Grumpy Best Friend

“I want to be done with this,” I said, holding the bag up. “Your money.”

Zeke dropped his hands. “No rush, no rush. We have all night, don’t we?”

“No, we don’t,” Jude said. “We have work in the morning. And frankly, Zeke, enough is enough. We’re sick of getting jerked around by you.”

I tried not to smile. She was laying it on a little thick, but I appreciated that about her.

“You know, it hurts my feelings, hearing you say that,” Zeke said. “Did Bret here tell you that he tried to leave you behind? I said, no, you must bring Jude, she’s very much a part of this. I wanted to see this through together.”

“Touching,” Jude said.

“Where are the pictures?” I asked, frowning at Zeke’s empty hands.

“Ah, well, you’re not fun,” he said, then snapped at Jakub, who pulled a thick packet from his jacket. “That contains my remaining hard copies, and the digital copies on a flash drive. You will have to take my word that I’m giving you everything. Digital is so easy to copy today, don’t you think?”

“It’s convenient,” I said, and held up the duffel. “Five million cash. Lady Fluke’s pretty fucking pissed about this.”

“That’s a shame. I hope she realizes this is only business.” He sighed and scratched the back of his head. “I sort of do miss the old broad. She was gorgeous back then.” He grinned at me and waggled his eyebrows. “I assume you took a peek, yeah?”

“No,” I said, not smiling. “Toss the envelope over here.”

He rolled his eyes and held out a hand. “Payment first. Come on, you know how it goes.”

I glanced at Jude, then tossed over the duffel. Hal had briefed us both on this, and he’d given us one major job—get Zeke to admit to blackmailing Lady Fluke. He hadn’t said those words, not exactly, but I thought he got close enough. And besides, accepting the money in exchange for pictures would do the trick.

“Lovely,” Zeke said, unzipping the bag. He flipped through one stack and I felt a sticky sick lump in my throat. I kept thinking about that fake cash shoved in there beneath the real stuff, and what if he realized we were trying to rip him off, then he’d get violent, and Jude was here—and fuck, I had to keep myself calm. My hands trembled and sweat rolled down from beneath my arms.

“The pictures,” I said, hoping he wouldn’t notice the quaver in my tone.

Zeke absently waved at Jakub, who approached with the packet. He glared down at me like a mountain, his thick neck pulsing. He held it out, and I took it from him—but before he could turn, Zeke sucked in a breath.

“The fuck?” Zeke said softly, and unrolled one of the stacks. He took a fake hundred from the center and rubbed it between two fingers. “This don’t feel right.”

“It’s brand new,” Jude said, and she sounded a little shrill. Sweat rolled down my arms. “They all feel weird when you first get them.”

Jakub stood half turned toward Zeke, not moving away from me. I handed the packet back to Jude and gave her a look, hoping she’d start backing away, but she didn’t catch my meaning, or didn’t care.

“Look at this fucker,” Zeke said, holding it up to the meager moonlight. “What the fuck are you trying to pull here?” He dropped his arms, then threw the duffel onto the ground, crumpling the bill. “What the fuck is this?”

Anger pierced his tone, and Jakub turned toward me, hand reaching for something in his jeans.

I didn’t hesitate. The FBI was nearby, and they’d likely have agents running here already, but they wouldn’t show up in time. Jakub would kill us both, and Jude was too close.

I failed her once, a long time ago. I failed to protect her from her life, failed to take her away from it when I had the chance, and I lived every day since then with regret. She was starting to forgive me, and we had something good growing between us again, but I couldn’t risk slipping back. I wouldn’t fail her, not ever again. I’d make sure she was safe.

Jakub gripped what I assumed was a gun in his waistband. I threw myself at him, and smashed my fist as hard as I could into the meat of his throat.

He gagged, grunted, and drew out the weapon. It was a black revolver, the steel barrel glinting in the moonlight. Zeke yelled something, and Jude screamed, as Jakub turned the gun toward me. I slammed myself into the big man as hard as I could and grabbed his wrist before he could get the gun pointed at my face. He staggered, knocked off balance, and I drove my knee up into his groin.

The gun went off with a deafening blast. I gripped his wrist tighter and smashed my forehead into his nose. It crunched and sprayed blood on my face. He groaned as I wrenched the gun from him and kicked him hard in the stomach, knocking him backwards.