“The rest of the beer is in the fridge. Just bang on the door whenever you want some.”
As he put the pizza boxes on the crate next to us, Ratke looked at me. He raked his gaze over me hungrily, like I was a steak. Ryan stood. He moved in front of Ratke.
“Calm yourselves, children,” Gregor boomed. “Keep the fire, but save your energy. We have serious work to do soon enough.”
Ryan was a couple of inches taller than Ratke, and heavier. Ratke had an evil sneer that didn’t fade as Ryan pressed his nose against his. The tension was electric and I wanted to move, to get up and get farther away, but I told myself to be still.
Gregor turned like he was about to move and stand between the two men, but when he caught a look in Ryan’s eye he was still. Ratke gave Gregor a look and jutted his chin.
He turned and strutted out of the room.
“Can you control him?” Ryan asked Gregor. “It doesn’t look like it.”
Gregor was about to answer when Ryan said, quietly, “Was it Ratke who shot the guard, Gregor?”
Gregor’s face was stone.
“It was, wasn’t it? You’ve got a problem there, Gregor.”
The air between Ryan and Gregor could have burst into flame. From the look on Gregor’s face and the way he kept so very still, I had the hunch that was the first time Ryan had ever spoken to him that way. Gregor was restraining himself, holding back his reaction.
“Enjoy your pizza and your beer,” he said. Then he left.
~~
Later, Gregor came back with more beer. He brought soda and he even had some chocolate cake. There was no sign of Ratke.
“Probably best you all get a good night’s sleep. Busy day tomorrow.”
After he left, I said quietly, “He didn’t bring more pizza.”
Tynie’s eyes caught mine.
Ryan said, “We hadn’t finished up the one he brought earlier.”
Tynie whispered, “That’s right, Ryan. But how did he know that?”
Ryan blinked slowly.
None of us were interested in chocolate cake.
Soon, we spread the blankets on the mattresses. Tynie chose a mattress by the door. Ryan and I took the ones along the other wall.
I whispered, “We could push them together,” but I knew it was a bad idea and I said so straight away. The mattresses were end to end, and I dragged mine around so I could lay with my head next to Ryan’s.
When he looked in my eyes, I felt like this could all end up all right. That he and I could be good enough together, good enough for each other that we could get through it. The light in his eyes set a warm glow inside me, and I felt comforted.
Through the thin mattress, I heard the sound of boots on the floor in the room at the far end. The rumble of a voice.
Tynie called across, “Should I shut off the lights?”
“Sure,” Ryan told him.
The darkness was almost complete. All I could make out was the outline of his face, and his eyes. “Last night,” I whispered. “I didn’t want that to end.”
In the dark, I felt him smile. “Me neither.” Then, “You’re beautiful.”
Taking a breath to answer him, I caught his scent. And my own.
He said, “You don’t have to say anything. I just want you to know that you’re beautiful. I’m sure you do.”
“You were beautiful,” I told him, “last night.”
The sound of his breath was soothing and made me feel I was protected. The backs of his fingers stroked my chin. My cheek. My neck. I grabbed his hand. Whether to stop him or to pull him closer and urge him on, I couldn’t decide.
It felt good to hold his hand for a moment. In the end, it was he who decided. “I want us to be together.” I gripped his hand. “At least once. Maybe more. And I hope we will. But this isn’t the place.”
Of course, he was right. But I wanted to say, “but the time is now,” and perhaps I was wary of what was to come. Perhaps I had a sense.
“When we find that place,” I told him, my voice still almost inaudible, “I want to taste your cock.” He let out a sigh. “All of it. All the way from the tip to the very base.”
“I want to feel it,” his voice was low like a hum, “in between your breasts.”
Under the blanket my fingers strayed in between my legs.
He said, “I want you to feel my lips on your neck.”
“Yes.”
“Kiss your breasts.”
“Yes.”
“My lips, tugging your nipple.”
My back stretched and arched. “Yes.”
“Sucking.”
“Oh, yes. Your cock. Squeezing into the top of my throat.”
“My tongue, trickling down your stomach.”
“Yes.”
“Down to your mound.”
“Yes.”
“Your clit.”
My thighs quivered. “Mm. Yes.”
“Slipping into your wet lips.”
My hips flicked and my fingers slipped inside. I bit my lip.
“My tongue,” his voice buzzed, like the sensation swelling inside me, “sliding inside.”
I gasped.
“Finding the button in your folds.”
My buttocks clenched. My mouth stretched wide. The strain of the effort to hold back the groan stoked the swell in sensation even harder. I shook as I started to come.
“Tasting you.”
My long, soft sigh shuddered and shook.
“Sucking you. Holding you in my mouth.”
“Mm.” I trembled and my fingers clenched. I whispered, “Coming in my throat.”
I jolted as the backs of his fingers brushed my throat.
“Soon,” he whispered.
“Promise.” I said.
I heard the rustle as he nodded. “Soon.”
Like a fool, I believed him.
Then he said, “Come in here,” and I heard the swish as he lifted the blanket.
“They’ll know.”
“Fuck them. I want to hold you while you sleep.”
I didn’t think there would be any chance of me getting any sleep next to Ryan’s hard body. But he held me so gently that I did. It felt so good, regardless of how bad an idea it was. I sank into the warmth and strength of his body and let his scent wash over me.
For tonight at least, I felt safe. And I knew it wouldn’t last.
Chapter Fifteen
Ryan
GREGOR SAID, “WE NEED an Escalade for this one.”
“But I know where I can get a BMW. It’s what we planned for. It’s what you said you wanted last time.”
Gregor grinned and shrugged. “Time to break through. Life, liberty, and the pursuit.” There was no time to figure out what the hell he was talking about.
With no notice, it was going to be a tall order. Finding a car that fit the bill, never mind a backup, plus the time for Tynie’s acquisition, this could be tough. The BMWs I had gotten all lined up wouldn’t be any use. There was no point in telling Gregor that and, in any case, that would mean letting him know more about our methods than I wanted. Tynie and I had managed to keep the process well-shrouded simply by saying nothing at all.
The plan was for this to be the last job with Gregor, but every job I’d done with him was going to be the last. It was time to get real. Our skills, Tynie’s and mine, were what had kept us alive and in business. It wouldn’t make any sense to let them go.
“Seb will drive you.” Gregor was holding his arm out, urging us to the door. Before we left, I shrugged out of my jacket and handed it to Haley. It would be a more comfortable way for her to carry the gun, I told myself, but I think the real reason was that I liked the thought of her wearing it.
Crossing the wood floor in the gloomy warehouse, I told Tynie, “Whatever happens today, don’t speak. Not unless you really, really have to tell me something. Even then, only when it’s something that I really need to know, okay?”
Tynie nodded. After a moment, he said, “Is th
at so I don’t give anything away, Ryan?”
“That’s it exactly, Tynie.”
“I’m sorry that I do that sometimes, Ryan.”
“You don’t have to be sorry. It isn’t your fault.”
“That’s what slave girl said.”
“We don’t call her that anymore, Tynie.”
“Do we call her by her name?”
“Yeah, Tynie. We do.”
“In front of Gregor and all the men in his gang?”
“Good point, Tynie. Do you think maybe you could just call her ‘the girl’?”
“I think you like her.”
That was a very unusual thing for Tynie to say.
When we got to the freight elevator, Seb was inside waiting. He nursed his left arm a little. He’d taken it out of the sling so it was just bandaged now. From the way he held it, it looked pretty uncomfortable. He seemed okay driving, mostly with one hand. We took the Hummer. Tynie sat in the back.
We cruised the lot of a big mall. In those thousands of cars, we didn’t spot one single Escalade. Seb said, “You don’t see that many of the Cadillac SUVs.”
I nodded. “That’s another reason this is a fucked up idea.”
“Because they’re hard to find?”
“Because they’re uncommon. Makes them easy to spot.”
Seb nodded. “How about the airport lots? Maybe find one in a long-term parking?” I liked Seb, but I didn’t like him asking me that. Seemed like there was an undertone of, How do you do this thing? in the question. I didn’t answer him.
I was pretty distracted, thinking about Haley. Back there, shut up in that box in the warehouse with Gregor. And Ratke. The smell of her hair as I held her last night. And the little sounds she made. It was hard to concentrate, and we had a tough day’s work ahead.
We went to an upscale district downtown, into a multi-story garage. Drove around in the dark, metal and cement echoes to scour the first three floors. Nothing. Lots of great cars, none of them Cadillac SUVs.
On the fourth floor, Tynie said, “There’s an Escalade.” Then he clammed up.
Smart charcoal gray. Too distinctive for my liking. I wanted black. Still, this was the first and only Cadillac SUV we’d seen all morning. Couldn’t afford to ignore it.
Tynie got out and sauntered by the Cadillac and Seb drove on. I watched in the side mirror as he brushed the hood with his hand. Then he ducked down low.
As we drove up and around the other floors, as well as hunting for Cadillacs, I was looking in the girders and pipes in the roof to see where the cameras were. When you find a camera on one floor in those places, chances are there’s one at that location on every floor.
I was trying to work out if the Cadillac would be in clear view. If there would be a picture of Tynie doing his thing. Up and around another floor and no Escalades. Next floor, more of the same.
Seb asked, “How many do you need?”
“Only one, but…” Seb was a good guy and I didn’t want to be shitty with him. I told him, “Tynie’s really picky.” Which was definitely true. As we cruised the lines for another Escalade, I asked Seb straight.
“When Gregor told you to drive today, did he tell you to do anything else?”
“Like spy on you two, you mean?”
“Like that.”
“Yeah, he asked me to do that. Tell him everything the two of you did and said. See if I could find out how you do your magic.”
“You want to know how we do it?”
“No, Ryan. If I knew, then I’d have to tell Gregor. He’s got enough angles without him taking yours away from you.”
“Now I’ll ask you one. Was it Ratke who shot the guard?”
All the muscles in Seb’s face tightened. “That asshole. Why Gregor brought him in at all beats me.” His head shook as he drove up and around the next level. “Yeah, it was him. Racking weapons all the way to the score, waving a shotgun the whole time. Thinks he’s in a fucking movie.”
“Christ.”
We were at the top story of the park. “Okay, Seb, make your way back down again slowly. I think there’s only that one Escalade in here.”
“Will it work out?”
“No way to know.”
That was true, too. We would have to wait for the driver to come and unlock the vehicle, follow them, and then hope that they parked somewhere we could take it without being seen or stopped. All the while trying to avoid putting ourselves in a position where we would likely be spotted too clearly if someone played back the video later.
Gregor pulling the same kind of job a second time within days of the first one was ballsy, but I thought it was very high-risk. Every trail was going to be fresh, every pattern in the MO would be clean and easy to compare. Bank robbery wasn’t my thing at all, but all of this seemed to me like it was too risky a strategy to make sense, unless Gregor knew something that the rest of us didn’t.
Of course, even if he did, it was more likely to be something that would benefit him than any of the rest of us. This whole thing could all blow up so bad at every step. We were crawling down the ramps toward the exit. Tynie slipped in the back without even waiting for Seb to stop.
I looked at him in the mirror. He nodded. So, he was ready and his transponder was in place. Now we needed to wait for the owner to come back and take the car. And we needed to hope that they would come soon, and park somewhere we would be able to take the car safely.
“Find a parking space,” I told Seb. “On the ground floor, near the exit. We’ll need to follow the car when it comes out.”
“It could be all day.”
That was true. “It could be a month.”
I asked Tynie, “Was the hood warm?” He nodded. That was good. Then the car hadn’t been parked there for too long. People who park in the middle of the morning aren’t usually commuters or parking for the day. They’re often short stayers, shopping or going to a meeting.
As it turned out, we didn’t have long to wait. When we followed the car, I told Seb to hang back as much as he could while he kept it in sight.
“We don’t want to feature on too many traffic cameras, riding close behind.” Especially not in a Hummer, I thought. We won’t be at all hard to spot.
Seb was good. He hung way back, waiting till the Cadillac made a turn before he moved up the traffic, staying just near enough so we didn’t lose it. It turned and pulled off by a row of stores and stopped in front of a juice bar. That wasn’t going to do us much good. We got a view of the driver.
Dirty Driver: Dark Crime Romance Page 14
