Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
ANDIE
I dismiss the dresses and grab as many jeans, T-shirts, and yoga pants as I can, tossing them into the suitcase. A couple of pairs of tennis shoes and another pair of casual flats go in as well. I pick up my small bag of toiletries but leave the nail polish. Tessa just did my nails a little while ago. She passes me a Red Vine from the bag Keane left on my pillowcase, and I stick it in my mouth, letting the end dangle out.
“You know, you can take more than one suitcase,” Tessa says while sitting on top of my overstuffed hard case, so I can zip it up.
“Not planning on staying that long,” I reply with a grunt and give one last tug to the zipper.
“Then why go at all?”
“I’ve already explained why.”
She clucks her tongue against her teeth.
It’s past midnight when I finally finish packing. We’ll be heading out after breakfast. We, as in everybody but Tessa, and she has made sure to let me know how unhappy she is about that.
I stand by every word I said to Keane. I know Alejandro won’t wait much longer to come for me. I just need to make myself as open and available as possible to give him that chance. And I’d rather be on my home turf than here at Falcon Tower when it happens.
“You don’t trust me to keep you safe.”
I drop the underwear I take out of my dresser drawer into my carry bag. “Why would you think that? And it’s not your job to keep me safe,” I add, selecting a few bras to take with me.
She slides off the suitcase and onto the bed. “You’re my best friend, Alex, which makes it my job.”
I toss a bra at her head, and she bats it away.
“No, your job is to use that big, beautiful brain of yours and do amazing things at MIT. I want to be your first investor when you start up your all-female tech company.”
She puckers her lips. “Is that what I’m going to do?”
“Yep.”
Falling back into my pillows, she throws her hands up in the air. “Glad you have my life figured out because I sure as hell don’t.”
“Don’t be a smart ass,” I say, and sit down next to her.
Tessa doesn’t want to return to England, and I don’t want her to remain working for Declan. She deserves to live a normal, carefree life away from all this shit. I’m hoping once she’s at MIT, she’ll find her happy.
Tessa rolls onto her side and smacks her butt. “This ass is not only smart, it’s cute and curvy.”
“Is that what Z said?”
Yes, I’m fishing, and only because she hasn’t told me what happened between the two of them. Which isn’t like her because, at school, she used to tell me in graphic detail all about her sexcapades. Nothing would be left out, and my ears would usually be bleeding by the end of her descriptive recount. Tessa thoroughly educated me in many ways when it came to sex. She has no boundaries whatsoever, and some of the stuff she’s into even shocked the hell out of me.
“Nice try,” she says, still not giving me anything.
We squint narrowed eyes at each other.
She grins. “Your phone is ringing,” she singsongs.
“Shit. I forgot.” Seeing the time, I hop off the bed to retrieve my phone and swipe to accept the video call. “Hey, baby girl!”
Sarah’s sweet, smiling face greets me. Her springy brown curls are tamed within two braided pigtails and tied at the ends with little pink bows. She looks adorable.
It’s a six-hour time difference between here and Ireland, which puts it past six a.m. there. Sarah has been getting up early every day to help Hannah and Eoghan on the farm. I talk to her often, and it warms my fucking heart to hear her so happy. Seeing it lets me know my decision to send her away until this shitshow with Alejandro and Julio is finished was the right choice.
“Auntie Andie, Nutkins had her babies last night!” she shouts excitedly. Nutkins is Hannah’s tabby cat.
I walk back over to the bed and get comfortable.
“Hey, Sarah.” Tessa leans in to get into the camera with me.
“Tessy!” Sarah squeals, hopping up and down, so all we see is her bright blue jumper. In the background, Hannah asks her how many potato pancakes she wants for breakfast. “Ten!” Sarah replies, and I hear Hannah laugh.
Reeling Sarah back into our conversation before I lose her to breakfast and baby kittens, I say, “Wow. I bet that was exciting.”
Her little nose scrunches. “It was gross. They came out slimy.” She sticks her tongue out and shakes her head. “I want you to see them. When are you coming? I miss you.”
Ah, hell. So freaking sweet.
“I miss you too, love bug. Me and your unkies will be there soon.” I still get a kick whenever I hear her call the guys unkie.
Her little mouth draws down in the cutest pout. “Promise?”
I love this little girl more than anything. I don’t care that she isn’t my blood. In all the ways that matter, she’s mine. What was it Keane had said? “We love her with everything we have in us. She may be Kellan’s blood, but Sarah is ours.”
“Super duper pinkie promise,” I assure her.
Sarah turns her attention to Tessa, and as they talk, my mind whirls with questions and doubts about whether she would be happier staying in Ireland permanently. Hannah and Eoghan live a simple life on a pastoral farm. Not one filled with guns and death and things a child should never see, let alone grow up around.
Hannah calling her for breakfast engages my brain back into our conversation. “Bye, Auntie Andie! Love you!”
“Love you to the moon and back,” I tell her, and wait for her to log off before I toss my phone to the end of the bed.
“She is so freaking cute,” Tessa says, then shoulder bumps me. “Lost you for a minute there. Where’d you go?”
I have no clue why it comes out of my mouth. “How badly do you think I’d screw up a child being its mother?”
Tessa blinks a few times and looks down at my stomach. Blinks again. “Holy shit! Are you pregnant?”
My ears are ringing from her shrill outburst. “What? No!”
Her eyebrows raise, not buying what I’m selling.
“I swear. There is no bun cooking in this oven.”
However, the thought doesn’t freak me out like I expected it would. It’s also something I’ve started thinking about lately. A lot.
She pokes my abs. “You sure? Because you get more big dick than a porn star.”
I can’t stop my snort of laughter. “Positive. Ninety-nine percent.”
Then she asks the big question I’d like nothing more than to ignore. “Do you want to be? A mom?”
My mouth hangs open, but nothing comes out.
Tessa reaches around and pulls me to her. Her hair smells like the strawberry and honey shampoo she uses. “Alex, you’d be the best damn mom ever. Any kid would be fucking lucky to have you.”
Needing to change the subject before I do something stupid like get teary-eyed over the prospect of one of the guys knocking me up, I grab Tessa’s arm and stand up.
“I need you to do something for me, and you’re not going to like it.”