teen romance. ( richard gecko )

VIII. EMPTY ROAD

     All it took was one punch to Seth's face to get what Carter wanted. Those bonds were her's after all, and she was gonna prove to Carlos that she was worthy of his time and money, even if that meant playing dirty. She already knew Richard would never touch her, he wouldn't even put a gun to her head if it was his life on the line. She knew the kind of power she held over him, even now when it seemed like she couldn't care less about him he still went out of his way to make sure she was safe.

     (She likes to tell herself she couldn't give much of a fuck about him, but deep down her stomach was still churning when his blue eyes wouldn't stop scanning her body, like he was hungry to hold her again.)

     Carter may not be the strongest but she knows how to bring down a man emotionally and shoot a gun, to her that's all she needs.

The car ride away from the Abilene bank was uncomfortably quiet, the sound of police sirens sounded faint behind them as they were caught up with the Gecko brothers while the Stinson twins rode smoothly down the highway, Carter has this feeling of invincibility running cold through her bones as she turned around to see an empty road behind her. Their plan seemed to be more efficient then Seth and Richie's, and she couldn't help but feel victorious for that.

But in a way, she also felt this deep feeling of dread, because what she saw back there was nothing like she's seen before. Richard was... different. And not like different in how much he's grown, no, different as in maybe the woods turned that sharp brain of his into putty.

"Cody?" Those were the first words to be said in the whole car ride, causing her brother to jump from surprise. His eyes were focused on the road, hand tight on the wheel and she can just read his face perfectly enough to know all he was thinking about was Seth.

He cleared his throat, "Hm?" was all he said. He was paying no attention to her, he just couldn't get his mind off of him. His dark eyes, how short his hair had gotten, he was completely different from the Seth he knew in High School.

"Did you ever notice anything... off, about Richie?" Concern was evident in her voice, she tried to shake it off as if it was nothing but Cody noticed it. He always does.

"Richie? I thought you refused to call him that anymore."

"That's not the point, Cod. Didn't you see him with that teller? I couldn't tell if he wanted to rip her clothes off or kill her. What happened to him? He's never been that way, that's not the Richard I knew." She looked through the window at the purple and orange sky that sprout throughout the clouds from the beautiful Texas sunset. A longing look flashed before her eyes, Cody watched from beside her and decided to save his questions for her incessant worrying for later. She didn't seem like in the mood for questioning about her feelings for Richard.

"I couldn't tell you. You can change a lot in eight years, Car. I don't know what you expected. After all, they are bank robbers just like us, they've probably been through a lot. Maybe worse."

She didnt respond to that one, silence engulfed her as she picked at the frayed seatbelt that held her tight in the leather seat.

Noticing her silence Cody tries to relieve her of the nerves that were probably running through her body. "It's probably nothing, don't worry about them. They're long gone now, it's just you, me, this empty road, and 3 billion dollars in bonds."

She couldn't help but smile at that one, because for once in her life she finally defeated those damn Gecko's. Now she was the one on top, and she'd be damned if they were gonna take that one away from her again.

"You're right, we'll never have to worry about them again."

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a/n: aw did u miss me ?