inside the boxes into it.”
Emma Rae stared dumbly at the bank duffel near her feet. She wanted to be anywhere in the world but right here right now. Looking up at Zeke, she hoped to gather strength for the task. He smiled and winked at her.
Before the gunman got violent again, Zeke bent over, picked up the bag, and handed it to her. She managed to unzip the top of the large bag even with her fingers trembling furiously. Zeke started lifting the narrow safety-deposit-box lids and dumping the contents of each into the bag as she held it open. Once they’d emptied all of the boxes on the table, Zeke took the bag from her shaking hands and zipped it shut again.
“Let’s go,” the gunman said and punched Zeke in the shoulder. “Bring that bag with you.”
Next they were led to the dark, cavernous vault. The space was much larger than she’d pictured. She wished they’d turned more of the lights on already.
Stacks of cash lined several metal shelves along either side of the room like shelves in a library. The skinny, tall gunman who’d been grabbing all the money from the front cashier windows was now shoving vault cash into a large, dirty off-white duffel bag.
“Look at all this money,” he exclaimed excitedly. His childlike exuberance was out of place in Emma Rae’s opinion. His voice was pitched high, sounding like he was barely more than a boy. He shouldn’t be here ruining his life this way. The young gunman shoved another wrapped stack of bills into the open top of his bag. “So how are we going to get all of this money out of here?” he asked the paunchy, cigarette-smoke-scented man next to them.
Emma Rae had a sudden irrational and inappropriate answer. She clamped her lips together before responding that before robbing a bank, it was probably an excellent idea to have an exit strategy already in place. She and Zeke exchanged a glance. Perhaps he was thinking the same thing. Maybe they were both trying to keep an eye roll contained.
“Don’t worry about it. Just keep gathering cash. Make sure to get it all.” The gunman who’d led them back here suddenly shifted his attention from his cohort and put his focus directly on her. Or rather her chest.
Through the eyeholes of his mask, his muddy-brown eyes took entirely too much interest in her. His gaze ran from her breasts to her hips and back again. She fought the urge to cross her arms over her breasts to hide them from his newly engrossed view.
Emma Rae looked away from his regard and instead watched the other man as he collected stack after stack of money. The man she tried to ignore suddenly stepped closer. Her gaze shot grudgingly to his face. Through the mouth hole of his mask, she watched him lick his lips. A debilitating bolt of fear streaked down her body. She froze in place even though her inclination was to run far away. He suddenly grabbed her forearm. “Come with me. Let’s go get acquainted.”
She jerked her arm free and took a step away from his repugnant body. “No.”
“I’m not asking you, bitch, I’m telling you. Let’s go. Or maybe I’ll just have you strip naked right here, and I’ll fuck you in front of your boyfriend here. That might be more fun anyway.”
Zeke stepped between them. “I don’t think so.” His back to her, he called over his shoulder, “Stay behind me.”
“Get out of the way, lover boy, I just want a taste of her. You can have her back when I’m through. If she still wants you, that is.” His loathsome smirk twisted Emma Rae’s insides into knots. He moved to one side, catching her in his view again, and called out, “Take your panties off, bitch, and get ready for a real man.”
“Not going to happen.” Zeke’s calmly lethal-sounding voice comforted Emma Rae’s growing panic.
The gunman lifted his gun toward Zeke’s chin. Before he could get his gun in place, Zeke shot his hand into the man’s throat with a sudden punch Emma Rae barely saw happen. The gunman, eyes wide as if