Fated

by MandalorianHybrid

Summary:

Ray's only been out for a few weeks before Donnie comes to him with a job, but Merrimen isn't completely stupid. He doesn't fully trust the stranger with the "perfect plan". Trouble is, if he wants to lay those suspicions to rest, it means knocking on some doors he doesn't want to knock on again. Ten years is a long time, and shit changes, but Ray hopes he can always count on those he's known the longest, especially her.

Chapter 1: A Fist from the Past

Notes:

There will be flashbacks of Ray before and during prison, and smutty smut smut coming soon!

Donnie was still going along for the ride, and he was fine with it. The more time he spent with these people, the better he would be able to predict their actions. It was like his superpower. Within a few hours or days of meeting someone (depending on how complex a person they were) he’d know them almost better than they knew themselves. Given how many people he was surrounded by, he knew he had to spend as much time with them as possible to cover all angles.

After doing a bit of scouting the route for the armored truck, Ray apparently decided he had another errand to run, one that he didn’t plan on sharing with either of his passengers.

“We gotta go see someone.” Ray said as he drove.

Donnie’s brows pulled together in confusion, an expression Enson shared for a few minutes, until something donned on him. Enson let out a low, long sigh.

“Come on, man.” Enson mumbled. His dissatisfaction with whatever was about to happen was clear and it made the young man in the backseat a little uncomfortable. “We really gotta do this?”

Ray shot his brother a sideways glance. Enson sighed heavily, and loudly once more. He wanted to be sure Ray understood just how unhappy he was with what they were doing. There was no way he didn’t. Even Donnie could feel it, but that didn’t stop the giant from driving.

“Where we goin’?” Donnie finally found the courage to ask. He was always toting the line, making sure he didn’t overstep while still learning everything he could. It was a delicate balance.

“See a friend.” Ray replied shortly.

Enson scoffed and shook his head. “Since when?”

Ray didn’t respond to his challenge and the rest of the drive was taken in silence. No one bothered pestering anyone further, or taking more jabs, but the atmosphere in the SUV was tense.

After another half an hour of driving, Ray finally pulled over. He found a parking spot on the street not too far from the beach, which surprised Donnie more than the fact that they’d driven for nearly an hour to reach one of the most “touristy” parts of Venice Beach.

“Let me do all the talkin’.” Ray said as they exited the vehicle.

“Why?” Enson asked. “You the one who’s gonna get shot.”

“Yeah,” Ray said with a sigh. “You’re probably right.”

Donnie continued to keep his mouth shut as he examined the world around him. There were people walking everywhere, some roller blading (for some reason), and others walking dogs. Everyone was going about their business, bathing in the sun, without a care.

Ray led the pair behind him down the boardwalk, passing shop after shop before arriving at one that seemed to primarily sell surfing goods. Ray stepped inside and Donnie and Enson followed.

The interior of the shop was claustrophobic, but not surprising. Real estate on the boardwalk was expensive and in high demand. As a result, space was capitalized on.

Racks with bathing suits, shelves with surfboard wax, flip-flops, souvenirs, and so much more was scattered everywhere. There was order to the chaos, but just so much. And the smell of the wax was almost headache-inducing. Some of them were scented on purpose and in the warmth of the day, the fragrance saturated the air.

Donnie couldn’t help but rub his nose to try and rid it of the stench.

“Hey,” Ray said.

His voice drew Donnie’s attention away from the bobbles and to the cashier, a young man with long hair and plain features. He looked just like everyone else. Donnie almost pitied him for being so forgettable because he knew that the moment he left, even he wouldn’t remember the cashier at all.

“Theo here?” Ray asked.

The cashier didn’t reply. Instead, he turned in his seat and shouted.

“Yo, Theo!” He called out loudly. Donnie thought it was unnecessary given the shop wasn’t a big place. “There’s some guy here to see you.”

A faint yeah was heard in the back of the store. A moment later, a hand brushed the hanging beads in the doorway aside and Theo emerged. Theo was a woman, and she didn’t look happy to see Ray.

Donnie glanced her over. She was young-ish, probably around Ray’s age, with skin lighter than he’d assume for someone who worked on the beach. Long, dark, nearly-black hair hung to her waist in a sloppy braid. Her short-sleeved shirt was baggy, but Donnie could tell she was lean beneath it, a fact that was added to when he saw how her shorts struggled to encompass her toned thighs.

She was pretty, too. A heart-shaped face, high cheekbones, and full lips decorated with a thin sliver of silver were only accentuated by her almost unnaturally bright green eyes. They looked like they glowed, like, no matter the distance, one could tell her eyes were green.

“The fuck do you want?” she asked Ray with a tight edge.

“Just to talk.”

“Hm,” She mumbled before her gaze drifted to the others. “Enson, how you been? How’s the family?”

“Good,” he said. “E’rbody’s good. Malia’s been askin’ how you’re doin’. Think she misses you.”

“Miss her, too.” Theo replied.

“Give ‘er a call some time.”

She nodded and then set her stare to Donnie. He felt a trickle of cold race down his spine, like someone had walked over his grave. He shifted on his feet under the weight of it. He didn’t like it. Thankfully, the moment her eyes drifted again, the unease passed and he was able to breathe again. He didn’t like it when Theo looked at him. It felt like she could see through him in some weird, otherworldly sort of way. He hadn’t met anyone like that before, at least not someone other than his own grandma. He didn’t like it when his Grams did it, either.

When the others weren’t looking, he shook the strangeness from his shoulders.

Theo turned her attention to Ray. “We’re closed.”

It was a boldfaced lie and everyone in the store knew it. It was midday, no way in hell a place like that was closed, but she said it regardless. It was a brush off, perhaps the nicest way for her to tell Ray to fuck off, but he didn’t take the hint.

She spun casually on her heel with every intention of leaving, but Ray didn’t seem willing to give her the chance.

“Come on, T.” He said, forcing her to pause. “Ten minutes, one reading each.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a stack of bills folded in half to show her. “That’s all.”

She didn’t seem swayed in the least by the couple hundred dollars he flashed. In fact, she looked angrier than before. Donnie could have sworn on a bible that he saw her eyes flash with fire.

“Why? You don’t listen anyway.” She said. “It’s just gypsy bullshit, remember?” Ray sighed. His shoulders fell and he lowered the hand with the money. “That’s what you said, right?”

“T,”

“Fuck off, Ray.” She told him simply. Apparently, direct was the only way to go with Ray Merriman. “And don’t come back to my shop.”

Without another word, Theo retreated to the backroom once again.

“Hm,” Enson mumbled while Ray slid his money back into his pocket. The tall man glanced at his friend over his shoulder. “That went better than I thought. I figured she’s gonna kill you, man.”

“I would’ve preferred it.” Ray replied. “Come on. Let’s go.”

Donnie didn’t know what happened. He didn’t know what connection Ray had to Theo or why she seemed to hate him so much, but there was clearly history there.

****

Theo was at home with music on the in the background as she cooked herself something to eat. She was still a bundle of nerves after seeing Ray stroll into her shop. It didn’t seem to matter that hours had passed. Seeing him again simply threw her out of whack.

As she tasted the bit of her chili from the end of a wooden spoon, there was a knock on her door. Theo wasn’t expecting company, so she was already annoyed. It was nearly ten o’clock and the only person that knocked on her door that late was Mr. Waterson, the old man who lived next door.

The apartment walls weren’t paper thin, but they might as well have been as far as Waterson was concerned. It didn’t matter what was happening within her home, he’d find a way to complain. Sometimes company was too loud, other times it was the television. Since she was listening to music, she assumed that would be his major complaint, and she’d be forced to turn it down despite its already low volume.

After she set the spoon down, Theo approached her front door, wiping her hands in the process. There was another trio of hard-handed knocks by the time she made it.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” She said as she unlocked her deadbolt. “The music’s not loud, Mr. Water-“

Her words were cut short when she opened the door. The man standing before her most assuredly wasn’t the sexagenarian from next door.

“The fuck do you want?” She asked coldly.

Ray took a deep breath and let it out slowly. His shoulders slumped just a bit while he slid his hands into his pockets.

“Can I come in?” He asked.

“Depends.”

She saw him tighten his jaw, likely biting down on whatever comment he wanted to make. He paused before he spoke, which she assumed was probably difficult for him to do.

“I just want to talk, T.” He said.

“Yeah,” She mumbled. Theo surprised herself when she stepped back without slamming the door in his face. “Sure you do.”

Theo returned to the kitchen. She left Ray to decide what he wanted to do, and how he wanted to proceed. When she heard her door shut, it was followed closely by the sound of a locking deadbolt, so she knew he was inside.

Theo went back to stirring her chili. There wasn’t much need, in truth. The concoction was fine to simmer for a while, but it gave her something to do and kept her from acknowledging the six-foot-four giant looming behind her.

Minutes ticked by without conversation or an explanation as to why Ray had gone to her apartment. She didn’t bother asking how he knew where she lived. He was a very resourceful man. If he wanted it, he’d find it one way or another.

She heard the sound of a chair being pulled out and the rustle of someone sitting, but still nothing was said. She was about to throw him out of her house.

“Smells good.” He finally said. “Your mom’s recipe?”

“Don’t.” She told him. Theo tapped her spoon on the edge of the pot and set it back down on the paper towel before she turned around. He was sitting at her kitchen table, staring at her without expression. Theo returned the sentiment as she leaned against her countertop and crossed her arms over her chest. “Just tell me what you want so I can say no, and you can leave.”

“What makes you think I want somethin’?”

She arched a delicate brow. “I’ve spoken to you once since you got out. Once, in almost eight fucking months, and you suddenly show up twice in one day, and you want me to think, what? That you miss me?”

Ray didn’t speak at first. Instead, he looked down at the table, tapping his thumb against the polished wood surface before he responded.

“I do miss you.”

“Bullshit.” The single word dripped with venom. “Don’t you dare come into my house and lie to me, Merriman. I should whoop your ass for the shit you put me through.”

His head shot up. “Then do it.” He told her seriously. “You want to beat the fuck out of me, then do it.” Ray suddenly shoved himself out of his seat so fast and so hard that it fell backwards, clacking against Theo’s tile floor when it did. He threw his arms out to the side. “Hit me then.”

She pointed a stern finger at him. “Don’t fucking tempt me.”

Ray stepped around the small table and closed the majority of the distance between them. He stared down at her.

“Do it.” He was challenging her, and despite knowing it, Theo wasn’t entirely certain she wouldn’t rise to the task. When she didn’t react, he jutted his chin out and leaned just a little closer. “Do. It.”

Something much deeper than anger rose inside her. It was closer to pure, unadulterated rage, and it forced her body to react. Everything she’d been forced to push down into the deepest recesses of her being over the last few years finally erupted in a crescendo of violence.

Theo was fast, faster than Ray probably gave her credit for. She somehow knew he thought she’d slap him and nothing more, so she wanted to show him just had angry she was.

Without warning, Theo smashed her left fist into Ray’s ribs, and while he doubled over to breathe, she slammed her right fist into his jaw. Ray fumbled and fell, barely able to catch himself against the wall before he would have hit the floor.

“You have no idea the shit you’ve put me through.” She yelled at him. “And then you have the balls to come back into my life and taunt me?” Ray pushed himself upright while she continued to berate him. “You arrogant, fucking, asshole-“

Theo reared back to launch another barrage his way, but Ray wasn’t as willing to endure it a second time. Before she could make contact with his body again, he grabbed her wrist and held tight. Theo tried to hit him with her free hand, but he soon controlled that, as well.

Ray stepped forward, guiding her back until she hit the wall. He pinned her hands against it near her head, ensuring she couldn’t hit him again. She was trapped between two unmovable objects, but her anger remained.

“Okay, okay, okay.” His voice was suddenly low and calm, much calmer than Theo felt. She was practically vibrating with hatred. “I’m sorry.”

“Fuck you.” She hissed.

Theo couldn’t stop shaking, no matter how badly she tried. She was so filled with anger and a litany of other emotions that there was nothing else her body could do, and the longer he held her still, the worse it became.

Soon, the hardened exterior began to crack. Her jaw clenched tightly, but the way her breath still hitched was a clear give away. She knew it.

Her brows soon tugged together, and her vision blurred. A painful itch started in the back of her throat. She knew she was about to cry, and worse yet, there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Ray’s hazel eyes drifted over her face. He took in everything. There was little she was able to hide from the man at a distance. So close, there was no hope for her. Sadness and regret flashed just briefly in his eyes before, to her surprise, he let her go. For a moment.

He may have let go of her wrists, but Ray didn’t give her the chance to hit him again. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her body and hugged her tightly to his chest. He engulfed her completely, and she couldn’t help wonder if that was part of the point.

She felt a hand cradle the back of her head while he hugged her and his cheek pressed against hers. She could hear his breathing in her ear.

“I’m sorry,” He whispered as he held her. “I’m sorry.”

Theo took in one shaking breath after another. Her lungs filled with the scent of the man surrounding her, with the traces of his cologne, the smell of his soap and shampoo. She smelled everything that radiated off his body, including the past.

She moved on autopilot. Theo lifted her arms. They suddenly felt as though they’d been weighed down by untold tons, but she managed the task, gripping the back of Ray’s shirt. She fisted the fabric, but let her arms hang limp. Theo rolled her head to the side, resting it against his broad shoulder.

For those few minutes, the world didn’t exist. There was nothing but the two of them, alone.

Theo’s breathing eventually began to calm as well. She hated that Ray was able. She wanted to stay angry, to fight and throw things at him, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t do anything but breathe.

“I hate you.” She said, finally breaking the silence.

She felt Ray adjust a little, unbury his face from her hair so he could speak too. He rested his chin on the top of her head, something he used to do years and years before.

“I know.” He replied.

They remained that way for a while longer before they finally broke apart. Ray returned to the “dining room”. He lifted the chair and slid it back into place before taking his seat while she went to the fridge. Theo returned to his side and set an opened beer, fresh and cold, on the table alongside a paper towel square.

“You’re bleeding.” She told him simply. She saw him press it to his split lip while she returned to the chili. “Tell me the truth, Ray. Why are you really here?”

He didn’t reply for a while, and she wasn’t entirely surprised. Whether she’d ever admit it out loud or not, Theo hated that he was there because he needed something. More than once, she’d hoped he’d reappear because he wanted to, because he missed her, and he realized how big of a dick he’d been, but that was never the case. The only reason for him to speak to her now was because he needed something.

“I’ve got a job coming up.” He said under his breath.

There it is, she thought to herself. “And?” She asked.

“And I need to know everything’s going to be alright.” He said heavily. “Please.”

Theo thought it over for a moment or two. On one hand, she wanted to tell him no, and that he could go twist in the wind for all she cared. On the other, she wanted him safe.

“Fuck,” She hissed to herself.

Theo left the kitchen and disappeared down the hall. She reappeared shortly after with a large rectangular object in her hand wrapped in black silk. She set it on the table in front of Ray and took her seat.

With quick flicks of the wrist, she unfolded the silk and centered it on the table. A deck of worn, and well-worked tarot cards rested in the middle of the black fabric.

“You know what to do.” She told him.

Ray took the mass that still seemed large in his giant hands. Theo thought about his venture and watched as he shuffled the deck. When he was satisfied, he set it back down, and cut it into three stacks. Theo reached forward and flipped the first card, setting it gently on the black silk. The meaning behind it was simple. There was a dark, oppressive force working against Ray and his team, something trying to get him. No surprise there, really. It was a sad reality to their chosen professions.

She took the second card and repeated the flip. When she spotted the painted surface, Theo felt a chill race down her spine, one that almost forced her to flinch. She didn’t linger and quickly turned over the third and final card. Her breath was stolen from her. A soft, whisper of a gasp left her lips as she tenderly set the card on the table.

Theo began to tremble again, but it had nothing to do with anger. What she felt was decidedly different. She didn’t know how long she stared at the faded, but readable images, but it took Ray’s voice to snap her out of it.

“What do they say?” He asked.

Theo flinched. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath as though it would help steady her at all. When she looked back up at him again, she felt her heart break. Apparently, her expression was readable because Ray sat a bit straighter than before.

She pointed to the first card. “Something will be after you.” She pointed to the second, “Someone will betray you.” She saw his jaw tighten. Her finger slowly glided to the third card and her chest ached. “Someone will die.”

The air in the room was not only tense, but thick. It felt alive, like it was attempting to choke them for some reason.

Ray gradually lifted his gaze until it met hers. Theo blinked. She felt a single, cool tear slide down her cheek.

“No,” He shook his head defiantly. Ray snatched the cards back and began to shuffle them again, repeating his determined no under his breath as he did. With sharp, jerky movements, he cut the cards and slammed the decks down a little harder than he should have. “Check ‘em again.”

So she did. To her horror and immense pain, Theo somehow managed to flip over the exact same cards.

“What the fuck?” Ray mumbled to himself. “This is bullshit.” He grabbed the stacks and flipped them over. Theo wondered briefly if he thought it was a trick deck, but it wasn’t. Every picture revealed was different than the last, just like they were supposed to be. “What is this shit, T?” He snapped.

The words left her whether she wanted them to or not. “Your future.”

He sat back in his chair, staring at the table as though it would give him answers. It wouldn’t. Of course it wouldn’t, but he clearly still hoped.

Theo watched as a bevy of emotions crossed his face, as he ran his hand over his buzzed head repeatedly, and as he tried to come to terms with what he was seeing. She didn’t know what to do to make it better for him. The cards came up the same twice. The possibilities of that were beyond astronomical, reaching a level she couldn’t even calculate, but it happened, and that terrified her.

“Call it off.”

Ray’s gaze shot to her. “What?” He asked in a deadpan tone.

“Call it off.” She repeated.

“No,”

Theo’s brows pulled together and disbelief took her features. “Call it off, Ray.”

“No,” He snapped again. “I can’t. We need this truck.”

“God damn it!” She shoved angrily at the table as she stood. “You arrogant prick! Don’t you remember what happened last time? Huh?”

“This is different.” He said as he rose to his feet.

Theo couldn’t believe her ears. She heard the words, saw him speak them, but her brain refused to listen to the sheer amount of stupidity he was spouting.

She charged towards him and jammed her finger into his chest. “I told you last time not to do the job, and what happened? The plan’s sound, T. Nothing can go wrong.” She mocked. Ray looked away, but she wouldn’t have it. Grabbing his chin, she forced him to look down at her again. “You got ten years, and your cards weren’t half as bad as they are right now. And you drew that shit twice!”

Ray jerked his face out of her grasp. He stepped away from her while she ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. He stood with his back to her and his hands on his hips. She knew he was seconds away from leaving, but she couldn’t let that happen.

“Raymond,” Her voice was soft and borderline weak, a sharp change from a moment ago, and it forced him to turn to face her. She tightened her jaw and spoke as strongly as she could, but the waver was there. “Please,” She said. His brows twitched ever so slightly. “For fuck’s sake, walk away.”

He chewed on the inside of his cheek again. She saw the muscles in his jaw chording and shifting beneath his short beard. The answer should have been simple. He should have agreed and followed through, walking away from a job so clearly dangerous, but she knew better. Not a whole minute after she spoke, Theo saw resolution in his gaze, and it broke her heart.

Theo bit her bottom lip to keep it from quivering. Her eyes drifted shut and her head fell. The hole in her chest was growing by the second, filled with a never-ending fear.

“I gotta do this, T.” He said in a somber tone.

“No,” Theo sniffed as she lifted her head again to look at him. She felt the tears, and knew he saw them. “You want to do this. There’s a difference.”

He didn’t speak. Ray only stared back at her with an expression she couldn’t quite identify, and she knew them all –she thought. It looked like he was desperate for her to understand, but she didn’t. She wouldn’t and couldn’t because she clearly wasn’t blinded by his level of greed.

Thirty million… it could be thirty billion and it still wouldn’t be worth the risk of someone’s life. Her cards never lied, and he knew that. He just didn’t care.

Without a word, Ray turned his back on her. He unlocked the door and disappeared through it. Theo felt her insides break the moment he was gone.

Chapter 2

For the weeks leading up to a job, Ray was consumed by it. He had to know everything, from layouts to time schedules. Hell, he wanted to know how many times a day a guard took a piss. He needed everything, and as a result, he tended to pour himself over his work. His mind was focused, put to point with laser precision.

 

Most days.

 

Unfortunately, today was not that day. If he managed to put aside the fact that his face and ribs still hurt from Theo’s assault, her words would not stop circulating through his mind. They wouldn’t give him a moment’s respite. Over and over he heard her telling him to call the job off, and over and over again he’d simply say he couldn’t.

 

It was maddening.

 

“Fuck,” He sighed to himself as he angrily tossed his pencil onto the tabletop. He propped his elbows on the surface and buried his face in his hands. He rubbed his eyes repeatedly as though it’d help, but it didn’t.

 

With another heavy sigh, Ray fell back into his chair and slumped a little. Every muscle in his body was tight, filled with nerves, and not the kind he could use. It was a type of anxiety that did more harm than good.

 

As he ran his hand over his head and the sound of the scratching buzz-cut filled his ears, Ray guided his tongue across the split in his lip. It made him smile to himself, and it shouldn’t have. He never thought Theo would actually hit him. He knew she’d be pissed when he taunted her, when he pushed her, but he thought she’d just yell. He thought she’d yell, get everything out of her system, and they could move forward. Holy shit, was he wrong. Apparently, she was angrier than he ever assumed she would be, and she was ready to beat his ass because of it. Hell, when he woke up that morning, there was a small Theo’s-fist-shaped bruise on his ribs. Shit, she was mad.

 

But she deserved to be.

 

Ray was a smart man. He knew how he’d treated her, and knew it had consequences, but it was necessary. And, even though that was harder and harder to say to himself through the years, he still maintained it was true. He got sent up for a decade. What was he supposed to do, let her wait for him? To him, that would have been worse.

 

On the other hand, it’d been six years. No matter how contentious their breakup had been, or the mean things he’d said, or whatever else, surely six years was long enough she wouldn’t be so angry. Mad, yes, but so angry that she physically assaulted him, even with his prompting, surprised him. And it wasn’t just anger he saw when she looked at him. He saw a switch flip behind her eyes. There was something like deep hatred reflected back at him, and he didn’t understand why. Again, it’d been six years. Could she really be so upset so long after the fact?

 

He groaned. It was the day before the armored truck job, and he needed to focus. Nothing could go wrong tomorrow, but his mind was divided, pulled in a thousand directions.

 

“Ey, man.”

 

Enson’s voice drew Ray out of his thoughts and guided his attention away from everything that was tormenting him. He glanced behind him to see his brother approach and slide into a chair at the table. When he did, Ray noticed a lazy smirk tug at Enson’s lips.

 

“See you went to talk to Theo again, huh?” He asked with a chuckle. “How’d that go?” Ray smirked, but didn’t truly offer up an answer. “You should pro’lly back of though, man, fo’ real.” Ray gave his brother his attention again and noticed the taunting grin was beginning to fade from Enson’s face. “She been through a lot. You comin’ around all the time might make things worse, y’know? Stir up old shit.”

 

Ray’s brows pulled together as he stared back at his brother. “What are you talking about?” He asked. “We broke up six years ago, bro. She can’t still be this pissed.” Ray pointed to his face as though Enson needed any clarification.

 

He didn’t have the slightest clue what the hell Enson was talking about, something his friend seemed to realize fairly quickly.

 

With confusion evident on his own face, Enson asked, “She ain’t never told you, did she?”

 

“Told me what?” Ray asked.

 

“Fuck,” Enson sighed and let his head fall back. It wasn’t the reaction Ray expected.

 

His patience grew thin the higher his anxiety rose. There was something missing, a large piece to the puzzle that he needed, but didn’t have, and he didn’t like it.

 

Enson seemed to come to terms with whatever decision he made and sat a bit straighter in his seat. He scratched the back of his head and squared himself on Ray. The young man in question felt a heavy wave of apprehension wash through him.

 

“She was pregnant, man.” Enson told him solemnly. The words hung in the air, unable to sink in. They lingered there, just beyond reach. “And she lost it, couple months after you took her off the list.”

 

A low hum started in Ray’s ears. He hadn’t noticed it at first, but the longer he sat there thinking on Enson’s words, the louder it became. Soon, it drowned out the world around him. It had morphed into a painfully high-pitched shriek. Deafening.

 

Without bothering to reply, Ray pushed himself to his feet, and left. He was too consumed with conflicting thoughts and emotions to bother trying to speak to Enson anymore.

 

---

 

 

Theo fucking hated driving. Actually, it was driving on the 405 and the 101 she hated so much, but how else was she supposed to get to Ventura? Fly? No matter how hard she flailed her arms, that just wasn’t going to happen. So, she’d tolerate the trip, but barely.

 

People, people, people, and more fucking people clogged the highway.

 

It wasn’t bad the whole way, but the majority of it. Generally traffic lightened a little through the Westlake/ Thousand Oaks area, then got even better once she made it over the grade into Camarillo. Maybe that was the trick? Maybe the traffic was so shitty in LA County alone, and got better in Ventura County?

 

Nah.

 

It was just shit everywhere, surely.

 

When she finally made it to town, Theo wove through the familiar streets of her youth to the older side of downtown, the side surrounded in parks and the random houses off main roads. That was where she grew up, and where she knew the roads like the back of her hand.

 

She learned to drive on those streets, which wasn’t an easy task. Some of them were narrow as shit, perfect for scaring the hell out of a teenaged girl. And the others? Oh, Jesus. Her mother delighted in teaching her how to climb the hills in a car with a standard transmission. Some of those hills were at least forty-degrees steep. And what’s the best thing to put at the top of said hill before the ground levels out again? A stop sign! Way more than once Theo had stalled on those hills and panicked, saved only by her mother pulling the e-brake while cackling like a madwoman.

 

Learning in Long Beach where she lived with her dad wasn’t much better. But no hills. Too much damn traffic, but thank God Almighty, no devil hills.

 

Theo finally found a place to park at the foot of one such Devil Hill, and loaded her meter before walking off. She only traveled a few yards down the road before finding the curios shop she was searching for.

 

“Theo!”

 

Her name was called loudly and happily by an older woman stocking the shelves with some new candles the moment she walked through the door.

 

“Hey, Aunt Paul.” She smiled.

 

When Pauline threw her arms around Theo, she had no choice but to return the sentiment or suffocate in the vice-like grip and the overwhelming smell of essential oils.

 

“What brings you here?” she asked with a beaming smile.

 

Pauline Rhodes was a kindly older woman, short in stature with frizzy grey hair that hadn’t seen a comb in years. She was the embodiment of “hippie”, the image most people conjured in their minds when the word was used, but Theo loved her. She wasn’t an aunt in the true, blood sense, but an aunt just the same.

 

“Looking for Mom. She here?”

 

“Yeah, yeah.” She threw her thumb over her shoulder. “She’s in the back.”

 

“Thanks,”

 

Theo wove through the shop with ease. It wasn’t very big, so it was easy to navigate.

 

When she made it to the back room, half divided into storage and half a break room, she found her mom Marla sitting at the small table with a handful of candles before her. She was praying over all of them, muttering words in Romani as she did. Theo didn’t interrupt, and instead waited patiently by the door.

 

“I knew you were coming.” Her mother said in a mystical voice after a few minutes of nothing.

 

“Oh, you did not, you liar.”

 

Marla pried open a single eye and looked at her briefly before a smile spread across her lips. “Hey, Sweetheart.”

 

“Hey,” Theo smiled. She stepped into the room and took a seat in the only other chair at the table while her mother set everything aside.

 

“What’s with the visit?”

 

“Can’t I just come see my mom?”

 

Her mother arched a single brow while a sarcastic smirk tugged at the corner of her lips. “No,” She chuckled. “Usually, there’s planning so I’m not working when you drive up. So, what’s the occasion?”

 

Theo didn’t immediately reply. Instead, she propped her elbow on the table and leaned into it as she ran her fingers through her hair. She struggled to find the words that would describe the situation she needed help with. For minutes she was silent, until her mother could take it no longer.

 

“Theodora,”

 

Theo glanced up. She’d slumped onto the table and she didn’t even realize it. It made her mother’s stern expression all the more unsettling.

 

“What’s happened?”

 

“I did a reading.” She said. Her mother waited patiently. “For Ray.”

 

Her eyes instantly darkened, which Theo honestly expected.

 

“That selfish prick. Why the hell are you still talking to him, hm?”

 

“Mom!” Theo snapped.

 

“What? The two of you splitting up was the best thing that could have happened to you. What the hell kind of life did he have to offer you, hm? None, that’s what kind.”

 

“Jesus Christ,” Theo sighed heavily.

 

She knew this was coming to moment she spoke, but it didn’t make it any easier to take. Her mother hated Ray now. It didn’t used to be that way. Marla used to love the guy because Theo loved him, but that changed a couple years after he went in. Since then, the slightest mention of the giant would send Marla into a hissy-fit. Honestly, there had been times Marla was literally spitting her venom she was so angry. It took all of Theo’s influence just to keep her mother from cursing him, or from telling her cousins how Ray had treated her.

 

“I know he was your high school sweetheart,” She said a bit sarcastically, “But, he’s clearly not worth the effort. Piece of shit. I swear, if I ever see that man again, I’ll-“

 

“Oh, for Christ’s sake, Ma!” Theo said angrily.

 

“You watch your tone with me, young lady.”

 

Theo shrank away, but only a bit. “I’m sorry, okay? But that has nothing to do with this. I’m here because of his reading.”

 

“Fine,” She said tersely. “Then what’s wrong with his reading, hm? What’s this idiot’s problem?”

 

Theo wanted to continue to fight, to defend Ray in her mother’s eyes even though there was no point, but she didn’t. There were more pressing concerns, all of which had suddenly screamed to the foreground again.

 

Her eyes began to burn with the promise of tears when she finally spoke again.

 

“There was death in his cards.” Theo said.

 

Her mother flinched slightly and sat just a bit straighter than before. She knew she could trust Theo’s abilities because she’d been taught well, so she didn’t doubt the meaning. It just surprised her.

 

“I drew three cards, and they’re bad, Mom.” She continued in her sad voice. “And then, I picked the same three again.”

 

Marla’s brows tugged together and she leaned forward curiously. “What do you mean?”

 

“I mean, when I told him what they meant, he freaked and reshuffled the deck.” She explained. Marla nodded. “Then he cut them again and the same fucking cards were pulled. In the same order!”

 

Her mother’s face lost a shade of color. Theo could tell the gravity of her worry was no longer hers to bear alone. She could see that her mother understood, too.

 

“That’s impossible.” Marla said.

 

Theo shook her head emphatically. “Twice, Ma. Twice.”

 

“What’d you tell him?”

 

“To call off the job!” She didn’t mean to yell, but Theo’s nerves were fraying the longer she went without answers and her reaction was simply reflex. “I told him to walk away, but he won’t.” Theo choked down the lump growing in her throat, but it struggled to remain. She hated it. “Mom, someone’s going to die, and I don’t know who, and that scares the shit out of me.”

 

Marla reached forward and tenderly held her daughter’s hand. “I know, Sweetheart.” She said with all the motherly love she could muster given the subject matter. “I know.”

 

She consoled her daughter for a little while longer before she decided to make them both a cup of tea, something to help Theo relax so they could come up with some sort of resolution.

 

---

 

 

The whole way back to Long Beach, Theo couldn’t help but think about the day Ray had been arrested. It started out so normal, just like every other morning before a job.

 

2006:

 

Theo felt a hand climb up the length of her bare back. It was soft, loving, and enough to rouse her from her sleep. She took a deep breath and let out a soft sigh as the bed beside her shifted. Theo opened her eyes to see Ray the cause. He looked down at her with a small smile, his hand still tenderly running up and down her back.

 

“What time is it?” She asked in a half-dazed voice.

 

“Early,” He replied.

 

Theo rolled over. Ray let her, but kept his palm against her skin as she did. “You heading out?”

 

He nodded, “Yeah.”

 

Theo’s brows twitched together briefly. She was still worried about the job, even if he was completely at ease. She couldn’t place the apprehension, but it was there nonetheless, and refused to leave her. As a result, she made something for him.

 

Theo rolled over a little further and dipped into her bedside table. She retrieved a small cloth sack.

 

“Here,” She told him as she offered the small bag.

 

Ray arched a thick brow as he took it from her. “What’s this?”

 

“It’ll keep you safe.” She said. Theo pushed herself up so she could sit. “Keep it in your pocket or something.”

 

Ray sighed. Theo wondered if he’d tried to keep it at bay, but if he had, it didn’t work. She still heard the skeptical and borderline obnoxious sound. It made her scowl at him.

 

“What?” She asked with a monotone.

 

“You know I don’t believe in this shit.” He said plainly.

 

“But I do.” She countered. “So humor me, hm?”

 

He sighed again, but with a little smirk tugging at his lips as he slipped it into the chest pocket of his t-shirt.

 

With it secured, Ray leaned forward. “I’ve gotta go.”

 

“Be careful,”

 

His lips brushed across hers, “I will.”

 

Ray kissed her sweetly, a sentiment she returned for the few moments it lasted before he drew back.

 

“Go back to bed.” He told her. “I’ll see you later.”

 

She said goodbye, told him she loved him and heard it in return as she laid back down. Within seconds, she was asleep again. Theo was worried about him and the job, but she knew that so long as he kept the bag on him, he’d be safe.

 

But that wasn’t what happened. When Theo woke a couple hours later, it was to the sound of loud pounding against her front door. Angry and confused, she threw it open. Her confusion only deepened as a bevy of uniformed officers pushed their way past her. Someone handed her a piece of paper, another told her they were there to search for things, but no one said why.

 

Her house was more or less torn apart. People tossed open closets, others yanked everything out of drawers, and even more people were going through any piece of paper she had.

 

For more than a half an hour, no one told her what they were doing. Finally, when she snapped hatefully at someone, she was given all the information they were allowed to give her.

 

Ray had been arrested and they were there to go through all of his personal possessions.

 

Now:

 

At first, she didn’t understand how he could’ve been caught if he had the mojo sack on him. It was made specifically for Ray to protect him on the job. She’d made a thousand of those before, knew the ingredients, the steps. It should have worked. It wasn’t until she finally had the chance to speak with him in jail that Theo was told he’d left it behind at the shop.

 

It never worked because the asshole never took it with him on the job.

 

Theo tapped her thumb against her steering wheel as she merged onto the 405. She was caught between getting involved and staying out of the way. She and Ray weren’t together anymore. They never would be again, in fact, but they had a lot of history together, both good and bad. No matter how much she hated him some days –and it was a substantial amount- she couldn’t let whatever darkness was creeping in to consume him, or the others. She’d known Ray, Enson, Malia (half that crew) since she was fourteen years old. How the hell was she supposed to walk away from that?

 

The trick would be reigning in her temper while she was around him. Repeating that he didn’t know the truth helped, but the moment he began taunting her, that thin wall she put up broke down under the weight of the past, and she lost it. She saw red, and if Ray hadn’t grabbed her hands to stop her, she might’ve done much more damage than she did.

 

But he didn’t know. He didn’t know that she went to visit him that day with the best news in the world when he broke it off. He didn’t know that three months later when she lost it, she had never felt so alone or empty. He didn’t know that seeing him at his Welcome Home party with a blonde wrapped around his side six years later brought that hurt back. And he didn’t know that him showing up, both at the shop and at her apartment, made it even worse.

 

He didn’t know because she never told him. What would be the point? There was nothing anyone could do about it, anyway.

 

Within the hour, Theo made it home. She felt heavy and wanted nothing more than to take a bath and go to bed. Perhaps that would make everything all better?

Chapter 3

Summary:

Some smut.

The Morning of the Armored Truck:

Merrimen’s heart beat erratically in his chest despite his outwardly cold demeanor. His eyes remained trained on the interior of the armored truck. He chewed on the inside of his cheek, his jaw tight and tense. The moment Bosco lit up the security guard, one thought entered Ray’s mind: There’s death in the cards.

 

“You good?” Enson asked.

 

Ray took a deep breath and let it out slowly, hoping to remove the angry quiver from his words when he spoke. “We’re cop-killers, now.”

 

The words echoed through the garage despite the low volume they were spoken at. They held weight –a terrifying amount of weight. On previous jobs, there was assault and fairly vicious bodily harm against police officers, but they’d never killed one before. That wasn’t the case anymore.

 

“Fuck,” He hissed to himself. He looked at Enson. “She was right.”

 

Enson’s brow tugged together. “What you mean, man?”

 

“Theo.” His voice grew tight. “She knew this would happen.” Ray noticed Donnie standing nearby, listening to their conversation. He might’ve cared any other day, but not that moment. “She saw this,” he said to Enson, “In those fucking cards of hers.”

 

Ray slammed the door to the armored truck angrily. It bounced off the frame with a nearly deafening clack.

 

No one bothered trying to stop Ray. They didn’t want to get in the way of his temper, which was wise on their part.

 

---

 

 

Theo sat behind the counter at the register with a magazine in her hands, lazily flipping through the glossy pages without any real objective. She was bored, and would have to work the day –all day. Her shop had a handful of employees and when one of them called in, if she couldn’t find someone else to take the shift, it fell to her shoulders. It wasn’t really common for her to work twelve-hour shifts, but it’d happened before, and probably would again.

 

Around one in the afternoon, Theo heard someone enter the shop. The door was always open, so there wasn’t a dinging bell like most places, but the shuffle of someone drawing close was an easy sound for her to pick out, and one she’d grown accustomed to hearing.

 

“Let me know if there’s anything I can help you with!” She called out casually.

 

The sound of heavy feet and fabric brushing against fabric drew nearer. A deep, unfamiliar voice spoke shortly after. “Oh, I’m sure I can think of something.”

 

Theo looked up through her lashes and spotted and older man smiling at her. He looked terrible, as though he’d gone through more than his fair share of tough nights. Drugs, alcohol, and shit-diets had taken their toll. It was a pity. Otherwise, he might have been a handsome man.

 

He kept his smile, the action tugging his beard up in the corners. “Hi,” He said to her as he came to a stop at the register.

 

“Hi,” She replied skeptically. “Can I help you with something?”

 

“Maybe,” He said. He leaned against the countertop and looked at her. “When was the last time you spoke to Ray Merrimen?” She arched a brow. “Now, keep in mind, I already know.”

 

“If you already know,” Theo said as she went back to her magazine, “Why bother asking?”

 

She heard him chuckle. A chill prickled the hair at the back of her neck. She didn’t like the guy standing a couple of feet from her. There was something off about him, something she couldn’t quite pinpoint, and it made her uncomfortable. Maybe it was because he was so clearly a cop? Or maybe it was because she could tell something was wrong with him? She didn't know, at least not yet. Theo was just well aware there was something wrong with him.

 

“Now,” he continued. She heard another shuffle of fabric and then a crumple of a package. She looked up through her lashes again to see him reaching for a cigarette. “You two dated, right?”

 

“It is illegal in the state of California to smoke in public, let alone inside a place of business.” She said in a completely monotonous voice. “As a cop, shouldn’t you know that?”

 

He chuckled again, that same haggard, unsettling chuckle. “Probably.”

 

A second later, she heard the strike of a zippo, and smelled his cigarette. She was instantly pissed. There would be no getting that smell out of her merchandise now.

 

With a heavy sigh and an angry glare, Theo set the magazine down and leveled her stare on him. “The fuck do you want?”

 

His thick brows rose and his smile broadened. “You’re feisty. I like feisty. What I want is to know what Merrimen is up to.”

 

“How the fuck should I know? I’ve seen him once in the last few months.”

 

“Eh, eh, eh,” He chided, shaking his finger at her. “Twice. You’ve seen him twice in the last week –once here, and once at your apartment off Bryer.”

 

Theo felt a spark of paranoia and fear in her chest. Either the cop was following Ray, or he was following her. Either way, now that Ray was apparently on their shit-list, she’d likely have a tail, too.

 

“Once,” She asserted, unwilling to show her nerves. “If he came here, I didn’t see him. Now, tell me why you’re here.”

 

“Well,” He took a long pull of his cigarette and then exhaled the cloud of noxious smoke towards her nearest clothing rack. Theo tightened her jaw to keep from saying anything. “Turns out, this morning around four-thirty, some guys stole an armored truck.” Her face twisted with confusion. “And they killed four guards, injured six more.”

 

“And?” She shrugged. Theo did her best to keep her exterior calm and controlled. She could tell he was looking for something –anything- that would tell him she knew. When one didn’t appear, he grinned crookedly at her again.

 

“Y’know, we’ve got a file on you back at the station, too.”

 

“Not a very big one, I’m sure.”

 

“Nah, that’s true. All your offenses as a minor were expunged from your record, but that family of yours,” he let out a long, low whistle before tapping the ash of his cigarette onto her counter. “I mean, that list stretches from petty theft all the way to loan sharking. I didn’t even think people like you existed.”

 

“Business owners?” She asked in a sarcastic tone. She knew he meant gypsies.

 

He smiled again. “Hey,” the cop leaned forward and dropped the volume of his voice a little as though he wanted to tell her a secret. “Is it true you’re all cousin fuckers?”

 

A spark of rage swept through her, but Theo did her best to keep it subdued. Instead of unleashing it, she leaned in as well.

 

“Judging by that southern drawl, I can ask you the same thing.”

 

The cop let out a loud, thunderous laugh. Theo forced a smile of her own as she sat back in her seat. He continued to muse for a moment or two longer while he finished his cigarette.

 

“I’ll be seeing you around, Miss Reinhart.” He said as he stamped it out on her counter.

 

Theo watched as the cop sauntered off. When he was gone, her gaze drifted to the slightly-smoldering cigarette butt left behind. She arched a brow. That wasn’t very smart of him. If he suspected her of being even half as resourceful as he accused her of being, leaving behind his DNA wasn’t a good idea. And she was resourceful.

 

If there was something Theo wanted, nothing could stand in her way –especially not the police, or the prison system.

 

---

 

 2008:

 

Ray had been in prison for just shy of two years. He’d fallen into a rhythm and knew how to handle himself, but there would always be some things he’d miss. Sure he missed beer and good food, or sitting outside in the sun and talking to his friends whenever he wanted to. He missed a lot of things, but the two foremost was human contact and silence.

 

People never realized how loud a prison was. It was something special that’s hard to describe to anyone who’d never stepped foot inside. Every surface, every single thing, was hard. The walls were cinderblock, the doors metal, and the floors tiled. Everything inside a prison was designed to be cleaned with ease, something that could be sanitized after the shitters, pissers, and stabbers got through with them. As a result, sound did nothing but travel. If there weren’t doors at every junction, Merrimen had no doubt he’d be able to hear someone cough on the other side of Victorville.

 

There was always a noise somewhere. Silence was impossible.

 

Human contact was another thing that inmates always missed, and Ray was no different. To make matters worse, Ray was sentenced to the SHU (Special Housing Unit) and their visitation was stricter than the other prisoners. Ray Merrimen, the lucky son of a bitch that he was, had to talk to people through a pane of glass. He’d never get to touch someone’s hand or give them a hug for the whole of his ten-year sentence.

 

Perhaps the only silver-lining to the shit-colored cloud was Victorville wasn’t far from home. The few people he was allowed to have on his visiting list only had to drive a couple hours. Ray was well aware of how lucky he’d been not to be sent somewhere else in California, or to a different state entirely.

 

As he sat on his bunk, Ray’s gaze lifted to the few pictures he’d been allowed to keep. Three were of him and his boys being stupid, laughing and smiling. The fourth was of Theo. She was just smiling at him, her head tilted marginally to the side while the corner of her lips curled up. He missed her. It’d been two years since he was locked up and part of him was still waiting for her I told you so, but it never came. Beyond a knowing look when she first visited him, she said nothing.

 

He and Theo had been together off and on since their sophomore year in high school. They took breaks periodically, generally when they pissed the other off to the point they needed space, but within a month or two they’d be side by side again. They were always drawn to each other, like two halves of a magnet. Throughout high school, throughout Theo attending a local JC and Ray serving in the Marines, throughout his criminal career, and even his prison sentence, she was always right there offering support no matter the capacity.

 

“Merrimen!”

 

He looked up and saw the wide face of one of the guards through the narrow slit of a window in his door.

 

“Time to head out.”

 

Ray stood and turned his back to the guard. He clasped his hands together tightly and waited until he heard his door swing open.

 

“Step back,” The guard told him. He obliged and a moment later, the icy cold metal of handcuffs snapped around his wrists.

 

“Where’re we going?” He asked casually as he was led away from his cell.

 

“You have another hearing.”

 

Ray sighed heavily. He was tired of hearings. They served no purpose, and he still didn’t understand exactly what they were for. They always felt like a strange combination of parole hearing and trial. He’d be asked multiple times about his accomplices and whether or not he wanted time off. They’d been doing it for nearly two years and he hadn’t spoken to them once about his team. Did they think wearing him down would actually work? Apparently.

 

He did enjoy the reprieve from Victorville, though. It was never long, perhaps an hour or two, but he was outside away from the prison.

 

As he had a thousand times before, it seemed, Ray was driven, fully shackled, to the courthouse. He was led through the halls, past the people in normal clothing while he shined in his prison oranges. He’d garner sideways glances for obvious reason. He could tell some people wondered what he’d done, and if he was there for trial. Was he a murderer? Did he slaughter a whole family and eat them? Or did he bounce some bad checks at a grocery store? There was no way for them to know unless they knew him personally. Though, given his size, Ray was sure they leaned more towards “violent offender” than anything.

 

The funny part was, they’d be more accurate with the check bouncing. All he did was steal a little…

 

Ray was led, slowly and cumbersomely, through the courthouse by a pair of guards. He had to shuffle, something that always made him so angry because his gate was more than three feet unencumbered. But, shuffle he did, through the familiar halls and into a room where he was seated. A judge, a D.A. and his Public Defender were there, too, along with the Court Reporter so she could take dictation.

 

“Raymond Jason Merrimen,” The judge said in a loud, authoritative voice. “Do you know why you’ve been brought here this afternoon?”

 

“Yup,” He said simply.

 

“And, do you have anything to say?”

 

“Nope,”

 

But it didn’t end there. They didn’t walk him right back out. Instead, the proceeded to ask their questions anyway, like they always did.

 

---

 

 

Within an hour of sitting down, Ray had clearly worn out his welcome when it came to the people sitting across from him. Single-worded answers and a complete lack of caring tended to rub people the wrong way, which he always counted on.

 

The same guard as before took him from the backroom and through the halls while his buddy led the way. Just meters from the front door, his guard veered to the right. Ray’s brows pull together.

 

“Where the hell are we going?”

 

“Bathroom.” He replied as he guided Ray to the men’s room with his partner just behind him.

 

The guard took Ray inside and checked the stalls briefly to ensure they were alone. When he saw that they were, he checked the windows (which were securely barred and locked) and uncuffed him.

 

“You have ten minutes.” The guard said as he exited the bathroom completely.

 

Ray’s brows were still furrowed as he stared at the guard. “Okay,” he said unsurely. He didn’t know how to process what was happening, but he wasn’t going to say anything, either. Nothing about the moment was protocol, and after two years inside, he was well aware.

 

A brief wave of fear washed through him. For a moment, no matter how slight, he was afraid he was being setup to be shanked in a courtroom bathroom, or shot for "fleeing".

 

His wrists might have been uncuffed, but his ankles were still shackled, which meant he wouldn’t be able to run for shit, and he knew it. Ray’s adrenaline began to spike. Something was coming. He knew it, he just didn’t know what.

 

The door to the bathroom swung open and while someone wearing a guard’s uniform stepped inside, it wasn’t either of the two who’d been at his side. The person who walked into the bathroom was smaller than them, by probably a foot in height and a hundred pounds in weight. After seeing him, Ray felt confident in his ability to fight back if he needed to.

 

He shifted on his feet and rose himself to full height, sure to illustrate just how much more terrifying he was in person, when the guard removed their cap. Long, nearly-black hair fell from underneath the hat and a familiar face looked back at him. Ray’s chest seized.

 

“T,” He hissed. His eyes danced between the young woman in front of him and the door. “The hell are you doing here?”

 

“We don’t have time.” She said as she gripped the front of her button-up shirt.

 

Suddenly, Theo yanked open the front of her shirt, revealing her breasts barely covered in thin, lacey fabric. Ray’s insides jerked and his blood began to pool in his groin, a feeling that grew worse as she approached him with determined steps.

 

The moment she was within arm’s reach, Theo didn’t hesitate to grab him. She reached up and cradled the back of his head, pulling him forward until his forehead touched hers. Ray let out a long, low sigh as he wrapped his arms around her body.

 

“Fuck,” He sighed. Just the warmth of her skin, the scent of her perfume, and the fact that she was there nearly overtook him. The instant her lips molded to his, Ray was gone.

 

Ray kissed Theo, deeply and passionately. He attacked her mouth with every intention of devouring her, and Theo gave as good as she got. She returned the sentiment with the same amount of fervor. They were desperate for one another after years apart.

 

Somehow, and he honestly didn’t have the slightest idea how he managed, Ray drew back from the young woman in his arms, the one who’s bodyheat he craved more than the sun itself.

 

“Wait, wait, wait,” He whispered in quick succession. He tenderly held her jaw in his massive hands. “We can’t do this, baby. We can’t get caught.”

 

“It’s okay,” She told him in the same soft, breathless voice.

 

She raked her fingernails across his scalp causing him to sigh again. With his eyes still shut, Ray had only his sense of touch to guide him. He felt Theo’s hands move. They glided down his neck and across his shoulders before diverting down his chest. He relished in the feeling of her hands against him. Just the sensation of it was almost enough because he’d gone so long without even that. And then she touched him where he wanted it most. Ray was barely able to let loose his growl when Theo claimed his lips again, nipping and kissing them while she grasped his engorged dick firmly.

 

“I’ve missed you.” She whispered against his lips. “I need you.”

 

That seemed to be all it took for Ray to forget entirely about the world outside the men’s room. His hands explored her body as best they could, his mouth did the same, but he was so consumed with need that his actions held little focus. It was no different than a child at Christmas. Ray was suffering from sensory overload, but he had no intentions of stopping.

 

Together, the pair of them did their best to undo Theo’s cumbersome belt and slacks. They fumbled over each other’s hands. It probably took them seconds longer than it would have for only one to attempt it, but they didn’t care.

 

He remembered grabbing hold of her hips and spinning her. He remembered bending Theo over the nearest sink. He even remembered shoving his prison slacks down and out of the way before the world went still. Heat, sweltering and hotter than the sun itself, encompassed his most sensitive appendage. The moment he was fully seated inside her, Ray’s good sense was stolen from him. He couldn’t put into words how it felt and it left him temporarily dumb.

 

“Fuck,” He groaned.

 

He wanted to stay like that forever, to stay in that moment until the end of time, but he also couldn’t stop himself. His greed took over. He wanted more. He needed it.

 

Ray curled his fingers around her hips, digging them into her soft skin. He knew she’d likely bruise, but he didn’t care, and doubted she would, either. Within seconds, he was driving into her with a veracious appetite. Theo white-knuckled the sink, seemingly desperate for anything to steady herself. She whimpered and whispered, letting out gasping breaths because it was the only thing either of them could do.

 

The assault continued and Ray struggled to hold out, but he couldn’t. It’d been years since he’d had sex with anyone. He suffered for it. And from the way things felt, it’d been just as long for Theo, too.

 

Ray let out a subdued roar as he spilled himself inside his girl. He felt his orgasm rake through him, rising from his toes and through the entirety of his being. Everything pulsed with fire, everything tingled and vibrated.

 

Theo righted herself, standing up straight and reaching for him. Ray buried his face in the nape of her neck, which made it easy for her to cradle the back of his head, while he wrapped his arms around her body. They were still connected, him nestled deeply inside her, but if her back ached from the sharp angle at which she bent, she never spoke on it.

 

Her throat felt so small in his large hand as he guided it back. Theo arched her back even further and let him bring his mouth to hers. Theo kissed him as best she could before he released her. She opened her eyes, finally, and looked at Ray’s reflection. He was staring back at her through his lashes. He was breathing heavily, his lips parted as he did his best to calm down, but as he looked back at her, a grin tugged at his lips. She couldn’t help but do the same.

 

The sharp clack of someone’s knuckles against the door brought the pair both back to reality. Ray felt a bolt of fear that they would enter, but they didn’t.

 

“Two minutes!” The guard called from the other side.

 

Whether he wanted to or not, Ray knew he had to pull back, and did. He groaned, too sensitive to avoid it, and went about righting himself. Theo stood upright again and turned to face him as she buttoned her trousers. As she corrected her messed clothing, she didn’t bother removing her proud smile. As far as Ray was concerned, she didn’t need to. She deserved to be proud of what she’d done.

 

When he was shoved back into his pants and the chain around his waist was back on the outside of his clothing, he closed the distance between them. Ray loomed over her, dropping his chin to his chest so he could keep her gaze. He tenderly held her hips in his hands, massaging them for a moment.

 

Theo reached for his head and brought it close again. Her lips brushed across his. “I’ve missed you.” She whispered before kissing him sweetly.

 

Ray let out a sigh before they parted.

 

“I missed you, too, baby.”

 

He sweetly cradled her jaw, more than willing to sink back into the moment when the door suddenly opened. Ray ground his teeth, setting a sharp line to his jaw when he did. He stepped away from Theo and held his hands up while she quickly buttoned her shirt as best she could to keep herself decent in front of the strangers.

 

“Hands, Merrimen.” The guard said.

 

Ray did as he was told and held his hands near his waist. They were immediately cuffed into place like before.

 

The second guard, the one who’d entered alongside the one to handcuff Ray, held out his hand. Theo crouched down, hiked up her pant leg, and removed a thick envelope that was clearly folded around a substantial wad of cash from her boot. Understanding washed through Ray that moment. No wonder he’d been given a moment –or a few- alone with Theo. She’d bribed the guards.

 

That’s my girl he thought to himself as he smiled.

 

“Pleasure doin’ business with you.” He said as he slipped the envelope into his shirt where it would be hidden from view.

 

“Come on, Merrimen.” The first guard said. “Say goodbye to your girlfriend.”

 

Ray stepped towards her, still sporting his proud smirk, and bent down. Theo kissed him sweetly, a sentiment he returned.

 

“Love you, babe.” She told him.

 

He chuckled a little, gave her a wink and replied, “Love you.”

 

And just like that, he was led away, back through the halls of the courthouse and outside once again. Within the hour he’d be back in his cell and alone again.

Chapter 4

Summary:

Some more smut.

At eight o’clock, Theo locked up the shop and by eight-thirty, she was pulling up into her apartment’s parking lot. For the majority of the day, Theo thought about the cop who’d practically barged into her little shop, smoked his cigarette, and stamped it out on her countertop like a total prick. He set her nerves on edge for more than a few reasons. The simplest was he was an asshole. A more in depth reason was because he clearly had it out for her and the people she’d grown up with.

 

Theo grabbed her things and slung her bag over her shoulder as she rose out of her car. After slamming the door, she absently pressed the clicker and listened to her car’s locks engage.

 

With practiced steps, she wove through the outlining buildings until she reached hers. When she looked up from her phone, ready to jog upstairs to her door, Theo paused. There, sitting on the stairs with his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped together and his head slightly lowered was Ray.

 

“Shit,” She grumbled.

 

They stared at one another for a breath or two, neither speaking nor bothering with formalities. Ray simply waited to see what Theo would do, and she knew it. As she looked him over, Theo pensively tugged on the silver ring that pierced her bottom lip, chewing on it lightly while she thought. It didn’t take her long to come to a conclusion she didn’t like.

 

With a heavy, agitated sigh that illustrated her displeasure, Theo waved her hand dramatically and sarcastically toward her apartment. Ray rose, turned, and jogged upstairs to wait for her. He made the journey much faster than her, but what could you expect when the man was nearly a foot taller.

 

She reached the top with her keys out, unlocked the door and walked inside. Ray followed and closed it once more. Out of habit, he locked the deadbolt into place.

 

“What?” She finally asked.

 

Theo hadn’t turned to face him again. Instead, she did what she could to act as normally as possible. She removed her bag from around her shoulder and dropped it along with her keys onto the kitchen table.

 

Ray continued to remain silent long enough for Theo to walk to the fridge, grab herself a can of root beer, open it, take a sip, and lean against the counter to face him. Minutes, probably, and he still hadn’t spoken. It drew on her already thin nerves.

 

He would meet her eye and look around. He was standing casually, wearing a pair of old jeans, his working boots, and a white beater underneath a dark jacket. She hated that still, after all these years, there was something that drew her to him. She couldn’t explain it any more than she could hope to understand something as complicated as thermo-dynamics, or biochemical engineering. Her brain just couldn’t fathom it, and through the years, she’d begun to resent him for it because it was clearly one-sided.

 

“Let me guess,” She said, her voice laced with nothing but derision. “You’re here to tell me I was right,” She took another sip of her drink and obnoxiously sighed her pleasure with it just because she could. “You’re here to tell me that the job you pulled this morning didn’t quite go according to plan,” His brows furrowed and his jaw went rigid. “And that a few people died.” The surprise was beginning to dwindle, replaced with his own irritation. “And I’m betting the cops already know it’s you, don’t they? Or you suspect they might.”

 

A pregnant silence drifted between them, swollen with a thousand different emotions. They were both on edge and her declaration seemed to only amp Ray up. She wanted him to deny it, though. She wanted him to tell her it wasn’t true because a cop fishing for whatever would suit their cases wasn’t new. It was a known tactic, so she wanted Ray to deny it.

 

“How’d you-“

 

The instant she knew where his sentence was heading, Theo lobbed her half-full soda at him. She had tile. She’d mop up the mess later.

 

The can sailed through the air right toward Ray’s head. He ducked and batted the object away. It landed hard on the floor, splattering the brown liquid across the light tile.

 

“The fuck, T?!” He demanded loudly.

 

“I told you.” She growled through her teeth. Theo pointed a stern finger at him. “I fucking told you, Ray. How many goddamn times? How many goddamn times do I have to warn you before you’ll actually listen to me?”

 

He ground his teeth and clenched his jaw. Despite the layer of hair, she could see the muscles coil and roll. She saw anger flash in his hazel eyes and almost dared him to say something. But just as suddenly as it appeared, the anger subsided. Not completely, but partially at least.

 

“How’d you know?” he finally asked.

 

“Because a cop came to see me at work today.” She didn’t hide her condescension. He hadn’t expected that answer. “Friend of yours, I’d imagine. Or at least he plans to be.”

 

“Who was he?”

 

“Didn’t introduce himself.” In the distance, the majority of her root beer had spread across the floor before it reached a level in the can which prevented more to spill. Neither of them paid attention to it. “He came in, told me you stole an armored truck, killed a few guards, and that you’d been to see me twice in the last week.”

 

His brows furrowed curiously. “The fuck he know that?”

 

“Either he’s following you, or me. Regardless, they probably know you’re here right now.”

 

 “Fuck.” He mumbled, primarily to himself. Ray’s head fell back on a breath. He ran his hands over his shortly-shorn hair and mull over what she’d said.

 

“That why you’re here, then?”

 

He lifted his head, running his hand down his face. Ray nodded, “Yeah.”

 

“Well,” Theo pushed herself away from the countertop and approached the can. She tossed it lazily into her sink where it landed with a clank. She then proceeded to grab a roll of paper towels. “No need, okay?” The paper towels ate up the soda. “It’s not the first time you’ve brought the cops to my door.”

 

“That’s not fair.”

 

She stood abruptly enough that her hair fluttered. She level her gaze on him.

 

“No? Am I not being fair? Poor thing.”

 

He pursed his lips, biting back on something he wanted to say. She was antagonizing him and well aware of the fact, but it was difficult for Theo to rein in her temper when it came to Ray. The same could probably be said for him.

 

Theo had time to wipe up the mess she’d made when she threw her soda at Ray and dump the used paper towels in the trash before he spoke again.

 

“Just watch your back, okay?” He said. He drew her eye. “And…”

 

Ray’s voice dwindled. He let his sentence linger unfinished and shifted uncomfortably. Theo knew. In that moment, she knew what he was too embarrassed to say. Her stomach  and face fell.

 

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me?”

 

Ray tilted his head to the side, arching a brow as he did as though silently saying, well, why not? Theo instantly ground her teeth.

 

“Go,” She told him.

 

“T,”

 

“No, goddamn it, no.” She spat venomously. “Not gonna happen.”

 

“T,” His shoulders slumped and he looked at her with an almost charming sort of pleading. “Come on.”

 

“Fuck you.” She said. “You never listen, Ray. Why waste my time?”

 

She spent the next minute or two doing her best to force him out of her apartment until, finally, he obliged. She locked the door behind him. How dare he have the balls to come to her for another reading after he so easily ignored her warning. Asshole.

 

Still seething over the brief interaction, Theo dampened a rag and dropped it to the floor. With the toe of her shoe, she wiped it across the soon-to-be sticky spot on the tile, and thought. Her fingers tingled with the need to do something –anything- to quell her frustration with him. Dealing with Ray Merrimen sometimes felt like bashing your head against a brick wall would be a better and more productive thing to do.

 

Sometimes, more recently in fact, Theo found herself wishing he was still in prison. How could it be that for the first four years he was locked away things were easier? He was in a maximum security facility locked in isolation. HOW WAS IT EASIER BACK THEN?!

 

---

 

 

2009

3 Years in Prison

 

The moment he was brought into the interrogation room where his new attorney sat waiting, Merrimen knew he’d get off one way or another.

 

The guards led him to the armless chair set up across the narrow table from his lawyer. They chained his feet into place and ensured his cuffs were tight. Ray growled and glared at one guard in particular who grabbed his left wrist cuff and shook it harder than he needed to. The metal had dug into his skin, and it was intentional.

 

“If you need us,” He said to the lawyer, “We’ll be right outside, ma’am.”

 

“I’ll be fine.” She replied with an empty smile.

 

Ray watched them leave with mild interest before looking once again at the woman sitting across from him. Ashen blonde hair framed her face. It was cut to her chin, and ill-fitting, both in color and style. It was oddly stringy.

 

She wore no makeup, but a pair of large glasses with thick frames. Her clothes were on the older side, but a monochromatic scheme. The dark tones helped them look more professional, but it still wasn’t the outfit of someone incredibly successful. Most female lawyers he’d ever seen tended to wear a fitted skirt with a matching blazer. Ms. Reynolds wore a knee-length pleated skirt and a white button-up shirt, and a blazer that looked like it belonged to a real estate agent.

 

“Why are you here?” He asked her when they were alone.

 

She stepped around the table and stood beside it. She clasped her hands in front of her and looked at him plainly.

 

“To help.” She replied. He scoffed and she arched a brow. “What would you like me to do?”

 

A mischievous glint flashed in his eyes the moment before a wicked grin appeared on his face. Ray drew his bottom lip through his teeth. He said nothing, but patted his thigh as best he could with his cuffed wrists.

 

‘Ms. Reynolds’ didn’t hesitate to close the distance between them. She swung her leg over one side of his lap, and then the other before she took her seat. Ray easily wrapped his hands around her bare thighs after sliding them beneath her skirt. Her skin was soft and so warm. Ray looked up into familiar eyes.

 

“Hey, babe.” He said with a wide smile.

 

“Hey,” she cooed back.

 

Theo leaned forward and kissed him deeply, a sentiment Ray greedily returned. He loathed that he couldn’t reach out and touch her.

 

When Theo arrived for her biweekly visit, Ray was skeptical when she suggested that he needed a new attorney. It was the way she said it, though. Theo was teasing and taunting, lacing her phrases with innuendo that somehow easily rang in his ears despite the lack of any true tone. She told him that she’d send him a letter with the lawyer’s information and that he should call her. He recognized her voice the moment she answered the phone, but Theo remained in character and pretended to be Ms. Reynolds. He knew she was well aware the prison recorded their calls.

 

Ray doubted she’d be able to pull it off. He thought, for sure, that the prison would catch her the moment she appeared. Surely, a wig and glasses wouldn’t be enough to hide someone who was there every two weeks for the last three years. At that point, Theo had met nearly everyone who worked at the prison, so clearly they’d recognize her. But they hadn’t.

 

He knew her family was connected, but he was only just beginning to realize how connected.

 

When Theo drew back, she nipped tenderly at his lips causing him to groan. His dick ached in his slacks. It strained against the fabric, desperate to be where he knew it belonged: inside Theo. It’d been over a year since he last touched her, let alone had sex, and he was impatiently awaiting the chance. Theo seemed well aware of the fact, too.

 

As she sat straddling his lap, Theo leaned back. She grabbed her cellphone and pressed a few buttons before setting it back down on the steel table. He eyed her curiously.

 

“We have a half an hour.” She told him. It was then he realized that she must have set a timer.

 

Ray watched, unable to really do much else, as Theo begun to slowly (torturously slow) unbutton her shirt. His eyes found focus and remained locked to her chest, watching as inches of her skin was exposed.

 

He began to squirm impatiently, and she noticed. It forced a smile to cross her lips.

 

“Someone’s impatient.” She openly teased. Ray tore his gaze from her chest and met her eye. “A little excited, hm?”

 

Ray glared up at her, which Theo seemed to find amusing. She was enjoying herself too much for his liking.

 

“Oh, don’t scowl.” She offered him a mocking pout. “I’ll make it all better.”

 

She finally reached the end of the buttons and swept her shirt open as much as she could. Ray took a deep breath, appreciating the sight of her nearly-naked chest, but the realization that he couldn’t reach out and touch her annoyed him more than he could express.

 

Theo was in charge of whatever was about to transpire, and he could see how much she enjoyed the fact.

 

She rose onto the tips of her toes, pressing her chest into his face while her hands worked between them. Ray felt the tugs on his waist, the sharp jerks of her untying his prison slacks. He paid them little to no attention and instead, bit into Theo’s breast. She let out a sultry gasp.

 

As it had in the bathroom of the courthouse, everything that followed happened quickly.

 

Almost the same instant he felt her soft, warm, malleable flesh clasped gently between his teeth, Theo lowered herself onto him. She moaned in his ear and he bit back a groan of his own.  They lingered.

 

Ray held her as best his shackled arms would allow. They were safe for the moment, at least from being spied on. Visitation with an attorney is private, with no video or audio recordings.  It spoke to the ‘attorney client privilege’. Because of that simple reality, neither had to worry about what they were doing, about authorities watching them.

 

On the other hand, that didn’t mean a guard (likely standing on either side of the door inches away) wouldn’t just wander in. They could simply decide to cut his time short, knock and then enter. If they did, they’d get an eye full for sure.

 

That knowledge, that bit of anxiety made everything so much better.

 

Ray’s head quickly cleared when Theo began to move. She proceeded to ride him with strength and a determination to reach her end. He grabbed at her thighs, a futile attempt to steady himself.  Her fingers bit into his back.

 

Her pace increased by the second and with his head spinning, long before he’d hoped he would, Ray felt his body erupt. His orgasm was almost immediate and while an undeniable, euphoric relief, it annoyed him.

 

Theo didn’t notice, or simply didn’t care. Her pace never slowed, never faltered. Instead, she continued to thrust into him long after he would have stopped them. As a result, Ray was forced to bite down and suffer through his sensitivity because he wasn’t going to tell her to stop.

 

And then, suddenly, Theo went still. A stifled, whimper of a gasp echoed in his ears. Her fingernails bit almost angrily into his shoulders, and she began to tremble. Her core clamped down on him tightly as though it refused to let him go. Ray was desperate to wrap his arms around her and hold her close while she rode the waves of her orgasm, but he couldn’t. He could do nothing more than press himself as close to her as possible.

 

After a moment or two, Theo began to breathy regularly despite the small hitch at the back of her throat. Her body relaxed. Her thighs continued to quiver, however, which made him smile to himself.

 

She drew back and kissed him passionately. Ray happily returned the affection. When they parted, her forehead remained fixed to his. They were both breathing heavily.

 

“Hope that’s not all you have.” Theo finally said, her voice drenched in the satisfaction she’d clearly experienced.

 

He smirked a little. “Why’s that?” He felt he knew the answer already.

 

“Pretty sure we’ve still got about twenty-nine minutes left.”

 

Ray chuckled. He leaned forward and kissed her again. He intended to use every bit of that ‘twenty-nine’ minutes.

 

---

 

 

Now:

 

It was the day after her confrontation with Merrimen and before she went to work, Theo had finally come to a decision about what to do with the cigarette butt. At least, she knew what she was going to do with about half of it. She was one to always keep something in reserve.

 

Wearing a pair of latex gloves, Theo cut the cigarette filter into a few small pieces, one of which she set aside. The others she replaced in the plastic bag that had previously held the whole thing.

 

On the table, spread out before her was everything she could possibly need and a few extra bits just because she wanted to be mean. Theo took the empty baby food jar and dropped the bit of used cigarette butt inside. After it, she sprinkled in a small grouping of needles, each of which tinkled inside the bit of glass. Next came a pinch of red pepper flakes, a pinch of black pepper, a bit of black dog hair, and some Goofer Dust. In a small vial set to the side were about a dozen dead, red fire ants. Theo unscrewed the top and dumped about half of them inside.

 

As she added her ingredients, she concentrated on what she wanted, chanting to herself as she did.

 

Theo pictured the obnoxious cop in her mind, thought about the things she wanted to happen to him and threw as much of her energy into the concoction as she could. With her eyes focused solely on it, Theo reached for a bottle of white vinegar, opened it up, and proceeded to pour it into the baby food jar.

 

When the thin, clear line reached roughly half way up the bottle, Theo set the vinegar aside. She quickly closed the jar as tightly as possible and, while still chanting to herself, she gave it a harsh, vigorous shake. The needles within clanked and clacked against the glass.

 

A knock on her door drew her attention up. Theo rose, still shaking the jar as she went. She unlocked and opened it, revealing a young man, a few years younger than herself, with jet black hair. It was cut short on the sides, but longer and combed perfectly on top.

 

He had a beard that was longer than one would assume a man his age could grow. Dark eyes sparkled when they landed on her.

 

“What’s up, cuz?” He grinned.

 

“Hey, Patrin.” She chuckled.

 

Theo hugged him tightly when he threw his arms around her. Patrin was her cousin, her mother’s sister’s kid or something along those lines.

 

When they parted, she stepped back to let him in. He closed the door behind him while she returned to the kitchen table.

 

“Brought those candles you wanted.” He said before catching sight of the ingredients on her table. He arched a thick brow and let out a low whistle. “Who you tryin’ to curse, hm?”

 

“A nosey fucking cop.” She replied. Theo stopped shaking the small jar and set it down on the table, the ingredients hidden within a cloud of bubbles.

 

“What’d the po do to you?” he chuckled as he eyed the concoction.

 

“He insulted my family.” She said plainly. Theo tugged off her gloves. Patrin nodded as though agreeing that yeah, that was plenty to deserve it.

 

“Well,” He lifted a small black bag and set it on the table just beyond the pieces she had laid out. “Here are the candles. Brought seven. A week’s worth of burning should work.”

 

“Thanks. I haven’t had candles in a while. Probably should’ve bought some when I was at Mom’s place.”

 

“How is your mom?” Patrin grabbed a chair and spun it around so he could sit backwards in it like all the cool kids do.

 

“Good.”

 

Theo retrieved a pair of beers from the fridge and gave one to her cousin. They sat at the table and talked for a good while, filling one another in on what they’d been up to over the last few weeks. She wasn’t worried about how he’d react to her reacquainting herself with Ray. He wasn’t happy with it, sure –most of her family wouldn’t be- he just wasn’t an asshole about it.

 

He really liked Ray back in the day. Ray fit into her family with incredible ease, into the family of thieves, fortune tellers, and grifters because his brain worked the same way. That was why he was in his chosen profession. Theo’s family was more into the long-run sort of jobs, the jobs that paid out with some consistency while Ray was all about the adrenaline. He respected the intricacy of it, though. Ray always thought that having people on the take at the docks was ingenious. Not only did it let them skim some merchandise off the top, but it allowed them to smuggle things in given LA was home to one of the largest international shipping yards around. Said merchandise was then moved through the back of Theo’s shop, as well as a few others. Those shops, in turn, helped clean the money.

 

It was finely-tuned and given his aptitude for thievery, Ray fit in perfectly. If only he hadn’t fucked it all up.

 

Roughly an hour after he arrived, Patrin headed out. He gave her another hug and a kiss on the cheek before waving. As he walked down the stairs and toward the parking lot, Theo caught sight of an SUV that didn’t belong. She didn’t linger, however. Instead, she dipped inside and text Patrin, warning him that the cops might have been watching the apartment. He knew how to handle it.

 

Chapter 5

Summary:

Glad people are enjoying this. Let me know what you think.

Ray was home alone and chose to capitalize on it as best he could. His girl was at work, dancing and gyrating in heels too big to even walk in. He was still seething after his interaction with Theo last night. Every time he was near her, he was left reeling, usually consumed with guilt that turned to anger because he never knew how to handle the emotion.

 

As he sat on the couch, Ray looked around the living room. Whether he meant to or not, he thought about the woman whose apartment he’d been living in since his release. Holly was a stripper and pretty stereotypical in that sense. She was tall, leggy, and painted in a fake tan. With bleached hair, plumped lips, and a pair of breast implants that cost as much as a used car, she fit the bill. She was exactly what people would think about if they thought ‘stripper’.

 

That wasn’t to say she wasn’t kind, however. Holly was a good person at heart, but vastly different from the young woman that pressed every button Ray possessed.

 

Naturally, his mind drifted to Theo, and he couldn’t help but compare the two.

 

Theo’s hair was so dark that sometimes he swore it shined blue in the light. It was always kept long, and softer than silk. Her skin was fair compared to the rest of the Southern California population because she always used sunscreen. She had curves where Holly didn’t, curves formed from just the right amount of muscle and softness, and she hadn’t bought a single thing on her body.

 

Theo was strong and passionate. She was fiercely loyal when it came to family and otherworldly in more ways than one.

 

She was that person to Ray. Everyone has one of those people in their lives, the sort of person they had no idea how to quantify because it was impossible. She always had been and always would be that person to him.

 

Ray’s mind drifted back to the day he was released, back to the first time he’d seen Holly beyond a thick pane of glass, and the first time he’d seen Theo in six years.

 

Eight Months Ago:

 

Weight was lifted from his shoulders the moment he was beyond the chain-link fence that surrounded the property. Ray wouldn’t calm completely until he was off the grounds and back home, but he did feel better.

 

Holly, leaning up against her SUV, smiled wide when she spotted him. He tried to do the same, but the action was barely visible. He didn’t feel like smiling. Even though he was out and had a beautiful woman waiting for him, he wasn’t as happy as he thought he should be. He hugged her regardless of how he felt, though.

 

“You got any sunglasses for me?”

 

“I’m sorry, baby.” She said as she dropped her head. “I forgot. But here,” She stepped away and instantly removed her sunglasses, eagerly trying to give them to him. When he realized what she was doing, he jerked back.

 

“Come on,” He scoffed.

 

“What?” She laughed as he slid them on. “They look good.”

 

He smiled a little as he made his way to the Suburban.

 

Holly tossed him the keys before jumping into the passenger’s seat while Ray took the driver’s. It felt foreign, but right to be behind the wheel, at least after he managed to push the seat all the way back. Holly was so short that his knees hit the steering wheel when he took his seat.

 

Ray’s mind drifted as he drove home, pushing Holly’s voice out and replacing it with thoughts of what he was going to do now. He had a list of things he planned to do, everything from taking a shower, to grabbing fast food. He wanted a beer and to see his friends. There were a thousand things he could do to fill his day with, but Holly seemed to have other plans.

 

“I mean,” Her voice brought him back to the moment. She was cradling his hand to her chest, nibbling on her bottom lip seductively. “We got time, right?”

 

He arched a brow. He hadn’t been paying the slightest bit of attention to what she was saying, so he had no idea what she was talking about, but he did soon enough. Still holding his hand, Holly unwrapped it from hers and molded it easily around her breast. Holly let out a soft, sultry sigh, and bit her bottom lip again as she looked back at him. It felt nice, despite the implant he felt within.

 

Ray hadn’t had sex in little more than six years, and that fact just reminded him of something he would have rather forgotten. It made him think of the last woman he’d touched. Theo, and her wickedly sharp mind, had bent and broken countless laws while he was inside. Because of her, Ray was fairly certain he could make the claim that he was one of –if not- the only men in the world who had sex with his SO while being incarcerated in a high-security federal prison, while also being in the Special Housing Unit. And it was more than once.

 

For the briefest of moments, Ray wondered what Theo was up to. He hadn’t spoken to her in a long time, or bothered asking anyone about her. Part of him didn’t feel he had the right, so he avoided talk of her all together.

 

“I mean,” Holly practically cooed when she spoke. “It’s a long way home,” She leaned closer to him. “Isn’t it?” She began to undo his belt and jeans.

 

“Hey,” The word was barely audible and not heeded at all.

 

Holly made quick work of his jeans, unzipping them with ease, and reaching inside. She didn’t hesitate to pull him out. Before Ray could offer another weak protest, Holly’s mouth descended on him. Ray bit back a groan as she slid him down her throat.

 

His mind instantly swam as she bobbed up and down his length, to the point he wondered if he’d have to pull over.

 

---

 

 

Back in Long Beach, Holly threw her head back as she cried out, thrusting her chest high into the air while she bounced on Ray’s dick. He was more consumed with reaching his own end than with what she was doing. So, holding her hips firmly, he threw her down on him until he finally came. Ray growled deeply as his orgasm tore through him. Meanwhile, Holly let out another loud, borderline obnoxious moan as she faked an orgasm of her own. He knew the difference between real and fake, he just didn’t care.

 

Panting her gasping breaths, Holly rolled off Ray and took her spot beside him on her bed. He stared blankly at the ceiling, breathing in deeply to steady his heart and do his best to return to normal.

 

“That was amazing, baby.” Holly said as she curled up against him. She kissed his bare shoulder, causing Ray to glance to her briefly.

 

“Yeah,” He mumbled. With a sigh, Ray pushed himself out of bed. “I’m going to take a shower.”

 

“Yeah,” She nodded. “Right through there.”

 

Ray followed her direction and soon found himself in the bathroom, surrounded by the overly feminine. It made him arch a brow, but he said nothing about it. He didn’t have a place of his own, so it wasn’t as though he could complain about the décor.

 

He liked Holly well enough. He met her only a few months ago through Bosco. Apparently, his buddy thought the pair would hit it off, and in many ways, they did. Holly was the sort who was attracted to the bad boy, and they didn’t get much badder than him, apparently. From the moment they met, she did any and everything he asked for her. She was incredibly eager to please him and like any man, he gladly accepted it, but it bothered him a little. He wondered what could have happened to her in her life that made her so willing to cater to a con she barely knew.

 

In about an hour, he and Holly would make their way to the Lavou house where Ray’s Welcome Home party was waiting for them. He was excited about it, excited to see his friends, to drink, chill, and eat some damn-good food. It was all he could think about for the last few weeks, mostly.

 

The hot water poured out of the showerhead with the perfect amount of pressure. If he was only a couple inches shorter, he would have been able to enjoy it completely. As it was, he still loved it.

 

---

 

 

Ray hadn’t stopped laughing and smiling since he’d arrived. His face hurt, but he wasn’t going to stop. He wasn’t entirely certain he could if he tried.

 

As he stood in a circle with his friends, laughing about some joke one of the guys had told, he lifted his beer to take a sip. No sooner than the cool glass touched his lips did his eyes wonder. Over the crowd, across the backyard, and through the wide open sliding-glass doors that led to the kitchen, Ray spotted her. She didn’t stand out one way or another, wearing a loose-fitting t-shirt, jean shorts, and a pair of old Doc Martens, but she might as well be illuminated by a neon sign.

 

Ray felt a chill run down his spine as Theo spoke to Malia inside. Whether he realized it was happening or not, Ray found himself making his way across the yard and to the house. The moment he stood within the threshold, attention shifted to him. Behind her large, dark sunglasses, he saw her arch a brow.

 

After a few seconds of silence, she spoke. “What?” she asked him in a cold voice.

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

Theo opened her mouth to speak, but was immediately silenced when Holly appeared. The blonde instantly wrapped herself around Ray’s side, causing the man to cradle her shoulder while tensing his jaw in annoyance.

 

“Hey, baby.” She cooed. “Missed you.”

 

Ray offered her a halfhearted smile that was clearly forced. His gaze drifted back to Theo. He noticed a surprised or slightly amused smile was threatening to take her lips, but she wouldn’t quite let it.

 

“Who’s this?” Holly asked in an innocent, yet “dominance establishing” sort of way.

 

“Nobody,” Ray said, shocking both Theo and himself with his careless statement.

 

He noticed her flinch, but Theo did her best to keep the emotion hidden. Either way, he saw it and it made him feel worse than he already had. Theo was far from ‘nobody’. He didn’t even know why he said it, only that the word emerged before he could pull it back.

 

Theo didn’t miss a beat, though. Obviously offended, she responded quickly, with very pointed words meant to hurt him and cause trouble.

 

“I’m Theo,” She said as she extended a hand to the blonde. Holly shook it. “Ray’s just doesn’t want you to know that we used to fuck.” Holly instantly jerked her hand back. Theo let her, and with a vindictive sort of smile and her attention on the blonde, she added. “He’s just embarrassed that I popped his cherry when we were kids.”

 

His stomach sank. It twisted into a thousand knots. Ray fought back a groan as his eyes drifted shut. He couldn’t believe that was what she chose to say. Of all the things… why that?

 

When he turned his attention back to Theo, she met his stare. He couldn’t see her eyes through the sunglasses, but he knew they were angry. There was no way around it. He could just feel it.

 

In a stern, cold and distant voice, she said, “Malia has your cake. Congrats on the release.”

 

She turned to leave, but made it only a few steps before Ray spoke. “What cake?”

 

She spun lazily on her heel to face him and cocked a single brow when she did. “Baba’s cake.”

 

Ray’s chest seized and his stomach dropped. He suddenly felt like a bigger dick than he did a moment ago, which was impressive.

 

“You brought it?” He did his best to keep the guilt from his voice.

 

“Of course I did.” She said as though it should have been obvious. “I keep my promises.” And then she added, very purposefully, “I’m not a piece of shit.”

 

Her statement affected him more than he thought it would. It was like a gut-punch, and he knew that was the point, but he was so lost in his own thoughts that he barely noticed Theo saying goodbye to the others. He only came to when she was opening the front door, a moment later disappearing through it.

 

Ray asked Malia if the cake was actually there and, smiling wide, she opened the fridge to show him. The hole in his chest grew. He remembered Theo promising to make that cake –his favorite cake- for him the day he got out. Naturally, he figured it wouldn’t happen when they broke up, promise or no. Apparently, he’d been wrong. That was one thing he always loved and hated about Theo: her conviction to her word. She was of the mind that if she used the breath to say it, she needed to follow through. Ray was like that to a degree, but if his word ended up being more trouble than it was worth, he’d back out of the deal. She wouldn’t. Ever.

 

He could respect that, in truth.

 

Now:

 

Ray leaned forward and let his forearms rest against his knees as he stared down at the floor. He never should have gotten into contact with Theo. If he’d just let things lie, half of the conflicting thoughts that threatened to consume him wouldn’t be constantly surging through his head. He should have been focusing on the task at hand, focusing on dealing with the cops and the thousand steps that had to go absolutely perfectly for them to pull the job off.

 

Not Theo.

 

But trying to ignore her now was about as simple as trying to shove a tempest into a jar.

 

Ray chewed on his bottom lip while he rubbed the tattoo on the back of his thumb. He had a dozen or more pieces across his body, ink that ranged in age from a couple months old to decades. The one on his thumb, however, was about the size of a dime and almost completely faded. It was the first he’d ever gotten, a homemade tattoo in the shape of a star that he’d stabbed into his own skin when he was sixteen.

 

It was part of a pair.

 

---

 

 

Theo sat on her couch, her legs pulled up onto the cushion. One leg was up so she could rest her elbow on it. She spun a card in her hand, a thick, large tarot card. Theo flicked it between her fingers, spun it and toyed with it while she stared down at the two other cards on her coffee table. She’d done a reading, but it didn’t help her. Everything was noncommittal, and contradictory. She assumed that she’d been given two answers to the same question, like half of the answer was for her and the other half was for someone else. It didn’t make sense.

 

She tossed The Tower card back onto the coffee table. It caught a little bit of air beneath it and slid almost to the edge before it finally stopped.

 

Running her fingers through her damp hair, she knew what the problem was. Her wires were being crossed with Ray’s. It made sense given he’d brought her in on whatever he was doing, and as a result, she was highly stressed out about it. It was always in the back of her mind, which made it almost impossible for her to concentrate on anything else. Hence, the two separate answers.

 

Despite her outward hatred of him, Theo was afraid for Ray. Clearly, he was too stupid to know when he should back away, to quit while he was ahead, and that scared her. It was going to get him or others killed.

 

In spite of everything, Theo still loved the asshole, and probably always would. She couldn’t help it. He was simply that person to her.

 

As she sat there thinking, Theo decided that, regardless of how angry she’d been when he asked, she would do another reading for Ray. If anything, she had to for her own peace of mind. She needed to know that the worst was behind him just to save her sanity. If not, she’d sit and think on it to the point she’d go crazy.

 

Theo glanced to the clock. It was on the wall behind her TV and read ten-thirty-four PM. She chewed on her lip ring. She didn’t have Ray’s phone number anymore, which meant she needed to ask someone else, so she found herself wrestling over the late hour. Finally, she simply chose to text instead of call. At least that way, if Malia was asleep, she wouldn’t wake her up.

 

As she reached for her phone, Theo cast her gaze briefly to the baby food jar. It was on her TV stand on a cheap terracotta saucer that generally went beneath plant pots. The black candle on the lid was half-burned.

 

She typed up her message, apologizing for the late hour and asking Malia if she had Ray’s number. Not long after, she received a message in return telling her that, yeah, she does, and his number is there for her. Theo thanked her and said they needed to get lunch soon. Malia agreed, and that was the end of the conversation.

 

She opened a blank message with his number in the headline. Theo typed very simply, come over.

 

A minute passed and then another before he replied, who is this?

 

Theo.

 

The time between messages was longer than the first. Eventually, he responded very simply with, fine.

 

Theo tossed her phone down on the couch beside her, her eyes still focused on the room around her. If she didn’t follow through, she knew she’d hate herself for it in the long run.

 

Chapter 6

Ray didn’t know what prompted Theo’s text that night, but he didn’t linger long enough to question it. Instead, he grabbed his keys and headed to her apartment.

 

About a half an hour later, he pulled into a parking place and wove through the buildings to reach hers. It was nestled a little in the back, closer to the middle than the place he stayed with Holly. He preferred it that way and knew she did, too. It made it harder (not impossible, but harder) to catch a tail. Not as easy to set up and watch a building when there wasn’t a clear line of sight beyond one or two parking places. Made tails noticeable.

 

Ray jogged up the stairs and knocked heavily on Theo’s door. A moment later, she opened it. She didn’t really look like she was expecting company, standing there in a pair of cotton shorts, a thinly-strapped shirt with her long hair down and damp. It looked like she had taken a shower and was on her way to bed before she text him.

 

Without a word, Theo stepped aside and let him in. Ray stood in the dining room, which wasn’t hard given that was more or less where the front door opened, and noticed the cards were set up on the table. He cocked a curious brow to it, but said nothing.

 

“Sit,” She commanded plainly.

 

He did, and she sat across from him. Theo brought her foot up, resting it on the chair and hugging her knee to her chest. She tilted her head toward the cards, silently telling him what to do.

 

Ray obliged. As he had almost countless times before, Ray shuffled them. He shuffled them a thousand different ways, it seemed, all the while he thought about the coming job. Ray feared the outcome more than he had the first time, but he had to know.

 

He shuffled and shuffled, folding the cards together, cutting them into a dozen small piles before recombining them, and then shuffling again. He didn’t want a repeat of the last time. That still shook him.

 

When he felt he had mixed up the cards as much as humanly possible, he cut them into three stacks. Silently, Theo took the top card from each, set them down, then recombined the stacks and put them aside. He clenched his jaw. His shoulders went tense and his breathing became shallow. Theo mirrored his apprehension.

 

Eventually, she reached forward and tenderly grasped the first. She flipped it over, revealing a familiar card. They both recognized it as one of the three she’d turned over the last time she did a reading, but it was the second card in that draw. The fact that it wasn’t in the same order as last time filled Ray with a modicum of hope, even if it was the one that signified someone would betray him.

 

The second card she flipped was as familiar as the first. It had been in Ray’s previous drawing, too. It was the one that told him something was chasing him.

 

Ray and Theo looked to the third and final card. His brows pulled together. He didn’t want to see it. He didn’t want to know what was on the other side of that painted piece of stock card because he felt he already knew, and it scared him.

 

Theo tenderly reached forward. Her slender fingers clasped the rough and beaten edge of the card. She lifted it just a bit, but hesitated to turn it over. When he looked up at her, he saw the same fear he felt reflected on her face. She knew, too.

 

After a steadying breath, Theo flipped the card and showed them both what they already suspected. Like before, there was death in the cards.

 

Theo let out a soft breath, not really a gasp, but not far from it. Her forehead fell to her knee. Ray stared at the cards. A lump had formed in his throat and his eyes prickled. This job was cursed. It’d been cursed from the beginning, but he was too greedy to see it.

 

“How’s this possible?” He asked. He didn’t want to know the answer.

 

Theo took in a long, deep breath as she lifted her head. Her face was blank, but it didn’t matter. Her eyes were tinted pink and welling with tears. She might have tried to look indifferent, but he saw the truth.

 

“Fate’s not done with you yet.” She told him before dragging her gaze away from the cards and to him. The green was so much brighter now. “Whatever you’re planning is going to kill you.” He didn’t reply. “What’s going on, Ray? You have to tell me.” He began to shake his head and was immediately stopped when Theo slammed her palm down on the table with a loud, sharp slap. His wide eyes shot to hers. “Tell me,” Her voice trembled, either from anger or the coming tears. When her brows pulled together, he knew it was probably the latter. “Please,”

 

It was the please that did it, the please and the level of desperation that brought the words out. So he told her everything, from Donnie approaching him with the job, to every detail of their plan. He knew he could trust Theo with the knowledge. It wasn’t as though she’d run to the police, so he unloaded all of it.

 

At some point, they’d moved to the couch. Theo sat against one of the arms staring at nothing while Ray leaned forward. Silence filled the room.

 

Theo finally spoke. “Do you trust him?”

 

Ray rubbed his hands lazily together as he gave her question genuine thought. “I don’t know.”

 

“That means no.” She said. Ray looked up to see her staring back at him. “Either you do or you don’t. There’s no middle ground.”

 

He nodded solemnly. She was right and he knew it. If you couldn’t immediately answer in the affirmative then no, you didn’t trust the other person.

 

With a sigh, Ray sat up and leaned back, falling into the thick, plush cushion of her couch as he exhaled. Ray sucked on his teeth for no real reason other than it gave him something to do for the briefest of seconds.

 

“Is it him?” He asked.

 

Theo shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know.” She said. “It’s possible. You hardly know the guy, so it’s possible he’d double-cross you guys the first chance he gets. That’s a lot of money.”

 

“Yeah,” He mumbled.

 

Another silence passed before Theo spoke. “Who’s the cop?”

 

“Head of Major Crimes.”

 

“He’s got a hard-on for you.”

 

Ray smirked and let out a small chuckle. He nodded. Another silence. Ray picked at the cushion beneath him for only a moment.

 

“Can I ask you a favor?”

 

Her gaze languidly drifted to him. In her eyes, he could tell she already knew what he was going to ask, so he didn’t bother saying it at first. Theo scoffed and shook her head a little.

 

“You gonna keep it on you this time?” She didn’t hide her sarcasm. Ray nodded. “Then yeah, give me a second.”

 

Theo rose to her feet and disappeared into the back. Ray watched her slink away. He stared at her ass until she was out of sight. It was half habit, and half necessity. He’d always liked it.

 

A few minutes later, Theo reemerged from her bedroom down the short hall with a small wooden box in her hand. She returned to the kitchen table, opened it, and pulled out small vials and bottles of things that looked like they belonged in a compost heap, or a pantry. Ray rose and joined her.

 

Before she started to divide them up and combine them in whatever order she deemed necessary, Theo pulled her hair back into a weak ponytail that rested at the base of her neck. She went to work shortly after.

 

Ray leaned back in the chair and watched her work with a level of concentration that he applied to planning his heists. His eyes remained fixed to her, gliding over her while her attention was elsewhere. It was the first time he was able to actually ‘look’ at her since he’d barged in on her at the store. She was beautiful. He’d always thought so, possessing a sort of unique, dark, ethereal sort of beauty he couldn’t really classify. And there, hidden behind her ear and only partially visible underneath her hair was an old, faded, star-shaped tattoo just like the one on his thumb.

 

Neither of them had been the sort for Promise Rings or other pieces of jewelry. They wanted something permanent because, like the dumb kids they were, that’s what they knew their relationship would be. He loved her now as much as he did then, but it didn’t matter. Adults know that, despite how you feel about someone, sometimes people just don’t belong together. It could be because of timing, environment, or because deep down their personalities didn’t mesh well over the long run. For him and Theo, sometimes it was all three.

 

As he sat there thinking about the past, reliving times as far back as Friday Night Football games where he and Enson would be running plays while Malia and Theo cheered them on in the sidelines, Theo looked up at him. She leaned forward, reached for him and, suddenly, yanked a few hairs from his beard.

 

“Oh, what the fuck?!” He hissed angrily.

 

Ray rubbed his chin, scratched and itched at the stinging sensation she’d left behind. Theo didn’t even pause. Instead, she placed the hairs in the bundle she was creating, a bundle of small, couple-inch-long twigs. When it was in place, she grabbed a piece of white thread and wrapped it multiple times around the twigs and hair, muttering something to herself as she did. When she was satisfied, she tied it off then placed the bundle within a white cloth sack. She tied that shut and slid it across from her, not offering it to Ray. Immediately after, she began to create another one.

 

He glowered at her temporarily, but said nothing until she was done. To differentiate between the two, she tied one closed with a bow, and the other without. She offered him both.

 

“For you,” She said about the one with a bow. “Enson,” She said about the other.

 

“Thanks.” Ray took them and slid the pair into his pockets. “I don’t know if he’ll hold onto it, though.”

 

“Make him.” She said sternly.

 

Ray nodded. He’d try, but Enson believed in superstition less than Ray did. He was a God fearing man, more of a believer in the notion that Jesus will watch over him and his family instead of some dried up twigs and whispered words.

 

If Ray hadn’t seen what he had when it came to Theo, he probably would have leaned the same way.

 

“Keep that on you.” She said. “Both of you, from start to finish, you hear me? Matter of fact, keep it on you until I see you again. I don’t care if you have to tie it to your junk,” He grinned a little, “Keep it on you, always.”

 

“I will.”

 

“I’m serious, Ray.” She was stern and had a glint of murder in her eyes. “That can’t keep you safe if you leave it behind again.” And then there was a flash of fear. “Keep. It. On. You.”

 

They both knew her worry was justified. He had promised once before and didn’t follow through. He served a decade behind bars for that mistake. Ray didn’t plan on making it twice.

 

“I will.” He repeated.

 

Theo looked him over, weighing whether or not she believed him before, eventually, she nodded. She began to place her things back into the small wooden box. She closed it when she was done and looked back at Ray.

 

“So, Friday?”

 

He nodded. “Friday.”

 

It was after midnight, so technically Wednesday morning. D-Day was close at hand.

 

Her gaze drifted. Theo chewed on her lip piercing. She hadn’t had it when he went inside, so he hadn’t entirely gotten used to it, but it looked good –a thin piece of silver right in the center of her full bottom lip.

 

She continued to toy with it, likely out of habit while she was deep in thought. The desire to reach out to her was strong, nearly as strong as the desire to simply wrap his arms around her. For whatever reason, Ray just wanted to hold her. Maybe it was because of the familiarity of it and because it’d been so long.

 

As the need to touch her reached a point where he knew he would have to react, Ray decided to simply put an end to it. With a hefty breath that broke the silence, he shoved himself out of his seat. He looked down at her.

 

“Thanks, T.” He said.

 

Theo rose as well and followed him to the door. He’d made it clear that he was leaving.

 

Ray unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door only a crack before he paused. A persistent thought wouldn’t leave him. It was, well, persistent. And after a moment, he decided to simply act on it, if anything just to shut his brain up.

 

Before he could talk himself out of it, Ray turned back around. He let go of the door, grabbed Theo by the shoulder, and pulled her into a hug. Her face more or less smashed into his chest just below his collar. She disappeared in his arms, a small thing engulfed in the giant’s grasp.

 

At first, she didn’t respond until, eventually, he felt her arms slide up his back. Her palms rested on the back of his shoulders, burning through the thin cotton of his tee. Ray let out a sigh and his head dipped. She relaxed and turned her head to the side so it wasn’t crushed against him anymore.

 

Ray expected her to push him away at any moment, but she didn’t. Instead, she lingered. His skin prickled as she ran her hands down his back until they came to a natural stop just above his waist.

 

It felt comfortable to hug her again, normal. It was the first time he’d touched her when there wasn’t an undeniable level of hatred, anger, or animosity between them. Ray threaded his fingers through her hair and cradled the back of her head. His eyes drifted shut and his head fell further until his cheek touched the area just above her ear. The scent of her shampoo and conditioner was still strong enough that Ray knew it would linger long after they parted.

 

Ray found himself tenderly massaging her scalp without any true purpose. He was moving on autopilot, his body reacting to the familiar and comfortable. He drew back until his forehead touched hers.

 

That moment, when it happens, is hard to describe. You only know it. There are no actual words that help. It’s a shift in the very air, a mild electrical charge. It happens in a split second, like someone turning a light switch on. One minute, everything is normal and innocent. In the next, you’re filled with a rush of desire that sweeps through your body in less time than it takes to blink. And in that feeling, you somehow know the person you’re with feels the same.

 

That was what happened to Ray.

 

His lips parted with a breath and, still enthralled in the feelings coursing through him, Ray kissed her. Theo sighed. She raked her fingernails across the small of his back when she clenched her fists. It started simply, little more than their lips pressed together, until Ray deepened it just a hint. He was testing the waters, and to his immense shock, she was willing.

 

Filled with both passion and the knowledge that Theo felt the same, Ray pulled her close and practically devoured her. Theo reciprocated in kind, letting out small, soft sighs as she did. Each sound she let out sent him through his skin. Seconds might have passed, but in that brief time, Ray nearly lost himself. He was more than willing to continue until, without warning, Theo drew back.

 

She somehow tore her lips from his, but didn’t draw back very far. Her body remained tightly secured to his, her face centimeters away. Theo breathed just as heavily as he did.

 

“This is a bad idea.” She mumbled after a short silence.

 

“So what?” He replied. Ray kissed her again and she complied, but as before, she drew back.

 

“No,” She sighed.

 

Somehow, she stepped away and he managed to let her despite everything within him screaming to hold her close. Ray immediately noticed her flushed cheeks and how her eyelids were heavy. Physically, she clearly wanted things to proceed as much as he did, but her actions said otherwise.

 

Theo tenderly ran the corner of her bottom lip through her teeth, an action that drew Ray’s eye and stirred a bevy of emotions within him.

 

“We can’t do this.” She said. “I love you, Ray. I always will,” His chest ached. “But we both know this doesn’t work.”

 

As much as he wanted to argue the fact, a brief wave of clarity took control of his brain. Somehow, Ray managed to think with the head above his waist instead of below it.

 

“I love you, too.” He told her. She flinched slightly, just as he was certain he had. They hadn’t said that to one another in years, but it was clearly still true. “I should go.”

 

Theo nodded. He stepped forward, leaned down just enough to kiss her forehead and left before he could touch her again. Ray jogged downstairs and did his best to ignore the overwhelming desire to turn around. He had other things to think about at the moment, things that he could lie to himself and say were more important.

Chapter 7

‘Paranoia’ was a word that always bothered Theo. It was used in the same sense as U.F.O. to her. People who said they saw a U.F.O. were generally mocked and ridiculed because a few people who made the claim were generally crazy. Because of that stain, anyone who said they’d seen one themselves were immediately labeled the same –a tinfoil-hate-wearing-looney-toon. When, in reality, a U.F.O. was just that. It was an unidentified flying object. That literally meant you saw something flying through the air, but couldn’t identify it. Hell, a plane is a U.F.O. to a person who’d never seen one before.

 

As a result, the word ‘paranoia’ conjures to mind some person hiding away in a dark cave, someone with a thousand security cameras, a million locks on their doors, or someone who has a corkboard filled with conspiracies and red thread that connected them.

 

But that isn’t always the case. Being paranoid can be an asset, a necessity, even. For people like Theo, it was the latter. She spent her life skirting what was considered decent and right. She stole things and broke laws, and helped others do the same. As a result, she took steps that some people might think are strange and foil-hat-worthy, while others might see them as appropriate.

 

Remember kids, just ‘cause you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.

 

Driving was one time where her paranoia was perhaps at its strongest. She always looked into her mirrors for a tail and had a dash cam, too. Again, they might have been things the average straight wouldn’t think of, but when one’s family is known to law enforcement, one does what one can.

 

It was Wednesday afternoon, and Theo was still thinking about the night before with Ray. Not only was she worried about him and his stupid venture and the fact that something felt completely wrong with it, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss. It was just a stupid kiss, but that didn’t matter. It was the first one in years, and it was just enough to trigger the feelings that had never quite disappeared.

 

She would always love that asshole, always lose herself when they were close, and always disappear within a kiss. That was why she was always so angry and borderline violent when he was around. If she didn’t stay angry, she would melt, and as far as she was concerned, he didn’t deserve that.

 

As she drove down the road on her way to finish running her errands, a car pulled up close behind her. Theo had noticed it a while back because she was always looking in her mirror, but it wasn’t until she turned onto a side road barely used that it pulled up closer than before. She narrowed her eyes at it in frustration, an emotion that deepened when she noticed a blue and red light flash within its grill.

 

Theo cursed under her breath as she pulled over. She made sure her dash cam was on and that the app on her phone was recording. It wasn’t until she saw the officer get out of the car that she made doubly sure and even went so far as to put her phone somewhere out of sight just in case.

 

The haggard, weather-beaten man who’d entered her shop a couple days prior sauntered up to the car with a cigarette burning between his lips. When he reached her window, he rapped his knuckles against the glass. She unrolled the window just enough to let his voice and some smoke to trickle in.

 

“License and registration, please.” He said in a rehearsed, emotionless sort of voice.

 

“Sir,” She said loudly enough she knew her camera would record her voice. “You’re not wearing a uniform and even though there are lights on your car, I don’t feel comfortable handing over my information. May I see some identification, please?”

 

She kept her voice calm and without any real tone. In fact, to those who didn’t know her, it could be considered almost pleasant.

 

“Identification,” He laughed the word. “Get out of the fuckin’ car.”

 

He grabbed her door handle and jerked it, but of course the door was locked. She wasn’t an idiot.

 

“Sir, please stop. I don’t know who you are.”

 

“I was in that stupid fuckin’ store of yours two days ago.”

 

“You mean when you barged in and threatened me? You never even told me who you were. You just walked in, told me that you’re basically watching me, then left.”

 

He leaned forward and stared at her through the glass. She could tell he was getting annoyed.

 

“Get out of the fucking car before I break the window.” He told her sternly. She believed him.

 

Reluctantly, Theo stepped out and before he could say one way or the other, she walked around to the front of her car. It served two purposes, really. One, she wouldn’t be standing on the side of the street where she, or him (though she cared less about that) would get hit by a car. Two, it put both of them right in view of her camera. He didn’t seem to notice either and simply followed her.

 

“Where’s Merrimen?” He asked her.

 

She feigned confusion. “How the hell should I know?”

 

He pointed at her sternly and said, “Don’t fucking lie to me. He was at your place last night. Where is he? What’s he planning?”

 

“I don’t know.” She said in a perfectly innocent way. “He came by for a reading. I read tarot cards.”

 

He laughed harshly. The sound held no joy what so ever. Instead, it was just plain mean.

 

“You gypsies, man. All card tricks and spells, huh?” He continued to laugh.

 

“I don’t appreciate you mocking my family, or faith.” She said.

 

“What are you gonna do, hm? Curse me?” His voice dripped with derision.

 

She lowered her voice to the point she knew her camera wouldn’t be able to pick up the sound and was sure not to move her lips too much.

 

“Who says I haven’t?” She asked. He laughed again and when she spoke once more, Theo used her full volume. “Are you okay? You seem a little overworked. Maybe you should take a break or something. Looks like work’s dragging you down a little. Hey, you can’t win them all, right? Maybe you should just head home for a few days,” Theo motioned toward his ring, “Spend some time with your wife.”

 

As before, he grinned and laughed meanly. The haggard cop pointed at her in that, oh, you sort of way and turned his back to her. His hands were on his hips and she never saw it happen.

 

Without warning, Theo was brought violently to the side, landing on the hood of her car. Her face ached. Actually, fire radiated from her right cheek, and it was intense enough to leave her partially dazed.

 

The cop was on her in an instant, his body pressed to hers and his hand against the back of her neck. She could feel his thick fingers curling around the sides of her throat as he shoved her face into the hot metal hood of her car. He leaned forward.

 

“Listen here, you fucking bitch,” He growled, “I know your little boyfriend is planning something and I don’t care if I have to have unis hangout around your place or that shitty little shop of yours every hour of every day for the rest of your fucking life. You hear me?”

 

“You can’t threaten me.” She said as loudly as she could. “You’re a cop.”

 

“It’s a fucking promise.” He told her. “I can do whatever I want because I’m a cop. You see this,” He dug into his back pocket and pulled out his badge. He shoved it in her face. She finally had a name. “This means you can’t touch me. And this,” He slammed his badge down on her car and retrieved something else –his gun. He made sure she saw it. “I’ve got a round in here with Merrimen’s name on it. Am I going to need one for you, too?”

 

“Fuck you.” She said hatefully. “I’m going to report this. You’re going to lose you’re fucking job!”

 

He laughed again in that cold, angry way. “Who’s gonna believe some gypsy bitch, hm? I’m a decorated officer. It’s your word against mine.”

 

“You hit me.”

 

“No I didn’t. You did that to yourself just to frame me.”

 

Theo twisted in her spot as much as she could to look him in the eye. “Let me go.”

 

He looked her over for a moment or two and honestly, Theo wondered briefly if he would. Finally, when she felt her heart might break through her ribs because it was beating so hard, he did. Detective Nick O’Brien took a step back from her and stowed his weapon before he grabbed his badge and did the same. Theo was breathing heavily, furious for being manhandled, but she had to restrain herself.

 

“Tell Merrimen I’ll see him around.” O’Brien said in a downright friendly way before he sauntered back to his car. A minute later he was inside it and driving away. The asshole even waved at her as he passed.

 

Theo was shaking. Her hands ached with the need to do something, but she simply got back inside her car. Her hands gripped her steering wheel and she stared at her dash. She didn’t move, didn’t speak.

 

The camera is still on. She repeated to herself in her head. The camera is still on. I can’t turn it off yet. I need to get to the station.

 

But Theo also knew she couldn’t drive just yet. She was shaking too hard. So, she did the only thing she could. She screamed and she screamed loudly.

 

“Mother fucker! Mother-fuck-fucking-mother fucker, goddamn mother fucking-fucker!”

 

A bevy of angry words flew from her mouth as she beat against her steering wheel for a solid minute, maybe two. After she’d finished, she took a few, deep, shaking breaths and then, as calm as could be, put her seatbelt on, turned on the car, and drove to the police station.

 

---

 

 

Ray was stood over the plans, his hands planted on either side of the blueprints. He was focused for the first time in a while, concentrating on the task at hand. He made a checklist of things to do.

 

He and everyone had been out for Chinese food earlier where they ran into Big Nick and one of his guys. The asshole made himself known and his relationship to Donnie known, as well. By now, Big Nick knew that Holly was a stripper and, hopefully, he’d make his way to the club tonight. She’d feed him the false intel and after putting the fear of God in Donnie, Ray ensured he’d do the same.

 

Fucking Donnie…

 

Ray trusted him less and less. If the heist hadn’t been his idea, Ray would have dropped him entirely. But, honestly, it was getting to the point that he didn’t care. He couldn’t ditch the kid because he was essential to the plan, but that didn’t mean that Ray had to divide up the cash with him. In fact, who was to say Donnie didn’t have an ‘accident’ before then.

 

He took a deep breath and let it out as he stood upright again. There was a slight twinge in his back because he’d been bent over for so long. Ray pushed past the ache of it when he noticed Bosco and the slightly ecstatic look in his friend’s face.

 

“What’s up?”

 

Bosco was good at scouting and staying hidden. Somehow, the guy was unrivaled when it came to tailing people, so that was his main use. Ray had sent him to tail the cop after Big Nick busted up their lunch. Judging by the look on Bosco’s face, he must have seen something.

 

Instead of replying outright, Bosco offered Ray his camera. It was always on him, ready and able to take pictures when they’re needed.

 

“I think we finally got something that’ll get that asshole off the case.” He said as Ray took the camera.

 

“Okay,” He turned on the display and waited only a second for the pictures to load, “What’s-“

 

His words caught in his throat the moment he recognized the woman Big Nick was talking to. Ray’s stomach sank.

 

“He pulled this chick over,” Bosco said as Ray continued to scroll. “And then he backhanded her.”

 

And sure enough, the next picture Ray saw was of Theo on the hood of her car and Nick’s arm raised. It was the aftermath, and more than enough to get the con’s blood flowing.

 

The following few pictures were of Theo lying on the hood of her car with Nick on her back, one even showing him brandishing his gun. Ray couldn’t put into words how furious he was. Honestly, he doubted there were actual words in the first place. They simply hadn’t been invented yet.

 

That cop would fucking pay.

 

---

 

 

It was hours later when Theo finally made her way home. She’d spent so long at the police station that she genuinely never wanted to see another blue uniform in her life. She already didn’t like cops all that much, but being in the Belly of the Beast made her skin crawl.

 

When she made her statement and filed the report, she was sure to tell the officer taking her statement that she wanted to speak to the boss man. The officer had initially told her that wouldn’t be necessary, but the moment she said the name of the person she was filing a report against and said she had evidence of said offense, they were much more willing to offer the meeting.

 

Theo wasn’t stupid when it came to the video. She was sure to email it not only to herself, but to a few of her cousins and her parents, too. She was sure to tell them to hold onto it. Theo wanted as many copies in the world as possible in case the cops thought it would be prudent to take her phone.

 

They didn’t, at least not yet, and the Lieutenant allowed her to email him a copy, too.  Theo gave him the time stamps, told him when she was pulled over, and he adjusted the playback accordingly. She watched his face the entire time and saw not a single note of surprise cross his face. Instead, she saw disappointment.

 

A fair portion of the audio was intact. She could hear the majority of their conversation, all but a few bits of things O’Brien had muttered to her while she was pinned to the hood, and the things she’d said low enough the camera couldn’t pick up. When she heard herself yelling mother fucker repeatedly, the old-timer paused it, or turned it off, and gave her his attention.

 

He asked her what she planned to do, and in that question, Theo knew it would be an uphill battle with the police. She expected as much. Theo was plain when she talked to the cop and laid out her demands simply. She told him that if Detective Nick O’Brien wasn’t fired and prosecuted within the next twenty-four hours, because she intended to press charges, she would release the video to the press, and post it online. She was sure to tell the Lieutenant that there were multiple copies of the video, and she very much intended to follow through if she didn’t get word soon.

 

Hours. The whole fucking thing took hours because the Lieutenant did everything he could to try and talk her out of her threat. If he’d known her at all, he could have saved himself a lot of breath. She had the mark on her face –a forming bruise and a cut across her cheek courtesy of O’Brien’s ridiculously large ring.

 

She was tired and wanted nothing more than to take a bath and make herself something strong to drink. There was still a trail of dried blood on her face that she wanted to get rid of because it was itchy. And if she remembered right, there was a joint somewhere in her nightstand. If so, that with a warm bath and a whiskey would ensure she’d have a hell of a relaxing night.

 

Nursing a headache that didn’t seem like it was anywhere near ending, Theo trudged through the layout of her apartment complex towards her building. She did everything she could to keep her heels from landing too hard because each step sent a jolt of ache throbbing through her.

 

As her staircase came into view, Theo saw a familiar, angry face. Ray, even in the dim lights outside her building, looked red in the face. She could tell that something pissed him off, but she wasn’t in the mood to hear about it. She had her own things to deal with at the moment.

 

“Not now,” She told him as she approached. “I just want to go to bed.”

 

When she drew near, he stood, and descended a few steps until he was on level ground. His eyes landed on her cheek and she saw his rage increase.

 

“What happened?” He asked with a thick, angry voice.

 

“It’s been taken care of.” She told him. “I just wanna relax.”

 

“I’m not going anywhere.”

 

Theo looked up into his eyes and noted that they were shades darker than they usually were. She could see the fight lingering there, the rage, and she didn’t have the energy to fight him. Instead, she walked by, upstairs, and through her front door. Ray followed.

 

People don’t know how much energy it takes when someone gets that mad. It’s exhausting to have your adrenaline spike for more than a few minutes and when that is added to by hours of paperwork and speaking in circles, it truly is enough to make someone fall asleep on their feet.

 

Theo went to the freezer and grabbed a blue gel pack that she kept within. She fell into a seat at her kitchen table with a groan and placed it to her cheek. Ray sat across from her.

 

“What happened?” He asked again.

 

“Had a run-in with your cop friend.” She told him. When she saw his expression darken further, she felt compelled to repeat, “It’s been taken care of.”

 

Ray inched forward and reached out for her. He took hold of the gel pack to get a better look at the injury. It wasn’t substantial. It just made Theo angry more than anything, but it was still visible enough that someone would probably see it at a distance. The moment Ray could see it his, jaw tensed.

 

He let out a sigh and let his head tilt a little to the side. “You got some shit to take care of this?”

 

She nodded. “Under the sink in the bathroom.”

 

Ray nodded, too, and rose. She watched as he slinked away into the bathroom down the hall before reappearing with a small, plastic tub. She made her own first aid kit and kept the supplies in a cheap plastic box she bought at the dollar store. It was less expensive than buying one that brandished a red cross.

 

He took his seat, set the box down, and popped it open. Ray proceeded to take supplies out and clean the wound on her cheek. She let him. With one hand he held her chin in place. With the other, he dabbed stinging alcohol over the cut. She winced, but didn’t bother telling him to stop.

 

Ray was tender and delicate when he cleaned the cut, all the while she could see the fury in his eyes. When he’d finally finished, Ray leaned back. He tossed the soiled bits of cotton balls onto the table and gave her his attention once more. Ray repeated his demand to know what happened. Instead of telling him the same tired excuse she already had, she told him the truth -from being pulled over to walking up to the apartment.

 

He sat in his seat silently. Theo continued to watch him. She didn’t know what to do. Part of her wanted to tell him to leave because she wanted to take a bath. Another part liked having him around, even if they didn’t speak. She did, however, decide to have that drink, and being a slightly competent hostess, she poured one for him as well.

 

Ray mumbled thanks and sipped on it just as she did. About ten minutes later, he finally broke the silence.

 

“Can I ask a favor?”

 

She sighed more to herself than out loud. Theo scratched the side of her head and nodded. Her eyes drifted shut and stayed that way a little longer than normal. They were beginning to burn like eyes tend to do when you’re exhausted.

 

“Can I take your couch tonight?”

 

Her eyes shot open and her brows furrowed as she stared at him curiously. “Why?”

 

Instead of replying, he retrieved his cell phone, found a message and slid it across the table to her. Theo skeptically took the phone and read a message from Holly telling him: he’s coming over baby. I’ll take care of everything. Just like you said. Love you! And then there was a procession of hearts and kissy-face emojis.

 

Theo slid his phone back. “What’s that mean?”

 

“She’s gonna give him a private show at her place.”

 

“Give who a private show?”

 

He eyed her for a moment before his expression fell. Theo could see that he was only just beginning to realize how much she didn’t know about his life. Used to be that they could give each other one or two word answers and know exactly what the other was talking about. Not anymore, apparently.

 

“She’s a stripper.” He told her. “She’s got the cop.”

 

Theo’s brows rose in sarcastic disbelief. “You’re using your girlfriend to sleep with the cop?”

 

Ray didn’t really say anything. Instead, he lifted his drink to his lips and sipped, meanwhile keeping his eye on her. Theo couldn’t help but shake her head. How little self-respect does a person have to have in order to jump at the chance to help their S.O. by sleeping with someone else?

 

“Jesus,” She scoffed to herself. She shook her head and downed the rest of her drink. If he’d ever asked her to do something like that, Theo would have cut off a body part or two.

 

Theo decided to push past the thought and the fight she knew would ensue if Ray had dared to tell her to whore herself out for a job, and grabbed the bottle of whiskey. She poured herself another drink. Ray finished what he had and slid his glass to her. She dumped some into his as well, and their drinking commenced.

Chapter 8

Theo had been wrong. There wasn’t a joint in her bedside table. It more resembled a blunt, which surprised the hell out of her.

 

Weed was legal in California and the moment it became possible for people to grow it for medical purposes, her family leapt at the chance. Of course. A few of her cousins had a knack for the task. They could change the THC levels, and a whole bevy of things Theo didn’t even know was possible. She didn’t have a mind for botany.

 

She didn’t smoke often, perhaps once or twice a year in fact, so having any at all was a welcomed surprise –especially since there was little better in the ways of pain relief. It was a different story when she was a kid, though. Being the rebellious sorts they were growing up, they all partook.

 

Theo and Ray were lying on her bed. She had her ankles crossed and resting on the lip of her headboard, while Ray was laying the other direction, his long legs hanging off the foot of the bed. Their heads were a few inches apart, and both passing what was left of the weed between them.

 

Her head was to the side watching Ray as he took a hit. He inhaled deeply and held it in as one tended to do. She, for whatever reason, stared at his mouth. Ray, still peering up at the ceiling, licked his lips to dampen them after the hit. The sight of it sent a little thrill trickling down her spine. He seemed to be in his own world, probably enjoying the high before he let out a long breath. Eventually, he rolled his head to the side and offered her the joint. She took it and tapped off the ash delicately into the glass resting on her stomach.

 

When she gave him her dwindling attention once more, she saw that he was staring at her still. A slow, but happy smile spread across his lips, one that she soon shared before she took a hit herself. For some people, weed makes them giggly or hungry –sometimes both. For Ray and Theo, when combined with a fine aged whiskey, it just made them feel heavy.

 

Theo let out the smoke she’d been holding and felt her body sink further into the mattress. She was so content to disappear into the plush, pillow-top surface. Her eyes drifted shut while she rested her hand on her chest, the last bits of the joint left smoldering between her fingers.

 

A minute could have passed, maybe even twenty, before she felt Ray take it away from her and the pressure of the glass on her stomach disappear. She attempted to mumble thanks but she wasn’t entirely certain the word passed her lips. Theo took a deep breath and chewed a little on her bottom lip while she enjoyed the sensations rushing through her, the dull heaviness and the tingling in her limbs. The bed beside her shifted, but Theo paid it no attention beyond noticing that it had moved at all. A moment later, she felt him kiss her cheek. He’d kissed the bruise.

 

Theo sighed softly and leaned into the affection. A new wave of sensation radiated from it, fueled by everything in her system. One, two, three little kisses forced her to smile. As they continued, Theo rolled her head to the side once more and let Ray’s lips form against hers. She gave him a soft little kiss which he reciprocated. It was childish, added to by her giggling because his beard tickled her nose.

 

Kiss, kiss, kiss, each of them smiling and musing over the ridiculousness of it until there was that shift. She felt it, felt the change in the atmosphere and apparently he did, too. Until that moment, their lips had been closed, giving one another little pecks that meant nothing. The change came when Ray parted his just enough to capture her bottom lip. The feeling caused everything inside her to vibrate and ache.

 

When they parted it was only just, still close enough to be touching and then kissed once more. It was filled with the emotions that accompanied ‘the shift’. With a sober brain, Theo would like to lie to herself and say she wouldn’t have done it. As it was, she gladly did.

 

It was as passionate as it could be given the strange angle. They were upside down to one another, after all.

 

The situation righted itself when Ray moved. He didn’t draw far enough back to leave her lips, but somehow managed to get up, turn around, and then lie down on top of her. The kiss deepened immediately. Theo let out a soft moan, wrapped her arms and legs around him, and willingly disappeared into it.

 

His tongue grazed hers and she nipped at his bottom lip. Ray threaded his fingers through her hair and pressed himself firmly against her. Theo was swept up in an instant, and wanted nothing more than to continue.

 

She grabbed the hem of his shirt and began to peel it off his body. Ray leaned back and helped. He threw it away, then helped her do the same. Theo twisted from side to side until the garment was gone. Ray dipped forward and began to place kisses along her neck and down her chest. She cradled the back of his head, raking her fingernails along his scalp and focusing only on the feeling of his lips on her body.

 

Theo couldn’t tell when her jeans had been removed, when her panties and bra followed suit, but she would always remember the way it felt to have Ray’s heated skin pressed to hers. He was inside her a moment later and the feeling robbed her of her wits. She let out a whimper and buried her face in his shoulder. Ray Merrimen was a large man in absolutely every respect. Could he really be anything else? As a result, Theo was always slightly unprepared for it when they had sex. When there was a six-year gap, she had no idea how he didn’t tear her apart.

 

Her fingernails bit almost angrily into his shoulders in a desperate attempt to steady herself. It didn’t work because, apparently, Ray recovered sooner than she did. He began to move, propping himself above her with his forehead to hers. His breath burned her lips, but each small kiss he gave her cooled them back down.

 

Ray let out small grunts and breaths while he thrust into her. She adored the sounds he made. There was nothing sexier to her, honestly. Silence during sex always bothered her. It didn’t seem right given the passion and exertion that was supposed to be involved. Thankfully, Ray wasn’t that.

 

His pace increased until there was a steady rhythm, but it lacked the frantic intensity of their time together during his incarceration. There was a need to be quick then, but not while they were alone in her bedroom.

 

Theo’s body was primed and it wouldn’t take much to push her over the edge for multiple reasons, not the least of which was the fact that Ray knew how to touch her. Minutes ticked by and the pleasure within her grew to the point her body simply couldn’t contain it. Eventually, and to her purest joy, Theo was rocketed into euphoria.

 

She cried out and her body shook, her fingernails having dug into his back to the point that they pierced skin. Breath was stolen from her, white dots flashed in her eyes, and Theo couldn’t remember the last time she felt so deliciously overwhelmed.

 

Her heart gradually began to calm and she slumped into the bed once more. She didn’t realize that Ray had come as well, and he too was in the middle of slumping against her body. Her thighs trembled against his hips as he leaned forward and kissed her. Theo happily returned the sentiment.

 

---

 

 

The following morning, Ray woke before Theo. His body was a little sore, the kind of sore that followed drinking an amount of hard alcohol that you weren’t used to. It wasn’t quite a hangover, but there regardless. He let his head roll to the side and that was when he smiled. Theo was sleeping on her stomach curling the pillow to her chest. He could see her face half-buried in said pillow and her black hair sprawled out behind her. A lot of it had come loose of the braid, but not all.

 

She was beautiful and peaceful as she slept and he would have gladly laid there watching her if it weren’t for that mark on her cheek. Ray scowled at it. The cut itself was only an inch, maybe two long, but the area around it was tinted with a bruise. The sight of it made him furious and conjured images of how to handle it himself. There were a thousand things he could do the ‘Big Nick’ for laying his hands on Theo.

 

He reached out and touched it as tenderly as his thick fingers could manage. He gently swept the digit across the healing wound and then along the rest of her cheek until he reached her jaw. When he did, she took a deep breath. She was starting to wake up.

 

Ray lowered his hand and watched her. Bright green shined when she finally opened her eyes. The moment she saw him, she smiled dreamily.

 

“Morning,” She said.

 

He smiled, too. “Hey.” He said.

 

Something gave him the courage to lean forward and kiss her. To his surprise, she returned the sentiment and even let out a soft sigh when he had. When Ray drew back, he didn’t go far, still cradling the back of her head when he did.

 

“I have to go.” He whispered.

 

“Work?”

 

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Get some sleep, okay? I’ll talk to you later.”

 

“Okay,” She replied.

 

Before he left, Ray was sure to kiss her again, then kiss the small cut on her cheek. As he left the apartment, he was sure to lock the doorknob at the very least given he no longer had a key to her place, which prevented him from locking the deadbolt.

 

A small smile curled at his lips as he made his way back to his vehicle. For the first time in years he felt good. There was no stress weighing on his shoulders, no anxiety or pressure. Despite the heavy job that they’d have to pull the following day, Ray felt ready. It was like old times and he was happy for it.

 

---

 

 

Nick grinned as he left Merrimen’s apartment. He planned to commit the man’s expression to memory. He hoped it was the knife in the chest he wanted it to be. Come on, finding out that the cop investigating you is fucking your girl? That’s beautiful.

 

As he got into his car, Nick called the boys and let them know when the job was meant to go down. He was met with agreement, but no sooner than the call ended did his phone ring again. He didn’t like what he saw. Lieutenant Franks flashed back at him.

 

“Shit,” He grumbled before he reluctantly answered. He knew better than to ignore it. “Yes, sir?”

 

“Get your ass into my office first thing.” He said sternly.

 

Lieutenant Franks didn’t bother giving Nick a chance to rebut before hanging up. Nick grumbled and growled. He cursed a thousand things under his breath, but as before, that didn’t stop him from doing as commanded like the reluctant little soldier he was.

 

Nick started up his car and set off toward the precinct.

 

He made it there within a half an hour, and to his lieutenant’s office less than five minutes after that. He knocked heavily and waited until he heard someone call to him. Nick stepped through and nodded at him.

 

“Take a seat,” The aged man said.

 

Nick did as he was told and fell into the chair across from his boss’s desk with a sigh and a crooked smile. “Good news, sir.” He said, deciding that it would be best for him to simply start the conversation. “We have a strong lead on a robbery that’s gonna go down tomorrow.”

 

“Riley’s taking over.”

 

Nick’s fake smile fell and his chest seized. “What?” He wasn’t sure he’d heard his boss correctly.

 

With an unchanged expression, Franks repeated, “Riley is taking over.”

 

“Why?” He snapped. “I’ve been bustin’ my ass on this shit for too fuckin’ long. I’m not handing it over to some pencil-dick.”

 

Franks remained calm and collected, completely unswayed by Nick’s tantrum. It worried Nick briefly.

 

“There’s been an allegation of brutality brought up against you.” Franks said.

 

Nick felt another little jolt. He already knew without asking who’d filed the report, but he didn’t let it show.

 

“It’s bullshit.” He said. “Who filed it?”

 

“A young woman by the name of Theodora Reinhart.”

 

Nick clenched his jaw. He assumed as much, but he was pissed to be right. “It’s bullshit, sir.” He repeated. “She’s just pissed I’ve been doing my job.”

 

Franks arched a single brow. “She alleges that you struck her and threatened her and said, I quote,” He looked at a piece of paper and began to read, “I can do whatever I want because I’m a cop, then Detective O’Brien brandished his badge and gun and said, no one’s gonna believe some gypsy bitch. It’s your word against mine.” Franks took his glasses off and looked back at Nick.

 

“Sir, it’s not true. I swear.” Nick didn’t know what he was going to say, but he knew he had to think of something quickly.

 

Within that brief hesitation, Franks turned his monitor around and pressed play. Nick’s heart dropped when he saw himself the day prior, wearing the same thing he was that moment, berating Merrimen’s side-piece, backhand her, and then proceed to pin her to the hood of the car. There was no denying it. His face was right there and he could hear almost everything in startling detail.

 

He couldn’t think of anything to say.

 

After letting the video play for a few seconds longer, Franks paused it again and turned the monitor back to him.

 

“Badge and gun.” He said plainly.

 

“Fuckin’ what?”

 

“You know the drill.” He said. “Badge and gun.”

 

“Sir-“

 

“Shut the fuck up!” Franks suddenly snapped angrily. He rarely, if ever, lost his temper. Apparently, this was such an occasion. “Do you have any idea the shit-storm you’ve brought down on this fucking precinct? This is actionable, O’Brien. Jesus Christ, how could you be so fucking stupid, huh?” Nick said nothing. “Give me your badge and gun. You’re suspended and hopefully I can talk her down.”

 

“Talk her down from fuckin’ what?”

 

“She wants you fired, you fucking idiot.” He said angrily. “She’s giving me twenty-four hours before that video goes public and everyone gets to see one of L.A.s finest beating the shit out of some woman. Now give me your badge and gun. You’re off this case and suspended until further notice.”

 

Reluctantly, but moving on autopilot, Nick did as he was told. He unhooked his badge and removed his serve weapon, and set them both on his boss’s desk before promptly leaving the room.

 

The fucking bitch. That fucking gypsy bitch set him up. She knew exactly what she was doing. She’d goaded him, pressed his buttons and made sure that the shit she said wasn’t picked up by that fucking camera. If his nerves hadn’t been so fried because of his run-in with Merrimen and being served divorce papers earlier that day, he doubted he would have reacted that violently.

 

Didn’t matter, though. She set him up. But, if she, Merrimen, or Franks thought he’d be walking away from the case, they were seriously mistaken.

 

---

 

 

When Theo woke up officially that morning, she stayed in bed staring up at the ceiling with a smile on her face. She knew sleeping with Ray was a bad idea. She knew it’d probably serve to bite her in the ass, but it didn’t matter. She didn’t care just yet. That was a problem for later.

 

She threw off her blanket and rose. She needed to take a shower to help wash off her growing hangover.

 

As the water began to pour from the showerhead, still too cold to stand under, Theo thought about the job. In less than twenty-four hours, the guys would attempt to rob the un-rob-able exchange. She was anxious, but knew that logically it was nothing compared to what the guys felt.

 

Steam began to slowly fill the bathroom. Theo stepped into her shower and let the hot water rush over her. She needed to make a few calls when she was done. Something about the job was still nagging at her, a feeling that she couldn’t shake no matter how much she told herself that Ray and Enson knew what they were doing. She didn’t trust Donnie.

 

While she lathered her hair, Theo thought back to the first time she’d seen him in her shop. She noticed him twitch the second she looked at him, and how he averted his eyes after a few seconds. Most people have good instincts, and those instincts only get better when they’re properly exercised. Theo, because her entire life revolved around being able to read people, liked to think her instincts were second to none. Well, maybe Nona Mary. That woman could see a person’s soul, Theo was sure. Her grandmother was always eerily astute.

 

Being as in tune with people as Theo was, she could sense almost immediately that something was off about Donnie. It was a gut feeling that he was bad news. She couldn’t pinpoint how she knew it, or in what way, but she didn’t like him. Theo needed eyes, eyes that were keen and full of scrutiny.

 

Sometimes, it paid to have dozens of cousins.

 

Chapter 9

Summary:

Comparatively short to the others, but I'm just getting back into the story. There probably won't be too many more chapters. I'm sorry it took so long. Hopefully you guys are still reading, lol. If so, let me know what you think!

 

Chapter Nine

 

Friday Morning. D-Day.

 

Ray sat in his car, his things in bags in the backseat. The clock on the dash flashed 6:30. He needed to be at the motorpool to gear up by seven. He had a little bit of time and he could only think of one thing.

 

He reached for his cell phone and scrolled through his contacts before finding her name. He didn’t even hesitate to call her.

 

The phone rang for a second, maybe two before it was answered.

 

“Hey,” Theo sounded tired. He didn’t blame her.

 

“Hey,” He replied as casually as he could. “I need to see you.”

 

There was a brief pause before she said, “Door’s unlocked.”

 

Ray hung up, tossed the cell onto the passenger side seat, and turned the ignition. He pulled away from the curb a second later and headed to her apartment.

 

He arrived relatively quickly and didn’t even pause to walk through her door. His feet carried him to her bedroom and that was where he found her, lying in bed facing him and still partially asleep. Theo was drifting in and out, he could tell by the dreary way she looked up at him when he arrived.

 

Ray’s actions finally slowed as he entered her room and soon took a seat on the bed beside her. Theo sat up and shifted, moving out of the way to give him the space and better look at him. For a moment, neither spoke, but she was the first to.

 

“Big day.” She said softly.

 

“Yeah,” Ray nodded.

 

Theo chewed on her lip ring briefly. “You have it?”

 

He didn’t need to ask what she meant. Ray automatically knew. Reaching into his shirt, he removed the necklace he’d made. It was nothing more than an old chain he had, but he’d threaded it through the small mojo bag she’d made him a couple of days prior. He made sure it wouldn’t go anywhere no matter what.

 

Theo saw it dangling from the end of the gold chain and smiled with relief. A small grin threatened to tug at his lips, too, but he was still too anxious to let it. There were too many things on his mind.

 

As he replaced it within his shirt, her gaze met him once again. Her brows twitched together.

 

“Be careful, okay? I still don’t trust him.”

 

“Me neither.” He said, because he really didn’t. Ray had finally made up his mind about that. He didn’t trust Donny for shit. “I’ll call you later, okay?”

 

Theo nodded. He could tell she wanted to warn him to be careful again, but there wasn’t a point. Repeating something over and over did nothing but, maybe, offer a bit of condolence to the person saying it. It wouldn’t affect the outcome, but he still understood the need.

 

“I’ll be careful.” He told her, meaning every word of it.

 

Theo forced a small smile and nodded for the third time.

 

Another few minutes passed and Ray knew he had to go, he just didn’t want to. Still, there was a job to be done.

 

Theo seemed to sense the same and, like she had initiated the conversation (no matter how brief it was) she leaned forward and hugged him before he could make the motion. Ray wrapped his arms around her and held tight. His eyes drifted shut and he let himself sink into her, let her body heat saturate him because it was comforting.

 

They eventually drew apart. Before she was too far out of his reach, Ray let his forehead rest against hers. He never knew when it began, or why it seemed like the right thing to do whenever he held her, but it was habit nonetheless.

 

His hand slid through her hair and cradled the back of her head. He took a slow, deep breath and let out a sigh before kissing her softly. Theo reciprocated and eventually they parted completely. Her fear was still reflected within her eyes, not matter how she tried to hide it.

 

Ray placed one more quick, chaste kiss on her lips, then her forehead, and left. He knew that it he stayed much longer he wouldn’t leave.

 

By the time he made it back to his car, Ray’s head was slowly but surely getting back in the game.

 

---

 

Theo sat in bed. She hadn’t moved since Ray left. With her knees propped up beneath the blanket and her arms resting across them, she’d begun to chew on her lip ring to the point it was getting sore. It was a nervous habit, one of those things people did just to give them something to do like biting their nails. And, just like biting their nails, it could hurt after a little while.

 

A lump had formed in her chest, a strange mass that refused to be ignored. It was brought on by her growing anxiety and getting denser by the second.

 

In a swift move, Theo reached for her cell phone again. She scrolled through her recent contacts and found Patrin’s number fairly quickly. She knew he’d give her shit for the early hour, but this was more important.

 

“Someone better be dead, cuz.” He growled into the phone, his voice shades deeper than normal.

 

“I hope it doesn’t get that far.”

 

He paused. She heard a bit of rustling on the other end of the line and assumed he was waking up a bit more.

 

“What’s up?” His voice had become more business-like.

 

Theo took a deep breath and then relayed the whole story. She started all the way from the beginning when Ray stepped foot inside her shop, told him about Donnie and the readings. She told him about it all and then they formed a plan.

 

****

 

His flak jacket was heavy, pulling on his shoulders as he sat in the front seat of his car. His guns had been checked and rechecked, his extra mags the same. He was already down half a pack by the time he saw the others pull up.

 

Nick took a final pull of his cigarette before he tossed it out the window. As the vehicles with his boys parked, he exited his car. He could see a bevy of emotions reflected back at him through the windshield and knew in that moment that they were debating on whether or not to call their Lieutenant. Even Riley looked like he was too confused to know what to do right off the bat.

 

Eventually, Murph stepped out. With his thumbs looped under the edges of his vest, he approached.

 

“Y-“

 

“This is my case.” Nick replied, cutting Murph off before he had the chance to say anything. “This is my goddamn case. I’m gonna be here when we take down Merrimen.”

 

Murph took a deep breath and let out a long, exasperated sigh. He glanced over his shoulder at the others. Nick could see them all having some kind of silent conversation before Murph’s attention went back to him.

 

“You got it.” He sounded apprehensive, but he knew Nick well enough. There was no way he was backing down.

 

---

 

The guys made their final preparations. Ray’s heart was thrumming at a steady pace. It might have been twice normal, but it was expected. He knew how to handle it, how to handle the adrenaline coursing through his veins. The Marines had taught him how to hone his senses in tense situations, and how to benefit from them.

 

As he made his final check, he felt something in his pocket. Ray reached in and pulled out the second bag Theo had given him. Glancing up, he spotted Enson only a few feet away.

 

“Ey, bro.” His voice caught Enson’s attention. He offered him the trinket. “From Theo.”

 

Enson took it, but scoffed sarcastically. His lips curled back into a wide smile.

 

“What’s this for?”

 

“Protection.”

 

Enson gave him an almost-sympathetic stare. “You know I don’t believe in that shit, man.”

 

He tried to hand it back, but Ray refused to take it. He simply shook his head.

 

“Just humor me. You know how she is.”

 

Ray had to sound a little detached, but it had the right effect. Enson seemed to reluctantly agree and shoved it into his pant pocket. Even if he thought it was some kind of joke, Ray didn’t care –so long as he kept it on him.

 

“Okay,” Ray said loudly enough for everyone to hear. “Let’s get our fuckin’ money.”

Chapter 10

Summary:

Let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Tuesday Afternoon:

 

The light burned his eyes. It burned to the point that he swore red-hot pokers would have been a relief.

 

Ray groaned, slammed his eyes shut, and rolled over to avoid the blinding light only to experience a pain that was without measure. He cried out from the suddenness of it, from the way it caused his muscles to physically seize. With his vision blurring, blinking in and out, he fell back against whatever he’d been laying on.

 

“Relax, dude.” A voice said from somewhere in the room. Out of the corner of his eye, through the fuzziness that was slow to clear, Ray saw a semi-familiar face. A young man emerged, dark haired and dark eyed. It took him a moment, but soon Ray could put a name to him.

 

“Patrin?” He asked. His voice sounded nothing like it usually did. Instead, it was hoarse, broken, and belonged to a stranger.

 

Patrin smiled, the action tugging a bit at his beard. “What’s up?”

 

“Fuck,” Ray let out a sigh. He sank into the mattress a bit more out of sheer relief that he knew someone.

 

“Surprised you recognized me, to be honest.” He said as he opened a bottle of water. “I think I was what, thirteen the last time I saw you?”

 

The question was rhetorical, so Ray didn’t bother replying, but when offered the water, he happily drank his fill. When he began to cough and choke, Patrin set it aside.

 

“Fuck happened?”

 

Patrin’s expression fell. It took on a strange shift that he didn’t understand.

 

“I’ll uh… I’ll let Theo tell you. I'll go get her.”

 

Ray watched as Patrin left him alone. It was only then he finally had the chance to look around. He had no idea where he was.

 

He was surrounded by metal. Chipped paint dotted the walls, as well as random patches of rust. There were no windows, not pieces of furniture beyond the cot-like bed he was lying in, and only one door. The door itself was massive and looked… Ray paused.

 

In an instant, Ray realized that he was inside a shipping container. He was in a ConX.

 

Ray rolled his eyes and grumbled to himself. He wasn’t ungrateful, necessarily, but a ConX? Really? He knew he couldn’t go back to Holly’s place, or anywhere else the cop’s might be looking for him, but hiding him away in a ConX which was probably in an abandoned warehouse seemed like overkill.

 

Alone, Ray took inventory of himself, too. Throwing back the blanket, he saw that his entire torso was wrapped in layer after layer of gauze. The thickest bits were on his sides and there looked to be fresh splots of blood seeping through the stark white fabric.

 

His whole body hurt in a way he didn’t think possible. It was so profound that words fell disturbingly short.

 

While he lay there staring up at the corrugated metal ceiling, Rays mind drifted back to the heist. It had gone off with minimal hitches. There were some small glitches, like human error keeping him from being on as tight a schedule as he wanted, but it was otherwise pristine.

 

And then Donnie was captured. He couldn’t have cared less about that, in truth, or the guy he brought in. Maybe that was what bit him in the ass in the end? Because it felt like no sooner than he turned his back on them did shit hit the fan.

 

He remembered the shootout and Enson taking a bullet. He remembered Bosco being laid out before that. And he remembered the searing pain of at least one bullet tearing into his side. He was short of breath, struggling to keep himself together while O’Brien bore down on him. He remembered the cop getting closer and being out of ammunition. At that point the world was growing black and he was losing his battle with consciousness. He remembered O’Brien less than ten yards away, in clear sight, and then… nothing. He must have blacked out.

 

Before his mind could wander further, the door opened. It was Theo and she looked exhausted. Her clothing was wrinkled and in disarray, and her hair looked messy as hell tied up. In all honesty, it looked like she either hadn’t slept in days, or had been sleeping often, but hadn’t changed or showered.

 

She was at his side soon enough and took a seat on the bed with him. Her attention immediately went to his injury.

 

“I think you’ve torn your stitches.” She said as she tenderly touched the bandages. He winced. “How are you feeling?”

 

“Like I was fucking shot.” He replied.

 

“Hm,” was her only response.

 

Theo stood, retreated briefly then returned to his side with medical supplies and a pair of scissors. She sat by him again, set the supplies down, and began to cut his bandages away. Ray let her, but he couldn’t stay silent. Too many things were confusing the hell out of him.

 

“Where am I?”

 

“Safe,” She said, still not bothering to meet his eye, or speak with any warmth.

 

“What happened?”

 

“Which part?”

 

He’d had enough of her short, clipped replies and reacted. Despite how much it hurt for him to move so quickly, Ray snatched her by the arm fast enough she flinched. It might not have been a good idea since she was using a pair of sharp scissors so close to his skin, but he didn’t bother thinking about that.

 

Theo was slow to meet his gaze, but when she did, he saw what it was that made her so angry when she spoke. It wasn’t anger at all. It was a combination of fear, relief, and sadness and the only reason he could recognize it was because he’d known her so well.

 

In a more solemn tone, he repeated, “What happened?”

 

When she’d finished cutting the bandages away, Theo set the scissors aside and opened the gauze so she could access his sides.

 

“What do you remember?” She asked softly as she tenderly removed the self-adhesive pads on his side.

 

“Not much.” He didn’t know if it was a lie or not. He had no idea what happened after he passed out.

 

“Bosco’s dead.” She replied matter-of-factly until her voice dropped and took on a much sadder tone. “Enson’s in the hospital.” Her actions slowed and her shoulders slumped. “He’s still in critical condition and even if he does pull through, he’s lookin’ at at least twenty-five years. Thankfully, they can’t actually pin the robbery on him, just assault, assault with a deadly weapon, firing into a crowd, firing at police officers, possession of unlicensed firearms and a shitload of other stuff.”

 

Ray’s heart sank with each sentence. It hurt that Enson was in bad shape, and it hurt that if he did live it would be behind bars for the rest of his life. But there was something strange about what she’d said.

 

“What do you mean they won’t get him for robbery?”

 

“Right, s’pose you wouldn’t know.” She said as she put a new adhesive pad over his wound. “Donnie double-crossed you guys. There was no money in those bags, just shredded paper.”

 

He was suddenly filled with rage, rage that only came when every sacrifice made was made for nothing.

 

“The fuck you mean-“

 

Ray had, unwisely, tried to sit up out of anger only to be reminded, rather quickly, of his injuries.

 

“Fuck,” He groaned as he once again sank into the bed.

 

“Stop moving, you moron.” She said in a clipped voice. “I’ll tell you what happened.”

---

 

Friday, the Morning of the Heist:

 

“Okay,” Patrin said, “So, what do you want?”

 

“Who can you get?”

 

“Anybody.”

 

“Good,” She nodded to herself. “I want a couple of guys watching the money. It’s supposed to be leaving the exchange in a garbage truck. I want them on it like flies on shit.” He chuckled at little. “And can you and a couple of the guys watch Ray?” She had less confidence when she asked that favor because she knew the answer could, very easily, be a no. “Just… can you watch him?”

 

“Afraid he’s gonna get hurt?” There was the slightest bit of mocking in his voice even though he kept his tone primarily even.

 

“Always,” She admitted. “I just don’t trust that Donnie kid. I don’t know if he’s going to try and run off with the cash, or maybe set the guys up and take it, or what. I just need to be sure Ray and Enson are gonna be okay.”

 

“So, what, you want an extraction team or something?” He teased.

 

“I mean… yeah, kind of. If things get bad.”

 

Patrin sighed a bit obnoxiously before he replied, “Yeah, sure. The guys’ll probably expect a cut or something, though.”

 

“Deal.”

 

If they really were needed like she thought they would be, Theo, and probably Ray himself, wouldn’t have any problem throwing a fair bit of cash their way.

 

They spoke for a few minutes longer before eventually hanging up and Theo readied herself for the most stressful day of her life.

 

---

 

12:45 pm

 

A jogger no one noticed paused not far from the below-level parking garage entrance of the Los Angeles Federal Reserve. He stood in place, bent over and breathing heavily. Sweat dotted his features.

 

As he leaned against a light post, breathing heavily and checking his pulse, a garbage truck rumbled up and out of the basement garage. Pressing a button on his smart watch, he opened a line to someone else.

 

“Three, Quebec, four, niner, niner, niner, one.”

 

The screen on his watch lit up a second later.

 

Got it the message read.

 

The jogger no one noticed took a long gulp of water, put the bottle back in the holder on his hip, and continued on.

 

A few streets away, a sedan that looked like all the others followed behind a garbage truck with the license plate number 3Q49991. They followed it through an intersection and turned when it did while a truck that looked identical went the other way.

 

---

 

Theo’s phone rang and she answered it faster than she probably ever had.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Yo, Theo.” It was Max, one of her cousins.

 

“Hey, Max. What’s going on?”

 

“We’ve got the truck. What do you want us to do with it?”

 

She paced in her apartment, mind racing with a thousand ideas.

 

“Nothing.” She said. “Stay close, but don’t do anything. I don’t want to risk getting in the way if this is part of the plan.”

 

“You got it.”

 

They hung up and she returned to her aimless pacing.

---

 

2:44 pm

 

“Back the fuck off!” Nick bellowed as he aimed his weapon.

 

The men in the back of the van did nothing but point guns of their own. Their faces were shielded from sight by balaclavas and goggles. Every inch of skin was covered and there was no plate on the pale blue van.

 

His eyes danced between the three and he wondered, if even for a second, whether or not he would be able to shoot all of them before they got him. It was a stupid thought and faded within an instant when one of the men cocked his weapon. The very-real fact that he would die painfully was clear, even to him.

 

Slowly, Nick crouched down and set his gun on the ground. He rose, hands in the air, and all the while they kept their weapons fixed. One of them, the one closest to him, jerked his gun a bit to the side. Nick took it as a sign to kick his weapon away, so he did. It slid across the asphalt and beneath a nearby car.

 

Almost immediately the other two sprang into action. They leapt out of the back of the van, darted for Merrimen, and hoisted his massive frame into the back of the vehicle. They had barely settled when the man with the gun slammed the back shut. A second later the van was peeling off down the road and gone. Nick was instantly on the radio giving a description of the vehicle, but he doubted it would help.

 

“FUCK!” he yelled.

 

---

 

Now:

 

Ray sat back listening, unable to do much else, while Theo finished dressing his other side.

 

“Patrin and the guys brought you back here. The van was stolen, so they dumped it, brought you to a doctor friend, and once you were stabilized they brought you here. That was four days ago.”

 

“Christ,” He sighed. “So I’ve been asleep for four days?”

 

“Yeah,”

 

When his wounds were completely covered, Theo pulled the strips she’d previously cut out from under his body. Ray winced periodically from the pain of it, but he remained primarily silent because one thought dominated him in that moment. It was petty and stupid all things considered, but he wanted to know.

 

“The money?”

 

For the first time in a while, Theo looked up and met his eye again. Her face was entirely blank, emotionless as she stared back.

 

“Let’s just say it pays to have connections at the docks, hm?” Her voice held no humor, no lightness and it bothered him.

 

Theo rose from her spot beside him and left. She didn’t say goodbye, didn’t even glance at him. She simply walked through the door and left him on his own.

 

Theo made sure the container was shut tightly before she walked down the aisle and to another. She walked inside, immediately presented with four men doing their best to go through the massive task at hand.

 

“How’s it going?” She asked.

 

Patrin leaned back and sighed. “It’s a lot of fuckin’ money, cuz.” He said.

 

Theo entered the room further and took a seat on some of the tires they hadn’t yet unwrapped. “How much so far?”

 

Patrin leaned over and glanced at a notebook Max had shoved towards him. “Um…” he read briefly down the list of tallies to the total thus far. “14,445,320.” He looked up at her. “And we still have one pallet left.”

 

Theo nodded while her mind sifted through everything. “Okay,”

 

“Hey,” Josef, another cousin through marriage and not blood, chimed. She looked up at him as he nervously fidgeted. “How, uh… how’s this getting split?”

 

“Same way it would’ve been before. Three shares. Ray takes his, we put Enson’s in some kind of account for his family, and Bosco’s gets divided up with the family.” And then she thought briefly. “Toss a couple grand to everyone who had a hand in this, okay?”

 

“Couple grand being?” Patrin asked.

 

Theo was tired when she spoke again. “I don’t know,” She sighed. “Ten?”

 

The guys in the room with her seemed more than a little content with the number because not only would they get the ten she promised, but once the cash from the overall share was divided up amongst the family, they’d get a taste of that, too.

 

“So, just to be clear,” Patrin said. “We’re taking it all, right? Leaving nothing behind.”

 

She stared at the money. Everything counted had been tied together with thick rubber bands. There was a piece of paper wedged under each band with the amount of the stack written on it, and there were many, many stacks. Theo wasn’t a greedy person. She made enough money to be happy, content, so she had no idea what the hell to do with millions in a payout, but Donnie broke the only rule she had: don’t fuck with family.

 

“Every last dollar.” She said as she slid off the stack of tires. “We make port in what, two days?”

 

Patrin glanced at his watch, a watch that gave not only the time, but the date as well. “Yeah,” He nodded. “Captain said we’d be in Panama early Thursday morning.”

 

“Is that gonna be enough time to get everything back in order?”

 

He nodded. “Yeah. Shouldn’t be a problem.”

 

“Good.” Theo fought a yawn, but the urge was there. “I’m going to get some sleep.”

 

Theo reached out for Patrin as she walked by and he gently held her hand in passing. A moment later, she was out of the container and on her way to bed. She hadn’t really slept in the last few days, still too scared that Ray might never wake up, too heartbroken about Enson, and too pissed off at Donnie and the fucking cop who shot Ray. She’d been “too” a lot of things and it seemed like it was beginning to take its toll.

 

As she made her way to her bunk, Theo thought back to everything that had happened on Friday.

 

She’d gotten a call from Patrin telling her that he’d just picked up Ray and he was in bad shape. She still had no idea how the hell he managed to get Ray in the first place. It was either magic, or the best luck anyone had ever experienced. She assumed, and when she had a clearer head she might ask, that Patrin and the guys followed Ray and the others, and just stole a car to escape with. It wasn’t as though they could go through gridlock traffic after everyone opened fire.

 

They took Ray to a friend of the family who helped stabilize him. The bullets, somehow, hadn’t ruptured anything major. The doc said that it looked like they went in through the side and followed Ray’s abdominal muscle before exiting the other side. How hideous was it to know that a bullet traveled under your skin, but along your muscles? Christ…

 

And while the bullets might not have hit anything vital, recuperation was going to be a long road. If he wasn’t built like a gorilla, Theo doubted he would have survived.

 

Max, who’d been on the truck, watched as Donnie and a couple other guys hid the money in a shitload of tires, wrapped them up, and then drove them to the docks for shipping. It wasn’t hard to bribe their way onto the same cargo ship. From there it was just a matter of taking every last fucking dollar Donnie took from the guys and leaving him high and dry.

 

Theo assumed that Donnie and whoever he was working with had probably kept a bag or two. They’d need it for new IDs and to get out of the country, but it didn’t matter. That huge payday, that mass of cash that he’d promised whoever was working with him, wouldn’t fucking be there. But she would. She planned to hunt that fucker down, and she was going to.

 

When Theo reached her bunk, she barely touched her head to the pillow before she was out.

 

Chapter 11

Ray leaned against a post on the dock, staring at the ship he’d been on for who-knew-how long.

 

I was on a fucking boat…

 

Patrin, Theo and their cousins spoke to one another in semi-hushed voices. They seemed to be making arrangements of some kind. Patrin handed her a black overnight bag. They hugged and kissed each other before the guys got back onto the ship. Patrin offered Ray a small wave before he vanished.

 

Theo reached his side. “Come on.”

 

She took his arm and wrapped it over her shoulders so that he could walk. It would have been comical given their height difference, but Ray had been glad for the help.

 

“What’s going on?” he asked as they walked by groups of random people lingering around the docks.

 

“You don’t need to worry about it,” she said. Ray glowered down at her. He didn’t appreciate her cold demeanor, but he didn’t have the wherewithal to fight her because of it. He needed to rest. Even standing for those few minutes had wiped him out.

 

They eventually managed to find a broken down taxi to take them to an equally shitty hostel. Theo made all of the arrangements, spoke to everyone and handled every situation with a level of calm ease that Ray hadn’t expected. It became clear early on that they were somewhere south of the border, but they might as well be strolling down Hollywood Boulevard with how she acted. Her confidence amazed him.

 

As tenderly as she could manage, Theo helped the giant take a seat on the bed. The springs groaned and creaked. When he laid down, one in particular stabbed him in the small of his back, but Ray had become so tired that he didn’t care.

 

“Now what?” he asked, his eyes drifting shut as he got comfortable.

 

“Nothing,” she told him softly. “Just sleep. I’ll take care of it.”

 

“Hm,” had been his only response before he passed out.

 

---

 

Theo returned to the hostel roughly forty-five minutes after she’d left with bags of food in one hand and basic toiletries in the other. She closed the door behind her and spotted Ray on the bed sleeping. She didn’t expect him to have awakened in the meantime. He’d lost a few shades of color earlier, so she fully expected him to be out for a while.

 

She set her purchases down on the small table near the window when her phone went off. She checked the message. It’d been from Patrin.

 

See Donnie, he said. He’s shipping the tires to London. We’re following them.

 

Okay, she replied. Be careful. Text me when you get there.

 

Love you.

 

Love you too.

 

She set her phone aside and began to unpack her things, all the while thinking about Donnie and how the prick had screwed them over. If it hadn’t resulted in the death of people she knew and the imprisonment of people she cared about, she might have respected his game. It’d been well thought out, well executed. Problem was that had been at her family’s expense.

 

Her mind raced as she ate the local food she’d purchased, swarming with ideas and plans. As she tore a piece of tortilla off to eat a bit of rice, Ray began to stir. She watched him move and awkwardly sit up. He peered at her through heavy lids, half asleep and half in pain.

 

“What’s that?” he asked with a gruff voice.

 

“Food.” Her reply had been brisk. “I brought you something to eat, too. Want it?”

 

He seemed queasy, but nodded regardless. It’d been days since Ray had eaten anything. He needed the nourishment. Knowing he couldn’t stand such rich food just yet, Theo retrieved the sweet bread she’d bought just for him, a bottle of water, and joined him on the bed.

 

“Here.” She tore a piece of bread off and handed it to him.

 

Ray reluctantly took it and began to eat. Whether he realized it or not, she could see the resentment in his face. He scowled as he ate the bread, something no one did unless they were angry. She knew why, though. He was pissed that he couldn’t move, pissed about the job, and pissed that he had to be taken care of. Little in the world could anger a proud person more completely than having to be taken care of.

 

 

---

 

Ray stood in the bathroom staring at his reflection through the stained mirror. It was so old that the metallic backing had started peeling off, but it held little of his attention. He was too focused on his body to give a shit about the patina.

 

With a tender touch, he peeled back the edge of the gauze patch on his side. It stung, tugged and pulled at everything. The tape did its job, but he would have preferred it fall away with ease. Removing half of it was more than enough and all he could stand.

 

Ray’s skin was enflamed and swollen. Black stiches stuck out in stark contrast to the pink color, threads jutting out in random directions from where they’d been knotted off. His stomach curled at the sight of it.

 

“Jesus Christ,” he muttered to himself.

 

Ray had been hurt before in a multitude of ways, but seeing actual injury always made him sick. It reminded him that he was human and, depending on the severity of the injury, it reminded him how close he’d been to dying. The gunshot wounds were the latter.

 

He pressed the square back into place, unwilling to keep staring at the sewn hole in his side. There was no point in checking on the other. It likely looked no different.

 

Worn out from nothing more than standing, Ray planted his hands on the sink’s lip and leaned into it more than he should have. The flu would have been better. The flu with a side of malaria would have felt better than he did at that moment.

 

A light knock at the door brought him out of his thoughts.

 

“Yeah?” he called out.

 

“I have some meds for you to take.”

 

Ray steadied his breathing and stood as tall as he could when he opened the door. He wanted to appear stronger than he felt, but doubted Theo had been fooled.

 

“Come on,” she said. “Take a seat.”

 

Regardless of whether or not he wanted to, Ray could admit that he needed to.

 

Hobbling to the bed, he sat down as slowly as he could, though leaned heavily to one side. Theo approached with a bottle of water and hand of pills.

 

“What are those?” he asked.

 

“Antibiotics and pain killers,” she replied. “They’ll make you sleep.”

 

He didn’t care what they did, so long as they worked. Ray took the pills, tossed them into his mouth and threw back a gulp of water almost too fast. He fought the urge to cough, quelling it with a few more heavy drinks.

 

“You should lay down.” Theo returned to the small table near the window, the one he’d seen her at a hundred times, it seemed.

 

He narrowed his eyes. Her tone remained short and cold, lacking any and all of the caring he’d expect from her. While their relationship had been contentious lately, he’d thought they’d moved past it. They’d never be was they were before he was arrested, but they didn’t have to be at each other’s throats anymore, either.

 

“The hell’s wrong with you?” he asked with a sigh, lowering himself onto the bed and feeling immediate relief when the tension had been taken off his injury.

 

“Nothing,” she said, her focus on her phone. “I’m fine. Rest.”

 

He glared at her. “Fuck you.”

 

The tapping ceased. Theo went still. She turned in her seat to peer over at him, agitation saturating her features.

 

“What’d you just say to me?”

 

“I said fuck you,” he said. “What the hell’s wrong with you? All I’m doing is asking you some questions. The fuck do you get to act like such a—“

 

“Such a what?” she snapped, interrupting his sharply. Theo set her phone down and stood. “Such a what, Ray, hmm?”

 

“A bitch,” he said without fear.

 

“You motherfucker!” Theo reared back and kicked the foot of the bed. The stiff springs meant he felt every bit of it rattle his bones. “How dare you. Do you have any idea what it felt like seeing you laying on that table, with blood gushing out of you?” Her voice hitched and her eyes welled, but the anger remained fixed. “You were shaking and trembling and whimpering as they sewed you up, and there was so much blood, and it just kept coming, just pouring out of you, more and more and more, and I couldn’t do anything.” The shaking grew worse as the emotion overtook her voice completely, filling it with the tears that now streamed down her flushed cheeks. “I couldn’t help you, so I had to watch all of this happening, and when they were done, I couldn’t bear to leave because you still might die after losing all that blood, and you want me to what, smile more? Fuck you, Merrimen.”

 

Theo snatched up her phone and left the room, slamming the door behind her. Ray chewed on his bottom lip, scratching his chin as he thought.

 

He was a motherfucker.

 

---

 

It was late by the time Theo returned to their room. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with Ray, not when her nerves had spent the previous week fraying and he seemed to think poking at the rawness of them was a smart idea.

 

The lights were off when she entered, locking the door behind her. A dim glow still filled the room, cast by the signs outside on the street spilling through sheer, dingy curtains. With it, she could see Ray hadn’t moved much since she left, still propped up against the headboard by numerous pillows. The angle must have helped his stomach, but she didn’t linger. If she focused on him, she’d lose her temper again.

 

Digging through her bag of toiletries and gathering what she needed, Theo decided that a shower could be the best use of her time. She hadn’t taken one in so long. Maybe she could wash off all of the bullshit?

 

In the bathroom, she ensured the door was closed and set everything in the sink. Theo turned on the water so it could heat up. When it came to cleaning Ray’s sides, she’d learned that the pipes liked to spit out a bit of rust first, and then the hot water, but it was slow to come. She thought she’d give it a chance to start while she brushed the multiple knots out of her hair.

 

As steam filled the bathroom, Theo stripped down and stepped into the stall. The moment the heat touched her skin, it prickled. Theo let out a sigh, sticking her face under the harsh water pressure and let it wash over her.

 

She didn’t know how long had passed, how long she let herself boil within the water, before the door creaked.

 

Theo stared at the ugly tile wall, sensing Ray was on the other side of the curtain. He hadn’t spoken, but hadn’t bothered hiding that he’d entered the bathroom, either. She went about her business washing her hair. She’d managed to rinse out the conditioner, too, illustrating just how long it’d been since Ray had walked into the bathroom, but remained silent.

 

It grew on her nerves and while she washed her skin, she spoke.

 

“Was there something you needed?” she asked.

 

He didn’t reply. Instead there was a shuffle of some kind, then a hand curling around the edge of the curtain. Theo paused and waited.

 

As she suspected, Ray pulled open the curtain and stepped into the shower stall. The rustle she’d heard seconds before had been him shimmying out of his pajama pants.

 

Ray entered the stall completely naked and closed the curtain behind him. She’d seen him nude more times than she could count, one of which being little more than a week ago, but that didn’t stop her from being surprised he’d joined her.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

Instead of speaking, Ray reached forward and wrapped her in his arms. He hugged her as tight as he could, which wasn’t insubstantial. She was hesitant to comply, but found herself returning the sentiment, though much less intensely. In spite of the strangeness of the whole situation, Theo was very well aware of how hurt Ray still was.

 

He cradled the back of her neck, gently massaging it with his thick fingers. The amount of strength in his digits would never cease to amaze her.

 

Content to slip into the moment, to let herself become fully immersed, Theo had a difficult time pulling herself out of it, but she had to.

 

Drawing back, she peered up at Ray. Water had splashed across his face and chest, but he’d been too far from it feel much else. Heavy-lidded eyes peered down at her. She wondered if the heat exacerbated the pain medication she’d given him earlier.

 

Theo touched his face, her fingertips gliding down his beard-covered jaw. Ray’s lips parted on a breath and his eyes drifted shut briefly.

 

“You shouldn’t be standing in this heat,” she said softly. Theo was aware of how extreme the temperature of her showers were, rarely using any cold water to temper them, and it couldn’t have been good for Ray to be in.

 

“Hmm,” he muttered, forcing his eyes open so he could peer down at her. “Maybe if you didn’t try to boil yourself alive.”

 

A small grin tugged at the corner of her lips, but faded quickly. “Come on,” she said. “I’ll help you to bed.”

 

He didn’t put up a fight or argue, further proof that the heat and medicine had taken over.

 

Theo turned off the water and slid past him to the towels. They were shit, but there were many. Thin enough to see through, Theo could only be glad they were big enough to wrap herself in. As she tucked a towel around her chest, Ray walked by her and through the door, bypassing his pants and using the towel to dry off his arms instead of covering himself up. After wringing out her hair and tying it in a towel as well, Theo joined him.

 

He was lying on the bed, struggling to get comfortable on his pillar of pillows once again. He was still buck-naked.

 

“Are you going to cover yourself up?”

 

“Why?” He sighed when he was comfortable, sinking against the mattress. “Too much sexy for you to handle?”

 

Theo snorted a small laugh to herself and tossed the towel she’d used on her hair over his lap. Ray did nothing more than druggily smirk.

 

“Let me take a look at those.”

 

He’d removed the bandages, so she didn’t have to bother with them. Kneeling beside him, she checked the nearest incision and saw it was okay. Walking around the bed, Theo climbed onto the mattress beside Ray to examine the other.

 

She tenderly prodded the injury, encouraged by the way it looked. To anyone else, the pink skin would’ve been horrific, but she saw signs that it was healing and no infection had set it.

 

Still touching her lower back, Ray began to caress it, rubbing her through the towel.

 

“I always thought, if we ran away together, it’d be somewhere exotic and I wouldn’t be in a bed with a GSW,” Ray mumbled.

 

“Really? Because this is exactly how I thought we’d end up one day.”

 

It’d been a teasing remark, but held more truth that fiction.

 

Preoccupied with the task at hand, Theo hadn’t noticed Ray tugging on the towel until it slipped from around her chest. Instinct caused her to grab it, though there hadn’t been much reason. The thin material had been soaked through and Ray had seen her naked before.

 

“You’d better knock it off,” she said, though her voice held little warning.

 

“What are you going to do about it?”

 

She arched a brow at him. If he’d been a little more healed, she’d have flicked his stitches, but that would’ve been cruel in his current state.

 

He muttered softly, “Come here.”

 

Ray grabbed what he could, her elbow in this instance, and tugged her to him. Theo accommodated the best she could, but it’d been an awkward few seconds. Eventually, she came to rest on his side, head on his shoulder while he hugged her to him.

 

Sure to keep herself from putting pressure where he couldn’t stand it, Theo made herself comfortable. Ray held her close, but his grip had loosened within a few short seconds. He laid his cheek on top of her head and relaxed in her arms. He was finally slipping into sleep.

 

“I love you, baby,” he mumbled.

 

Theo sighed, a rush of happiness she hadn’t expected coursing through her. The words were much more genuine than before, sounding the same as they did all those years ago.

 

She shifted just enough to kiss his shoulder and whispered back, “I love you, too.”