I stayed in my apartment staring at the television watching some old vinewood movie that I had already seen a million times in order to try and force the memories of today out of my head, I tried not to remember what I had done today. I never thought I would have spent the day with a married man, let alone kiss one, and god forbid start to catch feelings for one. This mess I got myself into was something that even the strongest liquor could not get me out of, and to be honest, I didn't want out of it. I never planned on Mr. Right coming around, let alone him being another woman's man, but here he was I was sure, even though it had only known him a couple hours I was sure he was the man for me, even though I knew so little about him, and honestly I didn't care. I could've cared less what he had done in his past that he had considered so bad, whatever it was could not have been that damn bad.

I tried to convince myself to call him but every time I swiped my phone screen and pulled up his number I could never press that one button that could change everything. For the first time in a long time I, Lauren Annette Carter, was genuinely afraid of something, or someone in this case, and to be honest, it felt good to feel some kind of emotion again, even if it was fear. For the longest time I learned to cope instead of living in my constant emotionless routine I had settled into and for the first time in a long time I managed to feel something other than boredom and regret. Finally I had found someone to appreciate my talents other than mixing drinks or appreciating something other than my body or what I could do with it. I downed a shot of the cheap whiskey I kept in a tumbler on the table behind my couch and swallowed it with my pride picked up my phone, dialed the number, and hoped and prayed it went to voicemail so I could buy some time and prepare myself to somehow hold a conversation with the man of my dreams I had never dreamed of finding.

One Ring…..

Two Rings…..

Three Rings…..

"Hello?" His voice rang through the phone as I silently kicked myself for calling him even though hearing his voice on the other end gave me butterflies like I had never felt before.

"Hey Michael? It's me, Lauren." I said nervously hoping he actually meant for me to call him.

"Oh hey Blondie!" He said, giving me a sense of relief because he actually remembered who I was, "I was waiting for you to call me!"

"Well, I mean, I didn't want to seem too eager to call, didn't want you getting the wrong idea!" I said with a nervous chuckle.

"Well I'm glad to hear from you either way, anyways, I've got a little business opportunity for you if you are willing to take it on, the only catch is it may not be exactly legal."

"Well I figured when you offered to hire a hacker this job wasn't exactly on the up and up, but you're talking to a broke strip club bartender, so whatever it is I am down." I responded.

"Good, What are you doing right now? Meet me and some of your new crew mate, so meet me in El Burro Heights in a half hour I will text you the address ok?" He explained.

"I'll see you there Michael!" I said back excitedly, quickly trying to figure out what to wear to this meeting of the minds.

"See you soon then baby! And wear something nice like you had on last night." He said flirtatiously, I shook my head as if he could see me through the phone.

"I'll see what I can do, I'll see you soon!" I said as I hung up my phone and ran into my bedroom to quickly raid my closet to find something to wear that didn't scream strip club bartender or twenty six year old soccer mom, finding something in between was going to be difficult, but it needed to be done and quickly before I had to drive across town. I quickly threw on a tight black dress and put my black leather jacket on over top of it and quickly ran down the steps in front of my building as the text from Michael with the address came through and I entered it into the GPS on my phone, hopped into my Peyote, praying it would start, and headed across town to meet my new crew.

I pulled in front of the building and looked into the rearview mirror of my car to quickly touch up my makeup and to try and pull myself together before going into the building. I took a couple deep breaths, ran my hands threw my hair and got out of the car and walked into the building and knocked on the door.

"Here she is!" I heard coming from inside and before the door even opened I knew it was him. "Blondie! Glad to see you could make it!" He said as he escorted me inside the door, "And thanks for listening to my outfit suggestion!" He whispered as I was greeted by the stares of two strange men.

"Pick your fucking jaws up off the floor and act like you've seen some women before in your lives! Guys, this is Lauren. Lauren, this is your new crew, Franklin and Lester." Michael said, introducing me to my new associates. Lester quickly took his gaze off of me and back onto the computer stationed directly In front of him and Franklin stepped forward.

"Yo, it's nice to meet you dog. Say, you look really familiar." Franklin said, with a puzzled look on his face.

"I'm the bartender at the Unicorn, I've served you and your buddy Lamar too many times!" I said with a slight laugh watching Franklin put the pieces together in his head.

"That's right I knew you looked familiar dog!"

"Now that the introductions are done, let's talk business. Lauren, Michael here tells me you're a hacker. How good are you?" Lester said, never looking up from his computer.

"I'd like to think I am pretty good at it."

"We aren't looking for pretty good on this little project we have going on."

"Les, calm down. If she says she is good. Now Lauren," Michael said interrupting Lester, "We have a little job we could use your help with. We are going to rob the Vangelico Jewelry store and we could use your help hacking into their security system and shutting it down long enough for all of us to get in and get out. That's all on you while we go in and take care of business." He explained as I suddenly began to realize what he was talking about when he had said he had done some not so great things in his past. I wanted to run, to get out of this meeting as fast as possible and go back to my boring legal life, but I couldn't. I couldn't force my legs to move and I couldn't force my brain to wrap around the consequences that could come from this new career move. "Now if you're in, I'm going to need you to come with me tomorrow to scout this place out and if all goes well we are going to go forth with the heist on the next day. So Lauren," He asked breaking me from my thoughts, "Are you in?"

"I'm in." I said without thinking about the mess I had gotten myself into.