The Bandit

by B. B. Reid

  The defined muscles in his arms, powerful back and broad shoulders straining against the thin shirt he wore told me where he spent much of his time. I wondered if he was one of those guys who were all muscle and not much else. His dusty colored hair was messy in a fashionable way. Maybe he’d just rolled out of bed with someone who couldn’t keep her fingers from running through it . I knew I wouldn’t.

  “You look like you have a question,” man bun commented. His lazy grin grew into a full-fledged smile when my gaze jerked from his partner. It was obvious I’d been caught ogling. I ignored his comment and his smugness and let my gaze fall to his chest. A pristine white button-up covered the area, but it didn’t hide the muscles bunched beneath them. He wasn’t as strongly built as his friend was, but he was no less impressive. The black jeans he wore emphasized his muscular legs and fit him like a glove but not tight enough to make me question how much air he was getting down there. Black suspenders hung from his jeans, giving him the appearance of a rugged geek. On his feet were black Nike high-tops.

  My perusal traveled back up and found he was no longer watching me. His attention was on his friend’s conversation and a deep frown obscured his soft features. Instead of investigating his change in mood, I studied his hair. His dark roots faded into the blonde highlights before disappearing behind his skull and into whatever tie he used to hold the strands together.

  He had a playfulness about him that made me wary. He probably knew exactly how attractive he was and how much power he could wield with his assets.

  My gaze pinpointed the spot where my fist had connected with man bun’s jaw as soon as he released me. A bruise was beginning to form, and I smiled at my handiwork. His partner’s slight limp as he paced told me he still felt my kick to his kneecap. It was too bad it didn’t shatter.

  I bet they wouldn’t be writing home about the hundred-pound girl who kicked their asses anytime soon. They hadn’t seemed to be in any rush to hurt me. I even hurled insults as I was carried down, but they never reacted.

  “What the FUCK do you mean let her go ?” The angry outburst from the brooding one caught my attention. His was already fixed on me. His disdain for me was obvious, so I made sure to return the gesture. “Why?” he growled into the receiver. He listened and then scrubbed his hand down his face. “Fuck. Fine.”

  I made sure to look real smug about that. He caught my smug look and expressed with his eye and the curl of his lip exactly how much he wanted to murder me. When he started toward me swiftly, my smile dropped, and I scooted back on my bum.

  “It’s for you.” He extended the phone, but it might as well have been a bomb.

  “Um…”

  “Take it,” he demanded through clenched teeth.

  “Why?”

  He snatched the phone back and stabbed the screen. “You’re on speaker,” he informed. There was nothing but silence while my heart pounded in my chest.

  “Tsk. Tsk.”

  So much for lucky breaks.

  “Ever the disobedient one…” I felt my blood drain when I recognized the refined voice. It was deeper now–stronger. “Even when you’re in my house uninvited .”

  “You have something that belongs to me.”

  “You expect me to believe that?”

  I shrugged to hide the tremble, but then remembered he couldn’t see me. “Believe what you want.”

  “There are consequences to bad decisions.”

  “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

  “But your father would, wouldn’t he?”

  I sucked in a breath and tried to talk myself out of being afraid. There was no way he could know my father had anything to do with this. “My father is none of your concern.”

  “Wasn’t it your father who sent you?” I didn’t answer that. I wouldn’t. “If you won’t answer, maybe I should ask him myself.”

  “No!” His silence shattered my armor. “My father didn’t send me.” My voice begged him to believe me. It was only half the truth. If he had a choice, I wouldn’t be here, but I gave him none.

  I waited, but only silence followed. I looked to his two henchmen who listened to our exchange with curiosity and confusion etched on their perfect faces.

  “I’ll see you soon.” He didn’t say more. The line disconnected, and I was left feeling as if fainting would erase everything that just happened.

  Chapter Six

  Devil, meet angel .

  ANGEL

  Nine Years Ago

  “Angel.”

  The commanding gruff of my godfather’s voice pulled me away from the video game. Lucas and Z were sleeping off last night’s job, so this was all I had to occupy my time. His tall, muscular frame filled my bedroom doorway. It was actually my second bedroom in my home away from home where I spent my summers away from the nauseating boredom of the countryside.

  I paused the game and threw down the controller. I had been in a bad mood since my father, once again, denied my request to initiate me. “What’s up, Unc’?”

  I was actually surprised he was here since my father left for one of his safe houses an hour ago. They rarely made moves without each other.

  His face cracked into a wide smile. “I want you to meet my pride and joy.”

  I didn’t get it, and I’m sure my face said as much because he stepped aside after a beat. Brown hair and pale skin came into view, and I realized that his pride and joy was a girl.

  My first thought was that she was pretty.

  And then, I noticed how soft she looked.

  Fuck me, but she was t iny.

  Standing next to her father, she looked completely breakable. Except she stared back at me as if it were the last thing she would ever do.

  Mine.

  My body jerked and it completely ruined me when she did the same. Her father was still talking, oblivious to what was happening between us.

  The territorial feelings were foreign but the powerful urging to do something about them was winning me over.

  “Baby girl, this is the son I’ll never have.” Theo’s boast regained my attention.

  “She’s yours?” I already knew that, but I needed to hear him say it.

  “She’s mine, ” he answered with pride.

  I couldn’t tear my gaze away from her even when I felt him watching me. Theo was as sharp and as dangerous as my father was. If I didn’t turn it down, he would notice and lock his daughter away in the tallest tower in the furthest land because he was a smart man.

  “What’s her name?” I sounded hostile even to my own ears, which is how I ended up stunned speechless when she answered instead of her father. It had nothing to do with the sweet, soft sound of her voice.

  Nothing.

  “Mian.” There was defiance in her tone. I used it with my father whenever he was around. “And you can ask me.”

  I drank up the sound of her voice and reveled in it. My lips even twitched trying to fight a laugh when her shoulders squared. She was trying to prove how tough she was, but all I saw was someone pretending not to be affected. She was giving everything away just by standing there, and if she licked her lips one more time…

  “She’s feisty like her mother. I’m going to have my hands full when she’s a teen.”

  The wind had been knocked out me. I resisted bending over to allay the pain in my gut. I mentally swore and kicked myself.

  I was lusting after a baby .

  I just assumed she was small for her age with soft features but sixteen like me. I should have fucking known.

  Theo was still rambling on. I only managed to catch the tail end of it. “…and so I’ll need you to look after her until your father and I return.”

  I hadn’t hesitated nor did I miss a beat. I wanted time alone with her. Even if knew I couldn’t do anything ab
out it. I needed to know if this was real or imagined. “How long?”

  “Until Sunday.”

  Two days.

  I’d have two days alone with her.

  “It’s going to cost you.”

  He chuckled and crossed his arms over his thick chest. I wanted muscles like his one day. Maybe even better. “I’d be disappointed if it didn’t. How much?”

  I shook my head. I had enough money. More than any sixteen-year-old I knew, but I had yet to earn it. “I want you to talk to my dad.” I glanced at Mian. She was looking around my room as if she had landed in a foreign land.

  “About?”

  “I want in.” I wasn’t sure how much I could reveal around her. Theo had never brought her around before. I’d always thought Theo being a father was a rumor. Similar to the rumor that she never came around because his late wife had forbidden him from exposing their precious daughter to his dangerous lifestyle.

  He grunted. “Impossible.” His answer was quick, making me wonder if he already knew what I would ask. “He doesn’t want you in.”

  “Then make him want me in.”

  “You’re his son. He’ll want what’s best for you.”

  “I know what’s best for me.”

  “You’re sixteen. You don’t know shit,” he spat. Theo had never been one to sugarcoat something already covered in shit.

  “I know you’re going after whoever’s stealing your jobs.”

  Theo swore and muttered something about needing soundproof walls.

  “You shouldn’t know about that.”

  “But I do.” He tried to stare me down. Two years ago, it might have worked, but I wanted this.

  My father was a notorious criminal.

  A bad man.

  And I admired him.

  Even without my father’s blessing, I’d follow in his footsteps.

  “Fuck.” He glanced down at Mian apologetically, but she pretended she wasn’t listening. “I’ll talk to him, but I do not promise anything.”

  “I wasn’t asking for promises.”

  “You’re a smart kid.” He shook his head with pity. “You could do better.”

  “It doesn’t mean anything if it’s not what you want.” I cut my eye at Mian when I felt her watching me again. Her pink lips were slightly parted. Theo didn’t respond. He turned to his daughter and lowered his tall frame to his haunches. Her gaze reluctantly shifted from me to her father.

  “You good here?”

  “She’ll be fine,” I dictated.

  Her body stiffened, the only thing moving were her flaring nostrils.

  It seems she hated being spoken for. I smiled for her father’s benefit and wondered why I’d done it. Was it because I didn’t want to give her a chance to say no? I’d been in their presence together for less than ten minutes and already knew he indulged his daughter. Spoiled was written all over her.

  “Well, I guess it’s settled,” he said clearly amused. He stood to his full height and ruffled her hair. I waited for her to complain and fuss over her hair like chicks do, but she only smiled up at her father and offered a fist bump when he set it up.

  Yeah, definitely a daddy’s girl.

  Theo left, and for the first time, I was alone with her. The air felt thinner, and the walls closed in making the room appear smaller. I felt as if I were being strangled by the need to be even closer.

  I bet she’s just a baby, perv .

  “Tell me how old you are.”

  “That’s a rude question.” The way she scolded me, she might have been twice my age.

  “Like you care.” Was there anything typical about this girl? “How old?” I repeated.

  “Ten.”

  “Bull. Shit.”

  “Well, I am.” She stepped around me and looked at the wall above my headboard. I had posters of buxom beauties stashed on almost every inch of the space.

  What could I say? I’m a breast man.

  “Did you feel they were all necessary?” Her back was turned, but it didn’t matter. I could hear the disapproval in her tone.

  “You can never have too many breasts.”

  “As someone who will one day possess them, I beg to differ.”

  I closed my eyes, but it only made the visual even more lucid. She was just a little girl, and I was six fucking years older than she was. Neither one of us was even legally able to consent to sex, but it didn’t erase the vision of her older with soft, perky Ds.

  “Are you even listening?”

  “Sorry?”

  She sighed. “I said I’m hungry.”

  “The kitchen is downstairs.” I retook my spot in my gaming chair and picked up the game controller. I needed the distraction that came with violence since I was crushing on a girl who was practically a toddler.

  “This is your house.”

  “I’m sure you don’t need help finding the kitchen,” I answered without taking my eyes from the video game.

  She didn’t move. I had a feeling she was expecting me to jump and see to her needs. When it became clear I wouldn’t, she huffed and stomped from my bedroom. I paused the game when I couldn’t hear her footsteps anymore and hung my head.

  It took less than five minutes of having her out of my sight for me to run after her.

  I found her in the kitchen staring into the refrigerator with her nose turned up. I was light on my feet so I was floored when I entered, and she turned her head.

  “Don’t you have anything besides sandwich meat and Gatorade?”

  “You vegetarian?”

  “No, but there’s nothing I want in here.”

  “Pick something.” I waited to see if she would obey. She slammed the door closed and planted her hands on her nonexistent hips.

  Cute.

  “Didn’t you hear me?”

  I leaned against the doorjamb and crossed my arms. “If you’re going to be a brat then I guess you aren’t hungry.”

  She put her back against the door. Maybe so I could watch her lick her lips. She was even prettier angry.

  Ten. She’s fucking ten.

  “Are you always so mean?”

  “Are you always so spoiled?”

  “I’m not spoiled. I’m hungry.”

  “What did you have in mind?” Why was I asking?

  She didn’t even think about. “Frozen yogurt.”

  “That’s not food.”

  “Daddy and I passed a shop on the way here.” Her eyes brightened, and she completely ignored my comment. “It’s just around the corner.”

  “You’re not leaving.” Theo’s orders to keep her safe meant not letting her out of my sight. It was one hell of a convenience because I had no intention of doing so until her father came back and took her from me.

  “Not by myself. Daddy says I have to stay with you no matter what. So will you take me?”

  “No.” I stood up straight and walked away before she had a chance to convince me. I didn’t trust her.

  Not.

  One.

  Bit.

  I heard her small footsteps running after me and picked up my pace. It was official. I ran from a little girl.

  “Why not?” Her yelling amused me.

  “Because I said so.”

  “So? That’s not good enough. I want to go.”

  “I’m not your father, kid.”

  “No, you’re not because you’re an asshole! My dad gives me whatever I want,” she taunted.

  I stopped climbing. She wasn’t expecting it, so when her body collided hard with my back, she was gone in an instant. Her fear-filled gasp struck a chord in my heart so that the beat quickened. Pivoting on my feet, I caught her shirt in my fist just in time. Her body leaned at an angle.

  Shit . She would have gone head first, and her father would have killed me.

  I pulled her up until she
was standing upright and released her when I trusted she was steady on her feet. Only then did I start to breathe again.

  “I’m going to tell my dad you pushed me.” She stuck her little nose in the air and dared me not to beg for mercy.

  My eyes narrowed into slits. I save this little cunt’s life, and she threatens me? “Then maybe I should push you so your father won’t know what a liar his precious daughter is.”

  Grabbing her shirt again, I push my fist into her flat chest until she's leaning over again. Her shriek is followed by teardrops spilling from emerald pools. I release my pinky from my fist to taunt her.

  “I’m sorry!" Terror has stricken her smooth, pale face.

  “No. You’re not.” I set her upright again and push her against the wall. “But you will be if you threaten me again.”

  Leaving her standing there looking too afraid to breathe, I lock myself in my bedroom.

  I shouldn't have been trusted with her.

  * * *

  Her father didn’t show up that Sunday. Two days turned into an entire summer with us at each other’s throats. I began to think Theo had forgotten about his daughter altogether when he finally showed up at the end of summer. But he came with news neither of us was willing to accept.

  “Daddy, what do you mean I have to stay here? For how long?” Her tone wasn’t one she should be using with her father, but he indulged her anyway.

  “For a while.”

  “But what about school?”

  “You’re going to transfer to a school here in Chicago.”

  I looked at my father who watched Theo’s daughter with a small grin. He was amused by her bratty behavior, but I knew he wouldn’t accept the same for me.

  “Dad?”

  “Yeah, son?”

  “I’m not sure what’s going on…”

  His grin dropped and his gaze hardened. “You wanted a slice of the pie. This is your way in.”

  “What about Mom?”

  “While I’m alive, your mother doesn’t make the decisions when it comes to you… or her,” he answered frigidly. I simply nodded because I knew my acceptance was all he expected. He was good to my mother and me. He even loved us, though some would disagree. His hard exterior was sometimes hard to turn off because of the hazards of his job.