The sound of the dead body dropping on the floor was louder than a thunder in Beadie's ears.
Her shaking hands grasped the gun in her hand like her life depended on it, her chest rising and falling rapidly. She barely registered as Alejandro's gloved hands grasped her waist as he turned around, ready to pull her away from harm's way.
But as both of them watched the dark blood pool around the guard's head on the ground, his phone scattered next to him, it was pretty clear they were safe. For now.
"You okay?" Alejandro's gentle voice pulled her out of her momentary shock that she just killed a man.
With her eyes still glued to the body on the floor, she gave him a small nod. Alejandro's hand gave a reassuring squeeze to her waist before he lifted her to sit beside him. He took his gun back from her gently, hurrying to check on the guard while Beadie took a second to collect herself.
This all took a turn. She was supposed to have one more day here before the others would burst inside. But it looks like the plan changed.
"You came early," Beadie spoke up, her voice hoarse and quiet. She doubted he even heard her, but the abrupt stop of his step said otherwise. "Did they get my message?"
"Yes, Bella. I heard you."
Beadie turned and looked above her shoulder, her eyes finding him instantly. He stood there in all his glory, clad in a suit and a mask, only the darkness of his eyes giving him away. They held each other's gaze for a few seconds before he tucked the gun back into his waistband, her eyes following the motion.
He heard me. So he came to help.
The woman sat on the couch, her bottom lip between her teeth as she watched Alejandro drag the dead body behind the couch, out of sight from anyone who would walk in. Sure, there was still a pool of blood on the floor, but on the dark marble, it didn't stand out that much. If someone was drunk enough they wouldn't even notice.
Like they didn't notice the gun being fired. The loud music and chatter outside probably drowned it out. And a lot of the guests here were already high as a kite or drunk enough to not give it a second thought.
Alejandro gave her a few more seconds to collect herself, dusting off his gloves as he sneaked a glance at her. Even though she tried to hide behind her hair that fell around her like a golden waterfall, he noticed how she wiped under her eyes, wiping away a few stray tears.
Feeling the weight of his gaze on her, Beadie cleared her throat and stood from the couch, making her way towards him. Once the danger was gone and her adrenaline vanished with it, she felt utterly exposed in front of him in such a dress. And the thought that she was just grinding on him looking like this made her cheeks heat up from embarrassment.
Beadie circled her arms around her in a self-soothing manner, her eyes wandering back to where he just hid the body. She wasn't sorry for killing him, all of the staff here were disgusting people. She just wasn't used to killing people directly like this. Her ways were poisonous attacks or air support, and none of those required her to watch them drop to the floor like this.
None of those forced her to feel the weight of taking a life.
Alejandro brushed his jacket off in a swift motion and handed it to her.
"I can't," Beadie looked back up at him, even though she wanted nothing more than to cover herself up. "It would look suspicious if I went out dressed in a guard's clothes."
He let out a disapproving grunt as he shook his head, seemingly fed up with this whole place. Or with her. She didn't quite know.
"You're right," he agreed, shrugging the grey jacket back on. At least it disguised his gun better. "Now come on, I'll get you out of here."
She wanted nothing more.
"Wait," Beadie took a step back, her eyes looking at the curtains like she could see beyond it, see the other girls outside. "We have to help them. The girls."
"We will," Alejandro stepped closer to her, reaching his right hand out to her. "But we have to go."
Beadie looked at his hand before her eyes found his. She liked looking into his eyes, they were warm and dark and held forbidden promises. Promises his touch whispered on her skin like a prayer before.
She took his hand without thinking, trusting him with her life and that he would keep his promise. It was a little scary how much she trusted him already, even though she barely knew him. But it felt like she knew him for months now.
Alejandro led the way towards the main room, straight through the curtains. He slowed down a little and helped her step over the pool of blood on the floor, not letting go of her hand for a second. The gentle gesture caused some butterflies to appear in her stomach, taking her back to the time when she had the biggest crush of a lifetime on a guy in high school.
The only difference was that this time it was a man who broke into a cartel mansion, took another guard's clothes as a disguise, took his time to look for her and now was ready to hunt down said cartel's head.
As they stepped into the main area, the music almost blasted her ears. Everybody was drinking and laughing without a care in the world, clearly nobody noticing how a man just died among them. She noticed how a table on the left cleared, their unfinished food left on the table. She smirked at the sight, already knowing the cause of why they left.
Alejandro's hand slipped from her, warmth leaving her body with it. His eyes were already looking around the room, eyes seemingly void of anything. As he took a step away from her, ready to bland back with the staff, Beadie quickly stepped in front of him.
Without her heels, their height difference was much more prominent, her head tilting back just to maintain eye contact. His eyebrows furrowed at her, not quite following.
"We can't go anywhere without a guard," Beadie muttered to him, gesturing wildly towards the east hallway. His eyes widened slightly because she was letting know to everyone where they were going.
But he had to pretend to escort one of the girls. Like Beadie said, they couldn't go anywhere without a guard. So he nodded, leading the way by being in front of her by two steps. And the woman followed him, her head tilted down and her eyes fixed on his lower back like she usually did.
They're going to be fine.
As they walked along the wall, a drunk man from the nearest table whistled towards them, his meaty arm waving around the air.
"Bring her to me!"
Alejandro barely glanced at the man as he scoffed, quickening his pace like he couldn't get out of there fast enough. Not like Beadie wanted to complain, she would happily run out the nearest door into freedom. But they had a job to do.
In a matter of minutes, the two of them arrived at the east hallway, which Beadie knew had the least traffic. Usually, the kitchen staff used this to bring food and drinks, but since the party was now on full blast and had been going on for hours, they probably went to rest for a bit. Which meant that they could be alone.
"All stations, I got Poison Ivy," Alejandro spoke, her head snapping in his direction. She wasn't even that surprised that he had an earpiece to contact their team. "I heard you were busy in here."
Now, he directed his words to her, his dark eyes looking at her. The amusement in his voice caused a small smile to appear on her lips, the first one since she got in here. She just shrugged her shoulder in a small motion, stepping beside him and leaning against the open window.
She liked this hallway because most of the windows were just left hollow, the breeze passing freely, only protected by some seethrough curtains. Tall trees kept the hallway hidden, blocking out the shine of the stars and the moon. She stared ahead, where there was a small little crack through the thick trees, catching a glimpse of the mountain that looked down at them. It would be such a nice view if she could see more.
Beadie felt a warm thing wrap around her shoulders, her head moving to look at Alejandro. He patted her back slightly, making sure his coat didn't slip from her shoulders before he leaned against the wall next to her, looking at the trees as well. He missed the glint in her eyes as she tugged the coat higher, unable to take her eyes off him.
She wished the mask would vanish. She wanted to see his face.
"Who's here beside you?" Beadie's gentle voice broke the sacred silence around them. He crossed his arms in front of his chest as he took in a deep breath, glancing back down at her.
"Soap. He's getting interrogated right now," He said it so casually he missed how her jaw slacked open in disbelief. "Ghost and Rora are taking overwatch on the hill, ready to help us."
She made a mental note to ask about this Rora when things would be calmer. And they are finally back at their base.
"Graves is ready to snatch us up with a helo once we have El Sin Nombre," Alejandro shifted his weight, her eyes scanning his body. She was so busy checking him out her heart didn't even react to the name of her commander.
"So," the woman cleared her throat. "Soap decided to get captured. Which is crazy. Are you sure he's not dead yet?"
"I hope so. He can talk himself out of anything."
Beadie smiled at that. She didn't know him long enough to confirm that with confidence, but he did look like he would make it out of any situation. He had the character and profession to do it.
Just as the woman turned to face Alejandro, the door on their right opened, and another guard stepped into the hallway. Her previous smile vanished from her face in an instant, her previous better mood going out the window. She got a reminder that because Alejandro made this place less suffocating, things weren't okay just yet.
Alejandro noticed how her demeanor changed in an instant. He straightened his back and looked above his shoulder to see what caused her beautiful smile to disappear like that.
The guard stopped in his tracks, the door slamming behind him. A black balaclava concealed his features, and he had the same suit as Alejandro's. His dark eyes jumped between the pair near the window, narrowing when he noticed the jacket around Beadie's shoulders.
"What are you doing here?" the other guard asked, heading their way with confident strides.
As he got closer, Alejandro pushed himself off the wall and sent a quick look to the blonde, stepping in front of her.
"She needed to get some air," Alejandro shrugged his shoulder casually, taking a few slow steps toward the other guard. Beadie watched them with wide eyes, fearing their fate.
Because of the predatory way they approached each other, it was clear only one of them would walk away.
"Really?" the other guard quirked, clearly not believing him. "It looked a little more to me. Boss won't be happy when he hears about this."
He sent a look over Alejandro's shoulder, his soulless eyes connecting with Beadie's blue ones. It felt like she just looked into the bottom of a well, making her skin crawl. Subcountously, she wrapped the jacket around her more tightly, trying to hide her exposed body away from the hungry eyes.
She noticed how Alejandro's back tensed.
"Oh, yeah?"
"He'll take your head-"
He didn't get to finish his sentence as Alejandro jammed a knife in his neck, silencing the threat. The guard tried to push him away but the Special Forces commander was better and faster than him, janking the knife out and seething it back in his throat.
The jugular sounds of the guard choking on his own blood were enough to make Beadie cringe and want to look away, but something forced her to keep looking. She watched as Alejandro stabbed the man one more time before he pushed him down onto the floor, the guard desperately trying to stop the bleeding and reach for his gun at the same time. Blood smeared on the ground where he clawed for his gun, tainting the floor.
Alejandro didn't hesitate to kick the gun away from him, wiping his knife in the pants of his victim to clean it. The whole scene was brutal and cold, something she never saw whenever she looked at him.
Only a few minutes ago they were just chatting, his warm and friendly eyes looking at her like she was worth a million dollars. And now he was standing in front of a man who had his life hanging from a threat, Alejandro ready to cut it.
And in her eyes, he just got more sexier. Something is definitely wrong with my head.
"Come on, ojitos," Alejandro gestured for her to hurry, her feet dragging her away from the body.
The way Alejandro placed a protective hand over her back and tried to get her away from the scene so fast was such a harsh contrast against what he had just done. He was so gentle and caring, yet dangerous at the same time.
And that combo made her head sway and her heart to beat faster. Because she had a history with the darkness pulling her in, eventually breaking her heart. But the gentle touches and look in his eyes somehow told her it wasn't the case with him.
And that feeling was much more dangerous.
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i brought a little bit shorter chapter this time. but do you prefer shorter or longer chapters? let me know!
also, i made ale's character a little darker than canon i think, but i don't want to go too over the top with it. maybe i'll edit it later so he would the game character more or idk, tell me what you think!