Casual Affairs

SIXTEEN | AN OLD ENEMY

"Trust starts with truth and ends with truth."
— Santosh Kalwar

          STEFANO MORETTI HAD BEEN IN THIS BUSINESS FOR SEVERAL YEARS. He knew the ins and outs of how it worked; how to survive, how to not get caught by authorizes, but most important who you could trust.

          He had known Weston for a very long time. They came into each other's lives one night when Stefano himself came stumbling into a bar. He had just found about the arrangement with his now wife, and wanted to drown out any emotion with the taste of alcohol.

          It was a devastating night for the two of them, meaning they both got wasted beyond comprehension and couldn't tell their left from their right. And so they sat there together, at some lousy forsaken bar, and made a promise to one another.

          A promise that they would be the only two people they could trust.

          "What are you doing here, Stefano?" Weston asked him, making his way towards the desk. He glared at his friend's shiny shoes perched up on the wood, and pushed them off in annoyance.

          Stefano threw his hands up in protest as if to say 'hey I was relaxing here!' He mumbled something underneath his breath before crossing his leg over his knee. "What, a guy can't stop by to see how his friend is doing?"

          Weston frowned. "No."

"Alright, jackass." Stefano replied as he rolled his dark eyes. "I found something."

          That sentence caused him to freeze. Weston's attention was now at full capacity. He was now standing in front of his friend with his arms crossed against his muscular chest. "You what?"

          "Are you deaf? I told you I found something."

          Weston gave him a look of stupidity. "Yeah I fvcking heard you, dumbass." He clenched his jaw before opening his mouth back up to speak. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, as I was making love to this sweet Australian women with the most perfect legs and the breasts the size of—" Stefano began telling his story but was interrupted by his friend coughing. He pursed his lips, but then got the memo that he needed to get on with it. "Oh, my bad, didn't realize you were a prude." Weston kicked him in the shin.

Stefano flicked his friend off, and rubbing the now sore spot. "Anyways, her husband came home. I immediately panicked because I was literally balls deep in his wife. I didn't know what to do! So, I did what every man in this situation would do, I killed him."

"You what!"

"Actually, I didn't kill him right away. I finished the deed first, then I killed him." Stefano said with a fat grin on his face, as if he was proud of what he had done.

Weston looked at his friend like he was completely mental. "You murdered a random man while having sex with his wife. Are you fvcking stupid?"

Stefano put his hands up. "In my defense, I was a little bit high as well."

"What does this have to do with me?" He asked, pinching the skin between his eyebrows. Weston was already stressed enough as it was, and he didn't need his friend to toy with him.

          "You see, that's the thing. Before I shot him, he was talking on the phone with someone. I heard him mention the name Donnelly." Stefano informed him.

Weston's shoulders tensed upon hearing that name. Donnelly. That was the police officer that was first on the scene of his parent's murder. "What'd they say about him?"

          "I couldn't exactly hear everything he was saying on the phone, but what I did hear was Donnelly's name and how he's here in Las Vegas." He told him, playing back the scene in his head. Stefan placed his two fingers against his lips in thought. "Then I did some research, turns out there's this big gathering happened tomorrow night at The Crown Casino."

          "There must be something happening there." Weston said, his eyes moving around the room. He was deep in thought, wondering what this man could possibly be up to. "That explains why he's in town."

Stefano nodded. "Yes, but that doesn't tell us what he's planning on doing here. It could be bad, Wes."

          He looked his friend in the eyes, worry mixing in between his brown irises. Weston knew that something terrible was going on behind his back with his arch nemesis. His presence would explain the never-ending encounters he was having with enemies. It had to be Donnelly sending his men to him, rustling up tension between the two.

          Weston grabbed a glass from the cabinet near the sofa. He then reached for the bottle of bourbon within its contents and poured himself a drink. His body was still tense, his muscles staying contracted like he was on high-alert. Now that his enemy was so close by, he had to be aware of everything in his surroundings.

          Downing the alcohol quickly, Weston poured himself another round before drinking it up. His unoccupied hand balled into a fist and shook with deep anger. Out of frustration, he threw then now empty glass against the door.

          He watched as it shattered into pieces along the floor. The man licked his lip before starting to look back towards Stefano, but there was a small yelp.

         His head snapped towards where he had just thrown the glass. Weston recognized the tone of the person's yelp. His legs carried him over to the wooden door and yanked it wide open.

          There she was.

          Clover stopped dead in her tracks, her limbs frozen in place. She was carrying a plate of what looked like pasta. Her messy brown hair had been put back away from her face besides a few stubborn pierced that fell out. The young girl was facing away from them, her long legs outstretched as if she was trying to walk away unnoticed.

Weston tilted his head to the side and didn't miss the opportunity to look at her up and down. Her bottom half was barely covered by a pair of thin shorts. It hugged her curves as it fit her like a glove, outlining the edge of her butt perfectly. He felt his eyes linger at that certain spot a little longer than necessary before moving up to the rest of her body.

          Someone shifted behind him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Stefano move from behind the desk. He was now standing right beside him, his mouth slightly agape in shock.

          "Clover?"

—

author's note

hello! Sorry for such a short chapter, I just felt like it needed to be ended there for more suspense! I hope you guys are liking all these frequent updates. I'm quarantined inside my house for the most part so I have quite the free time on my hands.

See you in the next chapter!