"Jacob?" a voice called out and he winced inside, remembering his Rule #1 and putting his best smile up on the outside. Rule # 1 went something like "never show weakness, no matter how much it hurts". His Dad, or at least the guy who claimed to be him, sometimes visited the orphanage and taught him the rules. Since he wasn't a great fighter, he had focused on his smarts and had grown into what he thought was a pretty good "people person." Jacob had to hand it to the old man, he had learned a lot from that old bastard.
"Jacob! What the hell are you doing in here?"
The voice belonged to Angela, the most beautiful woman he had ever known and he admired her like an idiot as he dripped in the doorway. Her shoulder length wavy hair was raven black and her dark blue eyes were the deepest he had ever seen. If there had been one person in the world that he wished he could be with all the time, it would have to be her. Of course, she didn't feel the same way about him. Those days were gone along with a lot of other things.
"Answer me, you son of a bitch!" she snarled as she tossed a towel onto a brass faucet and ducked under the dark wood counter piece to come at him. He smiled again and tried to turn on the charm, but knew it wasn't going to work even before he started. After all, you can't charm a charging hog.
"Hi Angel," he answered, smiling at her as she stormed up to him. Jacob picked up the perfume she was wearing from all the other scents in the room and remembered when he had paid five hundred credits for the smuggled bottle. He wasn't too surprised that she had kept it, unlike everything else she had tossed, because she liked the expensive gifts.
"I wanted a drink and a quiet place to think, that's all," he added.
"Bullshit!" she snapped at him, flailing her arm. "You know you can't come in here!"
Shit, he thought to himself. This wasn't working and the arm waving had caught Bull's attention. Angela could handle nearly anything herself, but that signal meant she wanted the big black man's attention and he doubled in size as he rose from his stool. Jacob had maybe fifteen seconds before he would be in need of serious medic attention.
"Look Angel-" he started, but she cut him off, going completely irate.
"NEVER CALL ME THAT AGAIN!" she yelled, slapping his chest hard enough that it stung and took his breath.
"Wait, give me a chance!" he yelled back, holding up his hands and trying to head her off. Bull had taken a moment to pull his baseball bat out from under the bar, the one with the rivets and metal bands, and would be here in seconds. Jacob saw that as a really good benchmark for how badly she was hurting and how badly he was about to. The big man used to be a Trade enforcer, so he knew his business and Jacob fought the instinct to run.
"HERE! WAIT!" he pleaded and reached into his jacket, but she pinned his arm to his chest and slammed him backwards onto an empty table. For such a small woman, she had the attitude of a Stormer and used her strength like one. For the time being, he wasn't the least bit afraid, but that would change as soon as the bouncer got here.
"I got 'em," Bull said as he appeared above Jacob's head with the bat in his hands. The light shone off the edge of his the shaven head like an eclipse, throwing the shadow over his eyes. One of those big calloused hands came down and pressed his shoulder to the table like a spike as Angela let go.
"Gonna pop your face like an eggshell!" Bull said as he hefted the bat. The bouncer always acted like Angela was his little sister and loved to dish out the payback where she was concerned. As if the sadistic son of a bitch needed a reason.
"WAIT! WAIT!" Jacob yelled, the fear in his voice real as he lost his composure. With Angela's hands gone, he was able to fish out the envelope he had been reaching for and held it up. "HERE! IT'S FOR YOU!"
Bull had cocked the bat over his shoulder like he was going to pound a nail, but paused when Jacob held up the envelope. Angela looked at it and then gingerly took it from his fingers.
"It's for you," he repeated, forcing calm back into his voice. "It's sort of an apology and it's so you'll let me come in and drink tonight."
Angela glanced inside at the wad of bills and closed it before tucking it into her pocket. Her eyes were hard and the blue fire he saw in them was a different sort than the type he used to love, being colder than ice. Until that moment, Jacob had hoped that he might be able to schmooze his way back in, but what he saw told him his chances. Not only was he out, someone else was in.
"Just for a few hours," he blurted, trying to set back up, but Bull easily held him in place with a minor flex of his arm. "Only a few hours and then I 'll be gone forever, okay? For old time's sake, please?"
Her face softened slightly and she nodded at Bull who let go of him with a curse. Jacob knew that the big man would have loved to hit him even once, but wouldn't do it without Angela's say so. And to think that they had been friends once, Jacob mused. Hell, it was his idea to hire the big man in the first place.
"Okay," Angela said with her soft voice. "You can drink for a couple hours, but then you're out of her for good. If I see you again, you belong to Bull. Understand me?"
Jacob nodded and sat up on the table, watching the two of them go back to where they were before everything hit the fan. The staring patrons gradually found something more interesting to look at and in a few moments,
the room was back to normal. He let out his breath and took in the gentle lighting and the new décor. Angel had redecorated and improved the bar, putting her mark on everything and wiping out his. He smoothed his jacket and got to his feet with as much dignity a guy who just got his ass kicked by a 5' 2" ex-dancer could.
"On the bright side," he said under his breath as he checked his watch. "There's still time for a drink and I could use it."
Jacob walked towards the bar, carefully applying eye contact and smiles to the people as he passed. The décor wasn't the only thing that had changed and the clientele was now a higher cut of people, with absolutely no fucking non-humans. He wasn't dressed for this type of place and felt uneasy until he remembered Rule # 2 - when uncomfortable, hide it with panache. He kicked up the charm again and several patrons smiled politely back at him as he worked the room on his way to the bar. He still had the magic touch, even after getting his ass kicked.
As Jacob was almost at the brass rail of the bar, he felt Bull staring at him and tried to shrug it off. The glare had weight to it and it pushed into his chest like a cold brick, throwing off his delivery. Once tonight was finished maybe he'd ask Bull what he had against him and figured that the big man owed him that at least. It seemed prudent to find out anyway, because how else was he going to learn from his mistakes? Rule #3 - "don't burn bridges unless you have to" came to mind. This one was nothing more than smoking wet cinders, but it might not hurt to ask anyway.
"I don't think that guy likes you very much," a woman sitting on a bar stool said from near his elbow. Jacob looked at her, starting with the perfectly shaped ankle that had an unusual looking scar and letting his eyes take in everything in as they roamed upward. She was a good-looking brunette wearing a tailored dark gray New Parisian suit that accented an athletic build. There was a minimum of makeup, little jewelry, and most importantly, no wedding ring. That last part wasn't important to him, but it seemed to matter to some people and he had to consider it. Nice ankle bracelet though his inner voice said as he turned his back on Bull. Maybe the scars were because she liked it rough?
"He doesn't like much of anyone," he answered, pouring the charm onto the woman. She smiled in return and he saw a faint moon-shaped scar near the corner of her mouth. Odd that he hadn't noticed that one too, he thought, but then he hadn't been looking at her face.
"I'd stay away from him, Maddie," Angela's voice said as she sat a drink down in front of him. "He's trouble."
Jacob kept his smile warm and focused on "Maddie" as he answered. "Maybe the lady likes a little trouble."
The drink in front of him was his usual and he draped the napkin over it before slamming it into the counter with what he thought was his typical flair. The sharp sound made Bull flinch and several people turned to look at the disturbance. The woman didn't seem to mind and smiled while Angel glared from the periphery. It probably pissed her off that he was hitting on a woman right in front of her, but so be it. She had made it quite clear two months ago when she tossed him out and kneed him in his ego.
"Maybe I do," Maddie answered and Angela turned back to lean towards her.
"You don't quite get it. This is the asshole I told you about," she hissed.
"He's the sort of trouble you don't want." It figured that she would still be coy about this, but he couldn't bring himself to call her a bitch regardless of the circumstances.
"Ah, that one!" Maddie nodded as she straightened. Jacob read the body language and saw her pulling back, telling him that this one was a no go. The beep from his cell phone distracted him from the pain of the great lay he wasn't going to get.
"Yes?" he asked into the receiver, hearing the rasp of a voice on the other end. Whomever it was had a crappy connection and probably wasn't corporate.
"Are you in the bar now, Harm?" the voice asked and he recognized it. Yes, this definitely wasn't corporate, at least not in the normal sense. It was amazing that some rats know how to wear suits and speak into phones.
"Of course," Jacob said, smiling to the room and putting his back to the bar. "Just waiting on you and your boss to show up."
"Good," the voice said, oblivious to what Jacob said. "Wanted to make sure you didn't run. Woulda been bad if you had."
"Now why would I do that?" he laughed, forcing joviality into his voice and taking in the room. He winked at a cute blonde a table and gave a thumbs up to the guy she was with when he glared. The guy nodded back and Jacob smiled, turning his attention. These proles were like sheep.
"We're on our way. You better be there."
"Don't keep me waiting," Jacob said as he heard the voice on the other end break the connection. "I'm a very busy man."
"No, I don't run," he thought to himself as he pushed off the bar and headed for the men's room. "But I still can walk very quickly."
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