Thief (14 page)

“Yeah. Just a few loose ends to tie up and I’m out.” He stops stroking my stomach and wraps both arms around me again, locking his hands together and pulling me a little closer. “I’ve been saving and investing. I want to focus on other things now.”

“Other things?” I hedge. I know he keeps telling me over and over again how he’s never letting me go, but I want to know where this is going. How I’m a part of his plans.

“A family,” he whispers in my ear, and his hand goes back to rubbing my stomach again.

My whole body freezes and air leaves my lungs in a gasp. Not once have we talked about protection, or even used it. Jesus. It never even crossed my mind, which is crazy and ridiculous. Or maybe subconsciously I let myself forget about it.

A little voice in the back of my head seems to agree with that. Did I think if he knocked me up I’d always have him? Wow. That sounds pathetic. Am I that girl? Am l trying to trap a man? Oh, my God. What is wrong with me? I can’t—

“I did it on purpose,” he whispers, cutting off my train of thought “I couldn’t control myself, little fox. When I had my cock in you, and I thought about you swollen with my kid, I couldn’t have stopped myself from cumming even if I tried.” He takes my earlobe between his teeth, pulling a little and making a chill run down my spine. “Not that I tried.”

He did this, too?

“We’re crazy,” I blurt out. Because we are. This relationship seems to be moving at warp speed and shows no signs of slowing.

“Went way past crazy the moment I saw you. No turning back now.” I can hear the smile in his voice.

No, it seems we’ve made sure we can’t. We’re both trying to bind ourselves to each other.

“You’ve always wanted a family? I’ve been dreaming about one for as long as I can remember,” I admit. It was just my grandma and me growing up. I loved her, and I know she did the best for us, but I want more. I want a home filled with family. It’s something I hope to have some day. To be married and have children filling the house.

“Never really had one myself. I always thought ‘one day,’ but I never put much thought into it. I think I was waiting for you, because when I saw you the idea started to come to life, and it’s all I’ve been able to see since.”

“We both kind of missed out on that growing up. We can have it together.” I turn a little to look at him. He’d told me all about growing up on the streets. That he’s always been kind of a loner, never getting too attached to anything.

At first I was worried that he could move on from me like he seems to do to most things. Even his apartment shows that in him. He doesn’t look planted. He could leave at the drop of a hat.

“Not
can
,
will
,” he confirms, before molding his lips to mine.

“I gotta take you home. Some stuff I need to take care of tonight and first thing tomorrow.”

I take deep breath, letting my shoulders drop.

“Okay.” I know I’m pouting, but I can’t seem to stop myself. He lets his arms drop from around me, and I pull myself from the bed, hating to have to leave it.

I wonder if the stuff he has to take care of is the same stuff he had to take care of in the middle of the night last night. I woke up around two in the morning in need of the bathroom and found the bed empty. After a search of the place, I knew he was gone. When I woke again this morning with his mouth between my legs, I’d forgotten about it. And by the time I did remember, I didn’t want to ask.

I didn’t know if it was out of place to ask him where he’d been or what he’d been up to, so I just let it go. But it’s been sitting in the back of my mind ever since.

I slowly get my stuff together, trying to put off leaving, but all too soon I’m all packed and we’re at the front door of my apartment.

“You want to come in for a little bit?” I bite my lip and look up at him. The look on his face is one I can’t make out.

“I can’t, baby.” He cups my face and stares down at me. “Take the train to work tomorrow, and keep your phone on you at all times.”

“Okay.” My voice breaks a little bit. I’m being a baby, not wanting him to leave. How could I have become so attached to someone so quickly?

“Promise me.” The words hold an edge of desperation to them.

“Promise.”

He leans down, placing his forehead against mine. “Dream about me, because all I’ll be thinking about is you until I see you again.”

His words make some of my unease slip away. “And when will that be?”

“I’ll pick you up from work tomorrow. Take you home with me.”

“Then we can have that sick day?”

“We can have anything you want.” His lips meet mine, and the kiss seems desperate, just like his words moments ago. I wrap my arms around his neck and deepen the kiss. We seem to get lost in the kiss, almost making love with our lips.

When he finally pulls away, we’re both breathless. He presses his forehead to mine again, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Know that I’d never hurt you.”

“Of course you wouldn’t.” I let my hands drop from his neck and run my fingers through his beard. He leans back a little to look into my eyes.

“I love that about you. How trusting you are. God, I don’t want you to lose that. You just let me right in, and I want to protect that innocence.”

“Love?” It’s the only word he said that I heard, and it makes him smile.

“Yeah, little fox. Love.”

“I—” My words are cut off by the sound of the door to my apartment opening. I don’t have to turn around to know it’s Harper. I can smell her overpowering perfume already.

“Just remember I’d never hurt you.” He kisses me again, this time hard and fast. His lips are gone before they were even there. Then he’s gone, too, leaving me to think about what he said.

Chapter 16

Sean

^“
Y
ou got the key?”

“Yeah.”

Nick looks over at me and gives me a creepy smile. “I wasn’t sure after Friday night. The way you walked in and took her out of Coco’s, I thought for sure you’d pussy out.”

I look over at him, not answering, and turn my attention back to the road. We’re in my car, driving across town to Tessa’s bank. It’s Sunday night, and I’ve just dropped her off at her place, leaving to pick Nick up.

Heavy texted me last night wanting a meeting. I didn’t know what the fuck was going on, but he’d been sending me messages all day about needing to check in on some details. I think more than likely he was just wanting to check on me. The motherfucker loves to micromanage.

I was in bed with Tessa sleeping soundly in my arms when I got the last text. I needed to be there for another fucking meeting. One of his guys had gotten himself shot in some kind of bar fight and wouldn't be able to pull the job on Monday.

Slipping of bed quietly, I left for a few hours to meet up with Heavy and rework the positions. It was a fucking pain in the ass to lose a man this close to the date. But we think we have it worked out.

As much as it killed me to have to drop Tessa off at her apartment, I didn’t have a choice. While I was out last night, I got a copy made of the bank keys I stole from her purse. I felt like an asshole doing it, but I keep telling myself it’s for the best. When this is over, everything I’ve done will have been to give us a better life. I’ll make her see that. Then I will never be pulled from her side again. Every night I’ll go to bed with her in my arms.

Once I had her keys printed and Nick lifted the combinations from Harper, we had our way in.

It’s Sunday night, so we aren’t getting in the vault yet. There are too many vaults to crack, and we won’t have the time. I can shut off the notification of the alarms to the police but only for so long. There’s a back-up system in place for something like this, but even that has a time limit for a shut off. Tonight, we are setting everything up for tomorrow. Our window is small, but we know what we’ve got to do.

Nick is only coming with because Heavy insisted I needed backup tonight. And since Nick came through with the combinations, he’s the one who gets the job.

I’m making as little conversation as possible and just getting this shit done. I’m already on edge being in the same car as this dumbass, and I’m trying my best not to put a bullet in his fucking head.

“We all took bets on if you’d be able to fuck that fat chick and still be able to do the job. Me? I thought you’d fall in love the way you were looking at her. Guess I was wrong.”

I pull up a block away, gripping the wheel, my knuckles turning white. “Let’s finish this and get out of here.”

Getting out of my car, I go around and make my way towards the bank. I feel Nick close behind me, and I take long strides, wanting to get this done as fast as possible.

The bank is situated between two buildings downtown and has a back service entrance for bank vendors and armored vehicles. This is where most of everything will go down tomorrow. There’s a door with a keypad and a lock for access. There’s also an alarm on the other side of the door that requires a ten-digit combination.

Beside the door is a big bay that opens up for deliveries. That door requires two scanned passes, two keypad codes, and disarming two separate alarms. Every code to get into the bay door has to be input simultaneously. One of the reasons we’re waiting until Monday is because by the time we arrive, the armored car will already be here and waiting on the early employees to let them in before the bank opens. We want the back door and the bay open when we go inside. We need the easiest access in and out, and this is it.

When Nick and I reach the back of the building, I count and wait for the camera to move. I’ve been watching the security footage, and I know exactly when the camera will point in this direction before moving to the next position, giving us a thirty second window to move.

“You ready?” I look to Nick, and he nods his head.

When the time is up and I hear the camera move, we slip to the back door and I scan my pass. I was able to steal a pass from someone on the cleaning crew, duplicate it, and place it in the bathroom for an employee to locate, making it seem as if the cleaning crew member misplaced it for only a short time. The hassle to replace the keypad coding for all employees on their passes is a huge pain in the ass and not something they would have done for just a minor slip up.

As I scan the pass, the light turns green, and I use the key I copied from Tessa to unlock the back door.

Nick and I slip inside silently, closing the door behind us before the camera can turn back to us. Once we’re inside, the motion sensor goes off, and slow beeps build up to louder, faster beeps. We have fifteen seconds to enter in the ten-digit code. Otherwise, the alarms will go off and the authorities will be notified.

I watch Nick as he goes over to the keypad and punches in the code. Afterwards, we wait with our breaths held until two small beeps and a flash of green light indicate the motion sensor alarm is off.

“I’ll be five minutes, tops. Wait here.”

Nick nods and stands by the back door. He’s a piece of shit, but he doesn’t want to go to jail either, so I’m not worried about him making a scene and possibly fucking up his pay day.

I walk through the back hall and make my way to the lobby of the bank. Once there, I start with the surrounding offices and any desks that customer service employees sit at.

At each location, there’s a camera and a button they can push to alert the authorities of a situation. There’s also one inside the vault, but we aren’t getting in there tonight.

Each button is individually monitored, so I’d have no way of controlling all of them on the day of the job. Manually coming in and cutting them is the best option right now.

I take out my wire snips and count off as I make my way around the room, locating every alarm button and clipping the connecting wire. At least if shit goes south tomorrow, someone can’t run to their station or their desk and hit the button in panic.

Once I’m finished doing the offices, I make my way down the teller line, clipping each one. When I get to Tessa’s area, I hold the snips there, hesitating, but I don’t know why. It’s as if I’m afraid she won’t be safe if I do it, but I don’t have a choice.