Page 121 of As Thick As Thieves

“Trust me, I don’t want more. You guys are a fucking handful,” I scoffed, glaring at him as he poked me in the ribs with his finger. “Don’t move or you’ll hurt yourself!”

“You’re lucky I can’t move or you’d be bent over this fucking bed getting an attitude adjustment,” he warned, no anger in his tone. The nurse chose that time to walk in, eyeballing me like I was the unluckiest woman in the entire world. I couldn’t blame her, he really had been an asshole all week to the staff, they probably thought he beat me up in his spare time with the anger constantly rolling off him.

“When can I leave?” Stone bit out for the millionth time, an exasperated sigh leaving her.

“Trust me, Mr. Barrett, when you’re allowed to be discharged, we won’t delay sharing the news with you. It’s at least another week at the bare minimum.”

“Seriously?” he snapped, earning a glare in return as she finished checking his chart.

“I know, I’m mad about it, too.” She stomped off, and I laughed loudly as Stone fumed.

“You’re such a baby! Stop whining and enjoy the rest.”

“Enjoy the rest? How the fuck can I enjoy it when I can’t keep my eyes on you?” he gritted out, hissing as he got too uptight and injured his stitches. I scowled, laying down beside him and kissing his shoulder.

“You’re grumpy, take a nap.”

“Make me.”

“That’s childish,” I snorted, snuggling into him a little more until his body relaxed and his hand took mine again. “I’ll nap with you.”

“You’ll be here when I wake up?” he asked as if he didn’t trust me, knowing full well that I never left without letting him know. He was just too high on pain meds to remember sometimes.

“Yeah, get some sleep. I told Cruz to give us a few hours,” I promised, not surprised in the slightest when he started softly snoring a few moments later. I never would’ve thought that I had any control over this asshole, but as long as I was by his side, he seemed to listen to what I said as if my word was law. I was completely okay with that. Even though he pretended to hate every damn second of it in front of the guys to avoid being teased.

They had no room for judgment, they all did as they were told, too, because they secretly loved being bossed around. Especially in the bedroom.

Well, other than Knox, but I didn’t mind. Who knew the thieves who broke into my damn house could manage to steal my damn heart? I sure as fuck hadn’t seen it coming.

I closed my eyes, Stone’s breathing putting me to sleep as if it were a lullaby, and I dreamed of a princess locked in her tall tower, and the villains who came to save her.

That was how all fairytales ended, right?

Epilogue

Penn

Two Months Later

“You’re sure no one’s home?” I whisper-yelled when something moved upstairs in the Kingslake mansion we were currently breaking into, and Cruz peered down at his tablet to find the culprit, his balaclava hiding his face.

“Ugh, they have a cat. I fucking hate cats.”

“Apart from the terrifying cat, is it safe to go up?” I deadpanned, making him huff at my teasing.

“Yeah, you’re good, baby. Have you ever had a cat? They’re furry fucking demons from Hell.”

I crept up the stairs with my flashlight, cringing when one of the floorboards creaked loudly. Something thudded two seconds before the tinkering of a bell sounded, the cat in question appearing from the bedroom to stare at us.

“Hey, kitty,” I whispered, the asshole hissing at me before taking off down the stairs into the dark. I could hear Drake roaring with laughter through the earpiece I was wearing as he watched us from the compound, and Cruz held his arms out like I fucking told you.

Once safely in the bedroom away from Satan’s sidekick, I grabbed the closet door with a gloved hand and pulled it open, searching carefully for the necklace we’d been hired to find. I knew it was here because I’d seen the man’s wife wearing it at an event two weeks ago.

Cruz wandered across the hall to another bedroom, the two of us silently going through the entire house until we found it.

“Bingo,” I grinned as I opened a small box I found tucked inside the bedside table, the diamond necklace shining in the light of the flashlight. It was beautiful, but I really didn’t understand why people collected this kind of stuff.

I’d prefer a big, cheesy pizza. That much was obvious from the weight I’d put on. I looked good, my body having a decent figure for the first time in a long time, and the guys couldn’t get enough of it. I liked myself more like this, too.

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