Gavin smirked- but it was subdued. He'd known Bella long enough to read her- but business was business. 

"Not necessarily. She could get him alone and make the job easier, if we could find a way to tell her what to do. I know she'll keep her mouth shut about things. I don't think she's joined up with him. Probably just looking for some free stuff until her new business launches."

Gavin's smirk lost more of its luster.

"Uh... our bar, technically. I'm investing. Wanted to help her. She wanted to launch one in Chicago, maybe one here in Philly as well. I'd been meaning to talk to you about that."

"I need..."  Isabella pushed her chair away from the table.  "To go to the powder room."  She closed her mouth so hard Gavin could hear her teeth click as it did.  This was the most bitter pill she'd ever swallowed but she was determined she'd get it down.  What she'd done to Gavin with William had been horrible and to play the jealous and suspicious girlfriend now would be petty and wrong.  Gavin had NEVER given her a reason to distrust him.  Granted, the peroxide blonde floozy across the room, she was an entirely different story.

"Excuse me."  She forced out between grit teeth.  She took long, angry strides towards the bathroom, regretting not having worn panties with every damn step she took.  She tried her best not to look at Evelyn as she walked by her, but even though she hadn't, she could almost feel the woman's eyes on her.  She hated that she knew what the woman looked like, now she'd always imagine it, and she'd give anything to not be imaging it now.

At the door to the restroom, she offered the doorman a large tip and locked the door behind her as she threw every towel in the place to the floor a violent fit of rage.  She wanted to bust the mirrors and smash the chairs but she couldn't jeopardize Gavin's job.  Instead, she took the time to fume and vent and even cry a moment before using the toilet and cleaning herself up properly.

Evelyn would be walking away tonight with her life but Isabella would be damned to hell if that whore was allowed to expand her business to Philly.

Gavin left an eyebrow arched, and he only nodded as Bella left. He spoke to himself as he ate one of the weird looking snail things that had appeared at the table. 

"Well, this can't get any worse."

Evelyn stood up and started to walk over to him and Gavin shook his head. Instead, she turned and headed for the bathroom. Gavin tried to wave her back, but it was too late.

"... nevermind."

As the waiter reappeared, Gavin grabbed his elbow forcefully. 

"More. Wine."

The waiter nodded and started to leave, but Gavin grabbed him again.

"In fact... just bring the bottle."

Gavin talked to one of the snail things on his fork.

"It's fine. It'll be fine. Bella's a pro. She'll... just ask Evelyn to get the guy alone... and everything will work out. They might even be friends! I mean, Will and I are friends, right?"

The snail said nothing, and Gavin sighed again before popping it in his mouth.

On the other side of the restaurant, Evelyn impatiently knocked on the door. Who the fuck locks herself into the bathroom alone?

Isabella sighed at the sound of knocking.  "A moment please!"  She called out.  What the hell had she tipped that guy for if he was going to allow someone to keep banging on the damn door!

She cleaned up her face enough that Gavin wouldn't be able to tell she'd been crying.  She drew a deep breath and the pounding started again.  "Oh for fuck's sakes..."  She muttered as she went over and unlocked the door.  It came open and she was face to face with Evelyn.

Isabella grabbed her by her perfectly dyed blonde hair and dragged her over to the sink and smashed her face into the porcelain repeatedly before throwing her body into the stall, causing the woman to fall into the toilet water.

"Sorry."  She said flatly, taking a step back allowing Evelyn to enter.  She glared hard at the attendant who had chosen to let Boobs McNobrains interrupt her tantrum despite the large wad of cash in his pocket.

Isabella KNEW she should walk away.  She should get out before this went somewhere bad, but she couldn't make her feet move.  So, she decided to do the right thing.  She'd just tell her what Gavin wanted and then she'd find the strength to lift her own feet.

"Gavin wants you to get him alone."  She said in her most neutral voice... well, the most neutral voice she could manage.

"Well I'm assuming by 'him' you're not talking about Gavin."

Evelyn flashed a smile, ignoring the mess in the bathroom.

"You're Isabella, of course. I might have known you by description alone, even if I hadn't recognized the back of Gavin's head. Evelyn Durand."

She didn't extend a hand to shake, perhaps sensing that she may not get the reaction she was hoping for.

"Please send my apologies to your fiance. Didn't mean to mess up his plans. Thought I had a few more days... and I'll get him alone as soon as dinner's done. If this has to happen sooner, one of you should just drop your napkin on the floor."

She smiled again, trying to cover her thoughts with a smile. Isabella Luciano... as beautiful as advertised. Black hair. Expressive brown eyes. In another life, they'd be meeting at some business luncheon, a pair of trophy wives. Instead, one of them was powerful enough not only to become a Don... but somehow to un-become a Don and run away with Gavin. Rich as shit. And the other one was a wannabe dancer and bartender scraping enough money together to stay in a hotel where she didn't have to worry about bumps in the night.

Evelyn smiled again- the practiced smile of a waitress and bartender.

No use making enemies here. Even if she did sort of hate the woman in front of her. Gavin was... Gavin. For a while, Evelyn thought that Gavin would be hers. But here they were.

She grits her teeth again, and despite everything that told her to do otherwise she offered her hand to Evelyn.  Presuming the other woman reacted as expected, Isabella would give her a firm but polite shake. 

"Gavin's told me a lot about you."  She said quietly. 

"And congratulations on your new place in Chicago."  She ignored the 'joke' about getting Gavin alone.  Surely this woman knew she had a dozen ways to kill her and get away with it... right?  She did, didn't she?  Aside from how she would never be able to look her fiancee in the eyes again?

She nodded to her request that she extend apologies to Gavin.  "I'll let him know.  I think he's willing to wait until after dinner, no rush there, but Tara wants this handled and so... here we are."  She drew a breath and refrained from asking about her about a million things in her head - or demanding that the broad keep her fucking knives off her man.  

Isabella turned back and took hold the door handle, looked back to Evelyn and said, "Good to finally have a face to put with the name.  I hope you enjoy your dinner."  With that she walked out of the bathroom giving the doorman a look that suggested she would remember him and find him at another date and time.  Then she calmly made her way back to the table where Gavin was sitting.

Seeing dinner laid out she took up her napkin and spread it over her lap as she sat down before speaking, "After dinner, she'll make it happen."  She said quietly.  "If you want it done faster, drop your napkin."  She picked up her fork and knife and began to eat, not looking up to Gavin's eye the entire time - deep in thought about the woman she'd briefly met only a few moments ago.

Evelyn seemed surprised, but she shook Isabella's hand. Something in her voice made her stay quiet, other than a soft "You too" as the black haired woman headed out the door.

Gavin was chewing on a snail when Bella returned. 

"Normally, this is where I'd ask what's wrong. But my keen tactical mind tells me that it might have to do with the whole ex-girlfriend in the bathroom thing. Or the business thing."

He frowned, then spoke.

"I owe her. I was hurt real bad once, and she helped me out. Probably saved my life. I also... kinda blew up her life after that. Which is why I'm trying to help her with this business thing. She left a guy for me. Thought I was the one. Then I broke things off and she went a little crazy. But she's fine now. I'm sure she'd call me up if you dumped me, but she's not an idiot... actually she's kind of an idiot when it comes to some things, but she's not that much of an idiot. She knows it's over, is what I'm saying."

He paused.

"I think this is the longest you've ever avoided eye contact with me."

Isabella looked up, not realizing she had kept her eyes from him, there wasn't anger in them but shame and hurt.  She found it hard to keep looking at Gavin but she tried to keep looking back up from her plate so he knew she wasn't mad.

"I believe you."  She said softly, more to her meat and potatoes than to him.  "You don't..."  She sighed, no she couldn't say that without bringing up things she didn't want to say or imply.  For the first time she felt like it was hard to talk to Gavin, the first time EVER and it was ALL HER FAULT. 

She paused and tried to quiet her rampaging thoughts.

She started again, "Thank you for trying to make me feel comfortable."  That was a good thing to say... right? 

"Evelyn was very polite in the bathroom.  She... seems nice."  That wasn't a lie and that was why it hurt so bad to admit.  Gavin was being honest, he truly was, she knew it... so why did this bother her so much?

Because I'm the bad one here.  I'm the one who fucked up! She's pretty and she still wants Gavin and would try for him if she thought she had a chance, and if she knew about William, maybe she would have it!

Isabella took up her wine and took a deep drink, not caring at all that it was French.  Right now she just wanted to be drunk enough to not think about tonight.  She just wanted to get this over with and go home to her vanilla ice cream and whiskey.

Gavin rested his hand on hers, then sighed.

"Look, let's get the hell out of here, huh?"

Taking his napkin, he tossed it off the table- then tossed Bella's for good measure. Gavin looked over his shoulder and made eye contact with Evelyn, who smiled exasperatedly before leaning forward and whispering to her companion. They stood up shortly, with the man throwing several bills at the table. 

"I didn't know we'd be hating the wine, and this evening got way more fucked than I expected..."

He wasn't angry, just said it matter-of-factly. 

"Go outside and take a left. Walk for a block and get a cab. I'll be there in 10... then we'll try to salvage our evening. Whatever you feel like doing."

Isabella looked at him, stunned.  She really didn't know what to say.  Her mouth even moved as if words were coming out, muttered words but words none the less, but there was no sound.  When he told her what to do she picked up her clutch and nodded, seeming to lack the desire to argue or maybe the ability.

She'd screwed up.  She had to figure out a way to mend this evening somehow.  Now Gavin was going off to murder a man with some other woman... if Gavin was going to murder a man with anyone it should be her!  She felt like a complete idiot.  She had to say something to him - something that mattered... he was walking away now, he'd be gone in a moment and so she said the first thing that came to mind.

"Moose!"  She called it out a little too loud to be causal, and since it was so out of the ordinary to hear someone in a such a fancy and French restaurant call out such a strange word in the same way someone might have called out to a departing lover 'STOP I LOVE YOU!'  ... well, more than a few patrons looked at her as if she'd gone insane. 

She had no idea why the fuck that was the first thing that was in her head, but she'd said it and when he'd looked back to her.  She forced a smile at him that she hoped communicated that she was sorry and that she did, in fact, love him.  "Watch out for moose."  She added softly, as if that fixed it and waited for him to disappear before making her own exit to go do as she was told.

Gavin stalked away, glancing back over his shoulder and winking when he heard her yell "moose!"

He followed Evelyn and The Big Man out of the restaurant, strongly suspecting he knew what Evelyn had whispered across the table. If he was right, he'd heard it a few times himself. The parking lot was nearly deserted- and it was dark enough that it wouldn't matter. They'd parked in a corner of the garage, and Gavin walked silently behind them from a distance, rolling his eyes as the man walked with a hand on Evelyn's ass.

Enjoy it, buddy. Can't take it with you.

When Evelyn and her companion reached the car, she opened the back seat and slipped her dress off one shoulder, disappearing from view. 

Gavin picked up the pace.

By the time he arrived at the car, Evelyn seemed to be tormenting the man. Her other shoulder was bare and she was stretched out, but the guy was having a hard time getting past the door and inside with her. It looked like a scene Gavin was familiar with- prey trapping itself where it was safe. He paused, letting the man enjoy one last look before putting a bullet in his head. In this case, he stuck with one- people hearing a single gunshot often convinced themselves it was something else. It was the repeated noise that gave it away. And this guy was dead as dinner.

Evelyn swore. She'd known it was coming and it'd still scared the shit out of her. Gavin grabbed the casing off the ground, then glanced in. Evelyn was reclining, resting on her elbows with one leg angled up.

"Move, Evs. Grab his wallet- take the cash. Leave anything that could get traced back to him. Put yourself back together and you should get out of here before anyone comes. You know the drill. Anyone catches you, just start crying."

"Aren't you going to walk me-?"

But Gavin winked, and he was already gone.

Ten minutes later, he slid into the cab next to Bella and smirked.

"So... what do you want to do? Take two for the evening."

Isabella leaned up to the front seat and offered a large bill to the driver, "Five minutes ... keep the meter running if you must but please, just... step out?"  The man took the bill, grumbled only a second and then, they were alone.

Isabella turned to Gavin and she looked like she might want to kiss him but instead, she said, "I'm a horrible jealous woman and for no better reason than I've spent my whole life watching out windows for men who weren't coming.  It's why in Chicago I said what I did to you about you coming when I called. No man had ever done that for me before... not once."

She couldn't believe the words poured out of her that way and so she quickly added, "The problem is mine, it isn't yours... and with everything, I could tell you that... and it hadn't ever come up before so, it seemed like something I couldn't say.  Like something I shouldn't.  This my problem, not yours.  And I'm sorry I ruined tonight because I wanted to do this job with you so badly..."

Gavin looked back at Isabella steadily.

"You're being too hard on yourself. All four of us got a surprise tonight. I think if you'd known going in that you'd see her, it would have been a bit easier. She's a good person. Mostly. Not saying you'll be friends, but..."

He shrugged.

"And you didn't ruin tonight. Things just got kind of fucked up. If you want to go home, we can go home. But if there's something else fun you'd like to do, I'm game. Not that we can go handle any other targets... I think I at least need to take a break for an hour."

Gavin smirked- then got serious, even if it was just for a fleeting moment.

"I'll always come when you call."

The words hung there for a few moments, then the cabbie returned and Gavin leaned in and murmured in her ear.

"Or when you do a few other things, I suppose."

Isabella made a half-laugh / half-exhale of relief as Gavin cracked wise.  He always could defuse her rage, like an expert explosives tech.  He always found the right way to dial things back to get her feeling like normal again.  

"Well, you wanted to know what I had to say in French earlier... and I don't really know that I'm quite liquored up enough to have the courage to say it in English.  Maybe we should see about drinks?  And then, it seems to me there is a river in this damn town we haven't Christened yet."  Isabella knew it was growing colder, but she didn't care, it was her and Gavin's thing.  And maybe that was why she hadn't slept with him in Detroit by the St. Claire riverside.  Maybe, quite simply, that place wasn't ever meant to be and somehow the universe knew it before she did.

She reached down and took his hand, lacing her fingers into his.  "Or, home is fine... wherever you are tonight, that's the place I want to be.  That's all that matters.  So... what did you think of snails?"  She chuckled.

"Very. Chewy."

He smirked.

"And I learned a new word tonight. Aphrodisiac. You might not make it to any river. But yea, drinks sound good to me."

Leaning forward, Gavin told the cabbie to head to the closest jazz club.

She whispered into his ear, "Si seulement il y avait un mur ici, je vous priverais de votre modestie véhiculaire."  The tip of her tongue lashed the base of his earlobe.  "Je veux que tu me prennes comme tu l'as fait à Chicago. S'il vous plaît..."

Her breath quivered, hot and warm against his neck.  Her hands wandered as she continued to whisper in French,  "Je ne veux pas de jazz. Je ne veux pas d'alcool, je te veux."  

Gavin did not speak French, but he was fluent in the language of lust, and he could hear the slight quiver in Bella's voice. He leaned forward, clearing his throat as Bella's hands stopped moving. Reaching into his wallet, he pulled out all the cash he had.

"Put the radio on. Loud. And go take a walk for an hour. Or two."

The cabbie took one look at the cash, grabbed it, and flipped the radio on. The he booked it.

Gavin moved towards Bella as the tide moves toward the shore: slowly, purposefully, and relentlessly. His hand slid up her thigh as he kissed her neck with a grin, tracing his tongue for a moment on her collarbone. 

"Keep speaking French... I have no idea what the hell you're saying... but I like it."

"Votre fille aux cheveux d'or n'a aucun espoir de vous émerveiller autant que moi. Laisse-la te vouloir, laisse-la te chasser, mais tu es mon loup."  She drew a sharp breath as his hand cleared the hem of her dress.

"C’est moi à qui tu penses ... moi tu rêves de moi ... laissez-la jouer à ses jeux, mais c'est inutile. J'ai déjà gagné!" 

As Gavin got up to her hip, she spoke in English.  "I was telling you earlier that I may have been in such a distracted state, that I forgot certain articles of clothing."  

Isabella flipped between moans, gasps, and broken bits of French as Gavin and she made good use of their time alone.

Gavin felt the energy surge between him and Bella, and for a moment he wished they were anywhere but the backseat of a cab. But the music was loud... and he no longer had to worry about chasing fleeting perfection, because this was his life now. He grinned at the thought as Bella shifted on top of him and he removed a strap from her shoulder with his teeth. His hands stretched around behind her- then he lifted the dress over her head.

"If you don't lose this thing soon it's going to get ripped off, and you'll have to ride home wearing handkerchiefs. Not that I'd mind."

Gavin had slid his way gradually out of his pants, and he grinned as Bella slid over him. He waited, content, holding himself back and soaking in the moment for as long as he could, catching glimpses of her as she moved in and out of the part of the cab illuminated by the moon. 

Eventually, Bella stopped moving as much and tried to lean forward, although the roof made things difficult. The lack of room seemed to frustrate both of them at first, as they found themselves trying to lie down, unable to move freely. 

After a few moments, Gavin found himself staring at Isabella's tattoo- and he let himself go. His hands moved from her shoulders to her chest to her hair to her hips, and, just as he had that night in Chicago, Gavin gave himself over to his selfishness. He lost track of the discomfort of his cramped legs, he lost track of time- and, finally, he lost track of himself. 

Whatever she'd been worried about earlier, was utterly forgotten by the time she was readjusting her dress and Gavin was trying to button his shirt correctly.  Her thighs were throbbing, her hips would have bruises later but she relished the thought in a way that defied logic.  She felt him all over and around her now, she smelled him everywhere and felt utterly decadent.  

"If we go to the club looking like this,"  She said, looking around at how the humidity of the car's interior having fogged up all the windows. "There isn't a soul alive who won't know what we've been up to..."  She smirked mischievously.  Oh, she knew she SHOULD go home, but some part of her wanted the whole damn world to know what she'd been doing tonight and with whom.  Gavin was her prize.  She belonged to Gavin and she wanted the whole world to know it.

"I'm sure I look a wreck.  Maybe we should go back home for the night... get a shower and sleep."  Those were her words, but the smirk that so matched his, never left her lips even ask she came over and kissed him wondering how she'd ever lived without him.