“We haven’t got much time left, shall we dance while we wait?” Drake asks, standing and offering me his arm.
“I’d love to.”
Dancing in Drake’s arms is out of this world, the rest of the guests twirl and use their moves like they have been taught since birth. Us on the other hand, we move as one, together, lightly swaying to the dark, intricate melody in our own world.
I am so wrapped up in the music and Drake that I forget about what he is about to do.
Closing my eyes, I could drink this moment in forever. That is until Tommy makes his way over and the magic shatters.
Apparently, this moment was planned too. To meet on the dance floor at eleven-fifty.
“Are you good to go, Deacon?” Tommy asks, dancing next to us and still focusing on who I assume is Claudia, trying to make out he isn’t talking to us.
“Amelia, you look sensational,” Claudia beams, “I hardly recognised you,” she scoffs, which was the point.
I force a smile and tense fractionally as I know what is coming.
“Remember, when the fireworks begin, you leave and meet me out the front. The car will be waiting.”
Drake goes to kiss me but remembers he is wearing his mask at the last second.
So I lean into him and kiss him on his neck, the only part of him visible between his mask and his shirt.
“Be careful,” I urge.
Tommy and Claudia dance away and Drake leads me back to the table we were previously sitting at.
“Ten minutes, then leave.”
After his reminder, I watch him stroll through the crowds and out of the room.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Drake
With every second that passes, my jaw clicks tighter and my rush tries to lose control.
I stand next to the seven-foot-tall statue of a half dressed man made out of stone and wait, impatiently, for Tommy to complete his part. Currently, I stand watch while Tommy takes the diamond from its podium in one of the rooms on the upper floor. My part is to wait here and make sure nobody makes their way up the stairs, trying to look unimportant and inconspicuous at the same time.
Ten minutes is all the time we have allocated to get our hands on this rock and then get out of here.
A solid, hard weight crushes into me and nearly knocks me off my feet.
“Sorry chap, I think I’ve had one too many.” A deep voice slurs in my ear, a deep voice I know and know for a fact isn’t drunk like he is pretending to be.
I feel a thud in my jacket pocket and huge arms wrap around me wanting to be held up.
I follow through with the charade and help him stay on his feet.
“I think you should point me in the right direction of the door, I need some good ole fresh air,” he carries on.
His phoney posh accent isn’t fooling anyone so I get him to the door fast.
“Keep your voice down, you sound like you’re taking the piss,” I hiss.
“I am,” he laughs then dragging it out, his laugh echoes over the music.
The guy who took our invitation when we arrived steps to the side to allow us to pass and Tommy stumbles to add for effect.
“You’d think with his mountain of a body he could hold more liquor than he’s had,” I laugh.
“Do you need any help, sir?” he asks, watching me sit Tommy on the grass.
“I’m fine thank you, I’m just waiting on our car to take him home. My fiancée won’t be happy to miss the fireworks,” I state.
“The Ponsonby’s do put on a lavish show.”
Tommy continues his charade and I bend down on my knees continuing to be his saviour.
I look down at my watch and watch the minute tick over from eleven fifty-nine to midnight and like clockwork, our car rolls up beside us and the first firework screams itself into the sky.
“Up you go, old friend,” I say, pulling Tommy up like a child.
He mumbles incoherently and falls into the back of the car. The fireworks are well underway and Cammie is nowhere to be seen.
“Come on, we have to get out of here,” Tommy angrily whispers from inside the car.
“I’m not leaving her here,” I snap, astonished he would think I would.
I am seconds away from slamming the door shut and going to find her when she appears the door way. She smiles sweetly at the man still standing in position at the entrance and makes her ways down the black carpet.
She slips into the back seat and crosses the tiny space to sit opposite Tommy. I climb in too and slam the door shut hard letting the driver know to drive on.
We haven’t moved more than three feet before the car halts to a stop and every one lurches in their seats.
“What the fuck?” Tommy demands.
Both Cammie and Tommy look how I am feeling, mega rushing that we have been caught. The door next to me opens and a whoosh of black material and dark, heady perfume hustles next to me and slams the door shut again.
Moving across to sit next to Cammie, I take off my mask, as does Tommy and find Claudia with us.
The jubilation we should be celebrating right now is a no go until I find out what is going on. The car drives on and it looks like she is definitely coming with us.
“What’s going on? This isn’t a part of the plan,” I say, trying to keep my calm.
“Plans change,” Claudia sneers.
And I wonder what these changes are going to be?
“So much for you being our insider and feeding us details on the investigation when your husband discovers his precious possession missing,” I spit, struggling to keep calm.
Cammie stays quiet beside me, sliding her hand on my thigh and rubbing her thumb soothingly.
“We’ll be long gone so there is no need to worry, darling,” she purrs, in that irritating voice of hers.
I knock on the partition and the screen comes down an inch.
“Pull over, please,” I instruct the driver.
“We don’t need to do this here, Drake,” Tommy grinds out.
“I think we do, I need space to move when I hear these new plans of hers. Unless you want to do that in this small space?” I spit out.
“Outside will be better,” Claudia says.
“Since when do you let a bird speak for you, Tom?”
“Since she’s making me very fucking rich,” he sighs.
Me, making me rich not us. Not making us rich like we had planned.
“Drake?”
I plaster on a smile for Cammie, who now looks worried and keeps glancing at Claudia and Tommy.
“Don’t sweat it, I’m sure this won’t take long,” I assure her and wait for Tommy and Claudia to get out. Cammie and I follow suit and we both face each other on either side of the car.
“Hand it over,” Tommy instructs.
I stare at him not muttering a single word until I see him start to sweat.
“I’m smarter than you and more dangerous than you. What makes you think I’ll just hand it over?” I laugh.
Claudia moves closer to Tommy and shakes her head.
“Because if you don’t, I’ll take away the one thing you need most,” she sneers, producing a gun from her bag. She aims at Cammie standing at my side and takes the safety catch off.
All snide remarks on the tip of my tongue disappear and a haze falls between us. Tommy is a dead man walking and he knows it, that is why his fucking bitch of a cunt woman is holding that gun of hers on my girl.
“You better come and get it then,” I say, moving Cammie behind me and holding my arms out in a non-threatening manner.
He takes a step towards me then stops, turning to Claudia.
“If he moves, shoot,” he tells her.
She nods at him, keeping her focus on me and Tommy steps in front of me. He doesn’t look like he is being forced to fuck me over and he certainly doesn’t look sorry. Slightly wary, but apart from that, he looks like a cunt who will get what he deserves.
He goes for the pocket he first dr
opped the diamond in and looks at me when he finds it empty. As Claudia was getting into the car, I knew something was up so I slipped it out of my pocket and stuffed it between the back of the seat when I moved to sit beside Cammie.
He begins patting me down and I begin laughing. Hard.
So fucking comical, it’s untrue.
“What’s so funny?” Claudia snaps, moving closer to us.
“You two are,” I reply, coolly.
When the driver’s door opens, I laugh even harder and watch confusion set in on little miss prissy pants face.
“You’re too fucking predictable, Thomas.”
“Stan?” Cammie gasps, peeking around my shoulder.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Tommy asks him, taking a step back from me.
He grins, “I’m the back-up plan,” he says, pulling his own gun and points it straight at Claudia’s head.
Tommy’s eye bulge in his sockets and I take advantage and swing my fist into Tommy’s jaw. He stumbles back and I swing again, dazing him until he drops to his knees.
Stan has already taken Claudia’s gun from her by the time I give her a seconds thought and keeps his revolver trained on her head.
Her incessant whimpers drive me crazier than her overbearing voice does and I punch Tommy again because he is the closest one to me.
“I was asking myself why bring me in on this job if it was so easy? The two of you could have done it solo. Then I got to thinking, because well, I was locked up, I had nothing to do but think and the only conclusion I kept coming to was that you were going to fit me up. You were going to use me to take the blame and tonight you proved me right. I can’t have that Tommy, you know I won’t leave my girl again.”
I knew it, deep down I knew he was going to double cross me. Like I said before, Tommy is good for information but when it comes to money, you can’t trust him as far as you can throw him and with how heavy he is, it really isn’t far.
Still on his knees, Tommy looks up at me expecting what I don’t know, me to go easy on him? He has no chance.
“Here’s the new plan,” I begin, bending down to his level, “Stan here and myself will be going fifty-fifty. I mean, Stan’s earned it tonight. You should see his camera skills,” I laugh, watching Tommy’s face fall.
“What are you going on about?” he stutters.
Stan passes a hand held camera across the car to Cammie, not wanting to take his eyes off of Claudia.
Cammie hands it to me and I turn it on and rewind it to the part which holds my insurance.
I hold it out for him to see but not close enough for him to snatch it from me.
The fight leaves him as he watches himself slip into the room where the diamond was, the stupid prick even takes his mask off to get a look at what he’s doing. His face is clear as day and all the proof I need to keep him quiet.
“Hold on.”
I rewind even further back to footage of him and Claudia together well before tonight.
“I didn’t want to forget about the love of your life, all this intimacy is pretty incriminating, don’t you think?” I grin, knowing I have him the balls.
“Stan really got your good side,” I mock, unable to hold in my laughter anymore.
This couldn’t have worked out better. I’d rather share the proceeds with Stan than this traitor.
“Drake, please. Don’t do this,” he begs.
That’s it. I unleash my disappointment and rage on him. Punch after punch and kick after kick, I slump to the floor with him and pound his head into the mud. Smashing it down until my hands are soaked with his blood. We have known each other for years and he didn’t think twice about trying to set me up.
“You shouldn’t have tried to double cross me. Now, we’re going to drive away, I think it’s best if you find your own way home.” I snarl.
Cammie’s pale face is the first thing I see clearly after the haze fades away.
“Babe, get in the car,” I order her.
I’m still not finished and I don’t want her to see what I do next. She stands rooted in place, staring at me.
“Get in the car, Cammie,” I yell, making her jump.
She does as she’s told and I wipe my hands on my trousers. Tommy sputters blood into the dirt and tries to get up. He is unsuccessful.
Claudia has been quiet for the last few minutes. When I give her my attention, I see her mascara running down her cheeks with fresh, silent tears.
She starts to back away as I move closer to her. Reaching for one of the guns off Stan, I grab a hold of her by the neck and pull her into me. She cowers into me then starts screaming when she feels the gun pressing into her stomach.
“Please, don’t. I’m sorry,” she begs, frantically.
“You’re going to be sorry, double crossing me was one thing but you fucked it when you pulled a gun on my fiancée. That was a big fucking mistake.”
“Please, I’ll give you anything you want,” she whines, trying to pull away from me.
I grasp onto her tighter and shove the gun into her stomach harder.
“I would shoot you right now if I didn’t need you alive, which makes you lucky. If the police find you dead then they’ll know someone else was involved, with you alive, I’m safe.”
“Thank you…thank you very much,” she breaths, shakily.
“You shouldn’t thank me too soon,” I laugh, shoving her into Stan’s arms.
I turn my attention back to Tommy and flex my burning knuckles.
“Between the two us, we had this planned out better than I thought. Only, you won’t see any of the spoils,” I laugh, his moans sober me up and I pull myself together.
“If you think about grassing on me or try to come after me, I’ll send this tape straight to the police. When they start digging they’ll find out about her visiting you every month in prison, all the times she came to London to see you. All the connections are there if someone was to look deep enough.”
My threat sinks in and he deflates on his back.
“This didn’t have to be this way, Tom,” I sigh, “I’ve known you a lot of years and believe it or not, I’m going to miss having you around.”
I take his snort for his answer and walk away. I nod to Stan and he pushes Claudia to the ground. Her shriek pierces the empty night and I pull my cigarettes out of my pocket. Lighting one up, I inhale deeply and blow the smoke in her direction. Flicking my ash on her, I’ve had enough of this. It is time to go home.
I may have a problem with laying a hand on a woman but Stan doesn’t. If she had of shot Cammie, then I would have treated her like a man and taken her out like one, but she didn’t, Cammie is safe and in the car.
“Have fun,” I chuckle, throwing open the door to join Cammie.
Stan would never admit it to me, on account I might take it the wrong way but I know he has a soft spot for Cammie. After watching over her for all that time when I was banged up, he got to see how pure and kind she is. While we have been coming up with our own plan for tonight, her presence on the job was his biggest concern. Now he gets to take it out on the one who nearly took her away.
“Where’s Stan? What’s going on?” Cammie asks all in a rush.
“I’ll explain soon and Stan is just wiping the smile of that bitch’s face.”
Before I can reach her, she is out of the car and I am scooting across the back seat to follow her out.
She rushes over to Stan bent over Claudia’s body and yanks him back.
“What are you doing?” she yells.
“She was going to shoot you,” Stan says, as if he shouldn’t have to remind her.
“But she didn’t,” Cammie breathes.
“Doesn’t matter, she needs to know she’s done bad.”
I slide my arm around Cammie’s waist and pull her away from Stan. Claudia is crying and holding her face. Her blood seeping through her fingers.
“She knew who she was dealing with when she met Tommy, she knew what we were about when she w
anted to use us and she definitely fucking knew what would happen to her if she crossed us. She was going to stick this job on us, do you think she would have stopped because of you?” I ask.
She shakes her head slowly and relaxes in my arms.
“What did he do to her?” she asks, quietly as I guide her back to the car.
“A little nick here and there, she’ll be left with a few scars on the one place that will kill her self-esteem.”
I can’t slap her face but I sure can have it disfigured. Like I said to Tommy, this could have ended so differently, it’s only their greed and stupidity that caused this.
In the back of the car I collect the diamond from in between the seats and hold it up to the car light.
“Is that it?” Cammie snorts, “I expected it to be bigger.”
Its size is smaller than we both expected but it is still a rare diamond and the money it is going to bring us is more than I could ever have got from doing yet another bank job.
Stan jumps into the driver’s seat and slams the door shut behind him.
“Let’s have a look then,” he says, breathlessly turning in his seat to look through the divide.
I under arm throw it to him and he catches it awkwardly.
Sitting on one seat and Cammie on the other, we sit there both staring at one another. I allow her the time to wrap her head around what has happened, she wasn’t prepared for this and the last time she saw me lose it, I was arrested the next day.
A slow smile crosses her face and like lightning she crosses the distance between us and sits herself on my lap.
“You had all this planned and you didn’t think I should know?” she asks, looking me square in the eye.
“I wanted everything to be as natural as it could be and I don’t want to offend you babe, but you suck at lying,” I chuckle.
“Everything worked out so shut up and kiss me,” I add, sliding my hands under her dress and up her thighs.
Her lips press against mine and all I can think about is how lucky I am to be me.
“Take us home, Stan,” I yell, pulling away slightly and the car picks up speed.
Chapter Thirty
Cammie
Perfectly Obsessed Page 23
