DIVISION 52 - BOOK II

CHAPTER XV

P R O X I M O 

I found her in a tight leather body suit pressed against a male by the bar.

My eyes roamed the curve of her hips, the way the purple and black shining fabric gripped her like a second skin... Then a hand that didn't belong gripping her hip.

I cracked my neck as I shouldered drinkers out of my path.

When I was near, I let my presence be known. The man's eyes met my own over the bright lights between the darkness and he glared. I returned the look with a slow smile.

"Disappear." I told him over her shoulder.

Flo didn't even bother to turn at my voice. She merely ran her long nails over his chest with a purr in his ear that made my blood flash hot. The man nodded in response to what she said and made to draw a gun at his hip. I caught Flo's eyes instead of his as I disarmed him with a bored look and broke his hand.

The man dropped to his knees before me as I twisted it.

Flo pulled her hand off him with a pout and took his weapon from the ground along with his drink.

"You ruin everything." She told me, turning her back on me and walking off.

I stared after her with a growl, kicking the fool off his knees as I paced after her. The action drew no eyes. No in here. Not in our Sector. Her hair was down in rippling waves of darkness threaded with a few strands of gold that glowed in the club lights.

Another man tried to secure her waist and she threw him an inviting look until my face towered over him. His choice changed and he fell back into the shadows with the rest of them.

"Stop playing games." I said low near her.

She threw me an unbothered look over her shoulder. "What does it mean to you, Proxy?"

I caught her elbow and spun her around. A dark smile took over her lips. She grabbed my chin in her long nails and let them dig in. Those eyes looked over me like a dessert. Like the course she wanted the most. Purple irises catching in the light under charcoal lids.

"You play your own games... I'm not yours but you seem to think so–"

I stopped her lips with my thumb and watched her cooly.

"What if you spent your time away from here." I murmured near her ear.

She leaned back to scan my face and laughed. I kept my cool and watched her. She freed my jaw and I wanted that heat back. Wanted that scent, the raw anger and fire from her–

"You said it yourself before, Proxy–you and I are from different worlds!" She called, sinking the rest of her drink and taking my hand as she slinked us through the crowds. I stared at her hand that held mine loosely and took us to a secluded table.

A bottle was on our table before the tender could even finish bowing to me and muttering over the music. Flo crossed over to my side of the booth without hesitation and climbed over me slowly in that smooth leather before laying her legs over my lap on the other side. I watched with a humourless look.

She clicked her tongue and took the bottle without bothering with glasses. She took a long sip before pressing it against my chest. I ignored it and set it down.

"What if I had a proposition? You are a business woman."

She grinned and raised an eyebrow before crossing her legs very deliberately over my own. I threw the feel of her away from my mind and leant closer.

"You work exclusively for me full time. No clients. No more dark bars." I emphasised, catching her hand as she reached for the bottle again.

She drew her leg up and kicked me hard with the point of her heel making me growl through my teeth. She smiled again and leant forward drawing a hand around my neck.

"What makes you think this life is not what I want?" She whispered over the music that thumped beyond. I watched her eyes patiently as she closed in the inches and her sweet scent filled my nose.

"I can offer you a different one." I countered, ignoring her words. The words that cut slightly like serrated steel.

She laughed again between us and leant in suddenly kissing me deeply. I didn't respond. She still wasn't taking my words seriously. She stopped when she realised I wasn't playing a game. Her nails trailed a line against my throat and she tilted her head looking down at my skin.

"Those are pretty words, Proxy. Just pretty words. I don't have a way out. You know–"

"Tell me what's stopping you." I growled.

Her expression turned serious for once. For once the allure and smirks slipped away and she stared with a tint of detachment. "It's not what. It's who. We don't get out of this." She gestured around her with an empty smile.

I stopped her from reaching the bottle again and took her face in my hand.

"Give me a name."

She looked at me like I had just given her a bad joke. "You know who. The Division is in bed with his business–this isn't something that goes away Prox–"

"Then it's a good thing my job is to persuade people." I growled, without any room for negotiation. Her eyebrows raised in disbelief and she pushed my chest back to look at me properly.

"Scorpion would never–Kuzo has never had to change how he runs his girls–let alone let one go. He's the night game. All the club ends."

"Flo, I don't think I have been clear to you. I don't negotiate. I tell people what to do and they do it. And if I say you're out the night. You're out."

"Don't promise me things Proxy..." She murmured, catching my lip under her thumb. "–who said you were worth quitting the night for." She added with a smirk.

I returned it and took the bottle from the table this time. I took a long drink before slamming it back down. I shook my head and leaned into the chair watching her. "Call it intuition, Florence."

She slapped me across the face. I glared about to react when she kissed me again.

Being with her was a chaos I wanted around more than the night. A storm of flames and darkness. No promise and only the next moment. Nothing was certain. But it could be. I pulled away and was trying to form the concept in my head. The proposition. The idea of an us. Whatever that was–

Then an inner circle Division video interrupted all of my planning. All of my thoughts. It appeared in the corner of my vision and I froze. I leant back from our enticing world and saw Makayla Xavier fighting hand to hand in the Crypt against the scum of Merridian.

But Flo sensed the change in me and chuckled breaking from my hold and jumping over me easily. I snapped out of it and grabbed her hand before she could disappear back into the shadows.

"You know this isn't us, Proxy. You are the Division. Like I am Kuzo's." She shrugged, looking around her. "We don't change what we are just like that leader of yours doesn't stop ruling."

I didn't let her go. I gripped her hand tighter.

Then the call from Scorpion came. One I couldn't ignore. I grit my teeth.

"I'm going to take care of it, Flo. If that's the out you want. You have it."

"Promises, promises!" She grinned, with the mask of the night back in place and a sly wink. She freed her hand before I could react and slipped back into the crowd. I stared for a moment at the bodies dancing before I turned and punched the bottle off the table with a smash.

I didn't answer Scorpion's comm.

I ordered a craft outside and set coordinates for the Crypt. It was time to teach Makayla how members of the Division learned to respect orders.