“You bugged your fiancée?”
“Well, I had to keep an eye, or ear, in this case, on her somehow. I know I couldn’t force her to stay.”Unfortunately.
“Don’t you think that’s a little . . . stalkerish?” Juice asks.
I glare at both of them. “There is an unidentified threat out there, and although it doesn’t seem to involve Ellie, I decided to play it safe anyway.”
“Translation,” Jett arbitrates, “I am insecure about my fiancée hanging out with another man, so I took it upon myself to eavesdrop.”
“Fuck you,” I spit. “If the two of you have such a problem with my moral turpitude, you can leave.”
Jett and Juice glance at each other decisively.
“I’ll get the popcorn.” Juice jumps up.
That’s what I thought.
Once gone, Jett swivels his chair so he’s looking directly at me. “You’ve come far, Grasshopper.”
I raise my eyebrows at him. Condescending cocksucker. “You do know I’m going to throw knives at your head while you’re sleeping tonight, right?”
“Good.” He runs his hand through his blond hair. “Take a little off the top. I’m due for a trim.”
“Ass—” Loud popping noises like gunshots suddenly echo from inside the apartment.
“Juice!?” We both yell as we jump up and grab the closest firearm in reaching distance. We hear more pops and then the smell of popcorn fills the air.
We glance at each other hesitantly, waiting a few moments before Juice reappears with a big bowl in one hand a bottle of soda in the other.
“Should I put my hands up?” he asks as he stares down the barrel of two semi-automatic handguns.
Jett and I both exhale.
“When you said popcorn, I thought you meant you were going to rip open a bag.”
“No way.” He sits back down in his captain’s chair. “This is first-class entertainment. It warrants the real stuff.” He pops a kernel into his mouth.
“Just turn the fucking thing on.” I uncock the gun, and then grab a handful of popcorn for myself.
A few seconds later, the sound of cars passing and Ellie humming plays through the room.
“Good acoustics,” Juice mouths.
I roll my eyes; idiot loves his gadgets.
She has to be close to the coffee house by now, if not there already.
There’s a low ringing noise, and then a muffled voice I recognize.
“You’ve reached Mark at Expo Shipping and Receiving. I’m sorry I missed your call but please leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”
Beep!
“Mark, you going to be really sorry you missed this call! I’ll only forgive you if you’re doing something really important, like Pretty Pete. Call me! I have to ask you something. Bye.”
Ask him something?
“Pretty Pete?” Juice asks with wide brown eyes.
