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“Oh, thank fuck, it’s about time!” Jess slipped through the window Bela had opened for her. “Two hours? Really?”
Bela just smirked. “Had to wait until he fell asleep, didn’t I? Turns out he’s not the type to just roll over when he’s done. And then his stamina, even at his age… should’ve seen if he’d go for inviting you, you’d have had fun.”
“I hate you so much right now.” Jess straightened herself out. “I can’t believe this. You always get the good ones!”
“Awwww, don’t worry, love.” Bela wrapped her arms around Jess’s waist and stretched up to kiss her. “He didn’t wear me out. Let’s do this job and then I’ll take good care of you.”
“You’d better.” Jess shoved Bela off of her. “Did you get a chance to look around?”
“A little bit. I haven’t had a chance to check the security around the painting, but I know what room it’s in. Come on.” Bela took Jess’s hand and led her down the hall. “What’s wrong, love? Something’s bothering you, I can tell.”
Jess shook her head. She’d known what she was getting into; complaining now hardly seemed fair. It was silly, really. Bela always made good on her promise to take care of Jess afterward, and it wasn’t Bela’s fault that Jess kept getting the crappy ones when it was her turn to be the one using sex to distract a mark or get entrance to a home. Jess was the one who meant something to Bela.
And really, this was exactly what Bela had promised her. The two of them had become great thieves. For something like this, stealing a painting, Jess could even examine it and put her art degree to work, forging copies of it to sell for some extra money. They were rich, and if they didn’t have a home, well, that was for the best. Too many marks in one area made it too high risk. They could afford good hotels and the best food, and it was a life of adventure and good times.
If the jealousy was the fly in the ointment, well, it was worth it. Jess was away from expectations, away from pressure, away from the life her parents had built for her and tried to trap her in. Her first act of rebellion had been met with eyerolls and “that’s nice dear”, when she changed her major from English to art. Her boyfriend, the runaway son of a drifter with no roots, her parents had actually approved of. The drive to go to law school and make something of himself despite his lack of background impressed them, and Sam himself was a sweetheart who could turn on the charm quite easily given just a little confidence. Finding out that her parents had arranged an apprenticeship for her had been the last straw. She had to get out, and if that meant losing Sam too, well, she’d always preferred girls anyway. Just hadn’t found the courage to go that far in her rebellion until then.
She was out of the cage now. Her parents thought she was dead. So did Sam. Jess was not going to destroy this over some stupid jealousy. “It’s fine. Let’s get this painting, huh?”
The painting was secure, they’d moved on to the next state, and Jess was settling in to study the painting when Bela approached her. “I let it go because we had a job to do, but something was bothering you back at Jones’s mansion. Talk to me. What’s wrong, love?”
“It’s nothing. I’m just being silly and insecure.”
Bela reached out, taking Jess’s face between her hands. “Maybe so, but don’t you think it’s better to talk to me about it instead of letting it fester and become a bigger problem?”
Jess sighed. Yes, it probably was. “I hate knowing that you’re with other people. I’d like to blame it on you getting all the good ones, and if I just got a good lay one of the times it’s my turn, it would go away, but I don’t think that’s true. I hate thinking about them touching you.”
Bela nodded. “Fair. I hate it when it’s you, and it just makes it worse knowing that you’re not even having a good time. I deal with it for the job, but I hate it. Should we stop?”
“No?” Jess blinked. She’d never thought Bela would offer that. “It’s effective, it’s fun, it’s a heck of a lot safer than trying to break in some other way. I can deal with the jealousy, as long as you always make it up to me later.”
“If you change your mind, if you get to a point where it’s getting to be too much to deal with, tell me,” Bela said, moving in closer. “Promise?”
“I promise. You’ll tell me if you can’t handle it?”
“I’ll tell you.” Bela kissed Jess, long and slow. “In the meantime, I made you a promise. I owe you two hours’ worth of makeup for having to wait.”