AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No, but it may be a bit easier.” He reached for Ethan’s hand underneath the table and squeezed it. “Whatever they throw at me, I can take it.”
Ethan exhaled and squeezed Chris’s hand back. “I see your frustrating logic.”
“Thank you.”
Ethan returned his hand to his lap. “What if they start asking questions that I don't know the answers to?”
“Let Jay take the lead.”
Ethan made a face. “Well, why did those men we’re pretending to own agree to work for us in the first place?”
It put Chris at ease knowing Ethan was taking this seriously. “Some do it for money,” he said. “Others because of less moral reasons.”
“Like feeling guilty?” Ethan locked his eyes with Jay. “He felt guilty for what he’d done to you, and you used it against him.”
Chris couldn’t bring himself to intervene; the fire in Ethan’s eyes too hot to risk a burn. He hoped Jay wouldn’t make things worse, but Jay being Jay, he had to choose the worst option.
“It wasn’t about guilt; I didn’t leave him a choice. After you and Ant left the cabin, I went back there and made him—”
“Stop!”
Heads turned their way, and nearby conversations abruptly stopped. Chris hissed at Jay, “If I want Ethan to know what happened,I’llbe the one to tell him. Understand?”
Jay gave a stiff nod and slid lower in his chair.
Chris looked at Ethan, daring him to push the matter further. He didn’t.
“I’ll text you when we should head out,” Chris said. “I don’t care what’s going on between you two—once we’re in that house, you are partners looking to close a deal.”
Ethan nodded. “And once we’re done hiding the recording equipment, we’re out of there.”
“We can’t make them suspicious by splitting too soon, but yes, that’s the general plan.”
“Anything else that I should know?”
Chris shook his head. Spending time on a more elaborate plan might do more harm than good in case things don’t work as planned. They would need to feed on each other’s vibe and adjust accordingly.
Ethan pushed his chair back and told Chris, “I’m going to skip breakfast. I’ll speak with you later.”
Before Chris could ask him to stay, Ethan hurried out of the restaurant.
“You should’ve warned him I’d be here,” Jay said.
“We had to have this meeting.” And all things considered; this could have gone worse. “Ethan is going to be our wild card.”
“He’ll pull through.” Jay shook his head. “I really fucked things up between me and him.”
Chris remained silent because the answer was clear, and Jay had no one to blame but himself. Those two would need to figure it out on their own, and at least fake it until then. There was too much at stake.
*
“And you’ll be back tomorrow?”
“Yes. It’s just one night away with the guys. I may be able to come back sooner.” But he couldn’t commit to something out of his control.
Melissa crossed her arms and leaned back against the kitchen countertop. In the background, the twins were loudly playing in the living room. They already had their daily hour of TV time, and now they were making Chris wish it was closer to three hours.
“You said you were fine with it,” Chris said while going over his emails on the kitchen table.
