I don’t even look up. “Yes.”
“Both of them? At the same time?”
“I doubt one would stand still while I kill the other.”
We start walking again, only now she’s walking much closer to me.
14.
“How much do you charge?”
“What, to guard Lucky?”
We’re back in the kitchen. It’s four p.m. Gwen has just polished off beer number four.
“To kill someone.”
“Depends on the job.”
“In general.”
“Each job is different.”
We’re sitting across the table from each other. Gwen is twisting her hair with her thumb and index finger. She’s not drunk, but not sober, either. She’s in that middle zone, where endless possibilities reside. Tipsy enough to exude sensuality, but sober enough to know what she’s doing. And saying.
“So,” she says. “If I hired you to kill one of the guards out front, what would it cost me?”
“Nothing.”
She perks up. “What do you mean?”
“I’m on the clock. I’d kill them both for free, if they tried to hurt you or Lucky.”
“Oh,” she says. Then says, “But say they weren’t trying to hurt us. Say I just wanted one of them dead?”
“I’d need a reason,” I say.
“I thought hit men killed ’cause it’s their job.”
“We kill for lots of reasons. I’m one of those who never used to ask questions.”
“And now you do?”
“Depends on the client.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You’re what, twenty years old?”
“Yes.”
“Well, if you were twice that, I probably wouldn’t need a reason.”
Her eyes widen just enough to show I offended her. But not too much.
“Are you saying I’m not mature enough to make that decision?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“But if I had a good reason?”
“I’d do it.”
She nods. “For how much?”
“Those guys at the gate?”
“They’re pretty tough,” she says. “Lucky wouldn’t have hired them if they weren’t.”
I nod. “Ten.”
“Ten thousand?”
“No. Cents.”
Gwen’s smile blooms before my eyes, and spreads across her face.
She says, “Would you be offended if I gave you a real kiss right now?”
“You mean here, at the table?”
“For now.”
“What about Lucky?”
“He’ll have to wait for his kiss.”
“The answer is no.”
Her smile fades. “Why not?”
“I meant no, I wouldn’t be offended.”
She smiles again, climbs into the chair next to mine, puts her arms around me, and gives me a long, slow,
