Deadline≫hemmings a.u

3.2

"Hey, mate?" Michael called to Luke over the box of cereal he was eating straight out of.

"Yeah?" Luke's chest rumbled against my back from where we sat together on the pullout couch of our hotel room eating toast we got from the downstairs breakfast bar.

"Have you talked to anyone lately?" he asked through a mouthful of Lucky Charms. "From our...line of work, you know?"

I felt Luke still beneath me and he looked up at Michael with a wary expression. "Who do you have in mind?"

"D'you remember Sid?" Michael's tone was nonchalant as he happily sifted through the box for the marshmallows. "Pale, glasses, brown hair... Yay high?" Michael held up his hand up to some height from where he sat on the couch. "Nice guy."

"Of course I remember Sid," Luke mumbled, shoving more toast into his mouth. "No. I haven't talked to him in almost a year."

"Oh, well," Michael rubbed his nose with the back of his hand to get marshmallow dust off of it. "He's already made his round back to LA and decided to go out again last minute with some new group."

"You'd think Sid would want a break," Luke muttered, resting his chin on my shoulder and lacing his hands together on my stomach.

"Yeah, well, anyways," Michael continued, reaching into the box for another handful. "Him and his group want to hit this really big house here in Arizona and even though the owners are out on vacation, it's got a lot of security and fancy shit, but it'll be a real prize getting into their account. They asked if we wanna team up with them and split whatever Marcus gives us for it and I said yes."

"You did what?" Luke stiffened again and he straightened up.

"Yeah, I figured why not. You said the other day that Ash's bills are only gonna get bigger so we might as well take every opportunity we can get." Michael shrugged and his easygoing tone made me wonder why Luke was still so tense.

"But what about Mel?" Luke said through a clenched jaw, putting a protective but unnecessary hand on my shoulder.

"Oh, don't worry, I told Sid that Mel's a rookie we're working with that left LA to meet us before he made it back." Michael said as he found all the marshmallows in his hand and dropped the cereal part back into the box. "It's all good."

If anything, Luke only got even paler.

"Well, it sounds good to me," I shrugged. I wasn't really too eager to meet more people who did what Michael and Luke did, but knowing what I did about Ashton and how desperately the boys needed the money, I'd do it. Then, turning my head to face Luke, I added, "I'll be alright, don't worry."

"Oh, I'll worry," Luke shook his head. "Michael, there's so much that can go wrong. What if they know Melanie isn't actually like us. She's all over the news!"

"Who even watches the news anymore?" Michael rolled his eyes as he stuffed the marshmallows into his mouth. "It'll be fine. Besides, there are probably a lot of reasons someone could start working for Marcus and just disappear. We can just tell them Mel's family had some debt to repay and she heard of Marcus somehow and joined us."

"And if they figure out we just picked her up in New York?" Luke asked with his eyebrows raised. "You know how Marcus is. If he finds out..."

"He won't, Luke," Michael insisted, waving him off. "They probably won't be curious enough to even push the matter. I can't imagine why they would even care enough to ask a single thing about her. They're just like us. They need the money too."

"But - "

"Luke," I interrupted Luke by putting my hand on his arm and squeezing gently. "I'll be fine. I promise."