All These Years

Chapter 12

The next few weeks went by quickly. I had gone back to work, spent my evenings with the Dillinger crew and my nights tangled up with Shane. Being with Shane was easy, even with everything he was involved in. I knew I loved the person he was and always had been. Some people are so pure with their intentions that no matter what they will always be in your corner. That was Shane. No matter how much time had passed he only wanted the best for me, only wanted to be the best friend that I needed and the love I always wanted.

Even with very different backgrounds Shane's crew made it seem like we were all equals. Harley was definitely harder to crack. I got the impression she had only ever been around men. I often wondered about her mom and if she had ever had a female influence in her life. She was pretty cold to me and kept her distance, stopped talking when I entered a room and stay almost completely silent. Hampton always tried to assure me that her problem wasn't with me as a person, but more so she had no idea what to even talk to me about. I found that hard to believe though since she saw that I could hold my own in almost every conversation the guys had even when discussing the business. I just concluded that she'd eventually warm up to me or we'd go the rest of our lives as silent partners, connected only by my love for her boss.

Hampton was very different than his twin sister and was quickly becoming a very good friend. When Shane was wrapped up in handling issues within the business Hampton was there to keep me busy. We'd sit for hours in the library together in complete silence each reading a different book. The silence would only be broken periodically by Ham reading aloud a portion of his book he thought was hilarious. We'd sit together and discuss the universe and different aspects of the solar system.

Finn was indifferent. More often than not he was with Harley who wouldn't talk to me. When he wasn't he just kept his distance. Hampton told me that he was against Shane having a relationship. In his eyes it made him weak to their enemies and he wasn't looking forward to the war he was sure would ensue if others saw Shane as weak or compromised. Sometimes late at night when I'd look over at Shane sleeping peacefully, his skin bathed in the moonlight, I'd see Finns point of view. Id wonder if my presence had a weakening effect on his cold blooded persona. I'd think back to that day sitting in the interrogation room after that botched bank robbery. The image the police painted to me of Shane that day was of a cold blooded killer, hell bent on causing pain and taking everything to build an empire. So his enemies had to believe the same of him. How could such a cold hearted killer fall in love? He couldn't. So he had to be weaker than everyone thought.

Those were the thoughts that kept me up at night.

I woke up Friday morning before the sun had risen, to get ready for work. I got in the shower letting the steamy water cascade over my olive skin. After a good thirty minutes I shut the water off and dried the droplets from my skin. I dried my hair, straightening it to perfection before moving onto my makeup routine. Once I finished I select the perfect fit skinny jeans and my navy bank polo before slipping my sperrys on, grabbing my purse and walking out the door.

The beginning of February was bitterly cold. It was apparently too cold to even snow, seeing as how it hadn't snowed for the last few days. Piles of shoveled snow lined roadways and sidewalks. I climbed into my car praying it would start and that the battery wasn't completely dead from the cold. It took about ten minutes to push hot air out of the vents leaving me with a five minute drive with heat.

I sat in my car for a few minutes before walking through the frigid air to the bank. I pulled my down coat tighter to my my body to keep my heat locked inside. Pushing through the employee entrance I stomped my feet loudly knocking the snow off my shoes. I could hear Margo talking to a customer loudly on the phone from where I stood in the back and instantly knew I wasn't ready for the day ahead of me.