Stacie Monroe trips on her ridiculous heels and curses the stupidly short mini dress that was a mistake buy. It's freezing cold and past midnight. She didn't want to go out tonight but she wasn't sure if a last night inside an empty flat was a good idea. It hasn't been all bad but she's been accused of not giving her number to a single soul by her friends.
They are the few who have remained with her during her marriage to Jake. The ones who knew he was trouble, discreetly told her and waited for the day. They clicky clack along the pavement until it's just her and a friend, a grifter, Carol left.
"Glad you came?" she asks.
"Yes, of course," Stacie replies trying to muster up enthusiasm as the air freezes her bones.
Carol eyes her, "Sure?" and dismisses her assertion with an eye roll, "Wish you'd tried to get a man."
"What?" Stacie is astounded, Carol has been encouraging her to be careful.
"Stacie, not every man is Jake or Mickey Bricks," Carol sways and hugs a lamp post.
"Can we not talk about Jake or Mickey please?"
Carol sniffs, "Look, I just want you to start dating, play about and see that men aren't idiots. Well not all of them."
"Playing?"
"Hang on, I'm trying to say something," Carol looks confused, "Only my words are wrong. Live life like it's ending tomorrow. Don't be scared and..."
"Carol, your bus is here." Stacie interrupts her friend's stream of consciousness.
"But I'm not done yet..." Carol climbs on the bus and voiceless, talks to her through the window until she disappears from view.
Stacie rubs her arms and sits in the shelter. It's five minutes until her bus arrives. Carol's words have irritated her. Mostly because she can understand the truth in them. A lifetime ago she was giddy and reckless. Then she had a brief fling with Mickey Bricks and rebounded to Jake when she thought her heart would never mend. Now she's about to be homeless and he's taken every penny she had grifted. She fights back the tears that threaten to insult her further. Yet she can't seem to trust another man again.
Nothing is that easy, a past covered with recent dust and a rarely spoken about, she's terrified of taking a risk and exposing herself again. But what if? What if she takes a risk and pretends that Mickey and especially Jake, didn't happen?
The question unsettles her.
-OXO-
The bus hasn't arrived but a man has. She gazes at him from behind her hair. He has dark blonde hair swept back from his face, greying at the sides. Striking but not traditionally attractive, his body is hidden by a leather jacket and dark blue jeans, brown boots. As he turns, she sees broad shoulders and long legs. He smiles briefly at her and looks down the empty road. She thinks his smile is cute.
"Alright darlin?"
Stacie jumps in shock. She and her muse and have company, a drunken, younger man in a dinner suit several sizes too big for him, "Giveuskiss."
"Do you know him?" the muse asks and inclines his head as she shakes hers, "Mate, do one alright...yeah, I know I'm hard... no my mother isn't."
Several minutes later, he has told the boy where his home, watched him go on his way and checked she's okay.
Stacie meets his gaze. "Yes," she replies and smiles. "Thank you."
"That's fine." He grins, "I try to save one damsel before my dinner and then I save a few kittens before bed." He glances up the street, "But I'm not very good at finding lost buses."
She gets to her feet, "Better walk."
"I'm not a proper hero if I don't walk you home," he suggests.
"I'm the other side of the river, it's miles."
He thinks, "Okay, walk with me to my flat and call a cab from there."
Stacie hesitates, "I don't have any money for a cab. Long story."
"You can owe me. I'm not arguing with you"
She's about to refuse, the words rest on her lips but she remember Carol's words, "Alright then."
He look as surprised as she feels, but his smile is warm, "At least put this on," and takes his coat off and holds it out.
"I'm fine, honest..."
"You're frozen," he reasons and hold it out until she takes it.
"Thank you," she accepts graciously. The jacket is warm and soft, and she idly wonders how he'd feel like if he hugged her.
"I'm Ash by the way, Ash Morgan. What's your name?"
"Stacie Monroe." She's heard of him before, an artful grifter.
"Nice to meet you."
-OXO-
The walk to his flat takes a good half an hour, but the journey is quick. He is easy to talk to and by the time they are at his door, they are friends that share a love of posh food and they know they are both grifters, would own a dog and like similar music.
He invites her inside. Upstairs is a large open space furnished with tasteful, minimal furniture. On a table is a laptop and a mass of wires, lots of books and a collection of mobiles. A fixer's tool kit. She's heard he is the best in the business.
She drops her bag to the floor and puts the leather jacket on the sofa, "Have you lived here for a long time?"
"A few months, it suits me for the moment."
"For the moment?"
He shrugs, "Grifter's life isn't it? You have to take changes, get out there and stop reading the guidebook or something. Live life like it's ending tomorrow."
"You're the second person to say that to me this evening."
"Maybe you should try it?"
"Yeah.." She thinks of Mickey and watches Ash as he hands her a mobile, "maybe I should."
"Do you want a coffee?"
She follows him to the kitchen and takes the mug from his hand, places it carefully on the work surface. Before common sense can prevail, she kisses him. Her hands winding up behind his neck as her lips move against his.
Stacie feels the surprise and tension in his body but he's not stupid and catches her up. In a heartbeat he has pulled her close against him, his hands moving to her hips as she leans close.
He is all man and his kisses taste like something she could be addicted to. He cups her face in one hand and pushes long, soft fingers into her hair, breaks the kiss and looks at her.
"I didn't invite you here for this, you know?"
Stacie looks up at him, "I know but maybe it's why I said yes?"
Ash holds her gaze, waiting to see if she might change her mind. She does none of these things.
He lets out a breath, slow and deep. "You're sure you know what you're doing?"
"Yes, completely."
"Well, that's one of us." He takes her hand and leads her to his bedroom.
-OXO-
She wakes the next morning, turns over and stretches, realising it's an unfamiliar bed. She glances at the man beside her, his body partly covered by sheets. She takes a breath and knows that the scent of him covers her. His touch and his lips have covered and claimed her. Barely hours ago he had woken her again and she had welcomed him.
Stacie pushes away the images in her imagination and forces herself to think clearly. Tentatively she leaves the bed and dresses quietly. All the time she gazes at Ash in the bed. As she looks, the finer details return to her mind in vibrant detail. She forces her hands to button, smooth and zip. The temptation to wake him and stay is almost overwhelming.
Looking on the table, she finds a pen and paper and writes her phone number, signs it with a kiss and closes the door behind her.
-OXO-
Many people thrive on the mundane. Stacie sits in the cafe, gazes out of the window and wonders how anyone copes. She's tried to give up grifting numerous times, but even now she's listening to the chatter, watching body language but there is no interest.
She tried to conform, settle down twice. Mickey just wasn't the one and they both knew it. A friend but certainly not a partner. Then Jake seem to answer her prayers, offering her marriage and a promise of a life beyond the con, all of it lies.
In Ash she sees a man she could love. She's certain she already does, she hasn't felt like this before.
She looks impatiently at her phone as it rings in her pocket. To her surprise it's Mickey.
-OXO-
Mickey wants him to be a fixer and he chucks in the flat.
"This is Stacie Monroe," Mickey waves his hand at Ash who stares at the women whose number he has been treasuring for the past twenty four hours, who has been occupying most of his brain and is responsible for stealing his heart.
She flicks a look at him and for a second forgets to breath.
-OXO-
He is the one to break the silence. "I didn't know," he says honestly.
"Neither did I." She waits a moment, gives him the benefit of the doubt. "And now that we do?"
Ash doesn't answer, instead he glances away, and that act is enough to reveal his insecurities to the astute Stacie Monroe.
She pushes a lock of her hair behind her ear and buys a moment to think. "And you're right — all things considered it's probably best if we just forget it even happened."
He looks back at her now, eyes wide and incredulous. "That's not..." He stops abruptly then starts again. "I didn't say we should forget what happened."
"You didn't have to."
"You're putting words in my mouth."
She glares at him, furious at his accusation — no matter how accurate it might be. "I'm giving you an out. I'm letting you off the hook."
"You make it sound like that's what I want."
Thrown, she stares at him, her heart thudding in her chest. "Isn't it?"
The question hangs unanswered for too long and Stacie reads a thousand words into the silence. And in the end, to save face, she makes the decision for him.
"Look forget it, okay? Take the easy way out. Pretend it never happened." She's exasperated and for some reason she can't fathom, on the verge of tears. She takes a step away from him as she throws her parting shot. "It was just sex."
He catches her wrist so she can't run, however much she wants to. "I remember everything, Stacie." Ash's eyes darken and his jaw tightens. "And it was not just sex."
Time stills between them. "So what was it?" It's not a question — it's a dare.
Silent, he pulls her close and kisses her.
-OXO-
They play the long con.
The money is too good, as a group they are too good. The best grifters, admired by many but they never cross the line between work and each other. Ash won't, he did that before with June. The day will come and he makes plans, invests in property and for the first time knows there is another life when this one ends, tomorrow or the day after that.
They have been tempted. In the back of a limo.
They can hear Danny on his mobile flirting with someone, pacing outside, and then banging on the car, "You done in there yet?"
Ash rests his head on her shoulder and sighs, "Anyone would think he was jealous."
"What's there to be jealous about?"She sees the hurt in his eyes and is momentarily glad. Then sadly, "I'm still glad it's you."
Within a few months she leaves for America. It's too hard to play the bait when he is watching her. Finally she tells Danny she's in love with Ash in the hope he'll stop trying to get into her bedroom. Thankfully it works. He's too scared of what Ash will do to his kneecaps and realises that she can't be tempted.
She tries not to think of him, except she does and rings him often. Persuades him to visit her. Twice.
-OXO-
It takes all her strength not to tell him she's back. She sees the spilt coffee and feels the forgiveness in his arms, the kiss to her hair and the whispered promise to talk to her later. His eyes twinkle and she wants to get out and find their future.
Mickey has left with Emma, Albert is making plans with Sean and Danny to return to America. That leaves them in the car traveling North. Nobody seems to question this, and over dinner they wonder if they knew all along. She sure Danny hasn't said anything. Stacie think she should feel sorry but she doesn't trust Mickey to retire yet no matter what he says.
Ash drives them to a house he has bought for today. She watches him unpack the bare essentials. His worldly goods are in a storage unit, as are hers, waiting for a delivery address, "Is this home?"
He nods and she puts down a cup of tea, vocalising her confusion, 'With me?"
Ash nods again, "If you want to stay."
She's not sure if she's found the comfort she wants, "I -," breathes and tries again, "I don't want us to be a secret anymore. I want to tell people you're my boyfriend."
He's silent for a moment, thoughtful, "Is that what I am then?"
"No, you're more than that, you've always been more than a boyfriend," She takes a step closer and he is waiting for her as always, "I came back because I love you."
"I know that," he agrees gently, "I l-"
His reply is cut short as she steals his words with kisses. He pushes her backwards until she reaches the wall and his hands are on her body, mapping the curves that he has remembered and desired for so long.
His mouth is firm and sure, demanding more and she wraps herself around him, as she tries to keep pace. She's wished for this so long that she's afraid it's a dream. His hand slides under her blouse, his firm touch stroking her warm skin.
She's sure of what happens next. He effortlessly picks her up and carries her to the bed.
-OXO-
Epilogue
A month later, Ash picks Stacie up from an upmarket hotel. She's outside on the pavement looking for him, a long coat hiding her dress, panicking about the time.
"We've got a hour," He assures her as he steers the car through the London traffic in the early afternoon sun, parking behind Eddie's bar.
He walks with her to their destination and into a rabble of grifters, falling into the old crowd as if they hadn't left. Then it's time to go. She watches him walk away with Mickey, Danny and Sean.
Albert offers her his arm, "Are you ready my dear?"
She nods, "I've been ready for years,"
-OXO-
They escape the raucous reception at Eddie's. Albert has met his match in a game of cards, Eddie may have sold the bar and Danny still thinks he can sing. There are no talks of cons from Mickey.
Ash carries her over the threshold of their hotel room, "Mrs Morgan, may I?" and promises to love her for the rest of their lives and all their tomorrows.