Chapter 30 Aiden
Chapter thirty
Aiden
Iwatch her walk back inside out of the corner of my eye.
I thought I had snuck out quietly enough that she wouldn’t hear me, but apparently, I was wrong. Add it to the list of my mistakes this weekend.
How could I have been so stupid to fall for her act again?
It doesn’t matter right now. I need to stop thinking about her and focus on the mission like I said I was doing when she asked.
I can’t afford for this to go wrong, especially not right before we enter our final track choices.
There can’t be any mistakes made today, which means I need to be at my best. Unfortunately, to do that, I probably need to get some more sleep myself.
I would crash on the couch to avoid having to sleep next to her, but at my height, I barely fit on most beds; the loveseat here isn’t going to cut it.
Luckily, she’s already asleep when I get back into the room. She rolls toward me the second I get under the covers, so I push one of the spare pillows between us, hoping the small wall will keep her on her own side.
It feels like only minutes have passed when the alarm wakes me up.
“Good morning,” she says in that still sleepy voice.
She’s completely unaware of my inner turmoil, and for us to be successful today, it needs to stay that way.
“Good morning,” I let out. I need to get out of this bed. Out of this room. I need space from her. “I’ll go make our coffees if you want to get ready and finish packing your stuff.”
She gets started doing just that, and again, I can’t help but watch her walk away. ‘Mission first.’ I repeat over and over to myself as I get dressed and head to the quiet kitchen to make her coffee, setting it on the counter closest to the bedroom when it’s done before making my own cup.
Hearing her footsteps approaching, I take a sip of my coffee to avoid having to talk to her. But then I spot her, and without thinking, I’m spitting my drink back into my cup.
She looks like a walking wet dream in skin-tight leggings, a black sports bra that pushes her already perky tits up on full display, and an almost makeup-free face. The slight shine to her lips like a beacon, making me imagine sliding my already hardening cock between them again.
Shit, she’s been talking this whole time, and I have absolutely no clue what she’s been saying. Not sure of the right response, I settle on ‘hmmm’.
Apparently, she didn’t ask me a question, so my answer is enough for her, thank the gods. She walks past me and curls up in one of the deck chairs, innocently looking out at the ocean.
I can’t help but stare at her as last night replays in my mind. Lucas was right, I realize, not for the first time.
Our drive into the city is quiet, and I can tell she’s nervous about today. My first mission with high stakes and the possibility of being arrested had me rattled, too. I should say something to calm her nerves, but I can’t.
She is the first to break the silence once we’re in the city, “I’ll run from here.”
I look at the GPS on the dashboard, then to her, “It’s still another two miles away.”
She actually rolls her eyes at me, "Exactly,” she says, like it’s no big deal. “If I’m going to sell that I’ve been out for a run, I should probably have the sweat to back it up. It’s been a few days since I’ve run, and it’s hotter here, so the sweat should come a little easier.”
“Fine,” I mutter as I pull over to let her out. “I’ll be waiting on the side of his building for your signal.”
“Sounds good,” she says. “See you soon, Ace.”
There’s that nickname again. I have no idea where it came from, but she called me it on our first night together and again when she moaned for me not to stop as I fucked her with my tongue. And just like that, it became the best name I’ve ever been called.
Fuck, I wonder if she calls him that, too. Maybe it’s her way of not calling out the wrong name in bed?
After finding a parking spot around the corner from the front door to avoid any street cameras from catching my license plate, I walk up and pretend to be checking my phone while I lean up against the side of the building.
The lack of traffic this early on a weekend is the only reason I can hear her footsteps running up the sidewalk a couple of minutes later. She’s fast!
And then I hear her voice, “Excuse me! Have you seen a black lab run by here?”
I can’t hear the security guard, but a second later she says, “I accidentally dropped his leash when I tripped, and he took off in this direction.”
His voice is getting closer, and I can start to make out bits of what he’s saying. “Sorry—haven’t—an by. You sure—came this way?”
I peek out around the corner and see her bent over, tying her shoe and smiling up at him.
“I’m sure you’re busy,” then making her voice more sultry, “But would you mind looking in the alley behind the building for me while I check the next block over? It’s so dark, I’m a bit scared to go back there. ”
There’s that calculating, seductive woman Lucas described. I know this is for the mission, but how easily she becomes an entirely different person speaks of years of practice.
The security guard's eager voice is closer now, clearer. “Not at all. And once we find him, maybe you’ll give me your number so we can find better ways for you to work up a sweat that you won’t trip during.”
“What the fuck? Who says that?” I accidentally say out loud, thankfully quiet enough they can’t hear me.
She laughs at that disgusting pickup line, and I watch her run her hand down his arm the same way she rubbed mine the night we met at the Staggering Ox. “Sounds like a date,” she says, and I can’t help but roll my eyes. Over my dead body is she going anywhere with him.
And then I hear my cue, “His name is Carter!”
I don’t waste any time getting inside and up the stairwell to the eighth floor. Annalise is right behind me, but I'm sure after running here, she’s tired. I should slow down, but we need to make the most of every minute, and if I'm honest with myself, I’m feeling too petty to care if she’s sore.
Greg’s office is a nice size with a decent view of the city, but nothing like the opulence I would have expected after the show of self-grandeur he put on yesterday. Annalise and I split up to different areas of the office to search for the hard drive.
When I reach the desk, stacks of papers and folders fill most of the drawers. One drawer that I have to pick the lock on has a surprising amount of what looks like maps of the kingdom in it, but they aren’t the hard drive, and I can’t let myself get distracted.
As I carefully look through the contents of the last drawer, the fire alarm blares.
Annalise hasn’t found anything yet. We’re fucked.
“Maybe we got it all wrong, and it is at his house? Or in his car?” She is second-guessing herself, but after spending the day with Greg, I honestly don’t think he would take the drive home where Tara or one of their many unsupervised guests could find it.
“I don’t know, but we need to get out of here.
” Any second, the first responders on scene are going to start establishing their “incident command center” and assigning a team to check the level the alarm was set off from.
I have to imagine that whoever is trying to sabotage us knows well enough to set it on the same floor we’re on, so they search here first.
“Wait!” We have to check the bookshelf. It’s our last chance not to fail. Maybe there is a hollowed-out book that will feel extra light, or a wall safe behind them. “Help me look behind these books really quick.”
I only have half a shelf left to search when Annalise says she’s found it and pulls out a small safe. It’s a solenoid-based electronic lock with a key override. It’s a wafer lock, one of the easiest locks to pick.
You would think if you were trying to hide important information, you would use a better lock, but I guess they didn’t want to splurge on a better safe for a mock mission. Not everyone grew up learning how to break in where they weren’t wanted like I did.
“Let’s go. We have to hurry. The lobby is going to be swarming with first responders any minute. We’re going to have to take the emergency exit out the back,” I tell her, and we make a break for it.
The emergency exit should be unlocked since there is supposedly an emergency, but it looks like our saboteurs thought of everything and found a way to override this door, keeping it locked.
“Shit, the door needs a keycard. We’re going to have to hide and try to get out when they start checking every floor.” This is the worst-case scenario right now. Fuck!
“Or, we could use this keycard I found,” Annalise says so casually while quickly passing me the keycard that she must have stolen from the security guard. I hate him a little less now.
“You’re brilliant,” I tell her as the door clicks open and we step out into the dark alleyway that I parked next to. We only need to run to the left about thirty feet, and we’ll be home free.
“Keep going, I’ll catch up in a second.” She starts running in the opposite direction, and doesn’t answer me when I ask her where she’s going. It’s a miracle they aren’t already back here. She’s going to be seen.
Halfway up the alley, I see her drop the keycard we had just used to escape. I’m sure to help her stupid security guard keep from getting in trouble.
I’m back to fully hating him again.
As we pull away from Greg’s building, I click the secure drop location that I already programmed into my GPS and head to Lickety Split, a damn ice cream shop.
We will no doubt be under surveillance from the second we pull up, so as the car comes to a stop, we fall back into character. I help her from the car and hold her hand like the couple we’re meant to be, simply out for a post-brunch treat.
Inside, two people are sitting at different tables—a man and a woman, a couple, and a family of four.
Playing our parts, we head straight to the ice cream counter and look over the menu.