City Sights-2
2007 Words
“How are you, Sam?”
Sam nodded at me and unhooked the rope that was meant to stop people from wandering in off the street. It was all part of the illusion of making The Cage appear to be a classy and respectable place.
“Helena. Haven’t seen you around for a while.”
“I’ve been … preoccupied,” and I smiled in Danny’s direction.
“The preacher ain’t gonna like it,” Sam replied, shaking his head from side to side.
I laughed as I sauntered through the entry, Danny close behind me.
All the regulars were there. I could feel their eyes on me as I headed to the bar, their conversations dropping to a low murmur.
I leaned against the bar to talk to the barman — my short dress revealing the slightest glimpse of where my legs ended — and wiggled my butt.
“Hey, Rick, is preacher boy out the back?”
Rick turned from what he was doing. For a moment a look of surprise flitted across his face.
“Don’t let him hear you call him that, Helena. You’re in enough s**t as it is.”
“Your concern touches me, Rick, but I can hardly get in any deeper, can I? I mean, being on his hit list is as far as I can go.”
He set down the glass he was drying and placed his hands on the counter. “You haven’t heard then? That order was rescinded.” He tilted his head and gave me a half smile. “The new order is for you to be taken to the Funhouse.”
“Ah, the Funhouse.”
That was a bit of a surprise. The preacher must have been really mad at me to order me tortured instead of killed outright. Maybe he was angry because I’d eluded his henchmen for so long. I turned around, my back to Rick, and rested my elbows on the bar, my eyes surveying the room for signs of trouble. I bent my right knee, hooked the heel of my shoe over the footrest, and, leaning my head back, allowed my hair to barely touch the bar. It was all very suggestive.
“So is he in or not?” I asked.
“What do you reckon?” he snorted. “You’ve been here often enough, you should know.”
Danny leaned against the bar, a few metres from me, listening to the exchange. The fellow on my left edged a bit closer, trying to get a better look at my cleavage.
I raised my head and turned slightly to look at the man. He wasn’t a regular. If he was he would have known better than to come so close to me.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
He pulled back and hesitated, before saying, “How much?”
“How much for what?”
“Look, lady, how much do you charge? I’ve got an itch,” he smiled at me now, “and I reckon you could scratch it for me.”
“Sorry, I’m already taken,” I purred.
“Maybe later then?” He waved a thick wad of cash under my nose. “I can pay. If your performance is as good as your looks, there might even be a bonus in it for you.”
Funny how his sort thought money was the answer to everything. At one time, I would have agreed with him.
“Tempting as your offer is, I think I’ll pass.”
I tipped my head back to look at Rick. The guy who’d propositioned me grabbed my wrist, wrenching my arm off the bar. I continued to smile, and it annoyed him all the more.
“Listen, you slut, when Johnny makes an offer, you should accept. It’s in your best interests. You don’t want your pretty face getting messed up, do you?”
Danny was at my side before I had a chance to open my mouth and reply. His hand gripped Johnny’s arm, applying the slightest of pressure — for an angel — to make Johnny go a pasty-white colour. He let go of my wrist.
“I think the lady said no.”
Danny eased his grip and Johnny pulled his arm free.
He rubbed his arm. “Okay, okay. Can’t you guys take a little joke?”
Danny patted Johnny’s left cheek a couple of times and smiled. “Yeah, Johnny, we can.”
We headed towards the back room. I pushed past the heavies — they didn’t even try to stop me — without a hello, to open the door.
“Hey, preacher boy, how’s it hanging?” I smiled, then hit my forehead with my palm, overacting. “That’s right, to the left. How could I forget?”
“What did you call me?” he growled.
“What? No hello, no it’s been a long time or you’re looking good?”
I sat down in the armchair on the audience side of the preacher’s desk and crossed my legs. I patted the arm of the chair, inviting Danny to come sit at his rightful place — next to me. After Danny had settled himself I looked back at the preacher.
“Forgive me, preacher, how rude I am. Allow me to introduce you to my associate, Mr Malakh.”
The preacher looked at Danny — a passing glimpse really — and sneered.
“Huh! You think bringing along a bit of muscle, nothing more than a pretty boy, by the looks of him, is going to scare me.”
I stroked Danny’s chest.
“He is pretty, isn’t he? But no, he’s not here to protect me. He’s here to protect you if I decide to do something … rash.”
The preacher leaned back in his chair and laughed.
“You’ve sure got balls, Helena, for a woman. It’s a pity there’s still a contract on your head.”
Seemed I was being pitied by all the wrong types these days!
“I heard the hit had been rescinded.”
The preacher leaned forward, suddenly interested in my intentions. “Is that why you came back? You thought it was safe?”
“Hardly,” I laughed.
The preacher flexed his fingers and smiled. “Then you’ve heard about the Funhouse contract?”
“Of course,” I replied. “Rick brought me up to speed. He’s always good for a bit of gossip.”
“Is that so? Remind me to have a quiet word with Rick later on.”
“Now we’ve dispensed with the pleasantries, Neil, let’s get down to business.”
“You may have once earned the right to call me that name in private,” the preacher cautioned me, “but all your privileges were cut off when I ordered the hit.”
“Frankly, Neil, I couldn’t care less. We wouldn’t even be having this conversation if you could’ve kept your d**k in your pants. She was only fourteen for god’s sake.”
I uncrossed my legs and leaned forward in the chair, resting my elbows on my knees and my chin in my hands.
“By the way, how is the cobra?”
“He performs perfectly well now, no thanks to you.”
I stood up and walked to the desk, looking for something suitable to use in a short demonstration. I picked up the small hard marble bust that sat on one corner — the bust in his own image — and tossed it from hand to hand.
“I came to give you a warning, preacher boy.”
He sneered. “I think after the Funhouse I’ll let the boys have their own bit of fun with what’s left of you, before they give you a Colombian necktie.”
“Now, now,” I said. “That’s not very nice.”
“And what are you and your associate going to do about it?”
“As I said before, Mr Malakh is here for your protection.”
“Hurry up, Helena. My time is valuable, unlike yours,” Neil said impatiently. “Do whatever it is you came here to do. I’ve got someone waiting upstairs.”
I put down the bust and clapped my hands in mock glee. “Ah, the latest acquisition! I hope she’s better behaved than I was — and legal.”
The preacher grunted in response.
“Back to business,” I said. “I do get distracted so easily.”
I picked up the bust in my left hand, cast a glance back at Danny, and winked before returning my gaze to the preacher.
“If I ever hear that you have underage girls — or boys — in this club again, if I ever hear you’ve been involved with them, in any shape, form or manner, I will crush you.”
I held the bust over the desk at chest height — bust the bust at the level of my bust — and squeezed until a small pile of rubble was all that remained of it, the pieces falling from my hand onto the preacher’s desk. His eyes widened as he realised what I’d done. At what I was capable of doing.
Without waiting for an answer, I dusted off my hands and headed to the door. Danny reached the door ahead of me and opened it. He let the door close behind me. When I noticed he wasn’t following I stopped and waited for him. A few seconds later he opened the door, smiling.
“What did you say to him?” I whispered.
He laughed. “I told him next time I’d let you come on your own!”
I hit his arm playfully. “Danny, you’re worse than me!”
We linked arms and walked out of The Cage, not looking back, and not caring if the preacher was busy organising a hundred hits on us. It was ancient history.
“I don’t quite understand what it was you did to him, to make him so mad. I mean, I saw what you did, from your memories, but it doesn’t make much sense to me,” Danny said.
“Do you know what superglue is?” I asked.
“No.”
“Superglue is a very strong, quick-setting glue. After I’d found out what he’d done to that girl — she was just a kid, a virgin — while he slept I glued his d**k to his balls, and both hands to his d**k. He’s a very heavy sleeper. That’s why he has guards on his bedroom door. Fat lot of good they did him!”
I laughed. I could just image the look on the preacher’s face when he woke up in the morning. The rumours about what had happened to him would have spread through The Cage like wildfire. It was little wonder he put a contract on my head.
“Tell me, Danny, have you ever been dancing?”
“No.”
“I feel like dancing,” I said, and we headed to a nice club in the decent part of town.
I pulled Danny by his jacket onto the dance floor. He didn’t know what to do and just stood there, watching everyone else bump and grind.
A slow song was playing. I slipped one leg around Danny’s, bending it slightly and sliding it up and down his calf. I leaned into him, rubbed one hand on his chest and rested the other on his shoulder, all the while grinding my pelvis into his hips.
“This is dancing?” he whispered, astonished.
Do angels get embarrassed? I thought idly, and smiled.
“It vaguely passes for it,” I murmured in his ear. “Remind me to give you a lap dance one day. I’m sure you’d really like that one.”
“Can’t we do that dance here?” he asked.
I nibbled his ear, like he’d done to me earlier in the day.
“It’s not the sort of dance you do in public,” I purred.
“Oh,” he said, clearing his throat.
I could feel the heat of his blood. Wow! I thought. I’ve never noticed that before. Must be related to being an awesome superhuman chick — the heightened senses and increased libido.
The slow song ended and a more upbeat one started. I unhooked my leg and took a step back, dancing like everyone else. Danny picked up this style of dancing easily. His body writhed and twisted along with the rest of us. He looked glad of the change of pace.
Gradually Danny’s blood cooled down from searing hot to toasty warm. Maybe it was my dance that had made his blood boil. I could seriously have a lot of fun with him if that was the case, and, if I played my cards right, be forgiven every time!
After an hour or so of dancing I pulled Danny away from the dance floor. We returned to the hotel and slipped between the sheets for some wildly exciting fun — spurred on by the experiences of the night, and one angel’s overactive imagination — before having another more subdued shower later in the morning.
Danny nuzzled my hair with his nose as he wrapped a towel around me. “You amaze me.”
I grinned. He was amazed by me a lot lately. “How so?”
“Not once with all those mortals around did you look even remotely interested in taking one of them down, not even the preacher. Now there’s a man Saint Peter will be happy to turn away from the gates.”
“Do you mean there really are pearly gates that lead into heaven?” I asked.
“Not in the physical sense, but Saint Peter is there all the same, letting some in, and turning others away. But getting back to the point, you did well.”
“Danny, in all honesty they didn’t even register with me for the most part. The only scent in the air that captured my attention was yours.”
While I dried and dressed Danny ran downstairs to return the swipe card. When he returned he picked up my overnight bag and we headed to the elevator.
“It’s a shame I didn’t get to show you more of the city,” I said. “But I guess you’ve seen it all anyway.”
- Writer
