Free Thieves Till We Die by Stephen Cole Page B

kind of cash you must have? I don’t think so.’
    He started caressing the top of her arm. It felt way too nice. She’d been little more than a kid when they’d first got together; surely she should have outgrown those old feelings? But then she’d been smuggling fortwo years by then. She’d done so much growing up already.
    He tried again. ‘Hangover not shifting, huh?’
    â€˜I’m fine.’
    â€˜Never used to have a problem holding your drink.’
    She pursed her lips. ‘Maybe it’s a bad reaction to the chloroform your friends used on me.’
    Ramez took his hand away. ‘Would you have left there quietly with armed intruders?’ The question was so dumb she didn’t bother to reply. ‘Exactly. Remember, we didn’t know if this Coldhardt guy was keeping you prisoner, if he had guards or what. The guys had to get in and get you out nice and quick, no arguments.’ Ramez shook his head. ‘They’re the best. If we’d known there was just that one little kid with you –’
    â€˜His name is Jonah.’ Tye closed her eyes. ‘And you’re
sure
those guys didn’t hurt him, right?’
    â€˜Sure I’m sure. He’s fine.’ Ramez’s cool act seemed to waver for a moment. ‘I wasn’t busting anything up between you guys?’
    â€˜No,’ she said, probably just a fraction too quickly. ‘It’s just the idea of me needing to be rescued from Coldhardt!’
    â€˜The guy’s got no file, no ID, no official existence, Tye. For all I knew, the guy coulda been using you for all kinds of bad shit.’ Ramez shrugged. ‘And since I couldn’t go in myself with my shot leg, I figured the guys should just take you out of there. That we’d deal with your questions later.’
    Tye settled back against the mattress and sipped from her drink. ‘You haven’t really dealt with any ofthem. I still don’t know how you got off life in jail, or how you can afford to rent a penthouse in Santa Fe just so you could keep tabs on Coldhardt more easily …’
    â€˜You always had to question stuff,’ he said, a trace of disappointment on his face. ‘And you’re still doing it. Why is that?’
    She shrugged. ‘I just would like to know –’
    â€˜I had to get to you, sugar-girl. ’Sides, I’m only renting this place a while.’ He laughed softly, but she caught some sadness in his deep brown eyes. ‘I told you, I made friends inside. We fixed a deal, we got an arrangement.’
    â€˜What kind of arrangement?’
    â€˜You could call it … an inheritance.’ He shrugged, smiled. ‘Now they look out for me. The way I wanna look out for you.’
    Tye could tell from his body language that he wasn’t lying. Though it had taken some time – and tequila – she was satisfied that whatever else Ramez might be up to,
he
wasn’t trying to trick her. But he was clearly holding back one hell of a lot.
    She sipped her drink. ‘When I went to see you in jail, you sent me away. You said you never wanted to see me again.’
    He looked downcast at the memory. ‘You’d wasted enough of your life waiting on me.’
    Tye looked away. ‘So when you were screaming at me that I was a slut and going with any guy who might look at me, that was you driving me away to be kind, right?’
    â€˜Maybe. I dunno, I just …’ He shrugged. ‘I couldn’thang on to dreams of you back then. It was easier to push you away.’
    You never did find that so hard
, Tye recalled unhappily.
Always pushing me away
. ‘So what’s changed?’
    â€˜Me.’
    â€˜Right. Sure.’ What were the chances of the first boy she’d ever really cared about, the crush of her life, escaping the pit of a Belize prison, getting rich, and then taking time out from living the high life to chase her to