Page 49 of Win Big

“Great, now the cops can clearly see me breaking in.”

“Do you want to see what you’re doing or not?”

The sound of voices reaches us, and we both look down the dark sidewalk. A man and a woman are approaching. The guy’s hair is bleached blond and spiky. He’s wearing a long black leather coat and multiple piercings glint in the streetlight. In the darkness, all we can see of her is black hair, black-rimmed eyes, and black lips. And black combat boots.

I clutch Wyatt’s arm nervously.

“Shit,” Wyatt hisses, straightening.

“It’s your fucking fault!” the woman says. “He wouldn’t be in jail if it wasn’t for you!”

“Calm down! It’s not my fault.”

My eyes widen, my stomach clenching.

The dude stops near us and takes in what we’re doing. “Hey, man. I can get that done for you.”

“Uh . . .”

He disappears back up the street and around the corner.

Wyatt and I exchange wide-eyed glances, then smile cautiously at the goth girl scowling at us, her arms crossed and one hip cocked.

The roar of an engine fills the quiet street, and the dude in the coat pulls up in a white van. He jumps out and opens the back doors. He’s got an entire True Value hardware store in there.

He pulls out a power saw and in a few minutes, sparks flying, metal whining, he has the lock cut open. I glance wildly around, ready for the police to race up with lights flashing and sirens blaring,

I’m not even sure what to say. I mean, we could have taken an Uber home and come back tomorrow for Wyatt’s vehicle.; we didn’t really have to do this. But it seems polite to thank the guy for breaking in.

“Yeah, thanks,” Wyatt adds.

“No worries, man, it’s cool. You never know when you’re going to need to fuck some shit up.”

He gives Wyatt’s hand a bro shake and then he and Goth Girl jump in the van and roar away.

Wyatt and I turn to each other, stunned, then both collapse into each other’s arms, laughing.

“We just broke into a church!” I wheeze, holding on to him.

“I know!”

“Pretty sure we’re going to burn in hell for that.”

“I feel guilty.” He pulls out his wallet, peels off a bunch of bills, and jogs over to push them into a mail slot beside the church door. Then we make our getaway.

“I can’t believe that just happened.” I lean my head back against the headrest. “I have to say, a date with you is an adventure.”

“Of course it is. Life is an adventure.”

“I can’t believe how late it is. This is really going to mess with my sleep hygiene.”

“Sleep what?”

“Sleep hygiene. I try to keep a strict routine, because I have, uh, trouble sleeping. Sometimes.”All the time.

“Yeah, I know what it is. Sleep is important, but a night of fun is okay once in a while.”

“I don’t know.” I sigh. But yeah, I had so much fun.

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