“You smile, and you have to eat a normal breakfast.”
“I smile, and I eat a protein bar.”
“And you take me to Starbucks.”
“Ah, the terrorist negotiates.”
“Only when the jailkeeper corners me.” I smiled.
“Fine.” He cleared his throat and looked away. With a deep exhale, he made eye contact again and smiled.
A devastating, heart-stopping, knee-knocking, movie-star smile that had my entire body going limp.
The dimple went deep.
The teeth were straight and white.
His eyes no longer looked haunted.
And I, seriously, felt my heart skip a beat in my chest.
“Now,” he said softly, “get the hell out of my bed.”
“Aw, and we were so close with that moment. It was like friendship-carpet time.”
“Feel free to shoot me if we ever — and I do mean ever — have a moment that includes the words friendship, carpet, and magic.”
“Ha, didn’t say magic!”
“Out.” He pointed to the door, the blanket going lower across his muscled body.
Just a little farther, and I’d be able to see what all the fuss was about.
“Bee.” There it was, the warning tone I was so used to.
With a huff, I jumped off the bed and walked to the door.
“What?” Phoenix asked when I didn’t step all the way through. “What’s wrong now?”
“Thank you....” I didn’t turn around. “…for not yelling at me.”
He swore under his breath. “The very fact that you have to thank me for that tells you the type of man I am, Bee, a piece of shit.”
“No.” I exhaled my frustration. “Just scared of being stung, right?” I looked over my shoulder, expecting to see an irritated expression; instead, I saw nothing but hunger, and I was pretty sure I knew who it was directed toward. With a shudder, he turned away.
Another moment gone.
Maybe if I kept piling them up, they’d be more permanent. I could use permanent, or maybe I could just use Phoenix.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The secrets: we keep. The truth: we find.
Sergio
THE INFORMATION MADE NO sense. Pike was working for the feds, but I saw nothing about a deal or about his family getting out of prison for his participation, so what could he possibly have to gain by helping them?
I researched until my eyes went crossed.
Finally, I was about ready to shut my computer down and pour some more morning coffee when my thoughts went to Andi.
I quickly found her in the database then did a background search on her. I expected it to be mildly tame, easily accessible.
But the minute I clicked on her name…
The entire screen froze.
What the hell?
I opened up another screen and did a similar search, this time plugging in all the right keystrokes in order to gain access into her file.
And again, I was locked out.
The only reason the system would lock me out would be because it was top-secret information, but I’d helped design the damn system, which meant either it had a virus or somehow the girl had gone above even my head to make sure that her file was secure.
The only other person who had access was sitting in a nice comfy seat downtown.
Calling him would look suspicious.
I’d rather just hack my way in.
But why the sudden obsession? I wasn’t sure; maybe it was the fact that I knew my own time was already up and I wasn’t doing a good job of dealing with it, yet she seemed happy almost chipper about her impending death. How the hell did someone face that every day with a smile?
I groaned and ran my hands over my face just as Phoenix made his way into the kitchen looking less haunted than usual.
“I take it things went well last night?”
He dropped the coffee cup in his hand. It shattered against the granite and spilt across the counter.
“Or it went horrible and you want to commit suicide via slicing your wrists open with your own morning cup of coffee?”
Phoenix pressed his hands against the counter. “Sorry, I was… squeezing too hard.”
“Well then, better be careful when you take a piss this morning.”
“Ha!” He rolled his eyes and reached for another mug. “And yeah, it went well last night. The Nicolasi family is here to stay.”
“Surprise, surprise.” I closed my computer, just in case he walked around behind me, and rose from my seat.
“They thought so.”
“They don’t trust anyone or anything. Of course, they thought they were going back to Sicily. That’s where we sent them in the first place.” I never did ask why the family was sent away, figured it wasn’t any of my business, but the very fact that they were staying meant bad news for everyone; they just didn’t realize it. Hell, they had no clue the shit storm that was coming their way. I could only stop it if I was alive, and I knew that it was only a matter of time before I, the last remaining loose end, was going to get killed.
I had a feeling, a suspicion, of who my replacement was.
And it made me sick to my stomach, but all I had was speculation and a funny feeling that things weren’t going to end well for me, not if Nixon found out, not if Tex found out. Hell, if any of them found out… I was a dead man.
Then again, I was already dead.
“Boys.” Bee skipped into the room and stole the coffee from Phoenix’s hand. I expected him to yell, but instead he moved away from her so fast you’d think she just offered to rub him down with poison ivy.