Each day my little obsession for her seems to grow. Now I’m so deep there’s no turning back. I have to have her, and I will, by any means necessary.

She’s the reason I keep picking up my phone every ten minutes. I’ve been checking her location. Checking on her.

“What about her?” I manage to ask the question with as much indifference I can muster, but my blood feels like it's ice, moving through my veins as everyone in the room stares down at the pictures of her. She looks like a fucking angel. My angel. That’s what I thought the first time I’d laid eyes on her, and I still think it every time I see her.

Her reddish-brown hair falls in waves around her face down to the middle of her back. She has honey-colored eyes like I’ve never seen before. I didn’t even know eyes could look like liquid gold. When I first saw her, I was sure they were contacts. After I planted the camera in her apartment, I learned it was her true color. Those gorgeous eyes hypnotize me.

She’s curvy, almost plump, and her short stature makes her seem compact. It’s like I could carry her soft little body around with me, and she’d mold against me perfectly. But what drives me wild about her are the little freckles that pepper her cheeks and her little button nose. It makes her look sexy and innocent, all rolled into this fucking package I can’t get off my mind.

It started with how she looked, but as the days went on, the more I watched her, it became so much more. She truly was a sweet little angel. Not a mean bone in her body. Always has a smile for everyone, but a lot of the time the smile doesn't reach her eyes. I want to make that smile reach her eyes. Have it directed at me.

Now all these fucks are standing around, staring at her, and I’m trying not to lose my shit.

I know what Heavy’s going to suggest, because I’d thought it myself.

“We’re going to use her to glean information on the bank and get our hands on her access keys. She looks easy enough to seduce.”

“I’m not into chubby chasing,” Nick says, picking up one of the pictures of my angel. I feel my fingers twitch, wanting to grab the blade at my side and slam it through his hand.

“You’ll do what you’re told,” Heavy reminds him, but no way could Nick seduce her. He isn’t charming enough. She’d run from his sleazy advances the first time he tried to come on to her. He’s used to paying women to fuck him.

Heavy’s eyes are on me, but I don’t want to seem eager. If I try to jump in, the situation could blow up in my face and ruin everything.

“Sparrow should do it. The ladies always seem to be after him.” I have no clue what Heavy means by that. Maybe it’s because the whores in his club are always trying to latch on to me, but that’s probably because I don’t look like I’d beat the shit out of them. Like his whole fucking crew does.

“I’m here to make sure the cops don’t show up. I’m cutting the lines and hacking the systems. Those are my skills sets,” I remind him, as if I want no business seducing the girl. I’ll be the one to do it if it’s something he’s going to push. “We don’t need her. I got you the floor plans, schedules, and I can take their system down easy. We don’t need to drag a woman into this, one who can end up identifying us when it’s all finished.”

“Trust me, she won’t be identifying anyone when we’re done with her.” Heavy’s intent is clear. But that’s something I would never allow to happen. “I just want to make sure everyone is on the same page. Let’s not forget she has keys, too. Access to the main vault.”

“And what if shit goes wrong? She could ID me if she slips through our fingers,” I try again, going at him from another angle.

“Why do you care? I hear this is your last job anyways.”

I regret giving him that piece of information, but I had to give him something. I was known for working alone, doing random jobs for crews. Normally, when I did pick up a job with another crew, I still did those jobs alone. Got them what they needed, then stepped out. I had to have a reason why this time I was willing to go in with a whole group, and I used this being my final score as that reason. I told Heavy I wanted to walk away with a lot of money so I could be done. But I have a feeling with all this talk about the girl not walking away and wanting me to get close to her that Heavy doesn’t plan on me walking away either.

Chapter 2

Sean

Silently, I scream inside, knowing that if I seem too eager, Heavy will sense something is up. But now if I don’t agree to go along with his idea, it would draw just as much attention.

“Fine. You’re running the show. I’ll take care of it.” I concede to what he wants, knowing that it could be her life if I refuse and someone else takes over. Not that I would have ever let that happen. No one is getting close to my Tessa but me.

“Good. Get it done. We’ve got to tighten up everything before next week. Monday morning, it all goes down.”

Heavy scoops up the envelope containing Tessa’s pics and tosses it to me. I pick it up and check inside to make sure I’ve got all of them. I slide it into the inside pocket of my leather jacket, wanting to keep it close.

“We done here?” I look at Heavy, waiting for him to say anything else I might need to know. I’ve got to get out of this shit hole; the stench is starting to make me sick.

“Yeah, Sparrow, we’re all good. You just make sure everything’s in place when the times comes.” He pops a toothpick in his mouth and leans back in his chair. I feel the need to kick his teeth in, but instead I stand up and turn to walk out the back door.