Black Girls and Bad Boys: Stealing Loretta (6 page)

“What?”

“You heard me.” It was getting a whole lot
easier to be angry with him.

“Don’t worry about the car.”

“Oh my god! It’s stolen!”

“No, no. It’s not stolen.”

She glared at him. Like she was going to
believe that.

“I borrowed it. Okay?”

“Is that the kind of borrowing where the
owner doesn’t know about it?”

“No! I know this is a shitty situation, but
it’s not my fault.”

She added some more fire to her glare. He’d
brought her there. In a stolen car. Of course it was his fault.

“It wouldn’t have been any less illegal if
the police hadn’t turned up, you know. You seemed to be enjoying yourself well
enough before that happened.”

“I must have been out of my mind.”

He muttered something under his breath.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

“No. Go on.”

“Fine. I said you couldn’t have been as
crazy as I was to ask you out.”

“Oh!” She swung her hand out to slap him,
but he caught it.

“You bitch!”

She shifted her weight and kicked him in
the ankle.

“Ow!” He lost his balance and fell over,
pulling her down on top of him.

“Let go!”

“You started it.”

God he was a terrible human being. She
struggled to get loose.

And then he actually started to laugh. How
dare he?

She tried for another slap.

He just leaned forward and kissed her.

She fought him for a second or two, but he
was too damn good. Closing her eyes, she forgot about everything but his lips
and his tongue. She kissed him so hard she couldn’t remember what they’d been
fighting about.

They were still kissing when the police
wandered over and shone a torch on them.

––––––––

J
ordan had hoped to be doing the walk of
shame that morning, but in his head it would have been from Loretta’s front
door to the car, not from the police station to a taxi rank.

The last person he expected to see waiting
for him when he got onto the street was Loretta. He’d have been less surprised
if Gina had turned up.

“Where are your shoes?” There was an
impressive array of ladders working their way up from the toes of her tights.

She got up off the front step, looking
wary. “I didn’t know if they’d let you out.”

“It’s the same as you – there was nothing
worth charging me with.”

She took a step closer. “What about the
money?”

It would have been great to play it cool.
He got as far as a wink, but then his face insisted on smiling. “What money?”

Her brow crinkled in puzzlement.

“I didn’t have any money on me. You must be
thinking of someone else.”

“You dumped it.”

He nodded. “Right before you jumped me.”

“I did not jump you.” She slapped him on
the shoulder and their eyes met. They looked at each other for a moment longer
than was entirely innocent.

“How come you waited for me?”

She came even closer, standing right in
front of him. “I wanted to give you something.” Her hands went to either side
of his face and she kissed him the way assistant bank managers weren’t supposed
to know how.

The kiss came to an end. He could still
feel the echo of her lips. “I don’t get it.”

“What?”

“I take you out to the middle of nowhere,
end up having a roll-around-on-the-floor fight with you and get you arrested.
Why the hell are you still here?”

“Jordan.” She stroked his cheek. “You’re
trouble. I knew that as soon as you knocked me down on the pavement. You’re the
bad boy I’m supposed to cross the road to avoid.”

“And?”

“And I haven’t had sex in a very, very long
time.” She got up on her tiptoes and gave him a beautifully soft kiss.

His skin came up in goose bumps.

“You’re never going to be boyfriend
material, but I need to get laid. Will you take me home with you?”

He looked down into her warm brown eyes. An
unfamiliar emotion welled up in him – guilt.

It was all going according to plan. Step
one was bed, step two was pillow talk, step three was empty the safety deposit
boxes. In theory, step one was an enjoyable way to get to steps two and three.
She was making it so easy for him. She wasn’t even asking to be romanced.

Which made him feel so much worse.

“You don’t want to do this, Loretta. It’s
not you.”

“It could be.” She tried to kiss him again,
but he pulled away.

“You know how much I want you.”

“So take me.” She straightened her dress,
uncertainty coming to the fore.

“No. Not like this.”

“I don’t understand.” Her face was about to
crumple.

He didn’t want to hurt her, but it was
going to happen either way. At least if he put her off he’d be able to look at
himself in the mirror again. “You’re right about me. You don’t know just how
right.”

“But I don’t care.”

“I do. You’re a decent woman. You’re—”

“Don’t you dare tell me I’m nice.” A tear
rolled down her cheek and she wiped it away with the heel of her hand.

“But you are. And I’m not. I’m sorry.”
Turning away from her was harder than he’d imagined.

“What about my winnings?”

When he faced her, she’d got herself back
under control. Seeing her hard-faced and tear-stained was even worse than
watching her cry. “I’ll get them for you.”

“And what? Bring them to the bank?”

“Where do you want to meet?”

“I don’t know.” She opened her bag and
pulled out her phone. “Give me your number. I’ll call you.” She held it out to
him.

His instincts told him not to do it, but
how could he refuse without insulting her? He took the phone and typed in his
number. “There.”

She put the phone away and stood there, her
eyes boring holes in his conscience.

“I’d better go. No rest for the wicked.”

Her gaze grew more intense. Now what had he
said? Never mind. Time to go. He had to get Danny’s car back, get to the farm,
find a few thousand pounds hidden in a field and work out what he was going to
tell Ursino.

––––––––

“H
ey, Jordan.” Bill crossed the road and
slapped him on the back like they were the best of friends. “Rough night?”

“You could say that.” What was next? Gina
turning up with an engagement ring?

“I heard all about the raid. I wish I could
have seen it.”

Jordan didn’t rise to the bait. Bill was
just looking for an excuse to swing a punch.

“Change of plans my friend. We’re moving
things up. I hope you’ve got some good news for me.”

“Not yet, man.” Not ever if he had any say
in the matter.

“Wasn’t that her outside the police
station?”

“Yeah, but—”

“I don’t want to hear it. Just get me
something I can use by tomorrow.”

Jordan’s jaw tensed up.

He walked back into the road. “Tomorrow,
Jordan. I’ll be over at twelve.”

Jordan kept walking. There was a taxi rank
nearby. First job was to pick up Danny’s car from the police pound.

***

L
oretta stood outside the police station in
complete and utter shock.

No rest for the wicked.

The phrase reverberated through her brain
until she couldn’t ignore where she’d heard it before. But it wasn’t just what
he’d said. There was the kiss too. The strangely familiar feel of his lips
against hers.

Jordan was the bank robber. Jordan had held
a gun to her and forced her to empty the tills.

It all began to fall into place. The air
went out of her lungs and she had to sit down on the pavement.

The way they’d met. He must have done it on
purpose. But why?

So he’d be able to steal even more, of
course.
He’d wanted the safety deposit boxes,
hadn’t he? Or maybe he was getting ready to hit the cashiers all over again.

He’d probably thought he could sweet-talk
her into giving something away. She never would have told him anything. Even if
they’d been sleeping together.

But she mulled it over a little longer.

He might not have been after anything top
secret. Who knew what tiny piece of information she could have let slip? Even
if she’d been on her guard, she could have told him something useful.

So now what should she do?

Go to the police? She turned to look at the
station behind her. It was the sensible thing to do. But all she knew about
Jordan was his name and what he looked like. She didn’t even know for sure that
he was called Jordan Bernardino. She could remember part of the Subaru’s
registration, but he’d said it wasn’t his car.

And then there was the illegal poker game
she’d taken part in. They didn’t have any proof she’d actually been playing,
but just being there made her look bad.

If her line manager had been anyone but
Sean Thomas, she might have turned to him. But Sean was still smarting over her
non-existent tape recording. If she went to him, there was a good chance he’d
risk the harassment charges just to see her crash and burn.

Actually, whoever she told, Sean was bound
to jump in and denounce her as part of the plot. As soon as it came out that
she’d been on a date with the man who’d robbed the bank, everyone would assume
she’d been in on it.

But it wasn’t right to let him get away
without facing any consequences.

The cold, sick feeling in the pit of her
stomach churned into something hotter. She remembered the way he’d touched her.
His smug smiles. The way he’d turned up at the bank with that grille – more
incriminating evidence against her.

Her worry gave way to anger. How dare he
mess with her life like that? And she’d been about to sleep with him too.

Loretta got to her feet. There was one
thing she knew she had to do. First, she went home, jumped in the shower and
got changed.

Geography had always been one of her
strengths. She was pretty sure she’d be able to locate that farm again. As long
as the farmer didn’t come out and ask her what she was doing in his field, she
was just as likely to find the money as Jordan was.

Within half an hour she was in her Mini,
driving along the dirt track and up to the red barn. She parked up and got out
of the car. There was no point hanging around. She walked up past the barn and
into the field.

Getting over to the fence took longer than
she remembered, but then she’d been running the night before. It looked like
the right spot. There wasn’t anywhere obvious for him to have stashed the
money. She climbed over the fence. It was easier in jeans.

Walking the length of the fence, she combed
the ground.

“Looking for something?” Jordan came
striding over to the fence, shaking his head. “I said I’d bring you the money.”

Her heartbeat cranked itself up to a
deafening volume. It wasn’t that she hadn’t considered the possibility of
running into him. She just hadn’t been able to come up with a plan of action.
Swallowing the impulse to run up and slap him, she forced herself to say something.
“Thought I’d save you the trouble.” She kept looking for the money – focusing
on anything that wasn’t him – but there was no sign of it.

He came over and leaned on top of the
fence. “It’s not over there.”

She shouldn’t have bothered with the shower.
Then she would have got there earlier and found it before he arrived. “Okay.
Where is it?”

He clambered over the fence, walked a good
twenty yards over to the right and picked up a tissue-wrapped bundle.

Waiting for him to come back with it was
awful. Watching him get closer and knowing that in a few moments he’d climb
over that fence, walk to his car and drive away made her skin turn to ice.

It would have been better if he’d never
bumped into her. Was it only two days ago? It felt like a lifetime.

“Thanks.” She couldn’t look him in the eye.
Doing that would have pushed her over the edge into hysteria. It was all so
confusing. She should have hated him – and she did – but there was another part
of her that desperately wanted him to pull the ultimate explanation out of the
bag and make everything alright between them.

“I’ll see you around.”

Why do people even say that? It always
means the exact opposite.

He walked away. The roll of money was like
a dead weight in her hand. Her chest tightened. She had to do something, but
what?

“Jordan.”

He stopped and time slowed down as she
waited for him to turn around.

“What?”

“Do you want to see what Edna looks like
with her new grille?”

He shook his head. “Not a good idea.”

It was so obvious that wasn’t what he wanted
to say at all. “Fine. Follow me over to mine and you can take the damn thing
back.” She was sick of him pretending to be so virtuous.

“Loretta, I’m sorry.”

She climbed over the fence. Time to make
the most dignified exit possible. She walked towards him, keeping her head
high.

He turned away and started walking to his
car. She could see it off by the barn, just next to hers. Her brain was full to
bursting. So much to think her way through. How could she get out of this mess?

Her feet went faster and she started to
close on him. He’d put her in this position. Robbed her bank, made her want him
then pushed her away. It didn’t make any sense. That was what tore her up the
most – she couldn’t figure out what he was trying to do.

Anger rose up inside her and she threw the
banknotes at his back.

“What the...?”

“‘No rest for the wicked.’ It was you. In
the safety deposit room. It was you.”

It took less than a second before he got
his mask back up, but it was too late. She’d seen the panic in his eyes. She
was right. She’d known it before, but now she really felt it. “Give me a reason
not to go to the police.”

He took a step towards her and her
self-preservation kicked in. They were out in the middle of nowhere. He was an
armed robber. It wasn’t very sensible for her to be making threats.

She backed away.

“Loretta.”

“Why did you come after me? You got the
money, why didn’t you just leave me alone?” The tears came, running steadily
down her face. She was so tired of it all. If he wanted to get rid of her it
would be a relief.

He reached her, then stopped almost as if
he were afraid to touch her.

“It was the kiss.”

She looked into his eyes. Could she trust
what she saw there?

“I couldn’t stop thinking about you after
that. No-one’s ever kissed me like that.”

She couldn’t feel her heart beating any
more. “Like what?” It was all she could do to get the words out in a whisper.

“Like kissing me was the only thing that
mattered.”

She held his gaze, searching for some sign
that he was trying to trick her. She couldn’t find one. “Tell me you weren’t
working another angle. Tell me I wasn’t just a way to get into the bank.”

He reached up and stroked her cheek with
the back of his hand. “You know what I did.”

His skin was cool against her burning face.
“Tell me it wasn’t all a con.”

With his finger under her chin, he tilted
her face up to his. She held her breath, anticipating the moment when their
lips would touch. When it finally came, he was painfully gentle. He kissed her
with tender affection that wormed its way into her heart no matter how much she
knew she shouldn’t believe it.

Time stretched out. She closed her eyes,
living in the moment of that kiss. And then it was over. Struggling to breathe,
she looked up into his eyes. “Take me home.”

He took her hand, picked up the money she’d
thrown at him and set off across the field.

They didn’t make it back to Loretta’s
place. As soon as they reached her car, they were kissing again and neither of
them could bear to wait that long.

Jordan pinned her to the side of the Mini,
kissing her loudly and hungrily. Her hands moved to his face, in his hair, down
his body. She needed to feel him, to know that he wanted this as much as she
did.

They kissed and kissed, groaning and
pressing their bodies together. Being so close to him made it impossible to
think. She gave herself up to sensation, savouring every touch of his fingers.

He pulled her t-shirt away from her
shoulder and pressed his lips to her flesh, making her moan. She melted against
the car, his warm mouth kissing and nipping at her. Her eyes fell closed and
she held on to him. Her legs were too weak for her to trust them. If only
there’d been a bed right there.

When he fumbled at the waist of her jeans,
her heart forgot to beat. This was it. If she wanted to stop, she had to do it
now.

He popped open the top button and pulled
down her zip. She was so wet he must have been able to feel it through her
panties when he put his hand between her legs. He held her firmly, then moved
to slip his fingers inside her underwear.

Her whole body tensed up. As his icy
fingers slid through the moisture that coated her pussy lips, she let out a
shuddery breath and grasped him by the shoulders.

He kissed her again. Quick, demanding
kisses that arrived when she least expected them. His fingers danced over her
clit, treating her roughly, then easing off to tease her with a light pinch.
She couldn’t do anything to him but hold on tight.

Her head fell back against the roof of the
car and he kissed her throat. His fingers explored her wet heat and she felt
herself sliding to the ground. She was close to her limits. He held her in
place, stopping her from falling. The first tingles of orgasm radiated out from
her core. Her skin rose in frantic goose bumps. Her lungs held only the
smallest amount of air, leaving her gasping underneath him.

But he didn’t let up. Jordan sent his
fingers probing between her pussy lips and nipped at her throat with his teeth.
And then he was inside her, spreading her open and moving his hand back and
forth. She cried out, still unable to form any words.

With his free hand, he pulled up her
t-shirt and kissed his way across the swell of her breasts. Teetering on the
edge of orgasm, she held on to his arm and urged him deeper inside.

He got down on his knees, easing her
clothes down over her hips as he went. She grabbed at his hair, making him stop
for a moment. Then he spread her pussy lips and sucked her clit into his mouth.
He licked at her, wriggling his tongue over her as he moved his fingers inside
her.

It was more than she could take. Bright
light exploded behind her eyelids as one last flick of his fingers pushed her
over the precipice. She came with a long, drawn-out cry that left her exhausted
and sagging in his arms. Her pussy clutched at his fingers. He moved against
her, dragging the climax out for longer than she’d imagined possible.

When he finally took his hand away, he
looked her right in the eye and licked his fingers clean. Her insides turned to
liquid. She needed more of this man. At that moment she couldn’t have denied him
anything.

“Come with me.” He took her hand and
dragged her off to the barn. She followed, pulling up her panties and jeans as
she went.

It seemed a lot bigger inside without all
those people. The music and lighting equipment were gone, but there were still
bottles, cans and all sorts of rubbish strewn across the straw-covered floor.
Jordan pulled her over to a bale of hay in the corner and sat down, drawing her
onto his lap.

Her lips returned to his. The kisses they’d
shared so far had only strengthened her hunger. From the way that he held her
so tightly, it seemed they’d done the same to him.

His tongue slipped between her lips and she
let him in eagerly. She wanted to taste every part of him. This was madness. It
couldn’t go anywhere, but while she had him in her arms, she was going to enjoy
every moment to the full.

Slipping his cold hands under her t-shirt,
he cupped her breasts through her bra and she groaned into his mouth.