7 days before the job

⚜️

"Holy mother of all the people whose jaws Rey has broken," Yuri utters, open mouthedly, as she stares at the suite in front of us.

Dim romantic lighting, three pairs of couches in the huge living room, gorgeous chandeliers, a huge flatscreen tv, plus four huge bedrooms in a beautifully decorated suite was what caused this reaction.

"Who did you sleep with, for this?" Pandora asks, looking around.

"I used blackmail, love," I reply with a frown.

"Oh the room service I'm going to order over here!" Elara jumps around excitedly.

"It's costs more than what you are worth, dumbass," Minnie scolds her.

"Oh the well, the breakfasts are free," Kai jumps on top of one of the couches, while Yuxian carries her bag inside.

"All of those years of learning codes, just to become a coolie," Yuxian shakes his head while carrying Kai and Pandora's bags to one of the rooms.

"Talk to me about it," Jian mutters, walking by his side while carrying Blaise and Ariadne's bags.

"Stop whining," Dharuna says, while carrying two suitcases in either hands. Ah my beautiful enforcer being kind as always. That's why I love her the most.

"Hello miss," A voice comes from the back, making all of us jump.

I whirl around to face a neatly dressed man standing in attention, facing us with a neutral expression. He is a tall gentleman with neatly shaved face, coffee coloured skin and big brown eyes, with his hair tucked into a hotel cap.

"Hello!" I greet him cheerily.

"I am your butler for the next week."

"OH MY GOD WE HAVE A BUTLER!" Elara squeals.

"DUDE WE CAN DO BATMAN COSPLAYS WITH HIM!" Rey shouts, then runs up to us, "I WILL CALL YOU ALFRED!"

The butler looks confused, "My name is Fahad-"

"But don't you like the name Alfred?" Rey pouts.

"Stop being disrespectful and fuck off," Blaise tells Rey, while walking towards one of the couches.

"Dude, we can't have a butler here!" Monique whispers in my ear with urgency.

My eyes widen as well as I take in Monique's words. Rey and Elara's immature excitement affected me as well.

"Um... Fahad... We don't really require your services... " I stutter out.

"But it is my job, miss," He reasons with me.

"How about this, you give us a way to contact you, and we'll summon you from time to time, whenever we need you?" Minji comes to the rescue.

"I could get you a bell of sorts... " He trails off.

"A phone number would suffice," Minnie smiles then walks away with Alfred... I mean Fahad, to discuss the details.

"Aw man we almost had an Alfred," Kai makes herself comfortable on a bean bag.

I sigh, "You too?"

"Hey we seize all opportunities to become Batman okay?" Rey says, still pouting.

"Minus the dead parents part," Elara adds.

My eyes immediately shoot back to Rey who hangs her head low, not uttering a word. Blaise is looking at her too, with a frown.

Oh God not this again-

At the most perfect moment, the door to Jian and Yuxian's room, which Minji and I have to share with them, ugh, burts open, and the two boys skip out, wearing beach shorts and tank tops.

"Beach time let's go!" Yuxian shouts excitedly.

"Nuh uh, we have work to do," Minji interrupts them.

"You have work to do. Allie, Dora and Aria are already changing," Jian points at Minnie, "Yuxian and I have done what we were supposed to, and we agreed that this is a vacation for us now."

I wave my hand dismissively, "Yes, yes, all of you can go, just don't attract too much attention."

"Can I go?" Yuri asks me with pleading eyes.

"You have to scout the hotel for escape routes, no," I narrow my eyes at her.

"What about me?" Rey asks.

"You and Dhara are on duty, and so is Kai, " I frown at her.

"Yeah, I didn't wanna go anyway," Kai shrugs, "What are we doing?"

I am about to say something when Minji stands up and starts talking, "Alicia, you've been working non-stop for the past week, let me handle this, you go take a breather."

I shake my head, "But there's so much to be done-"

"Do you wanna get burnt out? I order you to get the fuck out of this room," Minji holds her head high.

*****

We step on the sand and Elara let's out a squeal of delight, "Oh the sun is so much better after freezing our asses off at Chicago and Philly!"

"There's still a slight chill though," Alby comments, while wrapping her cover shirt tighter over her body.

I look out over at the glittering waters under the morning sun. God I've missed beaches so much. Los Angeles was amazing when it came to beaches, but this tops that. Mostly because these Dubai officials are very particular about cleanliness.

"I'm not feeling it," Jian shrugs then slips out of his shirt and holy cow I did not expect the muscles, okay.

Our guy is ripped. But wears baggy clothes, which hide the buffness and make him look lean. What a fucking weirdo.

"Dude you're hot," The left side of my brain seems to have taken a day off as well, as I blurt it out, staring straight at his abdomen like the thirstiest woman out there.

"And you are creeping me out," His eyes travel around my face, very likely enjoying every ounce of awkwardness and embarrassment I'm displaying on it right now.

"Have you not gotten any... action lately?" Yuxian proceeds to ask me, while wrapping an arm around my shoulders and my whole face starts burning.

"Wh-What are you talking about?"

And my burner phone chooses this as the perfect time to ring.

I pick it up instantly and separate myself from these people, to answer. Maybe Blaise is calling. She and Mon are the only ones who have this contact.

"Hello?" I answer.

"ALICIA!" I hear a very familiar voice, "God your voice sounds so much older."

I laugh, "It's only been half a month since we last talked."

"Yes, when you were hopping from Philly to Chicago."

I smile widely at the phone, "How are you, Julian?"

"I just had an amazing meal, and I'm by a beautiful lake, and goddamn it took me so long to get ahold of Mon. What the hell are you doing in the United Arab Emirates? I was expecting you to come to Ireland!"

I think a little context is needed here. This is my... how to say it... bestie, Julian. We were in the same gang before I left, and he left a month after. We tell each other everything, painfully, everything on his part, and I just can't imagine a life without him.

"I forgot to tell you, it's been so busy, but I have some major loot out here!"

"Are you done, Leesh?" Elara calls out to me, "Who are you talking to?"

"Julian!" I call out to her.

"Oh my, is that Yuri in the background?" A hint of eagerness is heard in my bestie's voice. She shows him one motorbike trick and he thinks she is the coolest specimen on the planet. Dumb.

"Oh my God," Elara says on the other hand. So yeah... Elara has a sort of infatuation with Julian, because as much as it pains me to admit this, Julian does look like he strolled straight out of a Calvin Klein catalogue.

He is also about as straight as a circle. I don't know when I'll tell her.

"Go back to burying Jian in the sand, I'll come after," I tell her.

"Zhong Jian? Hey the twins! Is Yuxian there? I love that guy!" Julian says on the other line.

Why does everyone like this twin so much?

"Anyways, I'm doing a million dollar job here, before coming to Ireland," I continue, after all the unwanted distractions.

"Million dollar job? My child is growing up so fast!" He pretends to choke on his words for a dramatic effect.

"Yeah, it's going smooth so far, except for all the arguments my hackers keep having," I scoff.

"Yeah well couple's quarrels are common," Julian laughs.

"I'm not talking about Blaise and Yuxian," I click my tongue.

"I'm not either, I'm-" Julian's voice breaks off as the sound of the wind over the sea overpowers his own.

"Wait what?"

"Connectivity issues, sorry. I was saying, Blaise used to have-"

And the phone cuts off.

COULDN'T THE FREAK SPEAK FASTER AHHHHHHHHHH.

The phone rings again and I pick it up frantically, "Finish what you were saying!" I say in a very rough voice. As if I were threatening him. Maybe I am.

"What... was I saying?" Monique's voice comes from the other line.

"God damnit CONNECT ME TO JULIAN!" I shout at the phone, and the beach goers look at me with both concern and judgement.

I deserve it.

"Just a sec-" Mon says with a cautious voice.

"I HATE YOU MONIQUE... I HATE YOU SO MUCH!" I yell at the phone.

"Why do you hate me...?" Comes Julian's voice from the other line.

"No no I don't hate you-"

"You seem to be losing your mind. Did Blaise not tell you?" He asks.

"About the whole sabotage-hacking thing? Dharuna told me about it," I think back to our conversation, sitting on the curb while hauling Mon's machine parts.

"You don't know the whole thing do you?" His rough voice crackles through the phone.

"THEN TELL ME!"

"It's not my story to tell-" And our call disconnects again.

I hate this bitch. I hate him so much. More than Mon. So much more.

I run up to Jian, "What the hell happened between you and Blaise before I recruited her?" I ask him bluntly as he is applying sunscreen on his very smooth chest. His neck muscles are flexed as he tries to get all the spots-

Alicia stop. Stop.

He looks at me with wide eyes, which then shift to the others splashing about in the sea.

Oh well Pandora is reading a book under a gigantic umbrella, looking chic as always, but we'll ignore that for our own ego.

"What... Do you mean?"

"There is more to the story, and you are not telling me, and it's affecting Blaise's performance, sometimes making it amazing, otherwise distracting the fuck out of her. So you will tell me, and tell me now."

"Um, I have no idea... "

I totally imagine myself holding him by the collar to get him to spit out the truth, but considering that he is gloriously shirtless, I fix him a glare instead.

"Alicia stop hitting on him it's getting pathetic," Pandora walks over and snatches the sunscreen from Jian, who gives her an indignant, "Hey!"

"Yeah, what about hot security man?" Alby asks with a pout.

"Hold up, who's this?" Yuxian asks while wiping his face with a hand towel. Yuxian is also sort of buff, but not as much as Jian.

Yeah I'm blaming all this weird behaviour on the period that is about to come. Sue me.

"You see, there's this very hot security guy-" Elara starts before I shift my glare from Jian to her, then she shrinks away.

"Come on, tell me more," Yuxian urges.

"I didn't expect you to be a player," Jian lowers his sunglasses at me. When the fuck did he even put them on?

"But I'm not-"

"You need to be hot for that," Pandora interrupts me graciously while nonchalantly examining her nails.

Don't kill your makeup artist you really need her, she is very unfortunately, irreplaceable. Dont kill your makeup artist, don't do it Alicia.

"Nah man there's so many people in so many gangs who are hardcore crushing on her," Yuxian examines me up and down. Totally not uncomfortable.

"Oh yes! Remember Billy with the scar? He has huge dreams of marrying you!" Ariadne seems to recall.

Billy with the scar? Doesn't he have a girlfriend?

"Dude and Lexus Jerry too! He used to refree fights and keep people in check at the fighting rings, but would become a poodle when Alicia was around," Elara says, looking upwards while tilting been head.

If you're wondering about the name, Jerome has a Lexus, and he loves it more than life, and he uses it as a cover to cook and deal meth.

"Ha! Lexus Jerry proposed to her with a ring!" Pandora decides it's the perfect time to comment.

Everyone turns to me, and I nervously tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, "I said no."

Ariadne wrinkles ner nose, "Good choice though, he looks like a sewer rat."

"Ha! Rat... Jerry," Jian laughs at his realization.

⚜️

Hi hi! Hope y'all liked it!