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THE
SECOND
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CHAPTER
THREE
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THE
BENEFIT
OF THE
DOUBT
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[[ ACE. ]]
I'm in the middle of rocking my seat back and forth, when Carmen jutted her elbow into my side to interrupt the song with heavy guitars playing through my headphones. I tugged them off, glancing at her with a raised eyebrow. "Yes?"
"Would you stop rocking in your seat back and forth, it's making me fucking nervous, alright?" She scoffed, rolling her eyes as she sunk in her seat in annoyance.
"Believe me, it isn't my seat rocking. You're just a wimp about flying on airplanes." I snickered.
"Am not."
"Are too. You've barely looked out the window this entire plane ride." I teased the aloof curly haired girl.
"Whatever, Ace. There's a difference between just wanting to get off this fucking plane and having a fear of flying."
"Well, on the brighter side, at least we'll be seeing everyone."
"And Harry's positive this place is so safe?" She wondered.
"Steers the cops right clear as Harry said, just as long as we've all got our phones off and no outer calls go through in hindsight then we should be alright until we've got the next move mapped out."
"The next move. When we thought this'd all be over. You can stomach that?" She sourly said, scrunching her nose in disgust, her fierce gaze fixating on me.
"If it means we get to live this free for the rest of this lifetime, I'd deal with it."
"Definitely, but freedom at what cost? Going on the run in broad daylight?"
"Don't be ridiculous, the world's our fucking oyster. Think of it this way—"
Our conversation was interrupted by the sound of the gentle bell echoing from the speaker above us. "Attention all passengers of Flight F-480, please fasten your seatbelts as our pilots will safely initiate our landing in approximately eight minutes. This premium flight and the delicacies and beverages provided are brought to you by Starlight Security, a state of the art security company reached as quick as a tap on your phone screen. And here we present to you, making her first debut launch, the CEO's first and only daughter Ivy Jupiter; America's sweetheart and the face of Starlight, with a promise to the future. Enjoy the rest of your flight." The flight attendant voiced with a delicate tone of speak.
The electronic televisions mounted on the back of everyone's seats and slightly above the clock on the wall by the cockpit had been lit up in technicolor, Starlight Security fading into the screen in formal minimalist font. "The safest you'll ever feel, is at the power of your fingertips." A girl with kind doe eyes and long brown hair said, folding her hands together as she smiled, swinging from side to side. "Finding it hard to keep the kids off the dark corners of the interweb? You'll find it seamless with our childblock featured systemic device delivered right to the front step of your door. It's got bluetooth, my favorite feature, and our customers most valued feature." She grinned in what looked to be genuine excitement, a clip of the electronic transitioning into the advertisement with the sound of twinkling sparkles.
"What the hell?" Carmen uttered inaudibly, glancing over at me in sheer skepticism.
"Having trouble turning on the sprinklers before work? Download our brand new app that auto switches them on for you in the morning without that annoying 'ask again' query. Happy children and green grasses begin with us, a dream of your lifetime; brightly, rightly, widely. Starlight Security. Brought to you by Christoffer Jupiter, my father, an entrepreneur of the future. Of our future." She spoke in a heartfelt tone, her hand going to her heart. She displayed the biggest smile on her face, the screen swirling in pink as the commercial faded to a close.
The names stuck like glue to the brain right then and there, a distraught expression painting on my face as I looked over at Carmen fighting to hold aggravated tears back.
"That's impossible." She whispered, leaning an elbow on the arm rest as she brushed her fingers over quivering pursed lips.
"But it's possible. The country's fucking brainwashed into safety and we've ought to do something about it." I said.
"That's not in our fucking hands." Carmen disagreed.
"An eye for an eye, heard of that one? Haven't you. Don't you think we deserve to shut these people down for what happened inside that bank?" I spoke in a hushed tone.
Before we both knew it, the plane had been announced to land once more over, both of us hurriedly clicking our seatbelts on.
"I have. And nothing good comes out of it, alright?" She said, though her tone had shifted into somewhat considerate. "What we can do, is reciprocate, respectfully. There's no telling if Harry would want us to tear the fucking rooves down one more time around the fucking track."
"For redemption? The man's possibly got a plan cooking unto this."
"We'll tell him what we saw here. Well, you will. As for me, the last thing I want to fucking do is speak of the weight I took on my shoulders inside that place. Never again." She exhaled, emptied eyes gazing off aimlessly.
[[ HARRY. ]]
"So tell me, Clementine. Why in the world did your mother name you after a citrus fruit?" I questioned her, as she glared over at me, unamused.
"Don't speak. You're drawling. It's like a mosquito buzzing by my ear." She held a finger towards me sassily, taking a swig from the Heineken beer bottle between her fingers.
"Fair enough." I said. "Just thought I'd ask."
Clementine's attention averted back to Wheel Of Fortune playing on the tv, leaning her elbows onto her knees. Turning to look over my shoulder, I glanced at Dixie who had sat on the cushion on the balcony, taking multiple drags from a cigarette before she put it out on the metal bars. Hopping over the couch, I had slightly stumbled by the open balcony door, my hand lightly tapping her thigh, silently indicating for her to scoot over so I could sit by her.
She smiled at me, though her eyes poured a sadness that left my heart wrenching.
"What's wrong?" I wondered, and as I did, tears had welled within her doe eyes.
"When you told me those things in the bank. When were we ever going to have those things, or had it gotten lost within chaos' wake?" Her smile slowly faded away, her eyebrows furrowing.
"These things, these places, these moments; I haven't lost hope in finding them with you." I exhaled.
"Really, Harry? Really." Her tone had turned cold as the breeze that whooshed by the trees. "Because I'm having a really hard time fucking understanding that right now. It just seemed you needed another person to count on when tension brimmed within those fucking walls."
"You're being utterly fucking belligerent. Do you hear yourself?"
"I trusted you. What happened then? You left me there bled out in the fucking sand. I don't give a flying fuck how that sounds to you." She had shoved at my chest. Dixie then burst into frustrated tears, burying her face in her hands.
"Dixie." I flatly said, pained.
She then winced, her hand going to the side of her lower waist before she shot back up from a crouched position.
"Hey, just take it easy for me please." I said, placing my hand on top of where she had hers. "Hear me out here, will you? Listen to me. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I'm fine, I can't put too much pressure on this wound, the doctor told me months ago." She muttered.
I slowly got to my knees. "Let me see. Let me." I quietly said. I was disenchanted.
Dixie nodded quietly, as she heaved a sigh her hands slowly going to my shoulders.
I gently lift her purple top up, revealing the trace of where the bullet had been as my jaw tensed, warm tears trickling down my face as my thumb gently brushed over the healing wound while I caressed the curve in her waist.
I press a kiss to the wound, one everlasting. Dixie had cried with me then, as she cupped my face, haltingly bringing me into a tender kiss.
"You're wrong, you know that?" I pulled away, the taste of her salty tears dancing on my tongue. "You were never just an asset, you were my fucking heart. That, I need you to come back to every time we run."
"I'm sorry. I—"
Before she could say her next words, the sound of a buzzer bell had echoed the small apartment, both of us looking at each other before we had both went to look over the balcony bars.
"I've got it. Hey, I've got it!" Max hollered. "World domination, it's in my duffel bag, do you hear?!"
"What?" I asked, thrown off by his words.
"He's been going on about it the entire shuttle ride here. Best believe it's some good stuff though." Vera exhaled, chuckling as she wheeled a suitcase behind her. He kissed her temple, excitedly. "Fuck! Dixie!"
"Hey, the door's locked." His voice slowly faded from enthusiasm from below the balcony.
"We're jet lagged and we've got some things to talk about, mate. All willy nilly-ing aside, alright? This is fucking serious." Ace had wheeled two maroon suitcases by him, pausing to push his shades up.
"It's not the cops is it?" Clementine irritatingly scratched the back of her neck as she had stuck her head out by the balcony door.
"It's them." Dixie mused, smiling.
"No fucking way. Fucking Dixie!" Carmen, had went from tiresome to beaming within seconds when she had heard her voice on the balcony. "And fucking... You."
"Fuck no. I'm not letting that crazy bitch in." The girl with the blonde pixie cut said.
"Oh, I won't bite Clem." She coo'd tauntingly.
"Heard me? Crazy." Clementine angrily said between gritted teeth. "You hear me. You're sleeping on the fucking roof for all the damns I could give."
"You're serious, Harry? Are you fucking serious." Carmen cursed, narrowing her eyes.
"Look. Can we all agree we aren't in that fucking bank anymore? Because this is life or being imprisoned, it's a fucking game of sharks and minnows here and you two going at each other's throats is going to jeopardize everything. I mean everything." I said.
"Whatever. If that bitch lays a hand on me again, I'm kicking her ass out." Clementine rolled her eyes.
"Touche." Carmen replied cunningly, quirking a brow.
"Jesus Christ." I sighed, glimpsing over at Dixie who reassuringly smiled at me.
"Hey, they'll come around." She eased, my worries dwindling into a state of tranquility.
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