22. Nicholas

22

NICHOLAS

The elevator doors opened, and a woman stepped on. She eyed me up and down, giving me an appreciative look. She had a nice body, but it was nothing compared to the woman beside me.

Raven slipped her hand into mine, claiming me as hers. I knew it was all for show. She didn't actually want to hold my hand, but if all it took was the green-headed monster to rear its ugly head, I'd take it.

The bell dinged and the woman stepped off, shooting a flirty look my way. I bit back a chuckle as I followed her off, glancing over at Raven.

"Shut up," she murmured as I squeezed her hand in response.

"We're meeting a party here," I said to the host at the restaurant. "Dennon."

"Right this way, sir."

I didn't like the formality at eight o'clock in the morning, but we were staying in a fancy hotel, courtesy of Ivan, and formality was required. We followed him through the restaurant, sitting at the rounded corner booth. I waited for Raven to slide in, but she was waiting for me to do the same.

She laughed slightly. "You expect me to get in first?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

I looked at Fox, then back to her. "Because I'm not sitting next to another guy."

She made a cute pouty face at me. "Aww, is your masculinity threatened by sitting next to another man?"

"No, but I don't need to hear show tunes at breakfast. Besides, if we're in danger, I need to be on the outside."

She looked around the restaurant and then back to me. "In danger. At eight o'clock in the morning. In this restaurant."

I knew it sounded ridiculous, but we could never be too careful.

She crossed her arms over her chest, narrowing her eyes at me. "Rae is sitting on the outside."

"That's because they're all afraid of Rae."

"Not me," Ivan said, smoking a cigar right in the middle of the fucking restaurant. "I just prefer the feel of a woman next to me. This seemed like good way to make it happen."

"I can still kill you," Rae threatened.

"You could try."

"She would succeed," Fox laughed.

"How about we just pull up another chair," Raven suggested. "Then your delicate male sensibilities won't be hurt."

"I don't have any male sensibilities, but I do need the outside."

The host turned to me in irritation. "Perhaps you'd like to see a different table."

"Yes, maybe one with two end seats," Raven smirked. "That way you won't feel threatened."

"I never feel threatened."

"Not even when I kicked your ass on the rooftop?"

"Oh, this is good," Ivan chuckled.

"Sir, there's no smoking in here," the host complained.

Ivan whipped out a knife and slammed it into the table blade first. "I had no idea it was problem."

The host swallowed harshly. "No, it—it's not a problem. Everything's fine. I'll bring you an ashtray."

"Good man."

He hurried off while Raven and I continued our standoff. I could see there was no way she was backing down, and even though it made my neck itch to take the inside seat, I decided to be the bigger man.

"Fine."

I slid in beside Fox and plucked up my menu, opening it to avoid shooting glares at Raven. She was punishing me for last night. She didn't win, so I supposed I had to give her this one.

"So, how was your night?" FNG chuckled, still looking at his menu.

"What?"

He lowered his menu slightly, then asked again. "How was your night?" This time, he gave an exaggerated wink.

"What are you doing?"

He frowned, winking again. "How was your night?"

"Do you have something in your eye?"

"No," he sighed. "I meant…because I was next door to you."

"And?" I played dumb.

"And I could hear a lot."

Narrowing my eyes at him, I leaned across Fox. "Were you spying on me?"

He reared back in surprise. "What?"

"Do you think that's funny?"

"No, I—wait?—"

"I just meant that it sounded like…"

"Like what?"

"Like you two were…"

"Were what?"

He rolled his eyes. "Enjoying each other."

My stare was unrelenting. I didn't break eye contact with him for an entire minute, and the whole time, he squirmed in his seat, wondering what to do.

"You know what? I didn't hear a thing."

"That's what I thought."

"I did," Fox laughed, his gaze never leaving the menu. "Let me tell you, it would have gone a lot better if you had listened to a little Kiss Me, Kate ."

"Fox…"

"Yeah?"

"Shut the fuck up."

"Yeah, what do I know? I only stalked my wife, got her to fall for me, and marry me. And I'm the psycho that listens to show tunes and dances while I kill people. But yeah, you're right. Don't listen to me."

He closed his menu and shot me a wide grin.

"You're a sick fuck."

"And you're still my friend. I think that says more about you than me."

I went back to reading my menu, ignoring the rest of them. But underneath the table, my hand was snaking up Raven's leg. She batted me away, but that didn't stop me. She might have won this round, but I always came out on top.

"Did you get the meeting set?" I asked Ivan after we ordered breakfast.

"It took a little…finessing, but meeting is set."

"What about location?"

"Cash changed that on us," Rae shook her head. "He couldn't secure the original location in time. We should be ready by the time you make the second call," she told Ivan.

"How are we on weapons?"

"Well, Cash is insisting on bringing an arsenal, but we need to be prepared ahead of time. I'm meeting with a dealer later today," FNG announced.

"Reputable?"

"Of course. Cash would kill me if I went outside any of his contacts."

"There will be much resistance by mafia," Ivan mused. "They said they will bring ten men. You should assume they will all show up."

"Wheels?"

"Ooh, I've got that one," Fox grinned. "I found the perfect vehicles for us to arrive in. Totally unsuspecting."

Great, I couldn't wait to see what he found for us.

"As for?—"

"You bastard!" Shots fired from the center of the restaurant and screams echoed around the room. We all glanced up, taking in the scene as a woman stood over her presumed husband, pointing a gun at him. It looked like he was bleeding, but probably not too seriously based on the size of the pool of blood.

"Are they gonna bring out the coffee?" I asked, looking around the room.

"Nicholas!" Raven said, smacking me on the arm. "A woman just shot a man in the middle of a restaurant!"

"I know. I saw."

"Aren't you supposed to…do something about that?"

"No, that's the police," FNG answered for me. "If we intervene, we'd be breaking laws and interfering in a police investigation."

"The investigation doesn't happen until after the crime," Raven pointed out.

"Right," he nodded. "What's your point?"

"My point is, there's a very nervous woman with a gun over there. Maybe you should stop her."

He looked at the woman, then back to Raven. "Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Well…women tend to fall for me. Or try to kill me. I'm already married and I don't particularly want to go through the whole almost dying thing at this moment. I haven't even had my breakfast yet."

Raven was getting all worked up beside me, but I wasn't sure why. She was a thief. It wasn't like she was on the side of good. "Fox, what about you?"

"And miss my morning waffles? I don't know…I mean…she's not actually going to kill him. Maybe shoot him in the balls. My guess is he was sleeping with his secretary."

"I'll take that bet," Rae said, slapping fifty down on the table. "But not the secretary. It was the maid."

"The maid?" Fox snorted. "What makes you think that?"

"I agree," Ivan nodded. "It was the maid."

"What? No way. Give me one good reason why."

Rae looked at the man on the ground and smirked. "His tie is all wrinkled."

"Well, yeah. He's laying on the ground!" Fox pointed out.

"Yes, but his tie was wrinkled when we came in here."

"Maybe they don't have a maid," I added. Not that I really cared one way or another. "Maybe the wife does the laundry. Maybe she got tired of hearing him complain about his wrinkled ties."

"Did you see his cufflinks? Besides, his suit and shoes are designer. So are his glasses. And they arrived in a chauffeured car. They have a maid."

"You can't possibly know all that from his tie," Raven countered.

"Fine, you want to know? All bets on the table right now."

I didn't really want to go against Rae on this, but I had put up a whole argument against her. I couldn't turn back now. I slapped fifty down, along with the rest. She got up from her seat and walked over to the woman still holding the gun on the man.

The rest of the patrons were huddled down in their seats. I assumed someone had called the police by now.

"Caught him cheating, huh?" Rae asked the woman.

She flinched, not realizing anyone was there. Her gun immediately swung in Rae's direction. "Stay where you are!"

"It was the maid, right?"

"What?"

"The maid," Rae repeated. "We all know it was the maid. It's always the maid."

"Not always," Fox snapped, jumping up and climbing over the table to get out. The condiments and silverware skittered everywhere and Raven quickly tried to correct it all. He saw the waiter across the room and snapped his fingers. "Hey, can we get our breakfast? I'm starving."

"Stay where you are!" the woman screamed, pointing the gun at Fox.

"It could have been the secretary. He looks like the douchey type."

"Help," the man wheezed.

"I'm just saying, he has all the markings of a man sleeping with his secretary." Fox bent over and looked the man in the eyes. "What do you do?"

"Lawyer," the man bit out, looking at Fox like he was crazy.

"Yeah, I saw that coming a mile away." He turned and faced us. "Care to change your wager?"

I was already on his side, but I could tell Ivan was considering his answer.

"Look, I don't—I don't know who you are, but just stay back!" the woman said, losing it just a little.

"You know," I leaned in and whispered to Raven, "if you had let me sit on the outside, I might have tried to intervene. But you did insist that nothing would happen at a restaurant."

"Really? You want to do this now?"

"I'm just saying, this could have all been avoided."

"Fine, next time, I'll let you take the outside."

"It's too late now. That poor schmuck is gonna have to deal with Fox. Can't say he doesn't deserve it."

"We're not trying to intervene," Rae said casually. "But my friends and I have a wager. I'm guessing he cheated on you with the maid. But this guy," she jerked her thumb at Fox, who waved cheerily, "thinks it was the secretary. Personally, I would be offended for every woman on earth if you were that cliché," she said to the man. "So, if you could let us know, we'll settle our bets."

The woman looked like she was about to lose it. "Are you serious? You're betting on me?"

"Well, in all fairness, you did pull a gun on your husband in the middle of a restaurant. Now, had you done this in the privacy of your own home, we wouldn't have done this unless we were called in to the crime scene," Rae explained.

"You're mocking me?" the woman sneered.

"No, in fact, we're on your side."

"Yeah, we don't really deal with douchebags," Fox said, narrowing his eyes at the man on the floor. "I bet you never sang her a show tune."

"Just get back!" the woman shouted, tears streaming down her face.

I sighed, tossing down my napkin. "Excuse me, but I think it's time for me to intervene before they push her over the edge."

"You think?" Raven retorted.

I couldn't believe I had to deal with this when I hadn't even had a cup of coffee yet. Still, if I let these two handle things, the woman would end up killing more than her husband.

"Ma'am, I'm a former police officer. I need you to put down your gun."

She scoffed at me, swiping at the tears running down her face with her free hand. "Why? So you can arrest me? So you can send me to jail? What are you doing?" she shrieked, turning her weapon on her husband.

Actually, it was on Raven, who was now crouched down in front of him. She held up her hand slowly, staring into the woman's crazy eyes.

"I don't have a weapon."

"Don't you dare help him," the woman bit out.

"I'm not. I promise you."

She slowly lowered her hand until she reached the man's throat.

"Please help me," he whimpered.

"I'm going to. Just hold still." She slid her hand up his suit until she reached his tie. Slowly, she tightened it and put it back to center, then smoothed the length of it straight and reattached the tie to the pin. "There."

"I thought you were going to help me!"

"What? No, I promised I wouldn't, but your tie was crooked. It's kind of a thing with me."

"Lady, I'm bleeding out!"

"You're not, but your tie was definitely about to drape over your body into the blood. That stain never would have come out."

"You're insane! You're all insane. You belong in prison."

I would strongly disagree with that.

The wife gestured at him with her gun. "He's the one who deserves to be behind bars!"

"I'm sure he does. And everyone here is very interested in your problems, but this isn't the place to shoot your husband."

"Yeah, you should always have a plan to get rid of the body," Fox said.

I turned to him slightly, shaking my head. "Actually, I was referring to the fact that she shouldn't pull a gun in a crowded room."

"Right, because now there are witnesses," he said, a smile twisting his lips.

"No," I gritted out. "Because she could hurt someone."

"Right, and then there would be witnesses," Fox said slowly.

"We're trying to de-escalate the situation," I hissed.

"Why? I say, more power to her. Obviously, this guy did her wrong. It's like a bad country song. Seriously, when are guys gonna learn to just sing a song when they feel the pain coming on? That's what I do."

"Yeah, while you're torturing people. I hardly think if he had sung her a show tune, it would have solved all their problems."

"You don't know that. Singing saves lives!"

"Only in your world!"

"Not true. In my world, it helps me take lives!" Fox shouted.

"And how is that helpful right now?"

"It won't help her, but maybe someone else in the room right now is thinking about murdering someone. Don't you think sharing my wisdom would help?"

"Your wisdom doesn't help anyone. Nobody even understands you. You walk around singing show tunes and throwing knives and eating Funyuns! That doesn't apply to a single person on this earth."

"Uh…it applies to me!" Fox snapped. "And maybe if more people ate Funyuns and carried throwing knives and sang show tunes, they'd be happier people. Did you ever think of that?"

"Sure, it ranks up there with my daily thoughts on your obsession with pickled pigs' feet!"

"Hey, those are good!" he jabbed a finger at me.

I grabbed and twisted his finger, bringing him to his knees. He was pissing me off so much right now, and if it weren't for all the people watching us, I might actually lose my shit and kill him. But I was too calm for that. I would not go crazy. I would not let this man affect my life.

Taking a deep breath, I released him and lowered my voice. "There are people watching. How about we conduct ourselves the way we should and put a stop to the madness?"

He grumbled as he got off his knee. "Fine, but only because I really want my waffles."

"Thank you."

I turned back to the woman, but she was no longer there. Paramedics were loading the man onto a stretcher and the police had the woman cuffed in the corner. In fact, there wasn't a single person paying attention to us.

Rae appeared behind us, slinging her arms around our shoulders. "While you ladies were bickering, the woman simply gave up and handed herself over to the police. I think she was tired of hearing you argue."

She clapped us both on the back and walked back to the booth. Looking around the room, I scratched my jaw in confusion.

"You know," Fox whispered, "she gave up because of our…unique method of distraction. Honestly, we disarmed her quietly and effectively."

"Exactly," I huffed. "Good work."

He held out his hand and grinned. "To a job well done."

I shook his hand and returned to the table, sliding in when Raven stood.

Taking a sip of my coffee, I nodded to Fox.

"So, is that how you handled things when you were a police officer?" Raven whispered. "Very effective. You were playing the part so well, you didn't even see FNG sneak up on her from behind."

My head whipped in her direction. "What?"

She smiled at me. "But I'm sure your bickering caused the distraction he needed to take her down." She patted my arm. "You're an unsung hero."