Chapter 24
brENDEN
Funny how it all comes around. Standing in the bushes of a large manor house, I can still feel the steamy heat of the office on my skin.
I can still see a strange, pretty girl come rushing into the room, oblivious to my presence, and I can still see her rip open her top and turn her bra-covered tits (fantastic, really) toward a fan and groan with pleasure as the air brushed over her sweat-damp skin.
And the shock when she noticed me there, the turn in the emotional weight when we kissed, the taste of her against my mouth—
It started here. Might end here too.
All my life I’ve been good at watching. I remember playing hide and seek with Riley when we were very little.
I’d kick her ass, mostly because I was willing to stay in one place for hours.
She could whine and call out and beg me to show myself, but I never did.
She’d have to find me, and if she quit, I’d sneak up behind her and scare the snot from her face.
She’d shriek and smack at me, but I’d laugh and laugh, and she’d always agree to play again.
Maybe that’s why I ended up the way I am, more comfortable with dark spaces than I am with normal people.
The Davises don’t seem to have a lot going on. Mr. Davis stays in his home office while Mrs. Davis putters around the back garden. They have staff, but not many, and they’re all gone by the time six rolls around, leaving only the evening chef to make their dinner.
I want to get closer. There are loose windows with old latches easily defeated and locks begging to be picked, but it’s the strange black van against the curb out front that keeps me from doing something stupid.
There are no markings. Nobody’s behind the wheel. It looks out of place though on a block where the cheapest car is a Jaguar. I don’t see anyone else watching the Davis place, but I keep thinking about what Sam told us, how Arsen’s got eyes on Haik’s house.
He knows about the ledger. And he knows about the twin copy. If I were in his spot, I’d want to make sure that twin stayed tucked away and safe, right where it belonged, enough to send my best people to make sure.
Which means, even if I don’t see anyone, that doesn’t mean they’re not here.
I can’t risk going in. Even if I’m tempted. I know what’ll happen when I go back to the safe house, and I wish there were some other way I could convince Tallie to stay behind.
That fucking girl. She’s as stubborn as they come, which is amazing.
I expected a demure, soft, quiet thing, but instead I got this furious, magnificent, lost angel, desperate to figure out who and what she is.
Watching her unfold herself, to find the creases and the edges, it’s like seeing the miracle of life itself.
When she’s around, all those dark spots, the dank basements I want to crawl into, the labyrinthine pits where I can lose myself, those don’t seem so good to me anymore. I want light, so long as it’s from her.
In the end, I back away, long after darkness falls and it’s safe to escape. There’s a different van parked in the same spot, which doesn’t exactly confirm my suspicion, but it sure as hell doesn’t change my mind. I make my way back to the car and drive to the apartment building.
Tallie’s awake and waiting when I walk in through the door.
“Oh god, it’s you,” she says with a relieved groan.
“Who did you expect?”
“I don’t know. A dozen thugs with guns? Really, really big guns?”
“They wouldn’t need big guns to take you captive, you know.”
“Yes they would.” She brandishes a kitchen knife. “I’m very dangerous.”
“Yeah, you look terrifying.” I drag her back inside and make her put the knife back into the block. There’s dinner waiting, which warms my heart in ways I don’t fully understand. We sit together on the couch, even though it’s late and we should head to bed.
“Talk to me.” She leans her side against mine, crossing her legs under her.
“Aren’t your feet going to fall asleep?” I poke at her knee.
“Don’t change the subject. You were out there for an entire day. What did you find?”
I’m tempted to keep it to myself. I don’t want her getting any closer to this than she has to be. But things are different now—I’m different now—and I don’t want to repeat the same old mistakes and patterns that keep on ruining my life.
I need her, and I have to accept that.
“Sam was dead on about the Davises. I’m pretty sure he’s friendlier with the grandsons than he’s letting on.”
“I mean, the Davis family is rich as sin, so—“
“Makes sense Sam would hang around.” I run my hand down her thigh, touching her compulsively. “But the bad news is, Arsen’s watching them too.”
“Oh, shit,” she groans, leaning her head back against the couch. “Are you kidding me?”
“There’s a gap in surveillance though. Whoever Arsen’s using, they aren’t perfect. We’ll have a window, but it’ll be narrow.”
“How do you know?”
“I’ll watch them for a few more days to be sure, but you’ll have to play a part.” I force the words out like I’m dragging a hairball from my throat. I feel grimy and all wrong. “I need you, Tallie… in the house…”
“I’ll do anything, you know that.”
“I know.” I close my eyes to help steady myself. “I hate it.”
“You don’t have to worry about me.”
“Yes, I really do, and if there were any other way I’d do that instead, but I can’t get in there in the middle of the day without a distraction.”
“I’m your distraction?”
“That’s the idea.”
She pouts. “I doubt Mrs. Davis is going to be into me. Although Mr. Davis—“
“Don’t be disgusting. You’re perfectly charming without using your feminine wiles.”
“True, but my feminine wiles are extremely potent.”
“As I well know.” I bend down to kiss her. “Seriously Tallie. You don’t have to do this. Maybe Sam—“
“He’s not possible and you know it.”
I grunt because she’s right. Sam’s being followed. If he goes to the Davis house, that’ll tip off Arsen and he’ll suspect something is up. Better for Sam to stay away.
There’s nobody else, as much as I hate to admit it.
“For the record, I want you to know how hard this is for me. I’ve worked in teams before over my thieving career, but always with other professionals, men and women who took the risk as part of their life.
But you…” I trail off, not sure how I can explain it.
If a getaway driver got nabbed, that happened, it was all a part of the game.
But Tallie? She’s more. She’s everything to me now.
“I know, and it means a lot to me, you being open like this. It’s not easy for you.”
“No, it really isn’t. Most of my adult relationships have been defined by some measure of lying. There’s always a layer between me and other people, always a cover story or a game I’m playing, but with you, it’s just…”
“It’s just life.” She tilts my chin up and kisses me. “And just life is scary.”
“I want you to promise me something. No matter what happens, you’ll keep going.”
“Brenden—“
“No, I’m serious about this. Everything I’ve done to this point has been about saving my own ass.”
“But you want to make sure my pretty ass remains intact?”
“Exactly.” I reach down and squeeze her tightly. “Promise me. No matter what.”
“I promise.” She touches my cheek. “But we’re doing this together. Nobody’s nobly sacrificing for anybody else, right?”
I kiss her so I don’t have to say: not unless I have to.