Page 5 of Wreckin' Amethyst

The dress sparkles endlessly, highlighting my tattoos in the sunshine. From wrists to biceps, I’m inked with wispy black and white flowers. They fade into the random other objects I’ve collected along the way on various drunken nights. A stopwatch on my wrist, pterodactyls on one elbow and spiral clock on the other. A steampunk contraption sits on my upper left arm, causing me to chuckle each time I look at it. Funny where the mind goes when I’m intoxicated.

“Okay, I’m starving. Let’s go eat.” I pull Charley from the alley, diving my arm into her bag to stroke Pig. A slobbery tongue greets my hand, the bag grunting and shaking with delight. Al Fresco’s is across the city, about a forty-minute walk using back streets, but we don’t make it that far. A few blocks over, my feet come to a sudden halt, my eyes lighting up. At the end of the junction, the sun glints like a shining beacon.

Diamonds sparkle from the glass front of a jewelry store. A ceiling, easily two levels high, is visible through the huge double doors with gold handles, matching the glimmering of the chandelier hanging in the center. A U-bend of transparent cabinets sits against the inner walls, leaving the front windows as an alluring display for the rich passer-by. Diamonds sparkle, the shine reaching out and beckoning me to ‘come hither’.

And I obey. Drawn forward by my heart’s desire. The anticipation of my best and most rewarding heist yet.

Better than that, a guy I could break like a toothpick is being trained by some tight-ass clerk. The bun on her head is tight enough to give her a free facelift, her aged features stretched and pinched in all the wrong places. The skirt clamped around her waist is too tight to bend over as she retrieves a tray of gleaming jewels from the counter and places them on the glass surface. Looking for something in her strained chest pocket as I cross the road, she holds up a finger to the trainee and disappears out back.I’m doing this.

“Oh, good gracious!” I sweep inside, taking Charley with me. “That’s the one! The necklace my future husband asked me to approve of. He’s right, it truly is stunning. May I?”

Blinking up at the trainee from behind a fan of tinted lashes, the thin guy stutters, the collar buttoned above his navy tie tight enough to choke. His attention drops to my cleavage as I lift the heavy necklace to my chest. Charley is quick to fasten the hook and secure it in place while I fix the matching bracelet on my wrist. “Oh yes, this is perfect for my big day. Don’t you think Charlena?”

“So perfect,” Charley falls into character quickly. The girl has promise. “But poor Miss Piggy needs accessorizing too. What kind of ring bearer would she be without a ring?” Dragging Pig’s wrinkled weight from her bag, producing her pink belly free of the blue patches on her snow-white fur, a glint of mischief glistens in both of their onyx eyes and I smirk in approval. I knew Charley had it in her.

“Oh, my darling, you’re absolutely right! Here you go gorgeous,” I hook three diamond stunners onto Pig’s collar and drum my fingers through them. “Perfect. Daddy needs to see this at once!” Pig’s tongue hangs out the way it always does when we’re having fun, still clutched in Charley’s arms when we begin to walk away. I can’t believe we make it all the way to the doorway before the trainee finally finds his voice.

“E-excuse me ma’am.” I stop and snigger under my breath. He thinks I’m a ma’am. “I need to return those back to the cabinet.”

“Oh, don’t stress, darling,” I flick my hand with a perfect British accent. It’s better to be British when shoplifting, right? “My fiancé is just outside in…that limo,” I point at the sleek black vehicle parked by the sidewalk. “I’ll be right back with his credit card.”

Passing back a reassuring wink, Charley rushes me out with my trusty companion snorting all the while. A shrill from the stuck-up assistant, returning to find her tray bare, splits through my ears at a heightened decibel and I wince. Calm down Anal Annie, it’s only a couple hundred-grand clinging to my throat. Rushed footsteps click against the polished marble, a pair of dress shoes and heels taking chase.

“Stop right there! Return those diamonds at once!” she calls. Without the need for a discussion, Charley turns left and I take the right, to split up and regroup later. But who else should I see than a pair of policemen strolling my way down the crowded street?Fucking perfect.So I do the only logical thing. I pop that limo door and scoot my ass inside.

Four pairs of eyes along the two benches adjacent swivel my way, glaring out from the most chiseled, model-worthy faces I’ve ever laid eyes on. So perfect in fact, they make the diamonds at my neck seem dimmer as I keep budging my butt along the seats. Voices shout through the darkened window, the police now accompanying the clerk and stuck-up boss bitch. She scowls as if she can actually see me, although her eyes seem to be roaming over the reflection of her own popped hip and crossed arms.

“Excuse me fellas, just passing through.” I draw the blonde wig over my face like a curtain, dismissing myself. Reaching for the opposite door handle, the lock drops with an audible click. I try it anyway, swallowing thickly when forced to face the band of suited wolves scowling my way.

Only one of them moves, drawing my attention to the sharp jaw speckled in shadow as he rasps his tattooed knuckles across the closed screen dividing us from the driver without ever taking his stark amber eyes from me. The limo pulls forward sharply, driving me back into the leather on a gasp.

“Hey, wait a darn tooting minute,” I start, keeping up my British accent. Zooming towards an intersection at full speed, I spot Charley hiding on a street corner with Pig wriggling in her arms. Twisting back and pressing my hand to the rear window, I mentally shout for her to get back to the Thirsty Kirsty, and for the love of all shit, hide those damn diamond rings. I’ll make it back soon enough and then I believe it’s time to move on. Get the fuck out of dodge and start clean under a new guise.

“Pull this thing over right now. I’m a busy lady; I’ve got places to be!” I turn back and shoot a glare at the faces I can barely comprehend right now. Too much brutal beauty for such a tight space. Or at least, the limo seems small, with the bulk of their muscle expanding from suit jackets. Amber eyes chuckles, a deep throaty sound that coils around my clit and tugs.

“You mean, you have more of our stores to rob?” My throat bobs beneath the necklace. My chest rises and falls harder in the glittery dress. Sinking back into the seat, once more caught in the headlights of their hardened, unwavering stares, I chew on my bottom lip and press my hands into the leather either side of my butt.

This is fine. Totally fine. There’s never been a con I couldn’t talk my way out of before.

Chapter 3

“Myles.”Carterelbowsme.“Myles!” His whispered shout leaks with desperation. But the fog has taken root in my mind, and I’m no longer listening. Someone tries to lean across me, intent on pressing the speaker comms to the driver. I swiftly punch him in the face, not caring which of my best friends it was. They want me to pull over this car. They want me to stop looking at her. Neither of which are happening.

A pair of the most intriguing eyes I’ve ever seen hold my stare. Deep purple, alluring, captivating. Rarer than any diamond we stock in our co-owned jewelers. Just a side project really, when Owen decided his Rolex collection needed company. Yet if we managed to obtain anything as beautiful as the jewels currently in my eyeline, I’d visit daily. Purchase an armchair just to sit and stare from the corner, but even the brief few moments she’s been in the limo have me edging forward. I need a better look. I need to grace my fingertips with the smoothness of her skin and savor every inch of her curvaceous body.

“No,” Carter nudges me back in my seat and pinches the bridge of his nose, reading my thoughts. It’s fine, even from here I can feel the pull of our attraction. She inhales deeply, lifting her large breasts sandwiched together by a hint of black lace beneath the dress. My hands fist. I could go full King Kong at this moment, carrying her up the side of a building just to keep her all to myself, but that would undo everything my friends have spent the past fifteen years trying to implement.

But something’s not quite right. There’s an artificial edge to her that doesn’t quite fit. The longer I look, the more evident it becomes.

“Take. It. Off,” I growl. A thin brow raises, slender shoulders shrug. Beginning at the slitted side of the fabric, she starts peeling the garment off, revealing long, smooth legs and my dick jumps to attention. It strains behind my zipper and pulsates with the instant need to be inside her. “No, not your dress. Your wig,” I barely rasp out. She smiles then, full lips forming into an ‘O’. The throbbing of my cock intensifies and I groan.

“We’re not doing this,” Carter announces, twisting, so he blocks my view of the alluring female in our vehicle and only his stern face fills my vision. “We have a business meeting uptown, then a photo shoot for Vogue. Of all the days to fuck our plans away, so to speak, this is not the one.”

“Maybe Carter is right,” Sebby’s nasally voice comes from the seat opposite. He’s holding his nose, which I evidently tried to break, yet shifts until his knees are touching either side of mine. “Today, we’re busy - but there’s always tomorrow. We could get her phone number?”

“Or we could just get our diamonds back and leave her on the side of the road,” Owen pitches in. The limo pulls to a stop as Owen jerks his thumb at the blacked-out window. A bunch of hookers on a street corner peer over, whistling and waving their fingers in a bid to gain our attention.

“No.” My stern voice growls amongst the four of us until I shove Carter aside. Preparing myself to glance upon the most perfect set of eyes to be seared on the inside of my brain, empty leather meets my gaze.What?! The tiptoe of a boot disappearing through the open sunroof proceeds a glittery dress sliding past the rear window.

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