Colt turned around under his sheets. It was the weekend and it was around 10 a.m.

For once, the redhead had slept in.

However, now that he was awake, the policeman could not go back to sleep. He sighed, sat down on the mattress and stretched his limbs.

Finally, Colt went to the bathroom for his morning wash.

Shirtless in front of the mirror, Colt began washing his face with cold water. Once done, he fixed his hair, running his hand over his wild locks to bring them back in line.

Then, he winked at his reflection while imitating guns with his fingers. Almost reflexively, the latter added 'Pew, Pew, Pew!'

However, there was one thing different from usual.

Approaching the mirror, Colt observed the small cross-shaped scar on his chin. Running his thumb over it, he smiled. The redhead had been so afraid that this injury would ruin his face, in the end it might even give him a little more charisma.

Satisfied, Colt went down to the floor below. Still shirtless, needless to say !

Sitting at the kitchen table, Shelly was facing a pile of paperwork and plans.

The redhead smiled.It had been four months since his chin had healed, a month and a half since Shelly, although not a morning person, got up before Colt to work on these strange papers and it had been five months since they had been living together.

She had always refused to tell the policeman what was the meaning of all that paperwork, but he didn't really care.

"Hello sweetheart~" Colt said, lifting Shelly's ponytail to put a small kiss on the back of her neck.

The bandit shivered a little before turning around with the intention of kissing him back. But when she saw him half undressed she smiled, changing her mind.

"Go put on a t-shirt."

"You could at least say hello to me" replied the redhead, falsely offenced.

"Hello, go put on a t-shirt."

They both laughed and Colt decided to take the joke a little further.

"What for ? Can't focus with my natural beauty by your side ?"

"And if I answer yes, what are you gonna do ? Marry me ?" Shelly asked in a seductive tone.

Colt's cheeks turned as red as poppy as he looked away.

"Okay, you won. I'm going to get dressed. But not before you explain to me what you've been doing for the past month" he said, leaning on the back of the chair where Shelly was sitting.

The latter giggled and accepted

"Do you see who is Byron ?"

"Oh yes ! A first-rate scammer ! He sold me a lotion that was supposed to give me back my previous hair color, it's almost if it didn't make the problem worse !"

"We don't care about your hair color. It's perfect, pretty face. Byron is an excellent speaker. -How do you think he manages to sell his crappy products ?- And for a price that... uh... well, I'll tell you the details later. He is ready to defend me in front of the court."

"He is ?!"

"Yes. My new hypothetical lawyer. He told me that he could save me from prison. In the worst case scenario, I would get a suspended prison sentence. But even as best he could, he told me that I would surely owe the state something. A debt..." Shelly finished in disappointment.

"I imagine a rather huge one, right ? Seeing your face..."

"Yes..."

Colt looked at the paperwork, thoughtful. He still had a few questions in mind.

"But... Like, can't you wait, I don't know, for the charges against you to be dropped ?"

"For that, I would have to wait at least eight years. Eight years without going out, hiding in 60 square meters, changing my name and hiding my face every time I might go out...? I'll never last and neither will you."

She was right and he knew it.

"But what are you going to do to repay the amount you owe, whatever how much it is?"

"Here comes Byron's payment and my honest way of making money from now on."

The policeman raised his eyebrows in interest, prompting his girlfriend to continue.

"I know a guy who can... Let's say help me make a new brand of energy bars. He has the place, the machines... I know another who can do the packaging for us, another who will do the communications for us, etc."

Colt nodded, impressed. The ex-bandit was extremely well organized.

"And Byron's price in all this ?"

"Well, I would probably take a few years to make everything profitable between the 7% that the one who has the place demands, with all the others who help me we arrive at an amount of 21% and Byron, who alone, asks for 25% profits until death ensues. Not to mention the money I owe to the state. I imagine I would have put in all the money I earned, but I owe you and I can't let you pay for everything for both of us. So 46% for the state, which leaves me 1% profit until my debt is repaid."

Shelly looked exhausted and demoralized. The redhead smiled tenderly as he came to massage her shoulders to relax her.

"Hey there, you don't have to feel indebted to me, sweetheart. You're the one who saved my life!"

"But it was you who put me back on the right path" she said, grabbing one of his hands.

Colt smiled fondly. He knew Shelly wouldn't give up and would keep that 1% profit to help pay the bills or whatever.

"It's exhausting to be an honest person... Let's just hope that the company doesn't flop, because in that case... I'd rather not think about it...!"

"Well don't think about it, Shelly" replied Colt tenderly.

The policeman looked at the plans and saw several packaging tests, each less convincing than the last.

"Tho, if I had to add one small criticism... The visuals are...how to put it..."

"Oh that ?" she said, taking the papers and making a ball out of them and throwing them in the trash. "It's a failed start. I ended up finding the mascot and design."

"Ah good, I can see ?" Colt asked, looking for the document.

However Shelly delicately grabbed her man's hand to gently squeeze his fingers. The policeman looked away from the plans to come and stare at her.
She looked at him seriously. Colt tilted his head to the side, intrigued by the look in his soulmate's eyes.

"The last stop to the birth of this company is precisely the mascot."

"Really ? Why ?"

"The mascot... It's you, Shelly finished, taking out a sheet with all the details of the packaging."

From the slogan to the color palette, from the brand name to the mascot. The redhead found himself in front of Colt Crunch, with his stylized head as its logo. Everything about this energy bar made you want to bite into it.

Colt looked at Shelly in complete surprise.

"I couldn't launch the thing without your authorization, since, you know, it's you... But we only received the visuals yesterday so...-"

"Yes !"

"Huh ?"

"Of course I agree to be the figurehead of your brand !"

Shelly looked at him stunned before smiling. Colt looked as excited as a kid at Christmas.

"Mi idiota" she said before kissing him.