Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
TRISTAN
This is all working out better than I could have imagined. Lily is back at my fingertips, and I now have an ally in Killian.
“Teddy,” Lily laughs overdramatically. “Remember that time that Killian shot Tristan and then kidnapped me!” She peeks over at me.
I stand; the kitchen chair scrapes against the tile. Killian mirrors me, and I see Lily’s eyes widen.
“I’m learning to forgive,” I tell her, making her nose scrunch. “Like I’ve forgiven you for running from me.”
“Hey now!” She pops out of her seat so fast. “I don’t want forgiveness. I wasn’t seeking it from you. So you can keep it.”
“It’s too late.” I give a small shrug. “Shall I do a perimeter walk, or can I pull up the specs and blueprints if you give me a computer? I have it all.”
“No,” she says. “No, no, no. You can’t go off together. You’ll build a dome.” She adorably puts her hands on her hips as though she’s laying down the law.
“Let them go, Lily Pad. We’ve got our own plans to make.”
Teddy smirks, and I’m not sure if they really have plans to make or if she’s trying to get a rise out of us. I’m not taking the bait.
“That’s not—” Lily starts, but Teddy’s already out of her chair, grabbing her arm, then whispering something that makes Lily’s cheeks flush darker.
“Okay,” she agrees and lets Teddy start to lead her away. I reach out and snag her hand and pull her back; she falls into me, and I kiss her.
Hard. No gentleness or asking. My hand tangles in her hair, tilting her head back, and I take more.
What I’ve wanted for so many years. She only stiffens for half a second, then melts, her mouth opening under mine, her body pressing closer.
Lily wants this. I felt it last night between us too. All that pent-up desire exploding out.
When I break away, she’s breathless, her eyes dazed. Her mouth is red and swollen from the attention I can’t stop giving it.
“Go,” I say, my voice rough. I spin her around and smack her ass. “Before I change my mind about letting you leave this room.”
She stumbles forward two steps before turning partly back around to give me one of her glares; I’ve even missed those. She’s a mix between fury and want.
“You’re an asshole.”
“I know.”
“Glad we agree on something,” she says as she heads out. Teddy scrambles to follow, throwing me a look that’s half amused, half warning.
“Shall we?” I gesture toward the hallway.
This is about more than securing this place. It’s not going to be bad to have an ally right now. Killian understands. We not only worked in the same world at one time, but we both also have unhealthy obsessions.
We move through the estate, and I show him problem areas and why.
Then the upper floors, the attic access, the windows and side doors.
I tell him how I got in the first time, and after that, it was smooth sailing because I was about to set up new entry points.
It’s always hard getting in, but once you’re in, you’re golden.
“Predictable,” he mutters when I show him the device I put on the window.
“Effective.”
Killian folds his arms over his chest. “You want to tell me what’s going on?”
“You clocked that?” I ask.
“You’re still tense for a man that’s managed to get the girl.” Not sure I fully have her yet, but I will.
“Victor.”
“What of him?” We both worked with him; hell, we worked together with him more than a few times. “You going to tell me he didn’t have a heart attack?” Of course he put that together.
“I’m still trying to find out who did it.”
“Why you? I can’t see the government closing it.”
“Unless they are leaving it be for now. Maybe it’s part of a bigger picture. One that he’ll be behind.” Killian cocks his head to the side. He might be a solid wall of muscle and grunt half his words, but he’s smart. That’s how you stay alive in his line of work.
“Is there someone after Lily and you—” I hold my hand up to cut him off. He’s pissed off, but he pauses.
“I’m only now piecing a few things together, and I’m not even sure if I’m on the right path here.”
“All right.” He nods for me to follow him, and I do. We go out a side door that takes us into one of the gardens so we’re all alone and no one can sneak up on us. “Now talk.”
I do. I tell him everything I found about the blood type and the family fire she might be connected to. I give it all to him; he might see something I don’t because I’m too close to all of it.
“I don’t envy you,” he says when I’m done. “She adores her father. Talks about him a lot. This news will be hard on her.”
“I know.” I nod in agreement. “But he’s still her dad. Nothing will ever change that. I share my father’s DNA, and he’s not my dad. In fact, Victor was more of a dad to me than mine ever has been.”
“It’s personal for both of you.”
I nod again. “This might be a crazy thought,” I tell him, “but, and tell me if I’m getting lost in the weeds here, could some of this be by design?”
“Yes,” he says without hesitation. “When have you ever known Victor to not be planning ahead? Thinking forward about what-ifs and how they would play out. He left his daughter with you, and I get it. You and Victor were close, but I mean…” He doesn’t have to finish the thought; my mind has already been there, but a part of it I was sure was only wishful thinking.
To know he would have been happy knowing Lily and I ended up together.
“Something is coming,” I tell him. “And he wanted me to protect her from it. That much I’m sure of.” I run a hand through my hair, still unsettled and frustrated. I hate not knowing the answers. “I think he knew I wouldn’t be able to stay away. That I’d cross every line to keep her safe.”
“Have you?”
I meet his eyes. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
I think of Lily in my arms last night, the way she kissed me back just as hard; she also hasn’t told me to leave.
He claps my shoulder, heavy but solid. “So what I’m hearing is we need to get on this dome sooner than later.”
I glance over at Killian. “Are you smirking?”
“Happens every now and then.” He reaches up and touches the corner of his mouth. “Side effect from being with Teddy.”
“And jokes,” I laugh. “I barely recognize you.”
These girls think we’re the controlling ones. They have us in the palms of their tiny hands, and neither of us would want to be anywhere else.