“I could say the same thing.” He prowled across the alley and rested his hands on either side of her head. His breath smelled of whiskey, and warmed her cheek. “How am I supposed to reply to a damn question mark? Would it have killed you to type out ‘I’m okay’? Now you’ve pulled me from my dinner and ordered me into this putrid alley like I’m some sort of criminal—”
Lila drew her Colt and pressed the barrel under his chin. “You are a criminal, Tristan, and you’ll want to step away from me with that temper.”
Tristan scowled and shoved himself off the wall. “Of course, chief. Very well, chief. I forgot how much you love to order everyone around, chief. Wouldn’t do to get too close to the riffraff, would it?”
Lila holstered her gun. “You could have killed people, Tristan. Do you even care?”
“No one was hurt. You weren’t, were you? Shirley said that you’d be fine.”
“Oh, so now you’re worried about me?”
“I worry about all my people.” He sniffed and retreated to his side of the alley.
“I’m not one of your people.”
“Clearly.”
“That’s a good thing, since you don’t give two shits about the highborn. Where were you this morning? Your one job was to watch my back. Instead you left Dixon in your place. You nearly got me arrested and blown into tiny pieces while you were doing gods’ know what, and now—”
Tristan’s dark eyes narrowed. “No one was nearly blown into tiny pieces. We were careful. You were far enough away from the blast when we detonated. I had to get you free from those blackcoats somehow, didn’t I? Here you are, instead of a holding cell in Bullstow. I held up my end of the bargain. You should be thanking me.”
“The only reason why I got caught was because you triggered the alarm in—”
“What alarm?”
“The fire alarm inside the Bullstow compound,” she explained, keeping the details to herself. She only told Tristan what he needed to know, and her purpose in Bullstow was not part of that.
“None of my people triggered an alarm. We weren’t even inside Bullstow when the bomb exploded, so don’t blame me and mine for your mistakes.”
“And before?”
“No.”
“I suspect that’s the truth. Most of them were probably still moving your things from the hotel, is that it?”
“You went back there,” he said, rubbing at his eyes. “That’s why we couldn’t find you. I can explain—”
“No. I don’t want to hear it. You’re too sloppy, Tristan. This was our last job together. Do you understand me? You went too far this time.” She had hoped he’d apologize, or at least say something, anything to make her understand. But her father was right. She wouldn’t turn his name in to Shaw, but they couldn’t work together anymore. Not after this.
“What do you mean this is our last job? Who else are you going to use if not me? Hawk? Natalie? Someone—”
“Someone competent? Maybe someone who won’t use me as a distraction to cover up his own aims? Someone who won’t put my back in danger when he’s supposed to be looking out for it? I’m not one of your people, Tristan. Don’t act like I am.”
“You got pinched. I acted. That was the job, chief.”
“No, the job was to make sure I didn’t get arrested, not blow up a building. Don’t talk like you did this for me. You’d planned it out already.”
“Why would—”
She held up her hand quickly, silencing his rebuttal. “You wouldn’t have moved out of your safe house unless you knew there’d be a need for it. You wouldn’t have had thousands of flyers ready and waiting to rain down on the streets unless you had a reason for them. That wasn’t a backup plan. You don’t go to that much effort. You used me, and what I can’t figure out is who you think you’re going to work with after this.”
“What do you mean?” Tristan cocked his head to the side. “With you, of course.”
“You’re serious right now? You just shrugged off potential casualties like we were talking about the weather, and you think I can still work with you? You think I can trust you?”
She hadn’t meant to say it out loud, to acknowledge she had trusted him before the bombing no matter what her brain had told her.
But she had, and Tristan didn’t even seem to notice. “I had half a dozen people watching you the entire—”