SALVATION

Chapter 3 - Elena

I attempt to relax my face, taking the joint from Deacon's outstretched hand, "I dunno, that's just how he introduced himself."

"Weird. I haven't heard of him making an appearance at any of his establishments recently."

"It was a while ago," I say, in what I hope is a nonchalant tone, forcing myself to face him, praying my expression doesn't give away my panic.

"Well, what do you know about him?" he asks me, as I pass him back the slowly burning joint. "And why were you so quick to assume I was making a move against him? What do you think I could do against an operation like Sterling's?"

My mind reels, trying to come up with a quick answer, "I don't know anything. You said the city is going to get messy, and everyone knows that Fr-" I cut myself off quickly, "that Sterling owns the city. So I just assumed..." My words trail off pathetically. Fuck. He knows something is up. His eyes search mine for a long minute before he finally takes one last drag of the joint and snuffs it out on the headboard.

"I shouldn't have said what I said. You're not supposed to know about any of this." He moves closer to me, "you just have a way of getting me to let my guard down." His hand reaches out and his fingers lightly brush a few strands of hair behind my ear, "I have a soft spot for you Lena, and I just want you to be safe."

Despite the urgency of my situation, my heart seems to skip a beat at his words and my stomach flutters. I feel my face heat up, and look away from him, clearing my throat awkwardly, "you just like the way I suck your cock."

Deacon's laughter warms my brittle bones, and I find myself cracking a smile at the sound.

"You're not wrong there babygirl." His lips brush against my jawline, causing goosebumps to flare up along my skin, and he lets out a sigh. "Looks like our time is up," he says motioning to the clock on the wall.

"Donnie's gonna make you pay for the extra three minutes, you know?" I say with a laugh of my own.

"I know." He gets up, but not before leaning forward and capturing my lips one last time. "Worth it" he says, his smile dazzling and causing my breath to hitch.

Then he's gone. The door bangs shut behind him and I'm alone. I let out a long sigh and a whispered "Fuck!" before swinging my legs off the bed and rushing from the room.

I watch Deacon disappear up the stairs, and run in the opposite direction, down the hallway lined with rooms, and straight into the very last one. It's what the girls and I call the 'green room'. It's where we go if the men are getting too rowdy, or if we just need a minute, and luckily for me, it has a small window.

I tighten my robe and climb up onto the back of the couch, extending my arms to reach the sill. It's high up, but I'm able to stretch far enough to pull the window pane open. There's an old screen that I force out before taking a deep breath and pulling myself up onto the window ledge and tumbling out onto the cold concrete.

I'm behind Diamonds, next to the dumpsters that I jump on top of so I can get over the fence behind them. When my bare feet hit the ground on the other side, I take off into the night.

What the fuck is going on? And who the hell is Deacon West? I thought he was just a lawyer for business owners. As soon as he said that Donnie was just a pawn in a bigger game, I knew it must have something to do with Frank. Frank owns Donnie. Frank owns everyone.

Deacon's voice rings in my head, "Betrayals will be made, blood will be split, heads will roll." Something is going down, and I've basically just outed myself to a potential enemy.

Or...

What if he didn't have to be an enemy? I don't have to tell Frank what happened. I could just say that a customer got a little too rough so I left in a hurry. He's probably not even home yet. I can at least get some clothes on before he sees me. Leaving the club in just a robe seems a little suspicious.