Page 9 of Ren: Warlord Brides
A slow smile spread across his face. Emry shivered. “A small favor. Minuscule,” he said, pinching two fingers together to demonstrate. “You work in her kitchen and tell me who attends her parties.”
“That’s it? You want the guest list?” There had to be more. He didn’t need a plant to get a guest list.
Emry opened her mouth to tell the guy to get lost when Gemma snagged her attention.
“Can we talk?” She jerked her head to the door.
Emry followed her inside. She didn’t need to see her face to know what she was thinking. Call it a twin thing. “You want me to do it, don’t you?”
“That’s a lot of money, Em.”
“Come on! Five minutes ago, you were all, ‘You can’t trust him,’” she dropped her voice in a terrible parody of Gemma. “And now you’re ready totake the money.”
“Fine, he’s suspicious as fuck.”
“Random guy shows up and happens to have enough money to solve all our problems? Yeah, that’s suspicious as fuck,” Emry said. “You don’t trust randos offering favors. That’s how we got into this mess.”
Gemma pressed her lips together. “Not cool. It wasn’t some random dude off the street. I knew—”
“You knew a guy who knew a guy.” Emry sighed and massaged the bridge of her nose. Everything had to be a scheme with Gemma. She was always looking for shortcuts and trying to beat the system. It was a long-standing complaint. “I don’t want to argue about the past. What’s done is done.”
“You blame me. What do you think would happen if I submitted to testing? You think we’d be together, running a bakery, or would I be on some radioactive planet playing baby maker for an alien?”
“Nothing! I think nothing would happen.” Emry threw her hands in the air and stepped back two paces. “You weren’t matched. The probability is like being struck by lightning.”
“We’retwins. If you were matched, then I would be too. I’d be on the other side of the universe.” Gemma paused, gulping air before she continued. “And you’d be alone.”
Dammit. How could she hold a grudge against that?
Gemma wasn’t just her twin, but also her best friend. They hadn’t gone more than a few days without seeing each other. The idea of Gemma not being there was terrifying, like a worst-case scenario you said would never happen but secretly planned for.
“That’s a dirty trick, playing the codependent card,” Emry muttered.
“Womb mates,” Gemma said with a grin.
“Ugh. No.”
“Mom should have named me Kate. Then you could be—”
“No. Please don’t say it.” Emry closed her eyes, as if that could stop the bad puns.
“Dupli-Kate.” Gemma splayed out her hands and shook them theatrically. Then she sighed, her shoulders slouching. “Listen, I know I’ve messed up in the past, but this is an opportunity. That guy is a Mahdfel. I think we can trust him.”
“You have terrible judgment.” Fact. Gemma had a rogue’s gallery of terrible ex-boyfriends.
Gemma huffed out a breath. “What’s the worst that can happen? I get abducted by human traffickers who send me to an off-planet auction, where I’m purchased by some sleazy alien who wants to either eat me or use me as a sex toy? And then I’m rescued by an honorable alien warrior who, maybe, is gruff and not so good with words, but I just know I can trust him? And the sex is amazing?”
Emry blinked in surprise. “First, eww. No talking about your sex life. Second, what kind of books have you been reading?”
Gemma laughed. “The good kind. So, let’s take this opportunity, yeah? Listen to the gal who got her face beat in yesterday. Don’t be too proud to take the alien’s money.”
Emry rolled her eyes and really wanted a cigarette. Or a taco. Solid yes on the tacos.
The harsh overhead lighting didn’t do Gemma any favors. Mottled green and yellow bruises bloomed across her face.
“Fine,” Emry said. “But no promises. I’ll hear him out. If anything is shady, we’re out.”
“Fine,” Gemma agreed.
