King of Thieves

by Shea Godfrey

  “She hasn’t shot anyone since I saw her last, has she?”

  “Fuck off, Jack.”

  His chuckle turned wicked. “That’s my girl.”

  “I’ll call you when I get back to the hotel.”

  “Tonight is good, yeah.”

  A jagged bolt of irritation shot through Casey’s chest and she turned. “Listen, Jack, maybe you think you have the right to—”

  “Stop.”

  They were both silent for several seconds.

  “I didn’t mean anything by it, Casey. I wasn’t telling you what to do, I’m just worried.”

  “Haven’t you always gotten paid?” Casey asked, and though her tone was much sharper than she intended, she couldn’t seem to stop it. “When that painting hits the block, you’ll have more money than you’ll fucking know what to do with, all right?”

  “I didn’t mean about the money.”

  Casey closed her eyes.

  “Shake it off, kiddo, and call me when you get back. I’ll bring you some shitty coffee.”

  Casey opened her mouth to apologize, but he’d hung up.

  She shut her phone off with a curse, slid it into the front pocket of her jeans, and stared at her reflection in the window.

  He was worried about her, and by all accounts, she should be worried, as well. She wasn’t, though, and she had no explanation for it except that she’d been right. Or at least she was right today, in what she’d said several days ago. She knew Finn.

  She didn’t know her as she wanted to, or as she should, but she knew enough. She didn’t know her as she needed to, and need was the proper word. It was in her bones, an emotional longing she hadn’t counted on. Even now, Finn felt too far away.

  They had eaten an exquisite breakfast in an out-of-the-way restaurant, sitting close in a back corner booth meant for at least half a dozen people. The lighting had been low and they had sipped hot Bai Mudan tea that was fragrant and golden and tasted like an exotic distillation of an unknown fruit. They had walked through an inner courtyard of market stands and booths on their way back to the loft, and Finn had bought her a silver charm she liked, which was now safe within her pocket. It had all been terribly normal and she had loved it.

  She hadn’t thought once about the auction, or the fact that what Finn wanted was most likely at odds with what she herself wanted. Whether or not those two conflicting goals would destroy each other remained to be seen.

  She needed more information and she was loath to try to get it.

  Her phone rang in her pocket and she jumped a bit before she grabbed it.

  “Yes?”

  “Are you coming inside?”

  Casey smiled and looked at the windows again. “What’s in it for me?”

  There was silence.

  “Finn?”

  “I’m just trying to decide how dirty my original answer actually was, compared to the one that came after it.”

  “Don’t you think I should be the judge of that?”

  “Maybe. Are you any good at that sort of thing?”

  Casey laughed. “I’m not sure that’s a gauntlet you want to be throwing down, O’Connell. You have no idea the sort of insanity that will follow.”

  “I may not know much, but I know crazy. I could probably hold my own.”

  “There would have to be a prize involved,” Casey responded as she moved to the door and pulled it open. “I mean, when I leave you in the dust, I should receive some sort of trophy or medal for my efforts.”

  Finn smiled as the door closed behind her and Casey moved through the loft. Finn pocketed her phone. “I could have a nice plaque made up for you, put your name on it and stuff.”

  Casey felt her eyes flare as she stowed her phone, as well. “Stuff?”

  Finn stood by the couch and chairs and Casey stopped when she was but a few inches away from her. She could feel the heat from Finn’s body.

  “How about,” Finn said quietly, “we play a different game.”

  Finn’s eyes were bright but they had taken on a serious expression. The bleed in her eye had receded somewhat, and though the bruising on her face was still spotty, the color seemed to have settled into a softer version of its former self. Casey was somewhat startled by just how relieved she was.

  “Does this game have rules?” She had reached out and taken Finn’s hand and she’d only just realized it.

  “It does.”

  “And they are?”

  “You ask a question…and I answer it.”

  Casey blinked, truly thrown.

  Finn pulled her forward and kissed her lips, the gesture lush and filled with subtle promise. “Come and sit down.”

  Casey let herself be led and she sat on the couch as Finn took the closest chair. Her mind was suddenly racing and she tried to slow it down.

  “There are some things I’m not going to tell you,” Finn explained as she leaned forward, her elbows on her knees. She was holding tight to her left hand and it was a nervous gesture Casey had not seen from her before. “Because I don’t think it’s safe, but I—”

  “What is it that you want from me, Finn?” Casey blurted out, unable to stop the words. Finn smiled even as Casey frowned. “I’m sorry, baby, but I just…”

  She would have to give up Malik if she went further, and she had already decided against that. No one should be punished for trying to be a good friend, and she wasn’t going to be the one who threw him under the bus. She had never had a lot of friends, and her respect for such an endeavor had always been at a premium.

  So she waited.

  * * *

  Finn contemplated the question from several different angles, and none of them offered her the satisfaction she was looking for. She could tell the truth, but what was the truth? What was the whole truth when she stood above it all and considered the entire painting, and not just the brushstrokes of her favorite portion of the canvas?

  For years, what she had wanted had always been extremely clear. She wanted justice, and she wanted revenge. Those two things, however, had turned out to be very complicated goals when put together on the same plate.

  Casey’s eyes were suddenly sharp and clear. “We could dance around it, if you’d like,” she offered. “We could ignore it, or you could just tell me what you want.”

  “What if there’s more than one answer to that?”

  “Let’s start with the most important one, then,” Casey suggested and did not look away.

  Finn could see that she was vulnerable. It was in the way she held her shoulders, and though her gaze was steady, Casey was somewhat out of her element, and it showed. That Casey allowed that to happen, that she felt safe enough to expose herself in such a way… Please don’t let me fuck this up, Finn begged of anyone who might be listening.

  She chose to address what she assumed was Casey’s most pressing concern. “Am I after the bounty on your Rembrandt?”

  Casey’s expression wavered for a moment and then recovered. “Are you?”

  “No.”

  “Do you think I have something else, then?”

  “Yes,” Finn answered and couldn’t help but smile a little. “But I don’t want him.”

  Casey leaned back slightly. It took her longer than Finn expected to find her voice. When the seconds continued to tick by, Finn almost reached out, but she stiffened against it.

  “Him?” Casey asked at last.

  “Vincent’s road is different than mine, and for now, he may go where he sees fit.”

  Casey’s eyes flashed and widened and the faintest blush of color rose along her neck. Finn watched as she tamed her distress, which was most likely considerable, and then Casey set about moving the pieces on her board. She adjusted and pulled back, she regrouped. She would take a new line of action and Finn had no idea what that might be.

  “Do you think those are the most important questions to me, at this moment?”

  “I’m not sure,” Finn replied. “But if they’re not, they sure as hell should be
.”

  Casey laughed. She leaned back against the couch and crossed her legs in a casual manner. Her hair tumbled forward when she looked down, and she tucked a portion of the loose blond curls behind her right ear. It was a gesture that Finn recognized. Her words had hurt, and she hadn’t meant them to.

  “Or I could tell you…” Finn pushed against the resistance that bloomed through her chest, and the fear that flowered from it. The strange beauty of it burned like the kiss from a God, blessing and cursing her at the same time. And so what does it matter, in the end, if you’re too damned frightened to reap the rewards of such a kiss? Either you reach the sun and rise into the pantheon, or you fall from the stars upon wings of molten wax. Either way, at least it’s a brave end.

  “Or I could tell you I love you, Casey,” she said quietly and as bravely as she could. “Because I do. I’m in love with you, Cassandra Marinos.”

  As far as Finn could tell, Casey had no reaction to her confession.

  * * *

  Casey closed her eyes at the sound of Finn’s voice and tried desperately to will her heart into an even tempo.

  Within those rare words Casey heard a world of promise, and a stunning amount of danger. She heard need and desire and honesty, and fear beneath it all, quietly forgiving her as if Finn’s heart had already admitted defeat. And she heard her own restraint fall and shatter, as if it were a fine china plate that had slipped from her hand.

  “The way that came about, I don’t like it,” Finn went on. “It gives me an unfair advantage. The balance of power between us, it’s all wrong.”

  Casey couldn’t help but smile, knowing that her hair would hide it.

  No woman she had ever been with had given up such an advantage so freely. No one had ever complained about being on top. She had been burned years ago by that lack of equilibrium, by handing her power over because it sated the needs of her physical desires. But life wasn’t lived in the bedroom, and no matter what pleasure she might have received, it did not equal the freedom she had given up. It had taken years to understand the balance she needed in order to be happy, though mostly what she had learned was that she couldn’t do it on her own.

  Those lessons had all led to a bad end, and a decision that had ruled her heart for the next decade. Never again. And none of it equaled what I feel with you, my sweet Finn…and last night, I don’t even know where to put that. Where do I put that? Your need so deep inside me, and my need to have you there, and whatever that was that happened when they met.

  Casey had not lost her voice in years, but at the moment, she had no idea where it had gone. Finn was in love with her.

  “You can learn quite a bit from watching someone.” Finn’s voice was tinged with regret, but her tone was nothing short of tender. “What toothpaste you use, or the sort of lovers you take, though I’ve always thought they couldn’t give you what you want. I know you like to drive faster than you should, and you like to read in the sun with your cat nearby. I know odd and curious things that have no real weight, because they have no context within the reality of your presence. But having that advantage is wrong, no matter how basic those things may be. It’s wrong on so many levels, Casey, now that I’ve held you.”

  Casey pulled in a very careful breath and let it out slowly.

  “And my reasons for having done it, they were righteous when I started down this road, but now I don’t know anymore…Now it’s just…”

  Casey lifted her eyes at last and she found Finn waiting for her. “Just what?”

  Finn opened her hands, her eyes filled with an emotion that Casey didn’t recognize. “All I really want is you, Casey, and that fucks everything up in my head. And all I can think now is that my means to an end…I have been so less than honorable.”

  Casey couldn’t help but smile. She remembered what Malik had said. “Finnegan.”

  “And the thought that I might put you in danger somehow because of what I want from all this? The fact that our imbalance, it can only hurt you? I can live with a lot of pain, Casey. I’ve done it for most of my life. But not that.”

  “Finnegan.”

  “If I’ve just said something that didn’t make sense, you should know I can fix that.”

  Casey laughed softly. She had never even considered a conversation such as they were having, much less making sense of one. She’d had no idea when she’d finished talking to Jack that she would be given exactly what she needed. It was new, clean territory, and despite all the questions still left to answer, she wanted to stake her claim to a nice, new piece of life. A life not too far from the shade of the adrenaline rush she enjoyed, but still within easy walking distance of happiness. “I’m less than honorable. Let’s not compare suits of armor at this point.”

  The frown on Finn’s face was quite lovely. “You’re not dishonorable. Your profession is considered less than honest, it’s true. It walks a rather fine line at times, but I think that has very little to do with who you are as a human being.”

  “And you can tell that from my toothpaste?”

  Finn’s eyes sparked. “No, I have empirical evidence, thank you very much. But to be fair, perhaps it’s just a guess. You should know, however, that I’m extremely good at those.”

  Casey remembered Malik once more. “You’re good at the magical big picture, is that it?”

  Finn thought about the comment and then her eyes narrowed slightly before she pushed up from her chair and walked to the kitchen.

  Casey wanted to touch her. She had no control over that desire, at least not yet. Perhaps the price wasn’t high enough at the moment for her to find a way to rein it in, but she didn’t know for sure. Finn turned from the fridge and let the door close as she set two bottles of Guinness onto the counter. She twisted off a top and pushed one of the bottles to the opposite edge.

  “I have a proposition for you.”

  Casey stood up and joined her. “Does it involve touching you? Because I can’t seem to get a handle on that one, and it’s trampling about on all my fine, expensive china.”

  Finn smiled and Casey saw the beginnings of a blush. It was an interesting addition to what she was coming to learn about her new lover, and it pleased her. “Not at the moment, no.”

  “That’s too bad,” Casey responded and took a long drink. “Because there’s a few—” She stopped when Finn held up her hand. “All right, what’s your proposition?”

  “Even the scales. Let’s play. You ask, and I’ll answer.”

  “What’s off-limits?”

  “I’ll let you know if I hear it. You have your plans and I have mine. Maybe everything will get blown all to hell, I don’t know.”

  “This is crazy.”

  “Maybe, but I can’t walk away. Not from what I need to do, and not from you, I can’t. I love you, Casey. You burn right through the fucking heart of me.”

  Finn admitted it so openly that Casey felt a bit dizzy. She set her hand on the counter for balance.

  “I’d like to give you what knowledge I can, and I guess you can do what you want with it. I owe you that. But even if I didn’t owe you, I’d give you those words. They’re yours now, and maybe one day, you’ll remember that I gave them to you.”

  Casey’s blood rushed in her ears.

  “I have a debt to pay, and if I can’t settle that debt, I’m not sure we’ll ever have a chance. There’s thirty-odd years’ worth of things I don’t know about you, Casey, and I’d like to. I have a head start on that and it isn’t fair, so ask me whatever it is you need to know, because when you’re done? I’m going to take you up those stairs and I’m going to find that place inside you where all your pleasure and all your secret desires live…and then I’m gonna break down the door and wait for you to do what you need to do.”

  Casey tipped her head back, just a bit, just enough for her to acknowledge she was in the most serious trouble of her life. She fought to find her voice. “Which is what?”

  “Invite me in.”

  Casey turne
d away, unable to hold Finn’s gaze. She drank instead. She took a long drink, two, three, and then four deep swallows. “Stop talking, please.”

  “Okay.”

  Casey set the bottle down and it was too loud, the clack of the heavy glass against the marble filling the space between them. “No one ever says things.” Casey felt the belch rise and she let it past her lips with care. Her stomach was suddenly a mess and she had downed almost her entire bottle without thinking better of it. “No one ever says things like that, Finn, just so you know.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like that, at least not that I’ve encountered.”

  “You don’t like it?”

  Casey took her bottle up and drank what remained before setting it down once more, this time with a lighter touch. “I fucking like it a lot, actually, but it’s freaking me out.”

  Finn’s smile was a rogue’s smile as she held out her own beer. “Maybe this will help.”

  Casey took it with a look of challenge. It set her mind back on track just a bit and she seized the opportunity. “I can drink you under the table, O’Connell, and you know it.”

  “I know it, you’re right.”

  “I can ask anything I want?”

  “I’ll let you know if it’s off-limits.”

  It was an interesting proposition, and if she asked the right questions, she might find out what she needed anyway. Malik had given up more than his fair share, and without knowing he’d done it. Or maybe he did know, she thought. And maybe I shouldn’t even give a shit who says what, as long as I fly out of here with what I came for. And then she wondered what that might be, exactly, as she stood on the edge of Finn’s kitchen, caught within an unexpected affair that seemed to be leaving her best kept fantasies in the dust, and her own plans somewhat in jeopardy. Whoever Finn was after wanted Vincent, and Finn was leaving him in play as bait. It was a smart move. It’s what she would’ve done.

  “I won’t lie,” Finn added.

  “How would I know if you had—I mean really,” Casey countered.

  “If I can’t tell you the truth, I won’t answer the question.”

  “Fair enough,” Casey agreed.