Bonnie and Clyde

Chapter Nine: Ink

He hated to tell her, not only because he didn't want to relive it, himself, but because he could see how much she was hurting.  Every word he spoke was like another shard of glass embedding itself into her shattered heart, unbearable, but she didn't dare tell him to stop.  She had to know their fate, no matter how awful.

And it was awful.

He hadn't seen it as it had happened, he was too late.  But, he saw the carnage that was left over.

He'd tried to stop it from happening, days before, when he first came across that envelope, and it's contents.  It had been Jordan, his brother, who had left it there, for him, after all.  It had always been Jordan who had gotten them these jobs.

They weren't the sorts of jobs that were advertised in the news papers.  They were the sorts that people who wanted them done had to know the right person to get them done. 

Jordan was that person.

He was the brains, as he regularly pointed out.  He was the one that girls might find themselves going to about someone stalking them. Or, maybe, someone might be owed a large sum of money by someone else who needed a reminder.  Jordan would confirm details, where they frequented, where they worked, lived, drank, anything that might be useful to know. 

He would take down payments, deposits and make the plans.  But, he was never the one to get his hands dirty. 

That was where his older brother came in. 

He had always been bigger, stronger, much more intimidating than Jordan.  He was the one who kicked in the doors, weilded the knives, made the threats with a twisted, wry smile to suggest just how crazy, and serious, he was.

Jordan would be there, of course, all smugness and arrogance.  How could he not be smug and arrogant?  He was feared, well known in the underground world, at least around here.  The money was nothing to complain about, eiher.

All that, and he hardly had to do a thing, just make an appearance, keep watch in case someone came along.  His brother, with the icy, crazed eyes and scarred face, was the one who made good on the promises, gave the reminders.  His brother who left the scars, broke bones, made the threats that could be comprised by only the most twisted imaginations.

In every lifetime, it seems, an opportunity is presented, an offer so good that it can't possibly be refused.  Jordan had found himself faced with one of these opportunities.

And, it was his cold, crazy brother who had refused it.

But, of course, it was too late to refuse.  Jordan had already taken the down payment, more money than either of them had ever held between them.  They wouldn't have to worry, now, Jordan insisted, about anything.

But his brother had.

Jordan had been disappointed, at first, but not surprised.  For all their icy coolness, his brother's eyes had always held a deeper warmth, an easy smile that could be manipulated by that scar into something cruel, caloused knuckles contradicting the softness of his heart.

Ironically, it was these attributes that had started it, all those years ago. 

Sophie had approached Jordan at the end of a class they shared, blue eyes and golden hair, skittish and nervous, about a man who had been stalking her. 

She, like everyone else around the school, knew of his older brother, in the year above them, his tendency for fighting, his renowned bad attitude.

Would he, for a price, help her?

Obviously, she was far too intimidated by that cool stare to go to him straight away, which was her reason for asking the more mild tempered Jordan.  He was the more reputable of the two brothers; charismatic, good grades, and none of that temperment.

But it was his bad attitude that was her reason for approaching him, at Jordan's prompting, on his first day back, after a week long suspension, and the oh so tempting threat of expulsion.

He'd agreed to help her, never one to back away from a fight, as so many knew.  Deep down, not that he'd admit, he couldn't have said no to her, even if he'd wanted to.  Those eyes of hers, huge and pleading, terrified...

He had taken Jordan, of course, who remained in the idle car.  Jordan never heard from, or saw, what had happened to that girl's stalker. 

And neither did Sophie.

Eventually, he'd been expelled from school, no surprise there, and he spent his days doing what he wanted, going over the details of the 'jobs', a not so breif spell in prison, covering for Jordan, a half hearted attempt at turning his life around after he was released...

Then, along came the opportunity.

He hadn't long been out of prison, a few months at most, when he'd first seen the envelope laying on his bed.

Inside were the photos, the ones scattered around the floor across from the bed he now lay with a trembling Bonnie.  At first, he didn't know what they were, didn't understand why they were left for him.

The people in them, the houses they lived and the places they worked, they weren't like any other jobs that Jordan had found for them, before.  These people were well off, reputable, hard working and honest.

Jordan didn't ask why, just how much, and when.

The girl would be saved till last, forced to watch her parents as they were murdered.  Then he and Jordan could use her for themselves however they pleased, hurt her in whatever way they liked, as long as she suffered.

Jordan had been nonchalant as he explained it all, handing over a great wad of cash, his share of the down payment, more money than he had ever seen before.

And there would be more, Jordan had promised, with a greedy glint in his eye, when they destroyed the evidence, burnt the house, the bodies, and the girl, alive or dead.

But, Jordan's hand was left hovering in the air, still clutching the money, holding his brother's cool gaze as he refused.

This wasn't the kind of job that they could back out of, now that Jordan had taken the money.  But, it was no problem for him to find others instead of his brother, two people, he knew of, already.  Two people he trusted, who had gotten the other job, robbing that bank, the one his brother had taken the fall for.  Two people who had been more than happy to split the money three ways.

And, that's exactly what Jordan had intended to do.

The next time he saw his brother was when he'd been lying in wait for Bonnie, the beautiful girl from the pictures.

The two others had left, already, to meet up with him later when the job was finished, but he stayed behind.  Not only to prove to himself, and the others, that he was as able as his brother, but, because a girl that looked like that, well, what a waste that would be, to just kill her, and nothing else.

The silent sound of the back door had sent his already pounding heart skittering, and he'd stepped out of the inky shadows that concealed him, all arrogance and smugness.

And come face to face with his brother.