devious boy

Danse Noire was not Lacey’s favorite place in the world. There was absolutely no reason for her to go there, except she loved her best friend and sometimes it just so happened that Lacey would go to the club on occasion to see Jez. This time was no different. With Jez being so stressed, Lacey thought it would be nice to bring over some extra cupcakes she’d bought as a treat for herself during Jez’s work hours. Lacey had entered the club, going immediately to find her friend and drop off the cupcakes. After dropping off the treats, chatting with Jez and making sure everything was good, she bid her friend goodbye and made her way out of the club. Just as she was about to turn the corner to exit door she nearly ran into someone. Surprised, she tensed up and looked towards the figure, finding Enzo, one of the security guards at Danse Noire. He was one of the few co-workers of Jez’s that Lacey had met, seeing as she did her best to make eye contact with anyone except her friend. Enzo was a bit of a flirt, but he seemed nice enough. “Oh, God, Enzo,” she said, sighing in relief. “You scared me. I wasn’t looking where I was going I guess.” Lacey tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “I thought you would be on lunch break or something.” @enzobeaugard​

To anyone normal they would say Enzo worked too much, to Enzo he worked just enough -- he couldn’t help it in truth. Half of the reason he worked so much was because he was still hoping one day he could support his grandma and have her stop working, and the other half was when he wasn’t working he was bored and boredom only led to him and his best friend Kai getting into fun -- though a better word for their fun would have been trouble, dangerous and life-threatening. He had been at home sleeping when he got the call to pick up an early shift because of a no show, typically Enzo wasn’t up if the sun was still out, so this really was a rare occasion as he walked out of the back, his belongings in hand as he finished his shift. He hadn’t been looking where he was looking, instead too busy yawning when he had nearly taken out the small female, Lacey -- he recognized her immediately once he actually looked at her. Oh, God, Enzo -- that had a nice ring to it, but Enzo ignored it as he sent her his best smile. 

“Were you looking for me, or attempting to avoid me Lacey? I’m going to be really hurt if you say avoid -- fair warning.”

His words amused her. He didn’t seem very different from the rest of the males that she had encountered in her lifetime. After all, in these times, it was rarer to see someone committing rather than just fucking around.  Now, everything was designed for sex, not that she complained one bit. For her, it was absolutely perfect, especially when she was hungry. One-click, and she got a delicious meal delivered to her door. Yet, this one had a slightly different smell to him, sweeter perhaps, but she didn’t want to look into it too much. “Alright, Romeo.” She teased. “You can leave the strings attached to the bed frame - where they belong.” Genevieve offered him a wink before moving the glass to her lips and taking a sip. 

“What do you think?” Her brow arched in question, as her eyes moved to follow the dancers on the stage. Ever so slowly, the raven-haired woman crossed her one leg over the other, as she followed the intimate movements of the dancers. They were the ones who didn’t take all the attention of the crown, the ones who rather dance as background noise. “I think you’re the one getting off. You here for a drink or are you here to watch them move?” She moved her attention back to him, a wonderful smile playing on her lips. 

Enzo’s lips pulled into an even wider grin as he heard her words -- strings attached to the bed frame -- was she attempting to steal his heart, or could she simply read his mind? He couldn’t suppress the chuckle that escaped him, “You can’t honestly believe that people,” he resisted the urge to say, creatures, because in truth that's what they were -- creatures that children learned to fear before forgetting they existed. “-- like us are anything but strings on a bed frame?” He arched his eyebrow as he leaned closer to her.

He assumed she had already finished her routine, you could see the faint glisten of sweat on her body, or was it glitter? Either way, he knew the look of a girl that was done for the night -- he worked with enough of them to be able to tell the difference in their energy. “I’m guessing that you are done for the night -- which is a shame, for me.” He reasoned, returning the wink that she had offered him, “Just a drink and enjoy some music, the dances, well I see a lot of dances.”

For months Noire had been Jez’s sanctuary, a sort of home away from home. She supposed that was an almost eerily accurate term given that she probably spent more time there during the week than she did at her own place- of course, unless she was feeling particularly self-isolating she did little more than sleep at her apartment so she spent time in the city more than her home to begin with. But Noire was always her go-to which, to some, was strange. Most people didn’t hang out at strip clubs unless they were there for the show. But for Jezebel it had always been the employees that kept her coming back.

But ever since her text meltdown of epic proportions- she still kicked herself for the chaos inside of her own brain- she felt almost out of place whenever she even went near the building. Even meeting with one of the girls for information was a chore. Having a suddenly shifted dynamic with the manager? Definitely didn’t help. Especially because she didn’t want to explain why she had avoiding going inside for the last few days when she was a staple. And yet, there she was. Back at the club, sitting at one of the tables in the far corner like she always did wondering what the hell she was even doing there. “One of these days my brain isn’t going to be my own worst enemy,” the witch promised herself out loud. But, hell, the odds of that? Un-fucking-likely.

Enzo wasn’t sure if there was any day during the week when he wasn’t at Noire. He was supposed to be off, he had spent most of the morning running errands so that his apartment was relatively liveable again and had even had time to spend with his grandma before he was asked to work. He agreed, hell it was better to work and earn money than to get in trouble, and it seemed for Enzo that it was either one or the other. 

That’s how he found himself wandering through the dimly lit bar on his day off. He had been making his rounds, making sure all the girls were okay and that nobody needed to be politely escorted out when his eyes landed on a familiar face. He couldn’t resist as he walked over to the blonde, his arms pressed against the chair at the side of her table, a cheeky smirk pulling onto his lips, “I was beginning to wonder if you were ever coming back.”

The burlesque club had always had its charms. The way it was designed, it gave off an aura that people soon became mesmerized by the stage, those who were on it, the music coming from the band. She knew all the stories about the haunting of the building, and while she believed that there were some spirits left lingering in the between worlds, they weren’t the ones that people had to be worried about. 

With her glass between her thumb and her pinky, she grazed the rim of it with her finger as she watched the man. She’d seen him before, maybe not on her shows but definitely after, one of the nights that they would stay open longer than usual. Well, most people believed they closed early, assuming that they’d dance and shut off. But Jazz and the night went together like the perfect pair. The only thing that would change was the music would get heavier and lighter at the same time, the smoke would fog up the air and the alcohol faint smell would linger. 

A wide grin appeared on her lips as he slid down closer to her. “Are you sure?” There was a teasing twink to her voice, as her earthy hues looked right back at him. “In a town like this, is a bite ever just a bite?” Her shoulder shrug ever so slightly, her attention now fully on the specimen before her. 

She was right, was a bite ever just a bite -- in a town like New Orleans, nobody was who they seemed. But neither was Enzo, and while his bite wouldn’t cause much damage, rather pleasure if you were into that sort of thing, he did keep peculiar friends of the undead sort which made him far from normal but also far from the oddest in the town. 

He shrugged his shoulders, twirling his beer in between his fingers, the sound of the base of it against the table not audible compared to the jazz that lulled around them. “It is, if there are no strings attached --” That’s how he liked it, no strings, just pure savage fun. He recognized her though he didn’t believe they had ever exchanged words, but judging by how comfortable she was in her surroundings he assumed she worked here. “Are you going on, or coming off?”

“Alright, Bessie. You’ll do better if you shut your mouth.” Gen grinned as she walked out of the dressing room. Her part of the burlesque show was finished, and she was free to do what she wanted. Granted, it was already 2am, the place was still full, people watching the smaller shows, enjoying the drinks, the music. She preferred that way more than the loud, nonsensical music in the other clubs. “Here’s your nights take.” The manager shot through the doors, just as she was about to make her way to a booth, “Way to make the girls feel special.” Rolling her eyes, the raven-haired girl, took the cash and made her way towards the booth, but first passed the bar. She didn’t even need to say a word, an old fashioned was in her hand. Bitter, sweet and with a twist, something that could easily have described her. 

She made her way towards her booth, slid into it and started to watch the crowd, just as she did so many times before. “You can sit down, you know.” She said to the person standing right by her, their eyes watching something that wasn’t her, but she didn’t mind. “Unlike many creatures here, I don’t exactly bite.” 

Enzo had gotten off his shift at Danse Noire earlier then usual, typically he didn’t get off until four in the morning, so instead of going home and sleeping, which was the appropriate and responsible action, he found himself inside of Mahogany Jazz. He didn’t frequent this club too often, mostly because they seemed to close before he got off but that didn’t mean he didn’t like it. He meandered through the club, greeting those he knew with a nod of the head or a fist bump, his free hand curled around a Corona. 

He hadn’t meant to stare, in fact he had been staring off at the stage, not necessarily watching as much as just gazing and zoning out, his back leaning against the side of a booth when a females voice pulled him out of his thoughts. It was so loud that he was surprised he had heard her, his soft chuckle fading with the noise around him as he looked at her. “Yeah, but what if I like that?” His lips pulled into a cheeky grin as he slid into the seat, his eyes now watching her as he took a swig of his beer.