“Well, it’s not mine.”
“Then what the hell is it doing in your bag?”
He started around me again, but I pushed him back.
“Stay behind me,” I ordered and started toward the table. His bag was on a chair, and the second it was within reaching distance, he slid around me and grabbed it.
It was the first time since I’d moved in here that I regretted not having a lamp. I mean, the light switch was on the other side of the room. Good thing I was at home in the dark.
The zipper was loud when he opened the top, as was the sound of everything tumbling out when he dumped the entire contents onto the floor.
Clothes and stuff dropped everywhere. The container concealing the biohazard he called a cookie rolled toward my foot.
The ringing was loud now as he dug through the smallmound of clothes and pulled out a small black burner phone.
“Where in the hot hell did you get that?” I demanded, finally lowering my gun.
“You don’t have to say hell is hot. It’s implied.”
“Are you sassing me while I’m standing here with a gun?”
“Tommy,” he said.
I just really didn’t like any of the words coming out of his mouth. “Items from hooligans are not gifts. They’re reasons you end up on a witness list!”
“He tried to give it to me, and I told him I didn’t want it. I guess he put it on my desk when I wasn’t looking. I must have grabbed it when I was getting my work stuff to come here,” he explained.
“Yet another reason that job of yours was like decaf coffee… pointless!”
He opened his mouth, but really, I’d had enough of it.
“And also… you camewhere?”
The lord be testing me in the middle of the night. Wasn’t the first time. Looking at that face… I knew it wouldn’t be the last.
He sighed. “Home. But is it really home when you already bought a new one?”
The phone went off for the eleventy-third time. Frankly, I was impressed with the amount of battery such a shit burner had.
Oh, fuck.
“Tommy said when he called, I had to answer.”
“And if Tommy told you to leap off a bridge, would youdo that too?”
“No. But if you told me to, I would.”
“You flirting with me? Because it’s a bad time, but also, please go on.”I could just shoot the phone. Problem solved.Too bad it wasn’t that easy.
“Answer it,” I said, already mad about it.
He did a double take. Then, “You want me to answer it?”
“Fuck no. But maybe he’ll tell you where to meet, and I can have Enzo go take care ofhisproblem.” Plus, I knew if he ignored the call, we’d probably have people on the doorstep.
The urge to shoot the phone came over me again. So strong I forced myself to put the phone on the table.
“Hello?” Pip said.
