Playing Criminal

29- Doing the "right" thing?

Crouching down, I peered through the slits in the wooden fence. I bit my lip - I mean, it looked clear enough. Cars passed by every few seconds or so, but besides that there wasn’t a passerby in sight.

“I think this is a good place,” I stood up, brushing the dirt off of my jeans, “This street looks busy enough –there are quite a few store fronts just a ways down, but there aren’t any walkers who would get a good look at us hopping the fence.”

“Good because I don’t want to stumble across any more midget dogs if I can help it.” Jack rolled his eyes. However at the mention of the dreaded Daisy, I glanced down at the bloody spot on Jack’s jeans. Man, that dog could bite.

“You okay?” I glanced up at him, scrutinizing his face carefully. 

“Don’t worry about a thing, princess- just get your ass over that fence.” He grinned evilly, avoiding my question, as he hoisted me up so I could pull myself up and over the top of the fence.

A few seconds after I made it over, Jack plopped down beside me, grinning once again. He placed a heavy arm around me casually, as he pulled me forward so that we were strolling down the sidewalk, as if we didn’t have a care in the world... “So princess, where are we headed off to next?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what’s the next step? NYC? Vegas? LA? What do you see in our future?” Jack wagged his eyebrows suggestively.

I choked on a laugh and raised an eyebrow at him, “Our future? Why don’t we just make it through today first, okay?”

“Sure, but seriously I lifted at least a good couple of thousand dollars. We can make it anywhere, babe.”

“Wait – what?” I stopped abruptly, giving Jack a hard look.

“What?”

“You stole money.” I accused.

“Yeah…Todd’s parents won’t miss it- you’ve seen their place….rich as fuck.”

“God, I can’t believe you.” I frowned, shaking my head.

“Hey, I was thinking ahead.” He shrugged, “If we needed to go on the run again, money was a must.”

“But stealing? Really?”

“You think they would have given it to us?”

“Yes,” I sighed gesturing with my arms. “Todd’s mom was so nice to us, she would have understood.”

“You sure? She’s probably the one who made that damn phone call.”

“Really? You find it so hard to believe that she wanted to help us?”

“Yes.”

“Whatever, Jack.”

“Hey, hey – hold up Princess,” Jack called, jogging up to me.

I chewed resolutely on the insides of my cheeks so I wouldn’t be tempted into talking to him.

“Please, I didn’t mean it. Well, I meant it, but…I didn’t think about it. Okay, sometimes I just don’t think. Princess?” He pressed on, trying to force me to make eye contact.

I glared at him again.

“Hey,” he protested again, this time taking hold of my elbow, pulling me back so that I was only standing a few inches away from his face. “Hey,” He repeated holding onto each side of my head so that I was forced to look into his eyes. “Look- I shouldn’t have done it, okay? But understand that my mind doesn’t work like yours. I never really had the time or desire to think about right or wrong – I got good at self-preservation instead. So, I’m sorry. If it makes you feel better we can try and return the money or something.”