"Twenty-six grand. Not bad for an hour of work." Len smirked and flipped through a strap of hundreds. He tossed it into the safe and locked it with a few satisfying clicks. The bar was busy that night, the rock music bled through the walls leading to an ever present thump of base. Mick had already made his way downstairs to celebrate their latest take and Len was eager to follow.
"Hey boss, what can I get you?" Len leaned on the bar and requested the usual domestic beer. He sipped on it quietly, surveying the rest of room. A good portion of the Rogues were present, it was a Saturday night after all. Their little hole in the wall was the only place the rogues could safely let loose.
Len was stirred from his thoughts by the sudden appearance of Mick beside him. He appeared to already have imbibed quite a few drinks.
"See anything you like?" Mick raised his brows toward Shawna. The lady rogue was wearing a rather revealing dress, leaving little to the imagination. Len let his gaze linger but found no real pleasure in it.
"I think I'll pass." He said lowly before taking another sip of his beer. Mick shrugged his shoulders before launching himself away from the bar.
"Alright, guess it's up to me." Mick said cockily before wandering to Shawna's side. Len rolled his eyes and turned back towards the bar, settling into a stool.
He fingered the condensation that had gathered on his beer lightly, rubbing the cool water between his fingers. A pit had settled into his stomach, and Len frowned as he tried to remember why it was there. They had had a successful day, making quick money off an armored truck. The bar had taken off with the rogues, bringing not only valuable connections but even more money. They had never been so cash rich before yet the strange twinge in his stomach refused to leave.
"So are you gonna sit here and brood all night?" Len leaned to his side and found Lisa lounging against the old wood of the bar. She stared at him with playfully narrowed eyes. He shook his head and gave her a cold look before turning back to his beer and taking a long sip.
"Are you gonna tell me what's wrong now or bottle it up until you're piss drunk?" Lisa turned toward the bar, leaning her elbows across it and grabbing a maraschino cherry from the other side.
"Can't a man drink a beer in peace?" Len grumbled, eyes narrowed as he began to pick at the beer label.
"Come on, Len. You know you can talk to me." Her voice was soft and serious. Len raised his eyes in irritation before slowly turning toward her.
"Yeah, I'm gonna pass on the touchy feely shit today." He pushed himself away from the bar and brushed past his sister, entering the long hallway. Lisa huffed behind him but didn't move to follow.
The stairs up to his bedroom creaked as he ascended. He didn't bother to flick on a lights as he strode through the dark, marching purposefully to his bed.
He unclipped the cold gun from his belt, tossing it haphazardly onto the small chair next to the window. Len flopped down and nursed more of the warming beer. His eyes began to droop as the alcohol hit him.
"This is never going to happen!"
His eyes popped open, and he glanced around the room to make sure he was alone. Len settled back into bed as he realized it was just a dream. The pit in his stomach grew, perhaps it was because he was not used to being rejected. But even Len knew that was not quite the truth...
Evelyn's wide brown eyes refused to leave the front of his mind. He could still see the way her chest rose with her breath when he told her what he had seen. The snarl on her lips as he tucked his fingers beneath her chin. And then the flicker of something else just before she pushed him away.
His breath stilled. That was it, the something else was why the pit refused to leave his stomach. Why he couldn't get her off of his mind even after a perfect day. Len knew what he had to do and he was never a man to beat around the bush.
A trip to the museum would do him good.
"What do you think it is?" Caitlyn quirked her head to the side as she admired one of the more questionable surrealist paintings in the new exhibit. Cisco sucked some soda out of the fast food container he had before narrowing his eyes at the jumble of colors and shapes. He cut Evelyn a quick side eye before a mischievous smirk lit up his face. Evelyn quirked an eyebrow at him suspiciously.
"I dunno, looks kinda...phallic." Evelyn stifled a laugh as her sister shot an icy glare toward Cisco and shook her head in disappointment. Cisco shrugged and moved onto the next painting, but not before sending Evelyn a secret smile.
"Alright, guys. I'm going to let you enjoy the rest of the exhibit on your own. I have to get back to work, Caitlyn, I'll call you later, okay?" She gave her sister a quick hug and gave Cisco a friendly wave before leaving to run upstairs.
Her office was dark and cramped, she hadn't quite worked her way up to a proper office yet. It was one that had been converted from a storage space so there was no windows. The only light she had from from the terrible florescent tubes on the ceiling. She hated the artificial blue light and used her little desk lamp instead which meant blindly crossing the three feet to her desk and switching it on.
She fumbled over to her desk in the darkness, careful not to knock over any of the leftover storage boxes that had been left behind from the conversion. Evelyn placed her hand out in front and reached for her chair but found her fingers mashing into something warm instead. She stumbled backward with a startled shout before bracing herself against a tower of boxes behind herself.
"What the fuck?" Her little desk light flipped on, blinding her momentarily. She blinked until her eyes adjusted and found a man standing over her desk. Evelyn found herself speechless for a few moments as she took in the rogue.
"What the actual fuck." She whispered before straightening up from her previous position. Len smiled at her, obviously amused at her confusion. When he did not respond Evelyn scrunched her face and placed a palm on her forehead.
"What did I do to deserve this?" She muttered before lifting her head to consider Len. "What could you possibly want?"
This time a chuckle left his lips. Evelyn sent him a tiny glare but waited for him to explain himself.
"I want to make you an offer." Len said slowly, the smile never leaving his lips.
"An offer? What could I need from you?" Evelyn said cautiously.
"Hang on, getting a bit a head of myself." He leaned his head to the side and tapped a finger against his lips as he considered his next words. "When was the last time you got laid?"
"I-excuse me?" Evelyn balked, "That's none of your business!" She hissed with disgust. A fierce blush was lighting up her cheeks.
"You don't have to tell me, I can tell it's been a while." He taunted lightly. Evelyn huffed angrily across from him. "Don't get your panties in a twist. It has been for me as well."
"So what?" Evelyn threw her hands in the air, obviously frustrated with the turn her day had taken.
"You can't deny that there's a certain connection between us." They locked eyes, Evelyn dreading his next sentence. "We can be there for each other when we...feel the need."
"Nope." Evelyn closed her eyes and shook her head, cheeks and ears now fully red. "No, no, nope. There's no way I'm going to be your little fuck buddy."
"Evelyn, I can see the way you look at me." Len looked at her with lidded eyes, taking in her reddened visage with great amusement.
"Yeah, no. Not going to happen. You abducted me for fucks sake! Jesus, dude." Evelyn started pacing the few steps she could around the front of her desk. "I don't even know why I'm not calling the police right now. You're a fucking rogue!"
"Sounds like you are trying to make excuses for your feelings, Evelyn." Len said softly before plopping down into the desk chair and toying with the small action figure on her desk. He eyed the Flash figurine critically before setting it down again.
"I don't know what you're talking about. You handcuffed me to a pole!" Evelyn hissed, her heart beating so loudly she was sure Len could hear it.
"Some people are into that." He smirked up at her, eyes narrowed suggestively. She shook her head at him, shocked.
"Get out." Evelyn pointed at the door, Len did as he was told, slowly rising from the chair. He walked around the desk and brushed softly by Evelyn but not before slipping a piece of paper into her jacket pocket.
He gave her one last smile and pushed his way out the door, hiding his face with sunglasses and his hood. Evelyn watched him go, scowl firmly in place. As soon as he was out of sight she pulled the paper from her pocket and carefully unfolded it.
In case you change your mind...
A number was scrawled just below the writing.
"Bastard." Evelyn rolled her eyes but not before tossing the paper onto the desk in front of her. He knew that she was going to reject him but he still had to nerve to ask her. She shook her head once more before deciding to take the rest of the day off. She wouldn't be able to get anything done now.
Two weeks had passed before Evelyn came across the note on her desk again. The new exhibit had been so consuming that Len's offer had slipped her mind. Well, more like she had been so set on forgetting it that she actually had. She moved to toss it into the trash but her fingers clung to it as she held it over the receptacle.
"You're being stupid, Evelyn." She whispered to herself, her stomach flipped and turned at the implications as she slipped it into her pocket. "Just in case the police need it someday..."
A knock on her office door shook her from her reverie. "It's open!" She said, a watched as her work friend Allison came in.
"Man, your office really sucks. We gotta do something about it." Evelyn shook her head before rising from her desk and pushing Allison out of her tiny room.
"It's my lot in life. Let's go, happy hour is almost over!" Allison chuckled and followed Evelyn to the train station.
One glass of wine was all it took for Evelyn to start fingering the note inside her pocket. One glass. So much for self control. It took all she had to listen to Allison discuss the intricacies of 18th century art for the next hour without excusing herself to furiously berate her mind for lingering on some asshole thief.
"Oh dang! Look at the time, I've got to catch the seminar at CCU." Allison hoped off of her bar stool before slapping a twenty on the counter. She swung her purse of her shoulder as she turned to hurry out of the restaurant. "I will see you on Monday, sorry I have to rush out of here!"
Evelyn shook her head and waved at Allison to go. She turned back to her empty wine glass and considered a refill. The bartender raised his brows at her questioningly but Evelyn gave a polite no and asked for the tab. She gave a generous tip before slipping out of the restaurant and into the cool evening air. Evelyn walked toward the fountain across the way.
Her hand never left her pocket, still clinging to the small forbidden promise within. Her mind repeated the mantra of 'don't you do it, don't you dare do it.'
She sat on the edge of the fountain and took a deep breath to fortify herself. The temptations waned, enough for her to get on the train and walk the rest of the distance home. She made it inside before the sight of her empty bed sent her mind back to how nice it would be to end her dry spell. The mantra was gone from her mind and she almost forgot all the objections she had to laying beside her kidnapper. Before she could stop herself her fingers had tapped the digits from the note and pressed dial. The silence before the first ring broke her from the spell her loneliness had cast over her and she hurriedly pressed end.
Evelyn barely had enough time to relax before her phone lit up, an all too familiar number on the caller ID. Time to face the music.
"Hello?" She asked timidly, her heart pounding mercilessly in her chest.
"I knew you would call." Len's voice was so smug she could imagine the smirk on his lips.
"Yeah, look, I didn't mean to call." Evelyn started but not before she heard a small chuckle.
"Right, you just happened to fall onto your phone and dial this number." Len said, voice laced with sardonic amusement.
"Fine, it was just a moment of weakness." Evelyn huffed. "But I obviously didn't go through with it!"
The line was quiet for a few moments.
"My place or yours?" Len said, voice deeper and more serious than it had been earlier. Evelyn felt a tingle run down her spine and toward her pelvis.
"Hey, I just said-"
"My place or yours, Evelyn?" He whispered her name roughly, making her bite her lip.
"Look-"
"Simple question, Evelyn." Silence settled between them for a few seconds before Evelyn opened her mouth to whisper;
"Mine..."
And the line went dead.
A/N: So the next chapter...yeah ;) Thanks for your patience, it made be so happy to see how many people love Captain Cold as much as I do. Please leave a review, favorite and follow if you dig the story so far! Thanks again, CQ.