Dirty Sex (26 page)

off my rhythm.” She got what I was saying. Her eyes went straight

to gray, though I wasn’t sure if it was from anger or memories from

earlier.

“Sorry,” she said it kind of quiet. Almost as if she meant it.

We piled back in the car and went back to the highway. Forty

minutes later, we found a good spot to pull off the road and drove out

for another twenty minutes. This time when we got out the shovels,

they both actually helped. We were digging deeper this time, maybe

five feet. It was wider too, so we could actually stand in it. A couple feet

down, only one of us fit anyway so I stepped up. They started unloading

and stacking our loot so it would be ready.

“What do you think?” I grabbed the bottle sitting on the edge of

the hole I was in and had some more. It was almost gone. We were

all definitely drunk. It was good it wasn’t a huge bottle. “Is it deep

enough?”

They peered down and nodded.

“Looks good to me,” Reese confirmed.

“Hand me the flashlight.” Unlike the night when we originally

buried the gold, the moon was non-existent. We had the sedan facing us

with the headlights on again, but that didn’t do much good in the hole.

The light went right over.

“Here.” Reese handed me the light.

I flashed the beam into the corners and around the sides. Square

enough for me.

“You want us to hand the bars down?” Ryan crouched next to

Reese.

“Sure.” I gave the flashlight back. The first brick Ryan handed me

went fine. The second he lost his balance and tipped forward. Reese

grabbed his shoulder to steady him.

“Maybe I should hand them to her.” Reese was slightly more

sober.“Why don’t you hold the flashlight?” I tried to make it sound like

an important job.

Ryan bought it. “I can do that.” He grabbed the light and held it

over my head. It was sort of wobbly because he kept moving, but it

helped a little.

• 186 •

Dirty Sex

Reese didn’t do much better than Ryan. About every fifth bar, she

would drop it too quickly so it smacked into my hand.

“Fuck, Reese. Pay attention,” I demanded after it happened one

too many times. “These weigh like thirty pounds.”

“Sorry. I am sorry.” She handed me the next one. “Was that an

improvement?” It wasn’t exactly clear which she was struggling with

more, speaking in that drunken, perfect way of hers or handing me bars.

“Yes, that was fine.” Sometimes, I felt as if I was babysitting them.

Five minutes later, she missed my hand entirely. I tried to catch

it before it hit my foot and succeeded in slowing the descent at the

expense of a couple fingers.

“Shit. Fuck.” The bar dropped loudly to the ground. “Damn it,

Reese. I told you to pay attention.” I inspected my fingers in the feeble

light. They looked fine; hurt like a bitch though.

“Oh, fuck. Sorry. I am sorry,” she said. “Did I get you?”

“Yes, you fuckin’ got me.”

“Are you all right?” Reese grabbed my hand and looked at it.

“Does it hurt?”

“What do you think?” I snapped.

“What happened?” Ryan caught on that something was wrong.

“Reese dropped a bar on my hand.”

“Shit.” Ryan started to lean closer then stopped when he realized

that doing so would make him fall.

“I said sorry.” Reese felt bad. I could tell that much. “Maybe you

and Ryan should switch. What do you think?” She asked him.

He just stared, presumably trying to understand the question.

“Maybe not,” I said. Babysitting, I swear. “Hey, Ryan, do you

want to go sit in the car?” I made it sound fun.

“Okay.” He turned off the flashlight and wandered away.

“Is he stoned too?” I asked Reese once he was out of earshot.

“It is possible. Let me see your fingers.” Reese dropped into

the hole next to me less than gracefully. I held up my hand for her to

inspect. “I am sorry, Cooper.” She kissed my hand. I wasn’t sure when

she went from contrite to sexy, but suddenly there was tongue involved

and my spine started to melt.

“We’re never going to finish.” The gravity of my statement was

sort of lost because I just let her do her thing.

“Hey, guys?”

• 187 •

AShley BArtlett

Reese and I stepped away from each other real fast.

“Guys?” he said again.

“What’s up?” I looked up at him.

“It’s late. We gotta finish.” So bright. “Maybe I should get in the

hole and take over.”

“What a new and great idea,” Reese exclaimed. “You are so smart.”

“Is that a yes?” He was confused. “I guess I’ll go get the flashlight.”

And he was gone again.

“You are so mean to him,” I scolded Reese.

“Right. And you’re not?” Reese braced her hands on the ground

and jumped up. I grabbed her ass. It was a great target. “Stop it,” she

said.

“Oh, sorry. I thought you wanted help.”

“I can handle it.” Reese pivoted and sat with her feet dangling in

front of me.

I planted my hands and jumped out of the hole as well. As I turned

to sit next to her, she slapped my ass.

“Reese.” I used my best serious voice.

“Oh, sorry. I thought you wanted me to do that,” Reese mimicked

me.

“Did you just smack Coop’s ass?” Ryan came back.

“She asked for it.” Reese smiled her little drunk grin.

Great, Ryan was going to shoot me. “I did not.”

“Never mind. I don’t want to know.” Ryan held out the flashlight.

“Who’s holding the light?”

“I will.” Reese took it from him.

Handing the bars to Ryan was a bit smoother than what we’d been

doing before. Still, it took forever to pile the rest of the bricks in the

hole. We were getting sleepy.

“Last one,” I told Ryan as I handed it to him.

“Finally. I’m dying.” Ryan placed the bar and climbed out. I gave

him a hand to keep him steady. “I can’t believe we still have to fill this

in.”

“For real.” Reese turned off the light. “I’ll go get the shovels. With

three of us, it shouldn’t take long.”

“Yeah.” I followed to help her. When we were far enough away,

I whispered, “All I want is to take a hot shower with you and climb in

bed.”

• 188 •

Dirty Sex

“That sounds amazing.” Reese closed her eyes and leaned closer

to me. “Maybe we should tell him just so we can sleep together.”

“I’d pretty much give my life at this point to have you and a bed.”

I was so serious. Naked Reese was worth dying for.

“Well, don’t. If you’re dead, I’ll be bored out of my mind.”

“Glad to know you care.” I smiled at her so she’d know I was

playing, kind of.

“You know it.” Reese dragged the shovels out and handed me one.

We turned back to the hole, but there was no Ryan.

“Where is he?” I asked. Didn’t twins always know where their

other halves were?

“I have no idea.” She looked around then shouted, “Ryan?” No

answer. “All right, Ryan. Good one. Where are you?”

Nothing.

“Let’s just get started,” I suggested. “He’ll get bored of hiding.”

“Yeah. Good point.” She swayed a little.

I started putting dirt back in the hole. After the second shovelful, I

heard a weird moaning sound.

“Was that you?”

“No.” Reese tossed another scoop of dirt in. “He just doesn’t want

to help.” Reese came to the same conclusion as me.

We threw in some more dirt.

“You guys,” Ryan called out. “Stop. It’s in my eyes.”

“Where are you, Ryan?” Reese called again. He moaned in

response. I was about to shovel more dirt in when there was a bright

flash and sharp crack in the hole. A gunshot. Reese screamed and

dropped her shovel. I jumped back too.

“Fuck, Ryan.” I tossed my spade to the ground. “Are you in the

fucking hole?”

“Duh, I’m stuck.”

“You idiot,” Reese screamed at him. “You could have shot one of

us.”

“Don’t shoot. I’m coming in,” I said in as calm a voice as I could

manage. I dropped down into the hole that now had a half a foot of dirt

in it. One of my feet hit something squishy.

“Oww. You bitch, that hurt.”

“Sorry.” I couldn’t see shit, just the glimmer of Ryan’s dress.

• 189 •

AShley BArtlett

A couple seconds later, Reese shone the flashlight down. Ryan

was propped on his elbows and had dirt covering most of his body.

“I fell,” he said.

“I can see that, you idiot. Why didn’t you say something?”

“Is he okay?” Reese asked.

“He’s fine.” I cupped under his armpits and helped him stand up.

“You guys tried to bury me,” Ryan said.

“We wouldn’t have if you told us.” I pinned him against the wall

of dirt with one hand. “Reese, I’m going to help him out. Steady him,

all right?”

“I can get out on my own,” Ryan told me.

“Then why didn’t you?” He didn’t have an answer for that.

Ryan placed his hands on the ground and jumped up. It wasn’t that

high. With the gold in the hole, it was only four feet or so. I grabbed

him around the waist and pushed him up. Reese helped him stand. I

followed him up a moment later. Ryan was covered in dirt. The dress

was a little torn. His once perfect makeup was marred by the pale

streaks of dirt on his gorgeous face. And he was pouting. I struggled

not to laugh.

“Go sit in the car. We will be done soon.” Reese pointed him in the

direction of the headlights.

“Okay.” He stumbled toward the car. The second the door shut,

Reese and I started laughing. She almost fell over she was laughing so

hard.

“He is so dumb.” I gasped. “Who falls in a hole?”

“My brother,” Reese responded.

We were terrible at this shit.

I have no idea how we got back. Ryan and I were drunk. Reese

drove. Ryan slept. At the hotel, the valet didn’t even blink when he saw

three dirt-covered twenty-year-olds, one of whom was a boy in a dress,

get out of the car. Maybe that was normal for dawn in Vegas.

• 190 •

Dirty Sex

Paulie called and said the passports would be ready within

twenty-four hours so we got another rental car for Ryan to

go up and get them. While he waited for them to arrive, he was going

to sell two bars. He left the final brick for us to get rid of. I was a bit

worried about selling the bar. We’d sold one two days before, and I

didn’t think our buyer would have enough cash on hand for another.

Reese insisted he would though. Logistics are so fucking boring.

“I’m going in again, right?” We stopped in front of the cinderblock

building. It looked different in the daylight, less sinister, but more

decrepit.

“Yeah. Have fun.” Reese handed me a backpack with the bar

inside.

“Don’t miss me too much.” I got out of her car.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine.” She grinned, just a little.

There was a different guy working this time. A younger version,

probably his son. I hesitated once I was in the vestibule waiting to be

buzzed into the store itself, but after a moment, the elder shopkeeper

emerged from the back.

“Hello,” he said. “You are back to sell another?”

“Yep.” I took out the bar and handed it to him. “Do you have

enough cash on hand?”

“Do not worry,” he chided me. His son disappeared into the

backroom. “It is interesting,” he mused. “I tend to know the movements

of gold like this.” After a small hesitation, he continued, “but I have not

heard of any missing amounts.” The speech was delivered carefully. It

could have been his seemingly limited English. It wasn’t.

• 191 •

AShley BArtlett

“You’re wondering if I stole it?” I chuckled a little.

He looked up sharply. “I would not imply such a thing. It is idle

curiosity.”

“I inherited it.” I was telling a partial truth. The twins were

supposed to inherit it.

“I see.” His gaze returned to the brick in his hands. “There was

a…” Another hesitation. “A woman in here a few days ago. She sold

me a bar whose serial number was very close to this one and the other

that you sold me.” His thin forefinger traced the number.

“Heather? Yeah, she’s my friend.” I chose not to elaborate any

further.

“I see,” he said. I didn’t care whether he believed me or not.

Besides, I was pretty sure he was just curious. “My assistant will have

counted your money by now. I will get it for you.” He disappeared

into the back. Both of them reappeared moments later carrying stacks

of cash. I didn’t bother to count it. Like before, I flipped through and

did some math in my head. It looked to be the correct amount, and this

guy didn’t seem the type to short someone. He didn’t have all of those

photos on the wall from being dishonest.

When I got back to the car, Reese took the bag from me and put it

at her feet. She couldn’t help gloating a little.

“I told you he would have enough.”

“Yep,” I indulged her. “You were right. You’re super smart.”

“Shut up.”

“Where to next?” I asked as I drove back to the hotel.

“We need to cash out. As soon as Ryan’s back, I want to get out

of here.”

“How many casinos do we need to cash out at?” By my count,