22. Ike
22
IKE
“Santa is lactose intolerant?” I said, shoving the magazine into the gun.
“What? He is.” IRIS snapped.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Do you want a list?”
“What I want is to get through tonight with zero fuckups. Do you got that?”
“Geez, alright,” he sighed, straightening his suit. “Are you sure this looks right on me?”
“Why?”
He shifted uncomfortably, looking at himself in the mirror. “I don’t know. The one Linda got me was so much better.”
I rolled my eyes, turning away from him. One nice suit and suddenly, he was a savant. “The suit is fine. We’re going to a nightclub, not a fashion show.”
“Still. I want to look the part.” He tugged on the lapels and turned to me. “So, what’s my character?”
“Your what?”
“You know, who am I playing?”
“You’re playing you.”
“Right, but am I playing me playing someone else?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, praying that someone would take him out. I wasn’t sure I could survive the night with him. “You’re just you, IRIS. You’re here to have a good time. That’s it. Watch your back and find the target.”
He sighed, turning back to the mirror. “No creativity. You know, that’s not how Zoe would play it in her movies.”
“Well, this isn’t a fucking movie.”
“Clearly,” he scoffed.
I’d had enough of his fucking attitude. I grabbed him by the lapels and spun him around, shoving him up against the wall. “Would you fucking cool the attitude? Enough is enough. We’re here to do a job. That’s it.”
“Then you might want to lay off the suit. You’re gonna wrinkle it. This may not be the nicest fabric, but I still have a part to play. Hands off, man!”
I jerked him back against the wall and stepped away, trying to rein in my temper. Christ, I was gonna kill this fucker before the night was over. I pulled a pack of smokes from my pocket and took out a cigarette, but as I stared at it, I remembered Isla’s reaction to it—how disgusted she was by it. I slid the cigarette back into the pack and tucked them away. I could go a little longer between smokes.
“IKE!” Isla called from the bedroom. “Are you sure about this?”
“Why?”
“Um…it’s kinda tight.”
“Come out and let me see.”
The door opened and out popped one long, sensuous leg. She wasn’t trying to look sexy as she slowly put one heel in front of the other. She just couldn’t walk in the damn things. That and the dress was so damn tight that if she walked any faster, it might rip in two.
“This is not right,” she muttered. “I look like a hooker.”
My lips twitched in amusement. “Why would you say that?”
“The dress barely covers my ass!”
“I think you look sexy.”
“I think everyone will know the color of my underwear within five minutes of being in the club!”
“That’s easy. It’s black.”
She gaped at me. “How did you— I haven’t even bent over!”
I grinned at the stunned expression on her face. “Black is your preference. Did you think I wouldn’t know that?”
“Yeah, I didn’t need to know that,” IRIS muttered. “Where’s Jane?”
“She’s coming,” Isla sighed. “But I have to warn you, she’s no better than I am.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt it,” he chuckled. “This should be fun.”
“I’m glad we can entertain you,” she snapped.
Jane wobbled through the door like a newborn giraffe and scowled at IRIS. “No. Just…no. Do you see the height of these things? I’ll break my neck!”
“You just have to practice walking in them,” IRIS said, hurrying over to her.
“If they’re so easy, you wear them!”
“Any chance you want to switch?” Isla asked.
“I don’t fill out a dress like you do. And I doubt you would be able to use my gun.”
“Probably not, but I would be much more comfortable in that suit than I am in this dress. Seriously, who wears something like this? I feel like I’m covered in glitter!”
“That’s because you are.” I wiped some of it from her cheek and held it out for her to see. “Not quite the look you were hoping for?”
“Not many women wish to look like a prostitute.”
I looked her up and down, frowning at the decision she had made. I still wasn’t happy about any of this. “I should be the one to talk to this guy.”
She shot me a disapproving look. “No guns.”
“One gun,” I retorted.
“You can carry one gun, but I don’t want this to turn into a shootout. Can’t we just try this my way?”
“She means the peaceful way,” IRIS grinned.
“I vote for guns,” Jane piped up. “I really don’t like these heels. Let’s just shoot them and get it over with.”
Isla glared at her. “You’re way too violent.”
“Do you see who I’m married to?”
“I see your point.”
I really didn’t want to let her walk into the club looking like that to talk to another man, but this was her life, and she needed to have a say in it. “Ten minutes. That’s all you have.”
She smiled at me. “Okay.”
“And you wear an earpiece the whole time.”
“I can do that.”
“And if he so much as touches you, I will fucking kill him.”
She quirked an eyebrow at me.
“No negotiations on that one. I mean it, Isla. You have no fucking clue how much this is killing me right now. I don’t hand over control to anyone.”
“I’m not asking for control. I just want to try to find out information by asking questions before we start maiming and torturing people. Is that really too much to ask?”
Yes, it really fucking was, but I would do it for her. Because when she looked at me with those eyes, I couldn’t tell her no. If I was going to learn to fit in with her life, I had to stop jumping to the easiest solution, which in my world meant taking someone out.
“Just remember, when we’re in the club tonight, our goal is to find out information on Shawn. You don’t take drinks from anyone, and you don’t go anywhere without me or IRIS.”
“You don’t have to worry about that.”
“And if you find this guy Shawn used to know?—”
“I know, IKE. We’ve talked about all of this. I need to find out any places Shawn used to hang out with him. It’ll be fine. But that doesn’t mean he knows anything. Shawn might not have been in contact with him.”
“I know, but the chances that the Irish know about this connection are pretty slim, which is why Shawn would have risked coming to someone like this guy. Stay alert, and don’t make me regret bringing you along on this trip.”
“Are you baiting me?” Isla snapped.
“And why would I do that?” I asked, proud that she caught on to my schemes.
“To piss me off right before we go into the club so that I’m not nervous. I can do this, IKE. I’m not scared.”
She was terrified, but she was doing a great job of hiding it. I didn’t want her to come along any more than Kavanaugh would have wanted her to, but this was her choice. She needed to feel like she was in control of her life in some way, and this allowed her to do that, to take back what Shawn had stripped away. She would never feel safe unless she had a hand in taking him down.
“One last thing.” I held out her wrist and slid a skin-toned tracker over her skin. Then I slid down her body and placed another one on the back of her leg.
“What are you doing?”
“Putting trackers on you.”
“But I didn’t feel anything.”
“They’re just tags.”
Her face crinkled up in a cute frown. “Kavanaugh mentioned those once, but he said they were implants.”
“Yes, but unless you want me to jab a tracker into your arm, this will have to do for tonight.”
She crinkled her nose in disgust. “No, thank you. This will do fine. Wait…does this mean you think I’m going to get taken or something?”
“No, it means that I happen to like you and prefer to know where you are at all times.”
“Right.” She blew out a breath, then shook out her arms.
“Are you sure you’re up for this?”
“Yes, I’m just working out the wiggles.”
“The wiggles?”
“Yes, the wiggles, okay?”
My lips twitched at how cute she was, but I hid it as best I could. “You look great. You’ll do fine.”
“Right. Okay. Let’s do this.”
“Not so fast.” I caught her right as she was about to march past me. There was no way I was letting her go anywhere in that dress without some form of protection. I held up a small blade. “I want you to carry this on you.”
Her eyes widened comically. “And just where do you think I’m going to carry that? In my coochie?”
“I have a strap for your leg.”
“There’s no way that’ll work. Someone will see it.”
“Trust me, no one will see it.”
I got down on one knee and slid my hand up her leg just to get a reaction out of her. She shivered as I trailed my hand behind her knee to her inner thigh. Her eyes locked with mine, questioning where I was going with this. I smirked at her, knowing what she was thinking. I could smell her desire already, and if we were alone, I would take a taste of her, but we weren’t, and we had things to do.
So, I strapped on the knife belt and slid it inside, then pulled her dress down to cover it. “Perfect.”
“You’re sure no one will see it?”
“Positive.”
“Do I get one?” Jane asked.
IRIS snorted at that. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s a terrible idea.”
“Hey, she gets one. I should get one, too. I could need protection.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” IRIS said, pulling Jane into his side. “With the way you look in that dress, I’m not leaving your side the whole night.”
“Is this awkward for you?” Isla asked, cocking her head at me.
“What’s that?”
She pointed between Jane and IRIS. “This. The two of them. You know, because of how you felt.”
“No.”
“A man of many words,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“What more is there to say about it?”
“I don’t know, but if I asked Riley something like that, it would require Jujyfruits, a movie, and probably alcohol.”
“The next time you plan to do that, let me know.”
“So you can join us?”
“So I can stay away. Ready to go?”