Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 125140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
“Yes, of course.” I smile gratefully.
She disappears out of sight.
“What’s her problem?” Stace whispers.
“You are her problem. Why are you glaring at her?”
“Because she’s a fucking bitch.”
I roll my eyes. “Will you shut up,” I whisper.
She reappears and rings a bell. A man comes out and gestures to the doorway. We follow him down a long corridor until we get to the end where it opens out to a large square room where the walls are covered in lockers. “Bottom left in the corner,” he murmurs as he points us in the right direction.
“Thank you.” I smile. “I would never have remembered where this was.”
He nods and disappears from where he came from. I smile broadly and take my key to slowly open the safety deposit box.
Stace stands behind me and puts his hand on my hips as he watches me over my shoulder. “Careful of the cameras,” he whispers in my ear.
“I know,” I whisper back. I open the door and see the sock encasing our treasure.
I stand back to let Stace peer in. “My sock?” He raises his eyebrow in question. “A sock is what you chose to put them in?’
“It’s all I frigging had,” I snap quietly. “Beggars can’t be choosers.” I reach in and try to untie the sock while it’s still in the locker. I don’t want the cameras to see what we are doing. It’s dark and my arms are confined.
“How many?” I whisper.
He thinks for a minute. “The five smallest. How long did you say we can keep this here?”
“Two years.”
“Do you reckon five?” he asks.
I think for a minute. “Yeah, maybe. I don’t want to take them all at once in case we get caught.”
“Fuck, don’t say that.”
I struggle to untie the sock in the darkness of the locker.
“What are you doing?” he whispers.
“Trying to untie the damn thing.”
He shakes his head. “Let me bloody do it.” He takes over. “I can’t believe you lied to me and took these,” he whispers as he concentrates on the untying sock challenge.
I screw up my face. “Oh, because you have never lied to me… Mr. Mac.” I sneer sarcastically.
He rolls his eyes. “If I am Mr. Mac, then you are Mrs. Mac. In fact,” he whispers. “You are the Mac Daddy of all Macs.”
I smirk. He’s got me there. I have told some porkies in my life.
He finally gets the sock undone and fiddles around before he takes them out of the sock and lays them out in the bottom of the locker.
“Holy fuck,” he whispers in amazement.
I smile proudly. “I did good?” I know I did, but I just want to hear him say it out loud.
He kisses me quickly on the lips. “You did great, babe.”
He points to the five smallest and I nod as he picks them up. I put my purse into the locker and he loads them into the change compartment.
I smile broadly and his hand drops to my hipbone before he kisses me again, his lips lingering over mine. “We should celebrate tonight.”
“What do you want to do?” I smile.
He shrugs. “Find a bar where they play that hippy song you love so much.”
I smile goofily at him as hope blooms in my chest. Another date. This is the first time that I can remember being truly happy. He knows my story, my fucked up story, and yet he likes me anyway. Nobody has ever known my truth about my life on the run and the shame I feel for having such an evil, fucked up father. Stace and I laugh, we have fun, and I have never had this sense of belonging before. It seemed to happen to everyone around me, but I always thought it was out of my reach. I want to talk to him, I want to tease him, and God I want to fuck him stupid.
But mostly, I just want to call him mine.
He loads the diamonds back into the sock, reties it, and then locks the locker. We gently kiss again and walk back out to the reception hand in hand. I pause and my eyes flicker over to the cranky receptionist. “Just a sec.” I drag him over to the desk. “Excuse me,” I call.
She looks up as if I am annoying her. This chick is so lazy. Do your job, stupid.
“Yes,” she replies flatly.
“I would like to add my husband to the safety deposit box, please.” My eyes flicker between Stace and her.
Stace frowns and he shakes his head subtly.
“Do you want him to have full access or just to be a double signatory?”
“Full access, please,” I state.
She raises her eyebrows as if surprised and then she stands. “You will have to sign some release documents granting permission. I’ll go and get them.” She gestures to the other office and pauses for a moment. “We normally have another girl, but she is off work today. Oh, and I will need your license and identification again, please.”