Page 27 of All The Happily Ever Afters

“Don’t you fucking point your gun at her!” I scream at him, reaching over and smacking the gun away. I can’t hear anything but the sound of my heavy breathing, I’m so pissed. He should know better than that.

I start to tell her to run, to get the fuck out of here before she gets hurt, to do anything but stay here, but she whispers, “Vinny.”

My blood runs cold and I stare back at her, slowly facing her and watching the disbelief grow in her gorgeous eyes.

My palms feel like ice. Shit, this is the worst possible outcome.

She knows.

I raise my hand up, trying to calm her as she seems to get over her fear and starts shaking her head even stronger and harder than before.

“It’s not what it looks like-” I start to explain myself, but she cuts me off.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” she practically spits out. She must really fucking trust me because all traces of fear vanish, replaced with rage. I was not expecting that. “Are you fucking serious?!” she yells at me.

She’s pissed.

“Shit, shit,” Toni curses behind me.

“Cherry,” I say in a low voice. It’s a warning. I know she’s angry, but she needs to calm her ass down.

“You aren’t taking this money! It’s for the orphanage!” she screams as she walks around the counter to get in my face. “You of all people-” she starts to rip into me, but I cut her off, gripping the hand that she tries to shove into my chest. I need to tell her the truth, and she’s not gonna like it, and she may not even believe it.

But she’s gonna fucking hear it.

“It’s not gonna go there,” I say as she stands toe-to-toe with me. Completely forgetting the fact that Toni’s right there, watching us go at it.

“The hell it isn’t!” she yells back. “Take your mask off and talk to me!” She tries to smack my chest with the other hand, but I grab that wrist too and hold her still.

“Stop it, Cherry,” I tell her in a low voice, with a threat just barely there. I’m not above grabbing her ass and taking her out of here like a toddler having a damn fit. Toni can handle this on his own. “The video surveillance is running, and I can’t let them see my face.” I know there’s no audio, but there’s video at least. I know that much. And even though I know Cherry knows, I still have faith she won’t tell them.

“Fuck, man!” Toni yells behind me, slamming his fist down on the counter and pacing a bit. He needs to calm down.

“Everyone, just calm down,” I say loud enough for both of them to hear.

“I already cut the feed. You’re going to have to fucking kill me.” Cherry pulls her hands out of my grasp. “I worked too damn hard to make sure the kids get what they need.”

I try to take in what she’s saying, but it doesn’t make sense. She crosses her arms across her chest, looking at me with tears in her eyes. She’s trying to be strong, but the weight of what she just said is wearing down on her.

I tilt my head and ask, “What do you mean you 'cut the feed'?”

She rocks on her back foot and looks away. Fear is creeping in. She’s trapped in this store, and she’s just said there’s no feed.Cherry. She really does need me to spank her ass raw. What the hell is my sweet cherry doing admitting shit like that? She’s not very good at staying out of trouble.

But then again, if she was, she wouldn’t have been with me.

“Tell me.” I give her the simple command, and that gets her attention.

“I can’t let you steal this money.” She says the words simply in a soft voice etched with pain. Conviction is there as well. I know why. She thinks this money is going to the orphanage like it’s supposed to. But it’s not.

“I’m taking this money to the orphanage,” I tell her, staring into her soft baby blue eyes. “Morose is stealing.” I take in a heavy breath as her eyes widen. She’s gotta believe me. “It has to go there, Cherry. Just let us take it to where it belongs.”

She blinks a few times and her breathing comes in short pants. “I swear to you, just let us take it to the orphanage.”

“No fucking way,” she says, and then my cherry takes two steps closer to me before she does the last thing I thought she would. She wraps her arms around my neck and presses those sweet lips to mine, moaning into my mouth.

I’m shocked, but she feels so damn good, I fall under her spell, letting her kiss me and setting the gun down on the counter behind her so I can hold onto her small waist, pulling her closer to me.

I could do this all night, but we can’t. I try to pull away, but she just holds me tighter. My greedy girl. She doesn’t let up until Toni snaps from behind me, “What the fuck is going on?”

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