The message just keeps going without any pause for my question. Great. Even a computer ignores me.
“Four missions a month, maybe more. A house will be provided for you to live in that’s more secure than any otherhouse in Eastport. A stipend for school. If you want to kill a bad guy, it’ll be cleaned up, and you won’t be caught.”
A house to live in… a stipend for school. That means no more extra job for Jacob.
“All right, well, this was fun,” Dante says while making a show of clapping his hands. “Story time and two thousand dollars. Any of you want to spar with me so this night isn’t a total waste?”
The three of us stare at him in confusion because it seems we’re all actually considering it. Jacob roughly grabs me and tugs me over to the other side of the room.
“I don’t think we should do this, it sounds too criminal,” Jacob says out of the corner of his mouth.
“You can’t be fucking serious,” I whisper furiously.
“You seriously want to be like little miniature John Wicks?”
“Yeah! Kind of!”
Jacob rears back. “Really?”
“Well! It’s better than what we’re doing now and sometimes it’s not enough. I want to do more. Maybe we can get back at some people and feel better about life in general.”
“You don’t feel good about life?” Jacob asks quietly, sounding a little afraid.
Now is not the time for this discussion. “Jacob, our mom is dead and we’re just fucking going through life like a couple of aimless kids. Yeah, maybe this will give us purpose. And also the money would be nice because I don’t know how long the life insurance money will sustain us. Mom would want us to be taken care of.”
Jacob basically growls. “Low blow, bro.”
I shrug, uncaring. “I’m doing this with or without you.”
“Fuck.”
“Also,” I say, squinting his way, then squinting back at the other two who are standing awkwardly beside the computer. “No hooking up with either of them.”
Jacob groans in agony. “The blond though!”
“No.”
“Fine.”
I grin, happy to have gotten my way, which is actually pretty easy for me to do with Jacob because he’s a giant pushover for someone he loves. We end our side talk and return to the others. I feel pleased, but Jacob looks a little put out, which is funny because he’ll probably end up enjoying this more than any of us. Give Jacob something to succeed at and suddenly he’ll be the best.
Jacob squats down to grab the briefcase from under the laptop. A small sticky note that has all four of our names written on it is stuck to the briefcase. He clicks open the sides and reaches inside, pulling out four manila folders that he slowly hands to each of us, then lowers the briefcase to the ground.
I hold my manila folder in my hands like it might bite me, sneaking glances at the rest of the guys. Jacob stares down at the papers in his hands like he’s been handed the codes to the nukes, but when I lean over to sneak a glance, he quickly snatches them away and mouthslater. Okay. Ignoring him for now, I tentatively open my folder.
Inside is the lease to a house near campus that’s ours scot-free. There’s also some information about a monthly stipend for a couple grand a month, the keys to a Mercedes, and a specific note about me undergoing training for rifle use. Does everyone else have the same notes? By Jacob’s face I’d assume not because there’s nothing particularly special about mine, until I flip to the last page. There’s a note about me going onseparate missions from everyone else, after we’re trained and have been on a handful of missions together. That seems… different.
“I got keys for a Mercedes?” I say in wonder, lifting the keys up for everyone to see. “Anyone else get a car?”
Hayden shakes his head but holds up a pair of house keys. “I got keys to the house.”
“Well,” Jacob says blandly, gaze flitting between the rest of us. “Hi, roommates.”
Suddenly, everything settles a little inside me, and I feel a little less restless. For once something cool is happening to me. Maybe I can reshape myself into someone worth attention. A little killing for good never hurt anyone. I’m going to besocool.
CHAPTER 1
PARKER
