Dancing For The Mafia

7

Eliana

My face burned at his compliment and I rubbed my arm nervously, "Thank you." His words were having the same effect as Peter's words did. I blame his eyes.

There was a small beeping sound and he groaned, "Wait here for me, I won't be long."

Here? I watched him walk away and I took a deep breath, not knowing what to do. Hazel said to be nice to everyone in the club. And this man looked like he had strong ties with DeLeón. I was still in my performance outfit, and it was starting to get cold.

"Eliana?" I looked over to see Hazel walking towards me, "Why are you just standing here?"

I tried to explain myself the best I could, "I was dancing and there was this guy in the crowd, he looked at me like Peter did that first night. I swear his eyes made my entire body shiver it was so weird. Then he found me right here as I was walking back and he told me to stay here. And you said to be nice to everyone so I was going to stay here until he came back."

Hazel crossed her arms, "Aren't you cold though?"

"Freezing." I breathed out and pulled my arms closer to myself, "So should I stay or should I go?"

She tapped her foot as she contemplated, "Describe him to me, he must be a regular if he met you here."

I described his general appearance, before emphasizing what really made him stand out. "I know it sounds crazy but he has the same eyes as Peter. I swear it's like a bigger brunette version of him."

Hazel's facial expression quickly snapped from curiosity to an instant angry familiarity, "I'm bringing you back to the room." She grabbed my hand, dragging me in the direction she came from and that I originally was heading to. "Think of me as a personal escort."

I was confused by her sudden urgency to bring me back, "Who is he Hazel, will he not care if I leave?"

She scoffed, "I don't give a shit what he cares about."

"Hazel." I looked back to see the man but Hazel didn't stop walking, "Let her go." Her steps slowed but they didn't come to a stop, "Don't make me ask again."

She came to a stop and turned around, still holding tightly onto me, "She's cold and tired Patrick." Patrick.

He slowly began to walk over to us, "Did she tell you that or are you assuming as always Hazel, because she was patiently waiting for me before you found her." How did he know, did he pretend to leave to test me?

Hazel scoffed, "I swear you think you're so..." Hazel held her tongue and let my hand go, "I have to go before I'm late for my performance, and I rather not lose money tonight." She looked over at me with soft eyes, "Don't believe anything he tells you."

She headed over in the direction of backstage and Patrick called out behind her, "So sad I'll miss it but I'm sure you'll do great as always Hazel." She flipped him off with both of her hands and he chuckled. He began to walk up to me and I could feel a nervousness come down my back, "You were going to let her take you away from me? I felt we had a little connection."

I didn't want to throw Hazel under the bus, and I didn't want to say something self incriminating either. I shrugged, "I don't know..."

He smiled at me and the sight of his aligned teeth brought more heat to my face, "You're adorable."

"I didn't know you were back already?" My nervousness came down a little at the sound of Peter's voice. I turned around to see him heading towards us and my heart swelled. Patrick didn't scare me but I didn't want to be left alone with him. His presence was very intimidating.