Spies in Stilettos [Book Two]

Chapter Eight: Maybe Zach's a Thief, But I'm a Ninja

Hello! Wow, I can't even believe this - this is our FOURTH snow/cold day in the past week! I haven't been to school since last Tuesday haha it's awesome! I don't even know why we had today off cuz it's like 10 degrees but I'm cool with it! Except that it's spirit week and I had the best hobbit costume...oh well. Anyway, enjoy this chapter, I feel like it's all over the place because I wrote it at all sorts of different times but yeah. Please comment and tell me what you think!

Gracias! <3 vb123321

Chapter Eight

Maybe Zach's a Thief, But I'm a Ninja

"You got that screwdriver, sweetheart?"

Wordlessly, I handed the tool to Kieran, who took it with a gleam of white teeth in the beam of the flashlight tucked under his chin. As he went to work on the utility box in front of him, sweat shining on his broad forehead as he twisted the screws, I wrapped my arms around my body and stifled a sneeze from the dustiness of the maintenance room. Against my will, my eyes moved to the silhouette barely visible through the crack of the doorway.

So my sorta-kinda-not-really boyfriend stole stuff for a living. And he'd never bothered to think I would want to know about that.

I'd like to say I took the news well.

"What do you mean you're a thief?" I had demanded after a few seconds' stunned silence, dropping his hand.

"What the hell do you think it means?" he snapped, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. "I took some stuff, okay?"

"No, not okay!" I had stepped away from him, my hands shaking. I hadn't even known where the anger was coming from. I guess it was just one thing too many that I hadn't known, one thing too many that no one had bothered to tell me. I was sick of not knowing.

Kieran looked uncomfortable. "Um – how about we worry about this later –"

"I thought you said you were CIA?" I threw at Zach.

He wouldn't look at me, his jaw clenched tightly as he stared fixedly at the wall to my left, his eyes glittering. "I am. Now. Kind of." He suddenly looked right at me as I opened my mouth to say something. "Look, this is exactly why I didn't tell you, okay, I just liked to have one freaking person in my life who wouldn't look at me and be like, oh, that's the kid who –"

His voice cracked.

"Zach," said Kieran in a low voice as I crossed my arms tightly over my chest and glared in the other direction, "no one thinks of you like that."

"Oh yeah?" Zach's voice shook. "Tell that to Jer. Tell that to every single CIA agent who was there – there was only about two dozen of the storming the place, I'm sure they all saw it –"

"I don't think of you like that," cut in Kieran strongly.

Zach ran his hands through his dark hair, gripping the ends. "Like that makes any difference. They look at you the same way."

I couldn't help looking up at his face, something in my chest hurting at the pain in his green eyes. "You could have told me, Zach," I said softly. "I wouldn't be like them."

"You don't even know me," he said bitterly. "Jer's right. You don't even know what I've done."

"Well, tell me! Give me a chance!"

Shaking his head, Zach turned away from me, lowering his hands to stuff them in his pockets as he stared at the fireplace. Kieran exhaled slowly, his eyes fixed on Zach's back wearily as he said, "Professional thief wasn't the best terminology, Zach. Your father was better than that, and so are you."