When Chance left an hour later, he at least felt better that he was no longer in his turmoil alone. And really, Adrian was the best ally he could hope for, since the man was so similar to him in so many respects. Well, he’d stupidly fallen for his mark too…and that idiocy bound them together now.
But Chance had an advantage in this new twist to the plot. He’d done something similar before. He’d conned a con man before, a con man that was a hundred times smarter than Garrett. True, he’d set his father up on a whim, but if he could trick the man who’d taught him everything he knew, then Chance could trick a mobster wannabe like Garrett.
Driving up to his brick and mortar home, Chance was momentarily surprised that nothing had changed in his absence. All of the neighborhood lawns were cut in a cross diamond pattern, the hedges trimmed with a pristine edge flat enough to eat off of. Suburbia went on without him. Parking around the back, like he always did, he again saw no sign of Garrett and Reggie. He knew they’d be here, though. Garrett, being the smarter of the two, always made sure their vehicle was hidden. He’d never get busted like Reggie had, sitting by the car conspicuously smoking. Garrett was definitely the brains behind that operation.
Shutting his car off, Chance mentally prepared himself.
Garrett and Reggie were leaning against his counter and going through his mail when he stepped into the kitchen. Chance frowned at the sight. “You mind? Opening other people’s mail is against the law.”
Garrett peeked up at him, his deep brown eyes a little weasel-ish to Chance. Holding up a Publisher’s Clearing House envelope, he smirked. “But you may be a millionaire,” he glanced at the name on the envelope, “Ed Sampson.” His grin widened. “I wouldn’t want you to miss the opportunity because you were away…”
Garrett’s beady eyes flashed over Chance’s healing face and Reggie chuckled. Chance gritted his jaw and ripped the mail from Garrett’s hand. It was all addressed to the previous owner of the house. The junk mailers were always the last to know when someone moved. “Yeah, well, thanks for the concern.”
Garrett sniffed and lifted his chin. Running a hand through his bleached hair, he cocked a dark eyebrow. “So, you bang your broad? She buy your…” his hand swirled to indicate Chance’s bruised body, “…story?”
Chance stopped himself from showing any emotion on his face. He wanted to smash Reggie’s face in for diminishing his intimate moment with Makayla, but he couldn’t, so he let the crude comment slide. Smirking, he shrugged and gave them the answer they were looking for. “Of course I did. She’s good to go. She trusts me completely.”
Garrett pushed himself away from the counter and started walking around Chance, clearly appraising him. “Not bad, con man.” Garrett glanced back at Reggie, who’d crossed his massive arms over his chest and was scowling. Twisting his lip, Garrett told him, “And you thought he wouldn’t be able to seal the deal.”
Reggie snorted, the sound coming out with a little whistle through his slightly angled nose. Luckily Chance’s break had been a clean one, and his face was healing normally. Glaring at Reggie on principle, Chance raised his chin. “You have your…gifts…I have mine.”
Reggie chuckled and cracked his knuckles. “Oh, I’ve got gifts in that area too.”
Chance rolled his eyes and Garrett thumped Reggie in the chest. “Now’s not the time for cock measuring, boys.” He twisted back to Chance. “We hit the bank tomorrow, then?”
Chance’s entire body tensed. This was it, now or never. “Actually, I’ve come into some new information…”
Garrett narrowed his eyes at Chance, already distrusting him. “What information?”
Chance wanted to swallow, wanted to wipe his palms on his jeans. He couldn’t though, not around these two. Instead, he gave them a sly smile. “Makayla let it slip that the manager has an important client coming into town. When that person gets here, the manager is going to be personally protecting their valuables in the bank’s vault…I guess they don’t trust the safety at the hotel where they’ll be staying.”
Interested, Garrett raised an eyebrow. “What valuables?”
Recognizing the look of someone being reeled in, Chance lifted an eyebrow. “The wife has a taste for diamonds. Rumor has it, her collection is in the six digit range.”
Garrett’s eyes widened. “And Makayla will lead us to it?”
Chance nodded. “Yes, she’ll give me the keys and the code to unlock the safe. All we have to do is disarm the security, watch the doors, and frame the manager. Cake walk.”
Garrett rubbed his jaw, throwing glances at Reggie. Chance held his breath. This was an extremely dangerous gamble for him, and one that really only bought him time. This was also exactly how guys like him got themselves killed—a double con. He had to convince Makayla that he was a reformed crook, lying low from his psycho brother, and he had to convince Garrett that he had Makayla wrapped around his finger and they needed to wait a few more weeks for the bigger score. If he could run both of those deceptions, then he could have time to think of a way out…and he could have a few weeks of peace with his girl.
Finally, Garrett twisted a thin lip. “How long?”
Chance wanted to cringe, but didn’t. How long was the tricky part. He could hold Garrett off for a while, but if he made it too long, Garrett would get impatient and hit the bank in the morning. Chance had to pick a date that was far enough away to give him time, and yet, close enough so that Garrett’s temperament wouldn’t be stretched too far.
“Three weeks from now.”
Garrett narrowed his eyes and Reggie shifted his bulk. Chance knew he was pushing it, but he wanted as much peaceful time with Makayla as he could get. It was all he was going to have with her. His voice gruff, Garrett poked Chance in the chest. “You sure your intel’s good?”
Chance nodded. “I’m positive. We only have to wait a few weeks, and we can triple our take.”
Garrett sighed and scuffed up his hair. “Damn it, I’m so tired of this job.” Chance kept perfectly still, letting his new con sink in. Not able to resist the allure of so much loot, Garrett finally rolled his eyes. “Fine…three weeks…but then we hit it, score or no score, girl or no girl.”
Chance nodded, keeping his face smooth; his heart was thudding a million miles an hour. He had three weeks with Makayla. The countdown on their relationship had officially started ticking.
Garrett twisted to leave, Reggie twisting with him. The big man slugged Chance’s shoulder as he brushed past him. “Enjoy hitting that pretty little thing while you can.”
Again, Chance wanted to punch the man, maybe break his jaw this time. But he smiled, one edge of his lip curling. “Don’t worry, I plan on thoroughly enjoying my…pretty little thing.” The words came out in a sneer as he narrowed his eyes at the thug in front of him.
Garrett smirked by the door. He paused with one hand on the knob. “If this is some lame attempt to delay us, like that cop-out Adrian did…” he lifted a dark brow, “…well, we won’t be so lenient with you as we were with him.”
Chance narrowed his eyes, looking peeved when inwardly his stomach started to twist. “Again, I’m not Adrian. I’m working an angle that will get us the biggest score.” Jacking up his voice, he added, “I don’t appreciate you constantly second-guessing my motives.” He pointed to his fading bruises. “Am I not committed to this?”
Garrett twisted his lips, then nodded. “Yeah, you are committed…I’ll give you that.”
Chance crossed his arms over his chest. “Then stop acting like I’m double-crossing you.” Garrett sniffed and Chance took a risk, adding, “Maybe, after this job, we go our separate ways. Your methods and mine…are just too different.”
Garrett tilted his head at him. Chance kept his features schooled, his breath even. Smirking, Garrett finally nodded. “Don’t you worry about it, Chance. You get us a big enough score in a few weeks, and Reggie and I will be ghosts…you’ll never see us again.” Chance nodded. That worked for him too.
/> After the two men left, Chance exhaled in relief and leaned back on the counter. He pulled out his phone and texted Adrian. ‘I bought us three weeks.’
Adrian didn’t respond, nor did Chance expect him to. They would meet when they could, and perpetuate Garrett’s downfall, hopefully without blowing Chance’s cover with Makayla. If he could somehow keep her in the dark, maybe he could keep her longer than he believed he could.
Chance went about the rest of his day as normal. He dressed for work, packed himself some dinner. To the untrained eyes of his Street of Dreams neighbors, he was a regular, hard-working guy going off to make his living at a job that paid way too inadequately. Chance knew that the struggle Colton went through financially made him even more likeable. It was one of the several reasons that he’d conned his way into the security guard job.
Chance waved at Thomas as he walked in. The older man, comfortably laid back in his chair with his hands behind his head, nodded at Chance as he made his way to the chair beside him. Thomas turned to stare at him but Chance ignored him, keeping his eyes focused on Joseph instead. The peppy youth was strutting back and forth in front of the doors, even occasionally holding it open for workers that were entering or exiting, like the guards were suddenly doormen now.
“You…alright, Colton?”
Chance stiffened, just fractionally, and twisted his head. Slapping on a casual smile, he nodded to Thomas. “Yeah, I feel much better. Sorry to leave you guys high and dry for a couple days.” Chance only worked part-time, but he’d had to miss a couple of shifts during his disappearance. One, he’d been too bruised to cover it, and two, he’d needed time to recover. Reggie and Garrett had really messed him up, and the day or two after the attack had almost felt like the attack was happening again, his body had ached so badly. But Chance had phoned in a fake illness, so his employment wouldn’t be ended.
Thomas was examining him with a critical eye, like he didn’t believe the stomach flu story. Chance kept on his smile, hoping he’d done a good enough job covering his lingering wounds. Chance had had to become somewhat of a makeup artist over his years of running cons across the country. He could probably get a job on a movie set, making gorgeous guys and gals look like they’d suffered a vicious zombie attack. But, at the moment, all he really wanted was for the insightful man next to him to see nothing but even skin tone.
Luckily, he did.
Shrugging, he twisted back to watching Joseph. “Alright. Glad to hear it.”
Chance let a soft exhale escape him. He didn’t need Thomas to notice his injuries. He didn’t need even more people concerned about him. No, his employment was merely a means to watch the bank, to watch Makayla. He wanted them to see nothing but normalcy.
After a few hours, when it was just Chance and the ever-vigilant Joseph on shift, Makayla left the bank. Sending Joseph away on a pointless errand, Chance leaned against the glass window and watched her with a smile on his lips. He’d get at least the next three weeks with her. It almost seemed a dream to him, the thought of so much time in her arms. Locking up the bank for the manager, Makayla cast a glance up and down the street. Still ever watchful, as she should be. A satisfied smile was plastered on her face, though. Chance hoped the smile was for him, hoped that she was looking forward to the next three weeks too, although, she didn’t realize that there was a time limit on their relationship.
She turned so that her face was clear to him. Chance sighed at the beauty he saw there. Tucking a long strand behind her ear, Makayla bit her lip and grinned so devilishly that Chance felt his body respond. What was that girl up to? It was a warmer evening than it had been and she wore her jacket open. Chance’s eyes lingered over the tight blouse she was wearing while her fingers dug in her purse to find her keys. Once she had them, Chance watched as she positioned a couple of the keys between her fingers, like super-long brass knuckles. Chance smiled. He may joke about being a boy scout, but Makayla really was prepared for just about anything.
As he watched her walk away, he sighed again. It would be hours before he could crawl into bed with her. Maybe he could feign that his illness was coming back, just so he could go to her home early. He couldn’t help it; he just wanted to be with her.
Walking over to the door, Chance put his hand on the rail to open it. He was suddenly struck with the overwhelming desire to push open the door and yell her name. More than anything, he wanted her to come back and visit with him at work. He could make it through the last few hours of his shift if he had a proper goodbye with her. The door cracked an inch and he paused. How would he explain that he worked across the street from her though? That would certainly be an odd thing to not ever have mentioned before. She would wonder why. And Chance didn’t want to lie to her anymore. He didn’t want to, but he knew on some things he would have to. And, for the moment, he just didn’t think he could.
He let the door slip back closed just as a voice asked, “Everything good out there?”
Chance looked over at Joseph behind him. “Yeah…everything’s good.”
For now.
Chapter 16
Guy Problems
Makayla left the gym damp with sweat but high on life. She’d been wearing a grin all day that was bordering on delirium. She was sure that someone on the street was going to come up to her and ask her if she was alright. She had a feeling that if she got pulled over anytime soon, the police officer on duty would make her take a field sobriety test. For the first time in a long time, she was genuinely happy.
Neil noticed the change in her mood right away. He’d shot off question after question once he’d spotted her transcendent smile. Makayla told him the truth. Well, she left out the little bit she knew about Adrian, since she still couldn’t wrap her head around his involvement, but she told him everything she knew about Chance. Neil couldn’t quite grasp it all.
Walking down the gym steps behind her, he asked for the hundredth time, “So, he stole a watch from him, and then when he tried to return it, his brother beat him up?”
Makayla sighed, her euphoric smile slipping a bit. “Yes, Neil. His brother and his brother’s…muscle…beat him up.”
Neil came up to walk beside her once they got to the sidewalk. Makayla took a deep inhale of his berry-enhanced cologne. Adorably scrunching his face, he shook his head. “His brother, really?”
Makayla stopped and twisted her lip at Neil. “How many times do I have to tell you, yes? Why do you have such a hard time believing that his brother worked him over?”
Tilting his shaggy-haired head, he frowned. “It’s just…so…convenient.”
Makayla gave him a blank stare. “Convenient?”
She started walking again and Neil fell into step beside her. “Yeah. I mean, you catch him with a wad of cash and bloody clothes and he pops up with this story about his brother being some drug dealer guy that he stole from?”
Makayla frowned. “He never actually said drugs…”
Neil snorted, as if that proved a point. “Right, he was vague about those details, wasn’t he?”
Crossing her arms over her chest, Makayla tried to not get defensive. Neil wouldn’t say things just to hurt her, he’d only say it if he was concerned. “I saw him, Neil…he was definitely injured.” She looked back at him. “Who else would have done that to him?”
Neil sighed and shrugged. “I don’t know…but it does seem convenient.”
Makayla looped her arm through his. “I know you’re just being the protective big-brother figure, but I saw the watch, I saw him get the cash from the pawn shop, and I saw the bruises.” Peering into Neil’s face, she shook her head. “He was telling me the truth…I know he was.”
Neil watched her for a moment, then turned back to the approaching parking lot. “All right, I’ll believe it then.” When they stepped up to their respective cars, Neil sighed and tugged on her arm to stop her from walking over to her vehicle. “That brings up a new concern though.”
“What?”
“Well, if
his family is that dangerous…maybe you shouldn’t be hanging around him…” Neil bit his lip, his eyes apologetic.
Makayla sighed and considered telling Neil about Adrian, since he’d dated someone who knew dangerous people too. She didn’t though. Adrian and Neil were over and the last thing she wanted was to open those healed wounds or create new ones by ripping apart the image Neil had of his ex. Regardless of the abrupt end, the good times were good, and she preferred Neil’s memories to stay that way.
“It’s not like there will be family reunions that we’ll be going to.” She shrugged. “I doubt I’ll ever even meet the guy.” An idea sinking into her head, she raised a corner of her lip. “Or who knows, maybe I’ll be the one to put him behind bars, so Chance can be free of him once and for all.”