This is an A/U fic, they are so addicting! All questions will be answered in the first few Ch's
A/N: ABC owns them
Two Lost Souls
Chapter 1
Atlantic City
Natalie Balsom walked into the crowded bar as if she belonged, belonged in a place like this, was old enough to be in a place like this, acting as if she was even old enough to drink in a place like this, hell, she knew how to handle herself in these places, in bars and even in Strip clubs, she was raised in them, these places where Men sat and either drank themselves dumb or even made themselves blind from watching to much. These types of places were where she was in her element.
Her element of having a few drinks without anyone carding her, shooting some pool, coning a few drunk perverts out of their last dollars, yeah, she was definitely in her element as she looked around the crowded bar.
She purposely moved slowly across the room towards the pool table as she watched the roving eye's of men checking her up and down, the black tight tee shirt was definitely a must when trying to set up the con, trying to get a bite so to speak, trying to get all the heads turning. Although she was barely eighteen, she looked much older, her body was developed in places women paid surgeons big money to have, and she knew it, she flaunted it, she used it, used it for her next score, to find her next chump.
Natalie approached the pool table and she put on her Innocent stare studying the pool table looking at all the pretty colored balls, she touched one carefully, picked it up. She heard someone clear their throat behind her and she knew she had a live one. She smiled a smile of satisfaction as she turned innocently.
"I'm sorry, were you using this table?' she asked as the man checked out her package, with a sly grin, he spoke.
"Not yet I wasn't, wanna play?" Natty had him, she reeled him in.
"Pool? I don't know how to, I've always wanted to learn"
"Well then it's your lucky day, let me buy you a drink and I can teach you"
"Really? Thank you, that would be great, it would really make my day lucky" she said sweet and Naive and as her brain was thinking 'sucker'
John Mcbain sat at the bar having a few drinks before heading home for the night, he made Detective tonight and he felt like celebrating but there was no one to celebrate with, no one even to tell of the terrific job he did to get him to detective so fast and how making detective so quickly would only further his shot at getting excepted to the FBI training program at Quantico.
John got himself up off the stool, paid his tab and started walking towards the door of the bar when he heard such a laugh that sent shivers down his spine. He looked towards the noise and over by the pool table was the most intriguing looking red head he had ever seen. John stopped in his tracks and found a near by table, he sat and watched as the red head moved around the table shyly, almost hesitantly, as if she didn't know what she was doing.
"Am I doing this right?" Natalie asked Joe her latest chump
"No, like this" Joe said as he leaned over her body as she leaned over her stick
"Now pull the stick back and then hit" he told her getting himself all excited by being so near to her, Natalie gave him a slight chuckle and she just glanced past the table for a minute and notice a dark haired man staring at her, she was shaken a bit, taken off guard s she locked blue eye's with the man, she lost all train of thought for a few minutes and then refocused herself on the con, on her chump.
"So, what is it about this game that is so much fun, I'm still not getting it"
"It's actually more fun if you play for something?"
"Something? Like what?" Natalie told Joe the chump
John smiled as he ease dropped to their conversation, she was setting him up, this poor guy was falling for it, he laughed shaking his head in wonder as to how good she was, this guy didn't know what was happening. He heard the man take the bait and he smiled more, he knew being a cop he should really stop this, it wasn't right but he was having much to much fun watching this ignorant man go down, much to much fun watching her.
"Something like money or other stuff" he told her almost salivating at the mouth, Natalie bite down seductively on her lower lip and looked at him. She had him; she was continuing to reel him in.
"Did you want to play for something or money, you know to make it more fun?" she told him and his eyebrow went up. Then Natalie spoke again
"Okay, I don't want to give you the wrong impression here, maybe we should just continue to play like this, no stakes, its also fun right? We are having a good time? I've gotta go soon too, not a big drinker, been told I can only handle a few drinks, not sure if that's true cause I usually don't remember anything after four or five, and ... and I think we're up to drink four now." Natalie told him as the waitress brought them another round of drinks, Joe smiled as he paid the waitress and told her to come back with another drink every half hour for the next few hours.
John shook his head again, Amazing he told himself, she was good, really good, she was playing this guy like a fiddle. He continued to smile and he saw her glance towards him as she made her way around the table.
Natalie leaned in to set the balls on the table, she grabbed the rack and started purposely turning it the wrong way, she racked the balls all wrong and she knew the subject of playing for something, something she laughed something or money, the subject was coming up again, and so was the chumps erection, as he moved in close to her ear.
"How about we start off playing for who buys the next round of drinks and then we take it from there" he told her as he leaned into her ear
"Yeah, that could be fun" she told him back all breathy
An hour went passed and Natalie lost the last five games, they started with loser bought the next round which she did, then they moved on to money, small amounts, each game getting a bit bigger and bigger, Natalie lost almost a hundred dollars, it was sitting on the side of the table, it was time, now was the time to make her move this con had gone on longer than she had hoped. Longer than she had wanted it to, she had hoped to be home by now, just relaxing with a good book in the chair in her room.
"Okay, this has got to be my last game, I'm all out of money" she told him as his eye's widened
"Well.. it would be unfair of me not to give you a chance to win your money back"
"Yeah, that would be kinda unfair of you so?" she said with a small smile
"So, you win this one, I'll give you all your money back plus double it"
"Really? " she said softly and sweetly and she smiled at him and then she changed her smile.
'Wait a minute, what will I have to give you?" she told him and he laughed. He leaned into her ear and whispered into it with a huge smile growing on his face.
"I'm not sure, I really suck at this game, I'm really bad, but.. but you are a nice guy and all" she told him and he moved towards her
"You have been improving since you had those last few drinks," he told her as he remembered her wavering and not being able to stand to straight when they played the last game.
"Okay! Sure! Why not, I have been getting better, can I cut?" She told him almost slurring her words
"What?" he asked her " oh, Oh, you mean Break" he said shaking his heading as he licked his lips.
John continued to watch from the corner, laughing, not being able to stop for a few minutes, as he knew this was the score she was waiting for.
Joe racked the balls and then he saw Natalie side step a bit, he again smiled.
"Hey you know what? Not sure I can do this, I mean..' she said slurring her words, as she moved closer to the table
"Just take the money you won it fair and square" she said as she brought herself purposely close to his chest with hers, she backed up a bit with the icing on the cake.
"I'm gonna go home now" she said as she started to walk away from the table
"Wait.. wait.. come on you can't leave me now, you've got to try and win your money back, here" he said as he laid even more money on the table.
John looked quickly at least another fifty, Damn! She was really good
"Wow! That's a lot of money I could win if I get those little balls in the outlets" she said and he smiled
"Come one, I'll even buy you another drink," he told her and first she hesitated
"Okay, a Fu-Fu drink with lots of clear stuff in it, I'm gonna break" Natalie broke and the balls went flying everywhere, her whole disposition changed a bit and she actually had to tame herself so not to look that good. Shot after shot she smiled and acted as if she couldn't believe it, how lucky she was.
John watched in amazement as she moved around the table, she was good, really good and not just at conning this guy at pool, it almost looked like she wasn't even playing as good as she could. Like she was holding back something. He continued to smile and watch her as she won the game.
"Oh.My.God.! I can't believe it," she said as she flung herself on to him in a hug
"I won, I really won, you were so right, this is my lucky day, I have never been this lucky before, thank you, thank you so much" she said as she took the money off the table gently and started to walk away towards the door.
The chump just stood there in shook, confused and then he watched as she walked away, he quickly came to his senses and ran out the door of the bar towards her. John watched what happened and then he saw the man run after her, he saw the look in the mans eyes and his smile turned serious, he followed the man out of the bar.
By the time John got out of the bar he didn't see them but he heard them, he heard the man raising his voice to her.
"Hey, get your hands off of me Asshole" Natalie yelled as the man, Joe the chump grabbed her so hard he was bruising up her arms.
"You little Bitch, you conned me" he said shaking her as Natalie brought her knee up to his groin, she shoved it straight up and tried to run but he grabbed her by her hair and yanked her back towards him as John came around the corner. John ran over and grabbed the man and thru him across the alley and into a wall.
"What the hell man?" the chump screamed in John's face and was about to come at John when John opened up his jacket showing him his badge and gun. The man calmly started walking away. John watched the man as he walked and also saw Natalie trying to quietly walk away far enough so she could run.
"Where do you think you are going?" John asked her sternly, and she turned towards his face and gave him a sweet smile
"Wait" John told the man
"Give him his money back," he told Natalie as her face dropped
"What! No way" Natalie screamed back at John
"Yes way give it back to him" John told her and he looked at her sternly
"No way buddy, none I worked my ass off for this money" Nat told John as she got in his face
"Give it back or I'll..."
"Arrest me?" Natalie told him and he looked puzzled, how did she know he was cop, she wasn't close enough before when he showed his badge in his jacket. Natalie watched as now both men stared at her, she stood for a few minutes, reached into her pocket and gave him his money. The guy took the money roughly out of her hand and walked away after calling her a few choice words.
Natalie watched as the guy walked away, she looked over at John. Who was laughing now at this point.
"What the hell are you laughing at asshole?" she asked him but decided not to wait for an answer. She started walking away towards a car in the parking lot
"Where do you think you are going?" he asked her and she turned around to face him.
"Home" she told him snidely
"Nope, at least you aren't driving, you've been drinking too much" he told her as he moved closer to her, he was even close enough to smell her perfume, something flowery he thought.
"Excuse me Mr. detective, I haven't had a single drink containing alcohol all night" she said as she pushed him off of her a bit, he was to close, she was feeling smothered.
"I watched you put away at least six to seven drinks in there," he told her as she smiled at him
"That's true but none contained any alcohol, the waitress is a friend of mine, not a drop of alcohol in my body," she told him as she started to slowly move them towards her car. He moved with her slightly towards a car in the lot.
"No! You aren't going to drive till you prove you are fit to be driving, till we do a little test"
"What type of test?" she asked almost wondering if he was trying to extort something, maybe sex even from her, she shook her head after that thought and wiped it from her head, this guy was to straight laced, to clean cut, too..too, to handsome, had too much of good body, she shook her head quick, really quick he was a cop, the enemy in a sense.
John watched her body language and he saw her lost in thought and then he spoke
"If you walk a straight line for me you can drive your car home"
"How about I just kiss you and you can see if you taste it or smell it on my breath" she told him boldly getting a defiant look in her eyes. He shook his head letting out a small chuckle as he walked backwards and waited for her to walk a straight line towards him, no more words were spoken, she saw him a few feet away, she took this as a challenge in a sense and she walked the damn straight line towards him, she came within inches of his body, she looked him straight in the eye's, not wavering and she took his mouth defiantly.
John watched her come close after she successfully walked the line but then she didn't stop she came right up in his face and forcibly took his mouth in a heated kiss, John stood dumbfounded as she brought her lips off of his, she looked at his expression which was pure shock and she smiled satisfied.
"Good night Detective" she told him as she walked to her car. John still stood in shock not being able to get a word out for few seconds when he turned and called after her.
"How do you know I'm a Detective?" he asked her as she opened her car door. She smiled at him.
"You walk like one" she told him and got in her car, started the engine and started to drive off when John came out of his funk smiling to himself and he made a mental note of her license plate number
