Page 35 of Painfully Merry

The countdown is on, and I’m unsure when the clock strikes.

16

Parker

I’ve always been calm in stressful situations, but walking into the main lobby with Sabrina, I’m sweating buckets. One fuck up, and we’re screwed. Sabrina weaves her fingers with mine, squeezing tight. I can’t tell who’s more nervous, me or her. But considering she’s the distraction and can’t fuckin’ lie, I would be barfing my guts in the street right about now.

Entering the lobby, it smells of money.

Bright marble floors shine from the dome crystal chandelier above. The further we walk, the more I feel out of place. Black leather couches sit across one another, with an overly large wooden table in the middle and two accent chairs finishing the square. I glance to the side where two receptionists wait, staring at us behind a long wooden desk.

“Show time,” I mumble to Sabrina.

“Fuck.”

I hope Chaos works fast because these two don’t look impressed with us already. It’s like they know we are up to something before we even open our mouths. We’re gonna need a Christmas miracle.

“Good morning. How can we help you?” The preppy dude asks.

“Merry Christmas. We have a friend who lives here, and he told us you might have an apartment available. We're only in town for the day, and most realtors aren’t working today, and I was sorta hoping it was possible to take a look?”

The girl stops typing and narrows her eyes at us. “Excuse me? Do we look like we offer guided tours?”

I hold up a hand, trying to diffuse this mess. “Woah, that’s not what we meant. We just thought.”

“You thought. You rich pricks are all the same, aren’t you? Unfuckinbelievable.” The asshole rolls his eyes at us.

“Maybe I don’t want to live here. With you two working here, I would be ashamed to mention this place to my friends.” Sabrina shakes her head. “I should call your manager and tell them exactly who they have working for them. Distasteful. We only asked a simple question. There was no need to bark down our throats.”

I’m not sure how we landed in this pickle. A distraction is what Chaos got, but these employees are not happy working here, and we are getting the brunt of it. I’m glad that it’s us and not actual residents. Chaos better hurry the fuck up before we get kicked out because, at the look of things, this isn’t going to last much longer. I can tell Sabrina is holding back. I grab her clenched fist, bringing it to my lips.

“It’ll be fine. You can call and complain tomorrow.”

“You bet your ass I’ll be calling, this is a disgrace.”

My phone dings. I look at Sabrina. It’s go time.

The parking garage is half full. I’m not sure if that’s a good sign or not, but no sign of EFT. We park next to a sleek black Mercedes. I still prefer Sabrina’s Cadillac; at least she blends in. We’re all quiet as we wait for Chaos to work whatever magic he needs to. I’m not sure how he breaks into the places that he does, and honestly, I still don’t want to know.

“That’s Kevin’s car there.” Sabrina points to an infrared red Lexus car.

“Of course, he would buy a red car. What a show-off. Actually that’s what I like to refer to as little dick syndrome.” Chaos shakes his head. “Give me a sec, and I’ll turn off the alarm for the building. We can gain access to any floor. Everyone in the building uses the same company.”

“Have you ever been caught before?” Sabrina pokes her head between Chaos and me, reading his computer screen.

His fingers stop typing, and he taps them three times. Turning his head, he looks at her. “Once I came close. I thought for sure it was over.”

We stay silent, waiting for him to continue.

“It was my second job working for the mafia, and I was so green and nervous as hell. Why they wanted outside help kept running through my head. I was so distracted I never knew the owner had a generator for backup. It was all my fault. As I entered the house, all the power kicked on, and the alarm blared. Thankfully, I still worked with a partner, and he worked fast to kill the generator, but I learned a lesson that day. I always double-check my surroundings and never let my guard down. Even for little redheads.” He reaches out and tugs on Sabrina’s curls.

He's quiet as he gets back to work. I keep checking our surroundings, waiting for a raid. I’ve never been this scared of cops before, and that’s saying a lot, considering what I used to do behind my high school every day.

“Okay, it’s done. We better move fast before someone notices and calls this in for real.” Chaos slams his laptop closed and opens the car door. “I think Sabrina should stay down here. We need a getaway driver, and I don’t want her up there.”

“Are you kidding me?” She flings herself backward, crossing her arms over her chest. “Unreal. I helped you get this far, and you are going to leave me behind.”

“Sabrina, I don’t think Chaos means it like that. If he says to stay back, maybe you should. I don’t want you to get hurt.” I hand back her phone. “If anything happens, call. Us, not the cops, Black.”

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