While Blake and Flynn were in the security room, I took that chance to calm myself down.

Jesus. Flynn's probably confused as fuck as to why I'm acting like this. It's just that he's so cute and partners with Blake Kingsley. It's kinda overwhelming to an extent.

We all slid our backs down the wall into Indian style seating and started to talk.

"Obviously Blake's option in better," Max said immediately while taking her hood off of her head, revealing the glasses that were mostly covered by the hood.

We all nodded because it was true. Blake's choice gave us the most profit, but...

"I think we should go with Flynn's option," I announced.

"No. Really? I wonder why?" Max said with a voice overflowing with sarcasm.

I shot her a look and continued. "That may be part of it, but it would be a good opportunity for us as well. And Rhett's gonna fanboy so hard if we do it."

"Since when have you been inclusive when it comes to Rhett?" Aaron inquired while pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Well, he is part of our group. We might as well be nice to him once in a while," I argued. "I don't want to rely on the fact that we were pitied."

I looked at Mei with a determined gaze and she sighed. "Fine," I slightly raised my fist out of victory. 

"Why?" Max snapped. 

"Because it's not like we're losing that much in the grand scheme of things. Also, if he doesn't keep his promise, we'll end up getting the ring," Mei responded.

"How are you so sure that he's going to give us the ring in the first place? If he doesn't, it's obvious he's not reliable enough that he would even keep the promise of helping us," rebutted Aaron.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"We'll cross that bridge when and if it comes," I told him. That's when I noticed the door opening.

 "We've decided," Mei stood up.

"We're gonna accept Flynn's offer!" I hopped up and yelled.

Shit. Why did I do that? That looked too enthusiastic.

Max started to smile and said, "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'?"

Blake immediately got embarrassed from having his own words turned against him.

"So, do we have a deal?" Flynn offered a handshake.

"Deal," Mei accepted. 

"Okay. Now that it's official, can you guys tell me what each of you do in your little group?" Blake asked with a clap. It seemed like he got over his embarrassment quite quickly.

"Ash and I do the 'field work', which is basically just the stealing. So does another person in our group named Nick, who's quite the prick," Mei said.

Max had to stifle a laugh when she described Nick, "It's true. He's a son of a bitch."

"Why do you have him in your group then?" Flynn asked.

"Well, he's really good at what he does. He's probably the best out of all of us, it's just that when your around him, you can tell he's up to something so he's not the best to be in crowds like this," I explained while trying my best to maintain a bit of the demeanor from when we first met. I didn't want to sound malign, but I didn't stutter which was what I was aiming for.

"I have sometimes less than reputable connections, but they usually come in handy. I sometimes do the stealing also," Max resumed the previous topic. "Aaron does the same thing, though his are usually more trustworthy. But you might not want that if you don't want people to take note of your actions. In my circles, no one really cares what you want as long as you pay the right price."

"And then there's Rhett..." Mei said dejectedly.

"Who's that?" asked Blake.

"Well, he's our hacker, though he's not the best at it," I replied. "When I went to go steal the ring, I thought it was a miracle that he got the doors unlocked. But that's an exaggeration. He does okay, it's just that when the alarms, cameras, sensors, and the door was opened, I honestly couldn't believe that he that. "

"Heh, I'd like to meet him," Flynn smiled.

Max violently shook her head. "I wouldn't do that. It seems like he thinks of you as his idol or something."

Flynn bursted out laughing that made everyone surprised. "He thinks of me as his idol? He knows who I am? Phfft... ha! Why would anyone? Oh boy, now I need to meet him!" He laughed out loud again, now taking a couple's attention from some paintings.

"Why's that so funny?" Aaron asked.

"It's just that Blake is 'the name' for both of us, and I thought I kept my name and line of work separate, but I guess a friend leaked it or something. I didn't even know that anyone knew I existed in the 'world of thievery'," he laughed again.

I started to speak again. "Anyway, we should probably-"

That's when we heard the alarms.