Criminally In Love

Chapter 2

  "Damn, you're rich."

  "Yes, which is exactly why I'm hesitant on sneaking you inside."

  "Oh, yes. Well, that would create a prob- Wait sneaking me inside? Why not just walk in and say, 'this is my friend. She's staying for the night.' Huh?"

  "Because Mrs. Mysterious, I don't know your name, your age, anything about you other than the fact that you're a thief. Now be quiet so we can get inside." Casey didn't like being told what to do, but due to her current condition, she decided it would have to be okay for now. She closed that door silently and approached the grand home, her footsteps refusing to make a sound on the blacktop and rock patio. Taylor simply walked forward, aware of her clacking heals sending alarms to anyone within a twenty meter radius.

  "Being as loud as you are just by walking should not be possible." Casey argued in a whisper. Taylor ignored her comment and signaled the driver to take Casey upstairs after he was done holding the door. She walked in and entered the kitchen, immediately faced with her mother.

  Angry and worried, she shouted, "Do you have any idea how much I've worried about you? Have you seen the news about that thief? People are speculating she went to a safe place that even the police can't find yet or that she can vanish in thin air! And you think it's safe to stay out clubbing?" Taylor's mother ranted, of course only using rhetorical questions. Casey stood at the top of the stairs listening down with amusement, especially toward the vanishing power. "I understand that as a 22 year old, you are going to want to have fun and party, but you need to look at the world surrounding you."

  "Yes, mother. May I go upstairs now? I have some inspiration for a new shirt that I would like to make."

  "Fine. Before you go, get your dinner out if the fridge, it'll clear out any extra alcohol."

  "Thank you, Mom."

  Taylor's way of silent treatment when she was angry was subtle but harsh. She starts by closing herself off, answering in short sentences, then she goes completely quiet until she believes the issue has decayed. She retrieved her store bought salad with cold chicken on it and trotted upstairs. Casey was waiting by the glass door in her room, pressed up against it and looking out like a toddler. Her eyes gazed at the hot tub on the balcony. Taylor's footsteps didn't seem to bother her anymore as they closed in in the entrance. The door swung open then shut quickly, slamming behind her.

  "That woman makes me want to rip my eyes out and shove them down my throat." Taylor huffs, ripping open the salad box and tossing the it onto her desk, barely spilling any salad.

  "Woah. Someone's mad. Why are you so riled up?"

  "My mom just lectured me on clubbing and staying out when it was her own drunken idea! She was drinking wine and I told her she should slow down how much she's drinking so then she tells Robin to take me downtown and find a bar I enjoy then go inside and 'live a little."

  "So if you mom hadn't sent you out, I wouldn't be here?"

  "Precisely which is really the only semi-okay thing that happened today."

  "You think bringing home a scratched up, flirty thief is a good thing? I'm bleeding through my shirt, the back of your car has blood on it now." Casey replied, finally leaving the window and standing up with various cracks. "That doesn't sound semi-okay to me." Taylor shut her mouth and stared at Casey, planning her next sentence until her defeat was clear through her face. "Okay, ground rules. Tell me your name, age, and, just for the fun of it, how long you've been a thief."

  "I'm Casey (Case-ee), I am 21 years old, and I've been robbing since I was..." Casey was struck with confusion. She couldn't remember how old she was when she'd begun a life of robbery. "I think I was 11? Maybe 12." She was still dumbfounded and arguing with herself over the true answer.

  "What do you have some kind of tragic backstory, or something?"

  "Not really. My parents were nice and caring, I was mediocre at my school, and up until I started stealing, I never did anything wrong. I just ran away, I believe, for the adrenaline rush of being aline in the city."

  "Oh, so you're not a pitiful thief, you're a pride less one."

  "Don't insult me like that, at least when I was with my family, I didn't slam doors everytime I got upset." Casey realized how close she was to striking a nerve by Taylor's voice and decided to change direction of her thinking. "Besides, it's in the past so-"

  "Take your shirt off."

  "Excuse me, what?"

  "Take it off, it's dripping blood onto my floor and I don't want to clean that up."

  "I'm sorry, I know I've said this before but you are really dense." Casey responded, stepping away from the glass to remove her top. It burned as the skin pulled away from her cloth, rushing cold air to it."

  "Oh- ew! I think I'm gonna be sick." Taylor covered her mouth to prevent the chance. Her eyes analyzed the amount of blood and ripping Casey had gone through on impact of her fall. Her stomach had calmed slightly and Taylor strutted over to her bathroom counter, revealing a first aid kit with wrap in it. "Okay stand straight up and don't move." There was a quick thud as Casey's limp body slammed against the ground causing Taylor's mother to shout from downstairs asking what happened. "Uhm- my fabric fell and knocked my lamp over! All good, I'll get it picked up!" She closed the door back up and turned to the unconscious thief. "Shit..." Taylor moved closer hesitantly, afraid it was a joke to get her closer so Casey could tie her up and steal everything valuable in the room. "Okay, I'm coming closer. Don't jump or anything." Casey's body still unconscious as Taylor squats down to investigate her breathing. Casey is breathing slow and painfully, her back stops bleeding as much, and her knuckle wraps are soaked. "Oh shit- she's loosing too much blood." Taylor tells herself, propping Casey up against the base of her bed. "Okay wrap it, find a vein, insert more blood. Wait- I don't know what type she is. I can't give her blood if-" The door opens slightly as the driver, Taylor's personal aid, pokes his head in, looking around the room before spotting Casey and Taylor.

  "Oh no, Casey." He exclaims in a coarse whisper. "Hook me up to her."

  "How do you know her blood type, Robin?"

  "No time for that. Wrap Cas up, find her vein, and do a transfer, Mrs. Crofton."

  As skeptical as Taylor was, she didn't know how to get rid of a dead body. Finally, she wraps Casey's back and chest quickly, avoiding any chance of seeing anything other than Casey's mutilated back. She pulled the needle tube out of her college bag and popped of the caps. She poked Robin first, knowing where his veins were, as they stood out from his skin clearly. Then she moved back to Casey and examined her elbow for a vein, unsuccessful. She checked the other arm, unsuccessful. "I can't find a vein." She made a usually poor decision and just poked through the skin when she saw the blood move through the tube into her arm.

  "Couldn't find it." Robin chuckles, he stops shortly after and simply stares at Casey.

  "You and I need to talk after this." Taylor told him.

  "Yes, ma'am." He replied, his eyes tracing Casey's profile after so long. "Mrs. Crofton, if I may ask, how did you find Casey?"

  "At the bar, she stumbled into V.I.P and stood up to Thomas for me. Then she sat and we spoke to each other for a while before the police came inside. Casey began to freak out so we left."

  "Wow. A bar is where you find her." He laughed again, finally looking down at his hands. The wedding band on his finger glowing. "So she could make it to a bar but not a wedding..." He mumbled painfully.

  "What was that, Robin?"

  "Nothing."