Dan grabbed the steering wheel with sweaty palms. It was gonna be alright - he kept saying. What else could he do? He knew, though. He knew that one day it would all come crashing down.
But not today. Not today.
The bank alarm started ringing. Dan looked in his rearview and saw Venessa running towards the car, bag in hand. He opened the rear car door for Venessa to jump inside.
She did. "Step on it!" She yelled. "Ahahahahhaa!" She cackled.
Passers-by started pointing at them. Great. They'll get away, but they'll have to get another car for next time. Why was Venessa so reckless?
"Ven! Did you have to notify the entire town we're doing a job?" Dan shouted pounding the wheel.
"Oh, bite my tit you!" Venessa pouted, looked away, looked back. "I didn't mean to. Things got out of hand..."
That tone... Venessa never sounded so defeated. Dan took in a deep breath. "What happened?" Venessa refused to meet Dan's eye. "Ven!"
"There was this fucking civilian, okay?"
"Oh, God..."
"Fucking cowboy wannabe motherfucker, I... I had no choice, Dan!" Venessa brushed away tears. "He jumped me, thinking he was gonna save the fucking bank. Like those bastards care about him anyway!"
"So you shot him?" Dan asked exasperated.
"What would you have me do, Danny? Hmm? Let him keep me down until the coppers showed. You gonna bust me out of jail, Danny?"
"How do you know he was a civilian?"
"What?" Venessa finally met Dan's eye.
"How do you fucking know he was a fucking civilian, Ven?"
Venessa pierced her lips. "He was a civilian." She said. "I'm sure of it."
Dan nodded. "Alright. Alright," he sighed. "We're skipping town. Tonight. The car is marked and you are marked. This whole thing is fucked."
"Yes, Danny," Venessa said, sulking in her seat.
They arrived at the motel - a rundown, out-of-town little place that only housed junkies and criminals. Dan hated staying in places like these but what choice did they have? The two of them couldn't get a decent room in town on the count of being most wanted in the entire country. And plus they needed somewhere to lay low anyway.
If nothing else the payout was at least good. Venessa procured enough money for them to leave the country, and get a new car, and have plenty left over. This lifted their spirits as a plan started to form. They took a shower; they fucked. Then they sat down to iron out the kinks in their getaway.
"So we leave tomorrow?" Venessa asked over a glass of scotch.
"Tonight." Dan leaned back in his rickety chair with his legs on the table. "We gotta get in front of whatever is chasing us, Ven. Plus, with you -"
"I know what I did damn it!" Venessa downed the glass before going for another. "I know what I did..."
"You okay?"
Venessa drank. "I will be once I'm well and truly drunk."
It's not like they hadn't killed before. But civilians on the job were a strict no-no. Still, Venessa was the hardest person Dan ever knew. This hit her harder than he expected.
Maybe there was hope yet? To leave this life?
"I'm going out." Venessa declared grabbing her coat.
"That smart? We should be resting, Ven. It'll be a long drive tonight."
"I need to get some fresh air, damn it! I'll be back soon. I ain't no invalid." And like that she left, leaving Dan with his mouth a gape.
Minutes turned to hours and Venessa was still gone. Dan paced in his room unsure of what to do. If he went out to look for her it might get worse, he was a wanted man after all. If he stayed put he was in the dark. True, Venessa was as careful as careful could be. On the other hand, she downed an entire bottle of scotch.
He sighed grabbing his jacket. Better to know what's going on than be -
The door came crashing down. "On the ground, now!" Revealing several coppers heavily geared and armored. They hit Dan, forcing him onto the ground. How did they find them so fast?
Sooner or later, it all comes crashing down.
"You punks think you can kill a cop and just get away with it? Eh?"
He was a cop... "We didn't know!" Dan shouted, then received a boot to the face.
"Tell that to his wife and children! Fucking scum!"
They started pounding and kicking and beating the life out of him. His vision started to fade and soon Dan blacked out. When he came to he thought he was in hell. His vision was reddened and his entire body hurt.
He was in the hotel's bathroom, a particularly angry cop learning at him. "Listen to me, punk." The cop didn't wait for him to come to fully before he started his questioning. "We know you didn't shoot Jim. It was your psycho chick, wasn't it?"
Dan stayed quiet, his head pounding. "It was me..." he said on instinct.
"Bullshit." The cop spit. "You think you two are under the radar or something? The entire country is searching for you two. Jim was off-duty, you see. He was a fool for trying to stop your psycho girlfriend but he was the man he was. Now..." The cop leaned in real close. "You either give her up. Or you'll live the rest of your miserable existence behind bars. As a cop killer? Heh. I say good luck to you."
"I don't know where she is," Dan said, truthful. "We were supposed to leave town tonight. But she left beforehand." Dan saw no harm in being honest here.
"Is that a fact?" The cop got up. "Tough luck for you then, punk." He punched Dan, forcing him to the dirty tiles. "I'll make sure personally, that you never see the light of day again."
And as the cop spoke, the light disappeared as blackness veiled Dan's consciousness.
Tune in for the second part where we follow Venessa and the conclusion to 'Unfit for Love'.
This is the first draft of the story. Written by Jovan Gjorgjiev, ©️ 2023.
Obligatory shout-out to the 🍕PIZZA🍕 gang, 🤙 gang. 🤙
I planned on this being a one-parter tragedy, but as a discovery writer's mind works you never know with these things. 😅 Ven demanded she has her own perspective, and as such one must comply. But I couldn't do that in this section so a second part it is!
I'm really fond of this story, hope you folks enjoyed it as well.
👊 Follow me on my HIVE blog 👊
Cover image source.
Hope you have a fantastic day! 🙌
Return from Unfit for Love (Dan's Side) to Јоцко's Web3 Blog
