Page 29 of Tristano

I watch as my friend tenses before releasing a breath and turning around. “Nikita.”

The two of them stand still, glaring each other down.

“The sexual tension between you two…”

The bombshell finally turns toward me and eyes me up and down. “And you are?”

“His best friend. I like your hair and your style.” I point. Her hair is a dark-brown, but the ends are colored a vibrant blue. She’s wearing all black. What I have to guess is a bodysuit with skin-tight jeans, a leather jacket, and biker boots. Totally not my type, but gorgeous nonetheless.

“Thanks. I change it often.” She smiles. “I should warn you, this one would make for a shit roommate.”

Declan scoffs. “As lovely as always, Trouble. I’m sure I’ll see you later.”

Declan turns and storms down the hall. I wave at the pretty woman and follow behind. Once back in the car, I turn toward him, smirking. “So what’s the story there?”

“There is no story.”

“Psh, I might have been born at night, but not last night. Tell me.”

“Are you going to tell me about your girl?” He shoots me a look.

“You mean what you haven’t already figured out?” I smirk. “She’s beautiful, inside and out. Even though she’s a cop, she doesn’t ask questions and lets me do my thing with zero judgment.” I pause, shrugging my shoulder. “Then again, it probably helps that we killed someone together once. Seriously though, she’s the best.”

He does a double take.

“Wait, what? You killed someone together?” he asks as we get into his car.

I grimace. “I’m invoking the best friend pact on that one. I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.”

“That’s not a thing,” he informs me.

“It better be or I’ll have to kill you. Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead,” I deadpan.

He shakes his head. “She’s a cop? You’ve never worried about being tied to her?”

I shake my head before he can even finish the question. “Nah. We’re careful. We only talk on burner phones that I send her. I’ve only seen her once since that first time. We take all the precautions necessary to keep our friendship private. Enough about us, what about your little Trouble?”

Declan glares before looking back at the road. “Don’t call her that. Her name is Nikita.”

Holding up my hands, I tell him, “No nicknames, got it. Now tell me.”

“She’s here on refuge. Her father is Russian and worked under Ivan. He didn’t want to run back home with his tail between his legs, so he made a deal with Haruaki. He could stay, but his daughter belongs to the Yakuza. Or us by extension since Haruaki didn’t trust her enough to keep her at one of his properties.”

“So now you have a hot chick across the hall. I’m not seeing the problem.”

He snorts. “She’s vile. She creates all kinds of noise all the time. I swear she does it to annoy me.”

“Sounds like the key elements to a great hate fuck.”

“Fuck her? Hell, no. My dick might fall off.”

“Or he would have the time of his life.” I shrug.

Before he can say anything else, his phone rings.

“Yeah?” he asks as it connects to Bluetooth.

“It’s go time. One of the girls we suited up didn’t report in. Location is showing her at a warehouse about twenty minutes south of the city.” Kenji’s voice comes through the speaker.

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