"So I've got all of this extremely well made counterfeit money." Lily explained patting her purse at her side as the two of them walked down the dark road, "I'm gonna bet all of it and win real money back." She said. Cassidy pulled his head back as he dragged from his cigarette, "Jaysis, yer a con artist now?" Lily shook her head and crinkled her brow as she laughed, "Not at all. This is one of the oldest ones in the book. These counterfeits are almost impossible to tell apart from the genuine stuff. Besides, it's all I got." Her face was long as she looked at the pavement they were walking on. He raised a brow, "Yea?"
She pressed her lips together and nodded, looking up to him with dull eyes, "I gave Ezra all the cash I had out. Almost a million to get myself and you-" She said bitterly, "-new identities, but obviously we know that didn't work out. So I'm broke. The rest of what I owned was tied up in Beneke."
Cassidy flinched, "New identities?!" He practically fell over, "A million dollars!" He shrieked, his eyes were wide and Lily leaned her head back, "It would be nice to be able to, oh I don't know, leave the country when I want, or check into a hotel, or buy property, or just, like, you know live life." She widened her eyes and shook her head, "And it would be nice if you had an identity that didn't immediately bring up attempted murder from the year 1962, grand theft auto from 1979, second degree murder from 19-" She recited his record. "Alright," He interrupted, "I get it," Cassidy hummed, inhaling his smoke, "But there's a way fer everythin' ya know. Even wit all that following me I've been flying all over th'place, checkin' into hotels, all that shite ya just said y'wanted t'do. There's a way fer everythin' if y'try hard enough. No matter how much y'got followin' ye, no matter how broke y'are."
Lily rolled her eyes as they kept walking, "I'm not broke. I have some money stowed away, but I can't get to it yet." She said, before laughing, "Hmph, how sad is it that we have millions of dollars worth of weaponry we stole from the armory below my apartment, but we can't even sell them because they're all serial numbered to lead back to Beneke?"
Cassidy raised a brow, "So those weren't all yer weapons?" He asked. Lily laughed louder, "No. Something I did more frequently for Beneke recently was sales of heavy duty and modified weaponry. I quite liked it, actually." She explained before she sighed, "Ahhh, man, they are going to be so incredibly livid at me."
"Don't worry," Cassidy said. "I'm not." She said back, trying to convince herself.
"So where are we goin', then? Where are ye leadin' us?" Cassidy asked. Lily inhaled, "It's not much further." She said, staring at her phone. "Ye were goin' on about betting back there." He stuck a thumb over his shoulder, referring to their conversation just before, "Izit some kinda casino?" "Not exactly. More like an... underground... club situation." She raised one shoulder, "Sounds dodgy." He stated. "What's that mean?" Lily asked, looking up from her phone. "Dangerous." He explained. "Oh," Lily lowered her brow as she looked back to her phone, "Well, ya, it probably will be." She said.
"Cool." Cassidy said with a grin. Catching his mischievous smile, she cleared her throat, "Preferably, not, though." She clarified. "Right." Cassidy nodded, sarcastically, "Preferably not." He mocked back.
They had to go down two flights of dingy stairs into the basement club, where there was a wide variety of people. Music played loudly and Cassidy immediately noticed a bar in the back. In each line of sight, there seemed to be something different going on in the middle of scattered crowds.
Cassidy walked behind Lily, scanning around at all the different faces. A man came up and put his arm out in front of Lily stopping her in her tracks and Cassidy ran into her. He grabbed her shoulders as he looked up to the man that had stopped them in their path - a large unit of a man, a security guard.
"You a member?" He asked, towering over both of them.
"No, but-" Lily started, but was interrupted by the man, "No membership, no entry. Talk to the doorman outside-"
Lily grabbed her purse and opened it to reveal the stacks of cash, "Oh, c'mon.." She said sweetly in a low tone, "I have cash on hand." Her eyes burned into his, "A lot of it." She sang suggestively, "I'm visiting from out of town, leaving first thing tomorrow.. I don't have time or reason to start a membership." The man looked from Lily to Cassidy and pursed his lips, looking to his side, "Two thousand and we'll call it even for the night." He said lowly - careful enough for no one around them to listen in.
Lily pulled her eyes from his, reaching into her bag and handing him two stacks of bills. The man pocketed the money and stepped out of the way, watching the two of them walk into the club.
"Want some?" Lily asked holding out a few stacks of the bills in her hand towards Cassidy as they walked towards the bar. He grinned down at it, "Ah, wot the Hell." He grabbed the cash and threw it in his pocket.
Next thing they knew, and several drinks later, they'd been nearly around the whole club betting on the various events - which were, for the most part, quite brutal. From who could chug the most liquids before they vomited everywhere - to good old fashion punch for punch, there was a wide variety of endurance competitions in this blood bath of an establishment. It was simple: the winner would split the pot with the people who bet on their side. Anyone could volunteer to participate in the competitions, but it seemed that there were regulars who were practically professionals.
Sure, it was barbaric, but all Lily cared about was that out of her counterfeit $20,000 she came with she needed to make real money - and a place like this was a quick way to make money. Eventually, she was up almost double that in real money of bills she'd received back. "Shite.." Cassidy groveled as they watched someone get knocked out in front of them as half the crowd cheered and the other half let out a saddened and unison, "Awwwhhhhh..."
"What?" Lily looked up to Cassidy, "Shite, what?" She mocked him. He shook his head and pulled out his pocket lining, "All out." He groaned. Lily choked on her drink, "Again!?" Cassidy bobbed his head and finished what was left in his glass, "Yea," He sighed raising his brow as he turned to her, "Again." He repeated. "You're awful with money." Lily teased, drinking from her glass in her hand and staring forward to the ruckus as a few men began dragging a table to the center of the crowd.
"Yea, yea." Cassidy sang, "I'm gonna get another," He declared, waving his glass in the air, "Y'want another?" Lily nodded, "Sure." Cassidy smiled, moving a bit closer to grab a cigarette from the pack he'd placed on the table as he lit it. Noticing all of her attention on him, he locked eyes with her and raised a brow, dipping his head down a bit to see past his sunglasses frames, "Wot?" He asked, slowly putting the lighter back down on the table without looking away. With her head suddenly a bit foggy, she felt her stomach flutter with nervousness. She wanted him to sweep her off her feet and carry her out of here, take her home and throw her anywhere and everywhere - and she knew if she told him that, that he wouldn't hesitate. Instead, she swallowed her thoughts as shook her head, "Nothing." She said simply. He took a drag from his cigarette and exhaled, not sure he believed her but left it alone anyway, "Alright." He said. She watched him walk away, feeling her stomach flutter just a bit at the idea of where the night would end up for the two of them.
In her anxious state, she reached in her pocket for a cigarette. To her dismay, it was empty. Her shoulders dropped and she huffed, throwing the empty pack on the table and her eyes catching the pack Cassidy had left behind. She Cassidy's pack and slid a cigarette into her mouth, hoping the nicotine rush would suppress her hunger to get laid for at least long enough to make some more money.
As she lit the smoke, she watched the group of people drag two chairs to the table and she raised her brow, wondering what the next spectacle would be.
With a moment to herself, she noticed that the time was almost one in the morning, and Jesse had texted her. He was home safe with Tulip, asking where she was. She texted him back:
Someone's gotta make some money around here.
Taking another drag from the cigarette, she felt the head rush hit her and it felt amazing. She was thankful for the higher nicotine count in Cassidy's taste of cigarettes for the time being. She exhaled deeply, feeling no calmer but the head rush was a nice distraction.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Cassidy approaching again, rubbing his nose and sniffing a few times, "Jesse's back at Dennis'. Safe and sound with Tulip." Lily reported, still staring at her phone. He nodded, his eyes behind his shades were a bit wider as he handed her a new drink. She sipped it, and it was refreshingly cold in the muggy, warm basement, "Thanks." Her eyes caught him putting another bottle of whiskey on the table. She turned from her phone to look at the first empty bottle, "Jesus," She said, remembering him getting that bottle less than half an hour prior, "You finished a whole bottle already?"
He pulled his head back defensively, "Excuse me?" He waved his glass at her, "You drank a lot of that, too, thank yew very much."
Lily blinked lifting her eyes from her phone a moment, thinking about how much she had drank already, "I've drank a lot." She stated. "Cheers t'that." Cassidy said, clinking his glass to the one Lily held in her hand. The fact she hardly felt phased must have had something to do with Cassidy's blood. With her phone still in her face, she took another puff from the cigarette before placing her phone in her jacket pocket. Exhaling a trail of smoke and feeling the head rush intensify, Lily grabbed the table, her mouth in a wide smile, "Jesus, Cass what's in these cigarettes?" She said jokingly, but as the words left her mouth, her mind went dead straight and she realized how likely that scenario was. Lifting her head to him, he looked a bit confused as he patted at his coat, "Wotd'ya mean?" He asked, realizing his pack of cigarettes was on the table. His eyes moved from the pack to the one in her hand, raising his brows and pointing at the cigarette between her fingers, he took a quick breath, "Is that one of mine?!"
"Yes." Lily said simply, staring at Cassidy and waiting for him to react so she would know how to react as well. It felt like an eternity for him to move, but eventually his straight face turned into a wide grin as he threw his head back and cackled. She leaned to him, not sure if she was imagining her head rushing more or if it was a true side affect of whatever she was smoking, "What?!"
He kept laughing, his hands on his stomach as he struggled to catch his breath. Lily smacked the front of his shoulder, "Shut up!"
"Coco puffs!" He cackled.
"What's that?" She asked, to which Cassidy continued laughing, forcing Lily to hit him and repeat herself, "What is that!?"
Finally, Cassidy pushed his hand under his sunglasses, wiping a tear from his eye as he struggled not to laugh any more, "Jus' a sprinkle of cocaine, nothin' crazy." He chuckled once more.
Furrowing her brow and dropping her shoulders Lily made a face of more disappointment than disgust, "Nothing crazy to you, Cassidy, Jesus Christ." She whined as she smashed the cigarette into a tray beside them, "Woah!" Cassidy skid on his feet a bit, grabbing the crushed cigarette and doing his best to straighten it out, "No sense wastin' it." He placed it in his mouth and relighted the partially crumpled smoke.
Lily took a big swig of her drink, trying not to stress to much on the fact that her magnificent nicotine head rush was in fact a coke high.
"Wot're they settin' up now?" Cassidy asked, puffing at the partially bent cigarette as he attempted to pull her out of her train of thought.
Lily shrugged a shoulder, looking ahead at it, "I don't know.." She said taking another big gulp of her drink. "You're fine." Cassidy assured, "Y'hardly smoked any of it anyway." Lily nodded, not convinced. "Maybe y'want to smoke this to counteract it, balance it out, like?" She looked as he held out a joint, and she couldn't help but laugh that Cassidy's genuine idea of helping her was offering more drugs, "No. Thanks, though." Her eyes went back to the new set up in front of them. Each competition, the cash pool was displayed beside it. This one was huge. The biggest stack yet.
On cue, one of the bet collectors came by, a cute girl probably a few years younger than Lily, dressed in a skimpy outfit as she did her best to convince the various members to place their bets. There were a few bet collectors on the floor, but by now, this one was familiar with Lily and Cassidy, or as she knew them as, Bill and Julie, and she was excellent at her job.
She glided up to Lily, "Heya, Julie!" She sang. "Ah-" Lily said eagerly, "Can I buy a pack of smokes?" She requested. The girl nodded, "Of course." She reached into her belt that was packed with all sorts of things to sell off her tiny little waist, "What about you, Bill?" Cassidy smiled, "I'm fine." He glanced at his pack on the table before smirking to Lily, "Thanks." He said. "So, Julie," She batted her eyes at Lily as she exchanged the pack for cash from Lily, "What are ya thinkin'? You wanna go for Carl the underdog, or Theo? Listen.." She scooted closer to Lily, "Between us, I just wanna tell you that Theo's won the arm wrestling competitions four weeks in a row here."
Lily raised her brow, a bit confused as she ripped open the new cigarettes and placed on in her mouth, "Arm wrestling?" Her eyes looked at the group of people in front of them, and Cassidy noticed how let down she suddenly was. Expecting something more exciting, Lily leaned back against the table with a huff, lighting the smoke in her mouth. Cassidy, on the other hand, perked up.
The girl nodded as she popped the gum in her mouth, staring out to the two men sitting down at the table, who were stretching their arms in a serious manner, "The pot's way bigger pay for anyone who beats him and wins. Like BIG pot!" Suddenly, the sight of the mountain of cash put a perk in Lily again, "Oh?" She asked curiously. The bet collector nodded, "Ya," She snapped the gum in her mouth, "But the possibility of that happenin' is slimmer than a supermodel addicted to coke." She chewed at the gum in her mouth, "It's kinda gettin' borin' to be honest with ya, cause as you can see.." She held her arm out to the crowd, "You have t'be very ballsy ta go against Theo.. He's only a few days away from a month streak - that's when things get interesting cause he gets the whole money pot the clubs been holdin' on to this month instead of havin' ta split it with anyone. The bigger that pot gets, the more ballsy people get at the chance for it.. but so far no one's given Theo a fight for their money.."
Lily nodded, "Hm," She threw a few hundred into the pot, "For the underdog." She said. The girl raised her brow, "Woooow, Julie, that's really riskin' it." Lily chuckled once, "Hmph!" She turned to the table to place the fresh pack of cigarettes on it.
The girl sauntered up to Cassidy and walked her fingers up his chest, "What about you, handsome?" She sang. Lily was amused watching this girl move around the bar playing the same flirtatious front, doing her best to sell as many bets as possible. Cassidy shook his head, "Nah, I'm gonna sit out this one." "Did ya spend all your money, darling?" The girl asked, looking up to him with wide eyes as she placed her hands on her hips. She laughed, looking towards Lily who couldn't help but flash a grin towards Cassidy, who crossed his arms defensively, "I don't wanna bet but I'll get behind the underdog t'kick that bastard Theo's arse." He proclaimed.
Lily nearly spat her drink out.
The girl shook her head, laughing harder, "Oh, Bill, you're a funny guy." She waved her hand at him, placing her other on her hip. "No," Cassidy said, grabbing the girls arm, "I'm serious, put me down." He said. The girl looked up at him, "Oh..." She said awkwardly, "Alright.." She grabbed a pen and paper and looked back up to Cassidy, "I'll go and let 'em know." She grabbed one of his arms and squeezed it before walking away.
"That's the smartest thing I've heard come out of your mouth since-" Lily said, "Probably ever, actually." She corrected, putting the cigarette out in the ash tray between them.
"Hey," Cassidy said, elbowing her. "Hm?" She looked up at him drinking from her glass. "I can't help notice yer not much phased by 'er gettin' all touchy-feely on me." He stated.
With her brow scrunched she lifted her glass to her mouth and a smile crossed her lips, "Why would I care?" She said into the glass, noticing Cassidy's brows lower slightly. She swallowed the mouthful of booze as she backtracked a bit, "It's a strategy. To sell more." Lily shook her head, staring straight past him, "Look." She tilted her head towards the girl doing practically the same routine on a few other people just a few feet away.
Cassidy looked back to Lily, his brow arched, "Hm." Staring ahead, Cassidy smiled at the two men getting in position to arm wrestle in front of them, "Reminds me of old times." Lily drank from her glass, wondering what that meant, but too distracted by the giant pile of cash to ask in the moment.
Lily raised her brow, placing her glass on the table between where they stood as she zoned out to the crowd of people. Suddenly, she took a quick breath and looked back up to Cassidy, "It's a given you're gonna win this, right? Like, for sure?" She asked. He smiled down at her, "Yea." Cassidy said softly. She raised her brows, "So sure that I can place a strong bet on you?" She tilted her head to the stack of cash on the table between them, "That sure?"
Cassidy lowered his head, flashing his eyes at her with a wide grin, "Sure as shite."