The Infatuation (Josh and Kat #1 , The Club #5) (42 page)

“Is it on your laptop?” she asks.

I nod.

“Email it to me right now.”

I shake my head. “No way. The deal was you get to
read
it—you don’t get to
have
it.”

She rolls her eyes. “Then I suggest you bring your
frickin’ laptop with you to Jonas and Sarah’s suite so you can hand
it over to me the
minute
they leave.”

I don’t respond. I guess some part of me was hoping
that, after I finally fucked her, Kat would say, “To hell with the
stupid application. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Kat touches my chest and goose bumps erupt on my
body. “Josh, listen to me. My initials spell KUM. I grew up being
called Kum Shot and Jizz. A guy I thought I
loved
turned out
to have a fucking fiancée and told me I’m a slut.” She smiles, but
there’s no mistaking the insecurity in her eyes. “Not to mention
the fact that I just sucked your gigantic dick while riding an
orgasm machine and then came so hard I went momentarily blind.” She
shoots me an adorable grin. “And you’re nervous about sharing some
stupid sex club application with me?” She strokes my face. “Holy
Nothing Can Shock Me Now, Batman.”

I close my eyes. She kisses me gently.

“Holy Give Me Some Credit, Batman,” she whispers,
continuing to kiss me.

I return her kiss. My dick is hardening. But, shit,
there’s no time. My brother’s waiting. I pull away.

She puts her finger under my chin and kisses my lips
gently. “Holy
YOLO
, Batman.”

I smile at her. What man could resist her? I tried
my mighty best, I really did, but even I couldn’t pull it off.
“Okay,” I say. “A promise is a promise. The minute Jonas and Sarah
leave, I’ll hand it over. I give you my solemn word as a
Faraday.”

Josh

The five of us have gone over Jonas and Sarah’s
talking points for the big meeting in Washington tomorrow, twice,
and Henn has walked us through the logistics of how our very own
“Oksana Belenko” is gonna get The Club’s approximately five hundred
fifty-four million bucks transferred out of the bad guys’ twelve
bank accounts. During the whole conversation, every one of us has
looked on anxiously, but none more than Kat—which is
understandable, considering she’s the one who’s gonna have to waltz
into each and every bank and commit large-scale bank fraud.

I wish I could do the job for her, I really do. In
fact, I’ve pushed Henn to come up with some way to transfer the
money that doesn’t rely on Kat, but he keeps telling me there’s no
other way: the accounts are all in Oksana’s name and the majority
of them require in-person transfers for amounts over a million
bucks. Henn and I went around and around, but there’s no
alternative. We can’t do it without Kat.

“Don’t worry, Kitty Kat,” Henn says. “I promise.
It’s gonna go like clockwork. I’ve rigged it so the banks will
think you’re Oksana, no questions asked, and I’ve also figured out
a way to block the bad guys’ access to the Internet on their
devices during the whole time we’re in the banks, just in case they
try to check their accounts while we’re in the middle of
things.”

Kat bites her lip. “Thanks, Henny.”

“We’ll both be right by your side,” I say, taking
her hand in mine. She leans into my shoulder and I kiss the top of
her head. “I’ll be right there with you, PG,” I whisper. “Every
step of the way.”

“Okay, so are you three good?” Jonas asks.

“Yeah, we’re good,” I say. “Are you two good?”

Jonas and Sarah look at each other. “Do you have any
questions, baby?” Jonas asks.

Sarah shakes her head. “No, no questions. But I do
have a comment: holy crappola—I’m shitting a brick.”

Jonas laughs and kisses her forehead. “No need for
brick-shitting. Your report is gonna do all our talking for
us.”

Sarah takes a deep breath. “God help me if I wind up
on some government watch-list after all this.”

“Don’t worry. They wouldn’t be meeting us in the
first place if they didn’t take your report seriously.”

Sarah nods and exhales.

Jonas looks at me. “Josh, can I talk to you for just
a second?”

“Sure, bro.”

“Do you mind, baby? I just gotta talk to Josh for a
quick second, and then we’ll head out.”

“No worries. I’ll chat with Kitty Kat.”

Jonas and I get up and Sarah and Kat instantly
launch into a rapid-fire conversation behind our backs.

“You two want me to join you or... ?” Henn asks
us.

Jonas looks at me for my input.

I nod.

“Yeah,” Jonas says. “Thanks, Henn. We could
definitely use your brain.”

The three of us move to a sitting area on the other
side of the suite, far enough away that the girls won’t overhear
us.

Jonas looks nervously across the room. “There’s not
a lot of time, so lemme cut to the chase. I want Max and the
Ukrainian Travolta dead.” He clenches his jaw.

Henn doesn’t seem the slightest bit surprised.
“Shouldn’t be hard to persuade the feds to do it for you. The feds
are gonna want them dead, too.”

“How do you figure?”

“Well, dude. Come on. The Secretary of Defense is
one of The Club’s biggest clients? Not good. They’ll do whatever
the fuck you ask them to do to keep that quiet and make sure this
deal goes off without a hitch. Offing a couple Ukrainian
separatists is a small price to bury that particular bit of
information.”

“‘Ukrainian separatists’ isn’t really sexy enough,”
I say. “I don’t think the average person watching the news
understands all that.”

“True,” Henn says. “Good point.”

“I think we need something easily digestible for the
masses—something the media will pick up on and run with—something
the feds can feed to them that they won’t even question.”

We’re all silent for a beat.

“Terrorists?” I say.

“
Yes
,” Henn says. “The media can spin that
’til the end of fucking time. They’ll eat that shit up.”

“Yeah, but
Ukrainian
terrorists? Americans
don’t even know where Ukraine is,” I say.

“That’s true.” Henn says.

“
Russian
terrorists?” Jonas says.

“Yeah,” Henn says. “‘A Russian terrorist cell.’”

“Ha! Perfect,” I say. “You’re a fucking genius.”

“So I’ve been told,” Henn says.

“I like it,” Jonas says, nodding. He looks deep in
thought.

“It’s actually eerily perfect,” Henn says. “It’s got
all the bogey-man buzzwords at once, tied up in a neat little
package. The news stations will have themselves a field day,
whipping everyone into a frenzy, which means the feds will have a
free pass to do whatever they need to do in plain sight—all in the
name of protecting us all from a huge terrorist threat.’” Henn nods
emphatically. “It’s brillz.”

“What if those two fuckers die in a shoot-out during
a raid on the ‘terrorists’ compound’?” I ask. “That’s pretty sexy,
isn’t it?”

“Perfecto,” Henn says. “Maybe those two fuckers
‘pulled weapons on officers’ during the raid? That’d be the
cleanest for the feds and best for us, too—no way to trace anything
back to us. Simple. Effective. Believable. The feds save the world.
We have nothing to do with it. Great mega-story for the news
outlets. It’s a win-win-win.”

Jonas nods. “Thanks, guys.” He looks emboldened. “I
think that might work if I sell it right.”

Henn scrunches up his face, thinking. “Lemme see if
I can’t get you a little insurance to help you out, big guy. Maybe
I can dig up some more shit on the Secretary of Defense. Some
compromising photos or whatnot. Kiddie porn on his computer. A dick
pic he sent to a minor? I’m sure there’s something. There’s always
something with these guys. A little insurance would be a good thing
to have in your pocket in case the feds balk about taking those two
guys out as part of the deal. ”

“Thanks, Henn,” Jonas says. “Yeah, insurance would
be awesome.”

“Cool. No problem.”

“Is that everything, bro?” I ask.

Jonas looks at his watch. “Just one more quick
thing. What about Oksana? Does she pull a weapon during the
shoot-out or not?”

We all ponder the question for a moment, pursing our
lips.

“The more people ‘pulled weapons on officers’ and
didn’t make it out alive, the less believable the whole thing is,”
Henn says. “Plus, women are much less likely to pull a weapon,
statistically speaking. We don’t wanna raise any suspicion that
anything’s hinky.”

Jonas clenches his jaw. “Did you uncover anything
whatsoever to suggest Oksana had something to do with the hit on
Sarah?”

“Or maybe knew about it beforehand?” I ask, my jaw
clenching in sympathy with my brother’s. I want these fuckers dead
every bit as much as he does.

Henn shakes his head. “Everything I’ve seen tells me
Max ordered the hit and the Ukrainian Travolta carried it out. All
evidence is that Oksana’s a pimpstress and a loyalist to mother
Russia, but not a stone-cold killer. Max is the head of the snake.
Indubitably.”

Jonas looks deep in thought.

I touch my brother’s shoulder. “I vote you be the
God of the
New
Testament, Jonas—show the perfect measure of
force and mercy.”

Jonas runs his hands through his hair. “Fuck. I
dunno.” He exhales. “I’ll think about it on the plane some
more.”

“Okay. Follow your gut.” I hug him. “Be safe, bro.”
I kiss him on the side of his neck.

“You, too,” Jonas says. He kisses my cheek. “Be
careful in the banks, guys. Please.”

“We will.”

“Take extra good care of Kat.” He looks across the
room at Sarah. She’s chatting and giggling happily with Kat. “My
girl can’t live without her.”

I stare at Kat across the room, my heart suddenly
bursting in my chest. “I won’t let anything happen to her,
bro.”

“We’ll keep her safe, big guy,” Henn says.

Jonas hugs Henn. “You’re a fucking genius, man. I
can never thank you enough for all you’ve done.”

“Hey, man. We’re family now.”

They slap each other’s backs and when they pull
apart, Jonas looks determined.

“You got this,” I say. “You’re a fucking beast,
bro.”

“Fuck yeah,” Jonas says.

“Fuck yeah,” I reply.

“Fuck yeah,” Henn echoes. “Wow, I feel so
masculated
right now. Is this how you guys feel every
fucking day? Wow.”

We all laugh.

I look at my watch. “Okay, bro. You better get your
ass to the airport. Keep us posted. We’ll be ready all day
tomorrow. Just give us the word and we’ll head to the banks.”

Our threesome walks over to the girls, and after the
five of us have completed every possible permutation of hugging and
whispered goodbyes, Jonas and Sarah waltz out the door, bags in
hand and determined expressions on their faces.

“Good luck saving the world, guys!” Kat shouts to
their backs.

“Holy crappolaaaaaaaaaaa!” Sarah shouts, just as the
door closes behind her.

They’re gone.

Henn, Kat, and I look at each other in a shared daze
for a long moment.

“Holy shitballs,” Kat finally says.

“Big shit going down in little China,” Henn
says.

“Or little Ukraine,” I add.

“Shit just got real,” Henn says.

“Fo shizzle pops,” Kat says.

Henn exhales, filling his cheeks with air like a
blowfish. “Welp.” He looks at Kat. “I guess we’d better take your
photo for your Oksana passport, huh? If Jonas and Sarah call upon
us to save the world tomorrow, we’d best be ready.”

Josh

“Okay, Kitty Kat,” Henn says, his eyes bugging out.
“There’s nothing to stress about. I’ve already shaved years off
Oksana’s age on all the banks’ systems and I’m gonna swap your
photo for Oksana’s on the accounts using photo identification.
Tonight, I’m gonna check and recheck all the passwords and codes on
every account, too, just to make sure everything goes off without a
hitch tomorrow. Oh, and I’m gonna infect the bad guys’ devices with
malware to block their wifi at the flip of a switch too—just on the
off chance they try to log into their accounts while we’re in the
middle of making the transfers.”

“How many Americanos have you had today, Henny?” Kat
asks.

“Why does everyone always ask me that?” He chuckles.
“So are you ready to get your photo taken, Oksana?” He motions to
the door of Jonas and Sarah’s suite. “I think we should head down
to the casino and look for a white wall as a background.”

Kat steals a glance at me, and there’s no mistaking
what she’s thinking about.“Sure thing,” she says tentatively, still
looking at me. “How long do you need me?”

“Just a few minutes. Shouldn’t take long once we
find a good backdrop.”

“Is there any hacker-stuff you could do first,
before taking my photo? Maybe for about an hour?”

“Um. Sure. I can certainly work on my malware for a
while. And I’ve got a little research on the Secretary of Defense
to do for Jonas.”

“In that case, how about we split up for a bit? You
guys do whatever while I stay here in the suite and do a little
personal reading? It won’t take too long.”

“Cool,” Henn says. “Actually, I could use to blow
off a little steam for a bit before I get to work, if you guys
don’t mind. You wanna roll the dice with me, boss?”

“Yeah,” I say slowly, my stomach clenching. “I gotta
talk to Kat first, though. I’ll catch up with you in a bit.”

“Cool. See you soon. Just text me when you’re ready
to meet up.”

The minute Henn leaves, I take Kat’s face in my
hands and kiss her. And then I kiss her again. And again. And
again. All I wanna do is kiss her one last time before my
application potentially fucks everything up—but before I know it,
my clothes are off and so are hers and she’s on top of me on the
bed, riding me, screaming my name, humping me exactly the way she
rode that Sybian—and I’m underneath her, guiding her smooth hips,
groping her hot little ass, mesmerized by the way her tits are
bouncing, by the little cleft in her chin, the way her blonde hair
falls around her shoulders, and wondering how the fuck I’m letting
myself have sex without a condom
again
(even though it feels
so, so fucking good).