by Lana Hartley
There are so many things I’ve wanted to say to that asshole over the years.
Soon, he won’t be my boss anymore. I won’t have to hold back. If I have to wrap him up in duct tape and send him back to the States through FedEx that won’t be a problem.
The image of Denham trussed up like a pig makes me grin. What a fucking moron he is. I suppose it’s lucky for me he can’t think his way out of a wet paper bag.
I let my mind wander where it wants to go and think about Lacey. I can’t stop thinking about her rolling around in all that cash. She’s so amazing, the glint in her eye and the little smile she gives when she’s thinking dirty thoughts.
It makes me ache just thinking about it. I want her so much. I can’t think about anyone else.
I can’t imagine wanting another woman now that I’ve had Lacey. Nothing can compare to her. It’s not just her body or her insatiable sexual appetite.
It’s her heart. How warm and soft she is inside. She’s tough.
She doesn’t take anyone’s shit. But she’s compassionate and truly cares about everyone. She makes me want to be a better man.
We’ll just have get this hard part over and done with. Then, I can start making it up to her.
I feel awful that Lacey’s stuck on the plane with Denham right now. It really sucks. I’m stressing out about it.
But it couldn’t be avoided. It was the one part of the plan we couldn’t change. Denham would have gotten suspicious straight away if we considered moving the money differently.
We couldn’t change the plan this late in the game. It’s vital that Denham feels he’s in control of the situation. I know he wants Lacey, but I don’t know what he wants more—the cash or her.
I don’t think he’ll hurt her. She must be scared though.
I almost threw in the whole plan earlier this morning. I was so close to calling Lacey and telling her not to get on the plane. I don’t want anything to happen to her.
I’m at this point—really fucking stressed out.
In the end though, we planned for too long to let it go now. Lacey’s an amazing fucking woman. If anyone can handle this, it’s her.
I can’t sit down and just calmly let time go by. I pace a little, do a few stretches. It doesn’t really help me get the tension out.
I’m still pretty keyed up. I’d love some weights to lift.
I wish I could talk to her and let her know I’m coming for her. I can’t stand the idea of her being scared or thinking we abandoned her. I know what a fucking creep Denham is.
Who knows what he’s telling her.
Who knows what he’s doing to her right now. It gives me the creeps just thinking about it. If he even touches her, I’ll tear him apart.
I hear my phone ringing, and I pounce on my jacket, wrestling it to get my phone out. Maybe it’s Lacey. I’m in such a hurry I don’t even see the screen.
“Hello!” I yell into the phone.
It’s not Lacey’s sweet soft tone that answers me, but Charlie’s annoyed one.
“Where are you, Adam? What’s going on?”
“Nothing, man.” I let out a breath slowly, trying to sound cool.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m at the gym. Isn’t that what I’m usually doing at this time?”
“It doesn’t sound like you’re at the gym.”
“It’s just a rowing machine or something. Don’t worry about it.”
Charlie pauses. “It doesn’t sound like a rowing machine.”
“It’s a new one. Makes a rushing sound to get you all revved up. I’m waiting for my turn.”
“Are you going to be long? We should talk.”
“I’ll be here for a few hours. You know how it is. I don’t understand the drama, man. Seriously. You need to take it easy.”
“What’s going on with the plan?”
“Nothing. The plan is fine. All set. Perfectly on track”
“But the money. Where’s the money?” Charlie sounds worried.
“It should be where we left it.”
There’s a deep silence from the other end of the phone. Maybe he’s at work now and he knows the money isn’t there. But the only reason he would have to go checking it out is that he wants to change the plan.
Or maybe he has his own plan. Maybe he doesn’t trust us. Maybe he went to get the money for himself.
He might know that I’m planning to screw them all. It really doesn’t matter. None of them can stop me now.
“Where’s Lacey?” Charlie’s voice is hard.
“She’s fine.” My tone is just as hard. “Don’t worry about it. Everything’s just fine.”
“Adam, I don’t like this. I haven’t spoken to her for a while now, and I can’t reach her. Denham didn’t tell us when he was leaving—”
“Have you checked on the money?” I decide to put him right on the spot.
He goes very quiet for a second.
“Why would I do that?” Charlie asks carefully.
“I don’t know. You just seem to be asking a lot of questions. Don’t you trust me?”
“Where’s Lacey? What’s going on?” Charlie starts to get animated.
I pinch the bridge of my nose, feeling a mother of a headache coming on. Neither one of us is answering the other’s questions. I wonder where the fuck Sam might be.
Perhaps he’s scheming against me, too.
This is starting to look like a cluster fuck, but it seems like I’ve made the right moves. I’m going to intercept Denham, get Lacey and the cash.
“Just don’t worry, Charlie. I’m busy right now. I can’t talk about this here.”
“So, go for a walk. You’re only at the gym. Or so you said.”
“Yeah, look, I’m busy. Gotta go.”
“Damn it! Adam! Where’s Lacey? If you let Denham take her, I’ll—”
“Lacey’s fine! Everything’s fine! Now get off my back for fuck’s sakes!” I hang up, tossing my phone on to the seat.
I keep pacing for a few minutes, finally sitting down to stare moodily out the window.
We aren’t far from landing now. I brood a little about the guys and what plans they might have had. It really doesn’t matter.
I’m ahead now.
I buckle up as we descend. We land in the area of the airport reserved for private planes. I wait a few minutes for the jet to coast to a stop.
As soon as they open the doors and roll me up some stairs, I take a step two at a time.
I have no idea where to start looking. I know they should be here already or landing any minute. I turn back, thinking I’ll ask the pilot to check the landing records for this morning. Perhaps it was mentioned on their radio.
Somewhere behind me, someone calls my name.
Chapter 33
Charlie
Something doesn’t feel right. I hate that Lacey is anywhere but with me.
The plane jerks as the wheels hit the runway. Finally.
I jumped onto my private plane as soon as I could. No way was I going to sit back and not be as close to her as I can be in case she needs me. So now I’m in Switzerland.
I told no one I was headed here, especially not Adam and Sam. Fuck them. Lacey is all mine.
I won’t have any chance with my plan to screw them over and end up on top with Lacey by my side if they get wind of what I’m up to.
Lacey is mine. She’ll always be mine.
The plane stops completely, and, soon, I’m rushing down the plane’s stairs. I go inside the airport to wait for Lacey’s plane. She hasn’t arrived yet, but she will be here soon.
I find a bar and order a drink while I wait. I take a big gulp to help calm some of my nerves.
Usually, I don’t have nerves that need calming. I have my shit together. Plus, I’m the biggest and baddest motherfucker out there with no reason to be nervous around others; it’s others who should be nervous around me.
But this is Lacey we’re talking about. The woman makes me feel and exp
erience things I’ve never experienced with anyone else before. She is the light and joy in my life.
I can’t lose her. I refuse to lose her.
My eyes scan the crowd lazily, not really taking in the details of any one face.
I glance briefly over a man who stands out in the crowd, but then jerk my head back towards him so quickly I feel like I just gave myself whiplash.
I go still. What the fuck?
Sam is here. He shouldn’t be here.
My nerves are all burned away by the anger now raging though my veins. That motherfucker should not be here. Screw the fact that I’m technically not supposed to be here, either.
I burst off the bar stool and rush towards the asshole.
I come up behind and grab his shoulder furiously.
“You motherfucker!” I yell. “What the hell are you doing here?”
When Sam turns around, though, it isn’t Sam. It’s a stranger who’s starring back at me—and he’s pissed.
“What the fuck did you say, asshole?” he growls. His face is pinched in pure annoyance and anger.
“Sorry, man,” I reply. “Thought you were someone else.”
“I don’t give a fuck who you thought I was. Maybe you should make sure you know who you’re calling a motherfucker before you attack them.”
Jesus. Really? It was a mistake, asshole.
“Like I said, I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to get all up in your face.”
“Well, you did, asshole,” he states as he comes closer to me until we’re practically on top of each other. “I should deck your ass for the shit you just pulled. I was already having a shit day and then your dumb-ass self had to come along and make it worse.”
I do not have the time or energy to teach this asshole a fucking a lesson. I want to beat the shit out of him already for blowing a simple misunderstanding out of proportion.
Reaching into my back pocket, I pull out my wallet.
“Okay,” I say in a placating voice. “I’m sorry for making your shit day even shittier. So here. This should pay for the trouble I’ve caused you.”
I hand him two one hundred dollar bills. Fucking douchebag.
He looks a little stunned at first when he grabs the money.
“Thanks,” he mumbles.
“No problem,” I reply before walking away.
Asshole. He was going to start a fight in the middle of the damn airport all because I “made his day shittier than it was before.” I shake my head.
Some people are straight-up fucking idiots.
I go back to the bar and return to the barstool I was sitting on before I mistook the jerk as Sam.
God. I’m so high-strung right now that I’m going crazy, thinking I’m seeing a man who wants my woman all to himself.
I wish Lacey was already here and by my side. I want her safe and happy in my arms. Far away from Denham, Adam, and Sam.
It feels like ages since I last saw her. Really, though, it’s only been less than twenty-four hours.
I gulp down the rest of my drink, slamming the glass down onto the bar. I run my hand through my hair out of frustration and irritation.
Where the hell is she?
I glance down at the Rolex on my wrist. Fifteen more minutes. Great.
I order another drink.
Once more, I look out at the people milling around the airport. All these people without a care in the world. No worries of a sleazy CEO or the person they cherish the most in possible danger.
I’m ready for this whole situation to be over and done with. I’m ready to have Lacey basking on the beach of our island with no bathing suit on. I want to be having my fill of her all day long on any and every surface of the house we’ll build on our island.
Just me and her, with nothing and no one to bother us.
I begin to turn back towards the bar, where the bartender has just set my new drink, when I stop short at the sight of another man. Another man that once again I think looks like Sam.
Jesus, Charlie. He’s not fucking here. Neither is Adam.
Pull yourself together and stop going crazy. Neither of them knows you’re here, and neither of them is as clever as you to think to come to Switzerland like you. They’re both back home sitting around ready for things to just work out.
Shit, Adam was just saying on the phone earlier that everything was going to be fine.
I shake myself off the crazy feeling of thinking I saw Sam again.
Focus, Charlie. Your head can’t be all over the place right now. It needs to be focused.
For your sake and for Lacey’s sake, you have to be at the top of your game.
I take a deep breath.
Lacey’s plane will be here in a minute. I stand up and leave cash for the bartender before heading off in search of Lacey.
Chapter 34
Sam
“Adam! You son of a bitch!” I shout across the hangar.
I am fuming and nearly ready to punch him in the back of his two-bit backstabbing head.
“Sam? What the fuck are you doing here?!” he shouts as he whips around.
“What do you think? Making sure Lacey is safe, the money is safe, and everything goes off fine. What the hell are you doing here?”
“I’m…same thing, obviously!”
“Bullshit! You’re trying to steal the money and her for yourself, aren’t you?” I shove him.
“Why the hell would you think that? And don’t fucking touch me!” he postures. “The only reason you’d think that is if that’s why you’re actually here.”
People start to gather around to stare at us.
“Don’t pull that shit with me! Where the hell is she?” I say.
“What the fuck?” We both hear from behind us.
We spin around to see Charlie barreling at us from the bar.
“You, lying sons of bitches!” Charlie yells.
“What do you mean? You’re here, too!” Adam says.
“Yeah, but I didn’t lie about shit! You said you were at the fucking gym!”
“Look, I said that…you know what? Fuck you!” Adam shouts and turns away.
He looks up at the incoming flight screen and stares quietly.
“Her flight is in and says it’s offboarded, huh?” I say quietly.
People are trickling through the gate, but there’s no sign of Lacey. We all check our phones silently, waiting for anything.
“Think the plan fucked up?” Charlie says.
“Yeah, looks like. Maybe that fat fuck wizened up a little?” Adam says.
“Doubt it,” I say. “But it sounds like we all had the same thought, huh? Take the money, take the girl, and fuck off into the sunset?”
“Pretty much,” Adam nods.
“Yeah, sorry guys,” Charlie says.
“Hmph…” I plop down into a nearby seat as I stare around the airport.
I’d love more time to explore. Switzerland seems pretty nice. Maybe Lacey can show me around when this all blows over…if we’re not in jail, I guess.
“Well, at worst,” Charlie begins, “Denham has pieced it all together and is taking Lacey somewhere else, along with the money, to keep it all for himself. Frames us since he’s probably pretty pissed off, so we end up in jail, and we never see her again.”
“And at best?” Adam says.
“Well, as it stands, at best, she escapes from him and flees without a single cent into a random foreign country. I’m sure she can handle herself, but I’m also pretty sure Denham still figures out how to fuck us over and put us in jail.” Charlie sighs.
“What if it’s all of us?” I say suddenly.
“What?” the two of them say simultaneously.
“Well, she likes all of us, it seems. That’s what she expected from the start. And shit, this is pretty great, isn’t it?”
They nod in response.
I continue, “So…we go in together. Stop the plane, save the girl, and bring her home together? And if she doesn’t want to pick one of us her
self then…we split the island and the girl, just like we said from the start. But no lying this time.”
“That…that’s an idea,” Charlie says.
“I guess I can put up with you assholes for a little bit more,” Adam smirks.
“Let’s give it a few more minutes, I guess. Maybe there are issues with the money,” I say. “And do a quick cheers to us all.”
I head over to the bar and order us a round of aged whiskey that I’ve never heard of, and we all give a toast to Lacey and to us.
I stare up at the screen as we sip our drinks and watch the numbers click over back and forth. Suddenly, Lacey’s flight status changes to “delayed.”
“Hey…” I point up at the screen. “That’s weird, right? It shouldn’t say delayed since it already got here?”
“No…” Adam says. “It shouldn’t.”
We stare at it, and it suddenly changes to “departing.”
“Fuck!” Charlie shouts.
We suddenly burst out, running through the gate. They try to stop us at the check, but Charlie flashes his wallet and mutters something about the FBI before shouldering past them. We duck into a hallway marked “Employees Only” and manage to find our way outside.
Lacey’s plane is starting to pull away, so Adam screams to a nearby tram driver.
“Here’s one thousand U.S. dollars. Drive this right in front of that plane right there and run away. We’ll take all the responsibility.”
The driver is dumbstruck but stares down at the stack of cash and nods. He speeds off, and in moments, the plane stopped as the young guy sprints away.
Someone moves the stairs next to the plane, touching an earpiece with a confused look on his face. He must be getting orders from Denham or his security. Good.
The door opens, and a handful of very burly security guys storm out with very angry looks for us. Not good.
“Any thoughts?” I shout.
“They’re in the way of our girl, right? Fuck ‘em!” Adam says.
We make our way up to the plane, and the security guys pose surprisingly little challenge for us. Charlie takes a solid hit to the shoulder, but they all go down with just a few swings from us.
“Cheap fuck even skimped on his security,” Adam pants.
Charlie and I laugh as we enter the plane.