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“I can’t believe it,” Emma gushed like a giddy school girl.
“Shut up!” Sean snapped.
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on Sean.”
He almost yelled but remembered the others in the flat. “Promise me you won’t do anything to embarrass me,” he whispered urgently.
She smiled innocently. “Would I do that?”
His eyes got wide. He grabbed her arm. “Yes,” he hissed.
Emma batted her eyelashes at him. “Don’t worry,” she said easily. She pried his fingers away from her arm and led him out of the bathroom.
“I know that look,” Sean groaned.
“Give me a little credit,” she said quietly and confidently. “Now, you go with Mickey and Albert.”
He planted his feet and demanded, “What are you going to do?”
She pulled him along. “Nothing.”
“Emma,” he whined.
“Go. You have a lot to learn from them.”
“But…”
Emma gave him another brilliant smile. “That’s a good boy.”
Before Sean could do anything else, they were in the living room with Mickey, Albert, and Ash. Mickey and Albert had their coats on. Ash sat on the couch, his laptop open on the coffee table in front of him.
Emma elbowed him and Sean stuttered, “You mind if I tag along?”
Mickey shrugged. “No. Come on. Let’s go.” He looked to Emma. “What about you?”
Emma grinned at him. “No. I think I’ll stay here.”
Mickey clicked his tongue between his teeth. “Beware, Ash.”
Ash glanced up with a smirk. “Go ahead. Leave me alone with the lioness.”
Sean grabbed his jacket from the closet and looked around nervously. He met Emma’s cocky smile and bit his lip. “Okay, then.”
Mickey patted Sean’s shoulder. “Let’s go.”
After the three were gone, Emma sauntered over to the drinks cabinet. She pulled out a bottle of scotch and two glasses. Then she came back to sit down next to Ash. She snickered. “Do the others know that you play solitaire when you’re supposed to be working?”
Ash laughed quietly and held his hand up in a mock salute. “Only after the work’s done. Scout’s honor.”
“Right,” she drawled.
He sat up straighter. He arched an eyebrow at her. “I never let a con go off without being ready.”
“I know,” she said earnestly. She filled the two glasses and handed one to him. “How about that drinking contest?”
“With no one around to see me beat you?” he retorted but took the glass from her.
“Call it a warm up to the real event then,” she answered insolently and downed half her glass.
He matched her. “Albert doesn’t know what he’s talking about if he thinks you can drink me under the table.”
Emma’s eyes sparked mischievously and she finished the glass. “I haven’t lost in three years.”
Again, Ash matched her. “I have a considerably longer streak than that.”
She refilled both the glasses. She arched both eyebrows. “You’re also considerably older than me.”
He closed his laptop and half turned to sit facing her. “Now, that means war.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Shoot.”
Emma drained her glass in one go. She cleared her throat and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She nodded to the ring on Ash’s left hand. “You married?”
Ash blew out a long breath before taking all of his in one swallow. He grunted at the warmth flooding his throat. “I was.”
She sat forward eagerly. “What happened? Did she cheat on you? Did you go after the other guy with a baseball bat?”
One end of his mouth quirked up. “I see you’ve been talking to Mickey.” He shook his head. “No. Nothing that glamorous.”
She filled the glasses a third time. “Well, come on,” she prodded.
He cradled the glass in both hands and stared down at the brown liquid. “It’s…it’s a long story.”
“Was she a grifter, too?”
His gaze didn’t waver. “Yeah. She had a plate in her head, taught me how to do the flop.” He vaguely gestured to his head. “When I got hurt, I didn’t know what I was gonna do. She saved me, but we couldn’t keep it together even though we never stopped loving each other.” He let out a shaky breath and then took a drink. “And then at the end, I couldn’t do much for her besides make sure she was comfortable. She died four months ago.”
Emma flushed in embarrassment. She stopped staring at him. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t pry.”
Ash shrugged and finished the little left in his glass. “It’s okay.”
She emptied her glass in two quick gulps. She turned it over and over in her hands. She tried for a light tone. “Next time, just tell me to mind my own business.”
He shook his head as if to shake off the melancholy mood. He grinned at her. “Does that actually work?”
She opened her mouth to answer but laughed instead. She playfully punched his arm. “Probably not.”
They traded stories. Ash told her about some of the weirdest, most challenging cons. In turn, Emma told him all about her and Sean’s life on the streets and some of the tricks they pulled to survive.
The fourth bottle was almost gone and they were sprawled on the couch together. Ash sat back, his head against the back of the couch. Emma lay against his side, her head on his shoulder.
She frowned. “I think we’ve lost count.”
He raised his head. His brow furrowed. “I think you’re right.”
“Should we call it a draw?”
He put his head back again and shut his eyes. “Yeah.”
She moved just enough so she could reach the bottle. She took a swig straight from it and then pressed it into his chest. “So, whatever happened to Danny Blue and Stacie Monroe?”
He hardly moved, but his fingers curled around the bottle tightly. “They’re grifting their way across America.”
Emma wasn’t so far gone that she didn’t notice his white knuckle grip. However, it took a moment for her alcohol soaked brain to put the right words in order. “Why did they break up the team? Still plenty of marks over here.”
Ash didn’t bother to open his eyes when he finished the bottle. He dropped it on the floor. “You’d have to ask them,” he slurred.
“I heard stories. Were you two…”
“Why you asking?”
“Curious.”
He licked his lips and ran a tired hand through his hair. “Yeah,” he sighed. “It’s over. He left.”
She was tired and Ash was nice and warm to snuggle against. She shut her eyes. Her voice was barely above a whisper. “Miss him?”
“Sometimes.”
“What if…Sean?” Emma mumbled just before she passed out.
“Sean,” Ash muttered just before he joined her.
A couple hours later, Mickey, Albert, and Sean came home. Albert smirked. “I see they spent a productive evening.”
Sean’s eyes narrowed at the way Emma and Ash were sprawled out together. His gut twisted. He opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. He bit his tongue.
Mickey took a look at the empty bottles and put his hands on his hips. He grinned. “Who do you think won?”
Albert chuckled. “The world may never know.”