“No,” she said. Far too quickly.
He smiled so wide that his lips pushed at his eyes. “That’s a really good lie.”
Before she could deny it again, there was a loud thud at the door. So loud that it jolted them from their embrace.
Adam was torn as he looked between Mercedes, who was now backing away, and the waiting door, but she nodded to him to answer it as she sank back into the bed.
With his shirt still hanging open Adam opened the door to Dan, Carlos, and Paul. He frowned when he saw them, half from amusement, half from concern. Standing in a heap at the door, all of them were covered in dusty brown dirt.
Looking Carlos up and down, Adam noted that he was the worst of all of them. His face was covered in dried blood and clumps of mud, while Dan and Paul only showed their dishevelment through their heaving breaths.
“What the hell happened to the three of you?” Adam said.
“Police busted up our handover with the dealers. Fuckers,” Carlos said, pushing past Adam’s shoulder and bursting the door wide open. Barging into Adam’s hotel room, the three of them froze, likely sensing they’d interrupted something. They had.
“Are you busy?” Paul asked Adam, eyebrows raised.
“Not at all,” Mercedes said, and Adam couldn’t hide his riotous disappointment.
“Nothing to stress about,” Dan said, grossly misunderstanding the source of Adam’s rage. “I already bailed the dealers, got back the product. And got great news.”
Adam looked up, intrigued and excited this time. “You got them?”
“I fucking did!” Dan smiled. “Great excuse to chat with all the officials.”
“Didn’t feel so fucking great on my face,” Carlos said as he retrieved a block of ice from the freezer.
“We’ve got Judge Ritter, Judge Temple, and the D.A.–”
“The one Blake wouldn’t work with?”
Dan nodded. “Oh yeah.”
Adam flicked his tongue against his teeth, laughing softly. “Who else?”
“Right—Ritter, Temple, the D.A. We’ve also got two police sergeants and one captain.”
“Impressive,” she said, though her smile didn’t meet her eyes.
“Why don’t you tell them the bad news.” Paul patted Dan on the back and slumped into a dining chair.
“It’s not even—Paul, shut the fuck up—the tiny detail is that we’ve got to pay a hundred thousand upfront to put them on and to keep your identity a secret,” Dan said, waving his hands around as if that would make the situation seem less inconvenient than it was.
Adam rolled his eyes. “We’ll have that delivered later today.”
“Did anyone see you?” Mercedes asked.
“Definitely,” Dan said. “But it’s okay, I stopped in to bail out one of Blake’s guys while I was there.”
“That’s not all of it,” Paul laughed.
“Alright!” Dan raised a finger to Paul to shush. “And... here’s a list of jobs they need taken care of before they’ll agree to work with us.” He dumped a massive file folder on the table that thudded as it landed. It must have been at least ten books’ worth of paper. Seemed that the city officials were not won over easily.
“Fucking hell, alright,” Adam said. He flipped through the files, straining his neck to the ceiling when he realized how much work it’d be.
“First, you can do me a favor though,” Dan smiled.
Adam slammed the file back down on the table and folded his arms, giving Dan wide eyes that he flicked repeatedly to Mercedes. Paul and Carlos smirked at each other, they were getting it. Dan wasn’t. It was a clear signal to shut the fuck up and leave. Immediately.
