Chapter 2 #2
“Maybe. I’ve hit the panic button from inside the vault, which locks it down, but my boss has the override code. I’m hoping if they want money, they won’t bother with this vault, they’ll want the one with the money. My boss should steer them toward that one.”
“Stay away from the door,” Truck ordered. She could hear him moving in the background and hoped like hell he really was on his way right that second. “Can you barricade it in any way?”
“No. There’s a table in here, but it’s bolted to the floor, and it would be too heavy for us to move even if it wasn’t.”
“Fuck. Okay, that’s okay. I bet those guys are already gone. They’ll take what money they can and get the fuck out. We’re comin’ for you, Mare. You tell the others their men are comin’ too. Okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t do anything rash,” Truck warned. “I love you.”
Mary’s stomach tightened at his words. He’d never come out and said it before. Oh, she knew he loved her, but she hadn’t heard the words. Hearing them now was almost painful. “Be careful,” she whispered, wanting to return his words, but not able to make herself say them.
“Always. You call me back if you need to.”
“I will.”
“You did good, Mare. I gotta go. Ten minutes and we’ll be there.”
“Okay.”
“Bye.”
Mary hung up the phone and took a deep breath and looked her friends in the eyes. “We need to get away from the door.”
“They’re coming, right?” Emily asked, her voice shaking.
Suddenly more than aware of how pregnant the woman was, and everything that could go wrong, Mary said, “Of course they are. They’re also bringing that other Delta team they’ve been training with.
Those asshole robbers won’t know what hit them if they’re stupid enough to still be here when the guys arrive.
Come on, over here away from the door. Sit.
You’re not going to have that baby in here, are you?
Because if you do, you’re gonna have to name him Hank. ”
“Hank?” Emily asked as she waddled over to where Mary indicated, Rayne and Casey on either side of her.
“Yeah. You know, like bank, but with an H,” Mary quipped.
Emily shook her head and rolled her eyes, but she was grinning while she did it. Rayne and Casey got Emily seated and looked up at her.
“Now what?” Casey asked.
Mary looked around the room and shook her head. “The table is bolted down, so we can’t move it. There aren’t any other chairs or anything else in here. All we can do is wait.”
“Are those guys gonna want to come in here?” Emily asked.
Mary met her eyes. “As I told Truck, I don’t think they will.
I mean, the boxes are locked up tight and there are two keys needed for each one.
The customer has one and the bank has the other.
Yeah, there’s probably hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of jewels in here, but it would be tough to get at them easily.
If I was a bank robber, I’d rather get into the money vault, where I could grab stacks of cash and go. ”
“You aren’t just saying that to make us feel better, are you?” Rayne asked suspiciously.
Mary sighed and sat down about three feet away from the other women, making sure to put herself between them and the door.
She met Rayne’s eyes and said, “I’d say anything to make you feel safe, Rayne.
I’d do anything in my power to protect you.
When you were missing in Egypt, I almost lost my mind.
So yeah, I’d totally fucking lie if it meant you were happy, safe, and secure. But I’m not lying to you right now.”
The two women stared at each other without saying a word.
“You’re talking about more than stashing us in here to get away from the robbers, aren’t you?” Casey asked.
Not taking her eyes from Rayne’s, Mary said simply, “Yes.” This wasn’t the time or the place that she’d planned on having a heart to heart with her best friend, but it was what it was.
“I never asked you to do that,” Rayne whispered.
“I know. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me,” Mary told her.
“My childhood was shit. I had so many ‘uncles’ coming in and out of our house, I stopped bothering to learn their names after a while. They, and my mama, taught me to never rely on anyone for anything because they’ll always let you down.
And it wasn’t just that she told me that every fucking day…
I saw it. Every one of those uncles promised my mama a better life.
They promised they’d take care of her, and me.
And every single one left. I can’t really blame them because Mama was a bitch, but still.
“Teachers let me down by not noticing how hungry I was and how I hadn’t showered in days.
Social workers let me down too. They’d come around every now and then after one of the uncles reported Mama, but they were overworked and busy and didn’t bother to really see me.
Even the principal let me down after he found out Mama had kicked me out my senior year, by not giving a shit and threatening to have me expelled if I missed any more days of class.
I told him it was because I was trying to find a place to live, but he didn’t care.
“Then I met you, Raynie. I wasn’t going to let you in, but you stormed the shields I had around my heart.
I didn’t know what love was until I met you.
” Mary knew she had tears in her eyes, but she didn’t stop.
“You got me. You didn’t care that I used sarcasm to protect myself.
You didn’t care that I was snarky and a bitch.
You loved me all the same. Then when I got cancer, you were there every step of the way.
You came to my appointments with me. You were there when I was too sick to get out of bed.
You forced me to eat, to stay positive, and to live.
And the weirdest thing for me was that you didn’t want anything in return. ”
“You tried to offer me money,” Rayne remembered, her own face wet with tears. “As if I’d take your fucking money.”
“I didn’t know how to deal with that. No one in my life ever gave me anything without strings attached.
Until you. You dropped your hours down at your job so you could be with me.
You didn’t date for months when I was sick.
You went grocery shopping for both of us and you did all my laundry, cleaned my apartment, and practically moved in.
It was overwhelming for me, but no matter how much I protested or how mean I was to you, you didn’t leave. ”
“Nothing could’ve made me leave you when you were sick, Mare,” Rayne said.
“I know. Then I got better, and you met Ghost. I was so happy for you, even though I was a dick to him after he got hurt. I couldn’t stand to see you unhappy, Raynie.
I didn’t trust him, and I didn’t want you to go through the pain that I’d been through.
I hoped he was the man he seemed to be, but I also thought there was a chance he’d dump you once the honeymoon period was over. ”
“So why didn’t you tell me the cancer was back? Did you not think I’d help you again?” Rayne asked.
“No. I knew you would. I couldn’t go through it again,” Mary said softly.
“I couldn’t do that to you again. It was hell on both of us, and it wasn’t fair of me to put you through that twice.
Not when you were living the dream. You had a man who doted on you and would give you the world if you asked. ”
“What wasn’t fair was that you didn’t even give me a choice,” Rayne said with heat.
“You don’t understand,” Mary protested.
“So explain it to me,” Rayne practically yelled. “I would’ve been there for you, Mare, just like I was the first time. I would’ve done anything for you, and you didn’t give me that choice.”
Mary clenched her hands into fists and squeezed her eyes closed as Rayne continued her harangue.
“You always go on and on about how people are selfish and users and only do things because they want something in return. But you knew I wasn’t like that. I’d proven it already. So why, Mary? Why did you push me away? At least have the balls to tell me to my face. Open your eyes and face me!”
Mary’s eyes popped open and she stared in Rayne’s direction. She couldn’t see her because of the tears obscuring her vision, could only see her blurry outline. All the pain she’d felt when she got the diagnosis that her cancer was back bubbled to the surface.
“I didn’t want you to have to watch me die!” she yelled.
The words echoed in the room before she continued.
“The last thing I wanted to do was have my best friend, a woman I love more than anything in this world, have to see me waste away and know there was nothing she could do about it. I wanted your memories of me to be good ones.” Mary closed her eyes once more and sniffed.
“I didn’t want you to have to experience that, Raynie.
I couldn’t take it. I knew you’d be there for me.
You’d never let me push you away if you knew the cancer was back.
You would’ve stayed by my side to the bitter end—and it would’ve killed me to see you so sad and upset. ”
There was silence in the vault after Mary’s pronouncement.
The soundproof room gave no hint as to what was happening out in the lobby.
Mary had no idea if the robbers were still there, if there was a huge shootout, or if the robbery was still in progress.
All she could hear was her own heartbeat and her occasional sniffle.
But she didn’t dare open her eyes again.
She’d just laid herself bare to her best friend, and she was terrified Rayne would reject her for good. That this was the end of their friendship forever. She didn’t know what she’d do without Rayne in her life. The last couple months had been hell. Absolute hell.
Mary jerked when she felt a hand on her arm and her eyes opened. She turned and saw Rayne crouched at her side.
“Thank you,” Rayne said.
“What?”