Secrets Of The Guilty [Nanowrimo 2019]

SEVENTEEN

Under the grunted cheers of the patrons, the announcer signals the end of round three.

Lucius threw his opponent an assessing look over his shoulder, his black hair slick and wet, shifting with the movement. The man grinned back at Lucius against his mouthguard. One of his couches drags a towel across his face, smearing the blood streaming from a swollen and broke eye.

An assistant pushes a straw into the opponent's mouth. The boxer pulls his head away as his coach dabbed at a split lip. He snarls a warning at him, and the coach drops the towel stepping down and through the ropes.

Lucius danced on his toes. Throwing his hands up and taunting the crowd behind him. His own blood being left to roll down his forehead, catching the wet strands of hair, dripping off his face and down to the white of the ring. Mixing with the blood already there.

She'd forgotten how fast he was. A few maneuvers and a blind rush at his appointment had him open and unprotected. Lucius had him around the ribs, two at the right, one into the ribs, yanking his balance out from under him as Lucious drove an elbow into his gut.

Always aim for the soft parts.

"He's good," Nat mumbled taking a drink. Her third of the night. Nat had gotten up a little after the second round to grab something stronger than the light champagne and when she'd settled back in her seat, a gold-encrusted bracelet slide down her arm coming to rest at her elbow just under her fur shall.

"Yes, he is." Eli smiled behind her fingers, vibrant grey eyes flickering with amusement. "Who's is it?"

"It belongs to a thief who'd just finished taking it from the older lady to your immediate right." Eli tracks the wave of her date's hand finding a woman with enough money around her neck, that she probably won't notice the bracelet till morning. She was clutching her partner's arm with tight fingers, eyes following the boxing match. The bell goes. Lucius slides his guard into his mouth, pumping his arms before rolling up onto the balls of his feet.

The second bell goes and Lucius slams a first into his opponent's face.

Eli finished her wine. She waits a moment before getting up from her seat and walking with her back turned to the fight. The crowd's screams for blood rumbled through the concrete floor, rattling the rafters, pulsing in her bones and breath as she neared the bar closest to the reserved boxes. Her own seats giving her access to the private bar.

The bartender puts a small square napkin on the bar, he doesn't press or ask for her drink order. He simply places a wine glass on the napkin and pulls the cork out of the bottle Nat had bought them both at the start of the match.

"Thank you," Eli takes the glass moving to the edge of the private bar. A high table sits empty at the edge of the raised platform. Settling into a chair Eli sips slowly watching the boxers dance around each other.

"This isn't quite your den of iniquity, Elizabeth."

Eli moved her head from the ring and stared up at James. "Every time I turn around."

He settles across from her. His knees brushing against hers under the small table. His way of compensating for it was to slide his thigh against hers. "You placed a lot of money at the table."

"Is there a question in there?" Eli stirs her glass from the base.

"I assume you want something more than a night of gambling away thousands and drinking expensive wine." He glances at the glass in her hand, before settling his eyes on her. James shifted forward, his arm coming on to the table. He had moved forward as they talked, a slow steady movement. He takes her glass moving it to the end of the table next to his empty one. Stretching he reaches forward, his hand pulling lightly at the ends of her fingers.

"And if I do?" She looks down at his mouth and backs up finding his eyes looking into hers, watching her reactions. They weren't alone in the bar or on the platform. They weren't the only ones touching.

He takes her hand as he rose. "Then we should move this to somewhere made for backroom deals." He bends down until his face was close to hers. "There are prying eyes up here."

Eli casts a look down to the crowd, finishing green eyes following her. Nat sends her a knowing look before shifting her shoulders down, exposing the knife at her hip, half out of her purse.

She slides her hand into his open palm. Leaving the glass behind she follows him to the concealed door at the end of the bar. They make it up the stairs, through a door labelled private, and into the box before he speaks again.

"I'm listening." He braces his feet, entering his stance.

Eli takes a turn around the space. Her fingers touching the gold railing along the box keeping her body turns away from him. She stopped with her hand resting on the large office chair behind the glass desk. And finding herself strangely glad for the barrier between them.

"I have what you were looking for and I'd like to offer you a trade for it." She flicked her grey eyes over him, a smile on her lips. Eli spread her palms on the desk, placing them at arm's length. "But first, putting everything on the table. Including the blade in your watch."

"Is this a robbery?" James said softly.

"You wanted the stick enough to hunt me for it. This is how you're going to get it."

His shoulders tightened but he complied with her request. A glimmer in his eyes. The blade from the watch came first. He placed it on the edge of the glass desk, it was followed by a larger knife, the side of a hand from fingertip to wrist. The last of the items to hit the table was the gun she'd touched in her apartment. No numbers on the side.

"You don't know what you're up against this time."

"And you do." She snapped at him. He flashes that grin at her, and she was sure, tucked his tongue in his cheek.

"I know nothing," His eyes skimming the sides of her blazer up to her concealed pocket. "As long as you've got your recorder on."

"But you know something." Eli couldn't help but smile back. She pulled the blazer to the side, taking out her recorder and manually disengaged. She placed in on the table next to the knife, leaning back in her chair.

"And your backup?" He said smoothly from the other side of the desk. She pulled in an annoyed sigh, before pulling her blazer off and turning the button over. She pulled the wire on her backup, leaving the blazer over the arm of one chair. "Now what can I do for you, Elizabeth."