The SongBird's Love

#7 Criminal

She still had a few hours before resuming work, so Eden slowly took out what she had bought for the puppies. There was an amazing feeling of relief in thinking she had gotten all of this with Loir’s money. Her pups almost had more belongings than her now… She had given in to Nanny Duong’s legendary sales skills and gotten them each a cushion to sleep on, some toys, and a lot of dog food. At least she wouldn’t have to worry about that for a while.

Seeing the two of them sleep so peacefully, Eden smiled. She loved how animals remained innocent amidst this troubled world… After cleaning the room a little bit with the broom she had, she got up, and she went back to lying next to them on the mattress. Their hot little bodies somehow found their way to curl up against her, and Eden slowly gave in too, feeling sleepy.

She woke up to the pups barking.

By reflex, Eden opened her eyes and stood immediately, ready for any danger. She quickly located Beer and Bullet, both yelping under her window.

“Hush, you two!” She said as she walked up to them.

Beer ran to her, and she took the little pittie in her arms, but Bullet was still unhappy about whatever was going on outside. He was way too small to see, but he didn’t need to. The ruckus was terrible. Eden got closer to the window, but she was careful not to stand directly behind it, just in case.

As she had suspected from the noise, it was an Overcraft. She wasn’t too surprised to see one here; they came from time to time… She opened the window slightly to hear the scene, although she was well aware of what was going on.

The engine landed in the empty parking lot a few streets away, and soldiers in black uniforms walked out, escorting some people in handcuffs. Eden frowned. She counted seven prisoners. Five men, a woman, and a young woman who looked even younger than her. While the three men that came out first were quiet with defeated looks on their faces, the next one was incredibly loud, shouting at the soldiers. Even Eden could hear him from where she was.

“…my rights! I’m not a criminal! I asked for another trial; you cannot treat me like this! I am an innocent citizen; I do not belong here! There was a mistake! You can’t do this to me!”

Eden sighed. This was a familiar scene, but it had been a while since an exiled one had been so loud. The woman and young woman were crying and looking terrified, and she realized those ought to be that man’s wife and daughter. The man behind him may have been his son, or brother, perhaps. They were all wearing white clothes, and Eden grimaced. They weren’t going to last long…

“I said, you can’t leave me here! This goes against my rights! You, soldier? What’s your name? I want your SIN number! You’ll see what I can do with my relations at the…”

“All of you are exiled from the Core as from today on,” announced one of the soldiers loudly, ignoring him. “You were judged by the Supreme Court unfit to retain your rights as Citizens of the Core. Your SINs, possessions, and rights have been confiscated. You are prohibited from visiting the Core as of today.”

The woman began loudly crying, and the soldiers suddenly grabbed one of the men, putting a little tool against his neck. He screamed as his SIN was forcefully removed. The injury was ugly, a little patch of skin torn off and bleeding, but the soldiers moved on to the next one without care. The loud man kept protesting.

“See, Bullet? That i***t is going to die first,” Eden sighed.

He should have been glad his SIN was removed. Otherwise, someone else would have attacked him to steal it and try to hack it… Eden knew that scene all too well, and she watched without feeling sorry for these people. If they were here, they had probably escaped a death sentence. Although, citizens of the Core being sent here had a very limited chance of survival…

She put her puppy down and glanced at the sky outside, deciding it was time to go. She packed a couple of things for work, put her jacket back on, and called out to the pups to follow her. Although they weren’t fond of the leash, Beer and Bullet seemed to have understood the rule that they had to follow her. Eden quickly left the building, careful to take a detour away from the parking lot. As soon as the Overcraft was gone, those people were inevitably going to face rippers; People who had seen the engine and were lying in wait to rob whatever they had left.

“Eden!”

She stopped, seeing Lula running to her.

“Are you going to work already?”

“I don’t have money for the bus,” explained Eden. “I’ll walk.”

“Oh, just come with me. I’ll pay for your ride!”

“No thanks, Lula, I’m…”

“Oh my God, those puppies are so cute! Are they yours? Can I pet them?”

After that, Eden couldn’t really protest anymore against Lula offering her the bus ride. She wasn’t working the previous night, but Eden knew Lula was one of the most popular hostesses and made good money. Moreover, two of her older brothers worked for the Mexican gang, so she was one of the few girls who could walk around without worries.

The two girls got on the bus, Lula doing most of the talking, and completely fond of the two pups already. While Beer was acting all cute and curious, Bullet kept yelping until Eden put him in her bag and calmed him down with a few ear scratches.

“Did you see the Overcraft?” asked Lula.

“Yeah…”

“I really can’t stand these people. They were given everything, and they were stupid enough to disobey and be sent here? I really have no pity for them. And thinking we are all criminals, too! Do they think we are born with guns in our hands?”

Eden couldn’t agree more. She had no idea what people were taught at the Core, but some were exiled here every time it was the same scene. They were arrogant and considered all the locals like some savage criminals, uneducated bums. Although the gun violence and the pressure of the Zodiac were real, a lot of the inhabitants were just regular people, doing their best to survive and take care of their families.

“The Eagle is so going to have them killed anyway,” sighed Lula. “They are very riled up. Someone killed three of them yesterday.”

Eden froze. She tried to hide it, petting Bullet.

“R-really?”

“Yes, so ugly! They found three of their boys in some garbage alley, all dead. I hope it wasn’t someone from the Rat; we really don’t need more fights… It’s close to your block, actually! Didn’t you hear anything?”

“Not really.”

Eden was used to lies.

Covering her identity and keeping a low profile at all times, lying had become her main survival tool. Lula didn’t even know Eden lived in that very building, and she had no idea she could kill so easily. To the girls of the Bar, Eden was just a Part with better reflexes than most and a few good fighting moves.

“Oh, well. To be honest, even if my brothers work for them, I don’t really like the Eagle anyway… I’d rather live with the Italians or the Dragon. At least it’s more peaceful there… Oh well, I was born in the wrong family for that.”

Lula was a chatterbox, and Eden was fine with listening to her. The whole trip felt even shorter as she only had to nod and answer a little bit. Eden got along fine with all the girls working at the Club, mostly because she was among the quietest ones herself. There were many catfights between the girls, as the rivalry was strong between them, but Eden was among the less popular and rarely involved. If one did arise, she would usually be the one to stop them.

They arrived early at the Club, and only June and Bella were already there. The girls all greeted each other, getting all excited about the puppies. Letting Beer and Bullet become the main attraction for a little while, Eden let them loose in the changing room. She and Lula grabbed their dresses before sitting in front of the mirrors, beginning their preparation.

“What are those!” Exclaimed Jacquie.

The girls laughed at his baffled expression. At Jack’s feet, Beer was sitting and looking up at the large male figure, a curious expression on, while Bullet was still busy exploring the place.

“They are my dogs,” simply said Eden.

“Since when do you have dogs, and since when do you bring them here!”

“Oh, come on, Jacquie, they are so cute!” Exclaimed June, grabbing Beer to show the puppy to her.

“I don’t care that they are cute; this is a Club, not a damn pet store! Eden!”

“Oh, please, Jacquie! We can take turns watching them!” Insisted Lula, trying to pout cutely.

“…What’s the ruckus all about?”

Just as Jack had his mouth left open, they all turned heads towards the entrance. Rose was there, with her bag. Jacquie frowned.

“Girl, you ain’t on the schedule tonight,” he said.

“I put myself on it,” retorted Rose.

“What?”

However, the redhead ignored them, walking up to the largest mirror and loudly banging her bag on her table. June and Lula exchanged a glance, but Rose started brushing her hair and opening her jewelry box as if everything was fine.

“Rose, what the heck?” Repeated Jack, putting his fists on his hips. “I ain’t payin’ ya, girl!”

“Don’t worry. I have a hunch I’ll make a lot of money tonight anyway.”

Her happy tune and the way she was picking out her prettiest jewelry, Eden understood right away. Some big fish was coming. Rose had a very strange talent for telling when someone with a heavy wallet would come to the Club that night.

“But tonight was… Dalilah’s…”

“Oh, tell that damn b***h to go home, Jack,” said Rose, suddenly angry. “I’m taking over her shift tonight.”

“You little bitches don’t decide on the schedule!” Roared Jack. “Who is coming, anyway? Like, what the hell, Rose!”

Yet, she remained silent, humming in front of her mirror and picking her sexiest makeup. It had to be someone big. After a while, Jack rolled his eyes and went back upstairs. Eden said nothing, though. At least, he had forgotten about the pups…

The girls went on to get ready, more of their coworkers showing up. As expected, a fight broke between Rose and Dalilah as soon as the latter arrived in the changing room. The two most popular girls just couldn’t see eye to eye. It got so bad that both Jack and Eden had to step in. She truly couldn’t have cared less about that rivalry, but if she had to pick a side, it would have been Rose’s. She had a terrible attitude, but at least she wouldn’t scream hysterically, get violent, and attack everyone like Dalilah did. Eventually, Dalilah left after another one of her terrible fits, making everyone sigh in relief.

“Eden, your… uh… leg…” Mumbled Bella, suddenly.

Eden followed her gaze, all of her colleagues looking down too. Her skirt had been accidentally torn while stopping the fight, and a part of her metallic leg was exposed.

“That’s… gross,” uttered June with a grimace.

“Hey!” Said Bella, glaring at her.

“What? It’s the truth…”

“Your face is gross too, and no one says it,” retorted Rose, who was putting on her red lipstick.

“f**k you!” Angrily said June, standing up.

Since Bella and Lula were also glaring at her, June angrily left the changing room, slamming the door behind her. No one else said a thing, but Eden knew most of the girls would actually silently agree with her. Rose had probably only helped her as repayment for earlier and a way to pick at June, whom she didn’t like anyway. However, Eden didn’t really care.

“SIN, camouflage.”

Her fake skin immediately appeared, but her dress was still torn. Eden took it off, checking the tear.

“Crap…”

“It’s alright, I can sew it back,” said Bella.

“You’re going to be late for the opening...”

“It’s okay. It’ll only take a couple of minutes. Give it to me.”

Eden was really thankful. Bella grabbed her little sewing kit in her bag and immediately began working on the dress. One after the other, all the girls left the changing room as the customers were about to come in. Only Rose was taking her time, checking her curls and lipstick over and over.

“Ignore June,” said Bella. “She’s so rude…”

“I’m fine.”

“Alright, Ladies, I’m off to get rich,” whistled Rose, going upstairs.

Eden and Bella watched her go upstairs with a frown on. The music was already playing loudly, and from all the ruckus coming from the upper floor, they could tell there probably were a lot of guests already.

“I wonder who we’re expecting,” said Bella. “She hasn’t been this excited in a while. Here! Good as new!”

“Thank you, Bella. I owe you one.”

Bella chuckled.

“You already did. We got to play with the puppies! I’ll stay with them until someone takes their break, my client comes later today.”

“Thanks,” said Eden with a smile.

She went to pet her dogs a little, making sure they had food and water under her table and a couple of toys to chew instead of the girls’ stuff, and quickly went upstairs. Eden never really knew when one of her customers would show up. She wasn’t popular enough to have dates like the other girls did.

As she came up the stairs, she immediately realized the atmosphere felt a bit different than usual. Most of the customers were new faces, and despite their smiles, the girls were nervous. Eden walked up to Jacquie, who also was quietly wiping his glasses.

“Jacquie, what’s going on?” She whispered, grabbing a tray;

“Trouble, babe. Trouble…”

Eden frowned and turned around, looking over the room.

It didn’t seem like anything was wrong at first. However, the blonde quickly realized all the customers tonight were Caucasian. They all were perfectly shaven, wearing dark suits and shiny leather shoes. A chill went down her spine. Some weren’t even with girls, simply standing at corners of the rooms like watchmen. From their rigid stance and cold gazes going over the room, she could tell they were bodyguards.

Next, Eden looked for Rose. She had been right; a big fish was there… No, clearly, that was a shark.

The Italian Tiger.

A chill went down Eden’s spine as her eyes found the man.

He was seated on the largest leather sofa of the Club, with Rose. It was the first time Eden saw that man in person, but she immediately knew who he was. First, some of his tattoos were visible right above the collar of his silk shirt, and one could identify the paw of a large feline, claws out. Everything about him screamed powerful, rich, and dangerous. Without doing anything, he was clearly dominating the whole room. All the other men present had their bodies positioned according to his, watching out for his every move.

He was simply sitting, but even the way he was sitting had something imposing about it. It was like seeing a lion. Although the beast was resting, he still was a predator. Eden averted her eyes for a second, grabbing another glass, but she was curious to see more of him again. His lean features reminded her of a feline. He looked younger than she had thought, with his clean-shaven chin and thin lips. Eden had to admit, this man was the definition of handsome. He had a long straight nose, perfect skin, and although he was sitting, she could tell he was probably toned and tall, too. No wonder Rose was all over him. Even the girls busy with other customers were sending glances their way.

Suddenly, he raised his eyes, and without warning, he met Eden’s. His burning golden gaze shook up her whole soul.