I was even surprised at myself for keeping myself together. But not as suprised as how she kept herself together.

Is she really that suprised?

While I was witnessing Ash freaking out a bit, I felt a vibration in my pocket and whipped out my phone.

"I found some hoods. Come by the security room."

Jesus Christ. He's fucking fast.

Following his instructions, I left for the security room, but I grabbed Ash's hand and also took her along. We bobbed and wove in between high class people that were there to ogle at the statue untill we reched the staircase. When we got to the security room and Blake introduced himself, Ash seemed even more out of character from when I first met her and added to his ego. While everyone was agreeing on Blake and I to not steal it because it was the "gentlemanly" thing to do, I was thinking of the obvious choice that would be advantageous to both parties. When I told them, they plainly had sheepish expressions plastered on their faces for not thinking of it.

While everyone felt stupid, the shortest one, which I assumed was Aaron, was skeptical and asked, "And what if you do what you did last time? You stole the Iridescent Ring before and kept it even though you both stole it. What's stopping you from pulling something like that again? Because it's 'gentlemanly'?"

"He has a point. You did kinda pull a dick move back there," Blake agreed with Aaron.

"Hey! I trust Flynn! He probably did it because I bitched about wanting the ring and demanded it before, but if we're cool now, it should be fine," Ash yelled. There was an old couple giving us a suspicious glance and Ash immediately quieted down.

Even though she trusts me, I need to think of something for everyone else's trust... Oh God, Blake's gonna kill me.

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"How about collateral?" I proposed.

"Oh no, no, no, no. I know where this is going," Blake ran up to me and grabbed me by my collar. "I swear to fucking God, if you do what I think you're goinna do,"

I gave a nod and he became furious. "Hey, if we do keep our promise, we'll get it back," I told Blake. I then looked over Blake's shoulder and focused on the group that was looking at us. "Want the ring?"

"Huh?" They all acted surprised for some reason.

When I said collateral, what did you expect?

I pushed myself away from Blake. "If I help out in stealing the statue, you have to give the ring back and if you guys sell the statue, we want part of the profit. 35-65 good? You guys will get the 65, I'm not that much of a prick. This way if I don't help and keep the statue, you guys get the ring, but if we do help, you get the better end of the profits. You'll also be able to gawk at the ring for a bit too. Deal?"

"If you don't respond, we'll also take the statue for ourselves." Blake chimed in. I then proceeded to elbow him. Hard.

"Excuse us for a second," I slightly bowed and grabbed Blake's arm and I dragged him into the security room and closed the door and stepped over the bodies that were still knocked out on the floor. "What are you thinking? I pulled a dick move? Telling them that we'll take the statue if they don't decide is also one!"

"Jeez. Calm down. It's all part of the plan. If we put them on the spot, they'll probably choose your option because of Ash being in love with you," I glared at him and he ignored me, "even though my choice was clearly the better option for them 'cause they would get all of the money if they chose mine. In hindsight, it was kinda stupid to give them that option..."

Oh my God. Blake. You're so fucking stupid!

"Ugh. They're probably think we're suspicious and they might not going to believe anything we say if we leave them alone much longer, so let's go."

I opened the door to Ash, Max, Mei, and Aaron sitting against the wall and we noticed that they took their hoods off. 

"We've decided," Mei announced while standing up. 

"We're gonna accept Flynn's offer!" Ash said a bit too happily while hopping up.

"It's not fair if you practically hand over the statue. It also doesn't feel as rewarding. Also, it's not, what's the word you used? 'Gentlemanly'?" Max said while smirking.

Blake's face flushed in embarrassment.

That's what you get when you try to act cool.

"So, do we have a deal?" I said while outstretching my arm.

"Deal," Mei said while accepting my handshake.