ALICE Ch 283

Riley sits cross-legged on the bed. It was hard to watch Alice morosely leave the room. She’s not a kid anymore, but it’s impossible not to see her as one.

She thinks hard for several moments. Adella is back to scrolling her phone idly. Riley rubs her chin.

“So she did it with these two.” Adella shows Riley a picture of Irina and Sasha Orlova. Of course she would look that up.

“Can you be classy, please? They’re pretty, at least.”

“Not bad at all,” Adella murmurs.

Riley rolls her eyes. “Come on.” She pats Adella’s leg. “We gotta talk to Lotte.”

“Lotte?”

“Lotte.” Riley hops off the bed and trots to the door. She beckons impatiently.

Adella sighs and picks herself up. “I’m not getting dressed,” she says, crossing the room.

“Yeah, babe. Swing that bulge around the whole hotel. I don’t care.”

They pad down the hall to Lotte’s door. Riley knocks politely. The door opens, and the smell of nail polish mingled with French fries washes over them.

“Hi,” Sun says. She wears a cute, yet restrained, matching set of pink thong and bra. It’s pretty conservative by her standards. The only thing that has changed over the years is that instead of her pixie cut from her FUTA days, Sun’s hair is long and layered. She also wears glasses now.

Adella doesn’t try to hide her disdain for Sun’s washboard physique, but Adella’s attention has never interested Sun. Although Sun does appear to appreciate that Adella is also strutting around in her underwear.

“You look amazing,” Riley tells her. “Oh, what the shit? Everyone’s here?”

They are. Ingrid, Lotte, and Julieta are all on the bed, working on their toes. Fast food wrappers are strewn everywhere. They must have found a Hungarian McDonald's.

Sun’s the only one flashing underwear; everyone else is dressed comfy. Maybe too comfy; Ingrid’s doing without a bra. Riley stomps Adella’s foot in advance for all the drooling that her wife will do.

“You didn’t invite us?” Riley says, hurt.

“You were busy,” Sun replies with a shrug. She rejoins the others on the bed.

“Busy?” Riley replies, puzzled.

Julieta winks at her, then makes a ring with her fingers and pokes a finger through it.

“Would’ve been rude to disturb you,” Sun says.

Riley is confused. “What? We haven’t even done anything today. We haven’t even done anything since Monday! Why would you think we…”

Lotte chuckles quietly to herself, concentrating on Ingrid’s toes.

Riley glares. “Goddammit, Lotte.” She rolls her eyes and approaches the bed. Adella leans in the background, contentedly enjoying the view. “Lotte, you’re the one who likes F1, right?”

“My sister has a Max Verstappen poster on her wall,” Lotte replies. She blows on Ingrid’s foot.

“Do they do crazy Game of Thrones shit in F1? Like sabotaging a team and stuff? Like they did back in the day at FUTA?”

“Who?” Lotte replies.

“Who?” Riley echoes, puzzled by the query.

“Who are you asking about?”

“I guess, uh… a pissed off Russian billionaire oil chick?” Riley glances at Adella for confirmation. “With some weird kinks?”

Seconds go by. Everyone stares at her.

Riley bristles. She plants her hands on her hips. “What?”

“America.” Adella walks over and puts her hand on Riley’s shoulder.

“What?” Riley repeats, annoyed. Even Ingrid looks slightly pitying.

Sun smiles. “Riley, maybe you don’t get this because you’re American. You’re asking if a Russian oligarch would do something bad out of spite?”

“Yeah. So?”