Chapter One
Laughter echos in the small room, bouncing off the kitchen walls and appliances. I roll my eyes and hop on the counter, ignoring the cool granite. Liam, slides up beside me, our legs touching until I uncomfortably move away. Hoping to avoid his gaze, which I'm sure is on me, I glance around the room before my eyes linger on the small gap beneath the door. I tilt my head, wondering if that little blotch of denim means what I think it does.
"So we'll start with the bank today," Peter starts, talking to the group and trying to start the meeting, despite our inclination to fool around. but I shake my head, and gesture for him to stop. I study the crack in the door and spot a scrap of blue fabric. Silently moving to the door, I fling it open, exposing the highly embarrassed and extremely stupid guy, listening at our keyhole. How he found the one door that hasn't been sound-proofed yet is a mystery. Peter scrambles to his feet in an instant, dragging him into the room.
"You don't want to hurt me, I can help you." The little ease dropper insists. Peter has him by the scruff of his neck as he throws him to the floor. I cross my arms over my chest and look down at him. He isn't all that scrawny, but compared to broad-shouldered, six-foot tall Peter the kid is miniscule.
"How do you intend to do that?" Liam asks. Liam speaks with tone I know all too well, the con. He's giving him room to move, just enough, waiting to see if he'll trap himself. I lock eyes with him from across the room, green meeting blue, the silent conversation passing between us. The scrap is the one to break the moment.
"Well I could be the muscle, or at least help. I mean I'm a fighter…" He trails off, sparing a glance at Peter behind him. I can't help but laugh. He looks at me for the first time. "What?" He wonders. I crouch down at his level.
"Fighting is already taken care of." I tell him. I watch as he looks me up and down, hovering at my chest. Eventually he pats my shoulder, and I flinch.
"It sweet that you're protecting your boyfriend's place on the team and I'll admit you are an excellent token female thief…" He starts but before he can finish I grab his arm and send him sprawling over my shoulder. He's still dazed and on the ground when I'm upright, leaning against the opposite wall from where I started.
"That's why extra help in the fighting department isn't necessary" I end the debate, he laughs a little breathlessly.
"Okay then; I'm excellent with explosives." He informs us. I roll my eyes as Danny frantically protests. Peter cuts him off with a look.
"No." His tone ends the discussion.
"Bankrolling, plans, tech. conning; I can do it all." He tells us, and I can see the begging in his eyes. He seems desperate now but Liam speaks up, shutting down any hope, before it can flourish.
"Peter's the brains, James is the cash, Owen is tech, and I'm the con artist." He tells him, glaring with his icy eyes, and I can see it; Liam just willing the rat to try to challenge his job. There's desperation in the little squirt's face as he stands and raises his hands above his head.
"Okay then, I guess; I'll just go," He finally concedes edging towards the door as six thieves stare him down, watching his every move. He's almost out the door when he stops and tilts his head, like he's considering something.
"Unless this changes things," He wonders, holding six wallets up in the air for us to see. The twit's got an arrogant smirk on his face. In a split second, I'm in front of him ripping my purse out of hands. He grins at me, until I sweep his legs out from under him, sending him sprawling on the hardwood floor once again.
"First rule: don't con thieves." I order, sparing a small kick to his ribs, not hard enough to break anything, but just enough to leave a painful bruise for the next few days. I spin on my heel quickly moving up the stairs and around the corner.
…
"Move it shrimp." I order "gently" guiding him through the courtyard. He rolls his eyes at me and mumbles something that sounds a little like "I'm taller than you." I choose to ignore that comment.
"Tell me again, what are we doing?" He asks as he follows me through the crowd. His voice is just right, loud enough for me to hear, but not loud enough for the passerby to pick up on. I grit my teeth. I know he's not really new to the game, but it bothers me to no end, that he's sooo good.
"We are making sure you know, what the hell, you're doing." I snarl at him over my shoulder, I flinch when I spot a startled little girl who's looking at me like I'm holding a steak knife and cackling.
"Too loud" The little squirt reprimands me, all the while wrapping his arm arond my waist. I shirk away, resisting the urge to snap his arm in half like a chicken wing.
"Excuse me!" I demand crossing my arms. He rolls his eyes, like I'm the amateur. He grabs my wrist, and gently tugs me through the crowd. I'm so surprised, that I don't attack, but I yank my wrist out of his grip.
"Your voice," He sighs, "You're talking too loud." I turn roughly the shade of a tomato at his comment, mostly because I know it's true. On the inside, I'm insanely embarrassed, but the image I'm projecting has a cocky smirk.
"Whatever new-bee" I roll my eyes. "Just get on with the job." I remind him.
"Okay, then…" He says, quickly pushing me up against the door of the building next to me. It doesn't hurt, which is the part that comes as a surprising. Nothing he's done has hurt me. I've been in fight after fight after fight, and I know there's no such thing as a gentle thief, but this kid might be an exception to that rule. He puts his hands on either side of my face and leans into me. I'm frozen with shock, normally no one would dare to try to put me in this position. My breath catches in my throat as goosebumbs spread across my skin. I'm not used to this, I have no idea how to deal with this, my mind is refusing to think rationally.
The only thing that surprises me more is when he kisses me. His lips are soft and gentle on mine, just the barest brush before he moves away. His chocolate-brown eyes lock on my blue ones, and I can feel the blush burning on my cheeks. I can practically feel Liam's fury from here as the Communication Unit in my ear goes silent.
"Do me, a favor, call me my name from now on" He breathes, in the opposite ear from my coms. I know for a fact that no one can hear him. His lips brush the sensitive skin and I can barely repress a shiver. Wouldn't that be humiliating...
"Okay… Jason." I pant, wrapping my fingers through his hair. What the hell am I doing? I mentally shriek, before unwinding my hands from his dark hair, despite the fact that all I want to do is pull him back to me and kiss him till I physically can't anymore. What is wrong with me?
"What the hell do you thinkyou're doing?" Liam demands; rounding the corner. I blush, this is a little awkward. That's when I notice Jason's hand in between the door and the frame. To Liam's surprise I speak up.
"I'm sorry, but it's my choice. We met on the job. He treats me without pressure; don't blame him for stealing me away." I sigh, prancing over to Jason and taking his arm.
I flick my eyes the camera above our heads. Liam's eyes light up as he picks apart the words and shrugs. True to character, Liam lunges at Jason, the two of them go rolling into the building through the door.
Jason wasn't lying when he said he was decent in a fight, but Liam is well… Liam. I shriek and fly into the room, playing the damsel in distress pretty well, if I do say so myself.
Jason manages to wink at me when he has a spare second, arrogantly grinning. I can't help but find the scene strangely ironic, two guys fighting over my affections, like that would ever happen. Most guys run screaming, away from me, or think of me as a younger sister.
Before long, security guards arrive, crashing through the door. I scream, the shriek probably being heard for miles around. I hear Danny and Owen complaining through my coms. Various alarms are blaring throughout the room as the rent-a-cops pry Jason and Liam apart.
Jason stumbles back, off-balance, into one of the computers. I shake my head a little as he plugs the flash drive into the hard drive. As we're ushered out of the building, with stern reprimands; Owen is hacking into the bank's computer system.
…
Three hours later, I'm sitting in Liam's room. My eyes skim over the maps and diagrams plastered on the walls. We've lived in many places, Paris, Rome, Greece, London, Beijing, Tokyo, Rio, but New York City was really home. Peter kept the place up, making sure we knew this was where to come if we were ever in trouble, or ever wanted in on a job; because he always had a job at hand.
"He's really good." Liam finally says. "Like really good."I nod, fidgeting. "I wonder?" Liam starts then his eyes soften and his previously playful expression turns serious. Liam's very rarely serious so the change captures my attention.
"Hannah?" He asks, tilting my chin up and demanding my full attention. "You knew ahead of time right, he didn't just start attacking you." He asks, looking into my eyes sympathetically, but ready to protect me, to get revenge. It takes me a minute before I realize he's talking about the kiss. I look into Liam's eyes without hesitation.
"Of course he told me, if he hadn't he'd be missing a head by now." I lied. Liam's the master of lies, but he trusts me, and common sense says I wouldn't put up with that. Liam just nods either falling for my lie or fine with letting it go. It's not like he enjoys digging into my private life. His playful smile returns.
"GET DOWN HERE!" A brutish voice yells up the stairs. Liam flops back down on to his bed, grinning up at me.
"Come on, can't I just sleep and ice my face?" Liam asks, touching his jaw where Jason hit him. I roll my eyes and start to pull him up, but he pulls me back down with him. His arms loop around my waist, keeping me close and I'm sprawled across his chest. I can feel the blush burning my cheeks, but when he just tilts his head and studies me, my heart skips a beat. I look into his gorgeous green eyes and suddenly finding myself wondering what it would be like if he kissed me. We're still unintentionally in his bed together, with me on top of him, when Owen walks in.
"Come on guys, Peter's….." Owen's eyes widen as he sees us. I quickly roll off of Liam and land on my feet while he is backing out of the room. "Okay then, I'll just… uh umm, I'll just go now." He stutters, closing the door behind him.
"We should head down," Liam mutters, afraid to meet my eyes. I can understand why, any other guy would be hunched over in pain by now. Despite it all, I kind of want Liam to make a move. We head down the stairs awkwardly, staring in opposite directions and being careful not to touch. When we step in the living room, we hear Owen talking.
"You will not believe what I just walked in on" He starts. I clear my throat and he looks over his shoulder. His eyes widen and he swallows. "Nothing, absolutely nothing" no one believes the pathetic lie of course, but they know well enough to ask questions. Well most of them know well enough.
"Oh, please, how old are we, five?" Jason scoffs, ignoring the glares I'm sending him. "We all know you two were up there making-out can't you just admit it?" Liam and Peter take steps forward, but I get there first, sending a solid punch to his nose. Six faces gawk at me as his head smacks into the table with a satisfying thump.
"That felt good," I admit; taking my seat at the table.