“Exactly.”
It’s a smart enough move, one I would certainly consider should I ever find myself in her position. Nothing about the job seems too suspicious, and the woman seems too nervous to pull off some kind of setup.
I take another sip of my milkshake before getting down to business.
“Is it just your debut, then? Or will you need me for other events?” I ask.
“There might be a few in the future,” she admits. “If this works and we can pull it off convincingly, that is.”
“Where did we go to college?”
“Princeton.”
My eyebrows raise at that. “Impressive. Studying what?”
“Bioengineering.” She flushes modestly.
I let out a low whistle. “I was a lowly business major at Columbia.”
Her eyes light up at this, and I instantly realize my mistake. “Really?”
Maybe I’m a bit rusty after all, sharing personal information like that. Fuck. She could find me now if she wanted to.
“It was a few years ago now.” I try to cover up my fumble by redirecting the conversation. “Sorority sisters?”
She makes a face. “Roommates.”
I almost laugh at her obvious disdain. “No ‘Delta, Delta, Delta’ for you in Princeton?”
“Those girls terrified me,” she admits.
“Says the woman hiring a mercenary.”
She weighs this up. “When you grow up with this stuff, it’s strange how easy it is to forget it’s not normal.”
Her words strike a very particular chord, and I find myself swallowing down something hard lodged in my throat. Suddenly, I feel sorry for both of us. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“I’ll do it.”
“Shouldn’t you ask me about payment?”
I give her a look. “Are you going to pay me?”
“Yes.”
“Good, that settles that.” I slide another burner across the table to her. “Contact me on this. All my details are already in there. You can keep calling me Red.”
She takes the cell from me. “Red works.”
“What should I call you?”
“I suppose you’ll find out soon enough,” she sighs, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear. “My name is Carmen. Carmen Rubio.”
8
LEON
