Page 13 of Dark Reasons

"Are you?" I shoot back. "You take every job that comes your way. Hit men shouldn't live paycheck to paycheck."

He hesitates, then breaks into a grin. "You got me there. I do like making money, but I like spending it more." His blue eyes snap to the PC. "She seems kind of young to have mortal enemies or an abusive baby daddy. Who does she want you to kill?"

"Caruso Oakley."

"Never heard of him. What did he do?"

"Hired someone to get nude videos of her best friend."

Tusk crinkles his brow, then stares at the tightly locked door. "Still, murder seems a bit extreme."

"You have a conscience now?'

"Don't insult me." His vague smile comes and goes again. Tapping his fingers on the desk, he starts to pace the room. The walls are covered in movie posters—Tusk is a big fan of sci-fi. I'd never leave anything personal up in a place like this, but he makes different choices than me. "This is really messy. Clients never see our faces, they only see Iris. Your girl—"

"Don't call her my girl."

"—your client has broken our major rule. What do we do if she bails and turns us into the cops? How are you going to insure we aren't fucked?"

"I don't even know if she's really a client yet."

He pauses, leveling a stone-eyed look at me. "She's either your client or your next corpse."

He's not joking. It doesn't surprise me, this stance he has, because I'm battling with the same. Whatdoessurprise me is how sick I feel when he calls Selena a corpse. I've been responsible for untold deaths. I'm numb to them. The idea of her dying shouldn't glean a reaction.

There are options here. But they only work if I can get Selena to go along with them.My preference would be locking her away until I get rid of this Caruso guy, then surveying her from the shadows until it's clear she won't betray me to the authorities.

After that...

I don't need to think that far ahead.

That's the best plan. It lets me control every step.

"I get it," I say calmly, "and I agree. She pays the fee, and after the job is done, I'll decide if it's too much of a risk to let her walk away."

Tusk doesn't break his stare; he's trying to tell if I'm serious. As usual, he can't decide. "One hint during this contract that she's going to go traitor, you'll kill her?"

"That's the rule," I say simply.

He nods, turning away, the conversation done with. He's lucky that he can shrug this off. Normally, I could too. It's how I've handled every other situation in the past. Anything that puts myself or my business at risk has to be eradicated. Everything we do hinges on that.

I head to the desk, digging inside for what I'll need.

"Hey, Jamison?" Tusk has turned back. He's smiling at me. "You surprise me sometimes. I always had you pegged for cold blooded, but deep down, you're actually a good guy."

"Thanks, man." I appreciate his smile. I value it.

But I don't return it.

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