“Screw them. They’re snooty old bitches anyway and can’t do a Downward Dog to save their lives,” she sniffed, folding her arms across her narrow chest. “I spent half an hour this morning with Mrs. Peterson’s camel toe in my face. Believe me, out of all my clients, I’d miss them the least.”
For someone so tiny, she had a backbone of steel.
Phoenix and Harper, as a couple, were a sight to see. How things worked in the sack wasn’t something I thought about often, but it would surely be complicated due to the differences in their sizes. As I said, I didn’t overthink it. I also saw her as my sister and Nix as my brother, and so the image of that shit was gross.
“Baby Sawyer isn’t going to be a felon. It will be fine.” I explained, side-eyeing Phoenix as I used our full nickname for Harper.
The big guy grumbled and moodily turned to face the front. “If anything happens to her, it’s your neck on the line, Prescott. I will literally crush your windpipe.”
“There is to be no windpipe crushing. Zip it. Count me in, Reed,” Harper announced breezily, making the zip-it motions with her fingers at her man.
After a beat or two of glaring down at her determined expression, Nix gave in. “Fine. OK. So, how do we get in?” Going against his girl was clearly way too much of a headache.
Following the GPS, I pulled off Broadway and parked the car against the sidewalk, around three hundred yards from where Phoenix had told me his father and Theodore Remmington’s offices were. Jasper now used his father’s office and washeavily involved in the business. I wasn’t sure what they all did together; something to do with political consultancy, Nix had advised.
Cutting the engine, I took off my belt and faced front.
“This is the part where you tell us the plan.”
And of course, I had nothing. “I’ve not got that far yet. I was hoping you’d know how we could get in.”
Phoenix looked offended. “How the hell would I know how to break into someone’s office?”
Motioning towards him with one hand, I pointed out. “You’re a fireman. Surely you break into buildings all the time?”
He grunted and crossed his huge arms over his chest. “Pfft. Yeah, brainiac, by breaking through the door with a fucking Halligan bar and a flat head. I’m thinking we’ll be needing entry with a bit more finesse than that,” he huffed. Phoenix had a great sense of humor on a normal day, but could be a moody bastard when he didn’t have all the answers.
I scrubbed a hand across my jaw, hating that he was right. Another thought came to me. “We could always break in and then make it look like a burglary.”
Nix puffed out a breath, shaking his head. “Even so, burglars don’t go crashing into a building: that makes noise, dipshit. And how do we even know that the file they were talking about will be there?”
“We don’t. So, we’re going to have to carry out a general snoop.”
“Maybe Jasper has it on him or at his apartment?” Nix pointed out unhelpfully.
“He has an apartment?
“Yes, a rental.”
“Then we’ll go there straight after,” I explained, itching my chin. “Storm is going to keep him busy, remember. That will give us the chance to go there next if needs be.”
“Fuck me. That’s a lot of breaking and entering for one day.”
Dude had a point, but I was desperate.
Phoenix suddenly punched me on the arm, his face suggesting a lightbulb moment as he added with a thoughtful expression. “We could do with Hudson onside.”
I leaned back against my door with a horrified expression, rubbing feeling back into the dead arm he’d just given me. “No way. We are not involving Hudson in this. He’s too unpredictable.”
Nix and Harper exchanged a look. “I’m just thinking about his history.”
His girl's brow furrowed as she stared at Nix with a blank look. “His history?”
Her boyfriend went on in earnest. “Yeah. With Tommo. They used to steal cars and shit.”
Harper’s face lit up as if she’d just been told the meatiest of secrets. “I didn’t know that.”
Nix cut her a scowl. “And you still don’t. If he found out I told you, he’d hang me from my fire truck ladder by my balls.”
