ROBBERS // TRACOB AU

lights on the tv

A woman wearing a pink rain jacket with the hood up talks into a microphone and waits for her cue to begin to speak. Behind her, the red and blue lights of police cars flash and there's a line of police tape in the parking lot she stands in. It looks familiar; and when she speaks I know exactly where she is.
"Tonight we're reporting to you live from Maricopa, California where this afternoon a robbery took place and left one man dead and one of the suspects injured."

I shoot up straight in our bed at the woman's voice and a shiver goes down my spine. While she continues to talk I space out and fumble through the blankets on our bed for the remote, finally feeling the plastic fall from the comforter and hit my leg.
"Baby?" Jacob grumbles from beside me, the side of his face still against his pillow. I lift the remote and pause the TV and look over at Jacob shocked.

"We're on TV." I say, looking up at the frame frozen on our screen.
"What?" Jacob mumbles, irritated to be awake this early in the morning. Jacob huffs and asks another question.
"You're kidding right?" Jacob asks annoyed. He rolls over slowly, wincing in pain when he lays down onto his back.
"I wish I was kidding."

At that point Jacob looks over at the TV across the room and I press play on the remote. The headline pops up, and I can sense the terror in Jacob's stare.
"Around 2:30 today, a pair of men walked into the Lucky 7 convenience store with bandanas covering their faces and demanded money from the clerk working at the store. After telling the robbers no, the clerk pulled his own gun from the register and shot the suspect on the right in the abdomen. After being shot, the suspect collapsed to the ground and the clerk was shot three times by the other man before they fled with the help of one of their accomplices.

Residents are shocked at the robbery, many wondering how something so violent could take place in their small town. The clerk is suspected to be 36-year-old Joe Armstrong from Taft. He leaves behind his wife and three young children. As of right now there are no current leads in the investigation as the crime scene was left clean with no evidence, including no visible drops of blood. Anybody who recognizes these men are urged to local police as soon as possible."

I pause the TV again and stare at the screen. A blurry and pixelated picture of Jacob and I is shown. You can tell I have brown hair and he has black hair. You can see our blurry tattoos peeking out from our shirts. Every moment I spend staring at the picture my heart slows down a little bit more and I feel even more helpless.
"Shit." Jacob finally mumbles and tries to sit up in our bed completely. I place a hand on his chest to stop him from doing so, forcing him to stay laying propped up on pillows as he previously was.

There's a knocking on the door. I roll over and look at Jacob before I uncover myself and shuffle to the door, rubbing my eyes and opening it. Before the door is open all the way, Alex pushes past me, Brock and Nick following behind. Alex freezes in place when she sees the news on the TV.
"Congrats guys. You're celebrities." Brock says, his voice on edge. Alex looks back and forth between the screen and Jacob and I.

"It's blurry enough that they can't see your eye color or make out your tattoos," Alex says and squints, "But if the police have better images you guys are screwed."
"Thanks Alex that's exactly what I wanted to hear." Jacob says sarcastically. She turns around and rolls her eyes.
"Fuck off Jacob. I get you were shot but you don't have to be such an asshole." She says and Nick places a hand on her forearm to stop her from engaging in the argument even more. She stands beside him and takes a deep breath.

"We need to figure out a plan," Brock says and takes control of the situation, "What are we going to do from here?"
"Well we can't stay here." Nick urges and stays against the wall.
"But where are we supposed to go?" Jacob asks, "Troye and I can't exactly just stroll into the airport at the moment. Police are going to be on the lookout for us."

"What if we go to Mexico?" Alex chimes in and all eyes fall on her. She continues to speak, "I have family in Guadalajara, I'm sure they'd let us stay for a little while before we go somewhere new." Jacob sits up even more and groans in pain.
"Again, where do we go from there? We can't just wing it anymore; we're wanted criminals." Jacob asks, sounding annoyed. They continue to bicker back and forth until Nick shakes his head in frustration.

"Jesus Christ, I'm getting the fuck out of here!" Nick yells, and he storms towards the doorway.
"Nick wait!" Alex yells, and moves to follow him out of the room. He whips around in the doorframe and places both of his hands onto her shoulders.
"I'm not waiting Alex. I'm done. Jacob just almost died! The police are looking for us and we've already been busted once before. We need to get out of here today. Come with me." Nick turns and walks out of the room and Alex follows him down the hallway.

Jacob looks over at me with his eyes filled with a deathly mix of sadness and terrified at the same time as Nick leaves. I look up at Brock in confusion and shock.
"You've been busted before?" I ask and turn to Jacob, "Why the fuck didn't you tell me?"
"It was nothing, we got away-"
"That's bullshit Jacob, we barely got away in time." Brock interjects, sending a glare in Jacob's direction.

I stare at them both, sensing the rising tension in the room. Jacob's face is cloaked in guilt, and I can tell there's something he isn't telling me. Nobody says anything, and instead we all look around the room at each other with wide eyes and glares. Rather than stay with us, Brock shoves his hands in his pockets and steps away from the wall.
"I'm going to start packing." He says and lowers his head in shame. As Brock walks out he closes the door behind him and leaves Jacob and I alone.

I stand up in anger and walk to the dresser, opening the top drawer to grab our clothes and begin to pack. Jacob is still sitting up in our bed, but he doesn't speak to me knowing that I'm upset and confused. How could I have not known about their previous run-in with the police? All four of them have kept this secret from me for nearly two years and now the bomb has dropped the day after Jacob almost died. Everything isn't making sense to me anymore; and I need to get out of here. However through the silence, Jacob begins to speak.

"It was about three years ago," Jacob says quietly, "We were in Wyoming and we robbed a store one night like we do now, but we were stuck in this same situation with police chasing us. At the time I was dating this boy named Logan and he came over and spent the night a few days after the robbery. He knew about the robberies but didn't know we were in danger. The police knocked on the door the next morning and Logan answered it. He wouldn't let them in the house since he knew we had drugs inside, but the police still got in.

Brock and Nick started shooting while Alex and I grabbed as much as we could. As Logan ran outside to the car he ended up getting shot by the cops, right in the back. We still got him into the car but he ended up dying in my arms as we drove. After that I went on a bender and I couldn't do anything without thinking about Logan and how his death is my fault. To this day I still feel guilty. He was innocent and he ended up dying because of what we'd done. I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive myself."

I walk over to where Jacob is sitting on the bed as he looks up at me with his eyes watering. He blinks and a single tear rolls down his cheek.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I ask, feeling myself begin to get worked up as well. Jacob places both of his hands on my hips as he gazes into my eyes.
"I can't afford to lose you like I lost Logan. Life without you would hurt me more than any gunshot wound ever would."

I look down to Jacob with tears filling my eyes. Using my thumb I wipe the trailing tear from his cheek and continue to stare down at him.
"When are we leaving?" I ask, sniffling back tears.
"Whenever you want to." Jacob answers and smiles sadly, his chin still quivering.
"Where are we going?" I ask. He sits for a second thinking before he smiles.

"Wherever you want to go, my love."

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THE ENDING IS NEAR.
I hope y'all enjoyed this dialogue heavy chapter!!

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xx, madi