The Job (Auctioned) by Cara Dee (highly illogical behavior txt) 📕

condiments, and she said she was ready to put the fries in the fryer. The garlic bread needed another five minutes in the oven.

“Are you double-frying them?” Darius asked.

Mom patted his cheek. “Of course I am. I wouldn’t forget your favorite, dear.”

Darius grinned. “It’s good to be back in Vegas.”

It was good to have him here. We usually had our reunions in their neck of the woods—literally, trees fuckin’ everywhere—so it’d been a while since they were in Vegas.

Once Mom was out of earshot again, I asked my last question.

“So what do you want from us while y’all are here? Do we just wait by the phone?”

“Pretty much,” he said with a nod. “You’ve already done a great job, Casey. Stand by and wait. Have the photocopies ready just in case.” He didn’t need to remind me of those. “Be ready on a couple minutes’ notice. I can’t guarantee you’ll have a lot of time to prepare, so pack whatever you need beforehand.”

“No problem.” We could keep everything we needed in Boone’s truck. I twisted the caps off two beers and handed him one. “To family, then. May you and your crew crush the enemy like bugs.”

“I’ll drink to that.” He clinked his bottle to mine before taking a swig. “So what’s this shit I heard from Ma about you two shacking up as a couple? When I called you a few weeks ago, you weren’t even on speaking terms.”

I exchanged a smirk with Boone. “This job happened, I guess.”

Sixteen

Case knocked on the bathroom door. “Bro. It’s been half an hour. That’s how you get hemorrhoids.”

“Almost done,” I murmured absently, scrolling on my phone.

Living in a small trailer with a brother who had complete control of our technology and thought the cops would burst in at the most insignificant Google search had resulted in me sitting here. Secret research on my phone while I was on the shitter. Thank fuck our job was almost over and Case could let go of his paranoia soon.

Although, I kinda wanted to keep this secret a while longer.

So I kept scrolling the local real estate listings. I wanted to get prepared. I wanted to see what was out there and start planning for how I could give Case a home he’d love. Starting with property close to nature. He didn’t belong smack-dab in the middle of town, even though I knew he wanted to remain somewhat close. But I knew my brother. He needed peace and quiet more than a bustling nightlife.

He needed a place where he could shut out the world, and it was exactly what I craved too.

“You have two hours, starting right now.” Darius’s voice was strained and rough, and it shot adrenaline straight through me. “Clean him out—I don’t care—but the Feds will show up as soon as you’re outta there, and it can’t look like he’s been robbed. Bring the photocopies and remove the transmitter!” He hung up the phone without another word, and I yanked the cord to the toaster out of the outlet before my Pop-Tarts were ready. Quicker than arguing with a button that didn’t always obey me.

“Boone!” I yelled, setting a timer on my phone. “It’s go-time!”

What a goddamn week this had been. A week and some changes, even.

For the next couple minutes, Boone and I stumbled around the trailer as we changed clothes, put on the too-big shoes, and gathered our gear. Then we stormed out of there and aimed for his truck. It’d been parked right outside our home for days, just waiting for this moment.

So had my mix CD that I’d prepared.

The glare Boone gave me when he turned the ignition and the music started blaring was quite fucking impressive.

I just felt we needed something that gave us energy, and Vengaboys’s “Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!!” was a great candidate.

“Are you for real?” he snapped over the music.

“I love you too!” I hollered.

He rolled his eyes and tore outta there.

I bobbed my head to the beat and patted my side pockets, making sure I had everything. Few things had been accomplished this week, aside from providing Willow with minor updates, but we’d managed to secure an easier entrance to AJ’s estate this time. In exchange for a thousand bucks, Boone’s buddy Jay had divulged the passcode to shut off the alarm. Because suddenly we could spend that kind of money and didn’t have to rely on others to do the job.

“Did you attach the fake plates?” he asked.

“You know I did.” I nodded. It was only a precaution. Fake license plates and a whole lot of dirt on the truck. We’d taken it out for a spin in the desert when we’d burned the evidence of everything we’d been up to this past month. Now the truck looked like it’d just spent a decade in the wilderness. Mud and dust—mostly dust—covered the sides, back, and front. To be honest, I wasn’t sure the fake plates were even visible.

We made our way across town and toward Summerlin, and I got ready on the way. We would have the cover of darkness to shield us this time around, so I wasn’t even nervous.

We ended up repeating every step. We parked near the cul-de-sac on AJ’s street, we put on gloves, we brought our gear, we went around the back and up along the edge of the infinity pool, and—that’s where it stopped. Because I finally got to do what an open window prevented me from doing last time. I got to break in to the double-cylinder deadbolt on AJ’s terrace.

It took me twenty minutes, but it was worth it.

As soon as the alarm was disconnected, Boone retrieved two empty duffels from my backpack. We had more in his bag if needed.

“Let’s shop.”

“Fuck yeah.” High on adrenaline and excitement, I yanked him in for a quick, hard kiss.

It left him with that dopey grin I was so fucking in love with.

“You start down here. I’ll head upstairs.” I checked the timer on my