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I feel the need to eradicate that amusement with a punch. Maybe a kick in the teeth to wipe that pretty smile off his face.
“Fuck you!”
“We can temporarily rent our own place,” Annika says, laughing at us.
“Waste of money. Especially since you’ve had to refund us for that painting,” I joke.
“Funny. But I have plenty left.” She smirks.
Does she not want to spend more time with me? I can’t figure out if she thinks she’s imposing, or we really aren’t on the same wavelength.
“We’ll talk about it later.”
Even if this discussion affects her friend, this is between Annika and me. There’s this feral need I’m having an inner fight with, one that wants to throw her over my shoulder, haul her ass into my penthouse, and keep her there. But at the same time I have to remind myself I’m not a caveman, and I have to let this be her choice. None of those sides are winning right now, so I would rather wait to have this talk when it’s just us two.
“Anni, your painting is gorgeous! So different.” Hanna finally looks at her friend’s work of art.
“Yeah, real different, actually. At least from the one you left for my brother,” Finn adds, winking at her.
I really will punch him.
“I’ve been meaning to ask actually” Finn continues. “Did you just randomly haul around a self-portrait of yourself, or did you paint it in that short week?”
“I started it a while ago, but never felt the need to finish it. It felt a bit narcissistic to randomly have a portrait of myself in my house. This… situation…” she says as her haze flickers to me, “gave me the incentive to finish it.”
“How convenient.” My brother snickers, and I feel the need to move on. Talking about me or us feels oddly uncomfortable.
“How did you end up doing what you do?” I finally begin eating my yogurt, waiting for one of them to start.
“Well, we’re done now. Your job was the last one. Although considering Annika’s change of plans, the previous one was technically the last one.” Hanna speaks first. “Starting it just kind of happened. It was one of those crazy ideas, like when you get drunk with your friends, and you start saying that you should all open a bar or something. It was kind of like that. I was watching Hanna in her restoration classes, and I was joking that she would be an amazing forger.”
“I think we can relate, since we did exactly that—opened a bar with our friends.” Finn laughs.
“You have a bar?” Annika turns to me, and I realize that all this time, we’ve been talking about us and her, not much about me. She’s far more intriguing to talk about, though.
“You didn’t pay full attention to the background check I showed you, Anni, did you?” Hanna crosses her arms over her chest, leaning back into her chair as she watches her friend with a quirked eyebrow.
“Umm… yes, sure I did. I guess I forgot.”
“Or I made the mistake of showing you a photo of Ronan before I showed you all the important bits.”
Well, damn if I don’t feel good knowing that I was such a distraction for her.
“We both went to the Hardwin Institute of Art. She was a year older than me, but I don’t know, we just clicked. I was in Restoration, and she was in Art History,” Annika tries changing the subject.
“Yeah, Carter uncovered as much.” I nod.
“I guess we just saw potential in one another. A different purpose than all the future starving artists channeling their inner DaVinci around us.”
“It’s quite a leap, though, isn’t it? The life of a painter to a life of crime?” I ask. It’s not necessarily that, but the fact that Annika’s personality is a contrast to this type of life.
“It was a leap, but I gladly made it. I don’t know how to explain it. I didn’t know back then either. There was this need inside of me that kept screaming for more. I was the shy one, not because I don’t have courage, but because the opportunities around me didn’t seem to fit what I truly wanted. The moment I was presented with the prospect of forging a painting for our first deal, I ate up that adrenaline like it was my first meal after starvation.”
“You were restless,” Hanna says, nodding. “For days at the time, you weren’t sleeping. All you wanted to do was paint.”
“I really was. I’ve always been introverted, never put myself in any uncomfortable or simply different situations. The idea that I had to stand quietly during a shady business deal, watch someone analyze my painting, then get away with the con, gave me a sensation like no other. Obviously bypassing the whole starving artist phase of my career was a bonus too,” Annika says with a giggle, and it pulls a strange reaction out of me. An endearing smile… and isn’t that just a little bit too close for comfort.
“You craved the thrill…” I comment, remembering our conversation from the waterfall.
