STRUCTURE FELL ABOUT OUR FEET,

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he eyed the picture until the lights began to dim and then he was able to see the girl for real. his posture straightened as he peered more intensely over the railing in order to get a better view. her blonde hair was the first thing that got his attention. the way it crashed against her back with each spin and dip. her hips were the next thing that he noticed, the way that she could twist her body in different directions. her legs, that was the kicker for him. he could fill his mouth starting to water and he quickly swallowed down the excess amount of moisture that had accumulated. he felt strange, it was a tingle that he could not ignore and had to shift in his seat. the program that had been in his hand was now starting to crinkle in his grip. his eyes were dry from not blinking, not wanting to miss a second of this dazzling woman dancing on the stage. he had not been this hypnotized since – he could not even think her name. at the mere thought of the sensation that the brunette had once brought him, darius found himself staring at his phone instead of the stage. he was not about to go through that again. the screen illuminated his face but could not distract his mind and every few minutes, he would look up to watch the girl for a handful of moments. the curtain, now, could not come down sooner. he needed to get out of here but the elderly man beside him insisted that he stay and watch the show before striking a deal. darius was forced to bite his tongue due to the whole concept of respect that he rarely upheld, but in this case, it could cost him his life if he spoke back. the program was now on his lap, her face turned away so that he would not be tempted. he needed to get away from the vixen and worse part of it all was that she had no idea the effect that she was having over the dangerous male.

the lights slowly came on as not to hurt the eyes of the patrons. the dancers were gone and darius had managed to catch the last few moments of the dance where she fell to the ground in a quiet death. and then he was able to watch the curtain fall and he started to stand, only to be grabbed by the wrist by his elderly companion. he looked over as the male said, ”sit” and darius slowly did so with a narrowed eye. ”what did you think?’, and darius’ eyes went skyward as he shrugged, ”enthralling.”, his reply was met with a laugh. the curtain opened one more time where the dancers group by group. he felt his eyes narrowing as the blonde linked hands with her male counterpart, raising their linked hands to the sky. he could have reached for his gun as his blood began to run hot—and he didn’t even know this girl…yet. he had to know her name, hear her voice, see her freckles close up and trace them with his finger. but then the elderly man stood up and darius followed suite, turning his back to the stage. he looked over as a few more gentleman walked through the red curtain and entered the private balcony. his stomach started to twist into knots as his eyes began to flit between the men, judging their posture, taking in their chosen view—looking for anything that could be seen as hostile. so far, it was a passive meeting that was filled with filibuster kind of talk. they were beating around the bush, buying time and darius was positive that this was not going to end well for him. who had set up this deal? damien had been the chosen one for this job, but darius had opted to take it for his friend. just as darius felt that this meeting was about to end, he looked over to the blonde who had just entered a potentially dangerous situation. all the males were looking at her and darius felt the sting of jealousy coursing through him. ”you didn’t intrude.”, he spoke quickly, though she had. she had interrupted his possible assassination. things were uneasy, tense and darius felt that a bullet in one of their guns was meant for him. the deal had gone sour and darius was not sure how or when but this was a trap meant for his friend, not for him—that much was clear. he was caught in the crossroads, ”you appear to be. allow me to show you the way..”, he gave her a faux smile. his muscles were tense as he turned his back and quickly reached for the blonde’s arm. he did not know if she was in danger now but she was going to be his escape route, ”gentleman. we will be in touch very soon.”, his voice was stern as he glared daggers to the leader of the group. leading the girl out by the arm, he pulled her along the hallway, ”what did you hear?”, he hissed out into her ear, releasing her arm but keeping her close with a hand around her waist, ”don’t look back, just keep walking and act natural. got it.”, not asking but demanding that she follow his instructions as he pulled her down the long hallway and quickly down the steps to the main floor, already hearing the voices of the men following not too far behind.

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how could someone who was so manipulative and so easily able to read people get distracted and tricked like this? the thought actually bugged darius as he was standing in the last possible spot, the place that they would find his body if he did not figure out a way to escape this. the elderly man, deceiving in a frail appearance, was just speaking to darius as though it was his last rites. he knew that he would be going straight down when his soul left. he had spilt too much blood to be saved but maybe a miracle could happen and he would be able to scuttle out of this situation, and then again, maybe not. as the moments passed, darius really only thought of one thing –or rather, one person. he hated that his mind immediately ran to the deep memories that he had pushed away time after time but in the dire situation such as this, he wanted to forgot all his sins and relish in his good guy moments. he thought of when he had planned that ridiculous engagement and how he had thought that even being engaged to her felt right and easy. it was too good to be true and darius had always been waiting for life to throw that curveball his way. and when it was tossed, darius was knocked off his feet and left with only one solution. he had to stay down, on his back and surrender to the crime world. he found it ironic that in this moment of his intimate death by one of the surrounding men, he was thinking about his fake death and the crushed expression that came over his dove’s face. it killed her. he could see every piece of hope that she had in the world just crumble away before his very eyes. she screamed at his interment, blaming everyone around his unfilled casket except herself. she was the cause of all of that, her safety had been jepordized and he had to kill himself to save her. now, he was going to die in order to save no one. maybe darien but his time would come after if this was a successful shot. but the curtain was a distraction and the blonde walking through it was the miracle that he had secretly prayed for. but now her face was seen, her name known because of the wrinkled program that was on the floor and she was in danger. he could care less actually but she was the ticket that he needed to escape. offering to show her to this after party was the key to getting out of this theater alive and he took that moment swiftly, ”really, i insist.”, grabbing her arm and leading her off the balcony.

but the danger in the air had yet to clear as he kept a hold of her arm until they turned a corner and he still did not let her go. his words were whispered in her ear, like a secret, and his arm came around her waist as they started to go down the steps from the top level of the theater. ”you better not be lying.”, he hissed as darius may have saved her from the danger but he could easily be the source of it too. he could turn from being her hero to her nightmare and he would do it without batting an eyelash. he gave her hip a squeeze, possibly putting small dots of black and blue along her porcelain skin which from this proximity to her, he could see was dotted with small freckles along her nose and onto her cheeks. he wondered where else she had those small freckles hidden away but that thought was cut short as he heard voices following them down the stairs. looking back, even though she was instructed not to, he spotted the shadows of the four or five men that were meant to put a bullet into his head and leave him for dead. they were following them which meant maybe, just maybe, this kill was not actually for damien but for himself. or, they were going after his forced company because she saw nothing and that was everything to them. giving a shake of his head, he directed his attention back to the stairs, grumbling about the large amount that they had to descend. ”well, you found more than the lobby..”, he commented with a heavy tone to his voice as they finally reached exactly the place that she was looking for. he had hoped for a larger crowd than what was in front of them. he wanted to blend away, hide from the men that were trying to end them but darius had apparently used up his allotted miracles for the night. he looked down at her at the same moment that she was glancing at him, ”if i told you, i would have to kill you..”, and his irises grew darker with the seriousness that his words held. he pulled her alongside of him, ignoring anyone that called out her name, ”don’t respond.”, his lips hovering over the shell of her ear. to others, it would appear they were having a semi-intimate moment, like he was whispering sweet nothings into the blonde’s ear and not actually whispering a threat. ”hate to be cliché but you’re coming with me.”, pulling his phone out from his pocket and giving a quick heads up to damien about what had happened. he did not need his best friend in a coffin, he had no time to plan a funeral for anyone. keeping her close to him, darius made their way through the lobby but he diverted and pushed through the emergency exit which sounded the alarm overhead and create just the amount of distraction that they would need. he took a deep breath of the fresh air, pulling her through the alley where his car was. the hold he had on her hip made for a good momentum to push her back into the car and to cage her in, ”what you saw, you will never repeat to another soul. get in.”, he growled out, hating that he had to take the witness with him. he waited for her to get into the passenger side, proceeded to child lock her door and window as soon as he jogged over to his side and backed out of the alley swiftly, making it onto the main road and away from the theater.

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his thoughts floating to the past in a moment of death was too cliché but as much as he tried to push forward to the present and focus on the guns that would soon be pointed at him, he could not serve off memory lane. the worst part of it was all the closed memories that he had not allowed himself to think of and they all pertained to that fucking brunette dove that had him around her every finger on her delicate little hand. he hated himself at this moment and with this heart breaking, gut wrenching thoughts that were coming to mind, death would be a nice option. it was the whole reason that he had to think of these moments in the past and not have a present life with gen, so why not let it be the cure to the madness? but he was out of luck…or in luck…depending on which way that he was looking which was currently at the blonde that had also been plaguing his mind but for other reasons. he could see why she was sitting on his thoughts in perverse ways as he witnessed her up close and personal but her timing was horrible, or again, maybe it was good. by insisting that he showed her to the after-party room that she was looking for, he allowed the blonde to be targeted but also saved. she was under his protection now, until he chose to push her out of the moving car on the way to his next destination, but he had to make it there without any bullet holes in him first. grabbing onto her arm, he gave her body a jerk as she had the polite stupidity to actually one, acknowledge their existence and two, waste time in giving goodbyes to them. he should have slapped her upside the head for making him waste a whole two seconds in his getaway attempt but that would be wasting more time and darius and her were running low on time. he was forcing her to move fast on heels and all that darius hoped was that she did not break an ankle until they got to the car. ”that means nothing to me.”, speaking about her word, her promise that she had heard nothing between the men. he needed more than just a guarantee that she had heard nothing. he would have to do something about it but for now, his mind was on the flight instinct as they made their way into the lobby but darius looked back to see that they had still not lost their shadows quite yet.

”don’t apologize. incompetence seems to just be your thing.”, he curtly answered her while giving a look around the lobby as he kept walking, pulling her along but with a more intimate appearance behind his hold. his hand fell onto the curve of her hip, occasionally squeezing it to give people passing a small hint not to really question the couple. his eyes gave a skyward glance to her response to his threat which was partly a joke and clichéd but it was also holding some truth to it. he could never reveal to her why she was in this situation and she kind of just had to accept it and go with it at the moment. he would let her go but it would not be until later in the night and until he knew that the target mark on his back had at least shrunk a little in size. giving a look over to her as she put her hand to his chest, his brows briefly furrowed. he was unfamiliar with this intimacy level. usually, he was the one in control, guiding hands to his body parts that needed attention and he had not been seen out with a woman since gen. it was always in a bar and then behind closed doors where whispers of his promiscuity were talked about but names were never given out and faces were never seen. this was a whole different story and darius was wary about it. ”you’re overselling it..”, he whispered in her ear, his lips grazing her earlobe as he pulled back and led her out the emergency exit and then scurried them to the backalley where his car was idly waiting for his return. he could hear the frenzy happening behind in the background and a smirk started to form. they had done it. he pushed her into the car door, making sure she knew that he was in control of her life and the situation now. she did not need to build upon the actions that he pushed out for the sole reason of escaping alive. ”don’t grovel, it’s pathetic. just say “okay sir.”, though he didn’t appreciate the ‘sir’ part. it was never really his cup of tea when it came to being addressed unknowingly. he grabbed her arm before she got in, spinning her around to face him, ”say it.”, as he was not entirely sure if he had heard his own words come from her lips. but once he did, he released her from the bruising grip and walked over to his side of the car after shutting her door behind her. darius turned the car on and was instantly hit with cool air and some loud music, reaching quickly to turn the volume down, he looked over to her and growled, ”don’t ask that again. i just saved your life blondie, don’t question it.”, the car accelerated backwards and then quickly slipped onto the road, mixing into the los angeles traffic with ease. still tense and a little paranoid, darius continued to glance at the dash mirror, checking for advancing speeding cars but found that they were not being followed yet. he had to pick a place to go though, his house was not an option, but the club…that might be okay. changing direction, darius took no real thought into his sudden turns into the club district area. with the windows still tinted and the car stalled in his parking spot, he grabbed the girl’s chin and turned her face dangerously close to his. he could probably play connect the dot with her visible freckles with how close she was to his eye level, ”listen here. you are going to walk into this place with me, you are going to get a drink with me. from there, you and I are going to go up the stairs to the VIP lounge and you’re not going to fucking say a word to anyone. i own this place, no one will blink an eye if you don’t come out of that VIP area again. got it?”, hardening his grip for emphasis on how true his words were.