Luke

by Sabrina Paige

  remember what I said, and I meant it.”

  Silas nodded. “Good,” he said.

  “That’s all you have to say?” I asked. “I tell you I love you and you say, good?”

  Silas grinned. “I just wanted to hear you say it again, Tempest,” he said.

  I slapped him on the chest. “You’re an ass.”

  Silas laughed. “But I’m your ass, now.”

  I slid off the bed as Silas protested, making a half-hearted attempt to grab me, but really just lying lazily in the afterglow of the sex. “On second thought,” I said. “Maybe I should take it all back.”

  Silas jumped up, and I squealed as he reached for me, grabbing my wrist and pulling me against him. “Don’t ever say that,” he said. “You’re stuck with me now.”

  “Oh yeah?” I asked.

  He pulled away from me. “That’s right,” he said. “I meant what I said before. I’m not fucking dating you. I don’t want to see if you’re right for me, or whatever the hell regular people do. Our history is too complicated for that. You’re it for me. I’ve known it since we were teenagers, and I know it now. You’re mine. I want you to be mine. I love you. I have since I met you. I have for the last seven years.”

  “What are you asking me?” I asked, my heart pounding in my chest. “I’m not a white picket fence kind of girl, Silas.”

  Silas stepped away from me, and for a minute, I thought I’d hurt him, but he walked to his bureau, opened the top drawer, and pulled out a little box. My breath caught in my throat as he walked back over to me, still naked. “I’ve had this since we were kids,” he said. “We talked about getting married, but I was going to actually ask you, you know. Before you left.”

  “Silas.” I didn’t know what to say. We’d talked about getting married, but I never thought he’d actually gone and bought a ring, let alone kept it this whole time.

  “You might hate it and think it’s stupid,” he said. “It’s nothing pricey. In fact, it’s pretty damn cheap. But it meant something to me back then.”

  He opened the box and held out the ring. “I was saving up for it, back then. I had it made for you. It’s Pietersite. It’s this rare stone, but it’s not precious or anything. I got it because it’s called a tempest stone, because it has these swirls in it that look like a storm, you know?”

  “Silas, it’s beautiful,” I said.

  “It’s stupid and corny,” he said.

  “Stop talking and kiss me,” I ordered, and he did it. When he finally broke the kiss, he looked down at me.

  “You did understand that I was asking you to marry me, right?” he said.

  I laughed. “Yeah, Silas, I got it,” I said. “I mean, it was a naked proposal and not down on one knee or anything, but…”

  “We don’t exactly have a traditional relationship,” he said. “But if you want, I can get down on my knees again.”

  I laughed and smacked his hand away as it traveled down my abdomen, heading for its destination between my legs. “You’re sweet one minute, filthy the next.”

  He leaned in and kissed me, groping my ass cheek with one hand. “Get used to it, bright eyes,” he said. “Because that’s never going to change.”

  ***

  EPILOGUE

  True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings.

  ~ William Shakespeare, King Richard III

  SILAS

  “It’s really quite quaint,” Oscar said, looking around. “Cold, of course. But quaint.”

  “Connectivity is shit up here,” Emir complained. “It’s below zero. It has to be, right?”

  “Thank you all for coming out here,” Tempest said, in her excessively patient voice, the one she used with me a lot. “Even though you’re bitching and moaning about everything.”

  Oscar smiled. “West Bend is lovely,” he said. “Picturesque. It reminds me of the Swiss Alps. Besides, Emir should learn to ski while he’s here. Get some fresh air.”

  Emir paused, standing up from where he’d been digging around in a case. “Oh, no, no,” he said. “I’m not skiing. This grift doesn’t involve me skiing, does it?”

  I tightened my grip on Tempest’s waist and drew her in close to me, laughing. “I can teach you,” I said. “I’m teaching her.”

  “I already skied pretty well before you, thank you very much,” she protested.

  “Oh, sure you did, sweetheart,” I said, kissing the top of her head. Then I shook my head no and mouthed the word, exaggerated, and Tempest pulled away, punching me on the arm.

  “I do ski well,” she said.

  “If by well, you mean as well as the tourists do,” I said.

  “That’s not bad. I’ll take it.”

  “I mean the child tourists,” I said.

  “I’ll ignore that,” Tempest said. “Is this place low profile enough for everyone?”

  “I think it’ll do nicely.” Iver straightened from where he’d been looking inside the refrigerator. “We’ll have to take appropriate precautions, split up when we adopt our identities, but it’s fine as a base camp. Quite literally a camp almost, in this case.”

  “We’re so far from West Bend,” Oscar said. “Over an hour, and in the middle of nowhere. And everyone’s in a rental. No one’s being tailed. All precautions were taken.”

  “And, the most important thing is that you even stocked champagne.” Iver said, holding up a bottle.

  “You can thank Silas for that one,” Tempest said. “He special ordered it at the general store.”

  “Silas, you’re growing on me,” Iver said as he popped the bottle. “I’ll pour glasses and we’ll toast the new grift.” There was a knock on the door and he scowled. “Now who is about to ruin a perfectly good toast?”

  “That would be Luke,” I said, crossing the room. “Don’t worry - he’s all good. I was schooled on precautions they needed to take, avoiding a tail, all that.”

  “I hope you’re not revealing all of the trade secrets,” Iver said.

  “What trade secrets?” Luke asked.

  “Is this the twin?” Emir asked. “You don’t look that alike.”

  “We’re just brothers,” Luke said.

  “Yeah, unfortunately,” I said, as Luke wrapped his arm around my neck, putting me in a headlock.

  “Unfortunately?” Luke asked.

  “Did you forget I was a wrestler?” I said, easily pulling Luke’s arm from his neck.

  “Yeah, but I’m bigger, and older than you,” Luke said. “And fitter.”

  “Is this what they do in Colorado?” Iver asked.

  Tempest rolled her eyes. “Boys, please don’t destroy this place.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, okay” I said, letting go of my brother’s arm. I pulled Tempest up against me, slid my hands around her to the small of her back, and kissed the tip of her nose. “Happy?”

  “For sure,” she said. “You?”

  “Very.” I was. I could have been anywhere with Tempest, anywhere in the world, and I’d have been so stinking happy. There was nothing that could change that.

  TEMPEST

  “Oh my God, with the kissy face all the time,” Luke yelled. “Get a room.”

  “Shut up,” Silas said. “You’re just jealous.”

  “What’s that about?” I asked, and Silas shrugged.

  “He’s all gaga for some girl,” Silas said.

  “So you’re giving him shit about it?” I asked. “Are you a total asshole?”

  “It’s what we do,” Silas said.

  “Where’s the other one?” Emir piped up from across the room. “Isn’t there a twin?”

  “He’s in Hollywood,” I said. “He’s dating River Andrews.”

  Emir started at me blankly. “Who?”

  “She’s an actress,” I said. “Romantic comedies.”

  “Oh.” Emir looked down and returned to what he was doing.

  “She’s getting an award,” I said. “A big one. Elias went with her to the awards show. It’s going to be on liv
e television.”

  “It’s on in about twenty minutes, too,” Luke said as he walked around. “Is there a TV? I told Elias I wanted to see him in a monkey suit.”

  “Ahem,” Iver clinked a spoon against the side of his glass. “A toast. If everyone would please pick up a glass of champagne.”

  When we had, and the buzz of talking in the room quieted down, Iver cleared his throat. “Now,” he said. “When I found out that the most attractive member of our team had absconded to a little Colorado town with someone, I couldn’t imagine that it was true.”

  Silas’ hand wrapped protectively around my shoulder. “Most attractive, for sure,” he whispered into my ear.

  “Until,” Iver said, clearing his throat again. “Until I heard her talk about him. And then I understood that it was the only possible thing she could have done. Because when you find the person who makes you want to leave everything behind, you can’t do anything but that.”

  Oscar held up his glass. “To Ariana and Silas.”

  “Who’s Ariana?” Silas asked.

  “About that…”

  Silas turned to me. “Your real name isn’t Ariana, is it?”

  I laughed. “No,” I said. “It’s Tempest. They know me as Ariana.” She yelled loudly. “It’s Tempest, guys. My given name is not Ariana.”

  Oscar put his hand over his heart. “I’m hurt that you gave us a fake,” he said.

  “I’ve known all along,” Emir said, opening up one of his laptops on the table he stood behind.

  Iver turned toward him. “And you haven’t said anything, Emir?”

  He shrugged. “You should just assume I know everything. Because I probably do.”

  “I find that equal parts admirable and reprehensible,” Iver said.

  “Thanks.” Emir sat down, typing furiously on his keyboard.

  “Is this the part where we plan out the grift?” Silas asked before bringing his lips to my cheek. I felt a shiver of pleasure at his mere touch, and I nuzzled against him.

  “Oh, no,” I said. “Not yet. This is the part where we drink champagne and talk.”

  “Shouldn’t the champagne go after the grift?” he asked.

  “Let me refill that for you.” Iver appeared beside us, filling up Silas’ glass. “We drink champagne anytime. This is the part where we regale you with stories of Aria- I mean, Tempest’s legendary grifter antics.”

  I looked at Iver, my eyes narrowed. “Not the embarrassing stories,” I said.

  “Of course those are the ones we’ll be sharing,” Oscar said. He sipped from his champagne glass. “They’re the most important stories of all. Do you remember the time in Monaco when-”

  I groaned. “Come on, guys.”

  Luke interrupted from where he stood in front of the television. “The camera just panned over Elias and River in the crowd,” he said. “I think her category is up next.”

  “Saved...for now,” Oscar said.

  We watched, standing around the television while River, clad in a floor length gold dress that shimmered under the lights, walked onto the stage to collect her award. The camera panned briefly on Elias, who sat in the audience, grinning broadly. “Turn it up, man,” Silas yelled. “We can’t hear what she’s saying.”

  River’s mouth moved, and Luke pressed on the volume button. “She’s thanking people,” he said. “Can you hear it?”

  “Who’s that?” I asked, watching as a man wearing tight leather pants and a ragged black t-shirt ascended the stage, grabbing the microphone from her hand.

  “Holy shit,” Silas said. “That’s her fucking ex-boyfriend.”

  “Oh my God, the one who cheated?” I asked. “With her sister?”

  Iver and Oscar were talking and Luke hushed them. “That’s that douchebag Viper,” he said. “Do you think River is going to push him off the stage?”

  We watched as Viper grabbed the microphone from her hand and got down on one knee, proclaiming his love for her and apologizing for his indiscretions. Beside me, Silas hooted. “Shit, if River doesn’t punch him, Elias is going go up there and beat his ass on live TV.”

  But Viper didn’t get out more than two sentences before River yanked the microphone out of his hand. “You stupid fuck,” she said. And then, as he started to stand, she punched him in the face.

  Luke and Silas whooped. Luke turned from the TV, now cut to commercial, laughing. “River can fucking hold her own,” he said. “I can’t wait for Elias to tell us the whole story.”

  “She’s one of us now,” Silas said. “A Saint. And you just don’t fuck with us.”

  “Speaking of that,” Oscar said. “Do we have an update on Coker?”

  “He figured out that he’d been had,” I said. “Finally. It took him long enough.”

  “But, as it turns out, he also owed money to some Eastern Europeans,” Silas said. “One of my friends back in Vegas said he disappeared.”

  “Well, isn’t this darling,” Iver said. “It’s happy ever afters all around.”

  “Grifter style,” said Oscar.

  “Well, happy ever afters for everyone except for the people we’re about to grift next,” I said, grinning. “The sheriff and the mayor don’t know what they’re in for.”

  I’d never thought I’d return to West Bend again. I never thought I’d be with Silas, but once I found him, I wasn’t letting go this time. I was happy and Silas was happy and for the moment, nothing else in the world, including the grift, mattered. The only thing that mattered was us.

  THE END

  ***