What do you say-time we up the stakes a little bit? ;)
For the Spepper girls. :D
…0...
Ellie slipped easily past the other patrons of the club into the side hallway Spinner had chosen for them to meet. They were all too busy admiring the eye candy on the catwalk to notice where she was. It was dark and secluded there, the only illumination coming from the blinking strobe lights of the club moving in shifts along the wall where she was standing.
"Hey."
She jumped at Spinner's whispered voice behind her. She whirled; hand clutched to her chest, and whacked his arm with all her might.
"Ow," he said dryly. "What was that for?"
"You scared me half to death," Ellie hissed. Her heart had calmed slightly, her breathing back to normal, and she glared at him. "What's up?"
"Well, I had to tell my Lieutenant what was going on, how you showed up here the other night, and he was majorly pissed to say the least."
"Oh, Spin, I'm so sorry," she said quickly. "I never meant to get you in trouble."
Waving a hand dismissively, Spinner shook his head. "He would have found out eventually. But he did give me some things for you."
Well, that was intriguing. Ellie quirked an eyebrow, smirking at him. "Does this have anything to do with that little dance number?"
He grinned at her, sheepish and blushing, and placed a hand on the wall beside her head, leaning into her. "You have to admit, it was fun."
Ellie's lips pursed. She didn't need him to see the smile threatening to break onto her face. It had been fun. And also sort of … hot. Who knew Spinner had that kind of seduction ability in him? Had she been asked a few days earlier she would have said that she thought he as far too goofy to pull anything like that off. Now she knew better and it was very disconcerting to say the least. In all honesty, she was seeing Spinner in a whole new light.
"Why'd you tell him?" she asked. Spinner smirked at her, fully aware of what she was doing. It had gotten to her, their dance. It had him as well, though he had no idea what about it was causing such a strong reaction. Sure, Ellie was pretty. She was beautiful-not to mention smart and sweet when she wanted to be. But they were friends, only friends, and nothing more. Even the time he had gotten her to give him her phone number was really just about one upping Jimmy.
But up on the stage, amid the pounding music and the pulsating lights, it had certainly felt like something else. Something more.
Something decidedly … physical.
But Ellie's friendship was more important to him than just a passing spark so he took a step back from her and schooled his features into a neutral expression. "You remember the cop who came over for dinner a few weeks back?"
Ellie nodded. "Officer Simmons. What does she have to do with this?"
"Well apparently," he said, "she was here last night and she recognized you. So she followed us saw us talking back here. Told my Lieutenant."
"Did she happen to see this?" Ellie pulled the wide strap of her dress aside to reveal her collarbone. Spinner looked at the mark, remembered giving it to her, and cleared his throat.
"Sorry about that," he muttered. "Had to make it look believable."
She grinned at him. It seemed right that he was starting to get a little uncomfortable after what he'd done to her.
But the thought didn't last long as Spinner's head suddenly shot up, his eyes peering around intently. His hand went to his hip, looking for his gun but finding only the fake he wore as part of his costume. When she opened her mouth to ask what was going on he held a hand up to silence her. She obliged, one look at his face telling her that this was no joke. His jaw was tightly clenched, eyes darting around rapidly. A shadow around the corner of the wall moved-too quickly to be coincidental and he reacted.
The next thing Ellie knew, she was pressed up against the wall just like the night before, Spinner flush against her. However, the circumstances were completely different. Every inch of Spinner was against hers, but his face was turned to the side while he looked for whatever it was that was out of the ordinary. The strobe lights turned, casting a blue light over his face in waves as she looked up at him and her stomach turned over. Ellie didn't know if it had anything to do with the lights, or proximity, or that dance-but Spinner looked predatory and aggressive and unequivocally … male.
"Who's there?" he called out. Ellie shivered at the gravely tone that accompanied it.
A high-pitched giggle came from the shadows and a figure staggered towards them. "Sorry," the voice, female and young, slurred. She came closer and they saw that she was just a kid really, no older than sixteen, and obviously hammered. "I jus waned to see what goesh on back h-here. Byedy-bye." She turned, slipping a little in her stiletto heels and wandered back out to the floor.
Spinner released a breath and then chuckled. "I think I'm getting a little paranoid." Glancing down at Ellie, he noticed that her eyes were fixed on him. She looked … somewhat mesmerized. "Ellie?"
"Oh." A deep blush crept up her neck, spreading through her cheeks, and she turned her head to the side. She was mortified to say the least. Even more so than she had been the night before when that bouncer had caught them in the exact same hallway.
Their closeness seemed to register to him and he took a step back. Ellie moved away from the wall. It was far too confusing to be in that hallway.
Scratch that. It was too confusing to be around Spinner in that hallway as he kept shoving her up against the wall.
"This is too open." His voice interrupted her thoughts and she looked at him in surprise. He took hold of her hand and pulled her down the hallway in the opposite direction from the main floor. The hall got narrower but brighter and doors began dotting the walls. He stopped near the end, opening the door for her to go through and followed her inside, shutting the door behind him.
"What was with the freak out?" she asked. It was a much safer topic than whatever had just transpired out in the hall.
He plopped onto the couch in the corner of what she assumed was his dressing room. There was a chair against the opposing wall so she sat there-if only to get a little distance. She watched as he rubbed a hand over the back of his neck like he was distracted, his eyes on the floor in front of him.
"Spinner?" she prodded.
"I um … I was afraid somebody might have been on to us," he muttered.
Ellie leaned back in her chair. "Okay. I get that. So why go all Macho Man? You looked ready to take someone's head off."
Eyes shifting around the room, everywhere but at her, Spinner nervously replied. "I'm just not used to having someone else to look after when I'm on assignment. I just … got scared."
A little bit of Ellie melted at his sincerity. Spinner when he wasn't acting like a goof was sweet. Always had been. And the protective streak was nothing new. He was just being himself. But this was the first time she'd actually noticed.
"So um, you said that you had something for me?" she said. A change of subject was good. Safe.
Spinner jumped off the couch. "Oh!" Digging around in the black duffel bag she and Marco had been speculating about the night before, he finally extracted a small stack of papers and handed to her.
She flipped through them, glancing back up at him, and arched an eyebrow. "Is this really necessary?" Ellie held up the driver's license bearing her picture and Ash's name as an example. "ID? Checks? Do I really need this stuff?"
He shrugged, the material of his shirt shifting with the movement in its unbuttoned state. "You never know. At any rate they can't hurt, right?"
"I guess not." Idly, she inspected the rest of the documentation he'd brought her-credit card, birth certificate, high school diploma, college schedule at NYU-where Ash was currently enrolled.
"Spin, I don't think I need all this. I mean, I get why they'd do a background check on you. But me?" Her expression was dubious and he smiled at her in that know it all way he knew she hated. "You never know what these kind of people are capable of."
He got an evil glare from her in return before her face cleared and she dug into the small evening bag she had with her. "In that case, where can I hide this?" She held up a minute microphone, no bigger than an earring, and awaited his answer.
"Where'd you get that?" Spinner took it out of her palm and held it to his eye in inspection.
Smiling cheekily, her tongue poking through her teeth, Ellie snatched it away from him. "You like this, huh?" She had nearly forgotten about Spinner's fascination with gadgets of any kind.
"Yeah," he replied. "So does thing really work?"
"No. It's just designed to look pretty," she stated flatly. She spun around, scanning the appropriate place to hide it. "Where can I put it?"
Spinner turned around, peering about the room like she was. He stopped, plucking the device out of her hand. There was a low shelf beside the closet, littered with a small stereo and several CD's. He arranged the discs so they were in a small triangular shape, casting a shadow along the side of the stereo and placed the microphone far enough back in the little conclave so it was hidden. "Will that work?"
Ellie extracted her cell phone from her bag and punched in the code that would allow her to listen. She plugged in the corresponding earpiece, placing it in her other ear so it would block out all other outside noise. Hearing static and the muted club music coming through her phone. "It worked." She beamed at him and handed over the phone so he could see it for himself.
"This is so cool." The enthusiasm he was showing wasn't what one would expect from a police officer but it was a hundred percent Spinner and completely endearing. "Where'd you get this?"
"Online," she replied simply.
"Ah."
The sound of footsteps in the hallway cut into their conversation, growing louder and finally stopping outside of Spinner's dressing room. There was some muffled conversation, and Spinner was forced to grab Ellie's elbow to stop her from pressing her ear to the door. One of the voices was lower than the rest, and sounded a little broken like he had an accent.
"Crap," Spinner whispered. "It's Anotonelli."
"The mob guy?" Ellie hissed. "What are we gonna do? It sounds like he's coming in here."
Spinner's eyes darted around; searching desperately for somewhere Ellie could hide. They weren't allowed to have visitors of any sort in their dressing rooms-especially 'customers.' But the only place that seemed even feasible was the closet. But being that he had agreed to put one of the other guy's super expensive car parts that he was hiding from his wife, there was no room for her in it.
The door knob wiggled, both of their eyes flying towards it, and the door opened partially. They could hear the voices clearly now, discussing liquor orders, and they most definitely were coming in.
Seeing no other option for a believable cover, Ellie placed both of her hands on Spinner's chest and shoved him down onto the couch, the soft leather squeaking with the shift in weight. Before he could protest, she settled herself onto his lap, hands going to his face as she kissed him deeply and his palms fell to her thighs, exposed where her dress had hiked up.
In the back of her mind she registered the voices growing louder outside the door of Spinner's dressing room but they were slightly dimmed by the feeling of Spin's fingers digging into her thighs and his mouth sliding hungrily against hers like …
Well, almost like it was a real kiss.
But she couldn't focus on that. One hand slid up his face, tangling into his hair, and the other skimmed down his neck and onto the strip of skin bared by his unbuttoned shirt. She felt rather than heard Spinner inhale sharply through his nose and one of the hands on her thigh dug a little deeper, moving upwards under the hem of her dress. Then she felt fingers dancing along her shoulder blades, taking full advantage of the fact that her dress was backless.
"Ahem."
Ellie broke away from a dumbfounded looking Spinner and scrambled off his lap. The blush flooding her face was genuine and she averted her eyes in an attempt to look like she had been caught in a compromising situation unintentionally.
Antonelli looked like every stereotypical mob movie come to life with his dark Italian suit, deep tan, and slicked back hair. And he was eyeing Ellie with a bemused expression that deeply unnerved her. She crossed her arms over her chest in discomfort. It felt like he and all three of his goons was trying to see through her dress.
"Jim," he said to Spinner in heavily accented English, "you know the rules about guests."
"I know." Spinner stood and buttoned his shirt. Wiping idly at the lipstick o his mouth, he gave Ellie a look that read like genuine regret that they were being forced to cut their 'interlude' shirt. "Um, Ash," he muttered, "do you mind?"
It took a few seconds for her to realize that he was speaking to her. When it finally sunk in, she grabbed her purse hurriedly, making sure that her phone and earpiece were safely concealed. "Oh. Of course not. I'll, uh, talk to you later."
He nodded and she scurried out the door, waiting until she was safely out the main door before putting her earpiece in and turning the phone on.
…0...
Eh. Writer's block is tough to get over and it sure read that way, huh?