“I need to call Luca.” Tommy took my hand and led me back to the street, where my friends came pouring out.
Gio scowled and shared a silent conversation with Tommy. Without a word, Tommy peeled off into the alley.
“What happened?” Ashley ran her thumb over the scrapes on my cheek. “Your lip!”
I let out a light chuckle. “Two girls knocked into me, and I fell. Leave it to me to have a drunk hit and run.”
My little performance must have been convincing because they all laughed and started toward the hotel, chatting about the snacks they’d bought. Ten minutes after we’d made it back to the suite, Tommy showed up without my phone and with an irate Luca on his.
“Sasha?”
“Hey, Luca.”
“You okay?” His voice was tight, hard.
I gave the girls an apologetic smile as I went into my room, shutting the door while they all hooted and hollered.
“I am. Tommy scared whoever it was away.” Luca remained silent. “I’m fine. A couple of scrapes, but nothing crazy.”
“I want you home.”
“And I’ll be home tomorrow.”
“That’s not soon enough.” The way he was talking, I expected him to reschedule the flight. I could picture him pacing his office, a little tipsy and a whole lot pissed off. Even hundreds of miles away, I felt protected.
I smiled, and the cut on my lip started to bleed. “I know.”
TWENTY-TWO
After my chat with Luca, our flight was magically bumped up, so tired and hungover, our little party made it to the airport hours earlier than we’d planned.
“There better be food on the plane,” Jazz grumbled.
“The chef packed up our breakfast,” Ashley mumbled as she disappeared onto the plane.
Imani shook her head, her tawny skin losing its glow at the mention of food. She took a deep breath, then followed Jazz up the steps onto the plane.
While the flight to Mexico was rowdy, the flight back was a somber affair. Parting with half-assed hugs, we got into our respective cars and headed home. Tommy wisely kept the radio off, and his lane changes to the minimum.
When he pulled into the driveway, I finished the last of the water in the bottle and sighed. “Can you grab my suitcase? I feel like I might die.”
Tommy pursed his lips, clearly holding back a laugh as he got out of the car.
I took a deep breath and prepared myself to open the door, get my body out of the car, walk up flights of stairs, strip out of my clothes, and land first on the bed.
Tommy opened my door.
One step down.
“Sasha?”
“Give me a second.”
He rocked back and forth until he eventually rolled his eyes and held out his hand. “Give me your keys.”
“You’re not allowed in the house if Luca’s not here.”
“I know. I’m just going to open the door and set these inside.”