In Love With A Criminal
Toby slowly opened his eyes, he couldn't make out where he was, his vision was blurry and he felt blood trickling down his cheek, he felt an excruciating pain in his head, he tried remembering what had happened but couldn't so he didn't push himself into remembering too hard, he knew it would only make his head hurt even more. He shook his head to try and regain his vision and he saw a figure sitting on a table in front of him. Toby tried struggling but he found himself unable to break the chains that tied him to the chair. "Hey how about you get these chains off of me?" He said and the man turned to look at him, he was shocked to see the man looked younger than him, not by much though.
"How about you just sit there before I shoot you?" The man pointed a gun at him and Toby nodded.
"Okay, okay, no need to take things seriously, jeez!" He looked around, it seemed like he was in an old storage house or something, he couldn't really tell. "Why am I here?"
Toby's attacker reloaded his gun before putting it aside. "Because you're my hostage, did I really hit you that hard on the head?"
"Oh so you did this to me? Why?"
"You ask a lot, do I have to ducktape your mouth?"
Toby chuckled and shook his head. "No sir," he didn't really feel scared of the man with the gun, he didn't know why though but he shrugged it off, the two sat in silence in a while, the older male just watched his attacker doing whatever he was doing 'He's probably a thief' He thought before he spoke again. "So what's your name?"
"None of your business!" The man almost yelled at him.
"Are you a thief?"
Toby noticed how much his questions irritated the man but he found that funny, the man picked up the gun and shot the ground, the bullet going through the ground right between Toby's legs. "Next one is going through your head if you don't shut up!"
"You're not going to kill me, for whatever reason you need me, if you didn't you would have killed me a long time ago, or you wouldn't even have bothered to kidnap me" He smiled at his kidnapper.
"You're right, I can't kill you but I can make you wish you were dead, you're only useful to me for a while"
"What happened to me? How did I get here?" Toby kept asking and ignored the man's threats.
"Does it really matter?" The other male said then shrugged. "You're here now and that's what you should be worrying about"
"I don't think you'll let me out of your sight so… there is no point of trying to escape"
"Smart" Suddenly a phone rang and the attacker took it from the table then just looked at the screen. "Your phone keeps ringing, it never shuts up, its been ringing for the past hour or so"
"Yeah? Well who is it?"
"Your mom"
Toby blinked, he remembered now, he was supposed to go visit his mom, and she must be freaking out right now! "Can I talk to her? She must be worried and she's sick"
"No" The man muted the phone before putting it back on the table.
"Aw come on! What am I going to tell her? 'Hey mom I've been kidnapped call the cops? No I don't know where I am just make the cops search the whole damn town?!'Sounds stupid doesn't it? Just let me tell her that I'm fine" Still the other male shook his head and denied his request. "Please!" Toby begged and for a second it seemed as if the man was considering changing his mind. "Please…" Toby pleaded again and his attacker sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Fine, you have one minute!"He took the phone and redialed the last number, the same number that had been calling for the past hour, then the man walked over to Toby and placed the phone on his ear, his other hand held the gun tightly and Toby didn't need words to get the message.
"Toby?" He smiled when he heard his mother's voice, even though she was scared but at least it was a familiar voice calling his name.
"Hi mom" He laughed softly. "Don't worry I'm fine, my phone is just almost out of battery and I was a bit busy, I'm sorry if I can't make it today, don't worry…. No, everything is okay mom. I'll call you if something happens, love you" He grinned before the call ended. "Thanks" He looked up at the man, but the man just looked away and went to sit back on the table again. "How old are you? I mean you look younger than I am so I'm guessing you're 26 maybe?"
"25" He corrected Toby.
Toby nodded. "I'm three years older than you," He laughed. "You know I'm sure whatever you did it can be fixed, why not let me go and we can get out of here, I wouldn't mind calling you a friend" He gave him a genuine smile.
"What makes you think I'm interested?"
Toby shrugged. "It's better than spending your life in jail, just take my offer"
"Dude, I'm a criminal, you can't just erase that simply because you want to! You think I grew up and told myself 'Hey one day I'm going to kill people and rob banks'?! No!"
"Hey, its okay, I understand. I'm sorry, but you know? It's never too late. Listen, my offer stands, if this ends and I'm not dead you and I can be friends…" There was a moment of silence after Toby finished his sentence so he went on. "My name is Toby by the way, Toby Turner"
"I'm Jack…" The man mumbled quickly before clearing his throat, he hoped that Toby didn't understand what he said, he didn't know why but Toby's calmness was pulling him in, why wasn't he scared? Why wasn't he begging for his life?!
"Hi Jack, do you like video games?" Jack nodded. "What about music? I like music a lot, I usually play some tunes on my acoustic guitar, I sing too, even though I might not be THAT good but it's something we love to do so we do it right?" He nodded again even though he refused to make eye contact with Toby, but this was Toby's chance, he was slowly breaking Jack's walls. "What kind of music do you like?"
"I… I create dubstep music sometimes" Jack bit his nail, why was he telling all of this to Toby, he just couldn't stop himself.
"Oh that's cool! You know, we could work together, that would be awesome"
Jack let out a soft laugh. "Yeah, I guess so"
"Open the video gallery in my phone, I think I have a couple of videos of me playing my guitar, you can judge whether I'm worthy enough to work with you or not"
Jack took Toby's phone and sat down to watch the videos as Toby asked, he found himself laughing at some of them, Toby did really seem like a nice guy… And that's exactly why Jack can't be friends with him. He put the phone away and sighed. "I'm sorry; I can't be your friend… I'm not going to risk getting you in trouble"
"Like I said, I'm sure whatever you did, it can be fixed, don't-"
"I killed people Toby! I killed them just for the fun of it! And then I burned their bodies so no one would know who they are! I'm not the type of person you want to be friends with"
"You didn't kill me! For whatever reason, you didn't kill me..."
"… I don't know why I didn't kill you either" Jack whispered. "But I know we can't be friends…" He walked behind Toby and started to unlock his chains. "I'll get you something to wipe that blood off of your head then you get the hell out of here, and don't bother to come back, I'll be gone before you can get here again, if you tell anyone trust me… I'll hunt you down and kill you… slowly"
"What if I don't want to leave?"
"I'll force you to" With that said Jack left and Toby got up, he walked around, gulping when he saw all the weapons this guy had and they were all stained with blood. He took his phone from the table and noticed a list next to it; his name was on that list along with a couple of other names that had been scratched out while his name had a circle. Maybe people were paying him to kill people… but… Who would want him dead?
Jack came back and he tossed a towel to Toby who caught it. "Now get out"
"Is someone paying you to kill these people?"
"Get out" Jack repeated. Toby grabbed the list of names and tore it to pieces before throwing the shreds on the ground and stepped on them. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"
"So you won't kill any more people"
"Are you trying to piss me off?! Do you want to die?!"
"I think you're a really great guy Jack," And before Toby can say anything else his phone rang. "Can I take this? It's probably my mom again" Jack rolled his eyes and turned his back to Toby. "Hello? You've reached Toby Turner, sorry mom, I can't visit today, I'll be there tomorrow, I promise. No, today was just…. Different, yes, different in a good way" Toby laughed and Jack looked at him. "Don't worry, hey mom? You mind if I bring a friend with me tomorrow? I know you always wanted to meet one of my friends" Jack blinked in surprise, he felt the urge to yank the phone away from Toby's hand. "His name is Jack, he and I are going to play you a nice song tomorrow, I hope you look forward to that"
Jack mouthed the word "What?" silently and shook his head. "Okay mom, see ya tomorrow then, yeah mom, I know there's a criminal on the loose, don't worry, I'll be careful" Toby smiled and wrapped an arm around Jack. "Okay mom, bye" Toby hang up and he looked over at Jack. "Mom wants to meet you, she was so excited, I felt like I told her I was bringing home a girl, isn't that great?"
"W-what part of "We can't be friends" didn't you get?!"
Toby shrugged. "You never know" He then started to hum the "Why can't we be friends" Song by "War"
"Why are you so persistent?!"
"Come on, just this one time and if you don't like it you can bring me back here after I write my will and kill me deal?"
Jack sighed. "Fine, whatever. Now get the hell out!"
"Okay, okay" He took a piece of paper and started writing down his number. "Hey I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my number, so call me maybe?" He laughed as he handed Jack his number. "Man I hate that song"
Jack laughed along. "Yeah, me too"
"Can I have your number? I'll call you tomorrow before I come and pick you up" The young criminal hesitated before nodding and giving Toby his number. "Don't worry; I'll keep it safe, I promise"
Jack smiled and looked down. "You know what? I actually believe you" Then the smile faded and he looked at Toby again. "Now leave"
"What? No goodbye hug?" He opened his arm; Jack crossed his arms over his chest refusing to hug Toby but as soon as he caught the smile on Toby's face he gave in and hugged the man who use to be his hostage, Toby didn't seem to be in a hurry to let go, they stayed in a silent embrace for a while, this was a change for Jack, usually when he captured his victim he would have no problem getting rid of them, but Toby was different, he wasn't scared of him and there was a side of Jack that really loved that. Jack broke the hug and pushed Toby away. "Okay you had your hug, now get out before I chain you up again"
"Can you drive me home maybe? I mean… My car is back home"
Jack nodded. "Yeah, sure"
"You didn't rob my house right?"
"Nope" Jack took his car's key and he lead Toby out, the two got in the car and the ride home was mostly quiet with Toby only giving Jack directions to his house.
"You know where my house is now, feel free to drop by anytime" Toby got out of the car. "Want to come in for a bit? I'll make you something to drink" Jack looked around; the street was dark and silent. "Don't worry, no one is going to see you, come on, try to have some fun, embrace the excitement of the risk of getting caught"
Jack grinned. "Yeah, I guess you're right" Toby walked Jack to the door and he opened the door only to be greeted by his dog.
"Gryphon! Hey boy, I missed you too" Toby knelt down and picked up his small pet. "This is my dog, he keeps me companied, the house gets kind of lonely sometimes and I need a companion, he also keeps the house safe"
Gryphon started barking just as he saw Jack and that irritated him. "I'll murder your dog if he doesn't shut up!"
Toby tried shushing his dog and after a while he succeeded. "Sorry, he's usually like that with strangers, and since this is the first time he saw you he kind of freaked out, anyway, what would you like to drink?"
The night seemed to have started with this question and ended with Jack somehow falling asleep and spending the night at Toby's house, the two didn't even manage to make it to a bed, Jack had fallen asleep on the couch and Toby on the ground after a long night of getting to know each other, they talked about random things like their favorite musicians, their favorite movie and Jack found himself having a really good time, they didn't even notice they were starting to get tired.
Jack was the first to wake up the next day; he looked around and was surprised to find himself still in Toby's house. The phone rang and Jack picked it up. "Hello?"
"Um… Who is this?" Asked the voice on the other side.
Jack yawned. "If you're trying to reach Toby then I'm sorry but he's asleep"
"Toby didn't tell me he had a boyfriend!" There was silence on both lines before the caller continued. "I'm just kidding; when he wakes up just tell him Chester called and that he's late for music practice"
"Yeah, okay" With that Jack hang up and threw the phone on the table again, he looked down at the sleeping Toby, he seemed so peaceful and… adorable. The criminal kicked Toby. "Hey! Wake up!"
"Huh? What?! I'm up!" Toby sat up and shook his head. "What is it?"
"You missed Music practice"
"Oh… It's okay; I'll make it up on another day, what time is it?"
"12 PM"
"Wow we slept a lot! I need to go get ready, go look through my cabinet for something to wear, mom is going to freak out again if we didn't get there in the next hour" Toby picked some of his clothes up and left to change and get ready, he had pointed to where his cabinet was and Jack opened it looking at the clothes for a while before finally picking something and changing.
After getting ready the two went on their way, they went in the house of Toby's mother which Toby usually had a spare key for. "Mom?" He called. "It's me, Toby"
"Toby? Come in, I'm in the living room" Toby nodded and lead Jack to the living room, the two greeted the woman before sitting down."Who's your friend?"
"My name is Jack Douglass, it's nice to meet you ma'am"
"Look at him, he looks like such a sweetheart" The older woman chuckled. "I knew my son knows how to pick his friends"
The two men exchanged glances before laughing. "You'd be surprised mom"
Jack ended up having fun, he and Toby got to play a song together for Toby's mom, visiting her became a weekly thing for the two, every week they'd play her a song and they'd talk for a while, Toby's mom started treating Jack as if he was her son as well and he got to spend time with Toby. All of this almost made him forget that he was once a criminal; for once in his life he was actually having fun, real fun and not the killing type of fun. He would often stay at Toby's house and they'd play video games and talk all night and something was starting to burn inside of him, in a good way that is.
"You know what Jack? I'm actually glad you kidnapped me"
"It was the best thing I ever did"
"I really like you"
Jack smiled. "I really like you too"
And then it happened somehow, they both didn't know how, but they were both leaning in closer till their lips touched, it was a quick kiss, but at least it was something, and it didn't feel awkward, it actually felt right! But it was their secret to keep now.
"Mom, where's the chocolate powder?" Toby asked, another week had passed and they spent it at Toby's Mother's house, the two men were in the kitchen searching for some chocolate powder to make Hot Chocolate, the sound of the news channel echoing through the living room and to the kitchen.
"In the top shelf behind the tea" She replied, they had already made some tea for her and they wanted to enjoy a nice cup of hot chocolate.
"Thanks"
It wasn't long before the two heard the sound of glass shattering, they ran to the living room, Toby's mom looked at them in horror, Jack's eyes landed on the TV, there was a photo of him and it seemed that the only word he could read was "Murderer" Jack never thought he could feel this scared in his life before, his heart almost stopped.
"Toby, get away from him! I'm calling the cops" She took the phone and Toby stopped her from dialing the numbers.
"Mom no, please, please just listen to me okay? That's in the past, he changed I promise. He's a nice guy, I got to know him and I can tell you he never really meant to hurt anyone, put the phone down"
"I need to get out of here…" Jack said. "I need to leave before I drag you guys down with me… It was fun while it lasted, thank you Toby, Thank you Mrs. Turner, and I'm sorry I disappointed you"
"Go pack your things Jack; we'll meet at your place after I pack my things too"
"What?" Jack's eyes widened. "No, Toby no, you can't leave your mom"
"Don't argue with me, we'll talk about this later, go now before the police find where you hide" Jack nodded, Toby gave Jack his car keys and after that the ex-Criminal ran as fast as he could to the car and left.
"You knew? And you didn't tell me? You brought a criminal into my house?!"
"Mom, you don't understand, I… I'm in love with a criminal" After the words left Toby's mouth his mother started crying and he frowned then hugged her. "I'm so sorry… I know it's hard but please accept it? I know you want what's best for me but I don't want what's best for me right now… I'm happy, mom please don't cry, I'll be alright, I'll call and this isn't forever, once things calm down I'll be back, I promise" His mom nodded even though she was still crying. "Thank you! Thank you so much, I love you" He hugged her tighter. "Once we get to safety I'll give you a call"
The older woman sniffed and she wiped away her tears. "O-okay" She didn't really want her son to leave, but she witnessed how her son's love changed a criminal from a killer to someone… normal and so nice and she was proud of that. "Please take care of yourself"
"I will"
Toby packed what he could and as he promised he met Jack at the storage house. "Where are we going to go?" Jack asked.
"Far away from here, as far as we can until this storm clears up anyway… It's just you and me now…and I don't know about you but I'm going to enjoy that while it lasts"
Jack nodded with a smile. "Yeah, I guess so"
"I have a friend in Italy; we could go there, I'm sure he'll welcome us. Don't worry he doesn't judge either, you and I can go there and actually be happy"
Jack's smile widened. "I'd like that"
END
