Bridget
I’d lost my mind,asking Alex for help. He might be dating Ava, and he might be less…sociopathic since they’d gotten back together last year, but I still trusted the man as far as I could throw him.
Yet for all his faults, he truly loved Ava, and he owed me for kicking his ass into gear before I left for New York. If I hadn’t, he’d still be moping over her and terrorizing everyone around him.
Our call four days ago had been short and succinct. I told him what I wanted, and he confirmed he could get it. I didn’t doubt his ability to pull through, because this was Alex we were talking about, but he hadn’t given me a delivery date and I’d been on pins and needles since.
“Your Highness.” Booth spoke at a lower volume than usual, and his body vibrated with nervous energy as we walked to my room. We’d just returned from an event at the National Opera House, and I’d been so distracted by thoughts of my plan I hadn’t questioned why Booth was accompanying me to my suite when he usually bid me goodbye at the palace entrance.
“Yes?” I arched an eyebrow at Booth’s furtive glances around the empty hall. He was a good bodyguard, but he would make a terrible spy.
“Read it when you’re alone.” He slipped a piece of paper into my hands, his words almost inaudible.
I frowned. “What—”
A maid turned the corner, and Booth stepped back so fast he nearly crashed into the porcelain vase on a nearby side table.
“Well,” he said, his voice now so loud I flinched. “If that’s all, Your Highness, I’ll be going.” He dropped to a whisper again. “Don’t tell anyone else about it.”
He waved and speed-walked down the hall until he disappeared around the same corner the maid had rounded.
My frown deepened.
What in the world? It wasn’t like Booth to be so cryptic, but I did as he asked and waited until I shut the door behind me before I unfolded the paper. Booth wasn’t a secret notes type of person. What had—
Time stopped. My blood rushed to my face, and my stomach swooped at the familiar, messy scrawl before me.
9 p.m. tonight, princess. Two chairs.
No name, but I didn’t need one.
Rhys was still in Eldorra.
A whoosh of relief darted through me, followed by anxiety and a twinge of panic. We hadn’t talked since the hospital, and we hadn’t exactly ended things on a good note. Why was he reaching out now, two-and-a-half weeks later? How had he convinced Booth to sneak me a note? What—
“Bridget!”
For a second, I thought the call of my name came from outside my room, but then I looked up and saw the petite brunette standing in my suite.
Another, wholly different kind of disbelief flooded me.
“Ava? What are you doing here?” I hastily shoved Rhys’s note into my pocket, where it seared through the silk and into my skin.
Her face broke into a wide smile. “Surprise! I’m here to see you, of course. And I’m not alone.”
On cue, Jules swanned into the sitting room dressed in a familiar-looking green coat. “Good afternoon, Your Highness,” she sang.
I cocked my head. “Is that my coat?”
“Yes,” she said with zero shame. “I love it. It makes my hair pop.” The emerald color did, indeed, make her red hair pop. “Your closet is everything. I need an in-depth tour later.”
“You already had an in-depth tour, courtesy of yourself.” Stella came up behind her, clad in a sleek white dress that made her olive skin glow. As the fashion blogger in our group, her closet rivaled mine, though her clothing choices were more casual. “You spent half an hour examining her shoe collection.”
“It’s called research,” Jules said. “I’m going to be a lawyer. Power heels are essential for stomping all over the opposition.”
I let out a soft laugh as I hugged my friends, my shock gradually morphing into excitement. I hadn’t seen them in person since I moved back to Eldorra, and I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed our face-to-face chats until now.
However, I held off on greeting the last person in the group with a hug.
“Alex.” I nodded at Ava’s boyfriend, whichseemed too tame a word to describe him. Boyfriends were sweet and kind. Alex, with his cold eyes and colder demeanor, was anything but, though his expression did warm a degree when he looked at Ava.
“Bridget.”
Neither of us gave any sign we’d interacted beyond these types of group settings. I felt bad hiding my call from Ava, but the less she knew about what we were up to, the better. Plausible deniability mattered.
“We saw what happened on the news, with your grandfather and Rhys.” Ava’s brow knit with concern. “We would’ve come sooner, but Jules had to wrap up her internship and I couldn’t take time off until now. How are you holding up?”
“I’m all right. My grandfather’s a lot better.” I purposely didn’t mention Rhys.
“I knew something was going on with you and your hottie bodyguard. I’m never wrong,” Jules joked before she, too, turned serious. “Do you need anything from us, babe? Maybe some paparazzi ass you need kicked? A decoy while you sneak off to a midnight rendezvous with your lover? I can dye my hair blonde.”
“J, you’re like three inches shorter than her,” Stella said.
Jules lifted one shoulder. “Minor issue. Nothing heels won’t solve.”
I laughed again, even as Rhys’s note burned a hole in my pocket. 9 p.m.Two chairs. “How did you guys get in here?”
“We worked with Nikolai on the surprise,” Jules said. “Too bad he’s taken. Your brother’s hot.”
“We’re here for the weekend,” Stella added, brushing a stray curl out of her face. With her green eyes, tanned skin, and leggy grace, she was the most gorgeous person I’d ever met, and while she was fully aware of the effect her looks had on others—especially men—she never flaunted it. “I wish we could stay longer, but we can’t take that much time off from work.”
“It’s okay. I’m just glad you’re here.” The knot of loneliness in my stomach loosened an inch. As much as I wanted to reread Rhys’s note over and over again until I memorized every swoop and curve of the letters, I also wanted to hang out with my friends. It had been far too long. “Tell me. What did I miss?”