Basically this book is based off a prompt that I read a looong time ago. Lord knows I don't remember where I saw the prompt but anyway, HAPPY READING! And... if you have any constructive criticism please comment! :)

    Most men would relish the moment a five foot seven, toned, busty, blue eyed blonde straddles their lap and screams their name repeatedly, but not Caleb, of course. At this very moment, while the said blonde is riding him like a derby horse, he thinks of the stack of unfinished paper work piled up on his desk. He panics internally when he realizes that he has to have all of the crap completed by the time his boss is back from vacation which is in two days.

    “I’m getting close!” she yells.

    “Uh huh…” he says nonchalantly.

    “Oh my God! I’m almost there!”

    He rolls his eyes again. “I know. . .” He glances over at the clock on the nightstand. Seven thirty seven, it reads. Fifteen minutes every time. It never changes. The same old positions, the same old screams and the same old lousy fifteen minutes, every morning at seven thirty seven am, it never fails.

    “I’m. . . I’m. . .” Lana yelps loudly reeling him back in to reality to focus on the situation that’s happening on top of him. With another breathy scream, she collapses on his chest. This is followed by excessive rolling of the eyes and an unprecedented amount of sighs on Caleb’s behalf. However, he is somewhat proud of himself for he’s endured yet another predictable romp of predictable sex with his girlfriend and he’s managed to not commit suicide while doing it. This is surely an accomplishment worth noting.

    "That was amazing,” Lana says as she repositions herself in the bed.

    “Um. Yea. Great.” Caleb rolls out of bed and heads to the bathroom like he usually does right after sex with Lana. He rushes and gets into the shower to finish himself off because he knows that within the next ten minutes she will be joining him in the shower for what will be round two of predictable sex that happens every morning at seven forty seven predictably in the shower.

***

    Caleb stands in the kitchen sipping his morning coffee and reading over the morning paper when Lana walks in.

    “Ahhh.” She spins around dramatically and of course Caleb rolls his eyes for what seems to be the millionth time this morning. However, his girlfriend doesn’t really notice his sour mood (maybe she’s used to it?). She prances toward him and plants a small kiss on his lips before pulling back and beaming ever so brightly which may or may not annoy the piss out of Caleb.

     “So.” She grabs a mug out of the cupboard and proceeds to fill it with coffee. “Did you see Jennifer’s new engagement ring? Terry did an amazing job at picking it, don’t you think?”

    “Mhm.” Caleb nods while continuing to sip his coffee. He glances down at his watch which reads eight fifteen and as anticipated, Lana begins to go on and on about her friends and how some of them are married and having babies. It’s always at this time when they’re both sipping their morning coffee that she hints at the possibility of them tying the knot, Caleb knows this. It’s implanted in his brain and that’s why everything that she’s said thus far has gone completely over his head. He stares dolefully into his coffee mug as she continues.

    “It seems that I’m the only one in my circle that isn’t married,” He hears her say and that’s his cue to leave.

    Without another word said he sets his coffee mug on the table. He gives Lana a quick peck on the lips while she’s in the midst of talking and walks out of the house briskly, leaving her in the kitchen.

    “Uh. Well, we’ll talk about this later!” she yells behind him but he ignores it.

    While outside fumbling with his keys, he takes notice of the moving truck next door. Somebody finally bought the vacant condo next to his. It seems like ages since the Harrisons moved out. He takes note of how eccentric all of the furniture, that the moving men are carrying, looks. There’s no set color, every piece is extremely different, and nothing matches at all. He assumes that the place has been bought by an artist, a painter, or a musician, maybe? It’s definitely someone who’s a lot more edgy than he is, that’s for sure.

    A slim figure emerges from the driver’s side of the black mustang that’s parked in the drive way, presumably the new neighbor. The young woman steps in front of the car rocking camouflage sweat pants, flip flops and a black t-shirt. Caleb laughs to himself when he notices her dark hair is pulled into two ponytails with blue tips on the end.

    “What kind of grown woman wears her hair like that?” he chuckles to himself as he further inspects the mysterious, new neighbor. The new neighbor removes the aviators from her face and sticks the piece that belongs behind her ears into her mouth, inspecting her new home with a raised brow. Momentarily, she turns facing Caleb and this is when he’s able to get a good view of her face. Her skin looks smooth and is as white as porcelain. Her eyes are small and narrow courtesy of an Asian background, he assumes. Wait a minute. Holy crap! Caleb recognizes this girl.

    A strange feeling arises in his stomach; it feels like nausea and diarrhea all at once and if he doesn't leave like now he’s probably going to poop himself. He fumbles with his keys trying to quickly press the unlock button on the remote to get in the car. However, he fails at this and instead presses the alarm button which makes his car alarm erupt loudly which inevitably draws more attention to him. He curses under his breath when he realizes that she’s walking over to him. This makes him more nervous and once again he’s failed at unlocking the car, he’s managed to pop open the trunk.

    “Ugh!” he grunts in frustration.

    “Well,” he swings around to see the girl standing in front of him. “Good morning Caleb, I see the assassins have failed . . . again.” She quirks a brow and her lips curl upward into a smile.

    He clenches his teeth. "Hello Nova."

***

    Caleb sits at his desk tapping his pen on the hard wood profusely while grunting and sighing relentlessly. Nova freaking Scott is back. He hasn’t seen her since they were teenagers stealing from the local food mart. That was like ten, maybe twelve years ago?

    "You should come over for a drink some time. We need to catch up," she'd said. Pshh! Come over for a drink? Caleb shakes his head. No way is he going over for anything. He can't stand her and he doesn't want to be anywhere near that nut case.

    "Um. Mr. Rodriguez?" Caleb ‘s tapping stops and he looks up and pulls himself back into reality.

    "Oh. Uh.” He clears his throat. "I'm sorry Mrs. Baxter but I can't approve your loan."

    The elderly woman gasps and clutches her chest in exaggeration. "But. . ."

    "I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do."

    The old woman begins to cry out loudly. "Please Mr. Rodriguez! I. . ."

    Caleb places his hand over hers. "I'm sorry Mrs. Baxter it's out of my control. There’s nothing else that I can do." The woman snatches her hand back and retrieves a handkerchief from her purse. She wipes her nose before slowly rising out of her seat and turning on her heels to walk out. She makes sure to shoot Caleb an evil glare and the middle finger before exiting. He sighs heavily and sits back in his chair, closing his eyes and twirling his pen around in his fingers.

    "So, this is what you do for a living. . ." Caleb’s eyes fly open and he brings his attention to the black and blue haired Asian girl standing in the doorway of his office. ". . . Crushing little old ladies' dreams, I see."

    "Ugh. Nova, what are you doing here?" He says, clearly irked by her presence.

    She smiles curtly. "I'm here to make a deposit of course." She waves the silver briefcase in front of him.

    "A deposit? Since when do you have an account here? Wait. Is that briefcase full of money?"

    She smirks and fixes her mouth to reply but is interrupted. "Miss Scott, I will lead you into the vault now,” the bank associate says.

    "Thanks. Glad to see someone around here has manners." She winks at Caleb who scowls back at her.

    "Is Mr. Rodriguez giving you problems, Miss Scott?"

    She quirks a brow at Caleb. "No no," she says. "Of course not."

    "Very well then. Shall we?"

    "We shall." Nova follows the man down the hall to the elevator. Before entering she turns and winks at Caleb for a second time.

    "Psycho," he mumbles as he sits back down at his desk.

    It's pretty amazing how after all of these years Nova can still rattle his cage and not in a good way. Nova Scott is pure trouble. It follows her everywhere she goes and Caleb cannot afford to get mixed up with her ever again.

    Minutes pass by and Caleb resumes tackling the large stack of paper work on his desk. He's aggressively attacking the keys on the keyboard when he hears a knock at the door. Before he can look up to see who it is, she lets herself in and plops in the chair opposite his desk. He rolls his eyes and sits back in his chair.

    "Glad to know I still have an effect on you." She smirks while making herself more comfortable in the chair. "Looks like you've done well for yourself Caleb,” she says, surveying the many ‘employee of the month’ plaques on the wall behind him.

    He sighs. "Thanks."

    "I bet this line of work is boring. I’m getting bored just sitting here, actually. I bet you’re bored, aren’t you?”

    "What? No." He lies. "My life is . . . perfect."

    "Perfectly boring." She flicks a piece of lint from her pants. "Anyway. Since I just moved here you should. . . I don't know. . . Show me around?" There goes that infamous smirk again.

     "I think not."

    "Jesus. You act like being around me will kill you."

    "It's funny that you put those two things together. I find that hanging out with you and dying are very similar things, but at least death comes with relief."

    "Ha!" She claps mockingly. "Look who's developed some wit! I'm so proud."  She rises out of her seat and straightens her clothes as she stands. "See you later neighbor." She smiles as she walks out of the door.

***

    It’s been a long day and during the drive home, Caleb thinks about the steak that Lana will have prepared when he gets there. It’s Tuesday after all and Tuesdays are designated as steak day and Lana never deviates from this, predictably. Truth is Caleb doesn’t really even like steak. He’d much prefer a burger and fries, so like every other Tuesday before making it home, he stops by McDonalds and picks himself up a double quarter pounder meal and finishes it off before making it home. He parks the car in the drive way and lays his head against the steering wheel. He lets out a long sigh before exiting the vehicle and making his way to the front door.

    “Hey babe!” Lana greets him as he walks in. She stands in the door way with her kiss the cook apron on.

    He responds dryly. “Hey.”

    “I cooked-“

    “-steak. I know.”

    “Right. Go wash up and I’ll have your plate ready at the table.” She smiles ever so delightfully, prancing back to the kitchen and he sulks in response. Fifteen minutes later, he’s seated at the table. Lana sets his plate in front of him and sits down at her side of the table with her plate.

    “Dig in,” she says. Caleb groans as he stabs the steak with his fork. “So, how was work?”

    Boring, he wants to say but instead goes with, “Fine.” The table falls into silence as they both indulge in their meals. Well, Lana indulges, Caleb just picks around it. They sit there for what seems like a year (it’s actually only been five minutes) when the doorbell rings.

    Caleb’s brows perk up. “Expecting company?”

    “No, are you?”

    “No.”

    “Hmm…”

    Caleb gets up from the table and walks to the front door. No one ever visits them so he can’t figure out who it may be. He opens the door and can’t believe his eyes, it’s her. She stares up at him with those big, cartoon character eyes and cracks a smile. He rolls his eyes and tries to shut the door.

    She hastily throws her body in the doorway before the door is completely shut. “Rude,” she says.

    “What are you-“

    “Hi!” Lana says. Nova leans to the side to look past Caleb and spots the blonde.

    “Ooh,” she says. “Pretty.” She looks up to Caleb and whispers. “How did you bag a hottie like that?”

    “Babe, let your friend in.”

    Caleb grits his teeth. “She’s not my friend.”

    “Frenemy would be a more accurate term for this . . .” She gestures between the two of them. “. . . relationship.”

    Lana taps her chin while eyeing the both of them. “Oh. Well, come on in.”

    Nova stares up at Caleb’s muscular frame. He’s like a wall, not budging to let her by.

    “Caleb, let her in.”

     He sighs heavily. “Fine.” Caleb backs out of the way to let Nova into the house.

    “Thanks, old pal.” She pats him on the shoulder. Nova walks over to Lana for a full inspection of the blonde. She eyes her up and down twice, stopping on the cleavage area.  “Those real?”

    “Excuse me?” Lana says. Nova points to her boobs and Caleb face palms himself. “Y- Yes!” she gasps clutching her chest.

    “Hmm…” Nova taps her chin while raising a questionable brow. She leans in closer to Lana’s chest. “Can I touch them?” Lana looks to Caleb hoping that he could supply an explanation for his friend/frenemy’s behavior, he just shrugs. Without warning, Nova cops a feel of Lana’s left breast and she yelps in response. “Wow . . . they are real! Either that or you have one hell of a doctor!” she continues to palm Lana’s boob.

    Lana jumps back. “Um. Thanks.” She inspects Nova’s tiny frame and colorful hair while trying to think of something nice to say in return. “Well, your hair is . . . its . . .” unable to come up with something witty she settles for, “interesting.”

    Nova fingers her hair. “Well, the look I was going for was bat shit crazy but I guess interesting will suffice.”

    Lana giggles softly. "You're funny." Nova winks while Caleb rolls his eyes. "Are you joining us for dinner?"

    "Sure, I'd lo-"

    Caleb jumps in between them. "I'm sure Nova has plans babe." He eyes Nova evilly.

    "Actually, I don't." She smirks and Caleb grunts.

    "We're having steak."

    "Ooh! I love steak!"

    Caleb nudges Nova roughly. "'Thought you were vegetarian, Nova."

    Nova leans into Caleb. "If this hot blonde wanted to feed me shit on a stick I'd eat it." She nudges him with her elbow all the while winking comically. “Ooh! Looks lovely!” she coos at the setup of the table.

    The next forty five minutes is full of innumerable eye roll/sigh combinations from Caleb while Nova and Lana exchanged numerous stories and giggles like they’ve been best friends since birth.

    “Well that was eventful.” Caleb stands to his feet. “It’s time for you to go now, Nova.” Caleb lifts Nova’s tiny frame from her seat.

    “Oh no, do you have to go?” Lana says with big blue puppy dog eyes.

    “Well, no not really.” Nova replies while Caleb is practically dragging her to the door.

    “Yes she does, honey.” He says and before Nova can protest she is standing outside on the doorstep with the door closed in her face.

    “Rude. . .” she pouts.

     Nova is and has always been a planner. She has a plan for everything and if that plan fails there are always two or three backups circulating within her head. She knew coming into this that trying to talk to Caleb would be difficult, but she didn't think it would be this hard. For weeks now she's been trying to chat with him civilly but it hasn't really worked in her favor since the man is so doggone stubborn. Initially she figured that he'd harbor feelings about what happened in the past but she didn't think he'd still be holding that same grudge fifteen years later. But she can't give up, she needs him after all and without him her plan may just fail and she's not having that. She's going to do everything in her power to get him to go along with her crazy ideas and that's why she may or may not have paid someone to kidnap him and bring him to her house, which brings us to now. 

        Caleb is in the middle of Nova's home office, tied down to a chair with a black sack over his head. He's thrashing back and forth in the chair screaming and trying to shake himself loose, to no avail of course, he's tied down pretty darn good. "What the fuck is going on?!" he yells.  

        "He's all yours," the big burly man says to Nova as she slaps a couple of hundred dollar bills in his hand. 

        "Thanks, Bernard!" she smiles.  

        The man nods while counting his money. "Anytime sweet heart," he says in a monotonous tone before leaving the room. Nova walks over to Caleb and pulls the sack off of his head. 

        "Nova?!" his eyes grow wide. "You crazy bitch!"

        "Language, Rodriguez!" she laughs.  

        "You had me kidnapped? You freaking kidnapped me, you psycho!" 

        "Calm down. It's not that big of a deal, really." 

        "Not that big of a deal?! You kidnapped me and I'm tied down to a fucking chair for Christ's sake!" 

        "Oh. Sorry." She says as she begins to untie him. She can see the flurry of emotions he's experiencing just by the look on his face, there's confusion, shock, and is that anger? Caleb bellows loudly while she struggles to untie him. Oh yes that's definitely anger. "Look, you and I need to talk and I felt like this . . ." she makes a circular motion around the room. ". . . was the only way I could get you to talk to me." 

        "I can't with you. You're so. . ." 

        "Smart?" she smirks. "I know." 

        "I was gunna say crazy, stupid, outrageous even, but smart? Nope that one didn't cross my mind. At all." 

        "Aha! Witty banter, I'm loving it." 

        "You're so lucky you don't have balls for me to kick you in," he grunts. "What do you want Nova?" He massages his bruised wrists once he's free from the ropes. 

        She throws the ropes to the side. "I need your help." 

        Caleb rolls his eyes. "Uh. No. Last time you said that to me I got in trouble. Pass." 

        Nova takes a seat in the big plush chair across from him. "You didn't get in trouble per say." 

        "Seriously? I got put in juvy and it was all your fault!" 

        Nova waves him off. "When are you gunna let that go? That was over a decade ago. We're damn near thirty and honestly you should be thanking me 'cause if you didn't get caught that night you'd probably still be on the streets. You wouldn't be on the straight and narrow like you are now, so you're welcome." She sits back in her chair and twirls the gum in her mouth around her finger. 

        Caleb sits across from her baffled by her bizarreness. "You're freaking nuts!" 

        "Jesus, we've established how insane I am, now let's move on." She shoves her gum back in her mouth. "This is serious business. I need your help." 

        Caleb studies Nova's demeanor which has seemed to change. She's sitting upright with a serious look on her face and he must admit that he's not really used to seeing her this way. This has raised his curiosity level a bit. "I'm listening." 

        "Back in the day, we were pretty horrible kids, you agree?" 

        "I wouldn't say horrible, but continue." 

        "We cheated, we scammed, we stole, we destroyed, we were pretty freakin' horrible." 

        "Duly noted, what's your point?" 

        "Now that we're older and we know better, we can help our society, build it up." 

        Caleb readjusts himself in his chair. "Get to your point." 

        "Hear me out." Nova rises from her seat and walks around. "Now that we're older we can atone for our sins by, I don't know, helping others, if you will." 

        "Helping others?" 

        "Right. See there are people out there who are far worse than we were or could ever be. There are some evil people in this world and I think that with a skill set like mine and yours we can stop those people." 

        A chuckle leaves his lips. "I'm sorry, what?" 

        Nova sighs. "We can stop bad people, Caleb, with our gifts. You see, I've hatched a plan to exact revenge on the rich thieves that use and abuse the poor." 

        He guffaws loudly. "We are not super heroes. Its official, you've lost your mind. I'm leaving." Caleb gets up from his seat still laughing. 

        "Wait, listen Caleb." She places a hand on his chest to halt him. Momentarily, she finds herself distracted by how broad it is and how sinewy he is altogether, a major change from when they were kids. She may be slightly drooling right now because she really is a sucker for a muscular man. She clears her throat wiping the said drool from the corner of her lips and steps back. "Look, the people that I speak of have been robbing us blind for years. They've been embezzling the people's hard earned money, raising taxes, lying, cheating, stealing, you name it and they've done it. We can stop these people. " 

        "You're crazy." 

        "I wouldn't say crazy, maybe an eccentric who looks good in jeans, perhaps? Clearly, you don't appreciate my genius, Rodriguez." 

        He rolls his eyes and mentally kicks himself for actually being somewhat interested in the craziness that's coming out of her mouth. ". . . and how, pray tell, do you plan to stop these people?" he asks as he sits back down. 

        Her mouth shapes into a sly smile as she rubs her hands together like an evil overlord. "I thought you'd never ask. See, what we're going to do is expose these dirty bastards and show the world who they really are all the while robbing them blind in the process and giving it back to the people. Kind of like a Robin Hood type deal, you understand? Steal from the rich, give to the poor that type of thing." 

        "Let me get this straight." He stands and begins to pace the floor. "We're going to atone," he animates the word atone using air quotes. ". . . for our sins by, quote unquote, stealing and bribing?" 

        "It sounds so bad when you put it like that but yes, I guess." He furrows his brows at her and she continues. "You see, you and I have an interesting skill set that will greatly help our cause." 

        "Skill set?" 

        "Mhm." She nods. "You and I both know that you can rob a person in a matter of seconds without being detected, to say the least. You can also weasel your way out of a physically tough situation, easily. And of course I'm the big talker; I can get us out of anything with nothing but my words. We were a deadly team back in the day and we can be an even deadlier team now, so what do you say Mr. Rodriguez? Join me in my fight against the political evils of this world, or nah?" 

        "Firstly, this is very illegal. Secondly, two wrongs don't make a right, Nova. Stealing from them doesn't make us any better than they are. We are all the same really, tryna turn a penny in to a dollar, isn't that how everyone operates? I see nothing wrong with it. Survival of the fittest, either you make it or you don't. Living on the streets should've taught you that. That's what it's taught me." 

        "You're a loan officer at the bank, right?" 

        "Not sure what my job title has to do with anything but, yea." 

        "How many loans do you approve a day? Say, no more than twenty?" 

        "Maybe less than that." 

        "And of the ones you approve, how many are lower class living and hard working citizens who no doubt really need the money?" 

        He taps his chin as he thinks about it. "Probably none." 

        "How many of them look like you? Or me?" 

        "None." 

        "Doesn't it bother you that you can't help people who are just like us?" 

        "Are we going into racial issues 'cause I really don't' want to hear it." 

        "No, this isn't a racial issue; this is a class issue, a rank issue, if you will. I'm talking about how people have been forced into being a low class citizen who most certainly works much harder than any of the self-proclaimed high class citizens, who can't even be approved for a small bank loan when they are in desperate need. Instead, they have to do what we did to eat, steal and in some cases, kill. And for what? All because of a shitty society ranking, all because of these high sitting snakes who are financially raping us from day to day. It's not fair." 

        "Life's not fair Nova, but we can't cry about it." 

        "You're right, we shouldn't cry about it, we should do something about it and that's exactly what I'm asking you Caleb. Help me do something about it. Help me put more food in people's mouth, help me put more money in people's pockets, help me help our people." 

        "Nova. . ." 

        "Please." 

        Caleb squeezes the bridge of his nose and sighs. "Did you practice this speech in the mirror?" he chortles but Nova's serious facade doesn't fade and he stops laughing instantly. "So, you're really serious about this then?" He clears his throat. "Hypothetically speaking, what do I get for going along with this insane plan of yours?" 

        "The satisfaction of knowing that you saved a life, helped another human being, been expiated for your sins . . ." she clasps her hands together and stares out the window dramatically. 

        "What if we get caught?" 

        "We won't." 

        "That doesn't ease my mind." 

        "We won't! I promise." 

        "This is like déjà vu. The last time I heard you say something like this was right before I was carried off in handcuffs to a juvenile facility." He smirks at her and she blinks with those giant cartoonish eyes of hers. 

        "Caleb, we will not get caught." She says reassuringly but she can tell that he still isn't really convinced.

        She observes him sitting in his seat, right leg crossed over his left; chin in hand, appearing to be in deep thought. Each second that passes with no answer from him seems like an eternity. Will he help her? Will he join in on this kooky plan of hers? Is he willing to take the risk knowing that this plan may fall through and they may end up in jail for a really long time?  

        Her silent questions are answered when he stands to his feet, shoving his hands in his pockets andlooking eerily sexy, Nova thinks. He says, "I'm in." 

        She squeals like a crazed One Direction fan. "Really?!" 

        "That's what I said," he snaps back. 

        "Yay!" she jumps at him for a hug but he dodges her and she lands on the floor. She turns to look up at him, seemingly feeling defeated. "Rude."