4. What do we do next
The peace and quiet didn't last for very long. They soon flew out to Vegas to help Albert, who had gotten into trouble at one of the casinos. After ending up in the little grey dinghy in Santa Monica and succeeding to get back to the shore, they took the first flight back to London.
Three days later they were at it again, Albert roping in a new mark and Danny bossing the rest of them around. He'd just sent Stacie and Ash to get a suitable vechicle and some other small things. Danny himself was going to have a one-to-one teaching session with Billy.
"Listen up, kiddo. And I hope you're taking notes. As your mentor ..." Danny was starting his lecture as Stacie closed the door behind them.
"No rest for the wicked." she said, winking at Ash. He gave a short laugh.
Once they were out of the building, they turned around the corner and he waved down a cab. "You have a plan?" he asked her.
"Yup." she answeder and nodded before getting into the taxi. "Ten minutes." she stated, smiling mischievously at Ash. She glanced at her watch and closed the door behine her. "Victoria station, please." she told the driver and the car drove off, leaving Ash on the sidewalk.
He turned around and walked a couple of blocks to a bus stop. The bus was just pulling in when he arrived so he got in and produced a fake ticket from one of the many pockets in his black leather jacket.
Six minutes later he got off the bus, turned round a corner and got inte the waiting black car. "Good work" he told a smiling Stacie as she pulled out and drove off in the cab. He digged into a pocket an provided a ten pund note that he handed to her through the small window in the glass wall. He'd made a bet with her that she wouldn't be able to con a taxi off a driver in less than fifteen minutes.
"Thank you. My pleasure." she told him.
"Just out of interest, how did you do it?" he asked her curiously.
"Oh, you know. The old dog in the bar trick." she said, smiling wickedly while managing the traffic.
"What? That doesn't make any sense. With the dog in the bar you sell them a dodgy dog. What kind of a dog would get you a taxi?"
"Strictly speaking, it included a dog and a bar. But ..." she trailed off, eyeing him in the rear view mirror. This was fun, keeping him waiting for her to provide the solution.
He was getting suspicious, his eyes narrowing. "Yea'?"
"I have a friend who is a cab driver. I happened to bump into him in a bar last week. And since he's gone on holiday to Mallorca with his wife, I asked if I could borrow his cab."
"So this isn't the same cab that you got into outside the hotel?" ha asked her, having a hard time knowing what to believe.
"Nope. But I had to get into it to be able to get this." she said and waved the ten pound note in the air while steering the car into a small backstreet. "The sweetest con of all ..."
"... is to con another grifter" he filled in.
"One who should know better." she said laughingly, as she managed the car into a parking space in a back alley
Being the torough man he was, Ash was still caught up on a detail. "But you said there was a dog involved?"
"Ah. That's his wife. She's a real pit bull, at least that's what he says." Stacie laughed. She turned off the engine and took out the key before turning around in her seat so that she had a better view of him. With the glass wall in between them, she dared give him a smirk. She loved playing games with Ash. He always made the playful side of her come alight.
"You little minx." he said, looking at her admiringly.
She smiled warmly back at him, before asking "So what do we do next?"
"We need a stewardess costume for you, a pair of champagne bottels that look like they're worth a fortune and a hamster in a wheel" he read aloud from the paper.
"Who do we go to for the champagne?" Stacie asked.
"I've got Vino Vinnie on to it, we should be able to pick it up later today. But first we need to get the dress and a hamster." he told her. He gave her a friendly wink and added "Let's go find you a saucy dress."
"... says the man who didn't want to get into my bed two weeks ago", she said, looking pointedly at him.
He was taken aback. Shit, he thought, did she remember that? He had assumed that she had been so tired that she was more or less out of it. This wasn't good news. On the other hand, that opened up the possibility that her invitation had been something more than just the sleepiness speaking. His pulse quickened. He forced himself to look at her calmly through the glass wall. "Well, I wasn't going to take advantage of a lady who was barely able to stand up on her own now, was I?" he said, looking into her eyes.
She smiled back at him seductively. "I wasn't all that tired. I just faked it in order to be able to cling on to a very sweet guy for a little while longer." It was the truth, but she hadn't thought that she would ever pick up the courage to tell him so. Now it was done. It's do or die, she thought.
"That right?" he asked her surprisedly. His pulse was quickening by the second. He decided to go for it. He got out of the car and gentlemanly opened the door to the driver's seat.. "So, would you by any chance be willing to let this sweet guy wine and dine you tonight?" he said, twinkle in his eyes as he looked at her.
"I'd love to." she said. She grabbed her bag before stepping out of the car, saying "Now let's get on with it. The sooner we're ready with the groundwork, the sooner we can clock off."
"Yeah ..." he said, barely loud enough for her to hear, while he kept looking in the other direction "I wanna get home early, 'cos I have a hot date tonight."
She blushed a little as she set off walking towards the boutique that sold uniforms to all the better airlines. He followed her for a few hundred yards, then he jumped in to a dark alleyway. He glued on a false moustache and combed his hair to the sides, before crossing the heavily trafficed street and dodged into a pet shop.
***
She had snuck off with an explanation about girl's night out, dressed in a fluttery pink dress and black pumps. "Don't wait up." she said over her shoulder as she grabbed her handbag and walked out the door.
The men had all sat at the kitchen counter talking. As she walked past, they all turned to look at her. Danny kept staring at the door long after she had disappeard through it. Ash chuckled quietly and Albert smiled.
"I met this woman once in Monaco ..." the older man started, looking up into the ceiling as he told them about his past fling.
She was sitting at a corner table in a busy bar in central London, an unread magazine opened on the table in front of her. She fished up her phone from her bag and dialed a familiar number. "I'm at the bar." she said when she heard him answer on the other end of the line.
Nigel. What can I do you for?
"I've been called a lot of things in my life, but never before have I gone by 'Nigel'" she said laughingly.
Sure. What about that new place down on Oxford Street? I think it's called 'The lucky lady'.
"Just get down here, you wanker." she said, smiling to herself. Using a strip club as cover for their date was just like him. Sometimes his sense of humour was quite twisted.
He laughed. All right. See you in twenty. Ta-ta.
"Bye." she said and hang up. She was a bit nervous, it wasn't every day that she went out with a guy that knew her as well as Ash. And she really did like him a lot, even more than she dared admit to herself. She started looking through the property magazine, just to have something to do while she waited.
About twenty minutes later, she was glancing up at the clock on the wall for the fifth time since the phone call. She bit her lower lip. It wasn't like him to be late. But she figured the phone call might not have been enough to convince the others that he was going to meet 'Nigel'. He might had had some explaining to do.
She took a sip of her champagne. The glass was almost empty by now. She continued looking at the adverts in the magazine. A Victorian four bedroom house in Essex, a small cottage off the Cornwall coast, ...
Suddenly, she felt someone hover close behind her so she turned around. Ash was standing behind her chair, two glasses in his hands. He leaned down to give her a soft kiss on her cheek, then handed her the champagne glass. He sat down opposite her and placed his whisky tumbler on the table.
"You look lovely" he said looking admiringly at her. "That colour suits you."
"You don't clean up too bad, youself" she returned the compliment. "Is that what you usually wear when you talk to old pals in strip clubs, eh?" She looked at the man sitting in front of her in a navy coloured pin striped suit and a shirt the same light blue as his eyes.
He mirrored her raised eyebrow and plastered on a cocky grin. "Well, Nigel always was as gay as a fruit basket. I thought I'd make an effort for 'im."
"Oh, just drink up and let's get going." she laughed.
"If I didn't know you better, I'd think you were planning to get me drunk and taking advantage of me."
"You just believe whatever makes you happy, mate." she said playfully while she covered his hand on the table with hers.
They emptied the rest of their drinks while continuing with the gentle bantering.
He looked at the clock on the wall. "So, lucky lady, are you ready to go? I've made reservations for half six."
"Reservations? Where?" she said surprisedly. She hadn't known that he had planned it in that much detail. But as it was already twenty five past six, it couldn't be any place very far away. She got up, put the magazine she had been reading earlier in her hand bag and placed it on her shoulder.
He got up as well and reached out for her hand. When she put it in his, Ash locked his fingers with hers and led her out of the dimly lit pub. She couldn't stop smiling happily.
Outside, the sun was still shining. They crossed the road to the riverbank and made their way a couple of hundred yards down stream. "Where are you taking me?" she asked.
He just smiled at her. He went on to wave at a man who was navigating a red canal boat on the river. When the captain halted the long boat by the side of the river, he helped her step aboard and then jumped on after her.
"When did you have the time to organise this?" Stacie asked him as she walked down the steps and bent her tall figure to get inside.
"After I got the hamster this morning."
She had stopped in her tracks inside of the door, taking the scene in. He almost bumped into her as he came down after her. The table was set according to his instructions, with a lot of long candles. In a vase was a large bouqette of baby pink roses that matched her dress exactly. He had planned it all minutely. After all, he was the fixer, he was used to paying attention to detail.
He took her gently by her arm and led her to her chair. He then poured them both some wine and sat down beside her. The view outside the window was very nice, the green water glistening in the sun. But she turned her head and looked over at him and decided that the view she had now was even better.
A couple of hours later, the canal boat returned them to the same shore. The sun had set and it was getting dark, but the August night was still warm.
"That was amazing." she said as they were walking arm in arm towards a taxi queue a bit furter away. "But we don't have to go home yet, do we?"
"Not if we don't want to." he said, looking warmly at her and asked "Where do you want to go?"
"Dunno. Let's just go get another drink somewhere." Stacie said. She was starting to get a bit tipsy, but she enjoyed the warm tingling feeling. It wasn't just the alcohol that made her feel that way, having him near affected her more than any amount of wine ever could.
"You are trying to get me drunk." he stated playfully as he opened the cab door for her to get in. He got in after her and told the driver where to take them.
"What if I am?" she asked.
He chuckeled at her seducing look and leaned in towards her. She moved forwards to close the last inch of space between them, still looking straight into his light blue eyes. Their lips captured each other in a sweet and tentative kiss.
She parted her lips willingly and he slid his tongue in between, registering her every taste as he carefully explored her mouth. She groaned huskily into his throath and he felt himself get harder by the second.
Finally, they had to break apart to get some air. She looked longingly at him. "You're good." she said simply before leaning in to him and resting her head on his shoulder.
They sat still for a couple of minutes before the cab stopped in front of a quiet wine bar on the corner of a picturesque little square. She recognised it as the bar where they had all gone to celebrate conning Meredith Gates into buying a fake painting a few years back.
Stacie and Ash walked in to the bar, she was leaning slightly on him. They found an empty table overlooking the square and sat down.
"Remember the last time we were here?" she asked him.
"Yeah. After the Mondrian scam." he answered "I think it was Mickey who found this place." He was looking at her intently. She sensed that he wasn't done and waited for him to continue. "You looked so beautiful that night, in your blue coat, laughing with a glass of wine in your hand. That's when I knew that I had fallen in love with you."
She didn't know what to say. She had had no idea that he'd seen her as any more than a friend until just a couple of weeks back. She had harboured feelings for him for a very long time. But she hadn't really admitted it to herself until about a year ago. And the horrible fugu incident had made her realise just how dear he was to her.
"Wow." she wispered, tears in her eyes. "I had no idea. You should have told me."
"I was afraid of ruining our friendship. You didn't feel as strongly for me then as I hope you do now. And I was afraid of pushing you away." He was looking down into the table, not daring to look into her eyes.
"You've always had a special place in my heart. But it wasn't until last year that I finally realised how attached to you I had become. If I had known the way you felt, I would have ..." her voice trailed off as he looked up at her again. "Well, I don't know what. But I would have made you see how much I love you." She reached out and stroked his chin.
He smiled and leaned into her touch.