by Korry Smith
"Like what?"
"I'm not sure yet," he said, contemplatively gnawing on his lip ring.
This vendetta against his father, the indisputable anger he held, was understandable, but would it be worth it in the end just to get even?
"Be honest with me," I said, placing my hand on his cheek, gaining his attention. "Is that why we're doing all of this?" I waved around the room, my eyes falling on our guns and ski masks. “Just to get even?”
"Yes," he said bluntly, and my face fell.
All this time, I thought it was him and me against the world, fucking the town up one drugstore at a time, but I was wrong, and that shit depressed me.
"You're seriously risking our freedom just to get even with that man?"
Alex stared down at me, taking note of my hurt feelings, and as an afterthought went to reassure me that all wasn't for naught. It had meant more to him than just revenge.
"Listen to me, baby, getting even with him is what's going to ensure our freedom, okay?"
“Okay,” I said, but still discouraged.
He smiled weakly, tapping the tip of my nose with his finger. "You just got to trust me."
"I do trust you. I wished that it was more about us than—"
A sudden banging on our door, loud and powerful fists, cut me off mid-sentence. My body reacted, jolting up into an erect sitting position, as my ears were on high alert, listening to the commotion outside.
"Open up; it's the police!"
I stopped breathing, and the panic had a slow effect on me as I sat there staring at Alex with wide eyes. The pounding continued, the sheer volume increasing with every rap on the wooden door. Then my heart jump-started out of nowhere, thumping hard against my chest, and I came back to myself. I realized that our fate had finally caught up with us, but I was a fighter. I refused to give up so quickly.
Who cared if our room was on the third floor this time, I would jump out a window and risk breaking every bone in my leg to ensure my freedom and continue this life with Alex—in a fucking heartbeat.
All right, that was a wee bit dramatic, but I was freaking out.
"Oh, fuck!" I cursed, stumbling out of bed backward, landing painfully on my ass, but remained unfazed by the stabbing and shooting pain in my tailbone. I reached for my chucks and yanked them on my feet, having so much difficulty in such a simple task. "Damn it, you piece of shit shoes!"
"Mad," Alex said, peering over the bed and down at me with a raised eyebrow. I’m on my hands and knees, scrambling on the floor, and searching for my purse. He laughed, shaking his head. "What are you doing?"
I pulled my head out from under the bed and looked up, shocked by his calm and unaffected tone. He was smirking at me, enjoying the flustered and manic show that I was giving him.
"Why aren't you freaking out?"
"If you don't open this door, we're going to bust it down!" The urgent voice shouted, causing me to jerk my whole body towards the door, expecting them to be inside with guns pointed.
"Go let them in," Alex said, nodding towards the insistent banging. "Our running days are over, kid."
I narrowed my eyes. "What? That's it? You're just giving up?"
He grabbed my hand, helping me to my feet. "Answer it."
"Okay," I managed to croak out, my mouth and throat dry.
Everything was spinning wildly around me, and it took some grueling effort to get my blurred vision to focus. Taking a calming breath, I entrusted Alex with my sanity. I tugged on my shirt nervously, walking cautiously towards the door, and glancing back at Alex, seeking his confirmation. He waved me forward and onward with an encouraging smile.
The knocking had finally come to an abrupt stop, and I rose to my tiptoes to look out the peephole, but whoever was on the other side was covering it up and blacking out my view. Placing my hands flat on the door, I pressed my ear up against the thick wood and listened carefully. There were multiple voices outside, all of them overlapping each other as they laughed and talked loudly.
"Open up, fuckers!" The booming and unknown voice hollered, barely making it through that sentence without laughing.
Right then, I knew who it was.
Len.
It was the familiarity of home, so close and within in my reach, and that feeling of happiness was insane. I couldn't seem to get that fucking door open fast enough.
For a solid twenty seconds, my shaky fingers fidgeted and fumbled with the locks, yanking, and pulling at the doorknob, twisting, and turning it with desperation. Finally, after much frustration, I unlocked the door and opened it wide, revealing a grinning Len with Devlin tucked snugly under his arm.
"Hey there, baby Mad," Len said, reaching out and picking me up off the floor and into a fierce bear hug. "Or should I be calling you Bonnie?" He laughed, squeezing me tighter. "You damn troublemaker."
I grunted in response, unable to speak as the air left my lungs, due to his massive and muscular biceps constricting and compressing my chest, taking the very life out of me.
Len snorted; feeling my body go limp in his arms, and he set me back down on my feet. "It's good to see you, little one." Looking over my head as he steadied me, he asked, "Where's your boyfriend?"
"Somewhere over there," I said, gesturing behind me.
"Ah, there's that fucking asshole!" Len called, letting me go, and I swayed, still dazed from the lack of oxygen. I managed to step out of his way before he had a chance to trample over me.
"Hi, Madison," Dev said, surprising me as she gave me a timid hug. It was brief, but the intent was clear. She pulled back, tilting her head to the side, and assessed me. "You look good. Who would've thought being a criminal on the run would suit you so well?"
"Not me, that's for sure." I laughed uneasily, brushing the bothersome hair from my face. "But thank you. You look..."
"Phenomenal?" Dev interrupted. "Yeah, I know. It's the curse of being beautiful." She winked before sidestepping me and going straight to Alex. I watched with amusement as Dev punched him in the arm before hugging him.
Turning my attention back to the door, Nyx and Sawyer were next in line. I couldn't even get a sentence out before Nyx was embracing me. The grip for such a slight girl was incredibly powerful. I gasped, feeling as though I was going to need to tap out soon, due to the fact it was so close to Len's hug. I was still feeling lightheaded and dizzy from that little love fest.
"Hey there, Madi," Nyx said, releasing me, and allowing my lungs to expand again. She smiled as her eyes brimmed with happiness. “It’s so good to see you. How are you?"
"I'm good. Really good, you know?" I said truthfully as my tense body relaxed. I sighed, shaking my head. "God, it's so good to see you guys. You have no idea."
Nyx understood how much I'd missed them. Even I wasn't aware of it up until then.
"Well, we're all here now, right?" she said, giving me another hug, but this time it didn't have as much enthusiasm.
My eyes peered over her shoulder and landed on Sawyer—the tall and quiet man standing still in the doorway. He had his hands shoved deep into his pockets, looking out of place and ill at ease.
"Hi, Sawyer," I said.
He didn't say anything at first, and Nyx tugged on his shirt, trying to coax a sentence, even just a word, out of him.
"Hello, Madison," he regarded me warily and with a tight smile. "How are you?"
"Fine," I replied, unsure how to respond after that. The truth was that Sawyer intimidated me in a weird, but non-threatening way. It was unsettling under his stare, and I found myself stammering. "Um…how…are…are you doing?"
He chuckled, and the sound of his laughter mixed with his easygoing smile shocked the hell out of me. "Well, I'm better off than you. Let's leave it at that."
"Yeah," I said, rolling my eyes. "That's an understatement."
"Relax," Sawyer said, gripping my shoulder reassuringly. He walked away to join Len and Dev as they all got reacquainted with Alex.
"Um…yeah, okay."
It
was hot and cold with him, and I was starting to think he fucked with me on purpose. He enjoyed watching me squirm. That belief proved to be true when Nyx merged with the group and gently slapped Sawyer on the back and told him to play nice.
That's just great, I thought sarcastically, turning around to shut the door, but found three more people standing outside and waiting for me to invite them into the room.
"Uh…" I frowned, trying to place these unknown faces but coming up empty.
There were two guys and one girl, and they stared back at me with a mixture of curiosity and fascination.
"Hi," I said, slowly finding my voice. "Who are you?"
"Oh, yeah, Mad, these people are—" Nyx started to say before Alex came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and interrupting her.
"These are my friends, Adriana and Peter," he said, gesturing towards the attractive couple.
The woman was my height, but fuller in all the right areas. She had long, straight platinum blonde hair, and bright green eyes. She held tightly to Peter's arm, a man who was a couple of inches taller than Alex, but had the same shade of blond as Adriana, but his eyes were a light brown, almost hazel. They both smiled kindly at me and shook my hand.
"It's nice to meet you," Peter said.
"We've heard so much about you," Adriana added.
"Hopefully, not all of it was from the news," I said, chewing nervously on my bottom lip; an Alex habit that I had picked up.
They laughed a little too boisterously at my lame joke, glancing back and forth at each other before walking into the room, joining Nyx and Sawyer on the bed. It was an odd exchange, and I looked up at Alex, silently asking him to explain what had just happened.
He shook his head, shrugging his shoulders indifferently, and moved on to the last introduction. "And this is one of my business associates, Miguel."
"A business associate, huh?" I questioned suspiciously, knowing any ‘business associates’ of Alex's meant one thing and one thing only, and it sure as shit wasn't the stock market.
The man took a step towards me; his dark and black eyes, like his hair, trained on my face. Miguel had an intimidating presence for a man with such short stature. He shook my hand with a firm grip, to the point of being painful, and I tried to keep myself from wincing.
"It's so nice to meet you," he said, smiling wide and showcasing his crooked teeth. His Spanish accent was thick, and I had some trouble understanding him.
"Yeah, it's nice to meet you, too...Miguel?" I asked, hoping that my pronunciation of his name was correct.
He nodded in assent. "Muy bueno."
"Um, well, welcome to our, uh..." I paused, glancing around our overly crowded hotel room. "Humble abode? I guess."
"Here, Miguel, let me get you something to drink," Nyx said, playing impromptu hostess as she led him into the room.
Len had brought refreshments on the trip, not to mention several bags of weed—which he had already busted out and was puffing away on, making the small hotel room into an instant clambake.
"You, mister, come with me," I hissed to Alex, dragging him outside, and closing the door behind me, hoping to create some privacy.
In a short span of time, my home—well, the place I was laying my head down at night—had become a full house. It was unexpected and overwhelming, and I needed some answers, like fucking now. Because quite honestly, Alex didn't seem all that surprised by our guests dropping in on us, and it wasn't like Arizona was in the neighborhood. It was two thousand miles away. This little get together wasn't an accident.
"So," I started, placing my hands on my hips. “What's going on?"
"I called in reinforcements."
"Yeah, well, that's obvious. When did you do this?"
"Last week or so."
"Last week?"
"Yeah, it was sometime after our first robbery together. You know, where we almost got fucking caught?"
I rolled my eyes, waving him on. I swear to God; he was never going to let me live that shit down.
"I felt like things were getting a little out of control. Even for us. If I didn't do something about it, we were going to end up in jail or dead, and I would never let that fucking shit happen to you!" Alex said louder than intended as he ran his hands through his hair. He took a calming breath, refocusing his eyes on me. "I decided to get fucking smart for once. I called up Sawyer and Len and asked them to come up here."
"What about those other people, Alex?" The weird ones. "What are they doing here?"
"They're here to help us. You just got to trust me on this. I know what I'm doing," Alex said, sweeping the hair from my shoulder and bending down to kiss the bare skin. I jerked away from his advances, and he sighed. "What is it?"
"When were you going to tell me about all of this?"
"Now?"
I laughed, and I wanted to be mad at him for keeping all of this from me, but I couldn't find the strength in me to keep a fight going. It took a lot of focus and energy, especially the way we fought. We couldn't necessarily end it like we always do, naked and satisfied.
For this one time, and one time only, I let his infraction go, and tried to reprimand him with my words, but put little effort into making them sound hateful. "You're an asshole."
He smiled crookedly with a slight touch of cockiness. "Yeah, I know, but you fucking love every damn bit of it."
"Ugh!" I groaned, throwing my arms around his shoulders, and burying my face in his neck. "I know. I must be fucking crazy."
He rubbed my back in circular motions, comforting me. "I've got a plan, baby. It's going to work. I guarantee it."
"And it involves all of them?"
"Remember when I said if you're going to steal a diamond…"
I smiled, remembering that conversation from the long, and never forgotten, distant past. "You're going to need people to help you do it."
"And this diamond, kid, is a huge fucking rock."
There were no more questions. I trusted Alex. The details would come to me in due time, but even before knowing what his plan was, when it comes to this guy, without a doubt, he had me.
"Whatever it is, I'm in.” Pulling away from his hot and alluring neck, I rose to my tiptoes to kiss him.
In hindsight, I should have known that Len's cockblocking ways would be in full force again, because not even a second after my lips grazed Alex's, he opened the door and ruined our intimate moment.
"Hey there, fuckers. We didn't travel all this way for you guys to blow us off and make-out on the balcony. Get your ass in here and lets party," Len said, grabbing Alex by the shoulder and yanking him backward.
I followed them inside as Alex tackled Len to the floor. Shutting the door and locking it behind me, I watched as the wrestling match turned into a dog pile as Sawyer leaped from the bed and joined in on the madness. I edged around them and pressed my back up against the wall. They were taking up quite a bit of room, and I barely had enough space to clear them.
"Let me help," Nyx said, grabbing hold of my arm, and guided me over towards the round table by the window.
"Thanks," I said.
"Drink up, girl.” She offered me a beer. I hesitated for a moment, unsure if I should partake in the festivities. The last time I drank, Alex caught me dancing with some guy. Nyx laughed, gently forcing the cold can into my hand. "I won't tell if you don’t." The little instigator gave me a conspirator wink as she flitted over to Adriana who sat on the bed.
"What the hell," I said, popping it open and taking a large swig. It was decent enough, as far as beer goes, and I drank it down with no problem.
Scanning the room, taking in my old friends plus my new ones, I spotted Dev by the bathroom talking with Miguel and Peter. They were hooking up a laptop sitting on the sink, and when I went there to investigate, Len cut me off and pushed a joint into my face.
At first, I told him no, remembering my last experience, but he was persistent. Eventually, I gave in to fucking peer pressure, vowing to take it more slow
ly this time around. Besides, the circumstances were different. They weren't strangers.
Alex would always take care of me.
An hour later into the party, I had two beers down and stoned out of my mind. I sat securely on my love’s lap. We talked and laughed with our guests as the complimentary weed passed around in a circle. A single puff here and a triple puff there.
All and all, it was good and wholesome fun.
For the first time in several weeks, Alex and I were able to relax. We weren't worried about the cops busting down our door or having to jump out a two-story window, breaking some bones and having to go to the hospital. I felt the way an eighteen-year-old should feel.
"Tonight, baby, we sit back and enjoy ourselves," Alex said, taking a massive hit off the joint and holding it in his lungs. He grabbed my face and pressed his lips to mine, slowly blowing the smoke into my open mouth.
He pulled back and watched me as I blew it out, making rings that floated up to the ceiling.
I smiled, kissing him softly. "And tomorrow?"
"We attack."
The first thing I noticed was Alex's hot breath on my neck. The tip of his nose grazed my skin as he shifted closer, pressing the hardness of his arousal into my lower back, and conforming our bodies tightly together. I kept my eyes closed, afraid to open them and ruin this perfect moment.
Alex's hand splayed across my stomach, his thumb edging along the bottom hem of my tank top. It was quiet in the room, and my senses were on high alert, every sound, no matter how insignificant, imprinted into my awareness. There were people in this room, and as Alex's hands moved down my body, skimming his fingers along my damp skin and down to my thigh, I knew that, at any moment, someone would catch us doing naughty things under these white cotton sheets.
There was a cough on the other side of the room, breaking the silence and stilling Alex. For a long time, he didn't move, and I counted each one of his breaths on my neck: One, two, three, four, five, and on and on. It was hypnotic.
Then without warning, Alex started up again, trailing those long and expert fingers back up my legs. He slipped them in between my thighs, nudging and parting them. As I lifted my leg and rested it on his, he slid his hand up and idly caressed me through the flannel fabric of my pajama bottoms. The friction, profound and maddening, causing my heart to pound hard against my chest.