Liam nodded okay then at almost lightning speed, he inserted a magazine and began firing off a round before Remi had her ammo out of the case. Her sudden snail’s pace was the direct result of Liam’s intimidating presence. Though eager to show off her shooting abilities, him standing nearby suddenly made her self-conscious. As he grabbed another magazine, he noticed Remi wasn’t shooting yet. “Everything okay?” he mouthed through the ballistic glass. She gave him a thumbs-up while fumbling with her magazine. After observing her closely for a few minutes, he backed out of his stall and into hers. To gain her attention, he tapped her shoulder then carefully pulled off one side of her earmuffs and asked, “Do I make you nervous?”
She was about to lie but thought what the hell, might as well confess. “Yes!”
“Why you shot a gun in front of me before,” he reminded. “Uh yeah, if I recall you didn’t know I was there nor where the shot came from. You didn’t actually see me pull the trigger,” she explained, unable to make eye contact with him. He couldn’t argue with that fact, so he suggested that she just relax. While inhaling and exhaling, she dropped her neck from side to side then twisted her waist. “You got this, remember,” he said, half-grinning. Instead of going back into his lane, he stayed right there, behind her, just to make sure she was all right. Remi soon raised the gun, aimed it and focused on the target. Somehow she was able to pretend that Liam wasn’t there. Seconds later, she unleashed the entire round into the paper target. She beamed as a proud grin graced Liam’s face.
“Good, right?” she asked, seeking validation from him.
“Good indeed,” he replied, extremely impressed. “How often do you come here?”
“Couple times a week,” she said. “Like you, I found it’s an excellent way to work off frustration.”
Just then an older gentleman strolled by. “How ya’ doing, Remi?”
She waved. “Hey Joe, I’m good and yourself?”
“Eh, lower back is bothering me but can’t complain.”
Another man then walked by and greeted her. “Hi, cutie.”
“Hey Pete,” she said while loading another magazine. “Well, aren’t you the popular one,” remarked Liam. Remi just laughed. “They’re my buds.”
Liam liked the fact that she had grown stronger since the heist and even more so since he left. However, he didn’t understand why he made her nervous. A mystery, he thought. She began shooting again, so Liam walked back into his stall and did the same. And for the next 45 minutes, the two had nothing but unbridled fun. Complimenting the other’s shots and laughing when some went awry, well that would be Remi’s of course. Liam, on the other hand, was spot on every time. “Damn, you’re so good,” she commented as they inspected the remnants of his target. Surprisingly, though, there wasn’t one tiny iota of conceit exuding from him. Instead, he told her he’d help perfect her shot another time. He then ventured back into her lane to help pack up her gun. When Liam kneeled down to clean up the area, that action immediately brought back the memory of him cleaning up the vault.
Apparently, she was gawking at him, prompting Liam to ask, “What?”
She snickered. “I was just thinking back to when you tidied up the vault.”
“If memory serves correct, you described me as a gun toting, bank robbing, hostage taking neat freak.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “I can’t believe you remember that.”
He stood back up, and as he tossed the casings into the spent shells recycling bin, he reminded, “I told you; I remember everything.”
He then headed to the shop to sign out where he got preoccupied with a display of firearms. She giggled while eyeing him with the various guns, acting like a kid in a candy store. His comfortableness around the weapons was fascinating to see. Just like watching him shoot, Remi would be remiss in denying his control with a gun was strangely attractive. Unsure if it was the skill and strength he possessed or just everything tied up into one amazingly powerful man. Just then, Lorraine entered the shop. “Didn’t think I’d see you here on a Sunday,” she remarked. Remi was just about to explain that she was there with Liam when he joined the two women. Standing at exactly five foot tall, Lorraine eyed him up, starting at his feet then slowly working all the way up to his face. “Damn, you’re a tall one,” she commented, unable to tear her eyes away from him as Remi introduced them.
“Nice to meet you,” he said extending his hand. “Likewise,” she said, clutching and shaking it. She then said, “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Liam glanced at Remi. “Only good things I hope.”
Lorraine nodded. “She has spoken very highly of you.”
All Remi thought was he sure could produce that charm when he needed to, and it was quite effective. Liam’s phone chirped, so he told Lorraine again that it was nice to meet her then told Remi he’d see her outside. Lorraine watched him leave then uttered, “Oh my, you’ve got yourself a cutie there.”
Remi chuckled. “Didn’t you tell me last week that Liam was probably a typical douchebag?”
“I’ve been known to be wrong—sometimes,” she said, laughing.
Remi sighed. “I don’t know things with him are beyond complicated.”
“That’s all men, sweetheart.”
Remi couldn’t disagree with that. They chatted for another minute then Lorraine went to shoot while Remi met Liam outside. He motioned for them to walk to the truck, while he was still talking on the phone. A few drops of freezing rain began to fall from the sky, just as they climbed inside in the truck. She tried not to eavesdrop but since they were in such close quarters, it was impossible not to, and she deduced he was conversing with Simon. When the call finally ended, he announced, “I didn’t even officially start back, and I’ve already scored a major project.”
“That’s good, right?”
“Yeah, it’s great,” he answered in a non-excited way.
“Then why do you sound so glum?”
“Guess with the whole DNA shit weighing on me; my mind isn’t as focused on designing as it should be.”
“I’m sure you will do just fine,” she said, turning the tables and being the one to offer up encouragement.
“We shall see,” he said then switched gears by suggesting they grab some dinner. “Would you like to go somewhere or just get take out?”
“You decide.”
Since he had been craving an authentic Philly cheesesteak for weeks, he suggested he drop her back at his place then he’d go out to get them a couple of sandwiches. That surprised her because she assumed after spending the past few hours together, that Liam would have had his fill. Not that she was knocking it.
With another wintry night of nasty weather blanketing the city, Remi waited for Liam and began pondering what it could be that the cops had on him. Her heart was praying they had nothing and were just bluffing. Of course, her head was telling her something else. She hoped Detective Weston would give her some sort of heads up, but since he wasn’t the one in charge, that was unlikely to happen. Liam arrived back forty minutes later, with two cheesesteaks and two bottles of wine in tow. She looked at the labels on the bottles and read aloud, “Chateau something—a Bordeaux Blend?”
“Is that okay with you?” he asked.
“Uh yeah, except I bet they’re real expensive.”
“And?”
“And wine coolers would have been fine.”
“Maybe next time, tonight we drink the good stuff,” he said, retrieving a corkscrew from a kitchen drawer while Remi grabbed two wine glasses from a cabinet. When they sat down at the table, Liam poured wine into each glass, as she removed the sandwiches from the bag then handed one to him. Liam feverishly ripped into his and instantly sighed, after taking the first bite. “God, I missed this,” he said, practically salivating as if it were a rare delicacy. Remi smiled while sipping her glass and since Liam was in a relaxed state, she took the opportunity to do a little fishing. “Just out of curiosity, how many heists have you pulled?”
Before he replied, he swallowed then washed it down with a gulp of wine. “Never counted but if I had to venture a guess, I’d say twelve.”
Her eyes practically bulged out of her head, “Twelve?”
“Might be more, might be less.”
Having always found his nonchalant attitude towards criminal mischief to be quite intriguing, she couldn’t resist seeking more answers. “When did you do your first one?”
“Let’s see, I’m twenty-eight now, about three years ago.”
“Is that when you met Charles?”
“Yes.”
“He like recruited you?”
“I guess you could say that,” he replied. “Charles sensed I was searching for something bigger than the small jobs Chris and I were pulling.”
“Something bigger?” she questioned.
“Yeah, like jewelry stores and banks,” he replied then elaborated, “It was never just about the money, there’s just a rush or high you might say, that I could only achieve through a heist.”
She studied his serious expression while he spoke and though, he was talking about his criminal life, she admired that he was so passionate about it. “But you never felt bad for stealing or scaring innocent people?”
He thought about it for a minute. “No, because I removed myself emotionally.”
She frowned, unable to hide her disdain.
“It was easy to slip into that mercenary mode and just do the job at hand.”
“It never bothered you that people could get hurt?”
“Nope,” he quickly replied. “That is of course until our heist.”
“You once told me that you felt I didn’t deserve what happened and that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
He nodded.
“Why did you feel that way for me and not all the others?”
He shrugged then said, “I guess being locked inside of the vault with you made me see things differently.”
She was about to say something, but he interrupted, “You kind of grew on me.”
She laughed, “Yeah, like a fungus.”
He laughed then said, “Actually, I’ll admit something.”
“What’s that?”
“I found you—entertaining.”
“Don’t you mean annoying?”
“Maybe just a little,” he said, gesturing with his fingers. She giggled but couldn’t argue that in the vault, she was a definite pain in the ass. Liam poured more wine into both of their glasses as Remi continued the inquisition. “Aside from ours, what was your favorite heist?”
He took a decent sized sip then replied, “About a year and a half ago, we hit a small independent jewelry store down on Walnut Street, your basic smash and grab.”
He took another sip then further explained, “In under two minutes, we yielded close to a 100 grand in jewels.”
“Holy shit!” she exclaimed.
“The jewels were incredible, but there was a particular set of sterling silver sapphire earrings,” he said. “The rich, deep blue color and clarity, absolutely exquisite.”
Liam had Remi’s full attention. “What did you do with them?”
“Sold them off,” he said, sounding disappointed. “I wanted to keep them.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t since keeping stolen gems seems to be your forte,” she said kiddingly.
He groaned while giving her a half-grin. “I learned early on that most gems were worth a shitload on the black market and selling them to the highest bidder was how the system worked,” he explained. “Being part of Charles’ crew meant we had to follow the rules.”
With a bewildered look on her face, she balked, “You following someone else’s rules is difficult to fathom.”
“Yeah, well I didn’t say I liked it.”
“Then why did you do it?”
Liam began to clear the table and replied, “Good question.”
She observed him tossing the sandwich wrappers into the trashcan, again thinking what an enigma he continued to be. As much as he’s opened up and divulged some interesting nuggets, he still purposely held back, and as usual, that was awfully frustrating. “Can I ask you something else?”
“If I said no, would you still ask?” he questioned, smiling.
“Yup.”
“Okay, shoot.”
“Do you ever wonder where your life would be if you had never met Charles?”
He grabbed the other bottle of wine along with his glass then retreated to the living room, where he hit the couch. Remi joined him. After propping his legs up onto the table, he said, “Even without Charles, I would have gone the same route.”
“Seriously?” she asked while refilling her glass. He nodded. “I started off with petty thefts and even as small as they were, the thrill of possibly getting caught then ultimately getting away with it is something I just can’t explain.”
“Like an addiction,” she surmised.
“Exactly.”
She sighed, as she and Liam leaned back at the same time. “While you were away, did you steal anything?” she asked turning her head to the right to look at him. He faced her and replied, “No.”
Since she was giving him the old, ‘I don’t believe you’ expression, he reassured, “I swear, I didn’t.”
“Uh-huh,” she muttered, clearly still on the fence.
“Here,” he said pulling his phone from his pocket. “Let me show you what I did.”
She yawned, as he scrolled through various images on the phone. “What do you think?” he asked, displaying a photo of the beach house. “It’s beautiful,” she said then asked, “Whose is it?”
“Mine; I bought it.”
Suddenly her expression grew serious. “You what?”
“I bought it,” he reiterated, eyeing the photo proudly.
“Umm, you’re moving—to Miami?” she questioned, her voice cracking. He laughed while placing the phone on the table. “No, I just thought it was a smart investment and nice place to get away to.”
The thought of him moving down there made her feel a bunch of strange emotions; she wasn’t sure what was going on, but her attachment to him had grown enormously. Afraid he’d sense her neediness, she placated by producing a faux smile. He leaned back again and tilted his head her way. “So, what did you do while I was gone?”
“I held up a Wawa because I didn’t have enough money for a Shorti.”
“Sorry I missed that,” he said, smiling. All of a sudden his phone rang. It was Simon again. “Let me see what he wants,” he said grudgingly getting off the couch. Remi glanced at her phone and saw that it was 9:30 already. Though having fun with Liam, she thought it was probably time she went to her place, but just as she was about to go, he ended his call and sat back down. “Everything okay?” she asked, as he turned on the television. “Yeah, Simon is going up to New York City for a meeting, he just wanted to give me a heads up that he won’t be in the office since I’m starting back tomorrow.”
Again, she was about to leave when Liam started flipping through the channels and displayed no sign of kicking her out. It was obvious they were both tired as well as slightly inebriated from the bottles of wine that they effortlessly polished off. Neither had realized or subconsciously didn’t care, that not only were they very close in proximity, but before long, they both ended up falling asleep. For that to happen so easily further proved their trust of one another. But even more telling was the fact as the night wore on Liam had somehow lied down, taking Remi with him.
Liam awoke in the middle of the night, to the sound of ice pellets pounding the sliding glass doors. No lights were on, and the television was off as well, indicating a power outage. Unable to see, he went to grab his phone off the table, and that’s when he felt Remi’s head lying on his chest, and her left arm casually draped across his stomach. For a brief second, he cringed, as this was completely unexpected and incredibly awkward. Almost four months earlier, this scenario playing out would have been a work of fiction.
He would have never believed he and his one-time hostage would be cuddled up on the couch, sleeping together. Her body had become wedged between the back of the couch and him but she appeared to be perfectly content. Venturing into unfamiliar territory, snuggling with a woman was foreign to Liam, as all his former girlfriend/lovers would attest to that. Though he’d sometimes engage in short duration pillow talk, the desire for closeness other than for sexual purposes was something he usually eluded. So with that, he figured it was probably best to rectify the current situation. However, just as he reached over to check the time on his phone, Remi shifted and further melded against his chest. He wondered if he were that heartless to pull himself out from under her then questioned if he honestly wanted to. There were numerous reasons why he should remove himself, because no matter how deep their bond had grown, being that physically intimate was something entirely different, and being that way was wrong on so many levels. It was 3:30 AM, but as he tried to sit up, Remi’s arm tightened around his waist, forcing him to rethink his decision. He then mouthed, “I’m going to hell!”
Not that he ever doubted that he wasn’t because he certainly was a realist. Can’t pull off heists, hold hostages, be inadvertently involved in deaths, and kill people, and think there was a spot in heaven waiting for you. Liam was many things, but delusional wasn’t one of them. No matter what happened or happens, ingrained in his life, Remi would forever be. With the intense warm feeling radiating from her body being nestled securely against his, Liam decided not to fight it. Instead, he removed the crocheted blanket off the top of the couch and slipped it over Remi. Not even five minutes later, he drifted back to sleep.
CHAPTER 10
With a dark, dreary sky and the freezing rain continuing to fall there wasn’t any actual sunrise. So, when Remi’s eyes fluttered open at 6:30, she had no idea what time it was. But what she was sure of and categorically shocked at was the fact she was resting on Liam’s chest. Her eyes popped open wide but she didn’t dare budge and did exactly what he did—cringed. Her immediate thought was, oh my God, how did this happen? Rapidly other questions entered her mind, thinking maybe they’d drank into a stupor, or maybe she just hopped on top without him knowing. A thought that made her snicker a little. Deep down, she’d played up the whole deny, deny, and kept denying when often questioned about her relationship with Liam. Or even more so when someone would inquire what her true feelings were. Something she would never give a straight answer to because she honestly didn’t know. Whether or not she had feelings for Liam didn’t matter, there was no refuting that he was physically appealing. She’d be surprised to find any young woman and possibly older ones too, who didn’t find his chiseled jawline, strong shoulders, and gorgeous eyes irresistible. There wasn’t a damn thing not to like. Or not desire.
UNMASKED: Sequel to Behind the Mask Page 13