Chapter 36:
Nikolas went back into the Haunted Star. He was shaken of what he overheard Brady said on the phone. He needed to find Lulu and tell her ASAP. He hoped that she would at least hear him out. Unable to find her, he did spot Lucky and Elizabeth at the corner of the bar chatting.
"Hey have you guys seen my sister?" Nikolas asked.
"Since when do you care about where she is?" Michael asked as he approached the bar. "I thought that ship had sailed, hit a rock, and sunk. When she talks about her brothers she means me and Morgan. She always has to clarify when it comes to you."
"Look, this isn't the time or place to discuss that, but did you see where she went?" Nikolas asked. "It's important."
Michael looked around. "I don't see her."
"She wasn't feeling too well, Dante is taking her home," Morgan replied. "Dad just told me. Why?"
"What do you two know about Brady Andrews?" Nikolas asked. "I know that you two probably met him before he came to Port Charles."
"He is a snake oil salesman in a designer suit," Michael answered. "I don't like the prick."
"That is putting it mildly, why do you ask?" Morgan inquired.
"I don't know, there is something about him that I don't like," Nikolas began. "I was just outside to get some fresh air and I heard him talk to someone on the phone."
"What did he say, Nikolas? You are scaring me," Elizabeth asked.
"He said the only way to get to Sonny was through Lulu," Nikolas stated.
Dante looked in the review mirror; he had lost the tail that was on them the moment that they left the Star. He let out a sigh of relief.
"What?" Lulu demanded. "Are you thinking about what my father is going to do to you when he finds out that you have me in this car handcuffed and against my will?"
Dante laughed. "You could have struggled more you know. Make more of an effort."
With her unshackled hand, Lulu reached in her hair pulling out a hairpin and stuck it in the top of her corset which was unseen by Dante. "Maybe I was too tired not to make a scene at the casino."
"Says the woman who dumped a full beer over my head in a packed bar," Dante muttered. "You did the same thing with Dr. Dickhead only with white wine like an hour ago."
"You both deserved it," Lulu commented coolly.
She looked around at her surroundings that were whizzing by her. "Where the hell are you taking me? Is that another thing that you didn't think through?"
"Plan B, babe. We were being followed the moment that we left The Haunted Star. I think I lost them, but we can't be too safe."
"It's probably one of my Dad's men," Lulu pointed out. "It's nothing to get your boxers in a bunch."
"No it was not one of your father's men," Dante said.
"You mean we were really being followed, by whom?"
Dante shrugged. "I have no idea. Have you pissed anyone off lately?"
Lulu scoffed at the idea. "When between school and studying I hardly have anytime to myself, even to eat."
Dante gave her a sideway glance. "I knew you were looking a little thin. We can stop and get something to eat if you want."
"Have you been talking to Bethany? She is complaining that I am not eating enough, too," Lulu muttered.
A road sign whizzed by, Dante suddenly got an idea where to take Lulu. "No I have not been talking to Bethany, but she is right, you lost what ten, fifteen pounds?"
"I don't know. Where the hell are we going? I thought you said you lost the tail."
"I can't be too safe with the most feared mobster on the east coast only daughter," Dante added.
"Again where are you taking me? An undisclosed location so you can interrogate me?"
Dante patted her bare knee with his cuffed hand. "You have been watching too many movies, babe. I am taking you somewhere safe and we don't have to worry who sees us."
"You got to be fucking kidding."
Lulu looked at the Love Shack Motel through the windshield. It just started to snow with heavy fat, snowflakes. "We are not spending the night here again."
Dante shut off the engine. "Where else can you explain why we're handcuffed together other than the Love Shack? Besides, the roads are getting worse."
Luckily there was a vacancy sign glowing in the window.
"Fine," Lulu grumbled.
"Now that is settled," Dante carefully got out of the car and Lulu reluctantly followed.
They walked silently to the motel's front office to get a room. A bell over the door chimed, the desk clerk looked up and he smiled broadly when he noticed that they were handcuffed together. "Kinky, I bet you two love birds would want a room for the night, huh?"
Dante went for broke; he leaned over and nibbled on Lulu's neck down to her collarbone. She practically jumped in surprise. She would have bolted if she wasn't shackled to him. She instead gave him a disapproving look.
"Yes, please," Dante said, straightening himself to address the clerk. "If not we will be having fun on the side of the road. We don't want to be arrested by the Highway Patrol for indecent exposure among other things."
"Good thing you stopped, the weatherman is saying that there are some bands of heavy lake effect snow coming in. He is expecting half a foot or more. The Highway Patrol is closing the highway to be safe."
"I wonder how we are going to spend the time," Dante said opening his wallet, handing the man a few hundred dollar bills. "That should cover the room for a few nights. Do you have a kitchen? If so we want some grub, nothing too fancy."
"Canned tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches with coffee?" The clerk asked.
"Perfect," Dante said quickly not giving Lulu a chance to answer.
"Take a few from the house. I will bring by the food when it's ready."The clerk nudged a small wicker basket on the counter in Dante's direction. Dante looked down it was filled with colorful, flavored condoms and tiny sample size of flavored lube.
Dante smiled when he found grape ones on top. He took a handful of them; suck them in his pocket, winking at the clerk.
The clerk handed Dante their room key. "Room sixteen, have fun."
"Thank you!" Dante took the key and headed to the door, pulling Lulu along with him.
When they left the office to find their room, it already snowed a few inches. "Looks like we will be here for a bit," Dante commented.
Lulu looked down at her revealing dress. It was the only clothing that she had for the next few days. There was no way in hell that she was going to be naked in the same room with Dante. Forget about wearing the robes in the room, she might as well as step on a rusty nail in bare feet.
Dante must have read her mind; he headed back to the car. Lulu shrieked as the snow went over her shoes, making her feet cold. Dante opened the trunk, pulling out two bags. "You left one at my place, I thought it might come in handy," he explained. "Sonny sent you that dress to wear."
"So you have been driving around with a bag of my clothes in your trunk for the past few months?" Lulu muttered. "I don't know if I am grateful or creeped out by it."
Dante hoisted one bag on his shoulder and carried the other one with his uncuffed hand. "Relax, I took it out every week and washed the clothes. They are fresh."
"The same dilemma, grateful or creeped about you washing my clothes not to mention what else might be in that bag."
Dante unlocked and opened their motel room door. Lulu went in first, he followed. He dropped the bag by the door and kicked it shut.
"This is the same room we were in before," Lulu said, surveying her surroundings. "I doubt the guy remembers you. I don't want to think about how many people slept in this room since we been in it."
"Who said they slept?" Dante quipped. "They do rent rooms by the hour here."
Lulu squeezed her eyes shut. "Don't remind me. I think I would need a tetanus shot after we get out of here."
Dante moved to the center of the room, dragging Lulu with him. "Watch it I am in heels," she complained.
"It's warm and dry. It should be fine," Dante muttered.
Lulu kicked off her heels. "How are we supposed to change into whatever is in those bags if we are still handcuffed together?"
Dante shrugged. "That was the only key. I guess that we are stuck together for the time being." He flashed her a wicked grin.
"You threw the only key in the harbor?" Lulu shrieked. "What if I have to use the restroom?"
"It's nothing that I haven't seen before," Dante said.
Lulu sighed and rolled her eyes. She really wanted to see the results of the home pregnancy test that was tucked in her purse without being cuffed to Dante. She really wanted to know if she was indeed pregnant or not.
"Do you still need to go? I will close my eyes," Dante promised.
Lulu opened her mouth to answer when there was a knock at the door. It must the desk clerk with their soup and sandwiches covered with foil. Dante dragged Lulu over to the door and he opened it. A gust of icy cold wind and snowflakes blowing in the room greeted them. By the look on the clerk's face he was hoping to see them in a state of undress.
"The soup was piping hot when I left the office, I don't know about it now." The clerk came in and set the tray on the dresser. "I am going back to the office. If it's not life or death don't call me."
"Got it." Dante ushered the man outside. "Hungry?" he asked Lulu.
"No."
"Would you tell me if you were?" Dante picked up a grilled cheese sandwich taking a huge bite. "It's good."
He dangled it in front of her face, waving it back and forth. "Are you sure you don't want some?"
"I am fine," Lulu retorted.
Dane took another bite. "No wonder you are so skinny," he said with his mouthful. "You don't eat. Take a bite."
Reluctantly Lulu took the sandwich Dante, took a bite, and handed it back to him. "Happy?" she demanded with her mouthful.
"Extremely," Dante finished the last of the sandwich. "Are you going to eat anymore? If not we should ration it since I don't know when we are able to leave."
Lulu looked down at her dress. "I would like to get out of my dress and into something else."
Dante lead them to where the bags were. He picked hers up and walked back to the bed, setting it on it. "There should some yoga pants in there with a long sleeved t-shirt. I recently bought them in case you needed something to sleep in."
With his free hand, he unzipped the bag, found the yoga pants and handed them to Lulu. "I guess you can put them under you dress or something. They might be a little big since you lost all that weight."
Lulu took the black yoga pants with a purple waist. "Thanks I guess. It will be hard to get the shirt on with the handcuffs on."
Lulu awkwardly sat on the edge of the bed and shimmied in to the yoga pants. "They are just a little big," Lulu commented as she stood up.
She tried to reach the side zipper on her dress but was unable to due to the cuffs on her hand. Dante brushed her hands away. He clasped the tiny zipper with his thumb and forefinger. "Allow me," he said barely above a whisper.
Lulu tried to wiggle away but Dante slowly worked the zipper down. The dress slowly fell from her and pooled at her feet. Dante sucked in a breath seeing Lulu in the lavender corset that he picked out and placed in the Big Box of Fun. She looked amazing in it even if it was paired with a pair of yoga pants.
"My eyes are up here," Lulu commented.
Dante realized he was staring at her chest. The scar was completely gone. He wasn't sure if it was the corset, but he could have sworn her boobs had gotten bigger since the last time he had seen her.
"Sorry this is the first time I get to see some of your chest since you were shot, I am just admiring the work the doctors did."
Lulu used her free arm to block his view. Dante bent down to retrieve her dress; he tossed it on the easy chair that was by the bed. "Stop staring you are making me feel self conscious."
"You are beautiful, baby," Dante breathed. "You are so beautiful…"
He went to kiss her but Lulu jerked her head away, he grazed her cheek. "No," she said.
"So this is how it's going to be?" Dante demanded. "Talk to me, Lu. You used to be able to before."
"You mean before I found out that you have been lying to me, using me, and doing me to get information from me?" Lulu demanded. "Tell me Dante, how did you think it was going to be? All sunshine and lollipops?"
Dante sighed. "Lu, please you have to listen to me. I love you."
"Not enough to tell me the truth! I had to find out by that slime Brady leaving the information out when he left the room while he was getting my statement," Lulu cried.
"Would have it made a difference if I told you myself?" Dante wondered.
As Lulu opened her mouth to respond, the lights flickered before the motel room was plunged into darkness.
"It must be the storm," Dante said. "Good thing we got off the road. The bad news is that since the power is out that means the heat is at well. It's going to get mighty cold in here."
Dante reached into his pocket, pulling out a lighter. He flicked it a few times until he got a flame. "I know there are some candles here. We can use those for some light."
By the glow of the lighter, Dante lead Lulu around the room lighting candles that he found along the way. When he finished, the room was bathed in a romantic glow.
"I think this is good enough," Dante said, setting the lighter down on the TV stand.
Lulu pulled at the curtain so she could look outside. All she saw was falling snow. "It's getting bad out there," she commented.
"It's getting cold in here," Dante commented. "Let's go to the bed."
Lulu gave him an incredulous look.
"And get under the covers to stay warm," Dante covered. If all else fails, we can use our body heat to keep warm."
"Fine," Lulu muttered. "Keep your hands to yourself."
"Or?" Dante challenged. "What are you going to do?"
"Sonny Corrinthos is my father. He taught me how to kill a man using one hand several different ways. I would careful if I were you."
Dante had no idea if she was pulling his leg or lying through her teeth, or actually telling the truth. Either way he was intrigued what Lulu could do with her one hand. His mind went directly to the gutter considering they had romps in an elevator and in the front seat of his car; he knew what Lulu could do with her hands.
"Yes ma'am," Dante smirked.
They made their way to the bed. Dante knocked the bag to the floor. He held up the covers with his free hand. Lulu carefully got into bed and Dante followed when he kicked off his shore, getting into bed fully clothed. He really should have gotten a spare key so they were able to at least change their clothes.
"Remember hands to yourself," Lulu reminded him.
Dante was the first to wake up. They were laying on their sides, Lulu's back was pressed against his chest enveloping him in warmth. He quickly realized his cuffed hand was under the waistband of Lulu's yoga pants. His hand was resting on the small patch of skin that was between her navel and her lady parts. If his fingers moved a few inches south, he could wake up Lulu in the most unusual way.
Dante smiled to himself, he was enjoying touching any portion of Lulu. He needed to savor it before she woke up.
"Get your mitts off me!" Lulu exclaimed as she tried to extricate his hand from the inside of her pants.
"My hand was cold," Dante confessed. "I could have stuck in between my legs but that means your hand would be near my…"
"You don't have to paint me a picture." Lulu sat up in bed. "I need to use the restroom."
"Okay," Dante grunted as he got up from the bed. "Let's go."
"Oh hell, no."
Lulu reached into her corset, pulling out the hairpin. In less than five seconds, she picked the lock. Dante looked at her with his mouth agape. "Where the hell did you learn how to do that?"
Lulu rubbed her wrist. "My father…I mean Luke did when I was five."
Lulu got up from the bed, retrieved her bag and headed to the bathroom and shut the door.
Dante lay back in the bed. He should have thought that Lulu was wearing hairpins and knew how to pick locks considering who raised her.
Dante heard some insipid beeping that was in the room. He walked around trying to find out where it was coming from. He found the culprit. It was coming from Lulu's purse. He picked it up. It must be her cell phone. He debated whether he should commit the cardinal sin by going into a woman's purse. Then he thought it might have been Sonny trying to find his daughter since he failed to call in their location last night.
"I am going straight to hell for this," he muttered as he opened the purse.
Luckily the phone was near the top of her purse. He pulled it out; he noticed that Lulu had several missed calls and text messages all from Bethany. There were none from Sonny. Dante breathed a sigh of relief as he went to replace it but something else in Lulu's purse caught his eye.
It was bright white in her black purse, it seemed out of place. Dante pulled it out.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Lulu shrieked as she came in the main room.
"Your phone was ringing, I went to check it," Dante stammered. "But then I found this positive home pregnancy test. Are you really pregnant? Were you ever going to tell me?"
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