14. Nicholas

14

NICHOLAS

I sliced into my Beef Wellington, taking a small bite as I watched Raven from across the room. She was absolutely stunning, smiling at all the appropriate times as she delicately cut her meat. I had to admit, she was a pro. She had everyone in the room fooled as to who she was and why she was here.

I ignored Fox as he rambled on about how much better shawarma was than the Beef Wellington. Nothing could distract me from the beauty at the other end of the table. When she stood, I scooted back my chair, following her out of the room.

"What are we doing?" Fox asked excitedly.

I eyed her curiously as she hurried up the stairs after checking to make sure it was clear.

"Ooh, are we following her? Is it going down now?"

"Fox, go back to dinner."

"Nah, this is so much more fun."

I started running up the stairs, afraid I would miss her in action. I saw her run into a room, quickly closing the door behind her. After checking down the hall, I quietly opened the door, slipping inside behind her. Fox held up a finger to his lips as he shut the door, then followed me over to a darkened corner of the room easily concealed by a large wingback chair.

I crouched down, jabbing Fox with my elbow as he started to chuckle. Just seconds later, the door opened and her companion came into the room. Within minutes, they were in the safe, taking the treasured eggs. I watched the whole thing in awe. But when the alarms sounded, she bolted from the room.

"Is that our cue?" Fox asked.

"Cue for what?"

"To take down the baddies!" he said excitedly.

I was out the door and racing down the hall, trying to catch up. The man with her saw me, then grinned before slamming the door shut. I twisted the knob, but he'd locked it.

"Better luck next time," Fox laughed.

I rammed my shoulder into the door, breaking it down.

"Or we can break down the door and go after her," he shouted as I climbed over the broken door.

I ran up the stairs and across the roof just as the man swung something at her head, knocking her out. My feet ate up the asphalt on the roof as I rushed to help her. But the man had already lifted her in the air, looking back at me just as he flung her over the side of the building. I didn't think twice as I leapt over the side after her, falling to the water below.

"I'm coming too, Tate!" I heard Fox yell.

My arms cut through the water as I fought to reach the surface and find Raven. I gasped for air as I broke the surface, then spun around searching for her. There was no sign of her. I dove underwater, searching through the darkness for her. But it was impossible to see anything in the inky darkness of the water. I pulled out my flashlight, shining it through the depths below.

In just seconds, I caught sight of her hand floating in the water. I swam further, not stopping until I had her in my grasp. Then, with all the force I could muster, I kicked us to the surface, breaching just as I felt like I would pass out from lack of oxygen.

"We did it!" Fox laughed, splashing in the water. "Man, he thought he had us, but we showed him!"

"Fox, why didn't you get him?"

He looked at me funny. "Because I had to rescue you. And good thing I did. You nearly drowned down there. I thought you were a SEAL."

"I didn't almost drown," I retorted, dragging Raven behind me as I swam with one arm through the water. Fox floated beside me, slowly moving himself toward the shore with ease.

"Really?" he scoffed. "Then why did I have to pull you to the surface?"

"You didn't. I was swimming."

"Well…I had a hand on you."

"That's not the same as saving me," I snapped. "Her partner tried to kill her. What the fuck were you thinking?"

"Uh…that my bestie was about to die and I needed to save him. There's always another shot to catch a killer, my little Tater Tot. But if you died, I would never forgive myself."

I finally reached the shore and struggled to pull Raven out as my muscles burned from the exertion. Fox, on the other hand, pulled himself easily from the water and took the time to wring out his clothes.

"I always did like a midnight swim," he chuckled. "Man, that was refreshing."

I laid Raven on her back, and the jolt of landing on the ground must have jerked her awake. She coughed up water, rolling to the side. I patted her back, hoping she was okay. Her head was bleeding, but it was a good sign that she was awake.

Groaning, she rolled to her back. "Fuck, what the hell happened?"

"Are you alright?"

She jerked upright, wincing as she stared at me. "What…"

"Your partner threw you off the roof."

"Yeah, and this guy jumped in after you. Man, what a guy," Fox beamed.

Shouting sounded from inside the mansion. I jumped to my feet and grabbed her hand, hauling her upright. "Time to go."

We ran across the grounds with Fox making commentary along the way.

"Good luck, governor. You'll never find the jewels," he said in a British accent.

"Fox, would you shut the fuck up?"

"Who is that guy?"

"I'm his bestie. Well, I'm also besties with The Kamau, but a person can have multiple besties."

"No, you can't," Raven retorted. "You can only have one best friend. The next person is just your…friend."

I grabbed her hand and pulled her behind me, feeling her stumble slightly as we ran. I caught a flash of headlights in the distance and figured it was Rae or FNG. Either way, that was our ticket out of here.

"Wait, you're telling me you've never once had two people you considered your best friends?" Fox said incredulously. "That's like asking me to choose between Funyuns and shawarma!"

"They're two totally different foods," Raven snapped.

"But equally delicious."

"Shut up!" I shouted over my shoulder. We crested a rolling hill on the property, leading us to a copse of trees. I tugged Raven's hand to move faster as tree branches scraped at us. She never complained, not even when she stumbled and fell to the ground, falling in a heap of leaves and twigs.

I bent over to help her up, but she shoved me away, getting back to her feet and swaying slightly. "I'm okay," she said breathlessly.

I didn't believe her, but we had to get out of there before the police arrived, which would be any minute now. I grabbed her arm, tucking her against my side as we ran the rest of the way.

"You know, I haven't seen him like this since his last wife," Fox commented.

"Fox, shut it."

"Of course, she was cheating on him," he continued.

"Fox!"

"I helped him stalk her too. You're lucky. You're part of the club now. You can join my wife."

I shot him a look over her shoulder, promising retribution. "Know when to stop talking."

"Oh, because she might not like that you've been stalking her," he winked. "Gotcha. It's on the DL."

"You already told her!"

"Like I hadn't figured it out already?" Raven huffed. "I saw you on the bench."

"You weren't supposed to," I muttered, ushering her to the clearing.

"Maybe you should be a little less obvious next time."

"It's true. You're not supposed to be seen when stalking," Fox continued. "I know I taught you better."

"Fox, just shut the fuck up!"

As expected, Rae was waiting with a bored expression. "I could have made it in half the time."

"Rae, you know Raven."

Rae nodded. "How unlucky of you to get stuck with both of them. At least FNG wasn't with you."

"Where is he?" I asked, looking in the back of the car.

"He said something about causing a distraction."

"Wasn't the alarm enough of a distraction?" I asked.

In the distance, I heard a shout, followed by a figure running in the dark.

"I think that's our cue," Fox said, rubbing his hands together. "Shall we?"

"To the car," I turned and shouted, but was instantly blinded by the headlights as the car spun, nearly driving straight into me. I briefly saw those beautiful green eyes staring at me before a grin split her lips and she drove off with our only source of getting away.

"Did she just steal our car?" Rae shouted.

"Dude, I think she likes you," Fox chuckled.

"She stole our car!" Rae yelled. She stormed over to me and started smacking me. "Why would you let her steal our car?"

"I didn't let her! You're the one who left the keys in the ignition."

"Because I thought you were rescuing her," Rae retorted.

Fox laughed, running his hand along his jaw. "She's feisty. I like it."

"What the fuck are we going to do now?" Rae snapped.

"Fuck, I don't?—"

"Hands up!"

I sighed as I heard the men approach. We were so screwed. Slowly, I raised my hands, turning to face the men who held their guns on us. "You didn't hear them coming?" I muttered to Rae.

"I was too busy watching my car disappear with your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Sorry, the woman you're obsessing over."

"Stop talking!" one of the men shouted. We were surrounded by five men, all of them pointing guns at us.

Fox turned to me, his eyes going dark as a grin spread over his lips. "I've got this."

There was about to be bloodshed, and it wouldn't be so easy to clean up with half the county at the house. I had to move fast.

"We're a security firm," I said quickly before Fox could make his move. "We were following the suspect onto the property."

He looked at me strangely. "Suspect?"

"I believe something very valuable was stolen from the house tonight."

His eyes went wide as he pulled out his walkie-talkie. "I've got three men in custody. Uh…scratch that. Two men and a lady. They say something was stolen tonight. We're at the southeast corner of the property, just beyond the woods."

"What are you doing?" Rae asked out of the corner of her mouth.

"Improvising."

"You're going to turn her in?"

"No, I'm just buying us time."

FNG came running up behind the man, shouting and waving his hands and practically out of breath. "Hey! I…got it…I think…we're clear."

"FNG, I was just telling this man that there's been a robbery tonight."

"A what?"

"A robbery."

"From your girl?"

"You know the woman who tried to steal something?" the man asked.

"Tried?" FNG snorted. "Succeeded."

"What he means is, we were tracking her, but she had an accomplice. He turned on her and before we could recover the stolen property, he threw her off the side of the building."

"So, she's not your girl?" FNG asked. "I just jumped into the lake. A little heads-up would have been nice."

The man narrowed his eyes at me. "You're not going anywhere."

I nodded. "I'm aware of that."

"She took off in your car," FNG said in astonishment.

"I know," I bit out.

My phone was in the car," Rae grumbled.

"You dove off a roof to save her life," FNG continued.

"I'm aware."

"And I jumped in to save you," Fox scoffed. "How ungrateful."

I slowly turned to him. "If you had stayed with her partner, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"I beg to differ. If I had stayed with him, I would have had to kill him. I'd have to dump the body into the lake, and when he floated to the surface, he would have been identified. Eventually, he would have been linked to Raven, and then she would have been linked to you. If you think about it, I really saved you a ton of extra work."

"Not to mention how Cash would have reacted," FNG added.

I sighed as we were guided into an office on the first floor. The door was shut behind us, and we were left to wait for Sir Henry Allsebrook to come in. I walked over to a leather armchair and sat down, slumping back in the luxurious seat.

"Is this real crystal?" FNG asked, picking up a decanter.

"If it is, it's worth more than your life," Rae retorted.

"Yeah, like that's true," he snorted. He poured himself a glass and took a sip. "Damn, that's smooth." He turned to face me. "Do you think she planned it?"

"Planned to get hit over the head and thrown off a roof, you mean?"

"Well, when you put it like that…"

"I like it," Fox grinned. "She's got style."

"She took our ride and left us to face the heat," Rae pointed out.

"Ruthless, right? He knows," Fox pointed at me. "He likes it."

I didn't answer. My glare was enough to tell him to shut up. But he wasn't wrong. The fact that she stole the car and left us behind was deceptive, evil, and fucking hot. Instead of staying with us out of some sense of obligation, she took off and left us to clean up her mess.

"You seriously like her?" Rae laughed. "After she made a fool of you, you still think she's the one?"

"I never said she was the one. Obsession doesn't mean I want her."

"He's right," Fox pointed at me. "Obsession is nine-tenths of the law."

"That's possession."

"Either way."

"Not either way," I snapped. "Just because I want to find out what makes her tick doesn't mean I want to own her. I'm not a cattle rancher."

"But how cool would that be? I could be your hand."

"My what?"

"You know…a cattle hand or whatever they're called."

I narrowed my eyes at Fox. He was losing it. "We're not getting a ranch together."

"Are you sure?" he grinned.

"Pretty fucking sure."

"But not sure enough to totally count it out."

"It's out. Believe me."

He stared at me a moment, then tossed his head back in laughter. "Man, you almost got me. I'll start researching ranches right away."

"I'm not going in on a ranch with you."

"If you don't, where will you hide out while I'm pretending to be you?"

"Why would you pretend to be him?" Rae asked curiously.

"You know, when he disappears like Cash did. Someone has to be him while we discover what happened to him."

"Why wouldn't we just look for him? Why does he need someone to play his part?"

Fox rolled his eyes, scoffing at the apparent stupidity of the question. "Duh, because if they know he's missing, then it would be pretty fucking hard to rescue him from the baddies."

I pinched the bridge of my nose, drowning out the insanity of the conversation.

"Are you sure you want a cattle ranch?"

"What?"

"Think about it," Fox said thoughtfully. "What if we raised guinea pigs?"

"Guinea pigs," I repeated.

"Yep, you know, for bacon."

"Guinea pigs are small."

"Yeah, but maybe it's like deer. You know, a different flavor."

"Isn't a guinea pig like a giant hamster?" FNG asked.

"I'm not raising Guinea Pigs."

"Alright, then chickens. Ooh, and roosters! I've always wanted a cock to crow at dawn."

"Why?" FNG asked stupidly.

"The cock crows at dawn and then my cock crows at dawn," Fox grinned. "Did you see what I did there?"

"Fox, we all saw what you did there," I sighed.

"Because the cock is the rooster. And my cock would be my penis."

"Yeah, we got it," I snapped.

"I was just explaining. FNG didn't seem to get it."

"I got it. I was just sorry I asked."

The door swung open and Henry waltzed in, glancing at all of us curiously. This would really be the best time to let him know I wasn't with Fox. He was bound to screw this up before I had a chance to get us out of the clusterfuck we were in.

And it was all thanks to Raven.

"Gentlemen," Henry nodded, then turned to Rae. "Ma'am."

She hid a laugh behind a cough. "You can call me Rae."

"Yes," Henry said, almost in disgust. "Well, I would love to hear about how you knew I was going to be robbed and failed to mention it to my security team."

"We weren't sure it was going to happen. We suspected," I hedged.

"And you said nothing."

"We didn't have a name," I continued. "And we didn't know the target. There were rumors that someone would try to steal something, but we really had no intel."

"And yet, as I already pointed out, you said nothing."

Yeah, this was going to take a little finagling. "Sir, if we had come to you and said we suspected someone was going to rob you, but we didn't know who it would be, what they were stealing, or if it would even happen tonight, what would your reaction have been?"

He stared at me for a moment before a slight huff of laughter slipped from his lips. "True, true," he said, taking a seat behind his desk. "So, you know the woman in question."

"Yes, but she had an accomplice."

"And you didn't apprehend either of them," he said. I could hear the disrespect in his tone. He couldn't believe we hadn't caught either of them.

"The accomplice turned on the woman and threw her from your roof into the lake. I had a split-second decision to make. I went after the woman."

"You saved a woman who stole from me and let priceless artifacts be stolen."

I was about to argue about how saving a woman's life was worth more than some jewels, but Rae intervened.

"She has the buyer information. It will be very difficult for the accomplice to move the items on his own. This way, she'll track him down and lead us right to the stolen eggs."

"But if you had gone for the eggs, we wouldn't be in this position. I don't think I have to tell you how much those are worth."

"They're also stolen property," I pointed out. I wasn't entirely certain about that, but why else would he keep them in a safe out of view? He could easily keep them in a bulletproof case with all the security measures in the world. He could afford that. Which meant that they had to be stolen.

When Henry didn't answer right away, I knew I was right.

"The fact is, you need these eggs retrieved with as little noise as possible. If anyone found out that you had stolen Russian Imperial Family treasure, you'd have the entire weight of the Russian government bearing down on you."

"What do you propose?"

"We will retrieve the eggs for you."

"I don't know anything about you."

Rae handed over a card. "It's sort of what we do."

Allsebrook took the card and read it. "You work for a security firm. That's hardly treasure retrieval."

"The men you're dealing with aren't afraid to kill. As I explained, the man involved threw the woman off the roof. Do you really want to send amateurs after your priceless treasure?"

He considered this for a moment. "Fine."

"Great," I said, shoving my hand in my pocket. "I'll be in contact with my boss. He'll send over the contract for you."

"What time frame are we looking at?"

"That depends on how long it takes us to find the woman, which shouldn't take too long."

After Allsebrook mentioned a few more times how precious the eggs were, reminding us to take the utmost care with them, we headed out the front door—this time not escorted by guards.

"That was close," FNG muttered.

"It's fine," I grunted. "All we have to do is retrieve the eggs."

"Yes, track down the eggs, steal them back from the psycho who pushed your girlfriend off a roof, and return them to a thief," Rae surmised. "This sounds like exactly the type of job Cash would want us to take. Oh, and while we're at it, we'll ruin any chance you have of winning Raven back."

"On the bright side," Fox said, slinging his arm around my neck. "When this is all over, you and I will be proud new owners of a cattle ranch."

I shrugged him off.

"Chicken farm?"

I kept walking.

"Alright, vegetable farm! Last chance. I won't make another offer!"

I flipped him the bird.

"Chickens it is!"