Secret Santa Set-Up

Date #3 Brady...

"A drug dealer?! You set me up with a drug dealer!" Calliope yells out as she follows her friend out of the police station.

  Joy looks both stunned and ashamed from her friend's outburst. "I swear to you, Calli, I had no idea! I knew he had money, but I thought that was because his parents had money. I didn't know he was dealing, honest!."

  Calliope had thought getting slapped in the middle of The Garden would be the most humiliating moment of her young life. But, the universe in all it's glory decided to throw another curve ball in her direction as she continued her evening with Brady.

  After finally enjoying a delectable meal, getting lost in the mystery of his sea green eyes, and enjoying an impromptu dance around the private dining room, Calliope had agreed to join him down the way at a club that was owned by another friend of his. 

  She begins to slip on her coat once the hostess passes it off to her, but Brady stops her. "I'll keep you warm," he offers, taking the coat from her with confidence. Looking down at the lack of material covering her body, she questions him cautiously. "It's like twenty-five degrees. That's insane." She reaches out for her coat once more but he ignores it, locking it under his opposite arm, while wrapping the other around her. "I've got you."

  "You gonna pay for my hospital bills when I'm admitted with pneumonia?" she mumbles under her breath, her arms wrapping around herself. The warm and fuzzies the mystery man gave her earlier in the evening are slowly beginning to dwindle. 

  "I don't like the muttering under your breath," he stops her with a slight firm grip on her shoulder. "When you speak, it should be clear enough for me to hear that angelic voice. Now, what was it that you said?"

  She swallows slowly, thinking quickly of a different statement, seeing that the original would probably come off unappreciated as well. "How close is this club? I don't think I can walk too far in this cold."

  "We're taking my car." He nods his head towards the valet just outside the restaurant door causing the young man to move quickly, opening the glass door while another dashes off to pull the car around.  

  The cold air smacks Calliope across her entire body, causing her to shiver and goosebumps to pop up all over her bare skin. Seeing the cold rip through her body, Brady brings her closer into his side, but still doesn't loosen the grip on her coat. "Have I told you how divine you look?"

  Divine? That's a word she's never heard used to describe herself. To be honest, it's giving her a bit of an ick for a first date.  She breathes a sigh of relief as the valet pulls up and opens the passenger side door.

 But the sigh of relief even halts midway as she realizes the type of car he's driving. Calliope had only ever seen such cars when her father would drag her to car shows, telling her it was great bonding time for the two of them. She'd look at the stylish, completely out of a normal person's budget vehicles while her father would eye the models on two legs. "That's a Lamborghini," she states, her heels not moving another inch. Brady chuckles lightly, moving his hand to the small of her back, urging her along. "You know cars?"

  "Just a bit to know that this is one of the most expensive Italian cars ever made." 

  "You'd be correct." Calli's eyes whip around to his. "Now, sit."  Stunned by both the extravagant car and the man's dominance, she does just as she's told thankful to find the inside of the car a stark contrast to the freezing outside conditions. 

  While she's the type of person to welcome a bit of hand holding on the first date, she doesn't appreciate the touch of Brady's hand that reaches over towards her thigh. Thinking quickly she redirects the direction of her closed legs towards the passenger side door, pulling the skirt down as far as it'll stretch, offering her only about another quarter inch in coverage. 

  "I won't bite," he teases, a finger tip circling over her knee cap. 

  "Just a bit too much for me," she admits reaching for his hand to stop. He misinterprets, or doesn't interpret it at all for what she's saying, and grasps her hand in his own tightly, once again finding her knuckles with his lips. 

  Calliope stays silent as he whips in and out of traffic, moving right along through the busy streets.  By the time she's convincing herself that maybe she needs to just loosen up, he's stopping the car in front of a coffee bar. "Are we at the right place?" she asks timidly.  Brady tosses her a smirk and a light chuckle before pushing his own door open. She reaches for her jacket once more but is stopped as her own door swings open. 

  "I said you don't need that."

  Trying to hide her frustration, Calliope slaps a smile on her face and carefully exits the very low car, taking Brady's hand for support.  Still filled with confusion she lets him lead her through the entryway and into the caffeine filled aroma of a quaint coffee house. "This is much more up my alley," she laughs already looking up at the menu.  With another curl of his lip, Brady leans closer to her, whispering in her ear, "Time to expand your horizons, sweetheart."  He gives a nod to the barista and begins leading her towards the back, through a door and down a set of stairs. 

  Calliope is starting to wonder if she's going to end up on the eleven o'clock news as a woman assaulted and killed beneath a local coffee haunt until brady stops at a thick door. With three very precise knocks the door whips open, the loud sound of techno music flooding the once quiet area.  With a quick glance between the man she's holding onto and the room they're entering a strange, unsettling feeling comes pouring over her. 

  "I'm not sure I want to be here right now. Not feeling well," she informs him, her feet now stopping just inside the door.

  "Don't worry, sweetheart. This'll only take a few minutes." Brady motions over towards the bar that's lit up by all the possible neon colors, a man grabbing up a phone and speaking into it immediately. "You sit over there," he points towards a two top, opposite of the bar, "and don't speak."

  This isn't at all how she saw the evening progressing. Over dinner he seemed sweet, maybe a little over the top in his immediate affection, but also full of mystery. Now as she saw him duck behind the bar and through a curtain she can't ignore the feeling in her gut any longer. Grabbing her cell from her bag she immediately dials Joy and waits. No answer. A quick text, and still no answer. Just as she begins calling Lucy the door she'd walked through just ten minutes earlier flies open and the room begins to fill with police officers. 

  "Everyone stay where you are!"

  "Nobody move!"

  "Hands in the air!"

  Calliope obeys each order given, knowing that this is all a mistake of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. She watches as more men and women in uniform pile in and begin cuffing random people around the room. But what catches her eye more is the sound of a scuffle coming through the curtain behind the bar. All of the recent concerns her gut had been screaming at her comes to light as Brady is forced through, fighting against the cuffs around his wrists. 

  "I swear to you, Joy. I'm done with this ridiculous insanity."

  Her friend shakes her head, flipping the heat on higher as Calliope is still without her coat in the winter Boston weather. "No, ma'am. You can't quit just because of something like this. I mean, you didn't get arrested."

  Whipping her head around to her friend, Calliope's jaw is slack. "I was handcuffed, Joy. That idiot friend of yours told them I was his girlfriend!"

  "They won't all be like this, Calli. I promise."

  "Your promises are crap at the moment. I just want to go home, soak in the tub and scrub the feeling of his hands off my body." Joy turns the car towards the apartment. "And pray for amnesia so I have no memories of sitting in that holding room with actual prostitutes."

*Will there be a #4 date? Or is Calli Kaye officially done?