Queen of Nothing

21. Queen of Coming Clean

Tristan shot me a questioning glance, as if I could explain Alexis's sudden arrival. I could not. Her presence puzzled me just as much as it did him. Why would she go through the trouble of following us all the way to Baton Rouge? The answer couldn't be good.

"Hello Alexis," Tristan said warily. "Are you here on behalf of my uncle?"

Alexis flashed him a wide, red-lipped smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Nah," she gave a dismissive wave of her hand. "I'm just here to say hi."

"And you came all the way here to do that?" Tristan asked, not even bothering to hide his skepticism.

Alexis shrugged, as if what she'd done was perfectly normal and in no way qualified as stalking. "Can I borrow your girl for a moment? We've got some business to discuss."

Tristan looked uneasily at me. Alexis and I hadn't talked about our 'business' for a while, and she'd certainly never bothered to do it in front of Tristan. What had driven her to go to such lengths to find me? I had to find out.

"Make it quick," I said, rising to my feet. Tristan frowned, but didn't protest.

Alexis linked our arms together and winked at Tristan. "Don't worry, it'll only take a second." She led me to the bar and we both sat down.

"How did you find us?" I asked.

"The king has a GPS tracker in Tristan's phone and car. Crazy, right?" Alexis replied with a guilty smile. Ignoring my horrified expression, she pressed on. "So where the hell have you been? You haven't responded to any of my calls or texts since I told you about Ashton Fowler's party."

I winced, wishing she'd never gotten my new number so I could still use that as an excuse.

"I've been laying low because of the whole JC situation," I replied. "Right now, the king doesn't think too highly of me."

Alexis made a show of pouting, then patted by knee sympathetically. "I know. I couldn't believe JC had the nerve to do what he did. But hey, everything worked out in our favor, right? Because the king doesn't seem to think too highly of Tristan either."

"Yeah, well I'm not really thrilled at the idea of being on the king's shit list," I said. "He told us we should stop seeing each other. That I was a bad influence."

Alexis waved her hand dismissively. "Honestly, Tristan's so uptight, he could use a little 'bad influence' in his life. Besides, once our deal is secure and this whole thing blows over, you can mosey on back to the North and stay off of Sheridan's radar for good. Until he makes me a vampire, of course. Then you can come back and I'll be more than happy to turn you."

"Yeah and when is that going to be exactly?" I asked pointedly, recalling what James told me so long ago — that Alexis's promises were empty, she had no guarantee of fulfilling them, and if she did there was no telling how long it would actually take.

"Don't sweat it. You'll get your due," Alexis said.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head at her statement. It was taking all of my mental energy to have a civil conversation with Alexis. Asking me to mirror her excitement was too much.

Alexis sighed softly and placed a reassuring hand on my forearm, causing me to flinch away involuntarily. If she noticed, she didn't show it. "Don't be so down. You've done everything I could ask for and more. Right now, Tristan's head over heels for a girl his uncle hates. I honestly couldn't have planned it better myself."

"Yeah," I replied tersely. The bartender shuffled by and I contemplated ordering something strong enough to help me endure Alexis's presence. "But I don't think you came all this way just to catch up and tell me what a good job I've done."