Partners (Fire & Lies - One) (13 page)

No more
than before,
I send back.

And his reply
is instant, showing me he remembers perfectly the buildup that
began our all too brief affair.
Good

“What’s got
you grinning from ear to ear, girly?” Leah asks, watching as I look
down at my phone.

“He’s in,” I
reply, smiling that it took even less time than I’d anticipated for
Aiden to get back to me.

“Seriously?”
Leah grins, and lifts his hand, slapping against mine in a high
five. He then pulls me up from my seat and spins me around as if we
just won something wonderful. “He’s in. He’s fucking in,” he crows,
before setting me on the ground again. I’m laughing with him
happily as he grabs a hold of my face and touches our foreheads
together, taking a deep breath before becoming serious. “We’re
going to get those fuckers, Chloe. They’re going to have to pay for
what they did to us.”

I grip his
thick forearms and let out a sigh before I move to wrap my arms
around his neck. “We’ll get them, Leah. They’ll be sent to prison
to rot for their crimes.”

“Right where
we want them.”

I pull away
from him and look into his eyes. “Are you still sure you want to do
this?”

“Yeah,” he
nods. “I want to do this–more than anything in this world.”

“Ok.” I step
away from him and head into the kitchen, grabbing two bottles of
beer from the kitchen and taking the tops off them. I hold one out
to him. “To our success,” I toast, tapping the neck of my bottle
against his as he takes it.

“To our
success,” he repeats, before lifting the bottle to his lips and
taking a mouthful. Our excitement is short lived, and it isn’t long
before we’re both sitting and contemplating where we go from here.
Now that Aiden is involved, things are going to get very serious,
and if we’re not careful, we’ll end up behind bars while Goldsmith
continues to walk free.

***

A few days
later, I arrive at Aiden’s house early in the morning. “What the
hell are you doing here?” he asks, half asleep as he answers the
door in his boxers. My eyes travel over his torso, over the tattoo
that symbolises his time in the armed forces, and light smattering
of hair…my fingertips remember the feel of him beneath them…

I clear my
throat and clench my fist to keep myself from reaching out. “We
have some reconnaissance work to do,” I say, holding up the duffel
bag I’m holding in my hands.

He steps aside
to let me through. “I was asleep you know. I worked a club shift
last night, and I do have a day job, you know.”

“I do know
that,” I state, hefting the bag up onto his dining room table.
“That’s why I got here before you started your day job. It will
give you time to organise someone to look after things for a
while.”

He shakes his
head and mutters something about women being presumptuous as he
walks across the living room and disappears into his bedroom. He
returns shortly after with a set of dark cargo pants on and a
fitted t-shirt that accentuates his physique. My mouth goes dry and
I struggle to swallow.

“Do you have
any coffee?”

He laughs at
me, but not in a fun way, in a you’ve-got-a-nerve kind of way.
“Make it yourself, you seem so at home here. What’s in the
bag?”

“Supplies,” I
respond, as I walk into his kitchen and hit the button to switch
his coffee machine on. It’s one of those automated machines that
does everything for you, which I love. It’s one of the few things I
miss from my old life. I move across his kitchen, and grabbing two
mugs from his strainer. I set them under the spout and hit what
looks like the right buttons to make two long blacks.

He walks over
to the bag and pulls at the zip. “How long is this ‘reconnaissance’
supposed to take?”

“Just this
morning,” I state, carrying the mugs to the table and setting one
in front of him.

He doesn’t
thank me. HHe just lifts it up and takes a sip while he pulls at
the side of the canvas bag and looks at the contents. “What the
fuck are you planning here?”

Setting my
coffee down, I pull out wigs, stage makeup and various other
costume supplies.

“Sit down,” I
command. “We’re going into the bank so you can get a look at the
boxes. We can’t exactly go in looking like us.”

He sits and
watches me warily as I pick up the face putty. “Exactly who are we
going to look like?”

Slipping my
hand into the bag, I pull out an envelope full of identification.
There are people suited to Aiden, some suited to Leah and others
that are suited to me. Aiden lets out a low whistle as he picks up
each elastic band wrapped bundle. Each one represents one hundred
points of identification, which is what we need to open any sort of
account in the country.

“I’m not even
going to ask how you came by all of these,” he comments.

“Good. Because
I wasn’t going to tell you.” I reach out and grab one of the
stacks. “This is who you’re about to become.”

He takes the
ID stack from between my fingers and examines the photo id. “Mark
Knowles,” he reads, followed by his fake address and birthdate. He
takes a slow intake of breath, then looks up at me where I’m
waiting with the putty tin in my hand. “Did you consider that I may
not want to go in there with a fake ID?”

“I did. I
thought about taking in a small camera to film the areas for you,
but I don’t know exactly what you’d be looking for. It’s better if
you come with me.”

I stand in
front of him for a moment, keeping my eyes on his as I watch him
work through this scenario in his head. “Fine,” he says eventually.
“But I don’t want this guy.” He throws the ID stack back on the
table and picks up another one. “I’d rather be this one.”

With a slight
smile pulling at my lips, I reach out and take the stack from him.
“You can’t change it. The appointment is already made.” I drop the
ID on the table and take a step toward him. “Now stay still, I have
to reshape your face.”

Once again, he
mumbles something I don’t quite hear, and folds his arms tightly
across his chest, as he waits for me to do my thing. I reach out
with a confidence I don’t feel being this close to Aiden, but I
focus on moulding his cheekbones with the putty so that his face
resembles the photo on the ID. As my concentration increases, I
move around him to get a better angle, and before I know it, I’m
standing between his thighs. Slowly, his arms unfold and his hands
move to my thighs, travelling upward until they’re resting on my
hips. It’s a simple touch but it’s enough to break my concentration
and send my mind to other more…satisfying pursuits.

My focus moves
to his eyes, and all I can see is desire. He pulls me against him,
showing me what I do to him, and I let out a soft gasp. It causes a
heat to travel between my legs, as that gentle throbbing I
experience when I’m near him becomes something so much more.

“Do you like
having my hands on you?” he asks. His hands move upward, slipping
beneath my shirt to gently caress the skin at my waist. The
movement causes me to become heady and I find myself pressing
closer.

I nod in
response, letting my eyes close for a moment as I enjoy his gentle
touch as his hands move over the skin across my stomach in soft
sweeping motions before his hands settle back on my hips, and his
fingers bite into my flesh and he inhales as if he’s scenting
me.

A low
appreciative rumble escapes his throat and he sits back, his hands
still on my hips, his fingers threaded through the loop on my jeans
as his thumbs make idle circles on my flesh.

Opening my
eyes, I meet his for a moment before he tilts his head back as if
he’s silently telling me to finish. My body is trembling and I let
out a slow breath, forcing my attention away from his hands and
onto the task at hand.

Creating a new
face with stage makeup is a lot like painting on a canvas and I
have to blend various colours over his face so it looks as natural
as possible. It takes time and while I’m struggling to focus, it
takes even longer than it should, but finally I’m done, and Aiden
has been transformed.

“You’re done,”
I whisper, my face close to his as I reach out and pick up the hand
mirror. Holding it in front of him, I force myself to step back on
shaky legs, my body feeling bereft as I move out of his reach. “Say
hello to Mark Knowles.”

His gaze
shifts from me to the mirror and his eyes widen. “Whoa,” he
breathes, as he inspects my work. “Holy shit, Chloe. That looks
bloody amazing. Where did you learn how to do this?”

“YouTube,” I
state.

“YouTube?” he
laughs, and it’s a deep rumble of a sound that sends chills
coursing through me as my heart swells with pride at his words. He
stands and my head tilts back to follow his towering height as he
moves closer to me. Reaching up, he tucks a stray piece of hair
behind my ear and speaks in a low voice. “Not many people surprise
me in this world, Chloe. But you do.”

I press my
lips together, stifling a smile as I try to take his compliment in
my stride by just nodding my acceptance. Then our moment is over
and he moves away from me, saying something about making some phone
calls to reorganise his day, disappearing back into his bedroom and
closing the door. It’s only then that I finally let my breath out
and realise how badly I’m shaking.

I take the
seat Aiden just vacated and give myself a mental pep talk. I can do
this. I can be around Aiden again, and I can keep my focus. I can
do what needs to be done. Picking up my now cold coffee, I gulp it
down then breathe again before finding the ID that matches Aiden’s
and going to work on myself.

Two hours
later, we’re both transformed, dressed respectably and ready to go
as Mr and Mrs Mark Knowles.

AUGUST,
three years ago

“
CHLOE.
IT’S Aiden. Again. Call me…please?” he growled into his phone,
aggravated and worried that he hadn’t been able to reach her since
he’d dropped her off at the office three weeks before.

It took
everything he had in him to keep his voice calm when he called her.
He had gone through the gamut of emotions since that night with
her. Finally, after six months of flirtation, they had given in to
what was between them. In the beginning he’d been high on life,
feeling as though he had finally found a woman that he could
actually see himself with. Then when Chloe didn’t answer her phone,
he moved on to worry. Next came anger when he’d gone to her
apartment and found no one there. Then came denial when he began to
create reasons why she may not be returning his calls. Then, when
he finally decided to risk having his voice recognised and call the
office to ask for her. He became quite hopeless, because it seemed
obvious that she’d left on purpose.

Those feelings
were all very new to Aiden. He wasn’t a man who chased after women.
He wasn’t the kind of man who called a woman over and over again
like he was some lovesick teen. Normally, he set a girl in his
sights, he reeled her in, fucked her stupid and when he was done,
he moved on. Normally, relationships were too much trouble. He
didn’t like having demands on his time, and the last thing he
wanted to do was cuddle and talk about feelings. No, he was a no
attachments kind of guy. Until Chloe.

Chloe…she was
different. And while it sounded ridiculous and cliché–it was true.
There was a connection there that couldn’t be ignored and a need
that couldn’t be sated. He had never worshipped a woman’s body and
whispered his emotions before that night. For months they danced
around their attraction to each other, and one night with her
wasn’t enough. He wanted her again. He needed her again. He
couldn’t stop thinking about her. In truth, it was the first time
he’d made love, and it was a sensation he couldn’t forget.

Looking up at
the sky, he squinted into the sunlight as cumulous clouds floated
by in their perfection as if the very beauty of the day was mocking
his inner turmoil. Angrily, he hit the power button on his phone,
locking the screen before he returned it to his jeans pocket then
headed back inside the club. There was only a week left until they
opened their doors, and today they were unpacking all of the
glassware after refitting the bar area the week before.

One by one,
they removed the newspaper that had been used to protect the
glasses while they were moved off premises during the renovation.
The paper created a large pile on the floor and when they were
done, Marli and Jeff had thought it funny to start scrunching the
paper up and start a paper ball war.

“
Come on,
Aiden. Join in,” Marli laughed, throwing a ball that hit him in the
cheek, just below his eye.

“
I don’t
want to join in,” Aiden assured her, his focus on getting the job
done so he could get out of there and perhaps contact a friend of
his to find out what the hell was going on with Chloe.

“
Don’t be a
spoil sport, mate,” Jeff called out, laughing as he pummelled Aiden
with his arm full of paper balls, one after the other.

“
Fuck off
and help me clean this shit up,” Aiden grumbled as he leant down
and scooped up an armful of papers, packing it down into a tighter
ball that he then wrapped with even more paper. In truth, he had
planned to get his brother in law back by making a giant paper ball
to throw at the back of his head, but he paused when he picked up a
sheet of newspaper and a grainy black and white image caught his
eye.

Donovan and
Goldsmith unite in a marriage set to change the landscape of
corporate finance.

“
What?”
Aiden said to himself as he dropped the rest of the papers and
stared down at the image of Chloe dressed in a white gown as she
smiled and posed for the camera next to her new husband, Sebastian
Goldsmith.