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“Nothing.” That was a lie, but he kept going. “Do you have the keys?”
Pulling them out of my pocket, I held them out to him by the bits. He pinched the circular bows, but I didn’t let go. “Don’t lie to me.”
“I’mnot the liar, Sasha.” He took advantage of my surprise to rip the keys out of my hand. “Wait here.”
In a flash he was gone, jogging across the busy street to the bank.
My leg bounced uncontrollably beneath the table. Sitting was killing me. I peeled off a couple bills and threw them on the table, heading outside quickly.
I didn’t go far, just far enough from the door to light a cigarette and not get harassed by every bleach-blonde suburban mom carting their organic smoothie around. The buzz of the nicotine hit me, but did nothing to calm my nerves. Standing here, doingnothing, was worse than the initial robbery. Inaction was not something I was accustomed to; it was torture.
I was almost done with my third cigarette when Roan appeared. He stopped in the doorway of the bank, looking over his shoulder, obviously talking to someone.
My stomach flipped the moment I saw him put his hands up, in the “I surrender” motion.
Flinging the cigarette to the ground, I managed to take two steps before he dropped his hands and waved, his smile blinding even from a distance. If I tried hard enough, I was sure I could hear his laugh before he turned his back to the bank completely and set off in my direction. The laugh and the smile stopped abruptly as he crossed the parking lot.
Security didn’t follow him.
Police didn’t come screaming down the road.
He went in. He came out, according to plan.
Fuck me. It worked.
I exhaled a breath and swallowed the bile creeping up the back of my throat. Shaking out another cigarette, I lit it quickly and inhaled as deeply as I could.
As he approached, Roan tossed his head to the side of the building. I let him go first, smoking more of my cigarette, before wandering after him.
“Well?” I surveyed him from head-to-toe. If he had a bag of emeralds on him, I had no idea where he stashed them.
He scratched the back of his head. “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“You said it was gemstones. Right?”
I nodded, flicking ash off the cigarette and watching him closely. He wouldn’t try to fuck me over, but I had no idea why he was being so cagey right now.
“This was the only thing in there.” He held up something small and black. A flash drive. I reached for it, but he jerked it away. “Deal’s done, right? I don’t have to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life?”
“Deal’s done.” The words stuck in my throat. By the time I spit them out, they sounded foreign to my ears.
“Great. Have a nice life.” Roan shoved the flash drive into my chest and walked away.
I stuffed it into my pocket, striding after him. “Roan!”
“We’re done, Sasha. You said so yourself. Thanks for not killing me,” he said, not once slowing his steps or looking back.
“Would you stop?”
Stubborn ass that he was, he kept walking, fishing his car keys out of his pocket and unlocking his Audi remotely.
Flinging the cigarette away, I darted forward and spun him by the shoulder.
“What?” he snapped, his blue eyes darkening. “What do you want from me? You have what you came for. You don’t need me anymore. Andyouwere the one who said after this, we’d say goodbye. So why the fuck won’t you leave me alone?”
Each question was like a slap, sharp and stinging and completely unexpected. Ihadbeen the one to say after this we’d no longer see each other. After this was done, I was supposed to get on a plane and exile myself back to Siberia until the cold froze all indecent thoughts of this exasperating boy and cooled the desires he provoked.
