Page 26 of Out of Sight

“I said tell me your size again.”Seven and three-quarters last I measured, but I tell anyone who asks I’m nine inches.“Clothing, Will. I want to write it down for Jim all in one place.”

“Ah. 34 jeans. Large boxer briefs. Large shirt if it’s long, otherwise I’m an XL. And magnum condoms,” I added at the end with a wink.

“Okay,” she rolled her eyes, handing the notepad over to Jim. “But for the record I saw what you’re working with last night and Little Willie didn’t look magnum at all to me.”

Jim and I both choked on our coffee. Damn, that girl could give as good as she got. Better.

I loved it.

I turned as pink as Claire’s panties presumably were, but kept my swagger running with a light shrug. “Maybe I’m a grow-er, not a show-er. Taking a piss and staring at the toilet doesn’t exactly turn me on.” But having Claire look at me the way she did last night? If they gave me another minute I’m sure I could have impressed them.

“A likely excuse,” she taunted back. “You had a mostly naked woman in front of you-”

“Mostly naked?” What was she wearing under that bathrobe last night?

“A mostly naked woman in front of you,” she ignored my interruption, “and you still had a… What’s the opposite of magnum?”

“Micropenis?” Jim offered unhelpfully.

“I do not have a micropenis!” I hissed through my teeth. I was losing my cool. I needed to get it together. “I am perfectly well-endowed, thank you very much. I can very much rise to any occasion when I have a beautiful mostly naked woman in front of me. I just wasn’t aware you were walking around the hotel room mostly naked, especially when you seemed to beso traumatized that I had the audacity to do it. So tell me… Were you completely naked under the robe, or maybe wearing some matching little pink panties?”

“Nice deflection,” Jim commented. “But we’ll put this topic to rest for now. I will not be buying condoms, so you two can both just keep it in your pants. I’m heading out. I’ll be back in an hour.”

He was really leaving.

“What if-” I began as Claire let out a “But Jim-”

He interrupted both of us. “Don’t worry. Nobody knows where you are. There’s no bugging equipment in here. Use this phone and only this phone in case of emergency. Here is my cell number if you need something.”

Claire took the offered cell phone and business card, clutching it nervously.

“Take this, too,” he said, surprising the ever-loving shit out of me when he took a gun from a holster on his ankle and handed it off to Claire.

“Fuck, man!” I exclaimed, reaching over to intercept it. He was giving a gun to someone who was clearly a nervous wreck and that never ended well. “Do you know anything about guns? Have you ever held one of these before? For real, Claire.”

“No, but I-”

“If you say you’ve watched a lot of documentaries about gun safety, I’ll… I don’t know, I’ll be pissed. I have held a gun. I have fired at another human being and hit my target, and at least I know where the damn safety is. I’ll hold the deadly fucking weapon, thank you.”

She paused, considering my words, and turned to Jim. He looked hesitant, too. I thought we were friends, so I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“What’s wrong with me having the gun?” I asked, doing my best to hide how pissed off I was. Maybe I worked for the Morellis in the past, but hadn’t I proven myself to them yet?

“Well. I mean you are a criminal. And you want us to trust you with a gun?”

“Jesus Christ, Claire. I worked for the Morellis running drugs and stealing cars. I got out when they wanted me to do the shadier stuff.”

“And you’ve killed someone before. You shot someone. You said it yourself on the way to the airport. Voluntary manslaughter.”

I really didn’t want to have this conversation now, but it was happening anyway. “Yeah. Do you know what voluntary manslaughter actually is? It means I killed him on purpose in the heat of the moment because he did something disgusting to provoke me.” I ran a hand through my hair. Would she look at me differently if she knew the truth?

Only one way to find out.

“So yeah. I beat a guy unconscious and then shot him with his own gun when I walked in on him hurting my little sister. He assaulted her and beat the shit out of her and deserved everything he got. The jury obviously agreed since I only got six years for putting that fucker in the ground.”

Claire and Jim looked at each other for a minute while I fumed silently. Usually I didn’t need validation from others, but I really hated how they (and especially she) didn’t believe in me.You’d think I earned their trust, flipping on the Morelli family, and everything I’d done and was willing to do since.

With a final shrug from Claire, Jim gave me another once over.

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