by Korry Smith
My heart raced as I stared into his eyes and asked him for the second time. “Are you...still a virgin?”
But I already knew the answer.
“No,” he said, lowering his fingers, and taking a step back. “I popped my cherry a long fucking time ago.”
“Who did you kill?” I asked, keeping my voice low and barely above a whisper.
“Some guy that was trying to rip me off,” he said, waving his hand dismissively.
Piquing my interest, I wanted to ask him more about this side of him that I’d always known, but he wasn’t paying attention to me, and more focused on the overhead security camera above us. The lens was facing the front counter, and we were safely out of its view. Alex grunted in displeasure, and then went back to shopping.
Today was an uneventful outing, and all we were doing was scouting the store and pinpointing its weakness and strengths. Which, call me impatient, it seemed like a colossal waste of time.
“So, this is it?” I started casually, trying to squash the tense air between us. “We’re just shopping then? No stick-up?”
“Pretty much.” Alex bobbed his head. “Even the smallest heist needs proper planning and preparation. You can’t just go in the store waving your gun and demand money from the drawer. There are too many unseen complications. What if the clerk has a gun, and you wind up getting yourself killed?”
“Do you always plan things so thoroughly?”
“Up until I met you?” He peeked at me over his shoulder. “Yeah, I did. In fact, I was pretty fucking anal about it.”
“Up until you met me?” I repeated, glaring at him. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t think with you,” he said in a conversational way, very matter of fact. “I just feel.”
I blushed despite myself. “I would say I’m sorry...”
“But you’re not.” He smiled crookedly, corner of his eyes wrinkled and scrunched.
I shook my head and tried to keep the satisfied grin off my face but failed miserably.
“Here, let me take that,” Alex said, grabbing the heavy and full basket from my hands.
I stood there and watched him continue to browse, picking and choosing random items. He was eyeing the camera again, occasionally glancing up front to the clerk.
He was being overly careful and prepared, not willing to walk into a situation blindly, but that didn’t make any sense to me. Last week, he told me about this plan to make our faces known to the media, shaming the senator, but he had masks and gloves on our bed to hide our identities. It fucking defeated the purpose.
Old habits die hard.
Unless.
The gun in my waistband weighed a ton and instantly reminded me of its presence. Okay, my plan was a terrible idea, and I knew that when it occurred to me, but these stickups were boring. I decided to shake things up. If Alex genuinely wanted to make our existence known, we had to be crazy, and stop being safe and cautious all the time.
Taking a quick look at Alex, whose back was still facing me, I reached down the front of my pants and pulled out my gun. Cocking it as quietly as physics would allow, I took a deep and calming breath, preparing myself for what I was about to do.
Let’s go.
My heart pounded fast and loud in my ears as I charged the counter. Aiming the barrel of the gun at the clerk’s head, right between his eyes, like a bullseye, I slammed my hand on the table to gain his attention. The beef jerky rack shook and spilled over, but the cashier just looked up at me. There was no sign of fear or surprise. The asshole didn’t even raise his hands up.
“Give me all your fucking cash. NOW!” I shouted.
Again, the guy was unimpressed by my threats and didn’t flinch; he only stared at me with these large brown eyes. Granted, I was a small girl with a 9mm Glock, but it didn’t take much to pull the trigger and blow off his fucking head.
“What are you deaf? Open the God damn drawer, asshole!” I raised my voice an octave or two, practically screeching at him.
The gun was unsteady, shaking slightly as the intensity of the situation kicked into overdrive. I gripped the handle with two hands, taking a step towards the counter and pushing the barrel into the cashier’s face.
He smirked, reaching to the side of him, nowhere near the cash register, and my eyes followed his movement. I barely caught a glimpse of the top half of the double-barreled shotgun.
“Don’t even fucking think about it!” Alex appeared out of nowhere and already had the muzzle of the Colt pressed to the man’s forehead. “Now open the fucking register.”
The man soon realized that he was out of favorable options and decided to follow our demands. He flipped Alex off and mumbled under his breath, punching in a few buttons. The drawer popped out a second later, hitting that fat bastard in his gut, and displaying a few measly stacks of tens and twenties.
“Shoot the fucker in the head if he moves,” Alex told me, lowering his gun down and taking fistfuls of cash, stuffing it into a small paper bag.
I glared at the guy as he gazed back at me, impassively memorizing every curve of my face. That was the point; I wanted him to remember me.
“It’s time to take a little nap,” Alex said, striking the man over the head with the butt of the gun, knocking him unconscious.
He fell off his stool and went tumbling to the floor with a loud thud.
I kept my gun pointed, never wavering my aim.
It took us a total of five minutes to rob him blind. For those three hundred seconds, my heart pounded, my pupils dilated, and my mind raced, chaotically, and astoundingly alert. Time moved at a slow yet rapid pace. The adrenaline coursing through my veins and saturating my blood gave me this sense of unlimited freedom.
It was one of the best things I’d ever felt in all my eighteen years of life.
Alex came around the counter shaking his head at me and stuffing the gun into his waistband. He grabbed my arm and dragged me out the door. I tripped over my own clumsy feet as we walked across the lot to the Chevelle, but he didn’t speak a word to me.
Flinging the door open, he tossed me in and slammed it shut. The repercussions of his anger shook the car. I opened my mouth to say something when he joined me a second later, but the way he gingerly pulled out of the gas station, instead of his usual spin of the tires, told me I fucked up.
He was minimizing the damage and taking the evidence with him.
“Look…” I started to say.
“What the fuck was that?” Alex snapped. “Do you have any idea how close you were to getting your fucking chest blown wide open? The guy had a shotgun, Mad—a fucking shotgun! Do you have any fucking idea what that would do to me if…” He clenched his jaw and tightened his fingers around the steering wheel.
“I’m sorry that I scared you.”
“That’s a fucking understatement.”
“I got tired of waiting around,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “Sue me.”
“Sue you? Do you realize that he can fucking pick us out of a line up now?” Alex’s wild eyes glanced up at the rearview mirror.
“I thought that was the point,” I shouted back. “How are we supposed to make our faces known if we hide them? Jesus, this was all your fucking idea. I wanted to run and hide like a coward, but noooo.”
“Mad, you don’t fucking get it, do you? This shit isn’t a game. You’re so fucking…” he huffed.
“I’m what?”
Alex scowled with intense fury as he jerked the wheel swiftly to the right and drove into our hotel’s parking lot. The force of it tossed my body to the left and into his lap. I pushed myself up in time to brace the dashboard with my hands as he slammed on the brakes. Shoving the gear shift into park, my guy didn’t say shit to me as he grabbed the paper bag of money and got out of the car. I thought about locking myself in, but my slow delay cost me everything.
Alex yanked open my door and dragged me out of the Chevelle. “Come on!”
When we got to our room, he flung me inside l
ike a rag doll. My foot caught on an uplifted part of the carpet and caused me to fall back on the bed. Alex locked the door behind him. When he turned back to me, his eyes were dark and hooded, roaming over my chest as it rose and fell rapidly. It scared me at first, the unpredictability of his anger, and I wasn’t sure what he would do, but the more he stalked towards me, the more the air between us shifted.
He wasn’t mad.
He was fucking hard.
Alex had the paper bag clutched in his hand so tightly veins were popping out of his forearm. He stopped at the edge of the bed, lifting one knee up and strategically placing it between my parted legs, giving him dominance to tower over me. I held my breath, feeling every muscle tense with fear and excitement of what would happen next.
Alex stared, not one word spoken, as he opened the bag and dumped all the insides out. Tens and twenties floated down and swayed across my aroused, overheated body.
“So fucking beautiful,” he said, leaning over, and trailing his lips along the hollow of my neck. I closed my eyes, relishing in the hot touch of his hand as it slid down between my heaving breasts, past my sunken stomach, and into the front of my pants. He pulled the gun out and tossed it aside. “And so fucking dangerous.”
By the time he worked his kisses up to my mouth, slipping his tongue out to lick my bottom lip, I was on the verge of combustion. I grabbed the back of his head and forcefully deepened our kiss.
The danger and near-death experience ignited a frenzy within us. Alex grabbed my shirt; practically ripping it from my back. My fingers were on his jeans, unbuttoning and then unzipping them, and trying to get them off. Our mouths never disengaged and always kept that connection. Pulling down my bra to expose the top half of my breast, he took my nipple into his mouth, sucking, and rolling his tongue over the sensitive, hardened peak. My back arched and contorted every time he tugged at it with his teeth.
He was driving me crazy.
Layer upon layer, we hastily shed the rest of our clothes. My hands had a mind of their own, roaming and touching every aspect of Alex’s chest. I stared up at him in admiration, searing the sharpness of his jaw and the intensity of his eyes into my brain. He smirked when he noticed my blatant gawking. The fucker knew how sexy he was and used it to his full advantage.
Gripping my hips, and in one swift motion, Alex flipped me over on my stomach, raising my ass up and jerking it back into him. He shoved my head down into the money scattered across the mattress. I breathlessly waited for his next move. Smoothing his hands on the curves of my ass, he wasn’t gentle or tender, and I whimpered when a hot sting went across my cheeks.
He wrapped an arm around me and whispered into my ear. “Your skin is so fucking pretty when it’s red.”
“Oh, God.” I buried my face in the comforter.
Alex shifted up, and moved back, taking two of his fingers and working them the entire length of my slit. I was wet on the spot. He entered me, slowly and agonizingly, only to withdrawal from me a second later. Again, and again, he would do this, working me into a panting mess. I was weak and trembling with need.
Alex’s fingers disappeared. “Hold that thought.”
I strained my ears, trying to pinpoint his movements in the room, but as my body turned cold, missing his touch, I let out a sad cry, “Please.”
The bed jostled under the sudden weight, and Alex’s hands were on my ass, petting and kneading me. He leaned over and grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head back; his mouth was on mine again. The tip of his cock had taken over for his fingers, sliding up and down my entrance, provoking, but never penetrating me.
Alex broke the kiss and leaned away. Continuing to rub the head of his cock up and down my lips, tickling my pussy with his piercing, he wanted me to feel everything. I backed into him, begging for more, and he slapped my ass with the shaft. We both moaned at the sting and the sound. My thighs were quivering and soaked with my need.
Neither of us could take it any longer.
Alex pushed inside me with one swift and hard thrust. I yelped, feeling full and overwhelmed by his thickness. Those long fingers kept a firm grip on my hair as he pushed into me. Steady at first, pacing himself, but when the feeling became too much, and I let out a breathy, deep moan, he lost control. I clutched the sheets as he fucked me. The force and the power behind every drive of his pelvis was my undoing.
My muscles tightened, and Alex cursed loudly, propelling us both closer and closer to the edge. I held on for dear life as he rammed in and out of me, faster and harder, and relentlessly. My legs were shaking and weakening beneath me, causing me to cry out, pleading for more.
He thrust urgently into me, quickening his stride. My fingers moved to my clit, massaging, and escalating the pleasure. The warmth overwhelmed me, sending shivers throughout my body. I came fast, hard, and screaming out his name. It was fucking fantastic, and soon it turned into tingling sensation that was sensitive to the touch.
“God damn!” Alex went at me harder until his movements became jerky. I felt him twitch as he came. He swore and smothered it by biting my shoulder until the blood rose and the skin turned purple. “Shit!”
We both collapsed on the bed.
Rolling off me, he laid on his back, all sweaty, and panting. I propped myself up on my elbows and studied his face. He looked so young in his relaxed state. God, I couldn’t get over how beautiful he was. This guy was way too good-looking for the shit he did and for a girl like me.
I hurried and leaned over to kiss him before he disappeared. He placed his hand on the back of my head to hold me there and to keep our lips together.
This moment of bliss wasn’t forever, but it was perfect.
Then we heard the police sirens.
Chapter Thirteen
Alex jumped up and ran to the window. He parted the drapes, shining a stream of light into the room, and surveyed the parking lot outside. Fear took over me as the images of us in handcuffs flashed in my thoughts. I crawled around the bed, picking up all the strewn cash and stuffing it into my oversized purse. The chances of getting away weren’t in our favor, but just in case, I wasn’t leaving our loot behind. That was my earnings. We deserved it.
“Fuck! We don’t have much time.” Alex strode into the bathroom. The toilet flushed. He came back out a second later wearing his black boxer briefs. Snapping his fingers at me, he gestured towards the closet. “Hurry up and get your shit together. We’ve got less than five minutes.”
Throwing my shirt on inside out, I rushed around the room and picked up anything lying around. There wasn’t much. I had learned through the experience of living on the road to keep my clothes in the duffel bag. It kept me always packed and ready to move out at a moment’s notice.
“You set?” Alex asked, shoving his gun into the front waistband of his pants, and walking back towards the window.
“Yeah.” I glanced around the room one more time to make sure. It was spotless and devoid of my belongings. “I’ve got everything.”
“Fuuuuck!” he said, storming away from the window, and frantically pacing the room. “We’re too late.”
Sneaking a peek through the slight crack in the drapes, being careful not to move it and signal our whereabouts, I saw a patrol car parked next to the Chevelle. The cop was circling it and speaking into his walkie-talkie, alerting backup. He glanced up at the second floor, and his eyes met mine. I jerked my head back, feeling lightheaded and sick to my stomach.
It was over. My stupidity had sentenced us to life in prison.
“We got to fucking get out of here,” Alex said, clasping my shoulders, and shaking me out of my stupor. “Are you hearing me?”
“Yeah…but how?” I shook my head to clear my thoughts of me in an orange jumpsuit and a tear-drop tattoo at the corner of the eye. “They’ll have the place surrounded in no time.”
“I know.” He sighed, resting his forehead against mine. It was quiet for a moment as he pondered our options, then he had an epiphany, and his head sna
pped up. “The bathroom!”
“What?”
“Come on,” he said, gripping my hand. “There’s a window in there.”
“No,” I said, digging my heels into the carpet, and pulling on his arm, trying to stop him from finishing that sentence.
“Mad, we’re only on the second floor. It’s not that far down,” Alex assured me, but it didn’t ease my fears.
Dragging me into the bathroom, Alex dropped his grip and left me stranded at the door’s entryway. He leaned over the toilet and propped the window open. There was a second of hesitation from him, but my guy shook it off and hustled past me to grab our bags. I didn’t move an inch as he threw our things out the window. My breakfast was coming up with each thump of our shit as it hit the hard, compacted dirt.
Yeah, there was no way in hell I was jumping to my death.
I backed away. “I can’t.”
Alex stood on the toilet with his hand outstretched to me. “Kid, come on. We don’t have a lot of fucking time. If you hang by your hands, the distance isn’t that far down.”
I walked back into the bathroom, mere inches from Alex, but still hesitating. I didn’t know which one was worse, breaking my legs or going to jail? At this rate, squeezing my ass through a twelve by a twenty-four-inch window and hurling myself two-stories, I could end up doing both.
“Here, I’ll go first and catch you, okay?” He grabbed me by the back of the neck and pulled me to his lips, kissing me with urgency. “Trust me. It’ll work. You just got to be brave. All right?”
I nodded.
It was something to watch Alex. He was lean and graceful, slithering out the rectangular frame with swiftness and ease. He grasped the ledge with his fingers and hung down. I stepped on the toilet and leaned over, watching him dangle, and trying to gauge the distance to the ground. He was long, and his six-two frame shortened the gap. After a moment, he let go and fell the rest of the way, landing lithely on his feet. He shot his eyes back up and waved me down.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to find some semblance of courage in my gut, hoping it to carry me through. It seemed like time was moving achingly slow as my legs wobbled beneath me, giving away to my nerves. It was when I heard fists pounding on our hotel door that realization of cuffs on my wrists being a reality overrode my fear of breaking my legs. A wave of bravery washed over me and kicked my ass into gear, propelling me out that window.