Page 28 of All The Happily Ever Afters

CARY ANN

Ipull away and look at Vinny’s friend. The smile on my face dims as I catch sight of his gun again.

I take another step back and look between the two of them.

“You cut the feed?” Vinny asks me.

I nod my head and reply, “Yeah.” My heart is just too full knowing Vinny was doing exactly what I was planning on doing. I feel safe with him. Which doesn’t make sense with his friend freaking out. It makes me really uneasy to see the guns.

“What the fuck’s going on, man?” The guy pushes on Vinny’s shoulder as Vinny takes his mask off.

“She’s cool, Toni.”

“So you were gonna rob me?” I ask Vinny, ignoring the prickle of fear running through me. I keep looking at Toni. I don’t know him, and I don’t like that he’s here. For some reason it’s so easy to forgive Vinny. Especially knowing why he was doing this.

“I didn’t want to.” He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me close to him. My small hands land on his chest. “I didn’t want you to be scared.”

I scoff at him and refuse to admit how worked up I was and say, “I was pissed, not scared.” He smiles down at me, like I’m being cute.

I look back at his friend who finally pulls the mask off of his face. He looks vaguely familiar.

“She your girl?” he asks with his brow pinched. “Would’ve been easier if this was an inside job,” he mutters.

He shoves the mask into his pocket and walks over to the nearest register. Vinny’s grip on me tightens as I try to pull away and watch Toni.

“So we’re robbing this joint together?” Vinny asks me with a smile and then kisses my nose.

I purse my lips, not sure if I trust the fucker at the register.

“It’s right across the street, baby. We’ve got twenty minutes before the parade goes through. We take the cash and slip it through their mail slot in the door.” I nod my head. That’s better than the plan I had, which was to drop it off in the early morning. Now is better. Get the cash and move it from one place to the next as quickly as possible.

I look at Vinny, and I’m pretty sure I know why he’s doing this, but I don’t know Toni’s story. I watch him as he shoves the money into the bag. Vinny’s completely at ease, and obviously trusts him.

“Why are you doing this?” I ask as Toni closes the first register and moves to the next. There are only three in the entire store. So this won’t take long.

“I went there once.” He looks up at me. He’s got a baby face although he’s built like a man. “To the orphanage. Without Mrs. Pilcavage I wouldn’t be standing here today. There’s no doubt I’d be locked up.” He opens the next register with the key. “Those kids aren’t gonna have the life I had.” There’s a hint of sadness in his voice.

“You trust me, Cherry?” Vinny asks me, pulling my eyes away from Toni.

“I don’t know,” I whisper although everything in me does. I shouldn’t. I know I’m naive, but I do. I trust him.

“Shoot me, Toni,” Vinny says, and my heart stops. Toni laughs and picks up the gun.

“Stop!” I scream out, pushing Vinny hard in the chest, but he’s a powerful man and my strength doesn’t do a damn thing.

My heart pounds as Toni pulls the trigger over and over again.

It takes a minute for my racing heart to settle. He’s gotta be fucking kidding me.

“It’s a squirt gun,” Toni says before looking at his watch and then heading to the third register, “but there’s no water in it.”

“I knew you’d be working,” Vinny says. “I couldn’t bring a real gun, I couldn’t risk even the slightest possibility of you getting hurt.”

My heart clenches in my chest. I swallow thickly, not liking how strongly I feel toward this man. It’s too fast, too soon, but all I wanna do right now is run away with him.

The last register closes shut with a large clank.

“It’s not everything that was donated,” Toni says, “but it’s close.” He zips up the backpack and clicks his phone to life.

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