Twisted Paradise

Chapter 2

With a book in hand, the ice blonde who looked far too young took small measured sips of wine from her glass. Her eyes were glued to the open pages, the only indication of her reading being the slight movement of her pupils as it went over the letters. Her eyes were the colour of a frozen arctic lake that never thawed and her pale face, smooth as jade, held no expression; not even a light furrow between the eyebrows.

Lily removed her left hand from her face and rested her cheek on the right one, still looking at the woman in front of her. They came here to loosen up and have some fun. But, of course, Selene was above such vulgarity - as she called it.

The bar was dimly lit, blaring music drowning out all other sounds. Looking at the people on the dance floor, that congested place had bodies all squashed to each other, moving along with the tempo, abandoning all inhibitions.

Hair flying all over; wandering hands. Intoxicated, glazed eyes.

In contrast to that, Selene was a white flower framed with soft, snowy petals and an angelic halo glimmering around her. Separated from the ugliness of the world, it made one feel ashamed to look at her. As if when exposed to others for too long, the shine will lessen and she will start to taint.

Adorable and pure. Lily rolled her eyes. As if.

Turning her head, she called over the bartender. Well, it was mostly her crazy hand-flying motion that caught his attention, considering even she couldn't hear herself over the ear-splitting noise.

"Another glass, miss?" A dimple formed on his right cheek as he smiled. His messy brown curls splayed about and the impertinent arch of his eyebrows promised thrill and adventure.

Her lips quirked. She opened her mouth to answer--

"I'll be paying for this young lady's next drink."

--That... wasn't what she was going to answer.

She whipped around her head, a range of colourful words to say to this guy - couldn't he see she was trying to flirt? Couldn't he sense it? - but they all got stuck in her throat the moment she took a look at him.

Now, appearance-wise?

He wasn't much.

So it wasn't his overwhelming beauty or anything like that which made her swallow the words.

This man was trying to appear suave, his greasy black hair slicked back to perfection. An expensive suit, coupled with a Rolex watch on his wrist. The sprayed cologne of money... he was hoping to score tonight.

She glanced around, seeing what else she could spot about this guy. She was avoiding looking straight at him, sweeping forward her dark locks just so they would hide half of her face.

"Does the lady accept?" he asked with a smile that seemed lecherous to her.

She wanted to slap him.

Then again, everything this man did appear lecherous to her. So she might be just a tad bit biased.

"I never say no to a free drink," she said, raising a playful eyebrow, attempting to appear composed instead of frayed at the edges that she was inside. There must have been a slight faltering in her tone somewhere because she had the feeling of a pair of eyes on her back.

Seemed like Selene finally managed to tear herself away from her book.

Lily wanted to turn her head back to look at her but she didn't want the guy to get even a whiff of her unease.

What was he doing here? Shouldn't he be busy with his Capo trying to minimize the damage her fire caused? Didn't Enrique's corpse get discovered yet?

What the heck was he doing here?