The New Rival

7

Teo

    Three hours passed. Everyone left. I waited, as did Gemma, for another twenty or so minutes as the majority of the staff left. Most of them gave us weird looks as they walked out the door. Shortly after, Ally walked out from the back and stood behind the bar, facing us.

    "Okay," she said immediately, wasting no time with a stern expression in her face. "Who are you and what do you want?"

    She was looking at me, only me, as if ignoring Gemma completely. I almost wanted to laugh knowing Gemma wasn't going to accept that.

    And of course Gem was the first to hold out her hand. "I'm Gemma, nice to meet you."

    Ally hesitantly shook Gemma's hand. "I'm Ally. And honestly, I don't know why you're here and I'm meeting you."

    Gemma smiled and looked right at me, completely turning her head to let Ally know that I was the one to explain that.

    I huffed at Gem and looked at Ally who was now back to staring at me and only me.

    I could definitely waste time getting the information I need, or cut to the point and risk having this girl pull out a knife and kill me in the middle of this club.

    Still, cutting to the point seemed like a better choice at the time. "I need you to tell me what you know about The Rivals, Ally."

    Her mouth dropped open and her eyes went wide. She took a second, looking between Gemma, trying not to let her face show the mix of shock and horror she was clearly expressing.

"You know that guy, don't you?" She let out through a light gasp.

"If you're referring to Chris, yes. He's a friend."

Gemma was silent, just smiling, observing every move Ally made as I spoke to her.

"So," I repeated myself, "what do you know?"

"I don't know much, not enough for you to kill me if that's why you're here."

I couldn't help but laugh, and neither could Gemma considering we were both trying to stop laughing after a few seconds.

"Kill you?" Gemma joked. "Honey, we're not those kind of people."

"You're not murders?" Ally's interest kept growing as her voice grew more comfortable asking questions.

Gemma narrowed her eyes at Ally with a cheeky grin. "Oh no Hun, we're murders, but only if you fuck with us."

I could see Ally gulp.

"You on the other hand?" Gemma scoffed. "You're nothing but a pretty girl working to support herself in a messed up world. You're not anywhere near our list."

"So why are you here? Talking to me?"

"You said something to Chris," I interjected. "About you having a connection to us."

She looked down for a second, as if just then remembering she had told him that. "What's it to you?" She looked back up at me.

"I would like to know exactly what connection you have. I happen to care about the people working with us."

She shook her head gently and backed away from the counter.

"I'm not going to kill you if you say the wrong name, Ally. We just want to know your connection to us. Especially if you plan on exposing us in some book."

Another step back. Another gulp.

Gemma looked at me and shrugged. "If she's not gonna tell us, she's not gonna tell us. We should go. We're scaring the poor girl."

She was right, Ally looked afraid of us. Enough so that I almost felt bad for the girl. I stood up and we began leaving.

"Wait."

I turned around and saw Ally standing a few feet closer to us, stopping just far enough away so I couldn't reach her at arms length.

She paused for a moment, looking down and then back up at me. "What's your name?"

I laughed and turned back around to leave. Just as I was a foot out the door, I turned my head over my shoulder towards her. "Teo," I whispered just enough for her to hear me.

I heard a gasp come from her lips as if that word meant something to her more than just my name.

    I stopped and turned all the way around again so I could actually look at her. Her eyes looked like they had seen a ghost and her chest wasn't moving to breathe.

    "You know that name?" I didn't even think about what I was saying as I said it.

    She didn't respond.

    I walked closer to her, too close. "Who are you? How do you know my name?" I couldn't even hear myself raising my voice until she spoke, so quietly, as if talking to herself.

    "Teo-" her lip quivered. "was my fathers name."