beyondtheline | I sure like the feeling of an endless road

I sure like the feeling of an endless road

[A few hours of open road makes for easygoing fun. It's great to be traveling again, and the feeling of Chrissy leaning up against his back, holding on tight while he whips ahead on a wide-open freeway through the pitch black of night is like nothing else. The last time they were racing up and down this freeway, they were on the way to go burn a bunch of people's lives down - but now that's hours back, back with the rest of the city. They've left the lights and have nothing to look at but the pavement in Johnnie's headlight, the glimpses of stars shining weakly through hazy clouds, and occasionally an oncoming car.

Johnnie hasn't exactly been trying to tune in to his senses or abilities or whatever it is he has - he's just been cruising, letting the night go by, enjoying their plunge northward without a care or a thought. So it is deeply irritating when the pavement quickly fades to a well-worn dirt track that almost tosses him and Chrissy to the ground, and it takes all of his skills to get the front wheel under control and to slow down before they hit a rock that really might launch them into the nearest alfalfa field. Or whatever it is that's here, whenever they've found themselves. Somewhere pre-freeway. Boo.

But there are a few lights ahead, and he did need a stop to pee, so, fuck it.]

Well, shit. Y'know, I dunno exactly where we are. Last sign said San Jose was still fuckin' hours off. You good? That was kinda shaky.

[As long as this dirt road stays packed, they can drive it, but it's going to be slow. Good thing they're almost to somewhere.]

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Maybe they'll call us the Shrimp Bandits.

[The suggestion makes her laugh, and she leans up against him a little more to try and better guard the food. There's never any cop sirens or lights that come after them, so they must make a pretty clean getaway. Eventually she urges him to pull over at a park they pass by, and once he obliges she hops off the bike and leads the way over to a picnic table so she can hop up on top and finally enjoy the rest of her shrimp.]

Next time, we should probably stick to the not fancy places.

[There's giggling though, so she's not too shaken up about everything.

She shrugs out of her jacket and sets it to the side, and enjoys the evening glow on her bare shoulders. Reclining back on one hand isn't the best way to eat fried shrimp, but she's not choking so she figures it's fine.]

Do you know what we should do next time we find a decent place? We used to talk about going on stage together, we should actually try it somewhere that will serve us all the food and drinks we want as payment. It'd be so much fun!

["Shrimp Bandits?" Better not, damn. He's no shrimp.

Grinning the whole time though, he hops up onto the table next to her and opens up his parcel. Time to finally try one of these clams - and yeah, he's glad he grabbed them. Smoky, buttery, made an absolute mess of the napkin and there's grease on his jeans now too, but they're way the hell better than the oysters.

It's a little hard to focus on food only though when Chrissy is so gorgeous next to him, all sunset and fire colors, gold and red and orange. Yeah, who needs afro-whatevers.]

Yeah, we gotta try that! We'll do it, just gotta get the right person's interest. Some little town comin' up will need performers an' we got just the thing. Guess we could practice a couple songs together on the way north. You got any you really wanna do?

[Her head slowly turns just in time to catch him looking at her. That makes her smile as she shrugs in response to his question.]

Oh, we can sing anything. I mean, not a Phantom Riders song. But maybe we could do the one you wrote for me?

[She is pretty partial toward that one, and it would be something unique to only them. Music is great to talk about and she's eager to be on stage with him. But he's just been admiring her, and he's all handsome himself, and so she leans in for a kiss. They taste like shrimp and oysters, which is a little weird, but it's fine.]

[Aw, she's so damn cute. And so cheery after stealing shrimp and smashing wine on a dude's face. Good for her. They're starting their evening off strong.]

Yeah! This'd be the perfect time for it without the rest of the guys around. I haven't gotten to play that one too much. If we get that goin' an three or four more maybe, do a little half hour set, someone's gonna want that.

[And he won't be picky about food. Bar stuff and beer is fine with him. Better than the annoyance of having to pretend to be rich and snobby. This food is fine and all but he'd generally be happier with a burger or some nachos, he's pretty sure.]

Well, maybe next time we stop for the day we can work on puttin' together a set! Or at least the start of one.

That sounds like a great plan.

[And a lot of fun. She's looking forward to that. Music is such a strong part of their relationship that she loves any chance they get to make some together.

The food is forgotten by this point, as she takes up slow and quiet idle kissing. It's not quite making out, but something a little more sweet and innocent. Those two words don't usually describe things related to Johnnie, but for now everything has a golden glow and even he seems a little softer.]

Do you wanna head back to the bike and drive around until we find a few places to get into?

[She asks that after kissing him like that? Shit, he's considering pushing her down on the table. Too bad this area's so public.

He gives a soft little laugh and runs a hand through his hair, then eats the last of his stolen shrimp before abandoning the napkin and its empty clam shells on the table top.]

We better let it get later, people are still gonna be out for a while. Well, but we can go grab small stuff now I guess. Anything we can hold in our pockets or whatever. Maybe that spray paint. Stuff to make a couple molotovs.

[As he says it, he hops back down to the ground. Yes, he's still set on getting Dante and his boys good. He won't be satisfied until they've paid a hell of a lot more in blood.]

[She kisses him like that, and his response is to get off the table and actually consider leaving? She leaves herself panting a little, and is thankful that it's quiet. It takes her a few seconds but she follows along after him, sliding off the table and hopping onto the ground. She's gotta clear her head.]

Yeah, we can get all of that. There's plenty of room in the saddlebags for stuff. It's a good thing you went and got those bigger ones from the garage.

[Her hand takes hold of his, and she lets him lead the way back to the bike so they can get back on.]

That won't take too long to get. We'll have to find something else to do until people start going back home for the night.

Yeah.

[Well now she's holding his hand, and so she'll have to pardon him if he delays the actual getting on the bike in order to nudge her back against it, until she's just about sitting on it - but he's not at all. He presses in for another kiss with his other hand cupped at her back, keeping her close, until it sinks lower to grope at her ass.]

Y'know what I want?

[The pause is brief, not really enough time for her to give an answer, just long enough to make her think of one.]

When those motherfuckers are a pile of ash, all charred on the ground with us laughing over their corpses for sayin' bullshit like they did, you an' me, we're gonna have the best time by that fire. I wanna make you glow.

[That pause is rude, because she has plenty of ideas and almost opens her mouth to say one out loud. He keeps talking though, and her eyebrows arch as she leans back just a little. She's grinning though, and leans back in so they're almost nose to nose.]

You know, you can make me glow now if you want to. It's okay to do it more than once a night. Even if there's not any fire here.

[So much for playing it cool. At least the suggestion comes out casual flirting, and the kiss she gives him right after is heated without being desperate. Maybe the way her hand grabs at his shirt and holds him in close is a little much, but he likes that kind of stuff. It's fine.]

[Well, shit. This area is pretty public but there's nobody here and he wants her, and she's making a really convincing argument that he should just give in to that desire and not think any further about it. Pretty easy to convince him of that anyway.

The kickstand holds the bike steady as he pushes her back against it, and slots his hips between her thighs. One hand holds the seat of the bike so he doesn't topple her too far backwards while the other begins to roam, caressing her back and then her breasts through that slinky little tube top.

If the cops are still looking for them, fuck them. Be pretty funny if they showed up with him buried deep in her though.

Snickering, he breaks off the kiss for a moment and unbuttons her shorts.]

We'll make enough fire later to make up for it.

[Fuck yes, he's unbuttoning her shorts. She's so eager she very nearly wiggles right out of them. It's only the fact that she needs to be still enough for him to get into those shorts that keeps her from surging forward to wrap her legs around him. He probably would think it's a compliment, but she's also positive she'd likely bowl him over in her enthusiasm.

Instead, she just leans back in and kisses him hungrily, letting that be a slow burning fire that's enough for a few seconds. Her fingers work at his belt and then his jeans, and as soon as she gets them open her hand slips inside so she can try to palm at his cock with his underwear still in the way. ]

You make me go crazy sometimes, you know that? I want you so much I can't think straight.

You an' me both.

[Undoubtedly, because yeah, they're working on fucking each other in a public park. Just minutes - no, seconds - away from that. Yeah, it's getting dark, but it's not exactly the dead of night yet.

He snickers as he rocks into her hand, grinding his cock on her palm and fingers. Feels damn good, really gets the blood going where it needs to go. But just as effective is the sheer excitement of this, the coarse need and especially the need for it to be quick, hard, and intense.

His lips claim hers again as he groans, rocking into her palm, before again making his fingers do their own share of the work. Her shorts get tugged down despite the bike making him have to fight for them, and her panties come with them, leaving her bare against the seat of his bike with just enough space for him to work the butt of his palm against her clit, stroking broadly against every sensitive inch of skin between her legs.]

[Oh gosh, they're really doing this right here on the bike. Her thoughts briefly go to the first time they pulled over in the woods to fuck against it, and her cheeks turn bright red as she flushes with heat at the memory. Great, now she's getting turned on by remembering fucking while they're about to be fucking. It's a never ending loop of sex in her head right now.

Which means that while his attention to her clit feels great and is more than welcomed, it isn't exactly necessary. Still, she gasps as her head turns, her forehead pressing against his for a few seconds. It isn't until she feels herself shiver from how great this is going that she realizes her bare ass is on the seat of the bike, and she laughs as she nips at his lip and tries to still his hand by grabbing at his wrist.]

You don't have to do that, baby. At least not yet.

[This is going to take some work to not knock over the bike completely. Falling off and the bike crushing her would be pretty unsexy. She's just about to tell him to fuck her when the sound of an approaching siren sounds off. Blue and red lights illuminate the area as a cop car pulls into the parking lot, and Chrissy curses under her breath as she tries to decide how terrible it would be to kill whatever cops are inside just so they can keep going.

The sound of doors opening makes her pause, and she's quick to help tug Johnnie's pants up and get them done up so at least he won't get in trouble.]

Oh, fuck!

[He tries to keep his laughter quiet, but he's snickering pretty good as he gets his pants zipped up and hurriedly hops onto the bike. The engine revs hard before he gets going, not quite getting things in the right order in his urgency.]

Get your pants up!

[Not that she has much time, but she needs to be able to get her legs around him and hang on tight because he's fucking driving as fast as he can. There's only one way out of this park and that means zipping past the cops before they have time to react - and he gives them a cackle that turns into a howl as they speed off.

Sirens mean those assholes eventually get the car going again to chase, but they're going to have to work hard to catch up as Johnnie takes zig-zags through San Francisco streets, trying to make their path unpredictable. He's heading vaguely north he thinks, but honestly, he's lost track - all he knows is now, most of the signs are in Chinese or something like it, and this part of town seems awfully quiet at this time of day too aside from people wrapping up some evening shopping, and one bar with little stools on the street and old men sipping something in small glasses.

Eventually he finds a side alley to tuck into, and stops the bike. He's still laughing as he turns around and squeezes her thigh.]

You still hangin' on back here? Bet they won't find us any time soon. I don't even know where the fuck we are.

[And that's the story of how Chrissy Cunningham, once a prude princess, rides on the back of a motorcycle with her bare ass hanging out as she tries her best to pull up her shorts. That never happens, and she's laughing uncontrollably as they find an alley to stop in.

His question is met with a snort and a light hit to his arm, and she hops off the bike to try and pull her shorts up.]

You drove like that and my butt was sticking out naked the entire time! I mooned the whole city!

[She's howling with laughter and cradles her stomach with both arms as she leans over against the brick wall.]

Aw c'mon, nobody saw! An' if they did, they were jealous!

[So that makes it okay - and like her, he's laughing too hard to think otherwise anyway.

Once he's had a moment to catch his breath and get the laughter under control, he makes his way down the alley toward the main street to look around. Where are they? This city is such a puzzle.]

This place got itself a real big Chinatown I guess. I think we better just drive until we find a bigger road. Or a hardware store for our spray paint an' shit. But I bet there's jewelry or somethin' around here to rip off first, it's just there's kinda still people around so we gotta be careful. Here -

[Shit, did he bring his lockpicking tools? He does have them, somewhere, he swears. Down at the bottom of a saddlebag, some area they never fully unpacked since it wasn't stuff they'd need in the hotel. He digs around for a while before he finds the slender box.]

Can't do nothin' about alarms but at least I got this.

My lockpicking hero.

[She grins, leaning in for a quick kiss to his cheek. There's no attempt for something more than that, because she's doing up her shorts and she's afraid they'll get horny again in no time and wind up getting distracted. It's important they end up getting something worthwhile done tonight.]

Let's walk around the alleys and see if we can get in anywhere that seems quiet. We can just walk the bike along with us.

[They're not just leaving it, she doesn't trust people not to try stealing it. That, and they had a hard enough time finding it the night before. She's not eager for a repeat.]

Then maybe in an hour we can try heading out and driving around until we find something worthwhile.

[Too bad he's only okay at lockpicking - but he'll take the praise and the kiss. He can get into doors, mostly. Safes and anything more complex and they're probably out of luck.

Her plan sounds solid enough, so he sticks the lockpicks in his back pocket, then pops the kickstand back up so he can walk the bike.]

An' if the cops somehow come up this way at least we'll have our ride with us.

[He's still paranoid. It wouldn't be hard for someone to link last night's fight to the restaurant earlier because of their jackets - and while often the pigs turn a blind eye to gang stuff, once gang stuff starts leaking out into restaurants with fancy food and rich people, they're a little less likely to ignore it.

But for now, it's quiet. They walk past shops with tourist knickknacks and something that must be a housewares store given the decor and ceramics in the front window - stuff that might be decent but too large to walk away with.

At the end of the street, on the corner, under a street lamp, is a watch shop. Johnnie eyes it, and then glances over his shoulder.]

'Course this fucker's shop is right where it's the brightest fuckin' spot on the whole street. Maybe there's a back door.

Let's take a look. But I'll keep watch if you want to give it a try here.

[She takes the bike from him and puts down the kickstand, but stays close to it just in case they need to take off in a hurry. There's still some sign of life outside, but it's late enough that most people aren't standing around looking at places they have no intention of going to. And who's going to want to go to a watch shop at this hour?

No one.]

I'll follow you in if you're able to get it open. Promise.

[He doesn't need her there to rob a watch store. But she really wants to line a whole bunch of watches down her arm just because she can.]

Just watch my back.

[Poking around in the dark is probably more suspicious than trying to quickly pop this door open. He fishes his set of tools from his pocket and crouches down, testing a few in the lock before he finds one that fits nicely.

There's a real technique to this, jiggling these pins by fishing around in them until they stick in place in order. It's not a technique he's mastered and he's definitely slower at it than, say, Clicks would be. But he's pretty sure he can do it.

A few minutes in, though, and he already sees a problem. This door is just one door - there's a second just past it, one of those collapsing metal gate things that also has its own lock or two. It's going to take ages to get all of these done.]

No, fuck it, there's gotta be a better way. They got a window that don't have bars on it?

[He'll keep working at this lock, but maybe she can look for something better, because he's really feeling exposed here in this light.]

Hey, you better head back. Somebody's coming, Johnnie.

[Down the road there's someone on a bicycle approaching. They have a little rickety headlight attached, and anyone that's going that slow is bound to be able to see a whole lot. She hurries forward to go quietly pull him away from the door he's working on, and takes him by the hand back over to the bike. She's the one that gets the kickstand up and wheels the bike along into the nearby alley behind a dumpster, and puts it back down so she can move along the side of the shop to look for any sign of windows.]

I think that might be one right there, see?

[She gets on her hands and knees and peeks down into the window, squinting as she tries to make out what's inside.]

It looks like a workshop or something down there. Maybe where they fix stuff? But it's definitely a basement.

[And there's no bars, which means there probably isn't access to anything valuable inside. At least they can get in through there, the opening looks small enough they can squeeze through.]

[Fucking bike dude. Well, it was bound to happen.

And the little basement-level window is safer, yeah. He waits for the bike to pass, then nods at Chrissy's find.]

Can't be a bad place to start. I'm gonna wait 'til that guy gets farther down the street first, though.

[Because what he's about to do is not going to be quiet. There's a latch on the inside of this window, the kind that would let it open for ventilation, but he sure can't get it from here. So the only thing to do, once he's pretty sure the coast is clear, is to get down low and kick at it until the latch pops off or a hinge or the glass itself breaks.

A couple solid thuds of his heel gets the latch to fail first, and the window springs open inward. It's going to be a tight fit, but they can crawl through.

He lands feet-first on the floor of a repair shop, based on all the little lenses and lights propped up on the desks. A labeled cabinet on the side probably contains parts; one table, meanwhile, has boxes of orders with notes. Johnnie looks them over briefly before heading right for the door that goes up to the main shop.]

There we go. Gimme a few minutes an' I'll have this open. I doubt anything down here's worth much, people want working stuff, not broken shit.

[She nods and turns to look around the room, taking care not to disturb anything once she sees a picture of an elderly couple on the worktable. If they own this place, she doesn't feel right messing up the area where one of them so obviously spends a lot of time doing repairs. That can stay untouched at least. There's really nothing of value laying around, and there's not many hiding places to store a safe.

She sits in the chair at the worktable and rolls back a little, head tipped to the ceiling. Nothing of note up there. After a spin in the chair she slides out and gets on her hands and knees to peek under the table. Taped up in the far right hand corner is a small metal box. Grinning, she goes to pry it free. It's a kids Mighty Mouse lunchbox, and the metal clasp is easily undone. Inside is some cash. Not a ton, but enough that she closes it and keeps hold of the tin by the handle as she goes over to rejoin Johnnie.]

Found a little money. And look, we can put whatever we find in here!

[Johnnie is deep in concentration, eyebrows furrowed at the lock while he works it by feel.]

Yeah? Cool.

[He hasn't actually looked yet, sorry Chrissy. He's worried that if he looks away he'll slip up and lose what progress he's made. But hey, it's nice that she found some cash, that's always worth it. This place probably has a safe or something tucked away too - well, unless the owners take their cash home every day. They might. They probably live right above the shop, if he had to guess. Maybe they'll be asleep before too long. Maybe... Aha, a click, a good solid one, and all the pins feel like they're nice and clear of the mechanism.]

Hell yeah, we're in.

[Too eager, and too enthusiastic, to remember to look over at Chrissy's lunchbox, he bounds on up the stairs and into the shop.

There are definitely plenty of watches here, and nice ones too. Mostly locked inside glass display cases, but hell, it's glass and those locks are much weaker than the one in the door. He grabs a stapler from the little bookkeeping desk in the corner and uses that to bash one of the display case locks right off the back of the case - and that is not quiet but at least he gets it done in a couple blows.]

... Y'know, there's probably a key in here, huh.

[Act first, think later. He's a professional at that.]

[He definitely didn't look at what she found, but she shrugs it off. He's focused on the door and bigger things, and she's fine just following along after him to watch what he does.]

Yeah, there's a key somewhere, babe.

[She flatly retorts, amused at how he goes from telling her to think things through before acting back at dinner to being loud here and now. It's hard not to smirk as she stares at him for a second, before swooping in to reach into the case and grab some of the watches to put inside her lunchbox.

Overhead, there's the sound of footsteps. She pauses to glance up, like it's going to improve her hearing. The floor creaks and she looks back over to him.]

We should probably hurry up and get out of here.

[The lunchbox is left open though, so he can pile in whatever he wants.]

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