Circumstances

I approached the man sitting at the bar. Knowing exactly what I had to do, and focusing on that, made this whole process a lot easier.

I slid up behind him, planting a hand on the small of his back to let him know I was there. He turned and smiled, ordering me a drink.

That night, after we'd had sex, he lay asleep, I snuck into the next room where the safe was and cracked the code to it. Easy as anything.

It was too easy.

I slipped out into the darkness, dialling his number.

He was there with the car in minutes. I climbed in and gave it to him. He cocked an eyebrow.
"Not bad..." He took me to his penthouse apartment, I began to feel nervous for the first time that night.

I'd never seen his apartment, I still didn't even know his name, he didn't have his men with him, and the thought of us alone terrified me.

We walked in and he immediately put the disc into a laptop. Plans suddenly started shooting up onto the screen and he smiled slightly, taking the disc out and putting it in several locked boxes before placing it in a safe behind a picture. I watched, once again not realising I was transfixed by his smooth movements until he turned back to me.

"You've done well. Your money is here...I don't know why you wouldn't take the first half up front, but here is the whole sum. Count it if you want." I swallowed as I looked at the case of money, feeling a bit sick.

"...I tru-believe you." I corrected myself, not able to meet his eyes.

"You shouldn't."

"I don't think I can take all the money."

"Why?"

"My mum would know it was something criminal." He sighed.

"I can have one hundred dollars a week put into your bank account until the sum is paid to you."

"Really?"

"Of course. This disc is more important than you realise. Now, goodbye Oliver." I felt slightly disappointed as he held out his hand. I shook it, almost unable to bear the coldness of his hand.

"I shall probably be requesting your assistance in the future."

"Bye. Thank you." My voice was hoarse as I left, some money in my pocket.

Rixon was happy that everything had gone according to plan, I told my mum that I'd got a different job that paid higher.

Everything was okay again, but I felt my mind constantly drifting to the mysterious man in the suit with the black jaguar. It bothered me that even though he was no longer in my life, and it had been weeks since that night, he was still ever-present in my head. When I would get a few moments to myself, I found myself fantasising about him, and the more I did, the more it kept happening. All too soon I was addicted to the dark thoughts about him. And it scared me.

I'd been in relationships before, and had sex before, all with girls though. Sexuality had never been a major issue for me, and it wasn't now, it was just the power of this fixation that scared me to my very core.

I got a call one day as I was going to pick up the twins from school. We walked along the path holding hands when it rang.

"Liz - go round and hold Jerry's hand while I get the phone. Hello?"

"Don't move." I made the girls stop and my blood ran cold at the unfamiliar voice on the other end of the line.

"Who is this?"

"You see the building across from the school? Look up." I scanned the building and saw a man with a gun pointing directly at me. My first thoughts were for the twins and I told them to stand behind me.

"I see you. What's this all about?"

"Sanders is not happy that his disc went missing, he knows you took it. Luckily for you, this is just a warning, or else I'd be blowing the little girl's heads off. And your sexy mother's too." My jaw clenched of it's own accord as I watched him push the gun away from the window.

"Right, what does he want me to do?"

"Get it back to him by Friday night. You have until ten o'clock that night. Goodbye Oliver." He hung up and disappeared inside. Now extremely shaken up, I rushed the girls at home, feeling as if I were being watched and followed the whole way. I picked up the phone and dialled his number.

"Oliver, how lovely to hear from you again." I felt more reassured the second he spoke.

"Y-you have to help me!! Please!! Some guy threatened to k-kill my family all because of that fucking disc!!! He said I have until ten o'clock Friday night to get it back to Sanders!!"

"Calm down. I know all about that. I'm in the process of having your family put under protection." There will be someone there for them at all times, but they won't know." I sighed, forcing the emotion back inside me.

"Thank you..." I breathed.

"You're welcome. Now, I need you to do something else for me. Can you be at mine soon?"

"Ten minutes." I left the girls with a neighbour and went to his house.

"I want you to be bait for me." He said the second I was in the door. He was sat on the couch, looking at a whiskey glass which had the dregs of some sort of alcohol in.

"What?"

"I'm framing Sanders for a multiple murder, I want it to look like you're the one framing him...and when he comes to get you...the police intervene."

"What?! Are you insane?! No!!" He stood up and approached me slowly, I backed off until my back hit the wall, he got closer and closer until I could smell his cologne and see the flecks in his eyes. I swallowed, trying to calm my pounding heart and not envision a certain fantasy I'd had about him that embodied almost exactly the scene we were in.

"Shall we call it payment?"

"For what?" I cursed myself as my voice cracked.

"For the protection of your family....your friend Rixon included." My jaw clenched and unclenched as he started doing that thing again where he totally invaded my privacy and just didn't care.

"You..." I trailed off and turned away but he grabbed hold of me, I glared up at him.

"Get off of me."

"You haven't said if you'll do it."

"You know I will." I pulled my arm out of his grip and walked out, my skin burning where he'd touched me.

That night a file was posted through the door with details in. This one I was shit scared of.
What if it all went wrong and Sanders actually got to me?
What if the police thought that I was actually framing Sanders for murders I had committed?

What if I went to prison?

My mum, the girls, they'd all be screwed if I was many around. I earned over half of our income.

The next morning as I stormed towards my early morning shift at the store, angry due to the lack of sleep I'd had the previous night, the car drove along the road again.
"Go away. Not now."

"Get in."

"I have to go to work!! Otherwise I get fired and we won't meet rent this month okay? Leave me alone. I already agreed to this stupid plan." The car stopped and I turned back, surprised, but then he climbed out.

"I will pay you whatever money you're earning at the store, call in and say the twins are sick and you had to look after them."

"They won't fall for that-"

"Yes they will, people get all sympathetic when it's about children." I rolled my eyes at he disdain in his voice and called the store. Sure enough, my usually nasty manager was actually quite nice about it.

"Now get in. Don't keep making me come after you Oliver...my patience won't last forever." I got in, anger flaring up once more.

"What do you want this time?"

"I need to show you something." I didn't ask, the drive was painfully tense for me, I couldn't look at him, but at the same time I could just feel his presence there next to me. He lit up a cigarette and I could hear and smell him taking long drags and exhaling slowly.

"You look like you need one." I bit my lip at the extra husk to his voice after smoking and took the cigarette he offered to me gratefully.
I tried to calm myself by focusing on the smoking and doing tricks when I blew the smoke out, I didn't realise he was watching me until I turned round. He made a small noise, something between a chuckle and a grunt.

"Clever tricks. Why are you so nervous?"

"Jesus...you're not exactly subtle are you?"

"Of course not. There's nothing to gain. Answer the question."

"You make me nervous."

"Why?"

"I don't know!!" He smirked and looked out the window.

"Yes you do. Anyway, we're here." I frowned and got out of the car. He walked into a building and I followed, chills running down my spine.

"Mr Gigandet, thank you for coming."

"Of course. This is...Mr Sykes, my associate. This is Eli Williams." A man shook my hand with a sad smile.

"It's a pleasure to meet any associate of Mr Gigandet's, I'm just sad it isn't under more pleasant circumstances." I nodded and he turned back to someone Gigandet...well, at least I knew half his name now.

"Are we sure it's her?"

"Absolutely. I just needed you to confirm. I think this is bigger than all of us...it's quite a worry." He opened the door for us and I swallowe as I realised we were in a morgue.

"Who is it?" I whispered to him as Eli went over to the wall of huge metal tombs containing people's deceased loved ones.
Gigandet didn't reply, he just watched steadily as Eli opened the door and pulled it out, pulling back the sheet over a corpse's body.
We approached it and I felt my heart clench as my eyes scanned over her face. She was just a little girl.

"Who's daughter is she?" My voice came out hoarse.

"One of my colleagues, Mr Orpington, successfully stopped and imprisoned almost fifty high-profile criminals who were all involved in human trafficking and drug imports on a massive scale. This is his daughter. He has since moved onto investigating terrorist claims with the government. We don't know which case this has to do with, but if his daughter was killed, then many more families are in danger too." I swallowed bile down and excused myself, the walls feeling as though they were closing in on me, and the little girl's face behind my eyes.

I was leant back against the cold stone wall when I heard his slow footsteps approach me.
"Are you alright?"

"Why did you bring me here? Why are you telling me all these high security secrets?! Don't you see that you're putting my family in danger too-" I couldn't finish my sentence as he slapped me gently.

"Shut up. Your family is protected. I'm telling you this because I trust you and you're skilled, far more than you know, if you want to stop this, it's fine." I nodded.

"Sorry...I'm just not used to seeing dead bodies..." I closed my eyes and her face loomed up again, making me shudder. A heavy hand was on my shoulder and the gentle warmth that seeped through my ratty clothes, mixed with his scent made me want to throw caution to the wind and kiss him. I stood up straight, he let his hand drop back to his pocket.

"Now, do you want to help me or not?"

"I'm not gonna be in the situation physically, myself, am I?"

"No. I just need an extra brain and someone with IT skills." I rolled my eyes.

"You even know about my cracking codes and hacking?"

"Of course. You were one of the people who did those code cracking exercises on the FBI website. You were one of the top people, but you turned down the job. Why?"

"It was too dangerous. Besides, I wasn't mature enough to handle that kind of responsibility."

We left and went back to his apartment. A huge stack of files had appeared there and as we went through details of these cases, he set pieces of paper out as though they were a massive spider web, each detail or person linking in with events until we'd sorted the whole thing. As we worked, his suit jacket came off, revealing a tight shirt that showed off his painfully sexy body, his tie got looser and looser, and his shirt sleeves were rolled up.

"I think we've done it."

"You could've done it without me. I wasn't much help."

"I could have...in double the time. You helped much more than you think. Sometimes, just having someone listen and give their opinion of something is a massive help. Thank you for staying so late - have you missed any more shifts?"

"Just school. It's fine, I'll catch up." He nodded.

"Want a drink?"

"I should probably be go-" I jumped as I turned round and he was right there, drink in hand, he swallowed it in one go and suddenly leant down, capturing my lips in a chaste kiss. I pulled away from him, blushing furiously. I could feel myself heating up even more with embarrassment and tried to escape but I was cornered.

"I need to go-"

"Why are you scared?" I couldn't look away from his bright blue eyes as they searched mine for an answer. I'd never seen him like this, his expression open, unguarded, and I thought he was genuinely beautiful in that moment.

"I have to...I can't...I don't even know your name." He chuckled.

"It's Cam. Now you know it."

"I just....let me past."

"Why? Does me being so close make you uncomfortable? Because maybe you like it more than you'd care to admit?"

"I do not give a shit about my sexuality. I'm not in denial about who I am. It's just you. I can't...I can't think when you're this close!!!" He smirked.

"Why do you need to think? Just do whatever your body tells you to."

"If I always went by that theory, I'd be so screwed-"

"Hopefully by me." I blushed again and looked away. He took another step forwards, arms snaking round my waist and pulling me flush against him. My hands fluttered up to his biceps of their own accord to push him away, but he kissed me again and I melted, any strength I had completely evaporated. When his tongue began to work against mine I pulled away as hard as I could. I stumbled slightly and had to steady myself, heart pounding, crotch hot, and my cheeks burning, I walked out.