“It was mostly Alex’s idea,” she said.
“Alex?” I tilted my head.
“He was, uh— he was a good friend of mine.”
“Not anymore?”
She looked down at her hands. “Not anymore.”
I could tell it was a sore subject, so I didn’t push. “What happened with the cops?”
She perked up a bit. “Well, he has this idea—”
“Was this a boyfriend?”
“No,” she said, “and stop interrupting.”
“Sorry, go ahead.”
“As I was saying, he had this idea to spray-paint some dumpsters to work on his tag, you know?”
“Tag, as in, his graffiti tag?”
“Yes,” she said, sipping her wine. “Alex liked to imagine he was a gangster.”
I snorted. “Was he?”
“Not at all.”
I nodded a little and let my eyes roam the room. I knew the type of guy Cora was talking about—loud, a little pathetic, a little needy. Those kinds of guys want to be made, want to be in a crew so badly it stinks, and they’re hard to get rid of when they start to cling on like barnacles. I was surprised she was friends with a guy like that, but wasn’t surprised their friendship didn’t last. He probably got sucked into some minor crew and went the way of all wannabe gangsters: drugs, violence, petty crime.
“I’m guessing things didn’t go well.”
“Honestly, they should have. We picked a good spot, you know? Nice and dark, a quiet street, nothing around. He uncapped his can, stepped up to the dumpster, pressed the spray button a single time—and then a cop stepped around the corner and shone a flashlight at us.”
I laughed and sipped my drink. “Was he waiting or something?”
“In retrospect, I think someone called him out there. It was a quiet block, you know, and we stood outside looking suspicious as hell for like fifteen minutes before he worked up the nerve to actually do anything.”
I shook my head, grinning. “I guess you got away.”
“He chased us for a little bit and I thought Alex might pass out and die when we finally stopped, but we got away. It was a lot of fun though.” Her smile faded a little bit then she took a long sip from her wine. I watched her happy expression turn sour, and I had no clue why—it was a good story, a little goofy, lighthearted, but fun. She glowered down at her drink, and I was about to press her a little bit, figuring it was something about this Alex guy that got her down, when the door opened.
And Jarvis walked through followed by two of his guys.
I sucked in a breath and leaned down in my seat. He was across the room, closer to Aldrik and Enrico, and for one horrible second I thought he might spot me or recognize them, but neither happened. Instead, he walked to the other end of the bar, shoved himself in between two older couples eating dinner, and impatiently tapped on the bar until he got drinks for himself and his friends.
He was right there. My heart began beating faster and I could feel the blood in my ears. I remembered him standing in the street, firing his weapon at me, trying his hardest to end my life—and worse, trying to murder Cora. I felt the rage build, and I wasn’t sure what I would do. He was so close, so fucking close, but we were surrounded by civilians and I didn’t think I could kill him without any collateral damage.
But maybe, if we waited and got lucky, we might be able to catch him on the way out.
“Reid?”
I blinked and looked back at Cora. “Yeah. Sorry. What did you say?”
She tilted her head, studying my face. “You look upset.”
“It’s nothing.”
“That’s not true. What’s going on?”
I sucked in a breath, struggling with my decisions. I could get Enrico and Aldrik to wait outside, and I could stay in here—but I had Cora with me, damn it. I didn’t really expect Jarvis to show up, and I figured I’d use Cora as an excuse in case anyone that knew me happened to be around. Easier to explain why I might be there if I had my pretty wife at the table—we just popped in for dinner, instead of waiting around to murder someone.
“It’s nothing.” I forced myself to meet her gaze and drank my whiskey to cover myself. “It’s fine. Really.”
She narrowed her eyes and her gaze swept the room. She didn’t speak and I reached out impulsively, grabbing at her hand. She seemed surprised and her eyes came back to me, and I knew I had seconds to come clean before she spotted Jarvis.
“It wasn’t supposed to go down like this,” I said, my voice soft. “I didn’t think he’d be here.”
Confused, she pulled her hand back. “Reid, what the hell are you talking about?”
“Jarvis is here.”
She opened her mouth and stared at me. I saw the panic start to overtake her.