In this dream, the techie man I had been so in love with looked and sounded exactly like Alec Steele, the blacksmith. It was pretty amazing.
I was in some sort of hospital or mall or something; a really big, open-hallway building with lots of halls and stuff. I was just walking along eating some sort of snack when I noticed a group of people to my right, all crowded around something, boycotting it and protesting it and stopping people because they seemed to be associated with...whatever it was. I walked around, acting as if I didn't care either way, when secretly I really loved the thing they were boycotting.
Up in front of me, by the row of glass exit door, was a booth. It was something to do with electronics or computers or tech devices of some sort, and sitting there in a chair was the most handsome man I'd ever seen in my life. I recognized him instantly as some self-made famous hacker or robotics guru or otherwise technological genius who could do anything with a few parts. I'm pretty sure he was involved with whatever the people were protesting, but no one messed with him because he was so high-up and practically untouchable when it came to his involvement. Everyone suspected him, but no one could prove anything. He was gorgeous. Blond, buff but lean, young but within my range. Taller than me (a requirement). I think his name was Alec. That's what we'll call him anyway.
Our eyes met, and his gaze knocked my feet out from under me, head over heels. I think he could tell I was on his side despite my feigned lack of interest in the protested thing, and when I stopped against the wall next to the exit, he walked right past me and got really close, staring into my eyes the entire time he went until he was past. I fangirled so hard in my head, I thought I would visibly shake. Though, to my credit, I didn't. One of the protesters asked if I was all right, and I said yes, I was just having a moment after Alec had walked past me. They seemed to think that I was on their side but shaking with hatred instead of adoration. Maybe I was shaking after all. He heard me mention him and turned his head just enough for me to see the smirk. It was enough to make me melt. It was almost as if we had interacted! He walked around into the bathroom, and a moment later he did the same intense smoldering stare as he walked back to his booth.
After a while of me leaning at the wall and staring at him and him tinkering with his gadgets and looking up at me, he tossed a small bolt or gadget onto his table and walked over again. As he went past, he raised a finger and called me to follow, the slow seductive gesture melting my heart all over again. I followed him right around the corner in front of the bathroom door, where he dug his hands into my hair and kissed me against the wall. Just like that, my addiction was on. It was ecstasy in that brief moment, his hands were warm and comforting and I felt so safe between him and the wall, as if all I needed to survive the rest of my life was to curl up in his arms. It was over almost as soon as it began, but that's all it took. I was like a scrap of metal that had just been magnetized: I needed to be around him, with him, near him. To stare at him if nothing else. To marvel at his glory and feel his presence and aid him in any and all ways he could want or need. He whispered to me, told me to meet him tomorrow at 7:30 and gave me directions through the strange mall hospital building to a particular desk on the other side. I knew of the desk, though I'd never been there, and I was nervous because I didn't think I'd remember the directions but I nodded anyway, because I would do anything, so I would try. I would meet him. He smiled and kissed me again before pulling away to the side and walked out from our hidden little alcove by the door. It was like I could feel the life draining away from me as my love went with him. I needed to be with him. Watching him walk away after that was both hard and wonderful. He wanted me. He wanted me.
I managed to find my way and meet him the next day, and life was grand after that. We became an item, an inseparable pair like fire and a forge. He was the passion that kept me going day after day, and together we made great things. He would take me back to his booth, which the sides folded down on to make it a sealed rectangular room. There wasn't much space inside because it was all covered in gadgets and techie toys, but there was a bed and a television. He lowered the roll-down doors on the side and the only light was from the screen. He lifted a stray wire out of the way so I could walk through, almost like opening a door for me. What a gentleman. We crawled onto the bed with a few small electronics around us and curled up together, tight and warm and secure with me against his chest. He kissed me again, and the rest of existence vanished. We were the only two in the world, and it was his world, but I wanted to spend my life there beside him. The safest place I knew was in his arms, and he liked to keep me there.
I started helping out with his jobs. He was always distanced from them, so there were never any ties to himself, and he was always there at his booth out in the open as things happened, nearly always being watched, and never doing anything wrong. A solid alibi by the police themselves. On the current job, the mall was full and busy. Another girl and I had set ourselves up in the bathroom with a small computer and were hacking into some system somewhere. People kept opening the door and coming in though—it was a terrible lock—so my mind was distracted. We got a text to my phone from Alec, warning us to "get out of there!" So we packed it up and rushed out. We passed by some cops along the way back to where we felt safe, but it was too late. I had forgotten my phone in the bathroom with that message right on the lock screen. It didn't say who had sent the message, only that it said it. Everyone knew I was associated with him, so I felt as if I had compromised him after all his work at staying distanced for so long. I made my way back toward the bathroom but didn't even get around the corner before running into a cop who had my phone in his hand. I could see Alec's booth out of the corner of my eye, and I knew he was watching me to see how I handled it.
I pretended to be a ditzy mallrat, seeming surprised that they had my phone and grateful that they had brought it to me. They questioned me, a bit casually, asking what the message was about. I told them it was an inside joke about getting out of the bathroom so he could see me again. I can't tell if they bought it, but I know it wasn't enough for them to get him. Especially since they had no idea what we had been doing in there and since it wasn't really connected to him.
They wouldn't give me my phone, though. They told me I could collect it on my way out later on, and that they were going to finish up their investigation. I had a very bad feeling that if I were to go grab it on my way out, it would somehow be a setup of sorts. Instead of heading toward the exit, I turned a few corners and went down an aisle with lots of racks of clothes hanging on it. At the bottom, half-hidden in the clothes, was the girl I had been in the bathroom with, our computer, and another person. They were hanging up new clothes on the rack while sliding the computer underneath, working and building a cover. The plan was still on, and things were still going. I hadn't screwed it up completely.
After a few hours, we split up and I went back around toward the exit so I could see about getting my phone and getting out. Except...the mall was closed. The doors were locked, all the main shops were sealed, and a security system was on. If I disrupted any of it, the security cameras would swivel around in my direction and start recording. If that happened and I did anything less than the ditzy mallrat I had let myself seem like, it would be a dead giveaway and I'd be an instant suspect. I looked out the doors. It was dark outside, the street only illuminated by streetlights and flashing signs. Alec had wheeled his booth outside (he lived in it, too, most of the time, so he brought it in and out of the mall most days). I could see his booth through the glass of the doors, right across the street beneath a streetlamp, and I could see him tinkering with one of his electronics. I took a moment to stop and stare. What an amazingly handsome, smart, wonderful man. I was absolutely in love and hated the position this put him in.
I picked up my phone, careful to make sure it didn't trigger the cameras. It seemed they wouldn't see me until I attempted the open the door. I could easily have acted my way out of there with my ditzy persona, but the job wasn't finished and I knew it was close. So instead, I called Alec.
I watched through the window as he walked over to his phone, picked it up, and answered. His eyes immediately jolted up to mine, and even across the street our connection was as strong as steel. He told me that he'd assemble a team to come in, finish the job, and get me out.
It didn't take long before three or four people were repelling down from the ceiling and into the mall. Two of them spread out, and Alec himself came running up to me to wrap me in his arms. I was so excited and also terrified. This was the first job he'd ever done that he physically put himself into, right into the thick of it, into the limelight. If we got caught...I tried not to think about it. My part of the job was over, so it was just a matter of waiting for those other three to finish up.
Something was going on outside, and I tried to look out the windows of the door. I don't remember ever touching the door itself, but it didn't take long for me to see the little red light on the security camera. And it was aimed right at me.
I froze. Slowly talking over my shoulder, careful not to move my mouth or head too much, I called for Alec and told him not to move or come near me. I didn't want the camera to know I wasn't alone, if it didn't already know. I asked him what I should do, and after a minute, he told me to act like the ditz I was the day before. So I did.
I instantly jumped into character, and when I finally moved, I lolled my head back and sighed, bringing it back up long enough to roll my eyes and act like I was supremely bored. Behind me, Alex and the others were wrapping it up. Alec shouted that he called in reinforcements to get us out of there, but that he wouldn't go anywhere without me by his side.
The commotion outside picked up, and I finally realized what it was. Cops, swat teams, and the presses had all encircled the building. All but the closest corner. This wasn't my doing, turning on the camera. They activated it manually. I gave up the ditz act and panicked just as a large tank-type truck rolled up at that closest corner, backwards, with the back open up and a man with a gun sitting inside. I was nervous and freaking out, but Alec told me that was his reinforcement. That was our way out. We busted through the glass door from both sides and I was hoisted up into the truck just as cops and such started swarming the building. They didn't even try to grab for me, as they had their sights set on a much more prominent target: Alec.
I cried. I screamed. I shouted. I yelled. I reached out.
Alec told me to go, that he'd catch up to me soon, but I didn't know what to do. The truck started moving but my man wasn't by my side, I couldn't leave him like this! I just couldn't!
I didn't have a choice. Hands held me down and voices assured me in soothing tones that he'd be fine, these were his orders, I was to be taken to safety and he'd be with us soon. I didn't believe a word of it.
But you know what? We finished the job. Alec made it out safely, too. He was waiting for me at the safe house. We couldn't go back to the mall and life as I knew it was over, since he had been compromised and they were after him, but we made it. And now, we were rich. Plus the job had a deeper meaning that had benefited the people of the city as well. It had all been worth it. And I had my Alec, my smart, sexy, genius, loving con artist. We were the only two in the world, and it was his world, but I wanted to spend my life there beside him.
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