“For the love of Christ. I didn't get jumped.”
Yeah, you did mate.
And what this lot didn’t know was that without even touching me, without even being in the same room, she'd given me an orgasm strong enough to knock me out for at least thirty minutes.
You could have her. In person. Touch her. Lick her. Fuck her like you want to do.
Fuck me.
Ben stretched his legs. “Since East clearly can’t focus on financials, can we discuss Theroux for a moment? He wants to meet, but I’m not sure it's in our best interests to go. What are our options?”
I crossed my arms. “I don’t like it. But I’ve made my position clear.”
Drew shrugged. "I don't like it either. But do we have any fucking choice?"
Ben shook his head. "I don't think we do. He's got imagery of us. So if he wants to meet, we need to meet. We just need to pick a location we can both be happy with." He rubbed his jaw. “East, what are the chances that we'll be able to surveil him using any of your special toys?"
"We can try it, but I promise you, he’ll want to meet us at a location with no CCTV. We'll be searched and scanned. He's been careful and able to evade capture for thirty years, mate. There are new advancements, but short of actually taking police in with us, we might be out of luck."
For the next thirty minutes we all tried to come up with plans that could work. Ones that wouldn’t get us killed in the process.
Bridge offered up, "Oh, why don't we just have him meet us here?"
I frowned. "What, in the office? He's going to come with men that will attract attention, and I'd rather we weren’t connected with a renowned thief, if you don't mind."
He rubbed his chin. "You could scrub the cameras. Meet downstairs."
Ben sat forward. "There's no way he's going to join us in public."
"I don't know." Livy shrugged, leaning forward. "Look, you told me that he's a master of disguises and has evaded capture for thirty years, which means he has repeatedly been out in public. Obviously, he does it with armed guards or a protection detail. That makes sense. But there's got to be an element where he disguises himself. You know, hiding in plain sight. Why don't we just ask? It's our home turf. Cameras will be on. And from what I have read about him, he likes the prestige of staying out of reach. He likes the challenge. He wants a way to do something flashy."
I watched as Drew checked his phone again, a tight frown forming between his brows.
What the hell was he looking at? I'd meant to talk to him the night before after I'd been attacked, but there hadn't been time after making police statements. There was something going on with him. I didn't like it.
Bridge leaned forward, rubbing the dark stubble on his jaw. "Actually, it's not a bad idea. We control the location. He wants our help, so he has to agree to our terms. He's already threatened us. So I want a demonstration of good faith."
I frowned. Bridge was right. I designed the systems. There were cameras everywhere. I had it all wired for sound, the whole hotel. "Okay, let's do it. He's supposed to call in the morning for a meet location. Are we sure we want to do this?"
I glanced around at my mates, more than a little worried about just how in over our heads we were. But I knew there was nothing I could do to stop them. They knew what was at stake. To be able to continue, we needed to meet with Theroux. He had the key to bringing down Garreth Jameson. And since he had the key and had us on tape, we had to deal with him, whether we liked it or not.
Bridge gave me a clap on the shoulder and a head nod, and then he walked out, followed closely by Ben and Livy. Drew was the last to leave. Before he did, I asked, "Mate, everything okay?"
He flashed me that typical Drew grin. The one that said, 'Everything's great. I'm fine.' The one I didn't believe. "Yeah. Are you okay? You're short with everyone. What's going on?"
"Stop deflecting, what's up?"
Another mask slid over his face. One I'd seen a lot of late. As if he was assessing his angles. "Nothing, just family stuff."
"Well, doesn't that include us?"
He sighed. "It’s just shit with my father. I'll deal with it. I'll tell you lads about it when I figure out what I'm going to do."
"Mate, you know if you need us..." I let my voice trail.
“I know. I’m just trying to deal with it on my own.” Drew's lips quirked into a brief smile. "You know, maybe you should talk to Agent Kincade, because there are too many balls in the game right now. You can't afford to piss off Interpol."
"Not going to happen. I've already made enough mistakes with her. I'm not going to keep making them. Besides, she lost her badge, remember?"
"Suit yourself. We're about to embark on some real daft nonsense. It wouldn't hurt having someone with connections in our corner."
All I wanted was Nyla Kincade in my corner, preferably stripped naked, thighs spread for me so I could watch.
I cleared my throat. "I hear you. But honestly, we’ve got this. We don't need her."
I only wished that was true.
Chapter 5
Nyla
I’d allowed a whole drunken night to feel sorry for myself and woke up with the cottonmouth and regrets to match. I knew my show and tell display for East had been a mistake. Hell, anyone could have seen me. But I’d drunkenly pleasured myself in front of an open window in the hope that he’d gotten my texts and had been watching.
That was
