Bella Donna

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Present day

"Astrid you just went out with someone in the upper echelons of the Hooligan Mafia!!!!" The thought had churned around in Astrid's head all day. Even now she was mindlessly stocking the shelves while thinking about it.

'The Hooligsan mafia...' she remembered hearing something about them on the news but that was years ago. All she knew was that crime decreased. Many small gangs had been driven out and people had been breathing a sigh of relief at the dropped crime rate.

She just couldn't fathom Hiccup... her Hiccup... being part of the mafia. 'Wait... did I just claim him?' Astrid pondered again, somewhat perplexed. The date had gone really well... extremely well even. He was a gentleman through and through. He even had someone return her car for her that morning. She'd vaguely remembered handing Hiccup her keys when he promised her he'd do it.

She'd been really drunk and normally wouldn't have done that but wouldn't ya know? That morning as she was leaving for work, intent on catching her bus, when she saw her car waiting for her with a burly man standing guard next to it.

"Uhm... hello?" Astrid could remember saying.

"Miss Hofferson, your keys. Mister Haddock wanted to ensure you had your mode of transportation. He sends his regards and laments not being able to return it to you personally but some business came up this morning." The burly man said while handing her her car keys with her very recognizable pink pompom keychain nonchalantly.

"Thank you?" she replied with both uncertainty and suspicion but the man had just walked to the car parked behind hers and left after handing her the keys.

"That was... odd," She pondered and kept pondering the whole morning scenario in her mind as she clocked in, waved at her work friends, and went to check the assignment sheet.

"Looks like both of us are on clean-up duty. At least it isn't inventory day," Eddie said, leaning over her shoulder to look at the roster.

"By Thor Eddie! Don't do that. You'll give me a heart attack!" Astrid growled before lightly punching her colleague's arm.

"Be grateful. Jess is stuck stocking the shelves again. I swear Trunchbull has it out for her." Eddie whispered.

"And she'll have it out for us if she finds out we've been calling her that behind her back," Astrid hissed. "So pipe down Eddie,"

"Yeah, yeah...," Her colleague dismissed Astrid's concern. "That's not what I'm here about. The date... spill... we all need details."

"Later..." Astrid rolled her eyes. "I'll tell both you and Jess during lunch. Now scoot. I need to get the mops from the utility closet." she muttered while motioning for Eddie to let her pass.

Work passed by at a slow pace for Astrid that day and when she walked out of the store the tiredness could be seen on her face. She had just about reached her car when her phone rang in her purse. Checking the caller ID she saw that it was Heather.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hey Astrid, you just got off your shift right? Think we can meet in the coffee shop across from my precinct?"

"Yeah, sure," Astrid answered, totally unsure why Heather was calling her out of the blue.

Given the congested traffic, it took Astrid about ten minutes to arrive at the coffee shop. Thankfully her job location and the precinct Heather worked at weren't too far apart.

Upon entering the shop she immediately spotted Heather, still in her uniform, in a corner booth away from the windows. "Heather, what's going on?"

"Look, I don't have much time," Heather muttered as she took out a file from her standard-issue jacket and placed it in front of Astrid. "I did some research on your man."