Page 40 of Play the Game

He furrowed his brow. “About setting up a signal boost?”

I laughed. “No. For once, one of your off-the-books plans seems neither ill-advised nor likely to get us arrested. I mean us. Friends with benefits.”

He took a deep breath but didn’t respond.

I didn’t know how to take that. Maybe it wasn’t working for him. Maybe two nights together were enough. Maybe he was thinking of dropping the benefits and going back to just the friends part of the relationship.

“Tam, stop spinning.” He grinned at me. “I don’t know how you’re so calm on operations and so...notcalm about what we’re doing. If you’re worried I want to back out, it’s really the exact opposite.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, but he didn’t answer because we’d pulled alongside the curb half a block away from the municipal building where I’d installed the third monitoring and relay devices.

The gadgets had given us extra surveillance capability in the area, from magnifying high-volume data transfers to sharpening street cam footage. They had also captured heat signatures from the warehouse where Jensen had come in third last week, which was how we knew there had been four Carbonados thugs, probably local hires, staying there for days. No extra people had arrived since Pasco had been kidnapped, so he wasn’t here, much to our chagrin.

Jason turned off the car and headlights and pulled out a small computer from his backpack on the back seat. “This will be easier if I get a little closer, so wait here.” He climbed out of the car and closed the door quietly, then slipped into the shadows of trees on the roadside.

I lost track of him for a few minutes, then he came back into view and slipped back into the car.

“How did it go?” I whispered, even though we were alone on a deserted road.

He pushed some keys on the computer, furrowing his brow in concentration. I enjoyed staring at him while he was focused and oblivious.

He quirked up a side of his mouth and spoke without looking at me. “Competence porn?”

“Don’t worry about it.” I grinned, too. “Just finish your work so we can pick up that ice cream.”

“I just need a few more... There it is. The signal. It worked. One down, two to go.”

We drove to the second spot less than a mile away and repeated the process. When that signal was set, he U-turned in the street and drove away from the location where we’d planted the third device.

“I thought you were boosting all three relays,” I said.

“I am, but it’s taking a little more time at each one than I budgeted, so we need to multi-task. I’ll drop you off at the store so you can finish the shopping while I finish this. It should take me fourteen minutes from the time I leave you at the door.”

A short time later, he pulled up in front of the store entrance and put the car in park. Before I could open my door, he leaned over and took my face in his hands.

“I owe you an answer to your question,” he said softly. “What I meant was, not only do I not want to stop being friends or having benefits, but I’m starting to want more.” He kissed me.

I forgot where we were until he pulled away from me.

“Now go. Make it quick. I’ll be sitting right here in fourteen minutes.”

“See you then.” I hopped out of the car and walked through the automatic doors and into the store. Some intuition, some nagging doubt, made me glance over my shoulder.

When Jason reached the parking lot exit, he turned right. The location of the third relay device was to the left. I closed my eyes and groaned. The warehouse was to the right.

I sent Jason a series of texts, but he ignored me. I told myself his sense of direction and spatial relationships wasn’t as good as mine, which was true, because no one’s sense of those was as good as mine. But I knew I was lying to myself. Jason had duped me. He’d had a second plan in mind all along, but he hadn’t trusted me enough to share it.

I stomped through the aisles, throwing items into a grocery cart. I had to keep up the ruse. What choice did I have? He’d implicated me in his scheme, and showing up back at the house without sundae bar ingredients would expose us both. My anger propelled me through the store and the checkout line, and I was waiting out front on the sidewalk at the twelve-minute mark.

Two minutes passed by. I shifted nervously. In our business, fourteen minutes meant fourteen minutes. Still, I gave him the benefit of the doubt for another three minutes, then I called his number. It went straight to voicemail.

“Fuck me,” I muttered.

I was just about to hit the panic button and call TJ when my text notification dinged. The message was from Jason. As I read it, a gray sedan pulled up in front of me.Get in the car.

I texted back.I’m not getting in a FUCKING car with a FUCKING stranger. How do I know this is even you?

My phone rang, and I answered it.

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