AU, non-magical Rumbelle fic, inspired by the movie Notorious.
I don't own Once Upon A Time or Notorious or their respective characters.
With the right shade of red on her lips and the hem of the tight skirt being to the proper length of her thighs, Lacey took one last look at the mirror. Smiling at her reflection while putting on her four inch pumps, she gave herself a once over before heading out of the six floor walk -up in Hell's Kitchen. To her amazement, she only walked a block before finding a cab being thankful as it meant she would head to her destination on time. Lacey began to space out by looking towards the view as the cab continued to drive further into the city; there were several instances in which she became tempted to look at her wristwatch fashioned as a gold chained bracelet but in those instances she would stare towards the window trying to ignore the knot of her stomach.
Half an hour later, the cab dropped Lacey off a condo in Midtown Manhattan asking her if she was certain if the address was correct which annoyed her as she noticed the cab driver looking down at her as her black trench coat and dark blue high heels.
Of course, I'm not dressed properly so of course I would never belong in this neighborhood.
Nevertheless, Lacey paid the cab driver and began to readjusting her lipstick until she heard a familiar sound in front of her. "Lacey!" the young girl waved at her causing Lacey to wave back. The girl headed outside to greet Lacey as she went to hug her, the girl stepped back. "Sorry but new dress and I don't want to get it wrinkled. I am so glad you made it, for a while, I thought you might have not gotten my message." She took Lacey's coat placing it at the front closet happy to see her guest look the part for the evening with her off the shoulders, dark blue cocktail dress covered in sequence.
"Obviously I got it Anna, just next time give me at least a 24 hour notice to head to these types of things. I might have had other plans you know."
Anna looked up at Lacey giving her the same cheerful grin that Lacey always both enjoyed and easily got annoyed at. "Oh you silly goose, as if anyone was going to call you for an audition during the off-season and a private one is not going to pay your rent. Just get out there and be your sexy self because I don't want to hear you crying about how you're broke again."
"Anna!" Lacey smiled back at Anna while seething at her teeth to cover her embarrassment it was apparent her subtle attempts at being upset flew by her red companion as Anna continued to smile and giggle.
"What it's the truth? No need to be ashamed of it. It's not like you are one of those stereotypical actresses who are working at a diner hoping for a $10 tip, just trying to help sweetie...Oh there's Hans, I have to go make sure his drink is filled or he might cause a scene and the cops would show up. Go mingle honey…bye now." Anna left Lacey speechless but she was secretly thrilled to have been rid of her.
There were times in which Lacey could not understand why she as friends with Anna Arendelle. Other than being out of work actresses, the girls had little in common as Anna mainly used her parents' money to land her a role while still going on about how being a starving artist was the life in which Lacey concluded starving to Anna meant not having to rely on a maid and being driven around instead of living off ramen and counting quarters for the weekly washing. There times Lacey wanted to punch Anna for her pretentious attitude but she knew there was a line for such an act and at the same time she was grateful for Anna's suggestions in alternative means for temporary work while still being able to do auditions.
Lacey headed off to the bar finding the guests to be nearly all the same: middle aged men in expensive suits either socializing with one another or sitting on the nearby couches, placing their hands all over the female companions who were either sitting next to the men or were on their laps. Quickly drinking her first glass feeling the sensation burning on her throat due to the hasty gulp, Lacey put on a seductive smile and began to mingle.
Throughout the first part of the night, socializing was easy for Lacey. She walked towards the terrace charming the guests with stories of her colleagues embarrassing themselves at the workshops within the past week. She lit up several cigars and refilled the drinks without missing a beat even grabbing the attention of a judge who requested her time for a night. Seeing as it was not yet eleven, Lacey did not want to leave empty handed since the longer the clients would be inebriated, the more money they would hand out. She politely refused the offer by stating she had a headache then headed back to the bar.
She began to notice all of the men either had a glass, a cigar and a young girl or two nearby with some of the girls either fetching another cigar or refilling the drinks. At one instance, Lacey noticed a much older man fondling the breasts of a brunette who looked younger enough to still be in high school nearly caused her to vomit. Rather than refusing to hear Anna shill about her floor being a mess, Lacey composed herself by ordering two glasses of whiskey to numb her senses.
Come on Lace; it's not like this isn't your first time. Just another twenty minutes and you can go home with at least a two months rent.
"You might want to take it easy on the whiskey" Lacey place the glass down looking at the owner of the Scottish accent in the form of another older gentleman dressed appropriately in black with the only bit of color came from the tie and handkerchief on his breast pocket coincidentally matching the color of her dress. Although unlike most of the men at the party, he wore his hair a little longer to his shoulders which Lacey thought suited him fine as she began to have a sudden urge to run her fingers through it.
She gave the man a smirk as knocked back her second glass, "What good is whiskey if not to loosen up?"
He smirked back at her showing a gold tooth that gave him a dangerous look, "Loosen up yes, but not used to be depended on as though its water, you're acting as though another second and one of these upstanding citizens will spike it. I recommend only sticking to something watered if you plan on leaving here with your wits about you." He signaled the bartender for two glasses of rum and coke handing Lacey the second giving her a toast.
She sipped her drink then smiled back at him, "Thanks for the tip. I'm sure I can handle it."
The pair stayed at the bar for nearly an hour chatting about the weather, their favorite places in New York and varies drink recipes leaving Lacey able to enjoy herself more as she laughed while being in this man's company rather than being on her guard. After Lacey began to sip her ninth cocktail, she turned around looking towards her new companion who continued to look around the area sometimes glancing back at a beautiful blonde with green eyes and a fuchsia dress. Lacey had never seen the girl before but that never meant anything although she did look older than the other girls and even appeared to be enjoying herself just the same as the company around her seemed to be laughing at something she must have said.
"You know I'm sure you can make her a better offer than any of them." trying not to sound completely jealous.
The man looked at her with confusion until Lacey pointed out the blonde woman giving the man a shocked expression as though his eyes were going to leave the sockets followed by a chuckle as he sipped his drink. "No, no, no" stating the last 'no' with an absolute disgust. "She's not my type."
Perhaps it was the amount of liquor or the pleasant company but Lacey now started to become bolder by placing her hand to the man's knee moving further up his leg. "Is there a specific type you do have?" whispering into his ear, Lacey placed her hand towards his crotch, nibbling at his ear.
"Now why would I tell you?" He placed two fingers towards a curl on her chestnut hair, twirling it as he gave her a cocky grin causing her to become aroused.
"I don't know, you tell me." The man turned around then looked back at Lacey whose blue eyes glimmered as she stared at him licking her lips.
"My car's outside if you would like some fresh air." He takes her hand noticing she starts to wobble in her attempt to stand up "You're going to finish that?" pointing out her half-drunk glass
"I don't like to waste" as soon as she took the glass, the gentleman took the glass from her and finished the rest in gulp winking back at her she scoffed. "I-I'm going to drive. That's understood"
The gentleman complied giving her the keys leading her out through a group of many guests who were becoming too drunk to have been reasoned with.
"Don't you have a coat?" he asked looked at her outfit wondering how she was not freezing throughout most of the night since the windows were all opened.
Lacey laughed "You'll do"
Before the man said another word, he took one last glance at the blonde who raised her glass of champagne towards him causing him to take Lacey by the arm quickly heading out. They stopped towards a black Aston Martin with the gentleman seeing Lacey shivering from the night breeze.
"Wait a minute, let me put this on you" placing his grey coat over her "you might catch cold" At that moment Lacey gave him a smile behind her intoxicated joy snuggling the coat against her at the realization how easily she could fit into his clothes. Keeping her emotions together, she put the keys into the ignition and drove off unaware of the raid the Manhattan condo received from the NYPD Vice Squad just a few moments later.
Lacey and her gentleman companion decided to drive towards Brighton with neither being completely worried over Lacey's intoxicated state due Lacey focusing completely on the road straight ahead regardless of her eyesight being blurry. The roads began to become narrow and surprisingly empty leading the gentleman to start becoming nervous as Lacey began to speed up taking a sharp turn.
One of Lacey's list of dreams had been to drive a luxury car where being over the limit was not something she considered but she was certain this area was normally empty around this time of the night. At first she expected to hear her companion to tell her to slow down but the few times she could glance at him, he was lighting a cigarette without a care in the world.
"How am I doing?" her words started to slur
"Not bad"
"Scared?"
"No" he instantly declared as he placed his right hand tightly onto the door handle.
"Oh no, you're not scare of anything, are you" making a sharper turn towards the left
"Not too much" he moves towards Lacey carefully placing his hand on the wheel but was jerked back as Lacey took another turn. The effects of her drinking began to leave Lacey not only difficulty in seeing but also becoming drowsy with a yawn escaping her followed by the gust of wind blowing her hair onto her.
"This fog gets me"
"That's your hair in your eyes."
She brushes it back slowing down to a normal pace. "Oh….what does the speedometer say?"
He smiles back at her "sixty-five"
Lacey starts to place her foot onto the gas pedal harder, "I want to it eighty and wipe that grin off your face. I don't like gentleman who grin at me"
At this point, the gentleman realized the game had gone long enough but as he tried to take the wheel back from Lacey, he heard a siren not too far from them. He turned his back cursing at himself that a motorcycle officer was pursuing them.
"A cop" he points out.
"What?" the wind and Lacey's state made it hard to hear anything.
Her companion adjusted the rearview mirror showing her what was going on leaving Lacey to get a pain at the pit of her stomach. She slowed down the car trying hard to stay awake long enough to think of an explanation. "Drunken driving, my second offense now I go to jail…the whole family in jail, who cares…"
The cop approaches the car with Lacey handing over her license. Even when caught, she thought there would be an easy explanation to get out but her uncontrollable giggling gave away her intoxicated state.
"Drunk, huh?" stated the officer demanding she open the car in her order to get out.
"Just a minute officer.." The gentleman spoke up going through his jacket to get his identification out but was interrupted by the officer pointing this was not his concern. He chose not to speak instead let his identification do the talking. The officer looked at the identification card then towards its recipient leaving Lacey confused.
"I'm sorry but you didn't speak up. Stated the officer, "Are you sure you can handle this?" Giving back the identification.
"It's not a problem, I'm sure there are other scuffles worth your time." The cop left the pair leaving Lacey to assume she had gone into a strange dream. As she closed the door, she noticed the officer saluting her companion before leaving that caused her to slowly become alert.
"Where's the ticket? He's didn't give me a ticket." She looked back at her companion, seeing him still being as aloof as before while smoking his cigarette. "What-what's your name?"
"Gold" Rather than placing his cigarette in the ashtray on the cup holder, Gold threw it over the window observing Lacey closely.
Lacey started to breathe heavily as she tried to piece everything together, "When you showed that cop something, he saluted you." She slowly placed her hand towards her foot hoping the sharp heels would at least buy her some time.
"Did he?" Feigning innocence, Gold accepted Lacey was not going to be an easy task to handle.
"I saw him" then it finally hit her, "Why you double-crossing son of a bitch. You're a cop!" Just as she lunge her shoe at him, Gold dodged placing his hand on her wrist before she had a chance to get another shoe to ether injure him or herself.
"Sorry about that, but you can kill me later. Come on let me take you home since you're drunk and it's getting late." Letting go of her wrist, Gold tried to move towards the wheel until Lacey slap him across the face hard causing the two to start struggling. Gold began to have no choice as he pinned her down to the car using one hand to grab her wrist as she tried to place her legs to move but those where trapped within seconds.
"No, leave me alone! HELP!" Lacey mouth was then covered allowing her stop struggling.
"I don't want to hurt you dearie. I will explain later but first let me take you home. Will you please calm down?" He looked into her eyes as she nodded finally letting go of her. "Good, now move over.…."
Quickly she caught his hand causing the pair to have another struggle. Lacey tries to use her nails to scratch Gold's eyes but the alcohol and exertion finally caught up with her as she passed out in the driver's seat. At first Gold began to worry he might have hit her unconscious as his military training was known to be dangerous for civilians until he started to hear her make a gargling sound indicating she not only was breathing but sleeping.
Gold carefully placed her onto the backseat buttoning the coat even folding up his own suit jacket into a pillow gently tucking it behind her as he placed her head towards the side of the backseat. "After a good night's rest and some Advil, you may not completely hate me in the morning."
He noticed the shoe she threw at him hanging by the road and went to get it placing it and other car onto the front seat. If there was one thing Gold knew about women, it was their love for footwear as he would assume Lacey would probably yell at him for making her lose what limited footwear she had and missing the point of his visit. As he began to get the car started, there was a ring coming from his phone; as he looked at the text, Gold could not help but laugh at the content.
Hope you had fun crashing my operation because I was not going to explain to Neal that his father couldn't be at his birthday dinner because I had to arrest him. You better bring some really expensive wine for tomorrow, preferably older than you.
PS: You owe me a new dress!
~E
Gold threw his phone towards the passenger seat hoping not to hear another ring from his superiors or his busybody daughter but he was sure the latter was too busy with handling the guests from the party to harass him. He finally drove towards Lacey's apartment; occasionally stealing a glance at the sleeping beauty each time feeling guilt over not taking out of the building the minute he saw her frantically heading towards the bar.
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