49
Fink
Finkhadhungatleast six of these before.The task wasn’t difficult.Thisshouldn’tbe a challenge.Yet he stood there, befuddled by the sixty-five-inch television hanging on Sydney’s wall.
Another TV in his house would be ridiculous.She wanted to sell it.All he had to do was get it off the wall while she was at the consignment shop.
The problem wasn’t that he didn’t know what to do or what screws to take out.This wasn’t a one-man job.
Blowing out a breath, with his hands on his hips, Fink studied the situation.There was no way he could do it alone.He needed another body.
Bing-bong.
Saved by the bell?But why would Sydney ring it?
He stepped aside, reached for the knob, and opened the door like it was his apartment and not somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be.What the hell was wrong with him?He had no business doing that.
“I thought I’d find you here.”
A five-foot-six, dark-haired, brown-eyed man stood shaking his head and clucking his tongue.AJ.Fink’s handler was there, in person.
Shit.
Without waiting for an invitation, AJ moved forward, brushing past Fink and entering the apartment.
Fink peered out the door and glanced left and right.
No one else.
There weren’t any vehicles that looked out of place.Not a plumber, an electrician, or a cable company van sat nearby.AJ had come alone.That was good at least.
Bracing himself, Fink shut the door behind him.
AJ, with his hands in his pockets, glanced around the compact living room, nodding.“Small.Quaint.A little sparsely decorated.”
His gaze settled on a tote in the middle of the floor, half filled with books and towels.
Fink’s handler cocked his head to the side and turned to face Fink.He gestured toward the box.“Someone moving?”
Fink scrubbed the back of his neck but didn’t answer.He didn’t have to.AJ didn’t control his life.They were friends who shared a long history, and he was Fink’s main source of contracts, but that didn’t mean he dictated how Fink lived orwhohe shared a home with.
AJ pursed his lips.“I always thought midlife crises happened around forty.Aren’t you a little young for this nonsense?”
“It’s not—”
His handler’s gaze darkened.His expression hardened, and any jokes he’d made died right then and there.He was clearly pissed off.“What the fuck else do you call it?”
Fink opened his mouth to respond but again was cut off.
“First, you let a liability continue to breathe.”AJ held up a finger.“Then you bring said liability to your fucking cabin.”AJ added a digit.“By the way, I’m not offended at all that she got to see it before I did.We can discuss that later.Right now, we’re focused on business.”
Fink shifted his weight from one foot to the other.So far, AJ was right; he really couldn’t contest what his friend had said.For someone who was on the outside looking in, it definitely seemed like Fink took a misstep or twelve.
AJ licked his bottom lip and took a step toward Fink.“Care to explain how the good Mrs.Grant overdosed this morning?”His handler steepled his fingers and tapped them against his chin.“The only person the cops were investigating for the deathyoucaused.”
There was the reason he’d shown up.The other stuff, AJ could let slide, but taking out Chloe Grant was a bit too far.
“You asked for a lawyer to protect this woman.”AJ came closer.“Against my better judgment, I helped.Then you dothis?”
