Mobster Boy

5

Pic of Phaedra on the side >>>

"If you're lucky, maybe we can get some use out of you after all." That cold smile makes me shiver.

"Wait...what?" I furrow my brows. Chance begins to pace, fired up with a sudden energy.

"He might not even realize he knows. Something that didn't strike him as important before, but once he knows what to look for..." Marcus raises an eyebrow.

"You're kind of reaching, Chance..." 'Yeah. Really, really reaching Chance.'

"Probably. But it's more of a lead than we had before. There's no harm in doing a little experimentation, is there?" He takes the chess board, rearranging the pieces.

"Going to make me reconfigure a new board?" I don't bother to hide my annoyance and discomfort from them.

"You don't sound very happy about that." Marcus frowns, and I chuckle bitterly.

"I'm getting flashbacks from high school. I had a friend who used to make me do things like this all the time..." I trail off, losing myself in what little pleasant memories I had. I take a glance at the new arrangement. And then Chance dumps the pieces onto the couch cushion.

"Redo it." His face is expressionless, and I fight the urge to roll my eyes. 'He could be more polite about it, but fine.' I do as he says, putting the board back exactly as he had it. I think about putting a piece in the wrong place to mess with them and find a little amusement in this, but I decide quickly that that wouldn't be the best idea. Chance makes me do it three more times before he's satisfied. And he keeps making me do it, until even Marcus gets bored and leaves. 

"Well, well, well. It's hard to fake results like that." 'Thank god, if he made me do it one more damn time I was going to scream.'

"If you tell me what you're looking for, I can see if I remember any pertinent details. I assume that's how this is going to work?" I ask, resting my chin on my fist and not bothering to hide how bored and irritated I was.

"Yes. We also need to run a little field test." Before I know it, Chance is looming over me, his palm pressed against the wall behind me and trapping me in place. I gulp and try to keep myself calm by taking deep breaths in through my nose and out my mouth, trying to shrink into the wall and make myself as small as possible, but I don't look away from him. "What do you say, Moore?" 'Does he need to be this close? He's already seen what could happen to me...' He still looks like a blue-eyed angel, no matter how many times I try to remind myself otherwise. He even smells as good as he looks, the leather of his riding jacket and the sharp ring of mature cologne.

"I...I'll help you if you think it will find my parents." 'And after you get your information they might end up being in a...minor...accident.'

"Excellent." A genuine warmth enters his voice, sounding the way bourbon looks when poured in a glass tumbler. It takes me off guard and I relax a little. "I'm glad we decided to keep you after all." 'That would mean more to me if he didn't mean it from such a selfish standpoint...he's just happy things are finally going his way.'

A crackling buzz overhead makes me look up. Hideyoshi's voice rings out, buzzing over an intercom. "Hey, Chance, I heard your motorcycle come in. Are we having dinner together or what?" Sighing, Chance walks over to a panel near one of the doorways, answering him back.

"I have a cell phone, you know." He scowls.

"And yet here you are, answering me by intercom. Admit it, it's fun." I can almost hear the grin in Hideyoshi's voice and I chuckle.