1. Fate


    Date: 9/11/2015, Categories: Historical, Author: SITTING, Rating: , Source: LushStories

    others had stopped counting to listen to the conversation. “Stop the car here,” Bella said resolutely. “Johnny’s place is just across the road.” All four men peered out, scanning the row of shops. “The soda fountain place?” Lucas asked incredulously. “Mm-hm. Mayberry’s . It’s a good cover, right?” Bella said hopefully. No-one answered. Harry eased onto the brake and Isabella slipped out of the car before he could speak. “I had a nice time,” she said softly and then she shut the door and ran across the street. *** A week later and the gang hadn’t robbed a single bank. Harry stood by the window of his apartment, chain-smoking Camels and looking out at the snowy sidewalks. He couldn’t stop thinking of Bella. He’d been with women before, sure, but none had got to him like she had. During those long nights, he’d had crazy fantasies – the two of them running away to Europe and getting married, being normal people, or even robbing banks, doing anything, everything, but together . He thought of Johnny and the mere thought made him sick. Bella deserved better. He imagined her behind the counter of the sleazy bar, the kind of men who frequented it. The one who’d hurt her. It was no place for a girl like her. She’d be a gazelle caught in a pigsty. Fear. Choking. All the thoughts he didn’t let himself have falling over one another to suffocate him. Belle. Bella. Angel face. He knew he should let it go, let her go but he couldn’t. No one had ever suited him so perfectly. The way she ...
    walked into the banks. The way she smiled at him. He knew without doubt that if she didn’t come back, no one would ever see that smile again. At night, he went on long walks alone. The rest of the gang were getting restless. Every day they would huddle together in his apartment and try to tempt him with new plans, new banks, bigger rewards. But nothing was working. Then, one day, Bella arrived. She fell through the door in floods of tears and announced that Johnny was dead. He’d been shot, she explained, three times, as he unloaded bottles from his car. Nobody saw the gunman. It had been late at night and there was nothing anybody could do except move the body. “You got any idea who it was?” Lucas asked. “No.” She shook her head. “None. I mean, he did owe a lot of money. Now his creditors have taken the house. I don’t even have a place to stay.” “You can stay here,” Harry said. “Where else would you wanna be?” She hugged him like he was a lone piece of driftwood in the middle of the sea. Over her shoulder, Harry watched Lucas disappear into the kitchen. He frowned and after a beat, followed him. “What’re you doing?” Lucas turned. In his hand was Harry’s Colt. Harry reached out and took it from him. He turned it over in his hands. Examined it. “Six round cylinder. I’ve never fired this, Lucas. And now it’s half empty.” Lucas lifted his chin. “And?” “And didn’t Bella’s brother get shot three times?” His friend‘s gaze was even. “I did what I had to do. You got a problem with that? ...
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