Chaos

Chapter Three~Jez

~Jez~

Once he had kissed her back, she was encased in a trance. Lips tugging, tasting, harsh and soft together. The gentle touch of his fingertips roaming her body, drifting down down down-

The guns. His horrified look...immediately she was released from the spell. "I..." She blinked, wondering how to respond. She opened her mouth once more to respond, a pleading look in her eye, when a shot rang through the air. A bullet buried itself in her leg. Taken completely by surprise, Jez fell, her hands reaching for her guns. Locked and loaded, she whipped around and aimed for the black car that had zoomed over. 

"White Wolf! Alejandro has accused you of betrayal of the Mafia. We've come to retrieve you, peacefully." A man with slick hair and burly arms aimed his gun in her direction. By this point, Jez had regained her strength but stood unsteadily, dual pistols clutched in her hands. 

"Peacefully?" She scoffed. "You tell Alejandro that my loyalty was pledged in blood. However, I am my own person. Really, he can't control me anymore." Her cold voice rang in the air as she faced the man who came with two others. 

"Yes he can, and he will." A smirk curled his lips as he directed his pointed look in Apollo's direction. "Who's that, Jezebel? Your new boyfriend? You know that won't make Alejandro happy."

She bristled at the sound of her full name leaving his mouth, and she tried not to look in Apollo's direction. 

"No! He's..." She fumbled for an explanation, but couldn't summon one up. At that point, the man had fired. Moving quickly Jezebel leapt in front of Apollo, the bullet grazing her shoulder as it flew past him into the wall near his head. She turned her head in Apollo's direction, her hair undone and eyes wild. Her chest rose and fell as her pants continued. In her recovery pose, she almost resembled a wolf.

"I'm sorry Apollo...this was a bad idea. I shouldn't have involved you." Twirling her gun, she quickly checked the bullets in the chamber. She chewed her lip, still tasting his kiss. "I suggest you run. I can handle this." A wolfish smile brightened her serious face. "However, I must thank you for a wonderful night. Although I don't think we'll be able to do it again if this continues. Now. Do as I say and please run." Beneath the excitement and crazy smile, fear sparkled in her eyes along with urgency.

Apollo could still feel the bullet whizzing past his cheek, a stinging burn where the side of the metal had grazed his skin; a few inches to the left and he would have been done for. He gasped for breath, pressing himself against the wall and staring in horror at three men that had appeared out of nowhere. "Run?!" he shouted, finding his voice. He took a few stumbling steps backward, supporting himself against the wall. "How can I- but you- you're in the... th-the Mafia- oh my god, this can't be happening."

The man growled at Apollo and Jez, who hadn't moved an inch. "Alright Wolf, you're dead now." He aimed his gun at her head and smiled.

Jez leapt up right as the gun was fired. The bullet whizzed past her and slammed into the brick, followed by several more shots. One tore her dress, only resulting in a snarl from her. She shot at the man, her wicked accurate aim disabling the man immediately. The other two followed, disabled, their shots at her missing entirely. Jez, quick as lightning,
dodged their shots, but unfortunately her dress could not. Her ponytail came completely undone. White hair came flying out and rested across her shoulders. 

"You can go tell Alejandro that I will speak to him about this so called 'disloyalty' and that next time he should come himself," she said, blowing on her guns before slipping them back into their holsters. The men scrambled into the car, gripping wounds and shooting death glares at the elegant woman standing casually by the restaurant in her tattered dress. With a loud screech of wheels, the car was gone as fast as it came.

Jez twisted her head and gave Apollo a sly grin. "What did I tell you? I'm not a traditional girl."

"Yeah. That's very evident." Apollo ran a hand through his hair, still trying to process what had just happened. He shook his head in disbelief, then turned back to Jez, his eyes wide. "But... the Mafia?" He laughed nervously, a twinge of fear in his eyes. "Seriously?"

Not meeting his eyes, she ripped a strip of fabric from her dress and tied it around her shoulder with her teeth. "It wasn't my choice. I was sold in at birth. And you know the Mafia; there's no leaving it." The warmth of the recently used guns was comforting in this situation; she hated talking about her past.

Apollo stammered for words. "I... actually don't know the mafia. At all." He shook his head rapidly, unable to tear his eyes away from Jez. It was terrifying, the way she had just pulled out her guns and shot at a man like it was nothing. Terrifying... but also kind of hot. "A-am I in danger now or something? I don't know how the Mafia works outside of, you know, The Godfather. Should I be worried?"

Despite the situation, Jez released a soft laugh, amused by his comment. "They consider you a weakness of mine, so if I drop all contact with you, then you won't be bothered." She finally directed her gaze at him, her blue eyes round and bright. She took two steps forward, bringing herself face to face with him. "So therefore, this is goodbye Apollo. Hopefully I'll see you on the corner of the street tomorrow." She twisted her body to leave, but her eyes focused on the wound on his cheek. Snarling, she reached out to brush the blood away. "Clumsy bastards don't know how to take a good shot." At least they didn't injure him... Her fingers paused just before touching his skin,  pulling back. She shook her head and turned towards the street to hail a cab.

"Well, would you rather have had them kill me?" Apollo asked, indignant. He shook his head, taking longer steps to catch up with her. He bit down on the inside of his lip, feeling his heart sink. "Jez, are you-" he paused, letting out a sigh. "Are you sure we can't keep in touch?"

She froze, turning to look at him as the question repeated in her head. "K-keep in touch? I..." She fumbled with the ragged edges of her dress, chewing on her lip. "I don't want to put you in danger," she responded, opening the door to the cab that stopped beside them. "So...no, I don't think so." Even as she said the words, a deep numbing pain gripped her heart. Her lies could never convince her feelings to say otherwise. 

This one man had given her something she'd never felt before: hope. Hope for a normal life, one where she could fall in love and get married, not be bound to mafia as she was. 

Oh." Apollo's heart sunk. He licked his lips, not meeting her eyes, dreading the the moment when she would have to step inside that cab. An idea sparked inside his head and he reached into his pocket, pulling out a deck of cards and flipping through all 52, finally picking out the one he needed. Apollo's cheeks flushed a light pink and he handed her the card he had picked: the Queen of Hearts. "Take this with you," he said, his voice wavering with a twinge of uncertainty. "I... I don't want you to forget about me."

She hesitated before taking the card, tucking it away. "I won't," she murmured, holding it close to her heart.

At that same moment, a very fancy looking car  pulled up. A blacked out window was rolled down and a cute pixie face glared at Jez. "Jezebel Esmeralda Redfern, you are in so much trouble right now," she hissed, putting her raised gun down. Her eyes focused in Robin. "Who's that?"

Apollo met the girl's gaze with own of his own, raising an eyebrow. A sarcastic comment found a way to his lips, but he held back, eyeing the gun. "Nobody of consequence..." he insisted, starting to back away.

"They already came Mira-"

"Yeah Jez, I know! I found everything today. You've gotten rusty, forgetting to cover your tracks!" Mira said, flashing a bright phone screen at Jez. "And it was even worse getting him involved. Don't tell me you were on a-"

"Let's just go," Jez mumbled, stepping into the car. "I don't want to talk about it." Even though she said this, she knew she wouldn't hear the end of it from her blood sister. "Bye Apollo."

Throwing one last suspicious glare at Apollo, Mira rolled up the window and floored the gas, leaving only the faint smell of burnt rubber in their wake.