Chapter 39 - Red-Handed

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Thursday 12.22am

The chill nipped at my legs and around my bare midriff, as I stood at the front of the queue, peeking over Leo's shoulder as he talked to security

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The chill nipped at my legs and around my bare midriff, as I stood at the front of the queue, peeking over Leo's shoulder as he talked to security. I felt someone lean in to my ear.

"Watch this, they treat him like royalty here," Jason whispered, nodding to Leo. With a bow of the head, the bouncer pulled back the thick red rope that hung down to block the entrance, and stood back to let us through, motioning with his hand. Leo looked back at me smugly, placing his hand on my back to let me go first.

The smell was the first thing I noticed upon entering, strangely enough. It was like incense, a faint sandalwood incense mixed with sweet high end perfume. It made a change from the smell of cheap booze that I was used to in clubs - it was quite clear this club was exclusive for only the best of the best.

"Wow," I breathed out, staring ahead of me. The interior was styled classy, huge crystal chandeliers hung above the bar and other places, the place decked out in cream and red chaise lounge chairs. Paintings surrounded by gold frames were also hung around the bar area, but the red lights gave it a modern feel.

"You like it?" Leo drawled in my ear, careful to maintain physical contact to a minimum in public. I couldn't contain my smile "This place...I remember walking past it all the time back when I lived here but...it was so expensive, so exclusive. I couldn't even dream of getting in here." I shook my head "Mostly though I just wanted to get in here to do some celebrity spotting."

Leo laughed at this "Yeah well, now you are one." His words took a moment to sink it, so I didn't say anything, just stared at someone unintentionally (what turned out to be the back of Billy's head).

"Come on, let's get some drinks." He grabbed my hand and dragged me over to the bar, and I didn't resist one bit.

//

An hour later and I was bent over laughing as me and Leo sat on the high bar stools at the bar. The drinks had definitely hit both of us pretty hard, and I clutched onto him as to not fall off my chair. Leo was laughing so hard that his eyes had scrunched closed, which made me laugh harder. At this point, I wasn't even sure what we were laughing about, but in the drunken haze, it didn't matter.

"Ne-" he attempted my name, but failed, bursting out laughing hysterically as fast as he had stopped. I hadn't stopped laughing, and hadn't taken a proper breath for about a minute, so I was pretty sure I was about to pass out, but I didn't care.

"Nel...Nelly," he slurred out in spurts of laughter. I only laughed harder screeching out a slightly incoherent "That's not my naaaaame," before taking another sip of my drinks in hopes of stopping my laughing fit (it didn't really work, I just ended up spluttering droplets of my drink over the surface of the bar).

"Penelope," he leaned in really close, putting his (drunk) serious face on, grabbing my cheeks in both of his hands, stammering drunkenly. "I will be r-right back, okay? Don't, do nooot, move." He let go of my face, sliding off the stool, and taking my left hand, which was rested on the bar counter top, and placed a kiss on the back of it, like he had done countless times before while filming scenes for Titanic.

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