Chapter Four
CAM
I knew I was pretty well fucked if these two FBI agents took me to the cops.
The minute they told them what I’d done, they’d lock me up…
in an adult prison this time. I couldn’t have that.
I needed to get to the first pawn shop I could and sell the stuff I’d found.
I had a big bill to pay, looming over my head like a bitch. I was already three days late.
I also had a big contract I’d promised to keep.
Being one of the best car thieves in Vegas came with big benefits and if I didn’t come through for him, I knew he’d send his guys out looking for me.
They knew where I lived but worse, they knew where mom lived.
I couldn’t risk them showing up at the care home to make trouble.
The guys he surrounded himself with were some really bad dudes, the kind of people that made mob hitmen look like fluffy, little bunnies.
It would kill me if they decided to threaten my mom’s safety because I got cold feet and they were just the kind of thugs who’d do such a thing.
All I knew was I needed to get away from these two feebs as fast as I could. Unfortunately, they both outweighed me and outmuscled me. Sometimes I could outrun guys like them, but on the off chance they could catch me, it might mean a bad beatdown, and I wasn’t going to risk it.
“Well, I guess this means I’m not buying a car this weekend,” Mars said. He opened his car door and leaned in, pulling out a plastic bag.
“Not if we have to take him to the Vegas police station,” Mickey replied.
I felt my stomach drop. “Wait a minute. You’re not turning me in, are you?” I tried to hide the panic in my voice.
“What should we do with ya?” Mars asked, starting to take all the things I’d collected out of my hands to drop them in the bag he held open.
I spotted the red seal at the top and realized it was an evidence bag and closed my hands over both of his. “Please.”
There were questions in his eyes. “What are ya playing at?”
“Please. Please, don’t turn me in. I can’t end up in jail. Things are gonna be really bad for me if you do.”
He cocked his head to the side with a little frown. “Why? Ya got a record?”
I shrugged. “A juvie one, but that’s not important.” He looked skeptical, so I opted for the truth. “Listen, I owe some guys a favor and I have a big payment to make to a—” I stopped, horrified that I’d almost spilled all my private business to these two.
“To who?” Mickey asked, his eyes narrowing. “You got a bookie out there?”
I shook my head. “No, it’s nothing like that. I don’t gamble. I just need money and…and anyway, that’s my business. I need to pawn this stuff, so I can make the payment.”
“Ya ‘ave a loan shark after ya?” Mars asked.
“No, it’s nothing like that. I just have to make a payment, that’s all.”
“Where?” he asked.
“It’s none of your business!” I practically shouted. When he glared at me, I regretted my tone almost immediately.
“It is our business if ya want us not to turn ya in.”
I sighed, knowing I’d have to tell them. “Fine. My mom is sick and I have to make a payment which is already late.”
He lifted a silky brow. “What kind of payment?”
I huffed out a breath. “She has Alzheimer’s, okay? You happy now? She lives in a place and I’m already three days late making the payment. They’re gonna kick her out if I don’t make it. I figure I can get about three hundred for this stuff and that’s enough to have them keep her another month.”
Surprisingly, his expression turned almost worried. “’Ow old are ya? ‘Ow can ya mum ‘ave Alzheimer’s?”
I gritted my teeth. “I told you already. I’m twenty-six. She’s forty-five, but she was diagnosed with some fucked up form of early onset Alzheimer’s three years ago.” I shook my head, feeling my eyes growing warm. “Some days she doesn’t even know me anymore.”
He exchanged a look with his buddy before looking back at me. “That’s a tough break. Sorry to ‘ear about ya mum.”
“What kind of place does she stay that only costs three hundred a month?” the New Yorker asked, sounding suspicious as hell.
“Three hundred is only a small portion of it. The rest comes from Social Security disability benefits, but it doesn’t cover the whole thing.
I have to work for the other thousand and this month, I was only able to come up with seven hundred.
I’m three hundred short.” When they were silent, I made yet another plea.
“Please, let me go pawn this stuff and then go pay her bill. They kick folks out after three days.”
Mars’s eyes widened. “Ya mean they just toss people out on the street?”
I shrugged. “They house them in some horrible place run by the State. It’s set up for the indigent or something.
I went to see it and found out they don’t have doctors who actually give a shit.
There’s no form of stimulation. They stick them in some big ward full of other people with all kinds of mental illness.
There’s rickety old TVs with bad reception, and they cry all the time.
It’s smells like urine and crap and while I was there, one lady freaked out and started attacking one of the other patients. ”
“That’s dangerous,” Mars said.
I nodded. “That’s the way it works. I guess they take their Social Security checks—which everyone knows are piddly to begin with—and I’m 100 percent positive the doctors and nurses are only there to make sure they don’t hurt each other. I’ve seen people tied to beds and shit.”
“Wankers!”
“The good old U.S. of A.,” the New Yorker replied, sounding totally disgusted.
“The place I have Mom is really nice. It smells good, the nurses take them on walks or push their wheelchairs outside in the sunshine. They have a rose garden and the food is really good, not like the prison rations they have at the State-run facility.”
They exchanged another look with each other. “I guess it won’t ‘urt to let ‘im pay the bill, Mickey. It’s not like anyone ‘oo buys those cars are even gonna miss anything that was in them.”
His friend looked at him skeptically. “It’s still stealing, Mars.”
Mars shrugged. “It’s a wee bit of lolly…not much, mate.” He clapped him on the shoulder. “’E’s not ‘urting anyone. Mickey…think of the alternative.”
I watched Mars’ friend who was regarding me thoughtfully. “Fine, but we’re gonna take you to the pawn shop and make sure you’re not lying about where the money’s going.” He waggled a finger in my face.
“Me mate’s right. If we find out ya been lying to us, then we’re turning ya into the local law enforcement.” I breathed a sigh of relief as he swung the door open. “Get in.”
“Thanks.” I immediately scrambled into the backseat of his Camaro.
I checked out the interior as I fastened my seatbelt.
It was a really nice ride, pristine and smelling nice inside.
In fact, it smelled a lot like the cologne Mars was wearing, all spicy with a bit of orange or something else citrusy underneath.
He slid into the driver’s seat while his friend took the other.
I was rubbing my wrists, grateful that I wasn’t wearing handcuffs when Mars turned to look at me. His grin lit up his whole face.
“This tosser is Mickey, by the way, and ya know my name,” he said.
I smiled back, nodding at Mickey as he swiveled to hold out a hand. “Nice to meet you.”
I hastily shook and blew out a relieved breath.
I cleared my throat as Mars started the pushbutton ignition.
At the sound, he lifted his gaze to the rearview mirror and looked at me.
In broad daylight, I couldn’t help but notice the depth of his smoky blue eyes.
I wasn’t a romantic guy by any means, but at that moment, I wanted to keep staring.
I hastily dragged my gaze away, pointing out the left side window.
“There’s a big pawnshop down on Flamingo, about three miles up. ”
He gave a sharp nod and pulled out of the lot, turning onto the main drag.
He gunned the engine and I settled back into the seat.
It was silent in the car as Mars weaved seamlessly through traffic, making driving look easy as he went ten miles over the speed limit.
The car smelled new, though, I knew it wasn’t.
I cleared my throat again, hating long, drawn out silences more than anything.
Mars flicked a gaze up at me in the mirror.
“Nice ride, by the way.” I mentally kicked myself for the stupid conversation starter. “Too bad it has that damage on the side. You should get that fixed.”
Mars’ smiled in the mirror, making tiny crow’s feet appear around his eyes. “Thanks. The thought never crossed me mind. Thought it was time for a new one, though.”
I almost swallowed my tongue. “New one? How old is this one? It’s a 2024, right?”
“Right. Good eye.”
Mickey let out a laugh as he punched Mars’ on the bicep. “See? No normal human being needs to buy a new car when the one they have still has its new car smell.”
Mars turned to look at him. “What? Because getting new cars makes a bloke a ‘orrible wanker?”
Mickey shook his head. “No one needs four new cars a year.”
Mars scoffed. “Sure, they do, besides, sometimes it’s six.”
“You like cars, I take it?”
Mars glanced in the rearview. The way his eyebrow lifted was wicked as hell. “Yeah, I like a bit of versatility in everything I do.”
I swallowed my tongue. He couldn’t possibly mean what I was thinking, so I just cleared my throat and tore my gaze away from him. I couldn’t imagine being in bed with a guy as hot as Mars, but since he’d said it now, I couldn’t think of anything else.