Gun Fight

Alicia:

I never counted on being stuck in a tense situation with two devilishly handsome men in the damn bathroom to occur in my life, like, ever.

Acker looked like he just stepped right out of some movie, and I could hardly take my eyes off of him.

Wait, I paused in my flustered act over the presence of the man I spent a night with earlier this week, and realized what he had said.

Mikael? Did he mean… the man that was currently pinning me to the wall of the restroom? Was that Mikael?

“Acker Madden,” the man- Mikael - spoke with hints of familiarity in his voice, a smirk on his lips. He was an adonis, and I would have swooned if it wasn’t such a strange, difficult situation I was in, stuck between him and a hard place.

“How has it been? I thought you’d stay in London for the summer,” Mikael continued as though I wasn’t there, even though I felt his hand pinning me to the wall.

Acker looked unperturbed by the man’s words. In fact I could have sworn his eyes narrowed at Mikael.

They must have been very familiar with each other, I thought. It was as though they were bantering without caring whoever was in the room with them.

“Remind me why I should divulge my travel plans to you of all people, Mikael. After all, I don’t care about you or your borgata. Leave me to my business, and leave the girl as well.”

It was then that Mikael seemed to remember I was still his captive and he looked at me briefly, before glancing back at Acker.

“Her? I never knew you would pick a dancer for your woman,” Mikael’s tone was light. “You always like the innocent ones.”

I decided to speak up, my face reddened.

“I’m not a dancer!” I protested, spluttering. Both sets of eyes turned to me, fixated on my face.

“There,” Acker’s British burr was calm and dripping with honey as he didn’t remove his eyes from my face. “She isn’t a dancer. And yes, she is mine.”

I noticed Mikael’s face twitch, and then he chuckled, shaking his head.

“Regardless of whether she’s your woman or not, she owes ME. I don’t let women slap me for free, no matter who she belongs to.”

“Slap you?” Acker seemed to ask me that question silently and I felt the need to defend myself.

“But- I— He MOLESTED me!” I yelled out. “I just want to go home. I don’t want any trouble!”

To my surprise, both men chuckled at the same time.

“She’s quite the fiery one, isn’t she?” Mikael remarked, even as his grip loosened on me. I stepped away from him, eyeing the door, calculating my chances.

However I knew that even if I tried to run, there was no way I would make it in time.

“She can be a handful,” Acker responded to his remark. “I came here looking for her because she fled from me.”

Upon hearing the reference to the night I spent with Acker three days ago, my heart began to pound louder in my chest and I feared they would hear it.

Though every inch of my body was poised to run, I somehow didn’t feel any fear. It was shocking, considering my instincts long honed in the orphanage and my less than stellar childhood always kept me out of trouble. It never failed me before.

My instincts were telling me that Mikael and Acker wouldn’t hurt me.

Before any more words could be said however, there was an instant flurry of activity. I froze upon hearing a loud bang in the distance and the music in the distance stopped at once. Silence filled the air and it was like a signal, as both men stilled as well and exchanged glances.

“One of yours?” Acker asked Mikael, who sneered at him.

“I was about to ask you the fucking same. Damned cafone, starting trouble,” Mikael said then began to speak in a stream of Italian.

“Boss!” I heard an unfamiliar voice speak, and my eyes snapped to the door to find a man and woman there. Both were dressed in dark suits, the woman wearing a white dress shirt underneath and the man’s black shirt blending in with his suit.

“Magda,” Mikael spoke. “What’s the word?”

“Some idiot in a small crew started a fight with the manager. He’s got people,” the woman reported in such a quick manner that her words nearly flew over my head.

“We have to go, sir,” The man who came in with the woman said to Acker who looked less than pleased.

I didn’t know what to do; what was going on?

Screams filled the air in the background as more gunshots continued.

Suddenly my hand was grabbed and I turned to find Mikael smirking at me.

“Here, Marina,” his voice was low and teasing, and I felt a warm metal slide into my wrist. To my surprise it was a watch, which looked more like it belonged on his wrist than mine. “Keep it safe and I’ll return for it.”

He released me and beckoned to Magda, who eyed me briefly before rushing out the door following Mikael.

What had just happened?

“Javier, make sure Alicia gets home,” Acker spoke to the other man who bowed (what?!) to him.

“Yes sir,” Javier responded.

“W-wait,” i stammered out but it was too late as Acker had already walked out of the bathroom, leaving me to contend with Javier who would follow orders given to him.

“Come with me,” Javier beckoned to me and I was about to protest when a much louder gunshot nearly deafened me and made a shiver roll down my spine. I flinched and crouched automatically, a reaction left from my days in the horrible neighborhoods I grew up in. “Come on, we don’t have much time,” Javier implored, looking unfazed, like this was some leisurely gathering instead.

I didn’t protest this time and followed Javier’s instructions. I didn’t ask any questions, nor was any asked of me as I was ushered in a strange black car on Javier’s insistence, and when the driver asked for my address, i didn’t hesitate to tell him.

It was all a flurry of activities I would decide to push away from my mind by the time I woke up the next morning, still in the dress Daya had bought me, passed out on the threadbare, hardened couch out of sheer distress.

…