“Well?” I eavesdrop, hearing Ivy grill Smoke as he enters the hall. I open the door wide enough to see Trini standing beside Ivy, holding her goddamned hand.
“Well, what?” he replies as if unconcerned.
Ivy seems prepared to ease off from his callous response. Trinity has no such patience and socks him in the arm. Pleasantly, I’m surprised. “Ow,” Smoke winces with a chuckle as he rubs his arm. My heart squeezes. The old Trini is back.
“Smoke?” Ivy whines sweetly. “Please, just tell me.”
He shakes his head. “I can’t.”
Trini slumps her shoulders, disappointed. “Why not?” she asks.
It’s apparent he has no good answer, and neither do I. Nonetheless, he’s ready to have my back. Cover for the decision he’s sure I’ve settled on. Looking between the two of them, he covers his emotions. Poker face up, he starts. “Because—”
“Because the person who will be hired into the position reports to me,” I say, entering the hall.
Smoke wraps an arm around Trinity. “How about you and I go feed your swan?”
Thoughtfully, I rub my scruff. “It might be best if Trinity hears this, too, Smoke.”
He hugs her a tiny bit tighter, ever the watchful brother. “Are you sure about that?”
Smoke flashes me an uncertain look, and for the first time, I’m pretty sure I see fear in that son of a bitch’s eyes. Good. After the landmine of emotion he just put me through, soak in the payback, butthead.
I face Ivy. “There are inherent risks in the job you would be accepting.”
“I know,” she says, nodding.
“You’ll have to sign away any and all forms of liability. Non-disclosure agreements. Getting sued will be the least of your worries if you violate the terms.”
My threat lands undetonated. “I understand.”
“Your background check will be extensive. Anyone who’s ever known you will be interviewed. Family. Friends. Ex-boyfriends.”
She swallows hard, and Trini lights up, filled with hope.
“You’d be required to live on the property. Be available to Trinity twenty-four seven. And your employment will involve peeing in a cup on a fairly regular basis.”
Ivy blinks. “Please tell me that’s for a drug screening and not a fetish.”
I palm my face.
“Does this mean I have the job?”
I look at her and then at Trini and question my sanity. It was going to be easy. Tell her we’ve made another selection. Anything to get her the hell away from here and off the property. But between her big eyes and Trini’s, I can’t do it. But I can’t just offer her the job. I won’t.
“It means you’ll be on a probationary period. For a month. Maybe longer. You can be fired for any reason at any time. No questions asked.”
The two women squeal like schoolgirls as I settle into the decision I’ll probably regret. Smoke keeps his eyes on me, expressive in both his hopes and doubts. Like every other day around here, I ignore him.
“You’ll sign your paperwork now,” I say flatly. “Your employment starts first thing in the morning.
“But you can stay tonight,” Trini offers, and what the hell can I say? I can’t stop her from having Ivy over as a guest.
Unsettled, I have one more thing to say to Ivy. In private. “The documents are waiting in Smoke’s office.” Addressing Trini, I add, “She’ll catch up with you in a minute.”
Smoke leads Trini in the opposite direction as Ivy and I make our way back to Smoke’s office. Once inside, I shut the door. “Where are the papers?” she asks, looking around on the desk.
I step around to Smoke’s side, using the desk to put some needed distance between us. I slide several sheets toward her, along with a pen. She begins to sign as I give her a solemn warning. “If there’s anything you’re hiding—anything at all, now is the time to tell me.”
The long line of her signature stops. And there’s that swallow again. I wait out whatever she’s thinking through.
I half-expect a confession when she flips the page and signs the next block. “I understand,” she says quietly. My job—my life—is reading people. But with Ivy, I can’t, and it bugs the shit out of me.
Watching her, it’s hard to tell if she’s hiding something or engrossed in reading. I double down on my instincts. There’s something there. Something she doesn’t want me to know. Maybe it’s about her. Maybe it’s about Andre. Or maybe it’s about me, settling one arm comfortably into the snug warmth of a straitjacket. Nevertheless, I reiterate my point. “This is your chance to come clean.”
She ignores me.
“What we do is dangerous.” I remind her, leaning in. She doesn’t respond. My hand lands on the pages she’s engrossed in. “I’ve killed people, Ivy.” Doe-eyed, she looks up at me. “Too many to count.”
She blinks. “You’re an ex-SEAL working for a family related to the mob,” she says with a silent duh. Why is it when she says it like that, it doesn’t sound so bad?
I hit her with the other thing weighing on me. “You also understand we can’t have a relationship.”
This time, her signing doesn’t stop. If anything, she speeds up, one signature after another like a gold medal’s on the line. “I understand,” she says. At the rate she’s going, she’ll be done signing in under a minute.
Irritated that she suddenly needs to rush out of here and not challenge me at all on the subject, I pocket my hands. “Nothing but professional.” I wait for her argument.
“Professional,” she repeats, signing the last of the pages and setting down the pen. She turns and heads for the door.
“You didn’t read anything. You just signed.”
“I trust you.”
Well, that seems like a big fucking mistake considering I just told her I kill people. “We’re not finished yet,” I say with enough authority, she stops in her tracks and spins in place.
“I am.” She checks her watch. “I don’t start working for you immediately. Not until tomorrow. So right now, I’m going to go feed Fluff.”
She walks out, and I stand there and stew before marching straight to the door. Boiling over, I shout, “That goose is going to get as big as fucking Godzilla the way you two keep feeding it.”
Dignified, she shouts back, “It’s a swan.”
I whip out my phone. “Siri!” I bark.
“Siri here.”
“What the fuck is a swan?”