Chapter 2 : Delicate Beauty

“Let them in, Fred”

The guy in the front, clutching a cigarette with his right hand and stroking his overgrown beard with the left, ordered the bouncer, staring at Fiona with his lustful eyes. The smug look on his face made her face twist with anger and disgust.

Fiona turned her face away, shrugging her shoulders and gestured Neil to get over with it fast, ignoring the scoundrel behind her. After confirming their identity and ticket, Fred gave them access to enter the club.

“How dare that bitch to turn a blind eye towards me?”

Levi shouted while glaring at the backs of those teens who just entered the club and followed suit, tossing the cigarette butt aside, swearing under his breath.

“Levi! We should go to the basement.”

Finn stopped Levi before he can head towards the top floor, to remind him why they were here in the first place and that is to negotiate a deal with the arms dealer. They shouldn’t make any mistakes because he didn’t want to even wonder what will happen if they fail.

“Only after dealing with that chick.”

He was a complete jerk and Finn knew it already thus complained to his master and also, Levi joined the clan only a few months ago yet he was assigned for such an important task. It’s impossible to understand Master’s actions.

Levi does his work correctly but his weakness is his lust. Whenever he saw a beautiful woman, he had to bed them either by hook or crook and now he had set his eyes on that black dress girl. That’s how he lived before joining the clan and if he thinks that he could live like his old self even after being a member of the clan, he’s a fool.

Thiago met Ria who is waiting for them at the bar counter. He introduced her to his friends and ordered drinks to everyone. They sat at a corner table which was reserved for them ahead to celebrate.

The girls were gossiping about other girls swaying on the dance floor, being dictated by music and the mood. The feeling of letting oneself go and just dance our hearts out thinking everything will be fine and just smiling. Such a beautiful feeling. Meanwhile Neil just sat there gazing at his girlfriend as she was chatting with the girls because he can’t talk to Thiago as he was busy flirting with Ria.

Just then the drinks arrived and the six of them held their glasses together, “To our graduation” and squealed before downing them. Fiona shook her head as the cold liquid burned down her throat.

“That was awesome”

Everyone agreed except Fiona as she didn’t like that burning feeling after drinking. She always prefers wine but today she wanted to try vodka as Thiago suggested but no it’s not for her. She was a wine girl since she was fifteen and will always be a wine girlie.

She put her glass down shaking her head.

“I can’t guys. I want wine”

“What? No way. This is our party, Fiona. We should get wasted with the booze”

Gwen complained placing the drink in Fiona’s hand.

“NO! I am getting wine. That’s it.”

She excused herself and went to the bar counter. Darla shrugged her shoulders, sighing on witnessing their exchange.

It was Fiona’s fifteenth birthday and her wish that year is to taste alcohol and as her dear friend, Darla was all in and she even sneaked in a wine bottle to the party which was stolen from her mother’s kitchen cabin. That’s when Fiona first tasted wine and she never liked anything that much and she didn’t even taste other drinks and didn’t want to until tonight.

“Round two?”

“Yay!!!!”

They downed another round and then another while Fiona stood at the counter for her wine as the bartender went to fetch a new bottle, after politely asking her to wait for a few minutes. She squinted her eyes a little as the disco lights pierced through them.

She started to tap her slender fingers to the pop music rhythmically playing around there while eyeing people aimlessly, letting her thoughts wander.

Everyone is enjoying, drinking until they can’t think straight, dancing until their legs give out, whereas she feels so dispirited, why?

She then remembered her unfinished painting and sighed. She was trying to get through it for days now but always got distracted by her thoughts. She should complete it tomorrow at any cost.

She has this passion for sketching and painting since childhood. At that time when she made her mind to sketch something, she couldn’t move from that place until it’s done and perfect. Although those were simple ones suitable for her age, she was so concentrated on her art, trying to put her imaginations on paper but currently her thoughts were in chaos.

She wants to pause them by giving attention to what’s in front of her eyes instead of what’s on her mind and succeeded only for a good-few-minutes. How good would it be if she just stayed in her childhood forever? Maybe she should do a painting dictated by her thoughts. That might help.

Her peaceful moments were interrupted by the scoundrel she met outside the club. All of a sudden, he came out of nowhere and held her hand, resting on the counter before pulling her up and away from the counter.

Fiona widened her eyes, screaming at the sudden movement. Before she can grasp what’s going on, the bastard dragged her towards the stairs behind the bar counter. She immediately held the railing when saw one, refusing to take another step and that was when she saw the face of the culprit.

“Want to have fun?”

Levi asked, winking at her with a disgusting smirk playing on his lips. Fiona’s eyes turned red with fury, lifted her right leg and kicked his balls hard.

Finn and his men were dumbfounded to see their mate getting hit by a lady nonetheless. Their shock made them glue to their spot for a quite some time unable to process what just happened and how is it even possible. She looked so docile but Levi was a trained guy, yet he was at the receiving end of pain from a fragile looking teenage girl.

“You bastard. How dare you touch me?”

Fiona rubbed her wrist in revulsion, cursing at him. The audacity of this asshole to lay his filthy hand on her. She lifted her right palm and slapped him with all the strength she could muster up. It was totally unexpected for Levi who was already dwelling in suffering, clutching his groin with his hands, face scrunched up in pain. He could do nothing to dodge it.

The music and darkness in the club swallowed the commotion happening there. Neil who sensed Fiona’s absence at the bar counter stood up instantly, worried, to search for her, followed by Darla with a drink in her hand.

It took almost thirty seconds for Levi to get hold of himself and realise what just occurred right now. His eyes widened with fury when he registered the shame this girl brought to him in front of his mates and immediately took out a gun from his jacket, pointing at Fiona.

“You have the nerve to hit me? Me!?”

Levi shouted pointing his index finger at himself and slowly pulled the trigger, laughing maniacally “you are dead bitch.”

He was about to shoot at her when Finn who came out of his dumbstruck state, pulled the gun from Levi’s hands fast enough to stop the unnecessary drama which might end by them being killed by Master.

“Levi! You know the rules”

Finn yelled at him, glaring hard for his stupidity. It was him who started all this in the first place and yet he was ready to bring them all down along with him.

Fiona on the other hand didn’t even flinch when she saw the gun pointed to her forehead, a mere inches away. She stood straight with chin out and face held high, showing no vulnerability. Her face held an unknown confidence that she will be out of here in one piece that she can dodge a bullet if it ever fired.

“Finn, stay out of my way. I should kill her now”

Levi tried to snatch the gun back from Finn but he didn’t let him. He shook his head before uttering “Master would kill all of us if you harm the public.”

A shiver run down Levi’s spine on hearing the word ‘Master’. He can’t dare to cross his Master’s rules but how can he let this one go. The embarrassment is too much to ignore and he can still feel his balls crying in pain because of this whore standing before him, smirking, provoking him to do something if he can. She thinks he can’t do anything? That smug look on her face says everything.

“Coward bastard” Fiona muttered under her breath before turning around but still Levi heard it. He pushed Finn away who stood in between him and Fiona before darting towards her.

Neil and Darla who saw Fiona slapping a bulky guy backed by few other bulky guys, were terrified for her friend and swiftly reached her side just in time to push that scoundrel who’s advancing towards Fiona and quickly covered their friend behind them, protecting her.

The bartender who came back with the wine bottle called the manager as soon as he saw the gun pointing at a civilian.

“Are these two your dogs, bitch? Did you hire them to save you?”

Fiona who decided to spare him a while ago, laughed out loud clapping her hands. Some idiots wouldn’t learn from their mistakes and even a double-punches won’t work on them. She stretched her hands, cracking her knuckles, preparing herself for a real fight.

As she was trying to push her friends aside and step up in front, Neil stopped her with his hand and spoke, “Hey dude! We are trying to save YOU, not my friend so just back off before she breaks you.”

Not only Levi, his pals too were astonished hearing Neil’s words. They all gave a glance at Fiona who looks like a delicate beauty with a mocking gaze. Can this kid really fight with a goon like Levi? They definitely doubt it. The first kick and a slap caught Levi off guard but now he was provoked and won’t take it easy.

On the other hand, Darla broke in cold sweat looking at Fiona’s angry face. She may look pretty and innocent on the outside but only she and her friends knew how dangerous Fiona can be.

Fiona spent most days of their middle school, fighting with guys who hit on her and then later in detention. She is beautiful and guys used to try every trick possible to get her reciprocate their feelings. Sometimes they went overboard and that’s when Fiona would unleash her fists on them, later guys fought as their pride was provoked but only ended up beaten by her.

Fiona never liked anyone to approach her with romantic feelings. She was like a Tom boy in the group. When they came to High School, her reputation has spread enough for any guys to approach her in the name of love so eventually her fighting quests came to an end but today is like waking up that sleeping warrior after a long time.

Levi laughed out loud, holding his stomach with one hand while pointing his index finger at Fiona and then at him, making ‘you beat me?’ gesture to prove that he didn’t believe Neil’s threat.

“You knew how to fight? Hah…Haha… You think you can fight me”

Even the men behind Levi started laughing foolishly along with him. Fiona took few deep breaths, clenching and unclenching her fists to stop herself from exploding then and there. She then tried to step forward again only to be stopped by Neil.

He turned towards her and whispered, “We are here to celebrate Fiona, not to pick a fight. So, let’s end it here. You already kicked him I guess.” hoping it will convince her to drop the idea of fighting.

When Neil and Darla searched for Fiona earlier, they found her, slapping Levi who was already wailing in pain, clutching his groin. That’s how Neil realised that slap is just a bonus and the actual reward was already given before that.

Neil then faced Levi before saying “Let’s end this here, mister. We don’t want to drag this any longer. We have to go” he then eye signalled Darla to take Fiona away from here, nodded at Finn before walking away with the girls. Darla carefully dragged Fiona away, afraid that she would go back again to beat the pulp out of that crap.

“Enough Levi. We should go. Now.”

Finn stopped Levi with a hard pull on his shoulder, when he was about to follow the kids, still not willing to let it go.

Levi paused, gritting his teeth while glaring at Fiona’s back, mumbling “I’m not done with you yet, bitch. I’ll come back for you again.” He then turned around, rushing to the basement along with his men, to complete the given task.