Billie
When Billie left the store, she looked out across the parking lot and saw Carter waving to her. He was standing next to a faded green Chevy convertible from the mid-'90s. Its engine was already purring. She walked over to him with the shopping bags.
“Another oldie-but-goodie, huh?” she said, eyeing the car.
“Always best to go for the older models,” Carter said. “The newer ones are damn near impossible to hotwire because of all the computer systems in them, plus almost all of them have locators and other security shit to worry about. And besides, cops don't usually make finding these beaters as much of a high priority, which can buy us a few hours or maybe even a whole day.”
“Hey, I'm learning something new every day,” Billie chirped happily, getting into the passenger's seat. “I got us some new clothes. It's not Armani, but at least we probably won't look as much like a biker and a hostage. Should we change into them now?”
“Nah, we can wait until we're about to check into a motel for the night,” Carter answered. He tossed his saddlebag in the back seat and situated himself behind the wheel. “I figure we're far enough from the dragnet the cops have set up, so getting a proper room should be pretty safe.”
“Are you sure?” she asked as they pulled out of the parking lot and started down the highway. “I mean, motels are okay and all, but it sounded like those Taysha were really eager to have us stay with them again. We could pack a big bong, maybe hit the casino...”
“Smart ass,” Carter smirked. Looking at his smile, Billie remembered when he'd walked over to her at the saloon to flirt with her, and she found herself getting wet for him all over again.
“So, how does it feel?” he continued.
“What?” she asked, caught off-guard.
“Well, you drove a getaway vehicle after a bank robbery, you've helped steal cars, you've been in a stand-off with heavily-armed drug dealers,” Carter pointed out. “How does it feel to go from barmaid to stone-cold outlaw in less than two days?”
This reminded Billie of the dream she had last night, and she shuddered in spite of the heat inside the car. He was right, wasn't he? She'd come much too far and made too many decisions for herself to still be considered a helpless victim of circumstance. She had little doubt that if she genuinely wanted to leave Carter at this point, he'd let her.
But she didn't want to leave him now, and she wasn't sure she ever would.
So what did that make her? His willing accomplice. His partner in crime. Maybe Panzie and the other cops would still give her the benefit of the doubt if they caught up to them—a thought which upset her now, even though she'd initially thought it inevitable—but even if they did, she'd still know the truth. How could she just plead innocence and go back to her old life?
Now that she knew what she had inside her, how could she deny it instead of embracing it and seeing where it took her, no matter how dangerous that might be? Hadn't she taken the first few steps toward it already?
“I didn't freak you out by asking that, did I?” Carter asked.
Billie realized she'd been silent for several moments. She shook her head, forcing a laugh. “Nope. I was just thinking about it. Sure, I was your getaway driver, but I was still technically a hostage then. And stealing cars, well, any thirteen-year-old punk with a wire hanger can do that. I'll admit, the stand-off with the Taysha was totally badass and I feel like an action hero now, but...”
“But what?” Carter asked, raising an eyebrow.
“But I'm still not much of an outlaw, am I?” she prodded. “I still haven't done what you do, busting into a place with a gun and robbing it.”
“Is that really something you'd want to do?” he replied incredulously.
“I'll bet it makes you feel powerful, right? I'll bet it's the ultimate thrill.”
“Oh, yeah, it's the biggest rush you'll ever experience,” Carter admitted. “There's nothing in the world like it. Completely taking control of the room from the very first second, taking whatever you want and seeing the fear in people's eyes knowing there's nothing they can do to stop you. When everything goes like it's supposed to, those few minutes are better than any drug you could ever take. They're better than sex. You feel like you're God.”
“Wow,” Billie sighed. She could feel her nipples getting hard just from his description of it. She knew that she had to experience it for herself. “Show me.”
Carter barked out a surprised laugh. “What the fuck do you mean, show you? What, you want to stop someplace and rob it, just like that?”
“Why not?” she retorted. “You've got plenty of experience, so it seems like you'd be the perfect one to show me how it's done. And it's not like we'd have to hit another bank, or anything that risky. We could do, like, some little convenience store or a diner or something.”
He looked at her with wide eyes, his smile fading. “Holy shit. You're actually serious about this, aren't you?”
“Yes, I'm serious. I want to do this with you. I think it'll be fun. What, you don't think I can do it?”
“It's a fucking felony,” Carter said. “Whether you can do it or not, why the hell would you want to? You're not a criminal.”
Billie frowned. “But you just said—”
“Yeah, I was kidding, okay? I was breaking your balls with the whole 'outlaw' thing. Jesus, would you really want to become an armed robber on a goddamn dare?”
Billie favored him with a big grin and a wink. “I've done lots of stuff on dares,” she said.
“And what happens when the lawmen catch up to us? You wouldn't be able to claim you were my hostage anymore. They'd lock you up too. Is it really worth that?”
“First of all, I happen to think that as long as we put our heads together, we can make sure they don't catch up to us,” Billie said. “We seem to be doing a hell of a job with that so far. Second, if robbing a place really feels as good as you say it does, then fuck yeah, it's absolutely worth it to me. And third, no one will even have to know it was us, will they? Not if we wear masks when we do it.”
“I've only got one mask,” said Carter.
“Come on, you don't have anything else we could use for another mask?” Billie pleaded. “I could wear the ski mask to hide my hair, and we could tie your t-shirt around your face so it covers your nose and mouth. Why wouldn't that work?”
Carter pulled up his t-shirt, revealing the numerous tattoos on his torso. As he did, Billie couldn't help but admire his muscles again.
“See these?” he asked. “All on file with law enforcement. My ink gets caught on any cameras, they'll be able ID me more easily than if they'd seen my face.”
Billie let out a frustrated sigh. After a moment, she reached into the back seat and grabbed the saddlebag.
“Hey, what are you doing with that?” Carter snapped.
“I'm sure there's something in here that we could use, if we get a little creative,” Billie said, unzipping the bag and rummaging inside. She slid the brick of pot and bundles of cash aside.
“Stop that!” He tried to snatch the bag away from her with one hand as he kept steering with the other, but she twisted and turned in her seat, keeping it away from him.
“What's the big deal?” she laughed. “If you've got porno mags in here or something, don't worry. I won't be shocked. Ah, here we go!” She produced a green bandana. “We can tie this onto you.”
As she moved to return the bag to the back seat, she spotted something else inside it and pulled it out. It was a patch—the kind that members of motorcycle clubs usually had sewn onto the backs of their vests. The lettering said “Metal Monsters MC,” and it framed a hideous robot face with red eyes and bloody gears for teeth.
“What's this?” she asked, examining it.
“Oiler came up with it,” Carter said quietly. “The name, the picture, everything. It was going to be the patch when we founded our own MC, after pulling the bank jobs. We were going to set up in some small town on the West Coast. We were finally going to have something that was ours, y'know? We were going to be free to do things our own way.”
Billie heard the sadness in his voice and felt a twinge of guilt. It sounded like this had been his dream, his big chance at freedom, and now...
“I guess holing up in Mexico for a while kind of fucks your plans up, huh? Because of me. Because you were worried I'd give the cops your descriptions.”
“Yeah,” said Carter.
“I really wouldn't, you know. You guys could still go ahead with your original plan.”
“The thing is, I want to believe that,” Carter said. “And I even think I almost can. But you've got to understand, Hazmat...well, he ain't the trusting type. You saw what he's like. And Oiler, shit, he's so scared of going back to prison that he wouldn't be willing to take any chance that could lead to that. So there's just no way they'd go for it. I mean, fuck, I still don't know how I'm supposed to show up with you, after what Hazmat said before. So far, I haven't had any bright ideas about how to drop you off before I get there. Or maybe I just haven't been thinking about it hard enough,” he said with a grumble.
Billie beamed at him. “See? I knew you liked having me around too much to really get rid of me! And listen, I think I've got the perfect solution to all of this.”
Carter chuckled. “That'd be a neat trick.”
“Hear me out,” she insisted. “They're worried I'll give you all up to the cops, right? But what if I couldn't? What if they had hard evidence in their possession that would implicate me in a crime, so they knew that if I gave them up, they'd give me up too?”
“Go on,” Carter prompted warily.
“We rob a place,” Billie continued. “And I use this gun you gave me, which has my prints all over it now. I can even fire a bullet into a wall or the ceiling or something, to leave evidence proving it was this gun. Then Hazmat and Oiler can hang onto the gun and turn it over to the cops if I ever double-cross them, which I obviously won't. See? Then they've got a reason to trust me.”
And maybe even keep me around, Billie thought to herself. But one thing at a time.
Carter thought it over. “Maybe it's worth a shot. But come on, seriously—why the fuck are you so eager to rob someplace?”
“You said it was better than sex,” Billie countered. “Maybe I just want to see how it feels to have better-than-sex with you.”
He considered this for a moment, then laughed.
“All right,” he said. “If that's what you want, then that's what we'll do.”