in my presence—didn’t choose to be.
It also meant I only had another few weeks by his side before he made a choice—the Family or the FBI.
With a grin, I jumped up and unzipped my suitcase, then promptly tossed all my underwear onto my bed and zipped my bag back up.
Sorry, not sorry, Tank.
Let the games begin.
Chapter Five
Tank
“Mexicoooooooo!” Junior shouted once we were all in the black SUVs that had been waiting at the private airstrip for the G-V I was on to land. Altogether, we took three of the jets. I still wasn’t over the fact that each of the Families had their own jets. Yes, plural. Jets.
Thirty-million-dollar jets.
I’d looked it up.
Then promptly tried to forget how much a luxury like that cost. The last thing I needed to know was just how illegally rich they were and why.
“Dude.” Ash shoved Junior and then wrapped an arm around Annie. It still made my teeth clench.
I knew they were right for each other.
But at one point last year, I had thought Annie would eventually see that he was toxic, that he couldn’t love, and that our friendship could turn into something more.
Then the asshat had to come in and confuse her with all his feelings bleeding all over the place like a continuously erupting volcano.
Again, I got it.
I was okay with it.
But that didn’t mean I enjoyed watching him basically devour her face in front of me as he pulled her into his lap and started whispering what I could only guess were sexual innuendos in her ear as she blushed beet-red. Her hair was growing longer, another sign that she was his since she’d cut it to piss him off.
“Wonder what they’re going to do once they get to the hotel,” Tiny said without looking up from her phone, while Maksim laughed behind her, only to earn a glare from Izzy as if he weren’t allowed to think about sex unless it was with her.
Damn awkward breakup that one was.
Yet again, it reminded me why all the bosses had told the kids that they weren’t allowed to date.
It only created drama.
I put on my black Ray-Bans and waited for the arguing to start. The kids, even though they weren’t kids and almost all in their early twenties, did nothing but bicker, tease, fight—it was a true family. All the bosses were nice enough to let us stick together in our own private villa while they stayed across the hotel in another with the younger siblings.
Which meant I would have zero backup when it came to Tiny.
Serena clinked her chilled glass of champagne with Junior as they locked eyes across their seats. “You ready?”
He licked his lips. “I was ready to marry you at sixteen.”
“And here we go,” King said from the front seat as he flipped around with a scowl. “You know some of us aren’t getting regular sex, sooo if you guys could just—”
“Wait!” Maksim gripped the leather seat. “You stopped seeing your tutor?”
It was Valerian, his adopted brother’s turn to snicker. “Dad said, and I quote, ‘I will pull your liver through your pee hole if you keep fucking your twenty-five-year-old tutor,’ or something like that.”
“Very specific.” Maksim whistled with a cheeky grin. “Huh, King?”
King flipped the entire van off and lifted his chin in defiance. “I’ll have you know she was my first love.”
Everyone burst out laughing—me included.