Bonnie and Clyde

Chapter Seventeen: Dana

The side window was a cold, uncomfortably solid place to rest her head, but she drifted off within minutes. Clyde was grateful, it meant he could relax, let his guard down, just for a second.

He'd been rigid, clutching the wheel, his knuckles white with tension.

He checked on her, confirming that she was asleep, breathing slowly, evenly, her pretty face smooth and soft in her sleep. Peaceful, even if her dreams were ridden with horrible things.

He was still struck by her beauty, had to force his eyes away from her and back to the road. He released the wheel with one hand, rubbed it over his tired eyes and sighed, an ache building behind his eyes, pulsing through to his temples.

He contemplated his decision to go to Dana, second guessing himself. Was this really a good idea? Dana, the only person in the world he trusted as much as he trusted her. The woman who'd raised him like a mother, loved him like a sister, the one he'd missed the most when he took the fall for Jordan and spent three years of his life locked up.

Dana, god, he needed her, now.

But it was a risk. She was the most obvious, the one they would guess he would run to. Of course he'd go to her; she had his money, for a start, and he was going to need that.

But, what if he lead them to her? Would they hurt her? Would they consider her collateral damage, a liability?  If something happened to Dana because of him, he couldn't live with himself.

He pictured her, as he often had in prison, ready smile and bright, dark eyes dancing with kindness and love, the tiny crinkles in the corners of them when she laughed at something stupid he'd said, as though he was the funniest person she knew, which, she'd often told him, he was.

She'd been there for him always, came to visit him in prison even when Jordan wouldn't, for shame that he would let his brother suffer for him, and had stayed with them after he'd been released.

She knew, as well, that it had been Jordan, not him, who had stolen that car and robbed those service stations. And the heroine that had been uncovered, Dana also knew that was Jordan's.

Clyde had felt, too strongly, the effects of the poison, and what it did to people. People like his mother, who had made sure that, for the majority of his adolescence, he would have to hide the bruises she'd caused on him. He'd been put off those substances at a young age.

Dana knew him better than anyone, and loved him more than anyone ever had, or ever would, he was convinced. Dana would know what to do. He needed her, her reassurance, her stability, his rock. Someone who might give him the strength he needed to keep being the strong person that Bonnie needed.

Just the thought of her was enough for him to continue on, the miles melting away as they drove closer.

Bonnie stirred beside him, uttering a small whimper in her sleep. Carefully, he brushed back the hair from her face, and she settled again, the nightmare fading at his touch.

Soon, he thought to her, readjusting his grip on the steering wheel, soon, everything would be right, again, and they would be safe, with friends, without fear.