Always Down

Chapter 9 ? Bothered

"He doesn't know more than he already told us." I explained, frustrated by the fact that we got nothing from him. All the work for nothing.

"So what? Are we back to square one? We have no idea who they are." He grumbled, raking his hands into his hair.

I understood fairly his irritation, his anger towards my repulsive action but in truth, we wouldn't have gotten anything from James. He had the opportunity to speak the instant he saw the gun pointing at his head but he chose not to. He chose to remain silent, relying on another lie to stay alive.

"No, there's may be something." I headed out of the cell with him following from behind.

"Can you elaborate? I'm not some damn psychic."

"For fucks sake, keep that anger down. For what he did to our men, he deserved to die."

He took a deep breath, nodding. "Fine, you're right. Carry on."

"The night we came back from the club, I made someone search his house and office. And he found a link. There's someone else working with James."

"One of his associates, Sanchez Wielder. But there wasn't any information about him, except that he isn't from the city. I'm confident that he might know something and if we get our hands on him, it'll take us no long to reach their boss."

He took out his phone, typed something and looked back up. "I've spread out the words."

"Good and make sure the news of James's death gets out. I want that fucker behind all this to know that we're coming after him."

"I'll take care of it." He nodded, clearing his throat and looked down.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pushed you." His lips were pressed into a thin line. "It was a dick move."

"It's fine but the next time you do anything like that, I'm gonna fucking punch you in the throat and leave your ass lying around without any medic."

"Jesus, you're so offensive." My eye roll was welcomed by his amusing words.

I strolled out, heading towards the balcony- the only place where I spent most of my nights. It was composed, quiet and mostly helped me think about my screwed up shits, relieving me from the work even if it lasted for a brief moment. Despite this, nothing ever made me feel like I belonged. At least, that's what I assumed or maybe, I never felt the need to in the first place.

Pulling my coat off my shoulder, I tossed it on the table. My hands slid into my back pocket, taking out a nearly finished cigarette pack. I drew one to my lips, lit it up, inhaling a long drag. It calmed my nerves, a feeling of relaxation when the cold city air mixed with the hot one from the cigar reached my lungs. A state of pure bliss.

Nearly two drags later, I caught a whiff of another specific scent, invading completely my nostrils. I knew this damn well. This vanilla perfume. This addictive smell. A quick movement from the other side of the balcony drew my attention to the person ahead. Fucking her again. She paused upon seeing me, her brows furrowing.

I strode towards her, my eyes trailing up and down her body. She wore an oversized shirt that reached mid-thigh, showing off her toned legs. Her black furry flip flops tapped anxiously on the floor, her stare staying fixed on me. I approached her, taking another drag and stood there, releasing the smoke in the air. The smell of the cigarette made her nose scrunch up in disgust and she cocked her head sideways, few strands of her brown hair falling onto her face.

"What exactly are you doing here at this hour?" I demanded, letting out another puff of smoke.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest, causing her breasts to rise up and stand out against the thin fabric. It angered me how she ignored me and looked to the side. I gripped her waist and pushed her against the metal railing. My hand rested on her hipbone and I returned the cigar to my mouth, inhaling the smoke.

"When I ask you something, I expect a damn answer." I gritted, lowering my face near hers.

"That's obviously non of your concern."

"What happened to your face?" I scanned her bruised lips and jaw, brushing a thumb along the cut on her bottom lip.

"Do you like to be constantly reminded that it's none of your business?"

Flicking the cigar from my fingers, I placed both hands on her hipbones, giving them a tight squeeze. A soft sigh escaped her lips in response to my action, causing me to arch a brow in amusement. She narrowed her eyes and gave me a death stare, hoping that would elicit a response but instead, a conceited smirk appeared on my face.

My fingers moved along the sheer fabric, sliding down her hipbones and resting on her thighs. She gulped, inhaled deeply and possibly blinked once or twice. Her reaction amused me and I traced my index finger across her thigh, her skin heating up the next moment. My fingers slowly moved upwards, lifting her shirt slightly off her hips without breaking our eye contact. My dick twitched at how she rolled her bottom lip into her mouth.

"Why the hell do you keep on touching me?" She snapt, her jaw tight in frustration.

"Why do you keep on letting me touch you? You don't stop me when I touch you." I countered.

I pressed my thumb against the bruise on her lips as she let out a hiss of pain. "In fact, I think you love it."

"What's your problem?"

She lifted her hands to shove my chest back but I held them just in time and pushed them behind her back, pinning her to the railing. Her back arched against the metal bars, giving me access in between her spread legs.

"Don't you dare, tesoro." I warned, brushing my lips across her ears and she shivered against my touch.

"You want to know what my problem is? You've got no pants on and I can tell how much you're getting pretty turn on from my touch."

She scoffed, a taunting smile crossing her face. "It's a pity for you to say that because I'm not the only one bothered here."

My grip around her loosened when her stare trailed down to the hard bulge in my pants. She pushed past my shoulders and headed towards her room, leaving me to slam my hands around the iron barriers in frustration.