The Job

by Jove Belle

  Tor laughed, even though they were in the library and she was supposed to be studying. When the guy two tables over glared and shushed them in an exaggerated display of annoyance, Tor laughed even harder. She did try to muffle her outburst against her hand, but that didn’t work at all. She stopped laughing when the girl held out her hand and smiled as she said, “I’m Sera.”

  It took far too long for her brain to send out the commands for the rest of her body. The sexy curve of Sera’s mouth caught her off guard, and she forgot about even the most basic response. She stared with her mouth open for several seconds before finally taking Sera’s hand and more holding it than shaking it. “Tor,” she sputtered. “I’m Tor.”

  “Oh, I know who you are.” Sera nodded as she slipped easily into the seat Tor had pushed out for her. She held on to Tor’s hand as she moved and smiled easily for several long seconds before releasing it. Then she pulled a book from her bag without actually looking at what she was doing. “I suppose I better get to work.”

  Tor stared at Sera long after Sera had turned her attention to her studies. Finally, she blinked deliberately, like doing so would clear her thoughts and her vision at the same time. It didn’t work, but it was enough of a reset that she was able to turn away and at least pretend to read her own book.

  Tor was completely in over her head with Sera, and she knew it the moment she asked if she could join her. She carried herself with such cocky self-assurance that Tor was drawn in. She wanted to know where her confidence came from. None of her friends were the type to approach someone else, even at a party where approaching was expected, let alone in a library where everyone was studying. Sera had walked up to her like she just knew Tor would be interested. And she was right.

  Tor was more reserved. She hadn’t dated much. She’d been friends with her ex long before they were girlfriends. In fact, they’d made out several times before Tor had worked up the nerve to ask what they were doing. She’d never had a girl straight-up flirt with her. She hadn’t expected the first time to be in a library. It wasn’t where people went to hook up. Yet, unless she was completely off base, she was pretty sure that was exactly what had just happened. The possibility excited and confused her. Sera was definitely cute and sexy and, expecting it or not, she planned to take advantage of any possibilities. All she had to do was convince her mouth to work without making herself look like an idiot.

  “I haven’t seen you here before.” Tor studied in the library almost every evening. It was quieter than the dorm. Her roommate thought of school as one long weekend away from her parents. She didn’t actually care about going to classes. As a result, she had a constant stream of visitors, mostly guys, in and out of their room at all hours. Tor couldn’t wait until next year when the school would allow her to get an apartment off campus.

  Sera tilted her head toward Tor with that dangerous, sexy smile. She closed her book and rested her hand on top of the cover. “Have you been looking for me?”

  Tor tried to respond, but her mouth wouldn’t cooperate. She had this cartoon vision of herself scrambling to figure out how to form words. Had she been looking for her? No. Would she remember if she’d seen her here before? Definitely. She yelled at herself to say something, anything in return. She hoped for something witty and flirty but would have settled for a simple no. Instead, she shook her head, the movement a little wild and uncontrolled. About three shakes in, she realized she was still moving and, to top it off, her mouth was open. She stopped abruptly and closed her mouth, her teeth clicking together audibly.

  Sera laughed. “You’re cute.” She said it simply, without flirting or innuendo, and for the first time since Sera had spoken, Tor felt like she might stand a chance. Like a swimmer who dove into the deep end without realizing it, she felt her foot touch the bottom and she pushed off, her eyes focused on the light shining on the surface of the water.

  Tor had no idea how to respond but knew she had to. She wanted to keep Sera smiling at her in a way that made her stomach flip and lurch. What was the appropriate thing to say when someone pointed out that she was cute? “Um…thanks?”

  Sera chuckled and shook her head lightly, then turned her attention back to her book without further comment. Tor didn’t even try to pick up her research. She was too captivated, and confused, by the sudden arrival and subsequent flirting from her classmate. She studied Sera, looking for some indication of what she was thinking, but Sera’s hair had slipped from behind her ear. Now it draped down and covered the side of her face, hiding her from Tor’s view. Sera read through several pages, her lips moving silently as she did so. After a few pages, she tilted her head to the side and tucked her hair behind her ear so she was once again able to see Tor.

  “Did I completely throw you off your groove?” Sera gestured toward the notebook she’d been using to take notes. Her pen lay across it, untouched since Sera’s arrival.

  It flustered Tor even more that Sera was so calm. Tor couldn’t figure out how to get her stomach to stop doing that funky, disconcerting lurch / drop thing, let alone how to form proper sentences. Sera didn’t seem bothered at all. Sometimes the world just wasn’t fair.

  Tor shook her head and tried to remember what charming looked like. Then she said, “I’m okay.” So much for charming.

  “You are so much more than okay.” Sera rested her chin in her hand and smiled in a way that made her eyes sparkle. Or maybe they always sparkled. Tor didn’t know, but she really wanted to find out.

  As far as Tor could tell, Sera had every reason to smile. She was saying all the right things, and with every flirtatious bit of banter, Tor fell more securely into the role of babbling village idiot.

  Tor’s face flushed hot, and there was no way Sera wouldn’t notice. It was one on a long list of things that made her occasionally curse her Irish heritage. If she went into the sun, she turned bright red within about twelve seconds. With a cute girl sitting next to her in the library, it happened without any sunlight at all.

  “I’ve heard you talk in class, so I know you can do it. Very well, even.” Sera spoke quietly, her voice in that hushed almost-whisper that people reserved for libraries and churches. With her head tilted close so Tor could hear, Tor found the moment incredibly intimate despite being teased. “Why so quiet?”

  “Nervous.” One word that said very little but admitted far too much.

  Sera looked at the table for a prolonged moment. Her hand rested against the polished dark wood, so close to Tor’s that she could feel the energy flowing between them. Before that, Tor hadn’t noticed how close they were to touching. “What are you nervous about?” Sera’s voice was even lower than before.

  Tor shook her head silently. She couldn’t think of even one word to say in response.

  Sera’s mouth, which had been drawn in a serious line, curved up on one side. “Am I making you nervous?”

  Tor nodded. She shouldn’t have. In another universe, maybe she was living this scene, only in opposites. Maybe she was the suave one, saying all the right things and not stuck in this terrible, embarrassing mute state. Even if she was, it didn’t change the fact that she was here, living this version of her life where all she could do was nod without speaking, even though it was the worst possible answer she could have given.

  Sera stared at her, her features softening with an emotion Tor couldn’t decipher. After a few moments she asked, “What are you studying?”

  If she could have moved, Tor would have hugged Sera for throwing her back into the shallow end of the pool where she could safely touch the bottom and not worry about drowning long enough to say, “The contribution of women in the Catholic Church during the 1600s.”

  Apparently she could speak just fine as long as the words that came out were geeky enough to make sure she never dated again.

  “Whoa. Heavy.” Sera flipped up the side of the book she’d been holding. “I’ve just been pretending to read my sociology textbook. Now I feel almost guilty for distracting you.” Sera nu
dged the side of Tor’s hand. “Almost.”

  Tor took a deep breath and decided she needed to approach Sera like one of her classes. She’d never figure out how to speak if she didn’t. Just like with any other academic challenge, Tor faced it head-on. “Is that what you’re trying to do? Distract me?”

  “Maybe.” Sera nodded.

  Tor didn’t see her move, but she swore Sera was somehow sitting closer than before.

  “Why is that?” Tor’s voice came out so breathy and low, it sounded foreign to her, like someone else was speaking.

  “I figure if I’m distracting enough, maybe you’ll say yes when I ask you out.”

  Tor was absolutely certain she stopped breathing and her heart stopped beating for half a second. Then they both took off on a crazy rampage. She almost hyperventilated before she choked on nothing and had to turn her head away to keep from coughing all over Sera. She’d almost recovered when she felt Sera’s hand, soft and yet so very solid, rubbing slow, easy circles against her back. Then she was off in another small panic attack.

  Not that she disliked the way Sera touched her. Quite the opposite. She liked it so much she was afraid for it to stop. And if she didn’t figure out a way to control her body soon, the only possible thing Sera would do was pack up her books and walk away. Her damn social awkwardness would destroy her first, and probably last, opportunity to hook up with a cute girl in college.

  Tor looked straight into Sera’s eyes. “Is that what you’re doing? Planning to ask me out?” By some miracle, she didn’t pass out.

  “That depends.” For the first time since Sera sat down, she looked like she was the nervous one, rather than the other way around. “Would you say yes?”

  Tor nodded slowly, mostly because she couldn’t believe this was happening, not because she was uncertain of her answer. “Yes.” And then, because she didn’t sound certain enough, she said, “Definitely.”

  Sera laughed and sat back in her chair. “Thank God.”

  Tor gave up all hope of studying for the rest of the afternoon.

  Chapter Seven

  Sera fell back on pure instinct. Tor’s sudden appearance on the stairs behind her had sent her adrenaline spiking like nothing else had so far that day. She couldn’t, no matter the cost, let anything happen to Tor. All she could think about was how Tor was standing when Marcus wanted everyone on the floor. The longer she stood, the more danger she was in. If she didn’t get Tor down right now, she’d never have a chance to work through things with her. She’d forever be the woman she’d never quite figured out how to stop loving when she should have been the woman she didn’t want to ever stop loving. Fear and shock startled Sera into very bad-guy-like action. She pointed her gun in Tor’s direction, slightly high and to the right, and yelled, “On the ground. Now.”

  Her voice sounded strange and screechy, and a little bit desperate. Any hope she had of convincing Marcus that she didn’t know Tor had been destroyed the second Tor said her name. Sera cemented it by turning into a panicked little girl when she looked at Tor.

  Tor rolled her eyes, descended the rest of the steps, then gracefully dropped to the floor with the group of employees. Sera had lived with Tor for three years. During that time, she’d never gotten used to how smooth Tor was. She’d been adorably awkward when they first met, but that had quickly faded. Whether she was running across the parking lot or fixing French toast for breakfast, her movements were absolute poetry. She carried herself with fluid elegance. Next to her, Sera felt like a lumbering buffoon.

  Before she could figure out where Tor had come from and maybe offer an apology for not calling over the past eleven years, Marcus grabbed Tor by the wrist and wrenched her back up. It took a moment to realize he was yelling at her.

  Sera rushed over. “Whoa. Let her go.”

  So far today, she’d held back the urge to lay Marcus flat, but seeing his fist circling Tor’s wrist so tight the skin turned blotchy red and white was too much. It took all of her control to keep her hands at her side. Touching him would have been a disaster for everyone, especially Tor.

  Marcus twisted Tor around until she was standing between him and Sera. He jerked her arm up behind her into a tight chicken wing, and Tor cried out and tried to squirm away.

  “Please, I’m happy to help you with whatever you need here today. There’s no reason for anyone to get hurt.” To her credit, Tor’s voice was relatively calm, showing few signs of strain. Given the circumstances, it was impressive. Sera had seen that hold bring some real badass gangsters to their knees.

  In response, Marcus forced her arm tighter into the hold. Tor’s face contorted with pain, but she didn’t call out this time.

  Sera holstered her gun and raised both hands so the palms were facing Marcus. She’d spent way too much time that morning in a position of surrender to this lunatic. She was getting damn tired of it, but she couldn’t do anything about it now.

  “Marcus, let’s just take a step back and breathe for a second. Think about it, man. You don’t need her. You’re already in the vault. What will hurting her give you?” Sera forced herself to keep her gaze steadily on Marcus, but everything in her wanted to look at Tor. It’d been so long that all she wanted to do was stare at her, take in every part of her, make sure she was real and that she was okay. Tor was so much more than just the one that got away. Sera had loved her with wild, out-of-control intensity, and that passion hadn’t burned out so much as exploded. They’d agreed to split out of self-preservation. The odds of them shattering each other were just too high. At first, she’d thought that maybe, with enough time, she’d get over Tor. Maybe, like what happened with most young romances, her feelings would fade as she grew older. That still hadn’t happened.

  The sound of Marcus’s laugh crawled through Sera and settled as an uncomfortable ball in her stomach. “It’s not about what hurting her can give me. It’s about what it’ll take from you.”

  Sera pulled the stocking cap off. It was already wet with sweat, and her hair was probably standing up rather than breaking just over her eyes the way she liked. It didn’t matter. When Tor said her name, the need to protect her identity disappeared. Now she wanted to be able to look Marcus in the eye without the weird halo of fabric around her vision. More important, she wanted Tor to be able to see her as she said, “Just tell me what you want. Anything. I’ll do it. I swear.”

  Marcus pushed Tor at Sera with such force that it almost knocked Sera to the floor. Sera stumbled, but caught Tor and maneuvered until she stood between Tor and Marcus. With Tor safely out of Marcus’s reach, she was better able to focus. She kept one hand behind her, holding on to Tor’s hand to keep her from moving away. She needed to know where she was or she wouldn’t be able to protect her.

  “Don’t you get it, boss? You’re already doing it.” Marcus raised the shotgun to his shoulder and aimed it at Tor’s head. Tor gasped and held tighter to Sera’s hand. Sera took a step to the side, placing herself more firmly between Tor and Marcus. For whatever reason, Marcus didn’t want her dead. Yet. She’d use that fact for as long as she could to keep Tor alive.

  “Marcus, what are we doing here?” They’d been in the building way too long, and Tor’s arrival seemed to have derailed Marcus from his meticulous countdown. She hoped the question would divert his attention from Tor and get the group moving toward the door. Just because her day appeared to have a truly shitty ending waiting for her, Tor didn’t have to be a part of it. Sera just had to distract him long enough for Tor to blend safely with the rest of the employees.

  Marcus shook his head. “I’ve already told you why we’re here. I don’t know why you refuse to hear my message.”

  The words he chose scratched at her. Self-proclaimed messiahs had a message. So did cult leaders. And, her least favorite option, cult members who had been selected to share the message, usually at great harm to themselves. She wasn’t sure where Marcus placed himself in the hierarchy, but it didn’t really matter. She was more interested in
keeping him talking than in figuring out which twisted part of his psyche made him choose that particular phrasing. She just needed to change his focus without revealing her true motivation—the need to keep everyone safe that overrode her sense of self-preservation. Nothing said federal agent like throwing herself in the line of fire to protect a group of strangers. Yes, he already believed it, but her survival, all their survival, depended upon her giving him enough reason to doubt himself.

  She went on the offensive. “You don’t have a message. You’re a pawn in a much larger game. You want to believe you understand because that makes you feel special. You’re not special, Marcus. You’re a weak-minded fool who has allowed himself to be manipulated and used. No wonder John promoted me over you.” Marcus’s body drew tight, his hands vibrating in a way that made the shotgun shake in his grip. His finger was on the trigger, and it took everything in her to stand still and wait for him to lower the gun. Tor’s nails dug into her palm and she regretted her words. Maybe she would die today—it looked more and more like that was the inevitable outcome—but she didn’t want Tor to watch it happen.

  She drew a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. We should just focus on finishing and getting out of this bank. The police have to be close. They’ll shoot us both and then it won’t matter what we think of each other.”

  “Five minutes.” Craig’s voice crackled on the overhead. She’d lost track of him when Tor appeared. Just like always, Tor distracted her to an unhealthy degree. Instead of forgetting his time-keeping duties, Marcus had handed them off silently to Craig.

  Marcus lowered his shotgun and turned to walk away. He moved half a step before whirling around to strike her across the face with the back of his hand. Stars burst in front of her vision, followed by a wave of darkness and nausea. She just managed to stay on her feet. When her vision cleared, Marcus was across the bank talking to Craig.