CHAPTER THIRTEEN

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Vic’s worried face. At first he didn’t notice I was awake, he was staring down at the floor, lost in thought. I decided not to bother him yet and blinked, trying to understand where I am. Bedsheets… White walls… Was that a hospital…?

…No, of course not… It was a hotel room. Even though the bed felt like it was made of rocks and dead cockroaches, Vic had done his best to make me feel comfortable. He had wrapped me in blankets and put two pillows under my head, optimistically hoping it would make the bed just a bit softer. It didn’t, but I appreciated his effort. Damn, why did he always have to be so sweet…?

“Hey…”, I spoke up, my voice weak.

Startled, Vic looked up at me, and when he saw me, a warm, relieved smile appeared on his face.

“Hey, you okay? How are you feeling?”

“Shitty…”, I murmured and clumsily sat up. “But thanks for asking.”

“No problem…”, he smoothed out my blanket and stood up. “So, do you need me to get you something? Water, food, anything?”

“No.”, I lied back down, burying my face in the pillow. The fabric lightly tickled my nose and I sneezed, causing Vic to giggle. I smiled. “I don’t want anything, now get back here.”

I reached out without looking and grabbed the edge of his shirt, pulling him back down. He giggled some more as he stumbled to the bed and sat down, almost falling over me. I chuckled and ruffled his hair.

“You stupid bastard.”, I shook head. “Why did you play the hero of the day and save me, when you could get out?! Now the whole plan is ruined and there’s no turning back, you know. Everyone will consider you a criminal from now on. And we were that close…”

“And what was I supposed to do, let them keep hurting you?”, he raised an eyebrow. “No. I think I did the right thing. Besides…”, he looked at me and smiled a little. “I realized that perhaps I can’t get back to my normal life… No way. I’m much happier on the run with you than alone behind my stupid desk in my stupid office, doing my stupid job.”

“Really?”, I smiled too and sat up again, instantly feeling dizzy.

“Yeah, really. So I’m not going anywhere.”

Victor leaned in and hugged me, gently so he wouldn’t make my injuries start hurting again. Even though that made the pain come back almost immediately, I bit my lower lip and let him hold me, carefully wrapping my arms around him.

“I won’t let you die alone, Kellin…”, he murmured in my ear. “…I promise… I’ll keep you safe.”

I buried my face into his shirt and snuggled closer to him, closing eyes once more.

“I know this might sound selfish…”, I started slowly, “but I really don’t want you to leave me… Vic… Please, don’t leave me…”

“I won’t, I promise.” He stroked my hair with his fingertips and gently put a few strands behind my ear. “…Ever.”

“Thanks…”, I sighed, smiling. There was something in the way he hugged me, something that I… I couldn’t really… define… but it made my heartbeats faster, it made me awkward, but at the same time happy. Even though I didn’t know what this something was, it definitely felt good.

Anyway, everything has its limits, and soon I had to let him go, lying back down in the not really soft bed. I noticed Vic had also bandaged most of my injuries, even though I doubted he could help much with the possibly broken rib. However, now my cuts and bruises were gently wrapped in clean bandages. For a moment, when I realized that to do this, he had to take off some of my clothes, I felt a bit uncomfortable and caught myself blushing lightly. I unconsciously imagined his long, slender, delicate fingers slip across my skin, as he unfolds the bandage and wraps it around me, his soft touch-

Kellin. No. What the fuck, where did those thoughts even come from?! Just… no.

But…

No.

…But… I was just… Whatever.

“Those cops”, Vic furrowed eyebrows, getting me out of the argument my own thoughts were having, “were total assholes. Really. I mean… Why would they even… Why…”, he shook head and let out a deep, but short, angry sigh. “Why would they hurt you so much? What have you fucking done to them to deserve this? It was almost like they enjoyed causing you pain, like they enjoyed watching you cry, and I just don’t understand, I-I-I mean, seeing you cry is possibly the most upsetting, heartbreaking thing ever… And… they laughed…”

“Forget about them.”, I frowned, interrupting him before he gets emotional. “Look, they’re just a bunch of aggressive bastards, who, instead of becoming criminals, decided to become cops, and in their case there isn’t a big difference between these two… Except that the most dangerous criminal is the one, who serves the law.”

“Right…”, he shook head again. “Dammit Kellin, I should’ve killed them back there, I really should’ve…”

“No, you did the right thing. Otherwise you’d become like them, actually, you’d become a worse person than them, and we both know you’re not.”, I said seriously. “Look, I’ve killed a man… I still suffer from flashbacks and nightmares every single night. Yeah, Terrance deserved to die, but that doesn’t make the scene I witnessed, the mess I caused, less horrifying. I bet you don’t wanna see those policemen’s blood splashed on the ground in your dreams for the rest of your life, right? We both know that what you did was right.”

“But I wanted to kill them.”, he looked away. “I wanted to pull the fucking trigger so badly. Does that make me a bad man, a monster? Does that make me a-“

“But you didn’t do it.”, I interrupted him. “You’re a nice guy, Vic. You were angry and confused, so it’s normal to react this way, but you kept the situation under control. You didn’t kill anyone, that’s what’s important.” I hesitated. “You’re a good man, and the sweetest human being I’ve ever met. So don’t you think for one second you’re a monster, don’t you ever say that, you hear me?” I smiled and touched his cheek. “Besides, no monster can be this adorable.”

A soft blush made his skin turn slightly pink, I could feel it become warmer under my fingers, as the blood rushed into his face.

“I’m not adorable, I’m silly and annoying.”, he objected, smiling shyly.

“The adorableness, caused by your silliness is annoyingly cute.”, I grinned.

Vic laughed softly and blushed more, now his face slowly going from pink to deep red.

“Kellin”, he started hesitantly, carefully picking his words, “when you say things like that, it makes me wonder…”

“Yeah?”, I tilted head to the side, blushing a little too.

“Well, you know… If you… And if I… If we… But… I don’t think we are, I guess I’m probably wrong…”

I blinked.

“Vic, what are you talking about?”

“I…”, he bit his lip. “…Never mind. Please… forget it.”

I rolled eyes.

“Dammit, man, don’t go with the ‘doesn’t matter’ thing again. Come on. Tell me.”, I said with a half-smile. “Otherwise, if you never do, I’d spend my whole afterlife wondering what you wanted to say.”

“Nooo, really, it’s not important, and I’m probably wrong.”, he smiled back, a bit awkwardly.

“Tell meeeeeeeee! Or I’ll torture you until you do!”, I gave him an evil grin.

“Don’t you dare.”, Vic pointed at me threateningly. “Don’t you fucking dare.”

“Don’t tell me what to do!”

I grabbed him and pulled him down, tickling him. He fell on the bed next to me, with his nose stuck in one of the pillows.

“Noooooo!” He giggled and started flailing, but, being in an uncomfortable position, all he did was raising a puff of dust in the air. This only showed how often the owners washed the bedsheets in this motel – not often enough, as it seemed.

“You shall tell me the truth!”, I ordered, giggling as well and still tickling him, but now using only one hand, while waving my other one in front of my face to make the dust go away. “Tell me, now!”.

“KELLIN-!”, he squealed, laughing too hard to say anything else, and pushed me away playfully. I rolled to the side, accidentally pressing my hurt ribs to the uncomfortable mattress.

“Damn-”, I groaned and made a face, the pain made me shudder.

It took Vic a few seconds to understand what was going on. When he realized he’s accidentally hurt me, he immediately stopped laughing, his eyes slightly widened.

“Shit, Kel, are you okay? How are you feeling? I’m so sorry, I totally forgot about your injuries, I didn’t want to cause you pain…”

“I’m fine.”, I murmured, rubbing my bruises, hoping this would make me feel better.

“I’m sorry…”

“I said I’m fine, don’t worry.”, I tried to smile, to show him I’m alright, but the closest thing to a smile I could make was twisting the corners of my mouth up.

“Okay… Come here.” He leaned down and gently hugged me again. It didn’t make the pain go away, but it certainly cheered me up a bit. “I’ll be more careful from now on, I promise.”

“You better be.”, I murmured and hugged him back clumsily. “’Cause I need to heal faster, we’ve got a lot of business to do. Vegas is waiting.”

Victor pulled back a bit, to look at me. “So we’re still doing it? You haven’t given up?”

“Of course not, why would I? If it’s because of the cops, fuck them. A little beating won’t put me off, I have shit to do before I die.”, I smiled a little. “And I’ll have twice more fun doing it if you’re gonna join me.”

“Sure thing.”, he smiled too, his hug tightened around me. “Sounds great.”

* * *

Friday. Four days after I got beaten up, and three days after we had started planning point number tree from the List.

The clock was ticking, chopping the air and turning it into seconds and minutes. Clients were coming and going, high heels were scribbling the smooth marble floors, polite, but bored as hell bank tellers were doing their job, money were being transferred. Numbers and currencies were dancing in the space, jumping from mouth to mouth, handed from one hand to another.

Another busy day at SUFDO Bank, the meaning of the abbreviation of which probably absolutely no one knew (and no one gave a shit about).

Watching this stunning dance of bills and checks, I came to the realization: Money is power. Even when the world is looking the other way, even when the world is sleeping, these tiny little papers with numbers and symbols written on them never stop dancing. It was a game, and in this game, it wasn’t people who played with money. Money played with people.

Time to change the rules, motherfuckers.

I looked up at Vic as I loaded my gun.

“Looking scary enough?”, I asked, grinning behind my ski mask, absolutely identical to his.

“Damn frightening.”, he replied and chuckled. “How about me?”

“Mm.”, I made a critical face. “You’re about as scary as a fluffy baby kitten, when it hisses.”

He laughed a bit, then suddenly stuck his gun in my face.

“Oh yeah? And how about now?”

“Now… Now I am truly horrified.”, I admitted. “But only by the possibility to get wet from your dumb water gun.”

“Oh, shut uuuup.”, Vic giggled and poked me with it, then put it down. “We both know I’m more convincing than you.”

“Yeah, you are, that’s why I count on you.” I patted his shoulder. “Now, let me check. Gloves? Gun? Mask? Bag? Guts? Awesome. Let’s go then.”

* * *

And so the dance went on, with all those employees and clients unaware of our plans. Well, until we entered the dance floor with a crash and ruined their ball.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!”, I tried my best scream, while Vic was shutting the doors behind me. “THIS”, I waved my gun in the air, to let them see it, then continued normally, “is a robbery. I would like to ask you politely to turn your phones off and put them on that desk over there, would you? Move slowly. Yeah, you too, sweetheart, thank you… Yeah. Good. Now, I want you to put your hands in the air and kneel on the floor, keeping them this way.”

I watched them obey, while my partner was busy searching the guards for weapons. I knew that what I was going to do was completely unnecessary, but I climbed on a desk and clapped my hands, to get everyone’s attention, in case I hadn’t already.

“Attention, ladies and gentlemen! I feel like we need to introduce ourselves…”, I looked to Victor. He nodded and I noticed he was grinning slightly. We were doing the thing from the pastry shop again.

He climbed up next to me and threw his arm around my shoulders. “I’m Vic, and this is my boy Kellin here, and…”

“…we’re here to fuck shit up!”, I finished instead of him, grinning widely.

“Right.”, he patted my back, then got back down and headed to one of the teller’s desks. “Hey, you! Yeah, you, lady. Please, get up, we’re gonna need your help. What’s your name?”

A short girl with curly hair, so blond that it was almost grey, stood up. She was wearing a jacket and a long, seemingly uncomfortable skirt, and a nameplate, showing that she worked here. She spoke up hesitantly: “…Vanessa…”

“Sweet. Okay, Vanessa.”, I jumped down as well and walked to her. “Listen. I’m here to withdraw some money. Would you help me?” I leaned against the desk, holding my gun pointed at her. “It would be very nice of you.”

“S-sure, of course, sure!”, she stuttered. “I-I-I’ll give you as much as you want, p-please, just don’t hurt anyone…”

“I won’t if you do what we tell you to, I promise.”, I quickly said, then continued. “So. I want to withdraw money from one specific bank account here, the one by the name of Charles Stuard. One certain amount of money. More specifically… 100 000 dollars.”

Vic’s jaw dropped. “One hundred thousand?! Kellin, you never told me it’s about that much mon-”

“Shh. Later.”, I murmured to him, then turned back to the girl. “Can you do this for me?”

Her expression wasn’t much less surprised than Victor’s. In fact, she was so surprised that she had forgotten to stutter.

“Only 100 000 dollars? From just one account?”

“Why, you’re willing to give me more? Go ahead then.”, I chuckled. “No, forget it. Gimme my money and we’re outta here. Just hurry up.”

I glanced down at my watch. When I looked up, I caught a glimpse of a movement somewhere on my right, and turned around just on time to see one of the clients dial a number and pick up a phone. He obviously had reached out and grabbed it from the desk while I wasn’t watching. I frowned, angry at myself. Stupid, stupid!

“HEY, YOU!”, I immediately pointed my weapon at him. My sudden scream made Vic jump, startled. “Put the fucking phone down, now! Now! I SAID NOW, MOTHERFUCKER!”

The guy dropped the device, scared by my tone. He was a middle-aged man, obviously slowly going bald, not really fat, but not skinny either. Nothing special, nothing interesting. For just an average guy, he was impressively brave to try to call the police, or whoever he was calling.

Impressively brave, or impressively stupid. The second one, most likely.

“Now lay down on the ground, your hands spread above your head. Hey, you hear what I’m saying?”

The guy was just sitting there, watching me with eyes widened in horror. I glanced at Vic.

“Go make him lie down and make sure he doesn’t move.”, I hissed. “I’ll finish my stuff here and we’ll go. C’mon.”

Victor went to take care of the man, in the meantime, I turned to Vanessa again.

“It’s okay, dear, we’ve got this.”, then I added louder, so everyone would hear me. “And no one’s gonna get hurt if you do what we tell you to.”

“Yeah, and I bet you heard him the first time, too, asshole.”, Vic groaned, while pushing the guy with the phone on the ground and searching him for another one. When he was done, he got up and turned to the rest of our ‘hostages’. “Don’t do stupid shit like he did, or we’ll start getting angry and fuckin’ use our weapons for what they’re meant for. Am I clear? Am I fucking clear? Awesome.”

I raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised. Damn, he really was convincing. If I was that hostage, I wouldn’t move even if I saw the ceiling fall down over me.

Vanessa was slowly starting panic in front of me, her shaking hands were nervously playing with a pen, so frantically, that in the end the pen fell apart and stained her fingers with ink. She didn’t notice this, though, or even if she did, she didn’t want to move her look from me, too horrified to do so.

“Hey, hey, listen. Vanessa. Calm down.”, I sighed. I had to play the ‘good criminal’ again. Awesome. “Just do what I asked you to. 100 000 dollars from Charles’ bank account. Now. Cash.”

“I-I’ll do this right now, sir, please, just wait a second…”

“Mmhm. I’m waiting.”, I smirked.

I watched her as she typed something and clicked a few buttons on the computer. “Charles Stuard, you said?”

I nodded. “Yes, him. S-T-U-A-R-D.”

She typed something else. The whole time I was watching the computer screen, to make sure she wasn’t writing an e-mail for help or something like that. Surprisingly, she didn’t even try that. She was doing exactly what I told her to.

“…Done.”, she finally said. “I’ll g-get the money for you now.”

I just nodded again and put the bag on the table, holding it open while she was putting the money inside, mostly fifty and one hundred dollar bills. The money that once belonged to me, back to its owner. Sweet.

Suddenly I felt Vic’s hand on my shoulder. I threw a glance at him. “What?”

“The guy.”, he murmured. “It seems he managed to call the police, we need to get outta here now, before they come.”

“Shit!”, I hissed, frowning, then I turned to Vanessa. “Are you done, sweetheart?”

She put the last few wads of cash in the bag. “Yes… Yes, I am.” The girl hesitantly looked up at me, her eyes still wide in fear.

“Great.”, I smiled. “Thank you, you were very nice.” I hesitated, then took a fifty and handed it to her. “Here, that’s for the great service. Keep it.”

Vanessa just stared down at the bill with her mouth half-open. I grinned, then headed to the door.

“Ladies and gentlemen!”, Vic turned to the trapped clients and employees. “Thank you for the time, you were absoluuuutely adorable, except that guy over there.”, he waved his gun towards the man, who called the police. “Know that we didn’t hurt you, because we’re actually good guys, and you’re just a dumb son of a bitch. It’s not your fault that you’re born stupid, right? Right. Alright then, fuckers, goodbye!”

He chuckled and opened the door for me. I waved at them, grinning. “See ya!”

Then, holding the bag tight, I ran out and quickly headed to the car. Mm, yes, that’s what I call job well done. Well, if we don’t count the fact that the police was after us again. Oh well. Nothing’s perfect.

Speaking of the police… An alarm somewhere in the distance made me jump, startled.

“Well shit.”, Vic murmured, following me. “We’re fucked.”

“Bullshit, we’re not.”, I rolled eyes. “This is a big city, they won’t find us, especially if we grab another car once we’re far enough. After all, no one saw how we actually look like, or our car, right, and even if they did, it would take them awhile until they figure out where we went. And by the time, we’re gonna be faaaar away.”

“Good point.”, Victor nodded, then reached and grabbed my hand, to catch up with me. I smiled a bit, gently squeezed his hand and quickened my step.

“The Bonnie and Clyde of our century” left the crime scene just as quickly as they had shown up.

Three down, two to go, and 100 000 dollars to spend on awesome expensive useless things with my best friend. Yup, life can be awesome sometimes.

END OF CHAPTER 13.