CHAPTER FOUR
"The earth has music for those who listen."
Her laughter drifted across the crowded club, luring Oswald to take his eyes off his ledger to glance her way. She was four tables away from him where he sat at the bar, balancing the finances, but still he could hear her plain as day. To be fair, she and the rest of Mooney's boys at the table were being unnecessarily loud as they joked and drank. Although she was still nursing the same glass she had gotten an hour ago (not that Oswald would admit to noticing of course) she was certainly keeping up with Butch and his crew in conversation. It was captivating to see her, so small among all of the behemoth men yet without any question as to whether or not she belonged at their table. She was leaned back in her chair, looking perfectly at ease as she practically glittered with life. The Penguin sighed, if only he could emulate that attitude.
He tried to turn his attention back to his book, but found that it kept wondering back to their table with every uproarious burst of laughter. "-the kid, ACTUALLY tries to take my bike! The poor guys never even been on a motorcycle and doesn't know the first thing about driving it. I hear it start and see him through the window I end up dropping off the balcony onto the back and manage to straighten up before he wrecks it."
The men are all laughs and Butch wipes tears from his eyes, "I bet Ol' Frankie about lost it during all this," he choked out.
Penguin couldn't see her as clearly as the big, dark haired man beside her rocked with laughter, putting her in and out of his field of vision. He thought he saw her nod in response though. "So we get it stopped and the kid all but just falls off my bike…and starts thanking me! Can you believe it? Thanks me for saving his life." She takes a drink from her glass, curling her nose slightly at the taste. "And I say, you better thank me! You almost owed me a new bike." The boys burst into laughter again and Oswald feels himself smile a little in spite of himself.
The laughter dies down and one of the guys, the blonde one with the scar on his cheek, suddenly makes a pained expression and Oswald realizes to his own amusement that he is thinking. "So wait," blondie asks. "Why didn't you ride your bike here?"
Nicki rolled her eyes and propped her elbows up on the table. "My brother took it."
"Geez again? Why doesn't he just get his own?" Butch asks.
"Well why would he when apparently mine is for us to share?" she returned with a wry smile.
"Yeah, well I know I wouldn't want to be the one to fight him for it," one of the Mooney's goons added.
Nicki flashed him a knowing smile. "Vic can be a little…intimidating, somtimes-" A couple of the guys snorted as if she had just told them a joke. Oswald frowned. Vic? Had he heard that name before? "But I've never had a problem with holding my own against him."
Butch finished his beer with one gulp before slapping hit down on the table. "Whadda I tell you guys? This girl is nails!" He exclaimed, draping a heavy arm around her shoulder, causing her to lurch forward slightly. "Nails! Didn't I say that?" He removed his arm, reclining back and chuckling, seeming to get nostalgic. An unfamiliar sight. As his laughter died down, he looked at her with slight adoration, jabbing a finger in her direction. "You know Fish really wanted to keep you," he drawled. "We thought about fighting your dad about it but the old men had their minds made up."
The ledger book was now forgotten as Oswald trained his eyes on the girl. Keep her? He began, thinking back, trying to remember if Fish had mentioned her before. He had overhead that a guest was coming, someone important to Falcone. Nothing much more than that came this memory though. She seemed to be well-known by Fish and her men, but she had never been there as long as Oswald had worked there. Had she?
He ran his eyes over her bright and innocent face, the sunny grin, her reddish-brown hair spilling down the back of the gold-hued jumpsuit she had borrowed from fish. It was way too big for her, but still managed to hang on her small frame in a flattering way. She seemed so out of place. A kitten among tigers. No, he would definitely have remembered her.
A clicking tongue stole him from his thoughts. Turning quickly he saw Fish perched on the bar stool beside him, eyebrow quirked. His face heated up as he realized he had been staring and he immediately dug his pointed nose back into the ledger. "Just because a girl bats her eyelashes at you doesn't mean you have to ogle at her," Fish purred. Oswald kept to the book, giving her a sharp nod and refusing to look up from the numbers. If he thought that she would leave it at that however, he was sorely mistaken. "Boy!" she said sharply. His head jerked up to meet her gaze. Her lips were twisted to the side and her eyes intense but not cold. One taloned finger raised to his face and he felt his heart beat quicken. It took all of his will power to not wince away from her touch, unsure of what she would do.
As she gently ran her finger along his cheekbone, he felt his breath rush out of him, unaware that he had been holding it. When she spoke again, her tone was warm and motherly, but the hint of warning still remained. "Trust me, my little penguin," she lifted his chin with her finger, forcing him to keep eye contact with her. "Our little Nicki is not someone you want to get mixed up with."