“Why am I not surprised by that?” Ivy muttered behind Dona’s back.
I wasn’t sure what was funnier, remembering that conversation or the look on her face; it was a mixture of surprise, shock, and horror. Dona raised her hand to speak but then paused, shaking her head.
“If this your idea of trying to woo me…”
“Woo?” I laughed at the word. “No, that was yesterday. This, right now, is me trying to make you an accomplice in a bank robbery.”
Her mouth dropped open and I laughed. Not just me, but Ivy and Helen did as well.
“Are you insane?” she asked me.
“Only as much as you are. So…you coming or not?” I asked.
She just stared in shock before shaking her head. “Seventy-seven percent of all bank and casino robberies end in capture or death. Nineteen percent only make the annual salary of a cafe barista.”
“First, I’m glad to see you’ve thought about this—”
“I read!”
“Who casually reads up on the statics of bank robberies if they don’t want to rob a bank?” I questioned, my eyebrows rising in honest confusion.
“Who doesn’t read up on it when they do want to rob one?” she yelled at me. She was really getting worked up which just made her more beautiful and hilarious.
“Secondly,” I went on, ignoring her outburst, “in all your reading you must have noticed that four percent of robbers make it big. Think of it like Ocean’s 11, but with nine less people.”
“Why eleven and not twelve or thirteen?” Ivy asked, seriously thinking about it. I’d forgotten where we were for a moment.
I leaned over to look at her. “Ivy, is that really a question? Twelve and thirteen were horrible.”
“Plus, they were arrested in twelve and thirteen,” Helen said.
“One of them got arrested in eleven, too,” Ivy defended.
“But not for robbery,” Helen and I said at the same time.
I glanced down her, nodding. “Bloody well done.”
“What the hell is happening!” Dona screamed, drawing our attention to her. Her brothers looked at all of us as if we were modern art the MET museum. “They’re crazy…all of them!”
“Well, that’s hurtful,” I said, moving to lean on the edge of Helen’s chair and looking to her. “Apparently our fearless Dona is scared and I’m going to be late, so would you like help me rob a bank?”
She tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips; “Which bank—?”
“I am not scared; I’m just not an idiot!” Dona said to us.
“Neither am I. It’s not like I’m going to go in there shooting up the place. I do have plan. So, if I’m not an idiot, you must be a scaredy-cat.”
“I’m not five. That isn’t going to work on me.” She made a face.
“I’ll be leaving in ten minutes; if you have the time, I wouldn’t mind the help…” I said to Helen, winking at her before getting up and heading to the door, which opened as I approached.
“Coco, Rocky.” I nodded to the guards as they moved to tell Ethan whatever it was they needed too.
“The bank you’re robbing…” Ethan called out to me, finally speaking up. “Is it Wilson’s Bank?”
I glanced over my shoulder. “Why do you ask?”
“If so, I have another account for you to rob, unless you plan on taking the whole bank down?” he asked, placing his elbows on the tables and folding his hand over one another.