So sorry I took so long to update this story. Hope it's okay? :)

Chapter Seven

Minutes and minutes went by as Liz stood outside the Steuben Club building beneath the glow of the streetlights, her heart sinking as every second ticked on by. Still, there was no sign of Red. He wasn't in the windows of any automobiles she looked through as they passed. After awhile, she started feeling hot with embarrassment.

He was obviously standing her up, and maybe he had even planned to do that all along, yet she had been too foolish to realize it. He obviously hadn't truly wanted to take her to the theater tonight, and Liz was angry with herself that she hadn't picked up on the signs he gave off in advance.

Having enough of feeling foolish simply standing there, in the fancy fur-trim dress he had given her, she sighed loudly as began making the walk towards home. Groups of people passed her- men and women, having dates of their own and laughing gleefully- yet Red was still nowhere to be found.

She hadn't thought he would be the type of man to string a young woman along. Apparently, she was wrong.

She was just starting to cross the street to the apartment that she lived in with her father when suddenly she caught sight of the man rushing out of the front door. Her heart beat rapidly, thrumming against her rib-cage as she recognized that silhouette as Red's.

She stopped stock still when he crossed the road towards her. The beam of the streetlights made him look older, his face more lined and beneath his eyes more creased. "I'm so sorry I'm late, Lizzie," he said urgently, removing his fedora from his head to hold it between his hands. "Something came up and I had matters to attend to."

"You were very late so I decided I might as well head home," she admitted, not bothering to hide her offense. "If you really didn't want to take me to the theater, then you should have told me and been honest."

"I do want to take you to theater still." He placed his hat back on his head, outstretching an arm towards her, offering her to take it. "If we leave now, we may still have a chance to make it on time for the show."

Liz stared at him in silence for a moment, undecided. He did look apologetic, and he had sounded as if he still did want to go to the theater with her.

Her eyes flitted towards the front door of the house she lived in with her father. It had seemed as though he had just left the apartment through the front door, though she wasn't sure if it was a trick of the light that had made it seem so. She couldn't find any possible reason as to why he would have stepped inside the apartment, unless he dropped in to see Sam? After all, Red had confessed they had been childhood friends at one stage.

"I thought we were meeting outside the Steuben Club once I finished?" she asked quietly in confusion. "Yet I just saw you exiting the apartment where I live with Sam?"

Red gave her a small smile as he turned back to glance at the building where she lived himself. The light in Sam's bedroom was on, she saw. Her father was still awake, which was odd. Usually he slept all through the day and night, only waking once he heard her get in so he could talk with her.

"Yes, and I suppose its another reason for my tardiness." He met her gaze, his voice low and rumbly, filled with sincere apology. "I had forgotten that we had arranged to meet at the Steuben Club. Rather instead, I came to your home to pick you up to take you mistakenly."

"Was my father up? Did you speak to him?"

"No, I didn't. I was merely waiting by the front door and saw that you weren't home so I decided to leave." He stepped closer, offering his arm to her again. "Now, shall we before it gets too late?"

She didn't hesitate to take his arm this time. She slipped her hand around his arm and held it, letting him lead the way towards the theater. He had sounded genuinely apologetic anyway, and she supposed it wasn't fair of her to hold a grudge due to his lateness.

Halfway towards the theater, she saw that he was looking at her, staring approvingly though she wasn't sure why. "I knew you would look beautiful in that dress," he said, making her flush with pleasure.

"Thank you," she mumbled, flattered. "And I suppose I should really thank you again for buying me the dress." She tried to hold his gaze so that he could tell how much she meant it. "No one has ever thought to buy me such... fancy gifts before. It's kind of you."

"Well, you are more than worth it, Lizzie."

"Oh, I don't know," she laughed nervously, glancing down at the sleeves on her dress. She played with the fur with her fingers. "I am really not used to wearing anything other than a two dollar dress. You can really feel the difference, with how... luxurious it feels against the skin."

He lifted his arm, catching her shoulder in his hand, pulling her in close to his side which made a pleasant tingle spread through her. "If I have my way, you'll never wear two dollar dresses ever again." His voice was serious and filled with determination, and when Liz peered up at him, he stared back into her eyes intently. "You deserve the very best, so that is what I am going to give you. The very best."

It was a bold declaration and Liz wasn't sure whether to laugh out loud in uneasiness. The man most definitely had a way with words and knew how to make her feel nice and cherished. It wasn't what Liz had expected, and it stunned her.

She found herself relieved once they reached the large, tan brick building of the theater place. Red held the door open for her, and Liz smiled thankfully as she went in first, the knot of nerves in her stomach seeming to be a constant companion. She hadn't been properly out with a man before, and, if she had to be honest, she hadn't once dreamed her first time out with a man taking her to the theater to watch a show would be with someone like him.

But it was surprisingly easy to push aside the fact that he was the man who graced front pages of the newspaper; that he was the criminal all the lawmen in the States were searching for. While being in his company and experiencing the way he treated her and was so chivalrous, it was like second-nature to conveniently forget just who this man was.

"I have reserved a private box for us, which had been assured to me was the best spot in the entire theater," Red explained to her.

When the man behind the desk seemed to recognize Red, he immediately walked behind it, showing them to where they would be viewing the show from. They went through a different entrance, up a flight of stairs, and then through a pair of curtains it opened up into a private area with four seats. As the man left them alone and they sat, Liz felt her heart speed up when Red reached over with his hand, finding one of hers and grasping it in his. He never let her hand go even once for the rest of the show, and Liz enjoyed every second of it.

Seeing a live show in a theater wasn't anything Liz had seen before nor experienced, so she found herself entranced by the performers on stage. Red had been right; It was the perfect spot to see them from. Every time something monumental happened, Red was leaning towards her, whispering a commentary in her ear that she both appreciated and welcomed. She didn't think she had ever met a man whose voice she had enjoyed listening to so much.

By the time it was over and people started to stand to fill out of the theater, she was disappointed. Liz had enjoyed it so much that she found she hadn't wanted it to end.

When she turned her head to glance at Red, she discovered that he was already watching her. "What did you think of that, Lizzie?" he asked, actually sounding as if he truly wanted to know her opinion. It made her feel special, like he valued her.

She grinned at him, a full bright smile. "Well, of course, I've never been to the theater before so its impossible for me to say. But I felt it was... amazing. The performers did a tremendous job and I enjoyed every second of it." She let her eyes roam around the box, amazed. "And you were... absolutely right. This really was the best spot to see it all. I'm surprised you didn't have to pay a fortune to reserve this area?"

"I did. You would be surprised how much money can get you if you throw it around in the right places." She felt guilty that he had probably spent so much and had gone to such efforts, but when she looked at him, she realized he didn't seem too concerned either way about it.

"Well, thank you," she said honestly. "That was great."

Outside of the theater and back onto the street, Liz was struggling to find a way to tell him goodnight. She really ought to have gone home to check on her father. She wasn't used to leaving him alone.

"Well, I better be off," she said hesitantly. "I better get home and check on my father. But thank you, it's been a... a swell night, really."

He checked his wrist watch before glancing back at her. "But its only ten o'clock? The night is still young and surely, there is plenty of time left for you to still get home and check on Sam." He was trying to talk her out of leaving, and she could see that. "I thought it would be nice if we had dinner?"

"I would love to spend more time with you and dinner sounds lovely, but... really, I shouldn't."

"Sam's a big boy, Lizzie," he said in an offhand manner. "I'm sure he'll be fine alone for a few more hours. Surely he can take care of himself."

"That's the thing though. He really can't." She felt embarrassed prattling on about how she had to get home to check on her father, but she really did need to. "He can't do anything himself anymore, not with how... sick he is." The idea of Sam being left alone for more than an hour worried her. "He needs me to do everything for him. Cook for him... feed him, making sure he can hold the food down. I'm sorry but I really do need to go."

"Fair enough then." He didn't sound too pleased about it, but he relented with a nod. "Be sure to arrive home safely."

He moved closer, gripping her arm with a hand as he moved his head down to leave a lingering kiss on her cheek. She smelled the rich and musky cologne he was wearing, and she found it difficult to move away and separate from him. His lips felt too good on her cheek. She would have liked to feel them on... other places.

When she stepped back with a tight-lipped smile, flushed, she glanced up at him. There was something there in his expression she didn't quite understand. It was impossible to know what that expression was, but Liz thought he appeared concerned for her, his lips pressed into a thin line. Moisture was gathering in his eyes, it seemed, like he was addled with a grief that she didn't understand.

"If you need me for any reason at all, you know where I'll be," he said hoarsely, and he reached out again with his hand to grip her arm. He squeezed down a little with his fingers, in a way that seemed consoling. "I'll be at the same hotel as you've been in. If you're unsure of what room it is or you can't remember, just ask the desk clerk."

His reaction both startled and confounded her. It was if he knew something she didn't yet, as if he was trying to placate her. It frightened her.

"Of course," she said quietly with a forced smile. "I know exactly what room you're in. Again, thank you for a wonderful night. The theater show was... amazing."

He squeezed down with his hand once more, and then finally, he let it fall to his side.

She was still frazzled by his peculiar reaction when she started walking towards home, under the safe glow of the streetlights. It really seemed as though he was apologizing for something, or perhaps he still had a guilty conscience about earlier on when he had been late to meet her? Liz was unsure, but a sense of dread trickled through her.

"Daddy?" she called, once she got in. When she stepped upstairs in her heels, walking along the hallway towards his room, that sense of dread wouldn't seem to leave her, though she didn't have any proper reason to feel anything was wrong. "Daddy, it's me. I'm home now?"

Usually Sam would call out, calling her sweetie pie, asking how her day was. If he was still asleep, she would hear his loud and raucous snores. She heard neither this evening.

The light was still on in his bedroom. When she crossed the entryway into his room, her father was...

A noise escaped her as a hand fluttered towards her mouth, covering it. Then another sound left her, and her hands shaking grew even worse when she realized what was happening.

Her father was in bed, but he wasn't sleeping as he usually was. One of his pillows was over his face. She couldn't hear him breathing. He wasn't making a single sound at all, and Liz immediately knew what that meant.

Her father was dead. Someone had... snuffed him out with his pillow, it seemed.

She wasn't brave enough to move towards the bed, to shove the pillow off his head to see his face. Seeing how he looked, how much he must have struggled to get the pillow free so that he could breath... it would be too much for her.

Instead, she stumbled backwards out of the room, spinning around to rush down the stairs, one hand still covering her mouth as she trembled.

"My father's dead," she announced numbly once Red opened the door to his hotel room, his face falling into a comforting mask of concern. "I... I got home and went to check on him, and he... he's dead."

His mouth opened and closed, as he seemed speechless on what to say to her. Then he moved aside, letting her in. No funny men were in his hotel room tonight, it was just him. Liz couldn't say she would have cared either way even if there had been anyone else in his room, like that off-putting Milos man.

"He... he had a pillow over his head," she muttered under her breath, standing still where she was. She found she couldn't be fussed doing anything, like sitting down or moving. She felt nothing but numb with shock. Paralyzed from the head straight down to her toes. "I... I think someone murdered him. They obviously came into the house and snuffed him out?"

She didn't fully break down and start crying until Red slipped his arms around her, pulling her in close, resting his chin against her forehead. She leaned her head against his chest as she heaved and sobbed, finding surprising comfort by being held in his arms. The cologne he was wearing alone seemed to engulf her like a warm embrace.

"I don't know what to do now," she said slowly. "What am I supposed to do now that he's gone? I... I did everything for him, and now he's gone?"

"You're going to be just fine, Lizzie." His deep, calm baritone voice was soothing on her. "You'll carry on without Sam, and you'll be fine. It's a... a natural part of life, losing someone." He lifted his arms from around her back and she felt him run his fingers softly through the strands of her hair. "I have lost... countless friends and acquaintances over the years and while you may never fully get over the grief and adjust to life without them, it does become somewhat... easier with time."

"I just ran out and left him," she admitted, her throat tightening as the guilt overwhelmed her. "I should have stayed but... I didn't want to. Not while he was laying there like that... with the pillow..." She trailed off, shivering at the memory.

"You don't need to go back, Lizzie. You can stay here, with me?"

She pulled back to look up at him, her eyes blurred with tears. A wet laugh that sounded too much like a sob escaped her. "Stay here with you?"

"Well, not here, exactly as I do need to leave. I can't remain stagnant in one place for too long. But you can come with me?"His eyes searched her face as he stroked her cheek with his fingertips tenderly.

"What? Tag along with you while you try to avoid every lawmen that you see?"

"That part comes with the lifestyle as well, of course." Red's jaw tensed, then slackened. "But above all that, you can come with me and you can leave Chicago and all that it represents behind. Sam is no longer holding you down anymore. You can start a new life, Lizzie, an... exciting life with endless possibilities. You can travel with me, see everything that you want. You can see whatever the hell you like, and we can go wherever you like, night or day, whenever. All you have to do is tell me when." Just the way he said it, in a wistful tone, it made the idea sound so enchanting and inviting to her. "It may not be a very... ordinary or quiet life, but I would like for you to join me? I think its very much the life you deserve."

Hope this was okay? :P I apologize if its boring or really bad! I still get so anxious when posting chapters on the stories I write.