The Thief's Revenge

The Thief's Revenge - Ch 48 [there's no such thing as 'the end']

He held my hand on his chest. "But moving in with me?" His hand tightened even as his face remained blank. I don't even think he was aware of it.

I turned my head, resting it against his leg. "I suppose I don't have anywhere else to go." His nails bit into my palm. I brushed my thumb over his knuckles. "I wouldn't want to go anywhere else anyway, you blind git."

He sent me a pained smile. "It's just hard to believe, you know? I'm still waiting to wake up. What if someone else had been sent on that investigation into the Cornwall Jewel Thief? What if Donovan hadn't come across you? What if you had actually been smart enough to hide the fact that you knew my name?"

I poked him in the stomach. "What if I had hated your stinking guts?" I grumbled.

He patted the bed beside him. "Climb up."

I glanced nervously at the door. "Last time he caught me sleeping next to you Paddy practically tossed me back into my own bed and gave us an hour of scolding. I don't know if I want to go through that again."

His forehead creased into a frown. "I don't give a damn. This is a moment."

I raised my eyebrows. "A moment? Well, it's too late anyway. The moment, if there was one, is gone anyway."

"Since when were you afraid to break the rules?" he goaded, his tongue between his teeth.

I heaved myself up onto my feet and clambered on, carefully avoiding bumping his wound. "I'm not afraid of anything, I've told you a thousand times."

He glanced away. "Except heights. And flying. And opening up your emotions."

I buried my head into his chest, my heart beginning to thump wildly as his arms curled around me.

"And losing me," he said softly, hopefully.

Cheeky bugger. "Especially losing you," I said firmly, moving one arm up to drape around his neck. Comfortable silence surrounded us until he spoke.

"I don't have the safest job." He sounded reluctant to reveal what he'd been thinking.

I chuckled softly, just a hum of laughter. "Then I'll have to study to get into a line of work that is even more dangerous than yours. That way we can worry desperately for each other. None of that one-sided fear."

"I have contacts that can refuse every course that you apply for."

I shifted my head to look up at his face, an appropriate childish smile on my face. "But you won't do that. You want me to be happy."

He sighed in surrender and bent down a little to kiss my nose. "I want you to be happy."

Epilogue:

"So? What do you think? Too small? Too big? The furniture will be arriving tomorrow and I've asked Dan and James to help us move things around. If you want, I could buy a house instead. It would put a huge dent in my savings but if you're going to train to be an acrobat like you say, we could get the money back easily between us."

I laughed and wrapped my arms around him, careful not to unbalance him with his crutch. "I wouldn't care if it was a crusty attic with no windows. As long as it was with you."

He tried to hold back a laugh and nearly choked on it. "Well. That was corny."

"I do have a question though. When did you have the time to buy this place?"

He smiled secretively and looked down to me. "Oh sometime."

I punched him, hard, in the arm and then grabbed him to stop him from teetering over. Though he hardly moved anyway. Note to self; Improve muscle in arm.

"Tell me," I whined, tugging on his coat.

He draped his arm over my shoulder and suddenly looked sinister. His grip firmed around my neck as I tried to work my way back.

"Remember that time you scurried off with Fletcher and Luke?" he asked, his tone low.

I nodded, fighting the urge to gulp.

"Well, during my crazed loneliness, I developed the plan to buy this place and threaten to lock you up to the headboard of our bed as your sentence for assisting a wanted criminal and theft, your only other option being jail."

As he slowly dragged me, limping all the while, through the apartment, he continued lightly, "Then, when I caught you and realised I couldn't blackmail you into it because I wanted you here willingly, I thought I might guilt you into it. Stating that you had stayed with other men and so you could stay with me, or did you like them better?"

I squirmed but persisted stumbling along beside him.

"But then I was afraid that you would admit you liked them better so I didn't bring it up. And that was another version of blackmail anyway."

I thumped my fist into his back.

He carried on without acknowledging the hit. "So I could only hope that you actually loved me." I hit him again. "And if that happened, for my suitable revenge for your running to Luke's house, I decided that I would return to my first plan. Though this time I would cuff you to the headboard and force you to admit you loved me no less, NO LESS, than fifty times."

We drew to a stop in what was obviously the bedroom. The only furniture in the house was a wide king size bed that took up nearly most of the room. One side touched the wall while the other was only a few feet away from the opposite wall. Several boxes were stacked neatly in a corner that wasn't taken up by the bed or in the way of the door.

He pushed me forward and shut the door behind us. I smiled worriedly.

"Your leg..." I trailed off as he shot me a furious glare at the mention of his injury. He dropped the crutch and shuffled over to the boxes.

"You're joking right. Liam?"

He scratched his head.

"Now where did I put those handcuffs...?"

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Thank you for reading.

I hope you'll read the sequel;

The Puppet Assassin.

Sid x