II. A Lucky Escape

Ivory made her way to the living room, seeing no one else but the person she was hoping to find. Ivory stared at Red, who was focused on placing new batteries in the T.V. remote. Ivory's hands were shaky yet sweaty, but she decided to ask Red the burning question. She couldn't deal with the thought anymore.

"Red?" Ivory asked. "Where's Blue's bedroom?"

"Why do you want to know where his room is?"

"I want to speak to him."

"Why?" Red asked.

"Since Viper's whole scheme, I feel that Blue's angry with me; I guess that he partly blames me."

"You've been into his office," Red began, "If you walk through the black door, it's the second door on the left. There'll be a staircase that you'll need to climb; it's the only door at the top."

Ivory thanked Red and entered Blue's office and stared at the black door. She felt apprehensive but slowly opened the door, seeing a long hallway with six doors. Ivory turned the second door on the left and walked up a staircase, but she felt that something was telling her to turn around and leave. Ivory didn't understand the sudden feeling, but she needed an answer to Blue's sudden change in behavior.

Ivory saw the only door that stood at the top and felt that confronting Blue would be dangerous. She figured that she was overthinking and knocked, waiting to hear his voice.

"Who is it?" Came the mean voice.

"It's Ivory," the young woman said.

"We'll finish later, Lily," Ivory heard Blue say. "Come in, Ivory."

Ivory opened the door and entered Blue's room — seeing how large it was. Ivory turned to Blue, who was holding his cell phone.

"Are you mad at me?" Ivory asked.

Blue stood up; Ivory noticed his muscular arms, and all of his arm tattoos.

Blue arched an eyebrow, "What makes you think that I'm mad at you?"

"Ever since Viper had snitched, everyone has been acting strange around me." Ivory paused. "I just want you to know that I had no idea that Viper was going to snitch. I was suspicious of her — but she wouldn't tell me anything. If I had known, I would have tried to stop her."

Blue came closer and smirked, "I know where your loyalty stands, my dear."

Ivory stiffened.

"I know that you wouldn't have gone along with it, you're much smarter than she is. And she may have told on us, but the police will never find us," Blue was so close that his body touched Ivory's, "And no matter how hard the police try, they'll certainly never find you."

Ivory's heart pounded; it was screaming that Ivory leave. Blue's never acted like this before. The leader's demeanor was almost condescending but also genuine. Ivory thought that Blue was acting oddly.

That was when Ivory realized something. "You knew — You knew that Viper was going?"

"I knew she was up to something. I've been in this business for a very long time; I know when someone is sneaking around. Your only flaw, Ivory," he put a hand to her cheek, his black finger ring laying against her sensitive skin, "was coming up here."

His hand then gripped her face.

"Where is Viper?" she whispered, grabbing and then pushing his hand away.

"You don't need to worry about that. You'll never see her again because she's not coming back, and you're not leaving this base. You're staying where I can keep my eyes on you."

A hand rested against Ivory's wide hip while the other rested on her shoulder.

Blue pulled Ivory close to him; He whispered into her ear, "Viper is a fool. Don't end up like your friend...Little Lady."

Ivory was uncomfortable. "I think I should go. I have things to do."

Blue laughed and picked her up, throwing her onto the bed. She quickly got up, but he jumped on top of her and held her down, trapping her underneath him; his larger hands gripped her small wrists tightly. She struggled against Blue's grip as he stared down hungrily at her.

"Blue, get off me!"

Ivory moved her leg and kicked the gang leader. Blue's grip loosened, but he retaliated by punching her square in the nose, and she fell back, holding onto a now bloody nose. Ivory felt the warm liquid go down her throat and clog up her nose as Blue pinned her hips with his legs and gripped her wrists.

Blue slowly leaned toward Ivory's face as he held a wicked grin.

"Get off me! Help!" she screamed bloody murder, squirming around to get free, coughing because the blood ran down her throat and stained her face.

Someone ambushed Blue, whose grip loosened, and another grabbed Ivory; her blood splattered everywhere.

"What the fuck, Blue?" Hawks shouted.

Ivory looked up to see Lucky holding onto her. She rested her head onto his shoulder, and his grip tightened. Lucky sneered at the leader but let Hawks talk.

"Oh, come on, Hawks, I was just having some fun," Blue leered as Lucky carried Ivory out of the room.

"Enough with that! I know what you were going to do!"

"Oh, and you think that you are man enough to stop me?"

"I'm man enough to take a beating from you!"

"Thank you," Ivory said quietly to Lucky.

Hawks and Blue were fist fighting. Ivory went to help Hawks after he had fallen, but Lucky held her back as the younger man got up and continued to fight Blue.

Lucky looked down and put a hand to Ivory's head. He gently pushed Ivory against his body, "Be careful." he whispered.

"Lucky was he — "

"Yes."

"But why? Does he think I'm the weakest? Ms. Campbell always told me that rape was about power."

"No, not always. Listen, it doesn't matter right now. Don't worry about Blue," He noticed her bloody nose, "Come on, let's take care of your nose."

Ivory nodded and the two vanished, leaving the deranged mafia leader to Hawks.