"You shouldn't have done that Cadence." I lectured as leaves and twigs snapped beneath my feet. "It was totally out of line."

Cadence shrugged tucking his hands into his red and white leather jacket as we exited the forest and interred downtown Santa Carla, cars zooming past the sidewalk, a symphony of horns and barking dogs following. "Yeah, I know I know! Stupid move on my part, but you know how I get."

The truth was I did know how he got. Being a gentleman did not take away from the fact that Cadence had a short fuse, with a large atomic bomb attached to it. He would get mad at the littlest things and most of the time it was something trivial such as his friends bragging about knowing more about surfing or playing the guitar than he did; I would always try to fain interest and repulsion at this just to calm him down and to follow the couples rule of "if I hate someone, you hate them too".

I sighed and continued on at his side.

"What did they do to piss you off so bad anyway?" I asked with a sideways glance.

He sniffed the air. "They stole the backpack I was carrying when I first got to Santa Carla, hoping to find drugs, or alcohol, or something."

"And?" I pressed with an arched eyebrow.

He shook his head with confusion on his face. "And nothing. I set my backpack on a gas pump, to get out money to get something at the 7-eleven; they snatched my backpack and ride off."

"Did they hurt you?"

"No."

"Did you have pictures or your wallet in your backpack?"

"No, they were in my pocket."

I could not maintain my laughter, I stopped and faced him. "Gag me with a spoon!" I chortled. "So you've been pissed off at these boys and holding a grudge for three years over a stupid backpack and some clothes?"

"They were nice clothes!" he retorted. "And a man has pride Mia."

I could not contain my laughter; it seemed more than trivial and the way he now pouted reminded me of a little fourth grader who had his favorite Evel Knievel action figure taken from him, had gotten a new one but still pined for the old one. Poor terminology, yes… but.

"Its. Not. Funny. Mia." He hissed through gritted teeth.

"ok, ok, ok!" I assure, dying my laughter down. "I'm sorry."

We continued on in silence for a moment.

"Why do you think your neighbor dude was so mad?"

I shrugged. "Should be alright though, I'll take some snicker doodles to his video store tomorrow night and apologize for your actions."

"Do I get some?" he asked childishly.

"No." I laughed, shaking my head.

"Why not?"

"You act stupid, you don't get snicker doodles. Duh!"

He pushed my arm playfully, before we raced the rest of the way to Toni's with harmonious giggles raining from our lips.

- - -.

The walls of Toni's was a silver, piercing with waves of red, green and white neon lights that made its way around the entire bar area. It was what I called a "step up, step down" restaurant, because of the layout; because, at the far end of the bar there were for wooden steps leading up to the formal dining room where the older crowd enjoyed birthdays and other special events at wooden picnic tables by candlelight. In fact Toni's was becoming a hot spot for proposals and wedding rehearsal dinners.

Both sections of Toni's were like two separate worlds. The first world bright, full of the warmth of family, laughter and whimsical romance. The second world bursting with teenage fantasy, passion, loud music and dancing with a sort of edgy danger, little did I know but these two very different worlds that Toni had created in his establishment would soon become a strong reflection of my life,… but I'm skipping ahead.

We walked in and Cadence was immediately flagged down by Fernando and the other busboys in back, so giving me a quick kiss on the cheek he left me in the mass of people at the front door. As I tried to sashay through to get to the bar where I knew my apron would be waiting, Flora shockingly passed me with a tray and I caught her by the arm.

"Why aren't you tending bar?" I shouted over the thumping music. Wither she heard me or not I didn't know, but a smile of relief played on her black lips. "Oh Mia, sweet pea, thank god you showed early, we became swamped 15 minutes ago, we are short waitresses, so I stepped in."

"So who's tending bar?" I asked, shouting again.

"Toni and Killer!" she answered. "I told Killer to hold your apron. So he should have it!" she pointed towards the bald, tattooed phenomenon that was juggling tequila bottles as if he had been born to do the task. I thanked her and made my way over.

It did not surprise me that Killer was behind the bar. Like Flora, Rob "Killer" Magee was a teddy bear in the shell of a hard core punk, Toni loved him like his own son. Killer was originally the head bar-tender and Flora was assistant bar-tender,… they fell in love of course and Killer left Toni's to open a tattoo parlor, leaving his soon to be bride in the spot-light of one and only bar-tender, and boy let me tell you no two people could have been more fated to be together.

"SWEETIE-POP!" he yelled pulling me into his standard rib-crushing hug, I was like a sister to him and gladly so. "And how is the second sweetest little honey in Santa Carla?"

"Fine, Killer!" I laughed. "Flora said you had my apron?"

With a cocky smile he held it up at eye level. "Would I ever stare you wrong Mia Pia?"

I smirked tying on my apron. "Thanks Rob, you're a doll!" I kissed his cheek and went to get a tray and of course Toni was pacing franticly.

"Two wedding a-parties, a family reunion and a fulla bar. Santa Maria Bena Dento!" he mumbled in a heavy Italian accent. I shook my head with a laugh.

"Don't think we can handle it Tone?" I asked, he took me by the shoulders preparing for his normal pep talk.

"With you, a-Flora and a-Robbie tending a-bar-a, I know we can handle any-a-thing!" he smiled. "Now go out there, make-a with the smiles, make-a with the charm and knock-a them dead like you always a-do Bella Mia!"

I gave a grin and set off into the world of impatient customers.

Tonight
There'll be no darkness tonight
Hold tight
Let your love light shine bright

Listen to my heart
And lay your body next to mine
Let me fill your soul with all my dreams

"Miss, can you get our waiter please?" a male voice called from behind me.

"Oh of course!" I grinned, stupidly turning my head while still making my way to the 20 billion other tables in the bar that needed my attention, not to mention the zillion tables in the dining room that featured two wedding parties and a family with a baby who had broken a bowl of tomato soup on the floor, nights like this were overwhelming, and often I wondered if the other waitresses felt the same sense of being ever on fast forward.

With a clumsy misstep I was sent stumbling backwards from colliding with another being, the person was kind enough to grab me by the forearms before I completely fell on my ass, or worse, into another person creating a domino effect. "Whoa, you alright there chica?" a mellow, but comical voice asked.

I tried to brush myself off with a laugh. "Yeah, thanks I guess I just…." I looked up and my blood turned to ice.

It was one of 'them' the blonde with the untamable hair and mischief in his eyes to be exact. I stole a quick sidelong glance over, all of them, all of them were seating in the black leather booth.

You're a woman, I'm a man.

This is more than just a game.

I can make you feel so right.

Be my lady of the night.

Our eyes connected, mine and the leader's. That burning chill running through my veins, every part of my body wanting,…screaming at me to close the gap between me and them, screaming at me to let go of all childish precaution and apprehensions and give in to the adult temptation brewing in the icy eyes of the bleach blonde. He gave a chuckle, low and wicked. "Better slow down, don't wanna miss whats right in front of you." Then lifting his bourbon to his lips.

I nodded stupidly, knees turning week at the certain rumble of his voice. "I'll do that." I replied quietly dropping my eyes and walking away.

For hours they stayed and again I felt their eyes on me everywhere I went,…no not 'their' eyes,… his eyes they had drank and stayed and drank and stayed, the three boys (the two young blondes especially) acted unruly like they had indeed been drinking, yelling and banging their heads to the music like everyone else. The man with the main of raven who had intrigued me almost as much as the leader when I first saw them on the boardwalk, seemed unaffected by the alcohol with the exception of flirting with their waitress Tawny.

But the leader, the leader seemed totally unfazed, not only by the alcohol but by all around him. His eyes trained on me darkly, never leaving me, like a wolf stalking its prayer. I felt scared…. Scared beyond explanation.

Even as I stood at the bar, writing "thank you" on some receipts he had me in a death grip, with those eyes of a ruthless hunter. Like I said I was scared, scared of the sense of overwhelming tyranny he seemed to hold over the room, scared of how his gaze (always on me) was unreadable, scared of his coolness that seemed to restrain him, scared that I was finding myself seduced by all this. Seduced by power, seduced by darkness, seduced by fear.

A hand fell on my shoulder and I gasped.

"Mia honey, are you ok?" Flora asked, black lips wincing in concern.

"Yeah, fine." I whispered, glancing nervously from the receipt to those blue ogles.

She touched my free hand and cried out. "Mia you're freezing, you're cold as death!" her hand then flew to my forehead and cheek. "You're all clammy too!"

"I'm fine, Flo." I assured using my nickname for her.

I looked back and almost within a blink the other three were gone,… leaving only 'him',… I truly felt sick then.

"On second thought Flo, could you tell Toni and Cade-Cadence I went home early. I-I'm not feeling well."

And grabbing my jacket I haste past the blonde, without a word.


A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO Emzy2k11 AND MRS. ACE MERRILL FOR THE BEAUTIFUL REVIEWS THEY ARE AWSOME!

PLEASE REVIEW IF YOU WANT MORE OR HAVE SUGGESTIONS FOR THE NEXT/FUTTURE CHAPTTERS 3