Hunt

“Give me time to look over it.” I turned the eggs over.

“Make it quick.”

I turned and glared at him.

West crossed his arms over his chest. “We had your back. Now go back to having ours.”

“Always.”

“Johnny came up with a genius plan. The night club is named Lush.” West walked over and took a piece of bacon from my plate. “It’s one of the highest earning brothels in the North. It caters to rich celebrities and royal elite.”

“So high-tech security and extremely difficult to get inside?”

“Well, that’s true.” He ate the strip of bacon.

I shook my head and turned off the stove.

West spoke between bites, “Customers have an annual membership fee to even go inside the place.”

I put the eggs on the plates. “Which means they have some exclusive access to get in the building.”

“That’s what those two black digital cards are. Johnny got them done for us.”

Griff looked at West. “How much is the membership fee?”

“$24,000.”

Griff laughed. “Fuck. Just to get into the club?”

“It’s exclusive.”

“Which means it’s dangerous.” I placed the empty pans in the sink. “How many levels?”

“Twelve floors.”

I pulled out the silverware drawer and grabbed forks. “How many exits on the first level?”

“Front. Back. Two side fire exits too.”

I shook my head. “How many elevators?”

“Two for the customers. One for the staff. Johnny included a special card key to open the staff elevator.”

“Hmmm.” I envisioned us riding up the elevators and wasn’t convinced. “What about the cameras?”

“Johnny wants us to get an inside guy to hack into the system. He has a list of names.”

“Hire a new person that we don’t know and never worked with in a city that we’ve never robbed in. This job is already too hot with the Syndicate being involved.” I set the forks on the plates. “How do we know if we could trust this hacker?”

West shrugged. “Can’t trust anybody if we don’t try.”

“We need more data.” I took the plates away. “Go to the club and check it out.”

Griff grinned. “Did I hear you correctly?”

“Get dressed. Have money in your pocket. Dance. Drink. Fuck.” I left the kitchen. “Size the place up!”

Griff called back, “Sir, yes, sir!”

I headed back to the bedroom, making sure I didn’t drop anything. I would have to go back to get glasses of orange juice.

When I returned to the room, Phoenix was sitting up with her eyes open.

There she goes. I tired her out.

Smiling, I set one plate next to her. “I hope you’re starving.”

“Thank you.” She picked the plate up, lay it on her lap, and began to eat.

I grabbed my plate and forked up some eggs. “Are you talking now?”

She ate some of the bacon. “Not for long.”

I held my fork in mid-air. “What do you mean not for long?”

“I’m going back to silence when I’m done eating.”

I set the fork down. “And what’s that supposed to do?”

“If you’re serious about caring for me, then my silence should bother you.”

“And that’s what you want?”

“I want the cuffs off.”

“And then what?”

“I don’t know yet.” She ate some of the eggs. “This is good by the way.”

I glared at her. “Give me some days to trust you and I will—”

“Nope.”

I sneered. “Very bold tactic, Phoenix. Are you sure you want to play with fire like this?”

She frowned at me. “You’ve hung me up in your soul coffin.”

“I remember.”

“You cut and sliced me.”

“I remember that too.”

“Last night, you chased me around. You wrote your name on my body. You fucked me.”

“And I’ll never forget that.”

She pointed her fork at me. “I didn’t crack any of those times. Did I?”

I tensed. “You didn’t.”

“I think I can take more.” She forked some potatoes. “I don’t want to, but I believe I can survive it all. Anything you throw my way.”

I put the fork down. “You could.”

“You said I have power.” She went back to the bacon. “Let’s see.”

My stomach twisted.

But that wasn’t the plan for today. . .

The rest of breakfast continued in silence.

I tried to get her to talk.

She remained quiet.

When she finished her food, she set the plate next to her, grabbed Dr. Fuzzy, lay on her back, and closed her eyes.

Rage built inside of me.

I battled with the storm of my anger as I took our empty plates away and headed downstairs. My brothers tried to chat with me about the job some more. An irritated fog drowned their words. I had no time for them or the Syndicate’s expensive club.

I left the kitchen and rushed back upstairs.

They called out to me.

Ignoring them, I went back to the bedroom, slammed the door, and stood next to her.

With her eyes shut, Phoenix remained silent and frozen.

The line of my jaw twitched. “So, you want to return to our torture phase of the relationship?”

She didn’t flinch, and her bottom lip didn’t quiver.

“Phoenix.” My heart ached. “I need you to compromise with me.”