The Last Laugh

Part 16

"Hey! You're back!" Mark said, quickly making his way from behind the counter to Miles' side. Miles had obviously looked a little shaken, still glimpsing back towards the elevator. Luna seemed to be okay, just a little confused about the whole situation.
"Everything okay?" Mark whispered to Miles. It felt electric to have Mark's lips so close to Miles' ear, a cold chill ran down Miles' back.

Miles pulled away, smiling at Luna. "Give us a second, would you?"
"Sure thing." Luna replied. Miles walked away from her, Mark following as they made their way over to the nearest wall, trying to get out of her hearing distance.

"Listen Mark, quit worrying about me. I can protect myself. You need to protect yourself, there's all types of characters that come in here." Miles placed a hand on Mark's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "They wouldn't just come for me, they'd want you too. We need to be wary of everyone– everyone that steps foot in these doors and everyone around us when we're not here."

"You look like you've seen a ghost Miles, what happened out there?" Mark asked, genuinely concerned, his eyes dancing around Miles' face as he examined every movement.

"Nothing." Miles relaxed his face to try and not let Mark get a read on him. "I got a little on edge in the garage thinking someone was..." Miles trailed off, eventually speaking back up. "I'm sure it was just an employee getting high in their car. I'll go back out to look once we're ready to head to dinner."

Mark's facial expressions sunk, there was someone in the garage? Nobody was set to take a lunch or a break that he knew of. The thought that something could've happened under Mark's nose.. That something could've happened to Miles.. Mark shifted his weight onto his other foot, placing his hands on his hips. A typical Mark stance.

"Miles, it's just not a good idea to leave the casino. You're going to be exposed, and I can't always be there with you. I don't care if you don't want me to protect you, I'm your partner and that's what I've always done, whether you've realized it or not." Mark said, eyeing Miles' expressions as he looked away. Miles was watching Luna as she looked over the art pieces that sat close to the front entrance.

"Why don't you just have dinner here?" Mark pleaded, moving his hands from his hips, beginning to knead at his palm with his fingers to try and de-stress himself.

"At least if you both are here I can keep an eye out for you." Miles looked back to Mark, looking into his deep brown eyes– starting to disassociate for awhile as his vision went blurry. He thought about the black car that hovered so close, and the mysterious sounds in the parking garage. Lastly thinking about the Boss, laid out on the carpet in his home, blood pooling around him.

"So?" Mark asked, snapping Miles out of his daze.

"Yeah, let's do that. I'm sure it'll disappoint Luna but I'm sure I can convince her to stay." Miles shuffled his feet, his eyes fluttering to the ground before meeting Mark's eyes again. "Mark.." Miles whispered, looking back over to Luna who was now looking at the construction model for the hotel before looking back to Mark. "I'm sorry for everything.. getting you involved in all this, I'm sorry for erm.. kissing you– and really denying your feelings. You deserve love, just– I just don't want to loose you, you're my partner and best friend."

Mark laughed a little, looking away from Miles. "I'm the one who kissed you. And this is the family business, it's about time I was involved. Just glad I've been able to do it all with you. I don't need your apologies.. you're not loosing me." Mark cleared his throat and looked back up at Miles, running his hand across his hair to make sure it was still in place.
"Go get your girl, tell her about the change of plans. I'll keep an eye out. Keep me in the loop too, would you?" Miles nodded back in response, briefly meeting Mark's gaze before heading over to Luna.

"The original concept was a hotel on the moon?" Luna said, wrapping her arm around Miles' waist. "What an interesting idea, yours?" She asked, looking at Miles.

"Nope, all Mark." Miles replied, placing his arm across Luna's shoulders as he looked down at the model of the hotel, the nightclub spinning slowly on the top of the left, the tall sign spinning slowly on the right.

"I'd love to pick around Mark's mind someday. What a concept, I wonder what other ideas he has in there!" Luna said, pulling Miles in closer to her. "Let's go get ready for dinner, yeah?"

"On that note, got some bad news." Miles said, pulling her along as they started to make their way towards the clear elevator leading to Miles' room.

Mark made his way back behind the front desk trying to debrief the staff, making sure they kept an eye out on everyone who came and went and that they needed to alert Mark if anyone particularly suspicious made their way in. Mark glimpsed over to Miles, watching him walk away with his arm wrapped around Luna. It hurt to see, but at least Miles was happy.