I stared at Danté. He made me feel uneasy, like I was lying in a pit filled with venomous snakes.
"Pooksie, you should greet him back, it's just basic etiquette," Hannah said after poking me in the side. She giggled. "Has he left you speechless?"
I cleared my throat, "No! No. It's uh. Uh... Uhm?" Shit. I always had to stutter in the most inconvenient times. Now it seemed like I was proving her point.
Well, she wasn't completely wrong. I WAS rendered speechless. But for an entirely different reason than what Hannah was thinking.
Danté raised an eyebrow, pierced with a small silver hoop. His smirk was arrogant. He loved what he was doing to his prey.
I cleared my throat. "Uhm, sorry. Hi, I'm Venus. Nice to meet you."
I placed my tiny hand in his, thinking he was going to shake it. Instead, he gently turned it, lifting it up a bit and let his lips touch my knuckles.
My cheeks burst aflame. My face must've looked like one of the crimson roses in the vase on the expensive crystal glass coffee table.
Hannah looked so smug, and I wanted to smack her for it. Maybe SHE would be the victim of my Judo flip tonight.
The other guys snickered and made noises to tease me. One of the guys had hair dyed completely blue, like the sky. It hung in wavy locks around his ears, which were - like Danté's - pierced from top to bottom. He had color contacts in, making his eyes appear purple.
When Danté released my hand, he was next to take it. In contrast to Danté's big rough hands, this man had long slender fingers, much like my own. Perfect for playing the piano.
He kissed the back of my hand. "I'm Nicolai Victor Rider. You can call me Nick." His smile was radiant, but cunning. I sensed that he could cause a lot of trouble if he wanted to. And I think he probably wanted to. A lot.
The last man kissed Hannah a little too intimately for my comfort. I felt like I should NOT have seen that.
They unstuck their faces from eachother and shook my hand with a painful grip. "Damian. Nice to meet you."
He released my hand and I had to rub it because his spikey rings dug into it.
Damian ran a hand through his blond, slicked back hair, and turned his attention to Hannah.
"Okay! Why don't we all have a seat and get a drink! You need to get to know my Pooksie. She's a bit shy and quiet, but once you get her out of her shell, she's fun to hang out with," Hannah shouted while clapping her hands together.
The men chatted and made their way to their seats. As Danté turned away from me, I saw a tattoo that stood out from the rest. On the nape of his neck, a little distance below his hairline, was a butterfly with wings made of blue flames.
My breath caught in my throat. I knew that tattoo. I've seen in everywhere in my research on the mafia gangs.
Danté was from the mafia group The Inferno.
And he wasn't just an ordinary member. The blue butterfly was the mark of the leader. The members that serve under him have smaller fire-winged butterflies just below their left ears.
I threw a quick glance at the other two men - and sure enough - I spotted a tiny flame-winged butterfly behind the left ear of each of them.
These men were all part of the Inferno mafia. Why on earth was Hannah hanging out with these dangerous men? Did she know what she had gotten herself into?
Seeing that this club was Danté's, this meant that The Blue Flame could be their base of operations. Or it could be hidden somewhere in this building.
That is breakthrough information. The case files had no information on where their base was. The higher-ups were clueless.
And here I was. I had everything in the palm of my hand. I could bring this monstrous group down.
I could be a hero.
My father could finally be proud of me.
"Hey, Sweetie. You know you can sit down, we won't bite," Nick said.
I suddenly realized that I have been standing there, staring into space.
Okay, Vee. Calm down. Play it cool. You can do this, I told myself internally.
I chuckled awkwardly and pulled at the hemn of my dress. The damn thing was so short, if I sat down the whole nation would see my pink Hello Kitty underwear.
I made my way to the armchair near where Danté was sitting, since it was the only open spot other than next to Hannah and Damian, and I do not want to be a part of that smooch-fest.
I hovered for a bit, not knowing how to sit down without losing all the little dignity I had. Until Danté held out a black leather jacket to me. "Here," he said, without even looking at me.
Did he notice that I was struggling with my dress?
I hesitantly took the jacket from him. It had pockets, and maybe if I discreetly went through them later when I sit down, I might find some thing useful.
"Th-thanks," I stuttered, and sat down with the jacket covering my legs.
He called out a name, and a waiter popped out of nowhere. Everyone ordered the drinks they wanted until it was my turn. The waiter looked at me, expectantly.
"Oh, sorry. Just some water please. I'm on du-- I mean I'm working tomorrow, and I can't hold my liquor very well." Shit. I nearly blew my whole cover. If these guys knew I was a cop, the gun peeking out from under Damian's shirt would blow my and Hannah's brains out in the matter of a second.
Hannah glanced at me in a weird way. What did that mean? She looked almost relieved that I didn't let out that I was a police officer. Does that mean that she knew who these men were?
"Aw come on, ONE drink won't be that bad," Nick urged. He looked at the waiter. "Bring her something light, a lite cocktail."
"No, thank you, I'm okay. Really. Water will be fine," I refused.
Hannah chuckled, "Yeah no. She can't even handle a lite cocktail. Please don't make me have to carry Vee home, Nick."
Nick threw his hands up, "Okay, whatever you say. You were definitely right about her being in a shell."
"Yes, and we need to lure her out," Danté said with a sly gleam in his eye.
Something twisted in my gut. This man knew something. The way he said my surname earlier... did he know who I was?
Danté tapped a finger on the armrest of the red sofa that he and Nick were sitting on. "But don't be too pushy with her, Nick, or you'll scare her away." With that he confirmed my order for a water with the waiter and the waiter was off.
"So, I brought Vee with today because she really needs to get out more and talk to people. Talk to GUYS," Hannah said with her legs thrown across Damian's lap. He drew circles with his fingers above her knee.
It made me nauseous. I had to get her out of here. I couldn't let the hands of a murderer touch her like that.
Since when was she even with this guy? I thought she was still messing around with Mell, the barista from the coffeeshop two blocks from her apartment.
Mell really was a jerk, but I'd rather have her with a jerk with clean hands than a nice-seeming guy that washed his hands in the blood of innocent police officers.
"Well then, Vee, let's exchange numbers so that we can talk all the time," Nick suggested through a grin. He pulled out his cell phone and held it out to me.
If he was really as friendly of a guy as he seemed, I would have taken him up on the offer without even thinking twice. But my hand was heavy to reach for his cell phone.
I had to play along, though, so I reluctantly reached for his phone.
But Danté grabbed it before I could take it.
"No, you can see how shy she is," Danté shot me another loaded look, as if he knew so much more than he was pretending not to, "you're putting her on the spot again. You'll scare her away if you keep forcing your way through."
"N-no, it's fine. We can exchange numbers," I said in attempt to save the situation.
Danté knew something. Maybe he wasn't letting Nick and I exchange numbers because he knew that I could give his number to the higher-ups and they could track him.
Nick looked at Danté like a dog who had his toys taken away because he was disobedient. "No, it's okay. Let's talk some more and we can exchange numbers later. There's no rush."
I nodded.
The drinks came, and everyone gulped theirs down and Nick burped loudly.
I opened the bottled water that I got, finding that it was luckily sealed, so no one could have slipped any drugs into it. I gratefully gulped the liquid down as my throat was dry from being so nervous.
Damian talked for the first time after his introduction, "So, Venus. What do you do for a living?"
All eyes turned on me in anticipation.
"Yeah, miss Bellingham, what DO you do for a living?" Danté echoed, but with that gleam of mischief in his eyes.
How was I going to respond to this? I could obviously not tell them the truth.
Nick and Damian seemed genuinely curious. Maybe they really didn't know.
Hannah caught my eye, and shook her head slightly and quickly, telling me without words that I shouldn't tell the truth.
I hoped my eyes told her, What the hell have you got yourself into?
"I do odd jobs. I do what I can to get by," I replied, hoping I sounded as confident as I meant to.
Damian raised his eyebrows, "Oh damn. I didn't expect you to be someone that barely made a living. You seem quite capable, like someone who should be in a steady career path."
"Well, you could say that I was well on my way to following some career path my father wanted me to," I met Danté's eyes, hoping to drive the following message home, "but I didn't want to become part of the family business."
I know that he knew I was a cop. But if I could convince him that I don't want to follow my brother's footsteps, hopefully he could consider making me work for him as a kind of spy and let me into their ranks. Then I can follow the plan and do the whole undercover-thing and then bring the whole gang down from the inside.
Danté raised his pierced eyebrow, intrigued. "Is that so?"
I nodded, "Yes. My brothers are already carrying on the family business, why must I also become a part of that?"
Nick's face held sympathy, and I wondered if it were true or not, "It sucks having to go through that. I get it, I didn't want to follow my dad's footsteps either. But you're f*cking brave to follow your own path, even if it means having to struggle to get by."
My heart turned in my chest. I wish I was really that brave.
"What odd jobs do you do then?" Damian asked. I wondered why he was so curious about my jobs. Was he really just trying to make conversation, or was he actually suspicious of me?
"She plays the piano!" Hannah sang out, drunk from all the tequila shots she downed. I shot her a look that I hoped smacked as hard as if I really smacked her.
Just wait until we leave here tonight, Hannah. I will shake the living daylights out of you.
That made Nick sit up as straight as a puppy who knows that he is getting a treat. "REALLY? YOU PLAY? ME TOO!"
Danté snorted, "He has a small band where he plays the keyboard and sings the vocals. They really aren't that impressive."
Nick's bottom lip drooped, "Why would you say that? You let us play on the VIP stage every week."
Damian snickered, "That's because he is your friend and the only people that listens are the ones that wants a quiet spot to make out with their bitches."
"That's not true! I have actual fans!" Nick punched Damian in the arm.
"So you... play the piano? At like, weddings and stuff?" Danté seemed amused. "And funerals?"
He was playing with my emotions, testing my reactions.
"For now, yes. But I hope to go back to college and major in the piano. I want to be a concert player," I replied, pretending as if the 'funerals' part didn't phase me at all.
"Damn, I haven't heard you be so honest about your dreams in forever," Hannah said. Her eyes were even tearing up.
Danté saw her sincerity, and I hoped that it would make what I said more believable.
Even if it was a bit true. It was true once. But it was a part of me that I had to cut off.
"Being a cop so doesn't suit you," Hannah said, and passed out.
Damian and Nick's heads turned to me instantly. Danté smirked arrogantly.
Hannah, you little shit. What have you done?