TROUBLE , kaz brekker

xii. you all think i'm insane, don't you?

CHAPTER TWELVE

KAZ'S FIRST THOUGHT AS he watched Jesper move across the floor of the Crow Club was, No wonder this man has so much debt.

Something was bothering him. Something was bothering him alot, if the deep frown on his face and anxious twitch of his hands were anything to go off. Kaz watched Jesper take a drink at the bar, whisper something to Wylan that made the demo man's ear turn pink, and then, finally - slowly - walk to his own quiet corner. Jesper sat there for a while, occasionally running his hand over his trousers and through his hair. Like Kaz said, he was bothered.

After a while, it got too much.

"You were early." Kaz rolled his eyes and stood to his feet, calling out across the Crow Club's floor. Jesper looked up at the sound of his approaching footsteps.

"I was perfectly on time. You said to be at The Emerald Palace for ten bells. I was there at ten bells."

Kaz threw his coat over the tabletop and slid into place. His cane clattered against the wood. "Exactly. Give a warning next time you plan to be prompt so I can make reasonable adjustments."

The Sharpshooter barely laughed. Kaz couldn't help but wonder if Rollins had put something in the water. He had one crew member sneaking off to single-handedly fight the slave trade, one dipping her toes into a mad rage, and the other looking as if Kaz had broken into his house and punched him directly in the balls.

He hadn't. At least, not that Kaz could remember.

Jesper fell silent after that and the silence lasted for a little too long. From the corner of his eye, Kaz watched the Sharpshooter open his mouth, close it, open his mouth, and then mistake a shadow on the wall for Inej and promptly close it again.

Finally, he'd had enough. "Something to say, Jesper?"

"Give me a minute." His voice was thin, weary, tired. They all were. But Kaz couldn't bear to watch the Sharpshooter pace the length of the Crow Club a single time more and so he refused to relent his heavy glare. Finally, Jesper sighed. "You didn't see it, did you?"

"I've seen a few things tonight, be a bit more specific."

"When you had Pekka in the corner, Echo..." Jesper sighed and his eyes fell on where the redhead stood behind the bar, serving Nina a concoction of something strong-smelling. "...she went back to the guy who held her down."

"I saw. She knocked him out. Big deal."

"Yeah. First, she knocked him out - butt of a gun right to the back of his head. But Kaz, she broke his hands. I had to stop her from breaking more and even then she put up a fight."

"Good."

"Good?"

"Good. He laid his hands on her. You know what The Barrel's like, if she hadn't done something, people would start to push their luck." Jesper fell silent but his unspoken words rang in the air like a shrill, rather irritating siren. Kaz clenched his jaw. "What?"

"That's not her."

"I don't think any of us can say what her is."

"I can! She's my best friend. She's rational. She doesn't act without thinking. She...," Jesper ran a hand down his face and averted his gaze. His voice dropped low as he whispered. "she enjoyed it, Kaz."

But Kaz just shrugged. "Revenge can be enjoyable."

"You'd say that."

"Careful, Jesper." He glared.