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Eli looked at him like he was stupid. “Since you and I got back on this…cordial ground, you’ve been fucked up about her. As far as I know, you’ve been fucked up about her since the day you met her. I don’t know why screwing her the night before we try to hunt down a killer should be surprising,” Eli said. “So what happened after the sex?”
“Well, before the sex, I told her I was filing for divorce.”
Eli’s expression didn’t change.
“Are you saying that’s not surprising either?” he asked, almost offended.
“You told everybody that yesterday. And you’ve been wanting to divorce her forever, but she threatened to bankrupt you. Tell me something else if you want to surprise me.”
“She signed the papers this morning,” he said, running a thumbnail on the underside of the steering wheel. When Eli was quiet for longer than a few seconds, he looked over. He’d finally surprised his brother.
“No shit?”
“No,” he said. He pulled the envelope out of his pocket and waved it.
“I have to see this,” Eli said, grabbing the envelope. He pulled out the thick sheaf of papers and flipped to the end. “Well, fuck me. She signed both copies.” Eli put them back in the envelope and slapped it against Montgomery’s chest. “You’re free! Now you can find someone who’s a better match.” Then he paused. “Forget that. Just find somebody who’s as good in bed as she is.”
He bristled. “How the fuck do you know how she is in bed?”
“Let me just say you don’t have a very good poker face. Not right now, at least.” Eli circled a finger toward Montgomery’s face. “Or a few months ago when she seduced you in the downtown condo.”
“Damn,” Montgomery muttered.
“Anyway, you led me to believe you hated her, but this sad look on your face makes me think that’s not quite right.”
Montgomery leaned back, letting out a slow breath.
He could sense the knowing grin that spread across Eli’s face even before he saw it. “I knew it! You’ve got postcoital confusion. Welcome to the club, brother.”
“I’m not in any club,” Montgomery snapped, annoyed by Eli’s light-heartedness in the face of his emotional disarray. “And I doubt you’re postcoitally confused.”
“Not now, but there was definitely a time when I was mired knee deep in that swamp,” Eli assured him.
“You’re not being sympathetic, then,” he noted.
“Of course I’m not! It’s too much fun having the shoe on the other foot for a change.” Humor brimmed in Eli’s eyes. “You’re just fucked up that all your divorce dreams are coming true. This means she can’t boss you around anymore, and you don’t have to babysit her to make sure she’s okay. You can just fuck her once in a while and otherwise keep a happy emotional distance.”
“Boss me around,” he scorned with a half-hearted laugh. But there was some truth to it.
“Maybe you should head out to this Beijing meeting early? Eli suggested. “I can handle things here. I can call my heli pilot in for another body.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m here to see this thing through. Besides, I need the phones tested before I go to Beijing.”
“Do you want to switch partners? I could take her… No, I didn’t think so,” Eli said with a laugh when Montgomery gave him a stern look. “Well, maybe having some alone time with her during the search might get you to friendlier footing. Maybe she’ll stop freaking you out.”
“Whoa, she’s not freaking me out,” Montgomery objected.
Eli’s grin faded into a look of genuine bafflement. “Then what is she doing to you?”
He looked away, shaking his head. He wasn’t sure, but this wasn’t how he’d expected any of this to feel. “It’s what my board wants, it’s what my CFO wants, and bottom line, it’s what I want,” Montgomery said. “It’s probably just all this Lucas shit that’s got me feeling off.”
“Huh… It’s probably because you went from zero to divorced in a millisecond. You just need to relax and let reality catch up.”
Montgomery nodded. Eli was probably right. He needed time. Her signing the papers so fast had definitely stunned him. He’d been expecting an argument, or at least a negotiation of terms.
Eli broke the silence. “You look uncertain, so here’s an idea. Let’s find this hidden gate, seal it shut, and get back to connect all the camera feeds. Karol and my guy got them all positioned last night.”
“Okay,” Montgomery agreed.
