Two days later . . .
Aaron had given the members of BAAM a week to give him a decision on the FRB heist. Margo had a few friends in Tampa, but no family. It wouldn’t be that big of a hardship for her to leave the state. But never seeing or talking to Bobbi again pained her. They had shared a lot of good times. She had also shared some good times with Anthony and Aaron, but not like she did with Bobbi. They had girl talked about men and the latest fashions. Being friends with Bobbi had made Margo’s life less lonely. If they did the job and pulled it off, she would have all the money she would ever need, but she’d be alone.
Her father had left her and her mother when she was six, never to be seen nor heard from again. Her mother was a drug addict who had contracted HIV from sharing needles and died from complications of the disease. Plus, Margo was an only child. She had been married twice, but neither one of those relationships had worked out.
Margo continued her morning power walk on Sunset Boulevard, a plush neighborhood where material possessions were looked at with admiration and respect. A black SUV pulled up into the Peterson’s driveway. She had seen the vehicle at that residence before, and she knew who it belonged to.
Bruce Styles hopped out of the SUV. He zeroed in on her immediately and grinned. Margo rolled her eyes and kept walking. Next thing she knew, he jogged up beside her.
Oh God, just go away.
“Margo, the least you can do is chat for a minute,” Bruce said.
“I can talk and walk,” she stated.
“I don’t have any problems with a brisk walk. I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’m in great shape,” he bragged.
“What do you want?”
“I would like to take you out.”
“Ha,” she scoffed. “The last time I was . . . involved with a date that you had a hand in, I got stiffed with a thirty-eight-hundred-dollar bill.” She was still somewhat mad about it, even though Alec had reimbursed her for half. “By the way, did you ever pay Alec back for giving me half the money?”
“Okay, I’m not as flush as I pretended to be when Alec and I took you and Bobbi out, but I’m not a deadbeat either.”
“That’s not an answer to my question,” she said as they continued to walk to the end of the cul-de-sac.
“Yes, I paid him back. Why do you need to know?”
“Alec is the husband of a very good friend of mine, and I want to make sure he’s not being taken advantage of.”
“Hell,” Bruce said with indignation. “What the hell did Bobbi tell you about me? What kind of man do you think I am? Alec and I are practically brothers. We went to college and the federal academy together. And we are partners today.”
“Bobbi didn’t need to tell me anything. When you stiffed me with that bill and ghosted Bobbi, I figured out what kind of guy you are.”
“I didn’t stiff you with the country club bill last year. I made sure you and Bobbi were safely off the grounds before Alec and I left,” he explained defensively.
“Yes, but you knew I was a member there. They figured out who was at that table. If I couldn’t cover it, they would have called the cops on me.”
They were approaching her house. Margo stopped on the walkway.
Bruce did, too. “At the very least, let me make it up to you. I can’t afford to take you to the country club, you know that. But I can take you to three-star places. Just dinner.”
“No,” she said sternly. “And I can’t believe you have the nerve to ask me out after you pumped and dumped my best friend like an old rag that you just ejaculated into and threw away.”
He snorted with amusement. “I have to say, you’ve got a way with words. I like that. And as far as Bobbi is concerned, I wasn’t that harsh. I just didn’t see the reason to string her along if nothing was going to come of it.”
“Okay, but you could have at least returned her phone calls and let her know. Not act like she didn’t exist. A woman who is stupid enough to get involved with you is asking for heartache and trouble. Goodbye, Mr. Styles,” she said with strength and quickly strode to her front door.
****
Margo St. John practically slammed the front door behind her, leaving Bruce outside of her house like a dog who had been shut out in the cold. It wasn’t often that a woman blew him off. When it happened, he would shrug and move to the next lady. Margo’s rejection was different because he took it personally. She had rejected him at the wedding reception and just now because she thought he was a jerk and a bum. No woman had ever questioned his character.
Bruce started walking back to Alec and Lana’s house. He wasn’t a quitter, but he needed to back up and approach her in another way. He had to prove that he wasn’t the bastard that she thought he was.
“Hey, why are you all the way down there!” Alec yelled.
Bruce started jogging toward his partner.
“Let’s go before we’re late to the office,” Alec said.
“We’re not going to be late. We’ve got plenty of time.” Alec was riding with Bruce to the Tampa location of the FBI because his truck was in the shop.
They got into the SUV, and Bruce pulled out.
They rode in silence for a few minutes before Bruce spoke. “Alec, how well do you know Margo?”
“No,” he said flatly.
“No?”
“No, I’m not giving you stats on Margo. Leave her alone, Bruce.”
“I can’t. First of all, she’s a knockout. Second, she thinks I’m a complete jerk who did her friend wrong. I can’t have a fine-ass woman like that slip through my fingers.” Margo had long blonde hair that a man’s hands could get lost in. Her pouty mouth, voluptuous breasts, and curvy hips were calling Bruce’s name.
“That’s what you said about Bobbi. It’s how you got me to participate in that disastrous double date.”
“It wasn’t a disaster until we got the bill.”
“Either way, I’m not hurdling another fence because of your overactive libido.”
“Nothing like that is going to happen again. And besides, all I’m asking is for some extra information. Margo and Lana are friends. Close friends. She was a bridesmaid at your wedding.”
“I don’t know any more than you do already. She’s an independent computer programmer and IT specialist, she’s been married and divorced twice, and she lives on my street. Period, the end.”
“What do you know about the exes?”
“Nothing. She’s never elaborated on them.”
Bruce exhaled. He had to come up with a plan to get Margo to at least go out with him once.
The decision had been made. BAAM was going to hit the Federal Reserve. They had ironed out the first few steps they needed to take. They were going to meet again in a week to give Aaron cashier checks for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He was in charge of allocating the funds where it was needed. Margo had just arrived at Tampa’s premier nightclub, Club Prana, with Anthony and his cousin, Morris, who was the same age as Anthony. They went to the sky bar, which was located on the roof of the club. They had just dropped Bobbi off at the airport. She had gotten a job interview under an alias Anthony created for her. She had worn a red-haired wig and contacts that made her eyes look blue. Bobbi was the master of disguise with makeup and was able to angle her cheekbones to looks slimmer than they really were. The interview was at the reserve location in Dallas. Atlanta didn’t have any openings that she had experience doing. They sat
Margo had made a list of things to do and get in order before and after BAAM hit the Federal Reserve Bank. She also had to work on creating the virus. Then she would have to put the virus through several trials to make sure it worked.BAAM sat inside an office in an old factory located in the industrial district of Tampa. It used to be a sewing factory until the crash in 2008. The recession after the crash doomed the factory for good. No one had been in it since. According to Aaron, the owner of the building was a motivated seller, and he got the place dirt cheap. He had used a dummy corporation to get a loan from the bank and put down fifty grand as a deposit. “Well, this is it. What do y’all think?” Aaron asked. “It’s big and dusty,” Bobbi answered with her noise turned up. “I’ll be sure to hire a cleaning service,” he said sarcastically. “We haven’t had a chance to really look around,” Anthony stated. “As long as it has po
Bruce and Margo met in the parking lot of Jimbo’s Steakhouse. The place looked like a huge log cabin on the outside. The parking lot was full of cars, trucks, and SUVs. As Bruce bragged about the food at Jimbo’s, Margo was thinking that she would have to wash her car tomorrow because the parking lot was more dirt than gravel. She was thankful that she took Bruce’s advice and dressed down for the occasion. This place wouldn’t appreciate Blahniks, diamond earrings, and a designer dress. She wore blue jeans and tennis shoes. Her white blouse was open and tied in a knot at the bottom. Her light blue tank top hugged her double- D breasts. They walked through the door. She refrained from frowning at the loud country music that blasted from the ceiling speakers. Not only was there sawdust on the floor but nut shells as well. Well, I’ll be damned, she thought with wide eyes. Barmaids with tight, white T-shirts walked around with tray
Bruce put her down on her feet. They came together in a kiss. This kiss was more aggressive, hungrier. Margo could feel his hands loosening the knot at the bottom of her blouse. Bruce smoothed the shirt off her shoulders and down her arms. She shook her wrist to be rid of the top. He started pulling the end of her tank top out of her jeans as she grabbed the bottom of his black polo shirt. Bruce raised his arms to let her pull it over his head. Tossing it quickly to the side, he pulled her tank top off, exposing her breasts to the night air. He got on his knees and then unzipped her jeans. Then he pulled them and her panties down to her knees. Bruce dipped his middle finger into her folds as he took a pink nipple into his mouth. Margo moaned as his finger rubbed her clit. His tongue swirled around her areola. He pulled back and blew on it. She quivered and moaned as it budded and tingled. Bruce attacked her other breast with hunger. It hardened in his mouth. His tongue flicked it, ma
Bruce was sound asleep until his cell phone chimed. He blindly reached for it on the nightstand. He was surprised when he grasped a piece of paper instead. Letting the phone ring, he groggily opened his eyes to look at the note. “Thanks for an exceptional evening. I truly enjoyed myself. See you around, M.” He frowned and looked over to the other side of the king-sized bed. She was really gone. No woman left his bed after he got done with them. The phone finally stopped ringing. Whipping the yellow sheet off his naked form, he slowly stood and stretched. See you around? What the fuck does that mean? See you around? His phone rang again. “Maybe it’s her. We exchanged numbers yesterday afternoon just in case she got lost getting to Jimbo’s.” Bruce picked up the phone and frowned when he saw it was Alec. Normally, he would be happy to hear from his buddy, but he wanted to talk to someone else right now. “Hello,” he a
Margo pulled up to the old sewing factory. She was supposed to meet Aaron at eight and she was over an hour and a half late. She popped the trunk. Thankfully, Aaron was outside posting “Private Property” signs on the gates and the building. “Good, I’ll have help getting this stuff in here,” she mumbled. “Hey, I see you finally showed up,” he joked as he walked toward her. “Yeah, sorry I’m late. I . . . had a late night,” she said. “Can you help me carry this desktop equipment and programming books inside?” “Sure. I got the perfect little office for you.” Aaron helped Margo get her things into an office. The floor was white and lime tile. The desk was big enough for two monitors, and the chair looked pretty comfortable. It was obvious that Aaron decided to spend a little money on cleaners for the warehouse. Margo didn’t think he had the entire building cleaned; that would have been a small fortune within itself.Sh
Margo had worked her fingers to the bone for five and a half days. Every time she came close to having something, it would crash as soon as she tried to transfer it to Aaron’s undetectable flash drive. She leaned back in her chair in her office. Someone tapped on the door. “Yeah.” It was Aaron and Anthony. “Hey, girl, guess who’s on the phone?” Anthony said with joy. “Hey, Margo,” Bobbi said through the speaker of Aaron’s cell. “Hey,” Margo said with glee. She hadn’t heard from Bobbi in over a week. Aaron perched himself on Margo’s desk, and Anthony sat in a folding steel chair. “How’s Dallas?” Margo asked. “Wretched,” Bobbi replied with disdain. “I don’t like it here. The men are absolute pigs. Seriously, I feel like I’ve gone back in a time warp. Women are not taken as seriously as they should be here. We’re like second-class citizens.” “Maybe it’s just cultural di
Instead of being at Jimbo’s Steakhouse BBQ for a few hours, they stayed until eight o’clock in the evening. The time had gotten away from Margo because she ended up having a better time than she thought. It was great to watch Bruce play with the kids there along with Keisha. Margo and Lana had a nice chat. Then Alec, Margo, and Bruce played softball with a few other guys and teenagers. Bruce walked Margo to her door. She unlocked it and turned around to face him. “Thank you for taking me to the barbeque.” He grinned. “I told you you would have fun.” “I did, and I hadn’t played softball since I was in high school. You were the hero of the team with that homerun that won us the game.” There was a twinkle in his eye. “I’m glad that I helped the team, but the reward of that kiss you gave me was better.” “Oh, I’m sure my kiss and the three other women’s kisses right after was great for you,” she remarked. She had given