Page 19 of Half Cocked

“I mean, if that’s what you’re into, have at it.” I grinned.

“That’s not what I meant, Dani. And you know it,” he grunted, and I could tell his patience was waning again—guess I was only cute until I became irritating?“How long?”

“A few hours, maybe days, might wanna stock up the canned goods for a couple of weeks while you’re at it? Why?”

Instead of answering, Connor stalked forward, grabbing each of my makeshift weapons from my person and dropping them to the floor with an audible clank. I couldn’t tell you why I didn’t stop him. But it likely had something to do with how his sheer audacity had my jaw dropping and my feet frozen to the cement floor.

“What. The. Actual. Fuck,” I hissed when I was finally able to form words.

“Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not happening, Dani. You’re not running out in the middle of the night looking like you rolled around in a junkyard a few too many times. Because unless you’re the Bionic Man, ain’t none of that gonna keep them from putting a bullet straight through your head.”

“Poor choice of words,” I grunted.

“What?”

“Nothing.” I shoved at his chest and forced a couple of steps between us. “If you had an issue with my plan, why’d you watch me strap up?”

“Was tryin’ to determine the level of crazy I’m working with. Which is on the high end by the way.” He shook his head, and I quirked a brow.

“Like you’re surprised?”

“Not in the slightest.”

I should take offense, but what was the point? He wasn’t lying. “Okay, Captain Kirk, if you don’t want me to go outside and you don’t want to stay put, whatdoyou have in mind?”

“Never said I didn’t like the part about staying put, just the part about you going out there.”

“Right, well, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and assume Junior and his merry band of misfits are on my trail.” I still didn’t have any recollection as to whether that was true or not. But pretty boy didn’t need to know that. “And the fuckers also caught me runnin’ off with one of their employees, who, going by his lack of a record, has his real emergency contacts and home address listed in his HR file. I’m no Sherlock Holmes, but I’m guessing we have less than twenty-four hours before someone comes knocking on that door.” I flung an arm out in front of me for emphasis, as Connor’s lips curled into a slow grin.

“How’d you know I don’t have a record?”

18

Iwatched Dani scramble to answer what I thought was a very simple question.

“Hm?” she hummed, likely attempting to buy herself some time while hoping I would get the hint and stop pressing her.

Too bad I was about as dense as a preacher in a whorehouse on Sunday morning—don’t bother asking me what that meant. It was just something my ma used to say to me whenever she felt like I was being stubborn just for the sake of it.

“I said… how do you know I don’t have a record?” I tipped up Dani’s chin, forcing her eyes on mine when she was trying to look at anything else.

“I notice things. I could just tell.”

“Ernt, try again. How do you know I don’t have a record, Dani?” I repeated for the third time in a row.

“I already told you I didn’t know for sure. I assumed. You just don’t have those bad boy vibes.”

“Liar.” I grinned, before dropping my hand and allowing her to put distance between us again. “A pretty liar but a liar all the same. You looked me up, didn’t you, baby girl?”

The slight twitch in her lower lip told me I was right, while the way her nostrils flared and her jaw clicked as she ground her molars in the back of her mouth suggested she was more than a little annoyed about it.

Guess Danica Rossi wasn’t the only one who noticed things.

“I didn’t look you up. It’s my job to collect information, put files together on… people,” she muttered under her breath.

“Onpeoplewithout records?” I fired back. “And what is it that you do again, Dani?” When it was clear she wasn’t gonna answer that one either, I added, “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

“Okay, smart-ass, pretty sure we’ve wasted enough time playing Twenty Questions. Where do you suggest we go from here?”

---