The Full Moon Speakeasy

CHAPTER TWO: THE LUPO

For a moment, Lucille could only blink. There was something… different about Noah. Handsome, sure; charming, it was seeming so. No, it was something completely different. Something radiated from him, that his words, no matter what they were, were orders. That people didn’t just say no to him. She could tell he at least wasn’t used to being told no by the confident look on his face, that there was no possible way that she would refuse his offer. 

A stubborn side to Luci didn’t want to give in just on the very principle. However, she reminded herself the situation she was in. Speakeasies were ran by criminals, and considering the opulence dripping from every detail in that club… they weren’t just the typical punks. They had money, power, and could likely snuff her out and no one would ever find her. 

The thought made her eyes fly to Thelma. While she looked worried, she didn’t look scared. Her eyes were strained with alarm, but her body was relaxed as she leaned on Emil. Lucille was getting the idea that she wasn’t being held against her will, but there was more to it. The only way to get answers that she could see, was to have that drink with The Lupo. 

“Alright, fine. One drink,” Lucille finally answered. 

Noah flashed another pearly grin and led her over to the bar. People parted like the red sea. Some muttered hellos or apologies as Noah passed them. They reached the bar and Noah gestured to her stool. She slid onto the cushioned seat and studied him. He didn’t have to so much as gesture to the bartender before he was over to them. “My usual, and…” he looked to Lucille. She only shrugged. “Get her a hot toddy. Let’s warm her up a bit.” 

“Yes, Lupo,” the man stated, dipping his head before turning around to make the drinks.

Noah positioned himself on his stool to face Lucille. “I didn’t catch your name.” 

“Lucille Renaud,” she answered rather curtly. She didn’t want to let her guard down around him yet, she wasn’t sure what his deal was. 

“Renaud? That’s French isn’t it?” Noah questioned. “As is Lucille.”

“Observant,” she muttered.

His eyes narrowed at her. “You’re immune to my charms, aren’t you?” 

“I just happen to be immune to the charm of anyone I’m unsure will bump me off.” 

A drink appeared before Lucille. It was a crystal mug, the first Luci had ever seen. The drink was letting off a gentle wave of steam, the liquid a lovely amber brown, with a lemon slice floating on the top. 

“Now, Miss Renaud, I have to say I’m offended,” Noah remarked, drawing her attention once more. “You come into my club, uninvited and tracking in snow, make a scene in the middle of my band’s set, and then accuse me of wanting you dead. Now, perhaps it is my fault for not being as gracious as a host as I possibly could be. And, the snippets of conversation I heard you and Emil having, you came here worried about your friend…” his voice drifted off as he tried to recall her name. 

“Thelma.”

“Yes, yes. Thelma,” he repeated with a grin appearing on his face. “And of that, I’m appreciative. After all, I think anyone from the outside looking in would have valid concerns with their friend involved with a speakeasy. And with Emil… He has some rough edges, to be sure, but he’s a puppy dog when you get to know him. All this being said, I forgive the infraction. I must ask, how can I make you comfortable? I don’t want anyone to have a bad time in my club, invited or not.” 

“I’m less than convinced Emil is a puppy dog, first of all,” Lucille stated, crossing her legs. “And I just want to know what is going on with Thelma. I am not here to party or get smoked… Though, I do appreciate the drink.” 

She didn’t know why she felt compelled to add on the discount. Maybe some part of her worried that he would be offended she had accepted the drink when she claimed to be against getting drunk at the establishment. 

“I see,” he nodded. He peered over his shoulder and gestured his chin for her to look too. Luci peered over her shoulder to see Thelma and Emil dancing to the music. “It would appear to me that your friend is having a perfectly fine night with her beau.”

Lucille studied the scene, feeling more and more puzzled at the pair. “What’s his deal then? He looked ready to bite my head off just for approaching her.”

Noah sucked his teeth and panned his vision back over to her. “My employees tend to be a… protective and reactive bunch. Most are well-meaning softies, really. You just have to know how to handle them and their moods.”

“Sounds like a bunch of toddlers,” Luci remarked without thinking. She needed to start thinking before just blurting things out. She still wasn’t sure what Noah’s deal was. 

He smirked and shrugged. “That’s a way of putting it. The point is, Thelma couldn’t be safer with any guy in the Borough.”

“I find that also hard to believe, considering she hasn’t been home in almost a week.” 

He narrowed his eyes at her as he analyzed her. “Have you ever been in love, Lucille?” 

A heat threatened to come over her cheeks. Turning to pick up her drinks, she shook her head. “I don’t see what that has to do with anything.” 

“Because, mon cheri,” he stated in the most atrocious French accent, “New love is addictive. Intoxicating. Time doesn’t exist when you are in the throes of it.” 

She sipped her hot toddy as she took in his expression. Noah was so intense, so… so severe and she wasn’t sure if he was even aware of it. Everything he said was spoken with conviction and authority, his very presence was commanding of those around him. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, it was even over her. Had he not had such an enormous and powerful energy about him, Lucille would have surely told him to kick rocks the moment he approached her. 

“You sound like you know it yourself,” Luci commented, trying to bring herself back to reality. 

“Perhaps I have felt it a time or two, but it was never real. More the idea of it… The hope for it. I’ve always heard though, once you find it, there’s not a question nor doubt about it,” he lamented as he swirled his drink. It looked like straight liquor with a cocktail cherry and orange sliver in it. 

She shook her head. “That’s a bit fantastical, don’t you think?” Lucille replied. 

“In what way?”

“Love isn’t some finite thing. It’s complicated, complex, and is put through trials just like life itself is. There’s always going to be moments of doubt, because it’s our nature to doubt. To not be sure. To aim for that unrealistic perfection,” she stated. Love and the conditions of it was something Luci had been passionate about for the last couple of years. Lucille had witnessed her parents go through periods of waning and waxing. Passionate and inseparable at times, followed by eras of doubt, of uncertainty. They had always loved each other, though. Even if the picture of it wasn’t always clear. The Great War had claimed her father, and the sorrow of losing him had taken her mother. Lucille had seen love and she wasn’t going to be told it was anything but the real thing.

“It sounds like you have an idea of what love should be then,” Noah stated. 

“I do. And I think it’s more realistic than yours,” she challenged. 

“Sounds like we need to find out who is right,” he stated, knocking on the bar for emphasis. 

She quirked a brow at him. “How are we supposed to figure that out?”

“By falling in love, of course,” he winked. 

Lucille’s breath caught in her throat. She didn’t want to admit it, but that was damn smooth. She felt herself blushing and a smile tugging on her lips, but she quickly attempted to fix her expression. “I don’t think we can do that.”

“And why not?” he asked, his arm going to the back of her chair. 

“I don’t think my mother would be happy if I fell in love with a gangster, or even attempted it.” She meant the memory of her mother, but her death wasn’t something she wanted to open up to about with a total stranger.

He made a tutting sound and allowed his hand to brush gently against her arm. A shiver shot up her spine, her eyes widening ever so slightly. “And why is that?” 

“Because they’re dangerous and criminals,” she replied, stating the obvious. 

“Sure, sure. If you’re on the opposing side to a gangster. But being next to one, one that is protective and would rather die than harm come your way? Now, what could make a mother prouder? Could even send her a bottle of wine as an olive branch,” he suggested, his smile softening. 

She scanned over his face as she couldn’t help but smile. He really was charming, as much as she didn’t want him to be. “I can’t tell if this is your way of flirting, or if you’re serious.” 

Noah shrugged and held her gaze; her heart thumped a slow but intense rhythm in her chest. “I think whether I’m flirting or I’m serious, I’m asking you to give me a chance. See where it goes.”

“You just met me,” she whispered, stunned at his forward nature. 

“Mhm. I like your spunk and I don’t wanna see you just run off. I’m a man who goes after what he wants.” 

“And you want… me?” she muttered. She couldn’t help but pan about the room once again. All the women in there were stunning, dressed to the nines, and looked to already be well immersed in his world. Why her? 

“I’m not sure what I want for sure, but I know I want to figure it out. Figure out if you’re the one I want. What do you say?” Noah suggested. When she squirmed a bit and looked away, his hand brushed her arm again. “How about one dinner and a walk. You can decide for yourself after that if you ever want to see me again. And if you don’t, I promise I’ll never bother you.”

She was skeptical, but if Lucille took a moment to drop her guard and really assess how she felt, she would know that she was just as curious about him as he was about her. He was mysterious, charming, and admittedly, the way he commanded the whole room was attractive. Luci found Thelma once again and felt comforted by the sight of her giggling and hanging onto Emil so lovingly. If Thelma could trust them, shouldn’t she? The only way to know, was to find out. 

Looking back to Noah, she nodded. “One date. That’s all you get.” 

“It’s all I ask,” he grinned. He pounded his drink and stood, offering his arm. 

Lucille felt like she was in a fever dream by the way she reacted by following suit; standing and taking hold of his arm. It was like she was drawn to him.