The little iron partition at the top of the door slides open to reveal a pair of dark eyes.
“Can I help you?” the voice asks ominously.
My turn to roll my eyes. “Open the fucking door, Gabe.”
“Oh. Well, if it isn’t young Master Cillian!”
I hear the bolts being unlocked and then the iron door swings open to reveal the burly guy on the other side.
“What’s up, Gabey Baby?”
Gabe ignores my extremely unwelcome nickname. “You brought a friend,” he notes, immediately interested in her.
I pull Saoirse through the door. Gabe steps aside to let us through. The big fellow has got an eye for pretty girls, so naturally, he can’t seem to look away from Saoirse long enough to spare so much as a glance at me.
“I have indeed,” I reply, stepping in front of Saoirse so that I’m blocking his view.
He notices what I’m doing immediately. Not nearly as dumb as he looks, the poor bastard. His face scrunches up with mild displeasure. “You little shit.”
I laugh. Saoirse doesn’t even notice because she’s so preoccupied with the dungeon-like vibe going on down here.
“Um, Cillian. This place looks super dodgy…”
“I thought you trusted me.”
“That was before you dragged me into what looks like a torture chamber,” she says, turning to Gabe. “Tell me the truth: how many girls has he brought here and how many of them have walked back out again?”
I sigh, but Saoirse ignores me.
Gabe on the other hand, looks thrilled. He strokes his chin as if he’s thinking about it.
“He’s bought a fair few girls here,” he says. “Several dozen, I’d say. None of them as beautiful as you, though.”
“Back off, you gombeen. She’s not interested,” I interject, putting my hand on his chest and shoving him back a little.
Saoirse smirks at me. “Hey now, I don’t think you should be speaking for me.”
“Forgive him,” Gabe says. “He can be so rude sometimes.”
“You’re telling me!”
“Okay, as much fun as this has been for all of us, we’ve got things to do. Is this little pow-wow over now?” I ask impatiently. “I want to show Saoirse what’s up top.”
“Up top, eh?” Gabe whistles, his eyes going wide.
I glance towards Saoirse, who looks equal parts intrigued and terrified.
“What’s up top?” she asks. “Is that where you hide the bodies?”
“It’s sort of the officially unofficial VIP area,” I tell her. “You’ll love it. But first, Gabe, why don’t you tell her how many girls I’ve taken up to the top?”
Gabe scrunches his face up. “None,” he mutters.
“None,” I crow with satisfaction. “That’s right.”
Saoirse gives me a dazzling smile that makes me want to take a shot, fight a grizzly bear, do a backflip.
All kinds of crazy shit.