Partners (Fire & Lies - One) (15 page)

We tell her
yes and follow her through a security door and into the back rooms
of the bank. There are several rooms to our left, and I can see the
large door of the safe up ahead of us.

“Basically, we
settle you into one of our private rooms.” She opens a sliding door
and shows us inside a room with dark wooden walls, burgundy floors
and a wooden bench in the centre. “Then our staff member will go
into the safe and fetch your box which will be delivered to you
through here.” She moves over to the wall and slides a panel to
show a metal shelf inside. “It never leaves the safe and when
you’re ready to leave, you lock your box, place it back inside and
press a call button so we can come and let you out. It’s all very
safe and very secure. No one can get to your box’s contents in our
facility.

I look around
the room, feeling as though this job just got a thousand times
harder. The security in this place is immensely stricter than it
was the last time I was in here. Before, you entered the safety
deposit room with a staff member, got the box together and then you
were moved into a viewing room. Now, it’s all different…

“Can I have a
moment with my wife please?” I ask her.

“Of course.
But this is a secure area, so this door will lock as soon as I
close it. Just hit the call button beside it when you’re ready.
I’ll return to escort you out.”

“Thank you,” I
say, watching her as she steps outside and slides the door shut.
The moment the locks engage, I slide my jacket off and peg it
against the wall. “Fuck!” I yell, as I begin to pace the floor.

“What the hell
are you doing? She might hear you!” Chloe hisses.

“She won’t
fucking hear me because we’re inside a fucking vault! Don’t you get
that? That giant fucking door down the end of the hall is where all
the boxes and the money are, and I’m pretty fucking sure that it’s
all behind individual fucking electronic doors.”

“So what are
you saying? Are you saying this isn’t going to work?”

“We’d be
better off kidnapping Audrey and making her get it for us.”

“That won’t
work,” she says in a small voice.

“What do you
mean it won’t work? It’s her fucking box!”

“I mean it
won’t work! I already fucking tried it! I took her, scared the fuck
out of her and she doesn’t have the key anymore. It’s a part of her
stupid contingency plan.”

“And it’s why
Goldsmith is keeping her alive and under close watch. He knows she
has evidence but he can’t get to it either.”

“I don’t even
know exactly which box it’s in.”

“Fucking
what
?” I spit.

“I told you,
the plan is to rob the bank. Not just one security deposit box,
Aiden.”

“How the fuck
are you expecting to do that on your own? I can’t teach you how to
do this, Chloe! How the fuck do you think you’re going to pull it
off? How are you even going to carry all that cash? I have never
met a woman more insane in my entire life.”

“Then don’t
help me, Aiden. Get out now, and I’ll go my own way. I just thought
you cared enough, if not for my father, then at least for all the
Donovan employees Goldsmith put out of work. I thought you’d like
to get some justice for them.”

“Those people
aren’t my fucking problem. I’m here for the money and nothing more.
Not you. Not them. Just me. I don’t give a fuck about your
justice,” I lie, watching as her eyes widen from my words. “What
you’re going to get is every cop in the country chasing after you.
And you’re doing this for what? So you can clear the name of a man
who is as good as dead?”

“I thought you
didn’t even want the money anymore.”

“I haven’t
decided what I want from this yet. But a prison sentence isn’t one
of the choices. There is no way you can pull this off without
getting caught.”

“I don’t care.
Goldsmith needs to be outed for the scum that he is.”

“Is your life
worth this?”

“Look at me,
Aiden. What life do I have? The Goldsmiths took everything from me.
They took my family, my livelihood–my love…”

I still at her
last words as they hit me, full force in my chest, causing my ears
to buzz and my guts to hurt. “Your love? What does that mean?”

“It means that
they are why I left you, Aiden. They said that if I didn’t leave
you then they’d ruin you, they’d ruin your family
and
they’d
ruin my father. I thought I was protecting everyone.”

I nod, trying
to stay calm as the revelation as to why she left without a word
finally comes out. My mind races, piecing things together as I draw
conclusions about what really happened. “But they stabbed you in
the back and took everything anyway.”

She nods. “I
was the key to the kingdom. The marriage got them through the door
and everything snowballed from there.”

“Fucking
hell.” I thought I hated the Goldsmiths before, but I hate them
even more in this moment.

“So you see? I
have to do this. I can’t let them live in their castle and sit on
their throne while my father is at death’s door. My mother is a
nervous wreck and I’m… I’m nothing. After all that hard work, I’m
nothing.”

I step toward
her, about to reach up to touch her face before I pause, not
wanting to spoil the makeup. “Let’s get out of here. Get out of
these faces and then we can talk, ok?”

She nods,
blinking rapidly to stop herself from crying as I walk over and hit
the call button by the door.

“We’re going
to work this out, Chloe. Some way or another–we’ll work this
out.”

THANKFULLY,
THE makeup doesn’t take as long to take off as it did to put on,
and I exit Aiden’s bathroom dressed once again in my jeans and my
regular face. I can see Aiden at the kitchen sink, trying to get
his face cleaned up as well, and he obviously hears me approach
because he says, “I don’t know how you women manage to get this
shit off everyday.”

“Well, we
don’t usually run around with prosthetic facial features on most
days,” I comment, reaching out and taking the dishcloth from his
hands, running it under the warm water before I reach up and wipe
gently at his skin. He’s removed most of it, but there’s still a
little around the edges of his face.

He watches me
carefully as I remove the last of it. “There,” I whisper when I’m
done. I place the cloth by the sink and reach up, brushing my
fingers through his dark hair.

He catches my
hand in his and holds onto it. “Why did you marry that guy?” he
asks in a gruff whisper.

“I told you. I
thought I was protecting you.”

“I didn’t need
protecting, sugar. I just needed you.”

I nod,
dropping my eyes from his as I fight my emotions. But he catches my
chin and makes me look back up at him, his hand releasing mine as
he slides both hands to cup either side of my face. Emotions flow
through me, and I’m afraid to speak, afraid to utter a sound that
could damage this moment. I want him. I want him to take me in his
arms and make me feel new again. Make me feel like there’s more to
this world than lies and deceit. I want him to show me joy and
light. I want him to make me
love.

“I just.
needed. you,” he repeats, his mouth closing over mine.

I close my
eyes tightly as my arms move to wrap around his neck, and I press
myself against him, moving my mouth with his as my tears fall
anyway. I didn’t want to cry but the way he’s kissing me is so soft
and gentle that it breaks my heart all over again as I’m faced with
everything we lost–everything we could have had.

His hands move
down to cup my buttocks and he pulls me against him, squeezing my
curves, his fingers almost painful in my flesh. The kiss becomes
more voracious as his tongue slides into my mouth, pushing and
sliding against mine. I let out a whimper as my body comes alive
under his roaming hands as they slide under my top, pushing up the
fabric as we begin to walk in a tangle of limbs toward the first
available surface.

Frantically,
we kiss, pausing only to separate long enough to pull each other’s
shirts over our heads, throwing them away like unwanted rags. The
heat of his skin against mine causes the hunger inside me to grow
to epic proportions, and I pull at the button on his pants, hearing
it hit the floor and bounce away as I drag down his zipper and
eagerly slide my hand in, moaning when I hit his smooth, hard
erection.

He groans into
my mouth as my hand grips around his girth, gliding up and down his
shaft. Still moving together, he shucks of his pants and boxers,
stepping out of them so he’s gloriously naked and pressed up
against me. I continue my movement over his cock, sliding my finger
over his tip, feeling the first drops of his arousal as my insides
throb with the want of him.

Finally, we
hit up against the edge of the table and his hands move fast,
unsnapping my bra and throwing it onto the ground before he hoists
me up by my arse, dragging my legs either side of him as his kisses
deepen and his hands move up to grip at my breasts.

He’s rough
with me–kneading my breasts and squeezing my nipples into hard
peaks as I release his cock and drag my fingertips over his skin,
touching him everywhere that I can.

“Fuck me,
Aiden. Fuck me hard,” I beg, my fingers digging into his arse as he
presses his hard cock against my stomach. I look down at his
engorged length, my mouth salivating at the sight of it. I want him
inside me. And I want it now.

He pulls back
slightly, dragging his teeth over my bottom lip before he releases
me. Then he reaches between us and makes quick work of my jeans and
panties, pulling them down my legs and dropping them on the
floor.

He steps back,
treating me to the beauty of his naked body, his cock standing tall
and proud, the end glistening with need. “Open,” he commands. “I
want to look at you.”

With my eyes
on his, I do as he asks, parting my thighs and exposing my core,
slowly. I lay back on the table, the cool air of the room, washing
over my heated flesh and causing it to bump. My nipples harden even
further and my clit throbs as he lets out a low rumble, his hand
stroking at his cock as he gazes upon my glistening wetness.

He moves
toward me again, placing the length of his cock against my entrance
so his tip slides over my clit, teasing me, driving me to
distraction. Then he leans over me, dipping his head to take my
nipple in his mouth and sucking back hard. I gasp.

“You like
that?” he growls, and I nod, arching my back and rocking my hips,
needing him to do more. My senses were set to burst and I needed
him to take me over the edge.

Gripping his
cock, he moves it up and down, between my fold, teasing my entrance
but not giving me the pleasure of his length inside me. Then
suddenly, he pauses and lifts his head, moving so he holds himself
above me, his hands either side of me as he searches my face with a
pained expression in his eyes. “I need you to tell me something,”
he whispers.

“Anything.”

“Tell me you
didn’t want him. Tell me you never felt anything like this with
him.”

I reach up and
slide my hands over his face, smoothing out his hard expression.
“He didn’t want me. And I didn’t want him.”

The relief
washes over his face and he turns his head and kisses my hand as he
shifts his hips and with one swift movement, his cock slides back
through my folds and he drives his tip into my entrance, filling me
swiftly with his large hard cock.

I cry out, my
body uncoiling immediately as he fills me up and hits his pace.
Long hard strokes as I call out and he grunts, slamming in and
drawing out over and over again. The heat swirls within my body,
and I grip at his forearms, my nails digging into his skin as he
continues to drive into me. My climax builds then spills over,
exploding behind my eyes, causing me to moan long and low as my
eyes roll back in my head. He shudders, spilling himself inside me,
moaning at his own release and I can feel him pulsing. Our release
intense but over far too quickly.

“Holy fuck,”
he groans, leaning down to take my mouth in his. I’m shaking and I
can feel him shaking too. I turn my head and let out a sob. “Oh
shit. Are you ok? Did I hurt you?”

I squeeze my
eyes shut and shake my head. “No. You didn’t hurt me. I just missed
you is all. I just missed you.”

He scoops me
up in his arms, lifting me off the table so I’m wrapped around him
with him still inside me. “I missed you too, sugar.”

And with that,
he carries me into the bedroom where he proceeds to show me exactly
how much he missed me until the day turns into night and the night
to day. When we finally fall asleep, I’m blissfully sore and my
last thought is a hope that I’m not dreaming and that this moment
of happiness is real.

EARLY
AUGUST,
three years ago

“
THIS IS
your room,” Sebastian stated, as he reached inside the door and
pressed on the light. A large chandelier glowed to life from within
an ornate moulded centrepiece that dominated the tall
ceiling.

Below it, a
large, four-poster bed, decorated with a dusty pink silk organza
and matching silk jacquard bedding sat surrounded by other matching
pieces of furniture–a day lounge, a desk, an entertainment centre.
It was as if that room was where she was to stay, sequestered away
from the rest of the world.

“
We won’t
be sharing one?” Chloe asked, finding it strange that the first
thing he did as husband and wife in their new home was to show her
where she belonged.

He smiled. It
was just a press of his lips but it was there, and it was the first
bit of emotion he’d shown all day. He obviously wanted this
marriage as much as she did. “My room is at the other end of the
house.”