Alexei begins to laugh again. “That’s what you think, little one.”
Hana’s eyes dart between us. “What?”
“Whenever I was looking for him,” Alexei jabs a thumb my way, “he’d be somewhere watching you.”
Hana’s eyes widen, and when she turns them to me, her smile turns playful. “You watched me?”
Slowly, I nod. “Every day.”
She reaches for my hand, and we link our fingers.
When I glance back at Alexei, there’s a pleased expression on his face. “This makes me happy.”
My mouth curves up. “Me too.”
HANA
All hell broke loose the past week. We went to Studio 9 on Friday, and Mila was attacked.
Jase has been glued to her side since, and he’s asked us all to keep our distance. It’s hard, though. All I want to do is hug and comfort her, but I also know she needs time. Just like I did, although my attack wasn’t nearly as bad as hers. Justin Green hurt her badly.
I shake my head as I sit at the restaurant on campus with Fallon. We’re both just staring at our untouched food.
“I can’t believe it happened,” Fallon whispers.
I nod. “Me too.”
While I’ve been with my friends, Tristan’s been spending time with Ryker, which is understandable as Ryker must be distraught with what happened to his sister.
It’s just crazy.
“I never thought Justin would be able to do something like that,” Fallon says. “He looked like a nice guy.”
“Appearances can be deceiving,” I mutter.
My thoughts turn to Alexei. At first glance, I thought he was the devil himself, but after I’ve gotten to know him, my impression of him changed. He might be involved with illegal activities, but he’s a good friend to Tristan.
Being with Tristan has changed a lot of my beliefs. Everything’s not black or white anymore.
Justin will probably get away with a slap on the wrist, where he deserves much worse. It makes anger simmer in me.
Fallon shakes her head as she reaches for her coke. She takes a sip, then says, “It probably won’t even go to court.”
I know Dad’s working the case with Mr. West. “It depends,” I mutter. “Whether Mila is willing to accept a deal or go to court.”
“I hope she takes him for all he’s worth,” Fallon snaps.
I take a deep breath. “It won’t change what happened.”
“Yeah.” Fallon slumps back in her chair. “He deserves the same to happen to him.”
Instantly I think of Tristan and Alexei.
“Maybe karma will return the favor,” I murmur.
Watching Mila, the corner of my mouth curves up.
She’s gotten much better over the past two weeks. So much she’s actually sitting with us in the living room, ready to do facials.
Jase walks into the kitchen and drinks some water while he stares at Mila. The next second he stalks to her, and framing her face, he plants a kiss on her mouth before whispering something in her ear.
Mila’s eyes widen, and then the facial mask flies from her hands, and she kisses the living daylights out of Jase.
A happy smile spreads over my face while Jade and Fallon gape at them.
When Mila sits down, she teases us, “Pick your jaws up from the floor.”
I glance between Jase and Mila. “I like where this is going.”
“That makes two of us,” Fallon agrees, looking as happy as I feel.
Mila deserves to be happy after the hell she’s been through. I hope Jase is to her what Tristan is for me.
After Jade and Jase joke with each other for a while, he leaves us to continue with our facials.
“Smallville?” Mila asks as she puts on the pore-cleansing charcoal mask.
“Definitely,” I say. Reaching for the remote, I go to the season we’re busy with and press play.
While we watch the show, my gaze keeps going to Mila. With every step she takes forward, things are returning to normal.
Done with our facials, and having watched two episodes, I’m about to doze off when there’s a knock at the door. Jade gets up to answer, and then I hear her say, “Tristan!”
My head pops up from where I was lying on the couch, and then I scramble to my feet and run to my room so he won’t see me in my ratty sweatpants and t-shirt.
I change into a pair of jeans and a sweater, and after slipping on my shoes, I walk back to the living room.
“You settled?” Tristan asks Mila.
I wasn’t happy when I heard she was just going to let Justin walk away with some community service as punishment.
“I just want to forget it happened,” Mila says with a smile on her face. “I got closure.”
Tristan stares at her for a moment before he turns to me. He gives me a quick kiss, then says, “I’ve come to kidnap you.”
I can feel the girls watching us and taking hold of his hand, I pull him out the front door while saying, “See you all later.”