Page 112 of Stuart Woods' Smolder

“Have no fear. It will be here by then.” Simon could feel Benji’s surprised gaze on him, but he kept his attention on his clients.

“When should we come by to pick them up?”

“I can’t give you a specific time yet.”

Petry looked over at Benji, Devin, and Sticks. “These your guys?”

Sticks snorted. “I’m nobody’s guy.”

“No disrespect intended. I meant, you’re the ones who do the stealing, right?”

Sticks sneered at Simon. “You think he has the balls to do it?”

Petry smiled. “Oh, I like you. Do you do all his dirty work?”

Having heard more than enough, Simon stood. “Mr. Petry, Mr. Savage, thank you for coming. I’ll let you know when you can collect your paintings.”

He motioned to the door, but Petry remained seated, his attention still on Sticks.

“I’m curious. I gotta think there’s a lot of security around these things. How do you get around that?”

Simon shot Benji and the others a warning gaze, then said, “Mr. Petry, how we conduct our business is none of your concern. Please.” He motioned toward the back door. “I have many things I need to deal with this afternoon.”

Petry’s attention stayed on Sticks for another moment, then he stood. “I look forward to our next meeting. We can see ourselves out.”

“What the hell was all that?” Simon yelled as soon as Petry and Nico were gone.

“Sorry,” Benji said. “Sticks didn’t—”

“I told you to saynothing!”

While Benji was cowed and kept his mouth shut, the same could not be said for Sticks.

“I don’t see what the big deal is.”

“Of course you don’t, because you don’t understand the bigger picture. If I tell you to keep quiet, then you keep quiet.”

Sticks made an exaggerated bow. “I’m sorry, boss man.”

“That’s right. Iamthe boss. Don’t forget it.”

“Kinda hard to do when you—”

“Sticks,” Benji hissed.

Sticks mimed zipping his mouth shut.

Simon shook his head in disgust, then turned and walked toward his office. “Benji, come with me. We need to discuss the next job.”

—

Once Simon and Benji disappeared into Simon’s office, Devin plopped down on the break-area couch.

“Might as well take a load off,” he said to Sticks. “Who knows how long they’ll be in there.”

Instead, Sticks headed for the back door.

“Where you going?” Devin asked.

---