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Apparently sweetcheeks was going to become a thing now. He preferred when Ruby just called him Birdy, it was less demeaning. And now just the thought of her calling him ‘daddy’ in crowded room made him shudder, he would need to find another way to get back to her. “Shut up about the sweetcheeks.” He said sullenly instead, a frowning at her. As soon as Ruby placed the key cart on a socket on the wall, the lamp bathed them in a pale light, make the room seem more lively.

It didn’t matter that he tried to put the fact they had no change of clothes out of his mind, Ruby was glad to bring it up for him. He looked away at her words, not sure why the idea made him feel so out of depth, it wasn’t like it would be the first time sharing a bed with someone (for sleeping, he meant, nothing else was happening!!) “Well… Maybe we won’t even need to worry about that, it shouldn’t be that hard to kill the target. Before you know it, we’ll be leaving.” He wasn’t sure if he was trying to reassure himself or convince Ruby, but the best way to deal with a problem like that was to avoid it until he couldn’t anymore.

The same could be used to deal with his flushed cheeks, avoidance. “You’re being ridiculous, My mind isn’t anywhere, and I’m not flushing.” Her voice though, why was she talking like that? It made his heart speed up a bit for some reason, his mouth went dry and the warmness of his face just seemed to increase. He made sure to keep his back turned to Ruby so she wouldn’t see his face, leaving the room in brisk pace that could only mean he was in a hurry to kill the target, it wasn’t anything like him trying to escape the blonde woman and her weird mind games, at all.

Focus, kill the target, make it an accident. That was what should be in his mind right now, finish the job without botching it up, how hard could it be? By the time they were in front of the room and Ruby was picking the lock efficiently, the blush had already disappeared, thankfully. The door swung open silently, and a spacious room bathed in darkness greeted them. Jacob quickly made him way in, shutting the door behind him without paying much attention if Ruby had entered as well, he wanted to finish this as soon as possible.

He started seeing the details of the room, it was pretty similar to the layout of Ruby and Jacob’s room, except it looked more lived on, with a few clothes scattered about and suitcase in one of the corners. There was a window covered by a long curtain that Jacob went to inspect a bit closer. It was a fair drop down, could certainly kill if diving headfirst, a good option for an accident, make it look like Mr. White slipped and fell down, but surely they could do better than that…

Pet names were a horrible invention, why would anyone call the people they care about such ridiculous names without it being an ironic way? He had no idea. He was sure Ruby was having way too much fun calling him stupid things. So far, he was fine with being called honey or dear, but a line had to be drawn at some point. “Please, don’t ever call me sweetcheeks again.” He grimaced at her, the horrid nickname sounding sour to his ears, but he had a feeling protesting would only make Ruby more determined to call him bad pet names, so after a few moments, he added. “Unless, of course, you want me to call you fluffybuns.” He smiled teasingly.

He raised an eyebrow at her question, he knew exactly what she was doing, hiding her real meaning behind lies and half questions, if anyone overheard them talking they would only hear a couple saying mundane stuff. But still, it was just wrong to think of Mr. White being related to him. “He’s staying on the floor above us. But I guess maybe it’s for the best, I would not like it if people realized we’re any way related, he’s so ridiculous.” He hoped Ruby would understand what he meant, the farther they stayed from the target, the less reason people had of suspecting they were to blame when the man died.

The elevator doors closed, and up they went, while Jacob completely missed any looks Ruby threw at him. He made a confused noise at what she said. Why was she bringing other people to this mission? “What kind of stuff? Is it safe to just bring people in here?” He trusted her, he really did, but that trust was not extended to whoever Ruby had called. The elevator arrived on the second floor with a ding, the doors opening for them to exit. They arrived at a long corridor, hundreds of doors greeted them, and Jacob was thankful that this time he at least had a number to look for when they went searching the target’s room.

It didn’t take him long to find room 314, and he quickly used his key to open the door, motioning for Ruby to enter as well. It was a very spacious room, with a television, a little cooler, a table and two chairs, a soft carpeted floor, but most importantly, it had only one queen sized bed, enough for a couple looking to spend the night, before having to go back to the party the next day. The problem was, Jacob and Ruby were not really a couple, it would be, at best awkward if they had to spend the night, since it was either share a bed or one of them sleep on the floor. Hopefully they would not have to cross that bridge, and plan A would work effortlessly.

He looked at Ruby expectantly, as if to gauge what she thought of the room, all in all, with the exception of the single bed, it wasn’t that bad, in his opinion, which was expected for such a fancy party. “Should we wait for this friend of yours to arrive then? Before going to see my cousin, I mean.” It wouldn’t be very smart to go directly at the target’s room, in case there were cameras. He looked at every corner of the room, but couldn’t find anything suspicious. That meant nothing, however, if someone wanted to spy, there were many ways to conceal a camera or a mic.

So the building did have cameras. Or perhaps it was just the private offices that were deemed important enough to be watched. Was it a result of cutting down costs? Or people genuinely thought no one would do something really horrible at the main hall, so security there was unnecessary. When Ruby pointed the camera out, it was natural to look at the direction she mentioned, but Jacob stopped the action midway through, looking at the woman instead, he nodded in acknowledgement, so they needed to be careful with what was said and done here. Jacob disliked immensely that there was someone recording his face, but he couldn’t exactly destroy the camera, that would appear suspicious.

Maybe the target would want some privacy, or maybe he was using this room as storage for his briefcase. “Apparently, he does. Unless he left this here on purpose, the door was locked.” He answered Ruby while rummaging through Mr. white’s things some more, but he couldn’t find anything else of value. “Nah, Key is the only thing interesting.” He looked closer at the picture when Ruby commented on it, the people in the photo looked happy, a shame, these kids growing up without a father, too bad Jacob didn’t really care. “Should’ve thought about them before pissing off dangerous people.” He said in a low voice so only Ruby would hear, a smirk on his face.

He placed all the things back inside the suitcase carefully, so it would look like no one had touched it. They didn’t need to take anything in there with them, it was just an information gathering kind of thing. It was smart of them to leave early, so they would have time to look around the target’s hotel room and decide the best course of action. “Oh god, no more mingling, please.” He playfully grimaced at the idea, already bored of just thinking about entertaining some random rich guest. He calmly went to the door, opening it again and gesturing for Ruby to exit the room like a gentleman holding the door for a lady.

They would have to stay in the room provided, true. It hadn’t crossed his mind that possibility would come true, in his mind the job would be quite simple, even if the staging an accidental death made things a bit more difficult, he thought it would be quick enough so the hotel room would be unnecessary. Turns out they would be sharing a room then. “A phone call? So mysterious…” He teased her “Do you wanna wait until we’re not being watched?” It could be either an innocent call to a friend because she was going to miss something, or it could be something not meant for unwary ears.

The walk downstairs was uneventful, Jacob went as far as pleasant nod at the guard who watched the staircase. There was a soft music playing, and people danced on main hall, Jacob would rather avoid that entirely, the ridiculous he suffered on the masquerade was enough to last him a lifetime. They only had to walk to the entrance of the building, and from there it was a short walk to the hotel.

Assassinating was a fun business, Jacob liked to kill and he was great at it, he never regretted getting into this life. Planning, executing, seeing the brief fear in the victim’s eyes before his knife drove into their heart and the person fell dead, Jacob lived for that. But there was some moments, between planning and killing, the preparing everything, the finding the right moment, the waiting, the looking into a hundred rooms because you had lost your target, those moments were not fun. It was tedious and left too much room for error. Jacob looked at the long corridor with a sigh, Ruby’s mumble enough to indicate she did not enjoy it either, but it had to be done.

As she asked him to, Jacob took the left after a curt nod in her direction. These were meant to be used as private rooms, from what he understood, if people wanted to unwind or chat a little more privately, he figured. Most of them should be empty offices. Ruby brought her latex gloves, even offering a pair for Jacob to use. “No need, thanks. Got my own.” He was a professional, after all. He took his usual gloves from his pockets, the dark cloth would be enough to avoid any fingerprints.

The first few rooms he checked turned out to be empty offices, he barely payed attention to what was inside before closing the door and going to the next. He looked at Ruby curiously when she hastily closed one of her doors. “What’s wrong?” He asked clueless to what could cause such an extreme reaction. The next door he tried was locked, and he peeked through the keyhole, there was an old man sleeping on one of the chairs, or perhaps he was simply dead, Jacob didn’t know or care, since it wasn’t his target.

Jacob was startled from trying to peek through another keyhole, by a door opening a little far from him and a voice echoing down the corridor. He straightened himself, going to where Ruby was. He grabbed her by the waist hastily, trying to steer her away from looking suspicious by the doors. His intention was to make them look like any other couple who wanted some private time, so he kept close to his supposed fiancée, smiling and pretending he was absolutely meant to be there. To his surprise it was the target who exited the room, with a pretty red haired woman who was giggling to whatever the man had said. The two passed without a second glance at Ruby and Jacob, ‘It’ll only be a second, dear’ was what he was saying while climbing down the stairs. Jacob had to decide if he would follow the target, or investigate the room the man had just exited.

Considering they couldn’t exactly kill the man in the middle of a crowded room, and the party had barely started downstairs, meaning Mr. White would have to stay longer, Jacob decided it would be better to investigate the room. “We should see if can find anything to work with in that room” He told Ruby after he was certain no one else was around, it didn’t cross his mind that he didn’t need to keep his hand on her waist any longer.

The older gentleman was happy to tell his story, involving priests, Adam and Eve, and childish stories. He looked so happy to be sharing these things with Ruby and him, it made Jacob wonder if he didn’t have others to listen to him prattle, like a kids and grandkids. He only paid half a mind to what was being said, more worried in looking for his target, he nodded and smiled at the right parts, it made him feel a little closer to all the fake people and their fake pleasantries.

Compared to this couple, with their stories and mannerism, Jacob and Ruby were quite young. How old were they, anyway? Sixty? Seventy? He wasn’t sure, but although the Scotsman forgot his manners, Jacob didn’t care enough to do the same, their ages were inconsequential. Unlike Ruby’s, her birthday would be soon, near Christmas, he hadn’t known her exact age, but he could’ve guessed she was younger than him. She was still older than the brat called Shaun Bianchi, so Jacob had nothing to complain.

It was strange to see how well they played these games, pretending to be part of high society, a successful couple, ready to throw their money at whatever strike their fancy. Ruby’s pleasant words, Jacob’s friendly smiles, in a way he could say he was wearing a mask, after all. They didn’t have to dilly dally with the couple for long, the old lady saw someone familiar on the crowd, and ushered her husband to go attend to that. “Thank you ma’am. I was wonderful meeting you” He managed to cringe just a little when she patted his cheek gently. “That was… something. I think we’re meant to these kind of gatherings” He said after they were gone, his voice low so only Ruby would hear. He followed Ruby in placing his glass of champagne on a nearby table, it was only for show, he had no intentions of getting drunk, no chances were to be taken while in the middle of a job.

“Yes, splitting sounds like a good idea.” He nodded, looking around the room cautiously. They still had the ear pieces in case they needed to communicate. He shot her a smile before picking a direction to go look. He walked calmly, his eyes scanning the crowd, sometimes he would stop and exchange a few words with random people, sometimes someone would greet him and he would have stop and have brief conversations. He hoped Ruby had more luck on her side.

At least twenty minutes had passed before finally things started to show promise. He caught a glimpse of someone who looked like his target. Elegant and well poised, it was like he commanded attention around him, a small group had stopped to listen to whatever story he was telling. Jacob politely excused himself from the woman he suspected was trying to flirt with him. He made his way through the crowd, with excuse-me’s and I’m sorry’s, his hand went to his earpiece. “I think I see him, near the big staircase.” He informed Ruby lowly, no one seemed to be any the wiser Jacob was up to something.

It was a bit difficult to maneuver through the people, so by the time he got close to Mr. White, he seemed to already to be done saying whatever to his little followers, and was making his way upstairs. Jacob couldn’t let that opportunity escape, he glanced behind him briefly, to see if Ruby was nearby, before he attempted to follow the target. He was stopped by one of the guards standing at the foot of the staircase. ‘I’m sorry sir, this area is off limits’ Jacob smiled, apologizing for that. His target was not visible anymore, and he let out a sigh of frustration.

If Ruby and Jacob got married and they forced Max to attend the wedding, the cop would probably cry in jealousy and then go have a self-pity party because he missed his chance with them both. It was a little sad to think about, actually. “Honored isn’t the exact word I would use.” Max certainly was the kind of person with too many morals to try to pursue a married person. It was all stupid what if scenarios, of course, Jacob had no intentions of getting married, least of all with Ruby Blackwood.

Insecure was not a way to describe Ruby, that was the truth. And she was beautiful enough that she was the one who would probably cause jealousy. But more importantly, she had more things to worry about than some unspoken competition flared by envy and pettiness. Like look for their target, who remained as elusive as ever. Jacob almost wished Mr. White was an extravagant man who thought purple was appropriate for a fancy charity event. That would make it so much easier to spot him among the numerous black and white guests.

Even people who didn’t often go to these boring fancy party, it was quite simple to turn up the charm and pretend everything was pleasant and nice. It was like a switch was pressed when the older couple approached Jacob and Ruby, their friendly smile making an appearance as they did their best to look like they belonged in this kind of ambient. It wasn’t so difficult to exchange pleasantries with the couple, the topics were innocent and they seemed oddly excited to participate in this event, much to Jacob’s silent disbelief.

The man’s pleasant Scottish brogue only made him sound more fancy as he introduced himself. Jacob accepted the handshake, it was brief and firm, without being painful. The older gentleman took Ruby’s hand, planting a kiss on it, like a proper greeting, Jacob did the same with the other lady, somehow making it look like it was intention all along. “A pleasure, as well, I’m Leonard Klein, and this is my fiancée.” He would let Ruby introduce herself and choose if she wanted to give her name or come up with an alias on the spot. His alias came out naturally, Jacob was used to not giving out his true name, having something to offer instead was nice for a change. Maybe he should use fake names more often. “Leonard Klein, I’ve heard of that name before, so young and already so successful” Jacob smiled, doubting the truth in the man’s words, but that was the game played, wasn’t it? Politics and ass kissing.