I ignore how I like being called “lass,” and forge ahead. “Why? Because we’re girls? If we were men, we’d already be dead, right?”
When he hesitates, I blurt, “Oh, god, you changed your mind.”
“No. I’m just disappointed that my reputation includes harming women. I’ve never lifted a hand to a woman in my—”
He stops abruptly and curses under his breath.
When he doesn’t continue, I say, “Um. You were saying?”
He exhales heavily. “I was about to tell you a lie. I did hit a woman once. I beat her, actually.”
If my jaw drops open any lower, it will be resting on the tops of my shoes.
“It’s one of my greatest regrets. I was under the impression she was trafficking girls—selling children—never mind. It’s a long story. My point is that I don’t want us to get off on the wrong foot, so I’m being honest.”
When I’m silent too long, cross-eyed with shock and confusion, he says, “I killed the man who gave me that incorrect information. That Eva was a trafficker.”
Swallowing around my dead lump of a tongue, I say, “Oh. Okay, then.”
“I know it doesn’t excuse what I did. I’m not saying it does. I’m just giving the reason.”
“Uh…”
“She’s married now. Has twins. I watch them when her husband goes out of town for work. We’ve become good friends.”
“So it all worked out in the end.”
There. I managed to sound like a rational human being and not the mashed-potatoes-for-brains zombie I really am.
His tone turning firm, he commands, “Tell me why you donated what you stole from me to a charity. Why take the risk for no financial gain? What was in it for you?”
This guy is giving me whiplash. “What difference does it make?”
“Motivation speaks to character. Tell me.”
God, he’s bossy. I’m irritated until I think of Fin and Max, and what thin ice we’re all skating on right now, and decide to relent. “All right. If you must know, to make amends.”
A long, blistering silence follows. Then he says slowly, “Amends to whom?”
“Well…the world, I guess. To everyone.”
There’s another pause, this one longer. “And what kind of terrible sins have Robin Hood and her merry band of thieves committed that would require making amends to the entire world?”
“Not us,” I say, my voice quiet.
“Then who?”
I don’t know why I tell him.
Maybe because I’ve never said the words out loud before, or because I sense so much is riding on my answer, or because I’ve had a lot to drink. But the words are out before I can stop them. Along with them comes a strange sense of relief.
“Our fathers are all bad people. Very bad people. The kind who don’t care who they have to hurt to get what they want. The people we steal from are all like that, too. What we do is kind of…it’s our small way of giving back. Of trying to make up for being related to such gigantic assholes.”
When he doesn’t say anything for so long I start to get worried, I blurt, “I’m not lying.”
“I believe you,” he says, his voice surprisingly soft.
Then he doesn’t say anything else, and panic kicks in. I start to babble.
“Um. So. That’s it. That’s the reason. We’re actually pretty bad at what we do. One of us inevitably screws something up, and it’s a miracle we’re all not in jail already, and we do have day jobs, we’re not total criminals, just sort of part-time you could say. Well, I don’t mean to make it sound like we don’t take it seriously, because obviously we do, it’s dangerous stuff, but—”
“I want to see you.”
His tone has lost all its softness. It’s still low, but now it’s tense, too, filled with a dark need that makes my panic skyrocket.
All the breath leaves my lungs. Swallowing around the lump in my throat, I whisper, “Why?”
His voice thick, he says, “You know why.”
God help me, I do. And it’s not because he wants to kill me.
I didn’t even know my heart could do what it’s doing, that throbbing, thrashing thing that’s making my limbs weak and my entire body shake.
“I…I have a boyfriend.”
He makes a soft sound of dissatisfaction. “We were doing so well with the truth telling, little thief. I know you don’t have a boyfriend. I know you haven’t been serious with anyone in years. I know your credit score and how much money you have in your checking account and that your name is probably fake,