Little Dark One

3 - viper

Keira

Sal moved to a monitor across the room where the security footage was displayed. He began scrolling through the cameras, zooming in here and there.

"What are you doing, can you focus?" I snapped, annoyed he was getting distracted by club business.

"Relax sweetheart, some of his guys hang out here sometimes, I'm checking if any of them are here tonight." he zoomed in on a fully tattooed guy in his early twenties and sat back, impressed with himself. "There. That's one of his guys, he goes by Viper. He can take you to Knox."

"So what, you just expect me to walk up to this guy and ask for Knox?" I exclaimed.

"Hell no, you never say Knox's name in public, everyone knows that. His organization is very low key, you'll fuck up your chances if you jeopardize that."

"God damn it Sal, I'm so out of my depth here." my voice came out in quivers, I hated to look vulnerable in front of Sal but at this point I couldn't control it. I was beginning to spiral, my anxiety taking the wheel.

"You'll be fine. Either Knox kills you, or the FBI does. One way or another you have nothing to lose at this point." his sympathy was basically nonexistent, but he was right.

I pulled myself together as much as I could and stood shakily, thanking Sal for his advice.

"Do me a favor hun, clean yourself up a little before you head back down there. It's a bad look," he looked over my disheveled appearance "There's a bathroom down the hall."

I just nodded. Usually I'd clap back but he was probably right. His club, his rules. I shuffled into the bathroom and took in my appearance. My eyes had black mascara and eyeliner smeared down my cheeks, my hair was a rat's nest and I looked like I just came off an apocalyptic movie set with my ripped clothes. I tossed my blazer so I was left with a tight tank top and a ripped, black pencil skirt. I smoothed my hair down and wiped the mascara off of my cheeks until it looked more like an intentional smokey eye, the smeared black made my ice blue eyes pop even in the dim light.

I looked closer at my improved appearance and noticed bruises beginning to form on my neck from Thompson choking me. At this point there was nothing I could do about it so I pulled my hair around in an attempt to cover the marks, like you would a love bite or a burn from a straightener.

I made my way back down into the club and searched through the flashing lights for Knox's guy. I think his name was Viper. After a few minutes of pushing through the gyrating bodies I finally spotted him leaning on the bar with a tumbler of dark liquid in his heavily tattooed hand. He was laughing with another guy, who was slightly less inked. They looked like bad seeds, which meant they were exactly who I needed to talk to.

I took a deep breath and marched over to them, unsure what to even say. They were intimidating. They spotted me walking towards them and their laughing turned to smirking.

"Are you Viper?" I yelled over the music, having to move in close enough to smell the whiskey and tobacco on him.

"Who's asking." He murmured directly in my ear. His hands moved to my waist and he pulled me closer. I shivered, feeling uncomfortable with the physical touch from a scary looking stranger.

I grabbed his hands and moved them off my waist, rolling my eyes. His friend laughed and he joined in, they were clearly amused.

"I need you to take me to your boss." I said, not as confident as I'd hoped. They noticed.

"What boss, and what would a nice girl like you want with guys like us?" Viper's friend chuckled. They were playing dumb.

"It's need, not want." I snapped, then I realized that sounded far too sexual and I cringed.

The inked up gangsters laughed and Viper grabbed my arm and dragged me towards the back exit. I tried to pull my arm out of his grasp but it was ironclad. We emerged into the back alley, a few smokers lingered nearby and Viper dropped my arm to join in the trend. Once his cigarette was lit, he offered me one. I declined, scowling at the death stick. Gross.

"So what do you need from us." He raised a brow, I could basically see the dirty thoughts racing through his mind.

"Can you take me to him or not." I snapped, getting anxious being out in the open like this. I glanced around every few seconds, scanning the area. I couldn't control the shaking in my hands.

"That depends, what's in it for us?"

I had to make something up on the spot, I hadn't thought about that yet. What could I possibly offer them besides my body. Which was completely off limits. I had no money, no connections and no information. But they didn't know that.

"Money?" I asked, shrugging my shoulders. They both burst out hysterically laughing and I broke. "Look, this is serious! I'm being followed and I'm running out of time. I need help and I have information your boss will want to hear." That last part was a lie but I was desperate.

"Alright girlie, what's the info" the other guy asked, still holding back his laughter. They weren't taking me seriously at all. They were probably wasted and this whole thing was just a joke to them.

I wasn't prepared and I stuttered, wracking my brain for literally anything to say. Viper's mood flipped quick.

"Be careful girl, you're out of your league. There's nothing you can do for us. Besides the obvious." He sneered, looking me up and down seductively.

I was so desperate at this point I wasn't above begging. "Please, I really need his help, I don't know what else to do. I'm being followed by really dangerous people and they will kill me. Please just take me to Knox."

Viper grabbed me and yanked me into the shadows. "What the FUCK did you just say?" He snarled harshly. His friend slipped out of the alley and around the corner, leaving me alone. I fucked up, I seriously fucked up. I didn't mean to say his name, it just slipped out.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, I swear it was an accident" I whimpered. I was done for, there was no point trying to save myself at this point.

A black SUV with heavily tinted windows screeched into the alley and I panicked, the FBI found me. This was it.

The few smokers that lingered ran out of the alley or back into the club as the car barreled down the alley at a high speed. I turned back to Viper and as I met his dark eyes something hard impacted my head. My vision went blurry and I collapsed in skinny, tattooed arms.