A Very Merry Hitman (Holiday With a Hitman #2)

14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

It’s okay if you don’t like me; not everyone has good taste.

“You know I’m just going with Diego as friends, right?” Aileen asked Elli as they got massages. She’d only agreed to go platonically to start with, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to Diego. And she was ninety-nine percent sure he wasn’t attracted to her anyway.

“I kind of figured,” Elli murmured, her head turned toward Aileen in the dim massage room.

Soft music pumped in through hidden speakers and the scent of lavender and rosemary oil filled the air. “Why’d you figure?”

“Because of the way Dante is acting seems like an obvious thing to say but I’m saying it.”

“We’re just friends.” With benefits. That was a thing, right?

“Sure, and I wasn’t stalking my husband before we got married.”

Aileen wondered what their masseuses thought of their conversation, then dismissed it because who cared. Turning away from her friend, she put her face back in the little open donut pillow as the woman working on her started pounding her calves. It shouldn’t feel as good as it did, but oh my sweet Santa she could feel the stress leaving her body. “So…what if we were more than friends? I’m not saying we are, but…how do you think my parents would react?”

“Who cares? ”

Aileen turned to look at her sister-in-law again. “Seriously?”

“Yep.” Elli had her face in the donut now so her voice had a slightly muffled quality to it. “I love your parents. Like, love them and wish I’d had parents like them. But who cares what they think? Who cares what anyone thinks? Anyone except Nessa,” she added. “Because duh. But other than her, you’re the one who has to live with your choices. And you deserve to be happy.”

“You make it sound so easy.” She stuck her face back in the hole as a new track of soothing music came on. Elli didn’t respond so Aileen did what she did best, stewed in her thoughts. She loved to dissect every little thing and make herself crazy. It was like the worst pastime ever.

When their masseuses had left and they were getting dressed again, Aileen sat on the edge of the massage table. “I’m nervous about tonight. I know what I said, but the thought of seeing…his parents, it’s nerve-racking.”

Nodding, Elli slid her sweater on over her head. “I know, it’s why I suggested a spa day today. I figured it’d help you ‘armor up.’ And no one is making you go, so if you change your mind, no one will think less of you.”

“I’ll think less of myself,” she whispered, letting the truth spill out.

Elli blinked in surprise as she crossed over to her, leaned next to her on the table. “But why?”

“I never confronted them after…” She covered her face for a long moment. “When Tanner took me to court, tried to get shared custody of Nessa, I was in a really dark place. I let my parents and Theo take over and do what they do best. Even though I’m glad he’s dead now, even though I’ll never, ever tell Nessa the truth about her parentage, I still feel guilty sometimes. Wondering if I should have stopped Theo, or, I don’t know. Done something differently.”

“Nope.” Elli shook her head, so sure of herself.

“You’re so confident about that,” Aileen murmured, a little jealous of the other woman’s constant self-assuredness.

“I guess I am. And hell, maybe I’m wrong. But that monster hurt you when you were unconscious. Took something from you that he had no right to take. Then, in an act of what I consider pure evil, tried to forcibly link you to him for the rest of your life through custody. To retraumatize you over and over. He deserved what he got and the world is a better place without him in it. If you don’t want to face his parents, don’t do it. But you’re strong enough to do it if that’s your fear. Even if they have nothing to do with what’s going on right now, I think there’s something to be said for facing them straight on. Maybe it’ll give you closure, if you need it. But don’t feel pressured to.”

Aileen leaned her head on Elli’s shoulder. “I’m glad you’re my sister-in-law,” she whispered. She always knew the right thing to say, and she’d made Theo happier than Aileen had ever seen her brother.

“Me too.”

There was a soft knock at the door, their masseuses coming back to give them water and check on them. And then it was on to the last thing of the day—getting their hair done.

Aileen was nervous about tonight, about facing her past in a way she hadn’t ever thought she’d be ready to. But she was also excited to see Dante’s expression when he saw her after her makeover today. She knew that he liked her exactly the way she was, but screw it, she wanted him to like what he saw when he looked at her. Wanted…more than this friends-only nonsense.

But she was the one who’d put stipulations on this whole thing, had made it clear that she was asking him for a favor. Now she had to figure out how to undo that and let him know she wanted something else.

Like forever with her best friend.