Just What I Needed

[Kitty Cordel]

The sultry voice of a lounge singer floated around the smoke shrouded patrons. Most of them weren't even listening to her, they were just engrossed in their own little worlds and conversations. Her very best jazz set had gone unnoticed, nothing more than background music to them. She really needed a better gig. These people were here for dark dealings and stiff liquor, not to listen to dulcet tones and a soft piano.

Just last week she had almost walked out, a bar fight had gotten out of the bouncers control and a blaster bolt had shot passed her and put a neat whole through the shimmery blue curtain behind her. It was still there. Somehow she had been roped into coming back, but her days here were numbered. It was not the kind of place one aspired to working at.

As the last notes of her song ended, a few people managed a polite bit of applause. Kitty Cordel bowed and walked off the stage only to be grabbed immediately in a rough embrace.

"Hey lover, you were perfection tonight babe."

"I'm not your lover. Not anymore. Get your hands off me."

She shoved past her ex-boyfriend and refused to be intimidated by him. Kitty had caught him cheating on her and confronted him about it. She'd had to call in sick that night due to a split lip from the fight that ensued. She reallly didn't care anymore, He was just another in a long line of men who were never right for her. She was a magnet for the wrong sort. A beacon for bad guys, as it were.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that little smack. You know I love you. How will you get by without me?"

"Listen, Rob. I hate to break it to you but I've already replaced you, okay? I have a line of guys who don't smack girls around that were dying to fill your shoes, so go learn how to be a man and leave me alone okay?"

Without a word she shifted the curtain she had just passed through aside and emerged back on the stage. She needed to stay away from Rob, he wouldn't touch her in the crowded bar. Kitty picked up the skirt of her form fitting sequined black dress and descended the stage stairs, towards the bar. She prayed some hapless guy would be at a table alone and would be willing to play along with her.

Then she saw him. Her blue eyes widened a bit. He was so.. pretty. Far too much for her to resist even if she hadn't needed the help. Sliding into the seat opposite the most gorgeous guy in the place tonight, Kitty beamed a dazzling smile and leaned forward, praying he wasn't waiting on a girlfriend. With his looks, he probably was.

"Hello honey, how was your day?" Wow... he has the prettiest eyes ever..

[Alexander Mirit]

The Dorian Quill was a most delightful conversion when compared to the other alcoholic beverages he usually consumed within a night. This evening, he was taking it rather yieldingly. No deal brokers to clutter his table or prudes to flutter about his head like buzzing insects from Krant. No, he was all alone tonight. Able to listen to the sensuous song of the young miss on the stage and enjoy his drink. Many of the patrons recognized him, keeping their distance for their own sakes, and behaving themselves accordingly in his presence. Perhaps they could discern his mood better than the usual crowd flocking about him. The staff was a bit rigid in their mannerisms, fumbling out various titles that they thought to attach to him.

They have no idea..

He almost smiled at his thoughts that were left incomplete when he was distracted by a drop of the spiced liquid on his suit jacket. He swiped it up the length of the pinstripe it had landed on, willing it not to leave much damage to the Dramassian Silk. It didn't. Not that he didn't have the pocket change to fix such a mishap.

His hand, bound comfortably with sullust leather to shroud the infiltrator gloves beneath, moved across his collar bone to unsnap one of his veda pearl buttons on the black shirt beneath his coat. The open spread a bit more beneath his wandering fingers and he leaned a bit more indolently in the lounge chair. That same hand wandered up the side of his neck and grazed the neatly trimmed hair at his nape, twining in the soft blonde brown locks that curved there.

Suddenly, he became aware that the music had halted, this realization brought about by the few people around him clapping for the girl's enchanting performance. He watched as she disappeared behind the curtain and then came back out moments later. She didn't look too pleased. Something upsetting had happened? His brow knit downward in thought and then he turned his eyes away from the diva. It was really none of his business. At least, it hadn't been until she plopped into the chair at his table opposite of him.

He lifted his gaze again, allowing it to wander freely over her pleasing features. His expression did little to reveal what he thought of her. In fact, one might deem it stoic. However, for just a moment, after reifying the affectionate term she had laid upon him thickly, his silvery white eyes flickered. He was silent for several moments and then he turned his head, taking in the stout man rapidly approaching their precise location. His eyes were focused on the woman who had obviously placed herself so to escape such a lack-luster brute. Instinctively, the hand hidden beneath the table still caressed the blaster tucked into the holster fastened to his side.

"My day was tolerable. Can I get you something to drink, love?" He asked, the last word purred and heavily accented. He was certain the man was listening quite thoroughly. He didn't like him. Not at all. He turned his head back, flashing the girl a mischievous grin.

[Kitty Cordel]

Holding back the sigh of gratitude and relief, Kitty leaned forward resting her elbow on the table and her cheek on her gloved hand. She knew Rob was right behind them and didn't care, Mr. Pretty Eyes, whoever he was, was willing to play along for now.

"I'd love a drink. Whatever you are having looks good." Knowing she had to make this convincing she scooted closer and trailed a finger down her hero's cheek.

"I missed you." Taking a breath of courage, Kitty pressed her lips to his, expecting to find his startled and unresponsive. She had not counted on soft, warm lips that made her suddenly wish she was't sitting here out of necessity. What a man..

He smelled good, like expensive colonge and spiced liquor. She could taste his drink on his lips and became lost in the moment, forgetting about Rob completely. Until she heard him give a snort of disgust knowing he truly had been replaced and the heavy footfalls of his steps walking away, and out the doors.

Kitty fell back in her seat and pressed her fingertips to her temples. She could already feel a splitting headache coming on. It was explanation time.

"I am so sorry.. Thank you so much for playing along. Some creeps just can't take no for an answer."

[Alexander Mirit]

With an adroit gesture from his right hand, that nearly grazed her middle in it's low sweep, he alerted one of his shadow dwelling attendants his admission of her order and curious behavior. The gentle caress at his cheek and the burning jealousy at his back caused his lips to draw upward once more before her silken mouth pressed flush against the satyric expression delineated. He did not touch, though that same hand did lift and pause just before the corresponding side of her slender face. She was sweet to his spice, cool to his warmth, and she even shone a little light on his darkness with her all together startling presence. His sterling eyes would never betray such endearing facts, however; Even as they remained locked upon her own throughout the duration of their interlude.

She slipped away from him but before she could settle, his gloved hand was placed, fingers curved ever so slightly, beneath his stubble dusted chin. His elbow slid down the arm of the chair as he lounged back more comfortably and his ankle came to rest upon the knee of his adjacent leg. For several moments, he just observed her, taking in her fidgeting without much outward reaction. Always without reciprocation.

"And you are so sure that I am not one of these creeps?" He asked, canting his head deeper into his knuckles. Her drink arrived and a flash of his eyes silently approved its placement on the table before his guest.

"It was no trouble, actually. I was beginning to think my night quite sobering, despite the degree of my liquor choice. Not only was your act riveting, but most convincing as well. I am certain now that you not only miffed your former beau, but intrigued your prop as well."

[Kitty Cordel]

When her glass arrived she didn't even ask what it was, just swirled the drink around a bit and tossed back a quick sip with a grin. She already knew that she approved of the spicy flavor and it would forever remind her of him now. She replied candidly to his taunting questions and casual flirtation with a bit of her in her slightly scratchy voice.

"Well, you sure don't seem cut from the same cloth as Rob. Even if you are a creep, which is still in debate mind you.. You don't seem the kind of creep that a girl says 'No' to."

She sat back in her chair and crossed one leg over the other, folding her hands on her lap and regarding the man before her. Ten minutes ago all she wanted to do was go back to her closet of a dressing room and take the gaudy dress off, get her own clothes back on and call it a night. Now however a set of pretty silver eyes sttled on her just so? She seemed inclined to want to stay!

"Thanks, for saying so. About the show I mean. I did have bigger ambitions than a seedy place like this. It's a paycheck though, a girl has to pay the bills. I just can't seem to attract the attention of anything better, stuck here as I am.."

"As for my other performance.."

Kitty winked. "That was nothing. "

She extended her hand with a smile. "Kitty Cordel. It is a pleasure to have met you Mister...?"

[Alexander Mirit]

For several moments, those sterling eyes just remained fastened to the hand she had offered along with her introduction. His expression hinted no signs of distaste for the gesture nor the lurking suspicion he might relay to any other wretch flouncing about society. She certainly wasn't a dandy, as surely he had been previously branded. But, unlike the others that tended to flock about his mysterious and excessive life style, he wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty. Or, in this fortunate case, caressed by the invitation of her smooth palm. The irony of his thoughts were assured when he slipped his gloved hand into her own. It wasn't that he feared the taint upon himself; the blood, the warmth, the evidence. He was, however, abject when it came to the contagion of such a bittersweet past, his secrets, unto the trusting; death, lies, and love or something like it.

The position of his firm clasp about her own was anything but mundane. His index finger settled along the prominent vein on the underside of her wrist. Nearly at once, his grip loosened and slid down the length of her flattened palm, that same digit running along the smooth flesh beneath until he could capture the last knuckles with the slant of it.

"Alexander Mirit. Though, I would not be against you calling me Alec." He replied at long last, phasing a glance down to the limb he held captive. Bowing his head over it, those eyes flickered back up to meet her own before he allowed its release. "You mentioned your dislike of this particular lounge. Perhaps you'd be interested in a new position? Your siren song would surely lure many more clients to my establishment. It might even befuddled their senses long enough for me to actual win at the rounds."

Trouble was his philosophy. A little taint never hurt anyone too badly.

[Kitty Cordel]

Holy smokes! She knew who he was, he owned half the district! Kitty suddenly felt silly sitting there, she suspected her mouth was agape and covered her reaction by finishing her drink in a single gulp. "You don't say..."

Now she was faced with the decision to either gracefully retreat or ponder whether or not he was serious. This could be the break she needed to get out of this dump and into a nice establishment. She didn't want to use this man though, she had heard that bad things happened to people who crossed him. Kitty gulped, mentally. She didn't sense any threat from him immediately though, in fact his touch on her hand and wrist was warm, soft.. almost tender.

"Well, Mr. Mirit.. I mean, Alec.. I don't know quite what to say!" She really wanted to ask what a classy guy like him was doing in a dump like this, but instinct told her she'd be healthier not knowing the answer.

"It's all very sudden, but I do want to get out of here and some place more productive to a career." She laughed.