Page 19 of The Thief
She leaned closer to her mum and whispered a little too loudly, “You do it.” Hoping her mum would save her embarrassment and high-five me instead.
“It’s fine. I’m used to rejection.” I pretended to look heartbroken, letting my arm fall weakly to my side.
Ava looked panicked, distraught that she might’ve upset me,and instantly, I regretted playing with her emotions. So I winked and added, “I’m only joking. How old are you, Ava?” A little girl had me second-guessing myself, and that was something I never did. This girl was something else.
“I’m three,” she stated proudly, giving me a goofy, dimpled smile that showed off her tiny, pearly-white teeth. Her mood had swung from panic to pride in a nanosecond.
“Are you sure?” I stepped back, narrowing my eyes in disbelief. “Because I don’t believe you. I think you’re at least eighteen.”
“No, silly,” she replied, giving me the cutest chuckle. “I’m three and mummy is twenty-six, and she doesn’t have a boyfriend.”
That was good to know.
“Ava!” Jess gave her a warning glare, but Ava was a renegade. She was on a roll, and there was no stopping her.
“How old areyou?” Ava asked me, mischief sparkling in her eyes.
“Twenty-eight.”
“You’re too old for Mummy then,” she announced, and I threw my head back and laughed.
But as I watched her mum, Jess, standing there, laughing along with me but looking like she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole, we heard a loud bang. A crash that made all of us stop and turn around.
And in that moment, the world fell away.
Transporting us against every fibre of our being into a hell none of us saw coming.
A hell I was used to frequenting.
A hell that tore my inner demons from the recesses of mymind, dragging them by their chains, right to the forefront.
Demons I kept hidden, except for those that deserved to meet them. And these two ladies behind me were the last ones I wanted to bear witness to the devil I was about to unleash.
But the men coming towards us?
That was another matter entirely.
Chapter Seven
JESS
When I’d walked into the bank just moments ago and saw who was standing at the end of the queue, my heart started racing.
Tyler Evans.
My body betrayed me, going weak and a little shaky, and I contemplated turning around and walking right back out again. But I took a deep breath and walked forward, keeping my head high, trying not to overthink.
After fourteen years of managing to avoid him in our tiny town, I would have to run into him in the bank on a Monday morning of all places. My hair was a mess, my makeup a rush job, and my clothes, a blue summer dress that had seen better days and cheap strappy sandals, wouldn’t have been my first choice for an outfit to be spotted in. I thought this time in the morning was a safe bet for coming out, getting a few errandsdone and slinking back home again without anyone seeing me. But at least Ava looked good in her pretty pink dress. I think I’d spent more time on her hair this morning than my own.
Fuck my life.
Karma seemed to have a way of shitting on me when I least expected it.
I’d joined the queue, keeping my head down, praying he wouldn’t notice me as I grabbed Ava’s hand to give me some confidence. There were only three other people in the queue in front of him. If we stayed quiet, I hoped I might get out of here without having to face him and a past I’d rather forget. I craned my neck to the side to peer around Tyler and see why the queue wasn’t moving, willing the bank workers to get a move on so I could get out of here. But from the look of it, they were in no rush this morning.
As we waited, the old lady in front of Tyler grumbled a little too loudly that ‘you couldn’t get the staff these days’, and my palms grew sweaty from holding Ava’s hand as she pranced about. I tried to keep her in check, but she wouldn’t stay still. But then, what three-year-old could stay still when they’re stuck in a boring bank waiting to be served? Even I’d grown impatient, and I was an adult.
Suddenly, Ava’s hand had twisted out of mine as she twirled around, and I was too late to stop her from bumping into Tyler in front of us. He peered over his shoulder and smiled at her with a twinkle in his eye, but he didn’t look at me, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
