Thieves and liars, p.5
Thieves & Liars, page 5
Part of me wonders if I should even care.
Ryder left me when I needed him most. He had been my best friend, the closest thing I had to family after my parents died, and then he just left, without a backward glance.
I had looked for him for years but could never find him.
Then I saw him at TOH Nightclub when I was in the middle of a job. It didn’t take long to realize that he was looking for me. Just not for the reason that I wanted him to be looking for me.
I still can’t believe that he was working for Boker. Anyone with eyes can see that man is a snake.
My arms give out and I slide to the floor, still trying to figure out how to stop Ryder. My eyes fall closed as I hear the front door slam shut.
Maybe I should just let Ryder get shot. It would teach him a lesson.
My heart jerks in my chest at the thought though and I know that I could never stand by and let that happen.
I may not be happy about it but I know the truth.
I still love Ryder Thomas.
In Knots
Chapter 1
Lark
“Sage, get her bag. We need to get the hell out of here. Now.”
My eyes feel heavy. Scratch that. My whole body feels heavy and I search my brain, trying to remember where I am and what happened.
Images of Ryder flit through my mind as I wince and try to blink my eyes open. My head feels fuzzy and I remember realizing that he must have slipped something in our drinks and drugged all of us and him carrying me up here. He took the diamonds, I realize as Tristan scoops me up into his arms and carries me out of my room and down the stairs.
I strain to keep my eyes open as we descend the steps. My body becomes more alert when I see all of our belongings are being stacked by the door and my brain catches up with just how serious this situation is.
“We have to get him,” I say and my voice sounds funny. It feels like I’m talking under water and I wonder if I sound funny to everyone else too. I close my eyes, giving my head a shake.
“We’ll get him back, Lark, but right now we need to get the hell out of town. This place is burned. He knows where to find us now,” August says as he dumps his bag down next to me.
“We need to go after him. Boker will kill him as soon as he hands over the diamonds.”
“Ryder? You want to go after Ryder? I thought you were talking about Boker!” August says as he comes to a sudden stop and looks at me like I’m insane.
“We need to get Ryder. He’ll kill him,” I clarify as Tristan holds me in his arms.
“Okay, then Boker will go down for murder and for stealing the money,” August says and I can see him watching me and trying to figure out if the drugs are still messing with my head.
“I don’t want Ryder to die,” I say as my head finally clears and I motion for Tristan to put me down.
Sage comes charging down the stairs, my bags and the last of her computer stuff in her arms. Tristan opens the front door for her and we all grab our shit and head out to the car. The Rover we used last night is still in the drive and we head over to the older model Nissan Sentra.
August opens the trunk and we dump everything inside, grabbing the rags and heading back inside to wipe down everything. We need to make sure that all of our stuff is gone and also that all of our prints are wiped away. We can’t leave any trace that we were here.
We’ve done this so many times that we’re pros. Sage and I head up to the top level, running the rags over the staircase railing and all of the doorknobs. The power doesn’t work so the light switches aren’t a concern. We split up, taking two rooms each.
“So you and Ryder?” Sage asks as we meet once more in the hallway.
“Yep. Are you going to back my play and help me rescue him?”
“I’m always with you, Lark. You know that,” she says as we head down the stairs and meet the guys out front.
“We don’t have time to return the Range Rover and it might have been reported stolen already. Is it clean?” I ask, looking over to where it's half hidden under a tarp next to the garage.
“Yeah, it’s clean,” August says as he heads around to the back of the Nissan.
“Where to?” Tristan asks as he slips behind the wheel.
“Bokers,” Sage says and I throw a grateful smile over my shoulder at her.
“Really? We’re really going to risk our lives to save the guy who drugged and robbed us?” August asks and I know that he’s firmly against the plan.
“You don’t have to, but if you don’t help then I have to do it by myself and…”
“You can’t do it by yourself. I’m not even sure we can do it with all of us,” August mumbles.
“He might already be dead,” Tristan says and I jerk my head to glare at him.
He just shrugs, turning out of the drive and heading toward Boker’s mansion.
“We were out for a couple of hours. If he took the diamonds four hours ago and immediately brought them to Boker, then we might be too late.”
My stomach sinks as I realize that he’s right. My throat feels itchy at the thought and my stomach tightens into knots.
“I still need to try,” I say quietly and I see Tristan’s fingers tighten on the wheel.
“I know this is a lot to ask,” I say, turning to look at Sage and August in the backseat before I glance back at Tristan in the driver’s seat, “but I could really use your help here guys. Are you with me?”
There’s a beat of silence and I hold my breath, waiting for their answers.
“Always,” Tristan says and I smile at him before I look back to August.
I already know that Sage is with me and two is better than none but I could really use August in there with me.
“What he said,” August says after a minute and I grin at him as we race toward Boker’s place.
Chapter 2
Lark
“I’m with you, Lark, but I need to know why we’re doing this. Who is Ryder to you?” August asks as we race through the dark streets.
“We grew up together. He was in the first group home that I went to after my parents were killed. He was good to me, probably my closest friend for those six months.”
“So we’re saving him because you were childhood friends.”
“I… It’s more than that,” I admit reluctantly and the car grows silent.
I’ve never been interested in the opposite sex so this must come as a surprise. This life isn’t the best for relationships and dating, especially if you’re with someone who is straight. All of the lies and sneaking around can get old and I’m sure it would wear on any relationship with someone who has an honest nine to five job.
“Is he why you never dated?” Sage asks and I shrug noncommittally.
I don’t want to admit that I’ve been hung up on the guy who was my whole world and then just disappeared when we were kids.
I had thought that Ryder was different. I was just starting to notice boys when the car accident happened and my whole life got turned upside down. I had been lost and then I met Ryder and he had been like a light in the darkness that was left after my parents died.
He had been my friend, my protector, and my crush. He taught me how to take care of myself. How to steal food and money. How to survive.
I had felt safe around him, safe in that home, and then one day he was just gone. No goodbye, no messages, nothing. One day he was there and the next, a ghost.
It took me years to come to terms with the fact that he probably hadn’t wanted to leave. It’s not like we had much of a choice or say in things back then. By then my love and hate for him were so tightly wrapped together that it was hard to figure out my exact feelings for him.
After a while, I learned to just push thoughts of him to the back of my mind.
Focusing on the job, on the next con, helped. Teaming up with Tristan, Sage, and August worked wonders too.
Now that he’s back in my life, I wonder what will happen next. I’m probably getting ahead of myself. I mean he said he loved me and kissed me… right before he walked out the door with the diamonds.
I doubt he was coming back for me after he dropped off the diamonds, even if he did manage to survive Boker and his men. Even if he did come back for me, what would our future look like?
Would he join our team? Probably not. He already said that he thinks teams are what gets you killed. Would he expect me to go straight? What would I even do? I have no work experience. Nothing that I can put on a resume anyway. I’m sure that Sage could make me a backstory, make my resume look legit, but I would be bored out of my mind at some stuffy office.
What do I even qualify for? Maybe a secretary? Or a waitress? All of the options just sound so tedious and mind numbingly tiresome.
I guess I’ll need to figure out just how much Ryder means to me. How much I want him.
The tall bushes dividing the properties are hard to see in the dark but I can recognize the neighborhood and I know we’re close to Boker’s place. My mind races with scenarios and cons we can run to get Ryder out of there.
We drive over the hill and Boker’s mansion comes into view. The immaculate front lawn is dark and empty but the front porch light and the lights in the corner office burn bright against the dark night sky like a beacon.
I don’t see any extra cars in the drive and my heart kicks when I think that maybe Ryder didn’t come to give the diamonds back to Boker after all. It’s too dark to tell for sure though and as Tristan drives us closer, I send up a silent prayer that we’re not too late.
Chapter 3
Lark
Tristan slams the car to a screeching halt on top of the hill overlooking Boker’s place. It’s almost midnight and the streets are dark. His neighborhood is quiet, all of the lights off except for the ones in Boker’s house.
Boker’s over the top mansion is in the middle of the block, overlooking the ocean on one side and pushed back far enough from the road that there’s some privacy. Giant hedges line the property and my eyes scan over the perimeter, casing the place for the best way to enter and get out clean. We need a place to hide and a place for Sage to set up her computer.
Tristan pulls off the road, jumping the curb and steering off to the side behind some trees and shrubs where no one will be able to see us from the road or down below.
“What’s the play here?” August asks, his voice tense as we all climb out of the car to get a better look at the house below.
I raise my binoculars, checking out the grounds around Boker’s house. We already did surveillance and learned the layout of his place when we broke in the first time so we won’t have to waste more time doing it now.
Casing a place for a job or con is probably similar to what Ryder does when he has an operation. When thieves do surveillance, they get the blueprints, scope out the place for guards, cameras, and any other security measures. We learn our marks routines, when they’ll be home and when they’ll be at work or out. We research safes, security systems, and new technologies.
As I look over Boker’s place, my mind is scanning for entry points, for cons we could run, for ways to get into the house and to the office where the meeting is probably being held, for ways for us to get out, to get away. I make note of the cameras, of the guards patrolling the grounds. I already know that Sage can get us past his security system so that won’t be a problem. She’ll block out the cameras so there won’t be any trace of us there.
“Uh, Lark?” Sage asks and I look over in time to see Ryder pulling up in front of Boker’s place.
I look through the binoculars again and watch as Ryder climbs out of his car and grabs the box with the diamonds inside. He pauses, looking around and I know that he’s noting the exits and his best escape plan in case things go sideways.
“How did we beat him here?” Tristan asks as he looks around at the neighborhood.
I watch Ryder as he tucks the box under his arm, looking around one last time before he slams his car door closed. His shirt pulls tight when he moves and I notice the outline of a gun under his shirt.
“He has a gun now. Must have gone back home and grabbed it,” I tell them, watching as he approaches the house.
“If he was smart, he would have done some research and come up with a backup plan on how to get out in case things go sideways,” Sage says, pulling out her computer and I know that she’s hacking into Boker’s security.
“Once again, Lark. What is the plan?” August asks and I can tell that he’s nervous about this.
“We should just race down there now and kidnap him,” Tristan says but I shake my head no right away.
“We’d never make it in time. Security is already coming to meet him. They’d start shooting as soon as they saw our car,” I tell him and he shrugs.
Crazy fuck never seems to care about guns or bullets. Sage snorts like she’s thinking that same thing that I am.
“Fuck, Lark! If we wait much longer, it’s not going to be a rescue. Ryder will be dead and we’ll be joining him,” August says as he starts to pace back and forth behind me.
August might seem tough but he’s easily the most cautious out of all of us. Probably because he’s been caught before and he’s desperate not to go back to prison.
“We’re going to rescue him and we’ll be fine,” I assure him as I lower the binoculars.
I watch as Ryder gets led into the house before I turn back to my team.
“I have a plan.”
Chapter 4
Lark
“Care to clue us in?” August asks as I circle around to the trunk of our car.
“We’re going to run a con. We’ll say that Ryder is lying, that he doesn’t have the real diamonds. We’ll show him the blood diamonds we got from the jewelry store and Boker will want to examine them. That will get us in the door at least.”
“Great. How do we get out?” August asks as I pull out the bag of diamonds from my backpack.
“We trade the blood diamonds for Ryder, wait for an opening and then get the hell out of there.”
August and Tristan both give me grim looks at that and I swallow hard. This has to be the shakiest plan I’ve ever had and I can’t believe that my friends are still with me on this. We know what Boker is capable of and this either ends with us getting away clean or being fed to the alligators.
“What if they just decide to kill all of us and take all of the diamonds?” August asks and I swallow hard.
“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen,” I say quietly and August lets out a big breath as he runs his hands through his hair.
“There’s still time for you to change your mind, August. You don’t have to be part of this one,” I tell him and he watches me for a minute before he exhales.
“I’m with you, Lark. Always. Besides, you’re going to need all the help you can get with this one.”
I smile at him but it’s short lived.
“Then, I guess you can use me too,” a voice says behind me and we all jerk around to check out the newcomer.
The guy is probably close to our age, maybe a little older, with shaggy brown hair that’s got just a bit of curl at the ends. He’s got on a pair of thick, slightly dirty glasses, that make his dark blue eyes look a little owlish. His navy-blue t-shirt is wrinkled and worn and his jeans aren’t much better. He gives us a wry grin as we all turn to face him.
He’s pale and thin and I can tell immediately that he’s a hacker like Sage. That’s one thing about being a con artist. You get really good at reading people. Like right now, I can see how his eyes linger on Sage and I can tell that he knows who she is, or has at least heard of her, and that he’s interested in her. I can’t blame him. Sage is the best and she’s totally hot.
I look over and see that August is sizing the new guy up just like I was and Tristan’s gun is drawn and pointed at the gangly man before us. The new guy pushes his glasses back up his nose before he holds his hands up in surrender.
“I’m Finch. I’m with Ryder. I do for him what she does for you,” he says, pointing a finger over toward Sage.
She doesn’t say anything, just drags her laptop around closer to her and starts typing again.
“What are you doing here, Finch?” I ask as I tuck the diamonds under my arm. I’m still wearing the white dress from earlier and there’s no good hiding places for a bag full of diamonds.
“I’m here to help save Ryder. Do you have a plan? Because time is running out for him,” the newcomer says and Sage hums in agreement.
I look over as she spins her laptop around to face me. It’s showing Boker’s office and I can see them leading Ryder into his meeting.
“Do you have a plan?” Finch asks again and Tristan lowers his gun.
“Not a good one,” August says drily.
I slam the trunk closed before I fill Finch in on what we have planned.
Chapter 5
Lark
Conning someone is all about confidence. People will believe anything if you can just sell it.
Part of that is looking the part and having records or proof that can back up what you’re saying. I tuck the bag of blood diamonds tighter under my arm as August and I stroll up to Boker’s front door.
I can feel the change coming over August with each step we take closer to the front door. He’s getting into character. His shoulders straighten and his chin raises higher, not by much but I can notice it. A charming smile forms on his face as we come face to face with Boker’s security.
It looks like most of his guards are inside or out front, keeping an eye on Ryder’s car.
“Gentlemen,” I say with a smile as I come to a stop in front of them, cocking my hip out to the side.
I see the men's eyes scan down the front of me and I smile wider.
