Page 158 of Brazen Mistakes

Then, after a walk for carryout, eating said carryout, and playing wall ball against the back doors of the van by myself until RJ made me practice braiding with some spare cords, finally, RJ sits back in his chair and opens the case for the earpieces.

Thank heaven and all its antsy little angels.

“It’s time?”

“The owner left about an hour ago, and the last of his staff just headed out as well. I don’t know exactly how long you’ll have, but he was dressed for a party, so it shouldbe at least another hour, probably two. Plenty of time to get in, pick out the best pieces, and leave.”

“Do I get to pick the pieces?”

“Nope. Trips and Walker will do final approvals. You’ll have to hold them up to the camera one by one and I’ll link them in.”

“What if I find something I want to give her?”

RJ just shakes his head. “Stick to the plan. We don’t want to fuck this up. Otherwise, we’ll be running with a full crew for all our retrievals, even the small ones. And I don’t think you’d prefer Trips stomping around in here right now.”

“I wouldn’t mind Clara.”

“Neither would I. But she’s still too quick to jump in when she doesn’t have the skills yet.”

I go through my pre-climb stretches. “She’s picking them up quickly.”

“True. But she’s got enough going on with Trips’ party tomorrow, and with her dumbass ex. So no invites for now.”

“You should see her drive, man. Hottest thing I’ve seen in, well, she’s always hot. But it’s extra hot.”

He motions me over, placing the earpiece in for me. “I can imagine. She has skills, then?”

“Her dad must have been legit back in the day to have taught her what she knows just for funsies.”

He hands me a pin with a Christmas tree on it. “Camera, so we can see the jewels.”

“Neat.” I pop it into my shirt, then shake my head, making sure the earpiece is good and stuck.

“Testing, you hear me?”

His voice is crystal, so I nod, jumping around so I’m warm enough to climb in the zero-degree weather. My poor fingers are going to fall off if I struggle to get the window open. But because RJ is nothing but professional, he discovered that one of the staff likes to sneak cigarettes during the day and uses the window of a little loved bedroom to do so. And the guy doesn’t lock it when he leaves for the day.

Lucky me.

I shoot RJ a salute, then bound out of the van, slamming the door, and sprinting around the block so I can come from the back, keeping RJ from being implicated.

The van has a decal for a Christmas light installation company, Santa’s Elves Light It Up, with cartoon trees halfway falling over and surrounded by little guys in green hats with hands full of string lights. I wonder who picked it out because it’s hilarious.

Once around the block, I hop the fence, RJ looping the video at the back of the house, not worried about our Chicago buddies. They’re not getting out of jail anytime soon.

Then it’s a scramble up the icy gutter to the portico, and a mildly terrifying leap across to the intended windowsill.

The ice on the sill has me scrambling for purchase, but I find a chunk with more snow than ice and stick it with my right hand. Kicking off the siding, I plant my other palm and barely haul myself up, until I’m standing on the sill and able to see where there’s snow and where there’s sheer ice.

Yup. I’m super lucky I stuck it at all. Winter retrievals aren’t for the faint of heart. And I’d be lying if I said seeing how close it was didn’t make my heart finally pound in my chest.

Like it should.

Like it hasn’t been doing right for the last few weeks.

Jimmying the window open, I slip in, closing it behind me before immediately wedging my hands between my thighs. Fuck, it’s cold. “I’m in.”

“Good. You’re going to the front of the house. The middle bedroom has been converted to a dressing room.”

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