Page 77 of Nuclear Option (Owens Protective Services)

I grinned, willing to take that bet. “You’re on. I really hope you have a boy.”

“It doesn’t matter, because I’m not having kids. They ruin everything. How am I supposed to go out and kill people if I have a kid on my hip?”

“I think you leave them at home, but I could be wrong on that.”

Eva spun around and crowded both of us, lowering her voice. “Would you two stop talking about murdering people in public? Someone will hear you.”

“Good,” I answered. “We want people to not fuck with us.”

“We also want people to not think we’re here to commit murder and call the police, correct?”

Rae popped another Cheeto in her mouth and nodded. “You know, she’s right, boss. It could delay us.”

I shrugged off her concerns. “People in Montana don’t give a fuck about killing someone, just as long as you bury the evidence.”

“Yeah, but the ground is still pretty frozen from the winter. I’m not sure we’ll have much luck digging right now.”

“So, we make Fox do it.”

Eva shook her head, staring at us like we were crazy. And maybe we were a little, but you had to be if you wanted to keep your sanity in this business. You couldn’t be in work mode all the time without cracking a little.

“Hey, I got food,” Fox said as he walked up. His arms were loaded up with Funyuns.

* * *

“It’s not food,”I argued with Fox as we drove back to Jones’ home.

“It’s the most important food group there is, boss.”

“It’s not meat.”

“Right, and you need meat before a kill,” Eva muttered.

“Precisely,” I said. “She gets it.”

“I don’t actually get it. I’m just regurgitating the crap you spew.”

“Ew,” Rae grimaced. “Can we not talk about crap, spewing, and regurgitating?”

“Does that bother you?” Eva asked, looking at the woman in the seat beside her. “Because blood doesn’t seem to bother any of you, nor does murder.”

“Hey, it’s not murder if they’re asking to be killed,” Fox answered.

“Asking or getting in your way?” Eva asked.

Fox looked up, tossing his head from side to side. “Is there a difference? Because honestly, if someone gets in my way, it’s practically the same thing. I mean, I’m always nice about it. I politely ask them to get the fuck out of my way before I shoot them.”

“You’ve never once done that,” I argued.

“Okay, then I will in the future and we can bypass this whole conversation.”

I shook my head as we pulled down Jones’s driveway, but something felt off. I slowed down, nearly coming to a stop as I looked at the house in the distance. There was no sign of movement, nothing suggesting that anything was wrong, but I had a bad feeling forming in the pit of my stomach.

“Boss, what is it?” Rae asked.

I shook my head. “I’m not sure. This feels off to me.”

“Do you see someone?” Fox asked. He already had his weapon out and was looking around with me.

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