Stripped Bare

Do I want to be forgotten?

A/N: We now return to the world of Dante, where certain revelations become more evident...

Dedicated to: taxham MiMiAngelus sanmariano Noirotica Snape75

Dante left the office with a renewed sense of purpose, trying to absorb the information that he had just been entrusted with - information that could make or break him. He was now enlisted in a secret organization he practically knew nothing about. All he had to go on was the commander's word. But strangely he felt that it was enough.

He now had to set the ball in motion by contacting the prince with his decision. Dante finally accepted the prince's offer much to the man's delight. He could not get rid of the sense of foreboding in the pit of his stomach as he did so. There was obviously something far more sinister which he detected, so subtly underlying the prince's words of reassurance.

He trudged back to the dormitory and started packing. He had jotted down a list of things he still had to do before leaving. He went back to the hospital to check on both Tommy and Teresa to make sure they were alright. Tommy was still nursing his broken arm but would be discharged soon, however, Teresa, who had suffered a concussion and some broken ribs, still needed extra care in the hospital.

After his visit, he revved up his motorbike and rushed to the club to notify Alex of his decision to take the client's offer.

Alex was pleasantly surprised and made Dante promise to give him daily updates.

As he started to leave he received a call from an unknown number. At first, he thought of putting it to voicemail, but it might be the prince, so reluctantly, he answered the call. It was the bride from last night's debacle.

"Hey there, how are you doing? How did you get my number? What? Sorry I can't hear you. Hold it...slow down. Why are you crying?" Dante could sense the young bride's distress over the phone. "I'm coming right over!"

Dante jumped on his motorbike and raced to the little church a few blocks away.

He was guided to a side entrance and headed for one of the rooms closest to the sacristy.

As he approached he could hear both the bride and groom arguing as their parents were desperately trying to get them to calm down and talk things out.

"Excuse me but..." He slipped in only to be greeted by an irate groom. "Oh, that's just great! What the hell is he doing here? You asked the male stripper to come here to do what, Janice? Is he here to confirm that you both had sex last night? Are we going to have another taste of what went on right here in CHURCH?"

"What?!! How dare you accuse me of having sex when you had your stag night out! I haven't accused you of anything, dammit!" Janice, the bride, was getting ready to throw the bouquet at her husband-to-be.

"I saw what I saw Janice! Those wacked out friends of yours were doing it with him and Claudine was filming the whole thing! It was all over Porn-Tube for goodness sake!" He yelled as he pointed a finger at Dante.

"Calm down please! Both of you! Now hold on! She didn't have sex with me. In fact, I refused when her friends tried to push her onto me. And you have no right to accuse her when you may have been careless yourself!" Dante explained. He then eyed the groom out of the corner of his eye "So did you?"

"Did I what?"

"Did you have sex last night?" He asked the groom.

"You have no right to ask me that question..." He scowled.