Page 124 of Headstrong Like Us
“So you’re allowed to joke with me without some guy having his ego bruised.”
I missed something here. It’s their shit to work out, butI don’t love how Maximoff looks upset. My best guess: he’s beating himself up right now. Earlier, Sulli was in the process of explaining something to him about her wallpaper boyfriend, and before she could finish, he was pulled away to find Kinney.
I don’t have any intel to share and ease him. But I remember that Jane stayed back with Sulli. So I whisper to Maximoff, “Jane probably knows what’s going on.”
“Wait…where did Janie go?” He looks around.
From a quick check, I already know Jane isn’t in the makeshift VIP area. Thatcher is MIA too. I touch the mic on my collar. “Farrow to Thatcher, are you with Jane?”
One second later, his strict voice is in my ear. “Yeah.” He’s a beat too slow to unclick the mic, and I hear a short moan over comms. Every bodyguard in my sight flinches like they just heard their little sister come.
“Shit,” I curse out loud.
Maximoff narrows his gaze. “What?”
I grit down on my teeth and rub my mouth.
Moretti is going to be pissed at himself, andfuck, I feel partly to blame. If I’d known they went somewhere to have a quickie, I wouldn’t have radioed him.
“Farrow.”
I cup his jaw and explain what happened against his ear. His face just keeps falling and falling. “Fuck,” he curses. “Don’t you and Thatcher have code signals or something for this?”
“Code signals?” I lift my brows. “For quickies?”
“Yeah.”
I want to tease him, but it’s not a half-bad idea. “We’ll work on it.”
Sulli touches the dolphin pendant roped around her neck. “Who else knew? Is this…is it something thateveryonewas fucking in on…and you left me…I was left in the dark?” She struggles with words and looks over at Maximoff to throw a life raft.
He steps closer. “I have no idea what happened.”
Sulli takes a big breath. “My boyfriend told Akara to stop flirting with me, so that’s fucking why Akara has been so…you know…standoffish.”
Akara is quiet. He brushes a hand through his black hair, fits on a baseball cap backwards, and then angles towards Banks. Just to whisper something to him.
Sulli faces me and Maximoff more. “Did either of you know?”
I shake my head with arched brows. “No, this wasn’t my business.”
“No clue,” Maximoff says, his forest-greens narrowed in alert.
Banks pulls away from Akara and bites down on a toothpick. “I was informed.”
“Just him,” Akara adds quickly.
Her mouth falls. “Why wouldn’t you tellmethat he asked you to stop flirtingwith me? Especially when we don’t flirt, we’ve never flirted!” She gesticulates wildly and slams a hand against the bamboo window frame. “Fuck, cum-shit fuckfuckfuck.” She jerks her hand to her chest and cradles her palm.
Banks swears in Italian, and Akara speaks fast on comms, ordering a temp to bring over a first-aid kit. They both try to approach, and she backs up.
I see blood.
That’s my bigger cue.
I move forward. Not a surprise, Maximoff is beside me. “Are you okay?” he asks his cousin. “Sulli?”
She grips her wrist to her chest. Glaring at Akara.
