Intrepid » n.h. au

Chapter 8

"Alright," Seth says through a sigh, and I feel him throw an arm around my shoulder as we walk down the short staircase. "Which one do you like? I think the second one from the left might be your type, since you're into blondes and everythi- oh."

I finally look at him when he interrupts himself, and just as I'm about to speak, he interrupts me too. "It's her, isn't it?" He asks in a low tone as he points in front of us, a small but knowing smile on his face. "Yeah, I should have known. You wouldn't want a blonde to remind you of Leanne."

I follow his gaze, and, sure enough, he's looking at Angel. In all honesty, I have trouble looking at her; it's like the only train of thoughts that's going through my head is - this is what she is. This is what I couldn't get off my mind for a week straight. This is what you ruined your relationship with Leanne for.

A damn stripper. That's all she is. Her 'mysteriousness' and all that bullshit make sense now - here I was, thinking that she was special in some weird way, when really, she's just, she's... this. She's just this.

I feel a little lightheaded as I remember certain things from my few encounters with her; that guy in black she warned me about on the night that we met, then the curly haired angry-looking guy in her car, and who knows how many others. They're all... she's been with...

"You alright?" I hear Seth's voice somewhere in the distance. "I mean, I know this is your first time in a strip bar, but you could contain yourself a little, eh?"

From the corner in my eye, I can see him leaning closer to me, and then all of a sudden he snorts. I don't think I even wanna know what's going through his head now.

"Niall, you're drooling. Come on." He pulls me by my arm and leads me through a crowd of people, and as we get closer to the table thing where she is, I have to gulp multiple times so I wouldn't throw up on the spot. I'm pretty sure Seth wouldn't hesitate to actually throw me out of the frat house if that happened.

"Okay, excuse me? Yeah- thanks." After a few seconds, he pulls me the rest of the way so we're right in front of them - her, to be precise. "Alright, you sit here and I'll go get us drinks, sounds good?"

Without waiting for my reply, Seth pushes me by the shoulders and within a second I'm sitting at a round table, surrounded by men twice, or even three times my age. And a three quarters naked Angel, of course.

I'm surprised she still hasn't noticed me, but then again, I doubt they make a lot of eye contact with people that come here. And then I remember another thing - the guy in the alley. He was probably... yeah, he definitely was.

I feel like leaving the place immediately and never coming around this area of the city ever again, but at the same time, I can't stop looking at her. Even though what she's doing is - well, I have a lot of names for what she's doing - she's pretty good at doing it. And I bet that's what the guy with the whiskey in his hand and a beard that makes him look like Jesus is thinking too.

A minute later - a minute that feels like an hour without Seth - my breath almost hitches when she looks at the crowd in front of her, and does a double take when she sees me. Then I'm watching her twirl around the damn thing, until she's practically lying on the ground, in front of me. Well this ought to be interesting.

"Hello," She says loudly so I'd hear her over the music, and crawls toward me slowly, crossing her arms in front of her chest and well there, hello to you too. "What brings you here, detective?"

To my slight surprise - although I've no idea why I'm surprised at all - she doesn't look like she's the tiniest bit uncomfortable that I'm here. And why would she anyway, it's not like she doesn't do this every weekend.