But as soon as he reaches the landing, Jimmy quickly crosses the distance between them, grabs a fistful of the front of the shorts, and gives him a good squeeze.
Rob Jacobson makes a sound like a chew toy.
“I know,” Jimmy says, still holding on. “I’m excited to see you, too.”
Jimmy nearly knocks Jacobson down as he shoves him ahead and to the left into the living room, one that looks almost as big as the bar Jimmy owns in Sag Harbor, finally shoving him into the first soft piece of furniture they come to.
The bracelet, Jimmy sees, is still attached to Jacobson’s ankle. The light on it is blinking, which means it’s running out of battery power.
No shit, Jimmy thinks.
“You know being here violates your parole, right?” Jimmy says. “And can land you back in a jail cell for the duration of the trial. You know that, too, don’t you?”
Jacobson gives a little shrug to his shoulders, and grins, trying to look as cocky as ever. It continues to make Jimmy Cunniff feel as if his own balls are being squeezed, practicallyon a daily basis, that he’s working for the kind of lowlife he used to happily put away. The only difference with this one is his bank account.
“I just needed to get away for a few hours and blow off some steam,” Jacobson says. “Have a little fun.”
“With another high school girl?” Jimmy asks him. “She is in high school, isn’t she?”
Jacobson grins. “They both are, as a matter of fact,” he says. “But, hey, they’re both going to graduate with honors.”
“Maybe they can finally nail you on nailing underage girls once and for all,” Jimmy says.
“They’re both eighteen,” Jacobson says. He grins again. “Unless they used a fake ID with me.”
“What a guy,” Jimmy says.
He resists the urge, and not for the first time, to slap the smirk right off his face, and permanently. They both know he won’t fire him if he does, or Jane. Jane slapped him one time and she’s still here. The reason is simple enough: Rob Jacobson needs both of them, whether he likes it or not. By now, you could write that in the stars.
“How’d you get around the bracelet?” Jimmy asks.
“I know a hacker,” Jacobson says.
“Of course you do.”
“He’s not cheap, I can tell you that,” Jacobson says. “But worth every penny. He got into the county system that creates the geofence. What he was doing was only stopgap, but for a day, he could expand my travel area for a hundred miles or so without a notification pinging somewhere.”
“What a guy,” Jimmy says again.
“The hacker guy?”
“No, you,” Jimmy says. “Jane keeps laying it on the line for you, which happens to include even laying her life on the line. She gets you bail when nobody thought that was even remotely possible. And this is the thanks you give her.”
“Hey, I love Janie. I even said so on the radio a little while ago.”
Jimmy stands. “Go get some clothes on. I’ll drive you back out east myself.”
“Somehow you seem to keep forgetting that you work for me and not the other way around,” Jacobson says.
Jimmy walks over to the couch and leans down, close enough that his nose is practically touching Rob Jacobson’s perfect nose.
“Do I have to greet you all over again?” he says in a quiet voice. “Just nod if you’re hearing me.”
Jacobson nods.
“And before we leave,” Jimmy says, still right on top of him, “I need you to do me a favor with those girls upstairs.”
“And what might that be?”
