Stef
Stef stood on Decatur Street as the sun began to set. A block away, the open-air dining area of the Cafe Du Monde was filled with chattering tourists. They munched on beignets and sipped coffee, laughing and snapping photos of each other with powdered sugar caked on their lips.
Had she ever even been allowed to eat a beignet? Stef couldn't even remember. She tried to imagine the fried dough and sticky sugar in her mouth, but she had no point of reference. It seemed like she'd been forced to subsist on rabbit food her entire life.
Next to her, Silvio stood like a statue, his eyes scanning for trouble as his hand hovered near his shoulder. Stef had known Silvio her entire life, but he still made her extremely nervous. Even though he'd always been polite to her, his black eyes reminded her of camera lenses. There was no joy in them, no pity, no detectable emotion of any kind. They simply took in everything they could, darkly reflecting the world around them.
If I ever did betray the family and try to get away, he's the one they'd send after me, she thought with a shudder. I'd wake up one night and he'd be standing next to my bed, ready to press a pillow over my face and fire a bullet through it to silence me forever.
The idea was scary, but she found a forlorn comfort in it, too. At least then it would be over. No more tasteless meals. No more being told what to do. Nothing but endless peace where her mother and father could never hurt her again.
“So, two guards this time, huh?” Stef said, trying to distract herself from these morbid thoughts. “That seems like overkill.”
“It wasn't my decision,” Silvio said in his creaky, whispery voice. “Your father always insists that one of his own people accompany you, since he would never trust your safety to anyone else. This arrangement has always been considered acceptable by the young men who've previously escorted you. However, your date this evening said it was extremely important to him that his own bodyguard join us as well.”
“Wouldn't Dad generally take that as an insult?”
Silvio nodded gravely. “Yes. He generally would. But in this instance, he seems inclined to make special allowances for this young man.”
“It doesn't sound like you like this Leo guy very much,” Stef observed.
Silvio furrowed his brow. “I haven't decided yet. He seems...flashy, somehow. Flamboyant. But I serve at the pleasure of your father, and I do as I am told.”
Suddenly, Silvio tensed up visibly, and Stef followed his gaze. Two men were approaching them. It was hard not to notice the larger one first, since he looked like some kind of huge, misshapen boulder. His small eyes peered out from his doughy face, fixed on the ground in front of him. With his belly bulging under his white dress shirt, his expensive black suit, and the way he waddled slowly and carefully, he resembled a monstrous, bloated penguin. The image made Stef want to giggle, but she held it in.
Then her eyes went to the man next to him, and her breath caught in her throat.
He was the most gorgeous man she'd ever seen.
His black hair was slicked back, revealing a sharp widow's peak. His eyes twinkled with mischief. While most men in her father's line of work walked like they had a sledgehammer swinging between their knees, this man had a smooth, easy stride, as though he didn't have a care in the world. His shoulders were broad, and his torso tapered down to his waist in a perfect V-shape. He held a bouquet of red roses in his right hand.
Had Silvio described this guy as “flashy?” No, that was too coarse, not specific enough. He walked around like he owned the whole damn town, and he was doing everyone a big favor by letting them stay.
He saw her and smiled, waving.
She caught herself waving back, and felt embarrassed. Okay, so he was good-looking and knew how to carry himself. So what? It didn't mean he was any different from the rest of them. He was probably just another vain, empty-headed, self-important prick who thought he was a big deal because he inherited his father's name instead of working his way up from a small-time bruiser to a capo. He'd flash his suave smile and say all the right things to try to charm her, but all he'd really care about is marrying his way into her father's money.
Still, it was hard not to look at him and imagine his hands on her body, or what that lithe torso might feel like pressed against hers.
Stef tried to keep her expression neutral as the two men reached them.
“You must be Stefania,” the thinner one said warmly.
“If I must,” she replied tightly.
He laughed. “Hey, that's good! My name is Aurelio Lupo. Call me Leo. My friend here is Max. Here, these are for you.” He handed her the bouquet.
“Red roses,” she said wearily. “How original. I guess now I'll have to carry them with me during our whole date, huh?”
Leo appeared to give this some thought, then shrugged nonchalantly. “Yeah, I guess you're right. That was a dumb idea on my part, and red roses are pretty hokey.” He took the bouquet back and casually dropped it into a nearby trash can. “When it's time to bring you back to your place, we can stop by a flower shop and find something that suits you better. That way, you can toss them in a vase as soon as you get home instead of lugging them around all evening like you're someone's prom date. Sound good?”
Stef raised her eyebrows. Who was this guy? He seemed completely unflappable.
“Sure, whatever,” Stef said. “Let's just go to dinner and get this over with.”
As they started to walk down the street, Max sidled up to Silvio. Their feet got tangled together, and before Stef knew what was happening, Silvio started to fall forward. Max moved in quickly, catching Silvio before he could hit the ground and lifting him back up again.
“Whoa! Are you guys okay?” Leo asked.
Max tried to brush off Silvio's lapels, but Silvio shoved him away, snarling. “You just tripped me. On purpose.”
“Hey, come on, I'm sure that's not true,” Leo assured him, turning to Max. “You didn't trip him, did you?”
Max shook his head.
“There, see? It was probably just a crack in the sidewalk or something,” said Leo.
Silvio's glassy black eyes were locked onto Max. “First you trip me, and then you call me a liar, you disgusting whale? What's the matter with you?”
Max bristled, his pudgy fingers curling into fists.
“There's no need for that kind of talk,” Leo said. “Let's just stay calm, all right? No one's calling anyone a liar. Max doesn't seem to think he tripped you, and if he did, it must have been an accident. Whichever it is, it's fine, there's no harm done, and it's no reason to ruin our night. People trip all the time. Let's just shake it off and head to the restaurant like adults.”
Silvio clenched his teeth, nodding slowly. “Fine. Just make sure it doesn't happen again.”
Leo laughed. “Sure, tough guy. I'll wave my magic wand and make sure you don't trip on any more loose bricks between here and dinner. You should loosen up, you know that?”
Stef tried to hide her surprise, but she was astonished. She had never seen anyone so openly unafraid of Silvio before.
Forty minutes later, Stef was sitting across a table from Leo at Laveau's Bistro on Ursulines Avenue. She morosely rearranged the salad on her plate, not bothering to eat any of it. Leo eagerly devoured a platter of crawfish etouffee over rice. Max and Silvio sat at a nearby table, surveying the room for potential threats.
“Aren't you going to eat anything?” asked Leo, looking at her plate. “This is a dinner date, after all.”
“No,” she replied woodenly. “I don't want you to think I'm a pig who's going to gain weight after we get married.”
Leo looked confused. “I'm not sure if you're trying to insult me or yourself or what, but seriously, you should eat whatever you want. You're already skinny. No one's going to judge you for having a decent meal.”
Stef stole a glance at Silvio, knowing he'd report back to her mother at the end of the night. “No, thanks. I'm fine.”
“Suit yourself. So, what do you like to do for fun?” The spicy, enticing aroma of Leo's meal made Stef's stomach grumble painfully. If he heard, he pretended not to notice.
“What difference does it make?” she sighed.
“Well, kind of a big difference, actually. See, I happen to think it's important to communicate and determine mutual areas of interest during a first date, just to figure out whether there should be a second one. If I wanted to sit across from someone who doesn't talk and doesn't eat, I'd go out with a mannequin.”
“So why don't you, then?” Stef snapped.
Leo looked genuinely puzzled and hurt. “I'm afraid I'm a little perplexed, here. Did I do something to piss you off? Because if I did, I apologize. I mean, this date wasn't even my idea. Your father thought we might hit it off, so—”
“He doesn't care if we hit it off or not,” she answered. “Let me venture a guess, Leo: You've got something my father wants, right? Some new way for him to make more money.”
“I, uh, guess I do, actually,” Leo said uncomfortably. “I'm not really supposed to talk about it...”
“That's fine, because I don't want to hear about it. Drugs, guns, political connections...I don't care about any of it, because it all amounts to the same thing. The bottom line is, this is a transaction for him, nothing more. He doesn't care if I like you or hate you. He'll still sell me to you.”
“Jeez, that's pretty rough,” Leo said gently. “I'm sorry. That's awful, truly. My father's in the family business too, but he never treated me like that.”
“Yeah, well, it must be nice to be born a boy instead of a girl.”
Leo thought for a moment, then put down his fork and reached into his pocket, flipping a couple of bills onto the table. He stood up. “Come on, let's go.”
“Where?”
“I'm going to take you home,” Leo said. “I had no idea you were doing this against your will. If you don't want to be on a date with me, you shouldn't have to be.” He gestured to Max, who stood up too. Silvio followed suit.
“But...what are you going to tell my father?” The idea of Benny blaming her for cutting their date short made her feel uneasy.
Leo shrugged. “I can tell him whatever you want. I'll blame myself, tell him I was too distracted about my dad to have fun with you tonight. I warned him that might happen anyway. Now I can see why he didn't listen, what with him trying to marry you off and everything. Christ, I feel terrible about this whole thing.”
“What do you mean?” she asked. “Why would you be distracted by your dad?”
Leo waved her off. “Doesn't matter. Don't worry about it. Let's just call it a night.”
Stef followed Leo outside, with Max and Silvio right behind them. She didn't know how to react to all of this. The other men Benny had set her up with seemed to know that she was being dangled in front of them as a prize, but they hadn't cared. By contrast, Leo seemed genuinely unnerved by it.
Could he be different from the others after all?
As they started down the street, they heard an engine roaring toward them. A large black van pulled up with “Voodoo Devils – War Chariot” painted on the side. The side door slid open and eight bikers got out. Stef had never seen any members of the Voodoo Devils MC before, but she'd heard her father mention them in passing when discussing business, and the patches on their leather vests identified them clearly. Their leader wore tags which said “Skull” and “President.”
And they were all carrying sawed-off shotguns.
“Get down, Stef!” Leo yelled, pushing her to the ground behind a parked car. He drew a handgun from his shoulder holster, and Max and Silvio did the same, leveling their weapons at the bikers. The other people on the street were already screaming and fleeing in terror. Inside the restaurant, the diners who were seated near the windows ducked under their tables or ran toward the kitchen in the back.
“This is for ripping us off, you goddamn dago cocksuckers!” Skull hollered. “We're taking the big man's daughter as payback!”
A moment later, both sides were blasting at each other. Their gunshots split the air like thunderclaps, and Stef pressed her palms against her ears, trying to catch a glimpse of the shootout through the car's windows.
She'd never seen anything like it before outside of a movie. The air was full of gun smoke, and muzzle flashes flickered like lightning. The Devils were firing wildly—it looked like they were trying to blanket the entire area with buckshot, but they didn't seem to be hitting much.
Max and Silvio fired from partial cover behind the parked car. Stef saw one of Max's shots hit a biker high in the shoulder, while one of Silvio's bullets connected with another biker's leg, sending him to the ground. Blood spattered and spurted on the pavement under the Devils.
But Leo wasn't taking any cover. He stood his ground firmly as though he were invulnerable to gunfire, aiming carefully with each shot. He put two bullets squarely into a fat biker's chest, then two more in another biker's stomach. Both of them fell to the ground immediately—Stef wasn't sure, but they looked dead.
Skull looked at the fallen bikers, howling with rage. “You fucking bastard! You killed Bumper and Panda!”
“And now I'm going to kill you, meathead,” Leo responded calmly.
He squeezed the trigger, and a red hole appeared in the center of Skull's forehead. The biker dropped to the pavement.
“Fuck, they wasted Skull!” one of the other Devils yelled. “Let's get the hell out of here!”
The bikers who were still able to stand collected their fallen comrades, including the dead bodies, and dragged them back into the van. The side door slid shut behind them and the van drove away, its tires screeching loudly.
“Are you all right?” Leo asked, crouching down to examine Stef. “Did you get hit?”
“No, I'm fine,” Stef said. But her entire body was trembling, and her mind was clanging with incoherent terror. “Those men...they were going to...”
“It's okay, they won't be coming after you anymore,” Leo assured her. He turned to Silvio. “Max and I will get her out of here before the cops show up. You should report back to Benny and let him know she's safe.”
Silvio hesitated for a moment. “Shouldn't she come with me? Don Altamura will want to make sure she's protected.”
“She will be, I promise. But you were just seen inside the restaurant, and if the cops decide to round you up for questioning, she shouldn't be with you. No one in town knows me, so I can keep her off the grid for a few hours until the heat dies down. Now go! We don't have time to debate this.”
Silvio nodded and ran off.
“Come on, let's get you someplace safe so you can relax,” Leo said, offering her a hand. She took it and he lifted her to her feet. They hurried off down a side alley with Max loping along behind them.
“You saved my life,” said Stef, her voice quivering. “I can't believe it. You saved my life.”
“Aw, it's just what any guy would have done. No big deal. Are you sure you're okay? You must be real shaken up.”
“I'll be all right,” she breathed. “I just have a bad taste in my mouth, that's all.”
“Like copper, right?”
“Yes. How did you know?”
“That's the adrenaline,” he replied, smiling. “It happens to everyone. Luckily, I know just the thing to help with that.”