The Handsome Devil

Chapter 53 - Strangers in the night

The time just about stopped as they stared each other down, and Victoria wasn't sure whether to interpret the devil's silence as a sign he recognised her, or whether he's just pissed off about the t-shirt.

Either way, his appearance has sure roughed up since the last time they've met.

Particularly, his hair was no longer perfectly slicked back. Instead, it just lifelessly fell around his face, and although it did manage to cover a good quarter of it, she couldn't miss that his features noticeably hardened (top photo).

What happened to you?

She'd really love to believe he was so crushed by Deya's disappearance, but it sounded hilarious even to her own ears.

As if he would care about me.

As if he would care about anything.

But then, as her irritation reached dangerous level, the earpiece rumbled again and judging by the 'fuck' that echoed, Connor was now aware of her company.

Fuck indeed.

Mumbling a quiet sorry, she turned away to disappear in the crowd. However, Max was quick to grab her wrist and pull her back, the touch permanently burning into the girl's soft skin.

"You've ruined my t-shirt" He stated in neutral voice, and Victoria wondered since when he became so level-headed. The Max she knew regularly blew up for smaller things than this.

Well, let me introduce him to Victoria.

Her plump lips curved into an innocent smile as she gently wriggled her hand out of his hold.

"Izvenetye, you want me to pay to dry clean it?" ('Sorry') She asked him in honeyed voice and with raised eyebrows, secretly hoping he'll take the bait.

"No, I-"

Right as the word left his lips, Victoria cut him off sternly, the smile turning into a frown. "Well then don't waste my time and fuck off, mudak!" ('shithead')

The devil recoiled in confusion and that was all the girl needed to beat it. Slowly, she navigated her way to the exit looking over her shoulder just in time to see Cole whispering to the devil and preventing him from going after her.

Good.

Keeping her head hung low to avoid spotting other familiar faces, she entered the much less populated hallway and finally felt comfortable enough to contact Connor who was suspiciously quiet the whole time.

"What the fuck was that?" She whispered while avoiding a guy leaning against the wall and vomitting.

Ugh, gross.

"I have no fucking idea. This is a Northern club, they shouldn't be here " The boss replied frantically and the background noises made it obvious he's also talking to someone else.

"Yeah, but they are.. Better tell me where to find you so we can get the fuck out of here" Seeing it might take ages before they deign to help her out, she aimed for the ladies toilets and shut herself in one of the dirty cubicles.

There was a minute of silence before Connor replied. "I can't meet you"

"What?!" Is he seriously throwing her over board?

"It's too risky. Max can't see us together" The hushed murmur that followed made her lose her temper and punch the graffiti covered wall. From some reason, she couldn't help but think stuff like this wouldn't happen on a mission with the Bulldogs.