Damn right. “Enjoy one of your last nights in your own bed.”
Tanner was staring at me like I was insane. He turned to Mr. Pruitt. “He doesn’t mean that,” Tanner said. “He hasn’t been getting much sleep. If you would just call off your hitmen, maybe...”
“Come at me with whatever you have,” I added. “I’m going to fucking destroy you.”
“Watch your own back, Matthew,” Mr. Pruitt said. “I’m not having you tailed. And you’re not in danger because of me. Despite what you think, I’ve been protecting you for years. And if you refuse to thank me, consider my protection revoked. Come back to me once you’ve learned reason and an ounce of respect.” Mr. Pruitt slammed the door in our faces.
“I know you cry during the Titanic!” I yelled at the door. “Wait until everyone finds out about that!” I laughed.
“Why are you laughing?” Tanner said. “He’s so fucking pissed. He’s definitely going to off you.”
“Good. Let him try.”
“What?”
I grabbed Tanner’s arm and pulled him away from the Pruitt’s door. “I want him to try to kill me. You said you got the information about the hitmen illegally so it can’t be used in court. So I’ll catch him in the act and get him sent to prison where he belongs. Attempted murder isn’t as bad as actual murder, but he’s old. Hopefully he’ll just rot in prison for the rest of his miserable life.”
“Oh. Oooh. Well, that’s a good idea. Minus the fact that you might die in the process.”
“I’m not going to die. I have a plan.”
“Well…are you going to fill me in?”
It was fitting to make Tanner wait for something for once. The only problem was that I didn’t actually have more of a plan than what I’d told him. Seeing how angry Mr. Pruitt had gotten was what had given me the idea. I’d dug my heels in and gone all in by throwing more insults his way. There was no going back now. Surely Mr. Pruitt had murdered people for less. And I needed to think of something fast or else I was an idiot. I’d just threatened a mobster. Maybe I was an idiot. An idea finally popped into my head. “James has prototypes of these little undetectable cameras…”
“You’re fighting with James. I doubt he’ll loan expensive prototype cameras to you right now.”
Damn, that was a good point. I’d basically told James to fuck off. “Well, Penny will let me borrow them.”
“You really think James is going to let Penny hang out with you while you guys are in a fight? He knows you have feelings for Penny. That was part of your argument.”
“Penny’s her own woman. She doesn’t need James’ permission to hang out with me. Besides, we have plans for dinner tomorrow night. She won’t cancel.” I think. She hated when I canceled on her. I doubted she’d do it to me. But that really depended on what she and James were talking about right now. She’d definitely overheard some of our conversation earlier. Maybe James was telling her everything. The thought of Penny knowing about Brooklyn gave me a sinking feeling in my stomach.
“A dinner date?” asked Tanner. “Nice. So you’re going to seduce Penny and then she’ll bend to your every whim?”
“No.” Maybe. No. “We’re friends. If I tell her I need the cameras, she’ll give them to me. She won’t even ask any questions.” That was a lie. Penny would definitely have a million questions about why I needed spy-grade cameras.
“Great. So you’ll get a hitman trying to kill you on film with a tiny, undetectable Hunter Tech camera. And somehow get away with the evidence and your life. That’s your big plan?”
“I’m open to suggestions.”
“Why don’t we just try to confront the hitwoman directly? Get her to confess to being hired to kill you before she actually has a chance to kill you?”
Damn, that was a much better idea. “I’ve tried to talk to her. But she always runs away. And she’s pretty fast.”
Tanner cracked his knuckles. “Not as fast as me.”
I stared at him. I’d never seen Tanner run. The closest was him hurrying to my car tonight and he was so unaware that I’d almost run him over.
“Don’t look at me like that. I’m quite the athlete. I’ve been running more years than you’ve been alive.” He laughed because it made no sense. “As the saying goes.”
“I’ve never heard that saying.”
“You know what I mean. I’m fast. Much faster than you or a hitwoman.”
“If you say so.” I would have sworn I was faster than a hitwoman too. Maybe the heels on her boots were somehow powered to make her move faster or something. Or she was a retired track star.
“She shows up at your games sometimes right?” Tanner asked.
“Yeah. I think she was even at my practice today. I saw her SUV hightailing it out of the parking lot this afternoon.”
“Perfect. You get the cameras tomorrow by seducing Penny. And I’ll come to your practice on Wednesday for surveillance. Maybe we can even corner her right away and just get it over with. And don’t worry, I’ll wear a disguise so that no one is the wiser. Now let’s go eat that lobster before it turns.”
“It’s been sitting in the car for a while. Maybe we should skip the spoiled seafood and just grab some drinks.”
“You can’t toss lobster! It’s a delicacy now. It’ll be fine. Come on, we’ll go back to my place so we can reheat it and wet your whistle.”
I internally groaned. Tanner had an awesome place. But his houseboy always made me feel wildly uncomfortable.
Chapter 23
Tuesday
The sound of bells made me cringe. I wasn’t sure if it was my pounding headache that was making me hallucinate them…or if there was actually something ringing.
Ring.
I definitely wasn’t imagining it. It sounded like a shit ton of bells. Where the hell was I, at the symphony? I rolled over and reached out, my fingers colliding with the softest sheets I’d ever felt. Definitely not the symphony. I blinked my eyes open to see a short little man looking at sheet music, holding a gold bell in each hand.
He lifted one of his arms. Ring.
I screamed.
He screamed and dropped the bells. “I’m sorry, Mr. Caldwell,” the man said in a British accent. “Master Tanner said you wanted to wake up to a chorus of bells. I didn’t have much time to practice.”
It took me a second to recognize the little man as Nigel, Tanner’s houseboy. I hadn’t recognized him because today he was dressed in some weird lederhosen. All the other times I had been here he’d always been outfitted in a strange Victorian era butler outfit. Tanner said it was his uniform. I wondered why the sudden change since all the outfits made zero sense anyway.
During the awkward stretch of silence, Nigel looked down at my lap.
I followed his gaze to see what he was staring at. What the actual fuck? “Why am I naked?!” I grabbed the sheets and pulled them to my chest like he hadn’t just seen my morning wood.
“Master Tanner said you liked to sleep that way. It appears as though he was correct.” He raised his eyebrows and had a silly little grin on his face.