2019-09-05 - Trouble in Paradise

The skies are sunny and clear, which is a blessing considering the vehicle that is being used for this trip. Mae is wearing a pair of sunglasses, a buttery soft leather jacket over a button down white linen shirt, a pair of tight blue jeans and her biker boots. Her hands are swathed in a pair of soft leather gloves, her hair pulled back into a tight braid. She waits for Poe to join her, offers him the last sip of coffee from her cup and swings her leg over the bike to start her up. The machine purrs like a kitten and it brings a smile to her face. "I'll drive until we stop to pee, and then you can take over." She offers, pulling a helmet down on her head and cinching it on. She checks her mirrors, waits for Poe to climb on the bike and settles herself.

Away they go.

Poe makes his way out of the house looking freshly showered after having gotten back from the gym not all that long ago. He seems to have gone a step up from his usual attire and wears a close fitting grey crew neck t-shirt and black jeans - a red leather jacket pulled over everything in respect of the long bike ride.

"Thanks." He says, taking the coffee and enjoying the last sip before tossing the empty cup toward the house to be disposed later. He tugs on the other helmet and straps it before settling beyond Mae on the back of the bike.

"It's a great day for a ride." He says by way of conversation while they ease out onto the road and are soon on the way.

"You're not kidding." Mae replies, and then they ease out to the main drag in Gray Harbor, turning toward the highway that will lead them down to the bigger city. It's too loud for conversation now, the wind whipping past the pair as Mae puts on some speed. There aren't a lot of people out and about today, so they make great time, getting within a few miles of Seattle before she pulls off to park in a space at a donut shop. She unstraps her helmet, pulls it off, and walks toward the entrance. "Food, more coffee, and a pee.. I'll be ready to go and you can drive." She calls out, pulling a wallet from her jeans. "Want anything?"

"Bathroom break sounds good, but don't need anything from the shop." Poe says after climbing off the bike and tugging off the helmet. "That's. pretty fun ride. Can't remember the last time I was on a bike on the highway and was able to get up speed. Looking forward to driving it myself for the last bit of the run." He follows Mae inside and goes into the men's room while she deals with her own business, dropping into a seat to wait for her once he's out. He idly peeks at messages on his phone and looks relaxed.

Mae grabs two donuts, a small coffee, eating the first donut as she makes her way to the table Poe is sitting at. She drinks her coffee, only taking a seat once she's had a few sips. "I love that bike, I just wish I could be rainproof when I drive it." She rolls her shoulder as she shrugs, tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear as she bites into her second donut . She people watches as she eats and drinks, and then suddenly out of the blue she comments, "I have to pee." and jumps up, strolling for the bathroom. A few eyes follow her, probably because she made that pronouncement without a thought for how loud she was being.

"Shoulder still bugging you?" Poe asks, glancing to the shoulder that she rolled. "If it is make sure you take it easy until it's feeling all the way better. Do way more damage to it by rushing things." He laughs at the sudden announcement and gives a shrug to the small crowd in the shop that look in his direction after she departs. "If ya gotta go..." He seems to change his mind about eating terrible things and goes to the front to purchase and apple fritter, dropping back down into his seat to munch on it while he waits for Mae to be ready to get back on the road.

Mae walks back out, looking refreshed and ready to continue the ride. She leans against the table as Poe finishes his fritter. "The meeting I have in Seattle is set for a little after one. I found a spot near where I'll be for you to hang around and be unobtrusive." She eases her way out to the bike when he's done with his donut, picking up her helmet to strap it on her head. "Blake didn't tell me how you drive, so just try not to give me a heart attack, yeah?" She waits for him to settle on the seat before she climbs on behind him, tucking her feet against the footpeg, her arms loosely wrapped around Poe's torso. "I'll tap you three times if I hafta pee again before we get there. Just get us to around the Bellevue area, and I'll get you directions from there."

"You drink too much coffee before you ride, Mae." Poe says with a laugh at her instructions, climbing onto the bike and pulling his helmet on. He nods along with everything she says, adding - "Blake wouldn't actually know how I drive. Guess you didn't ever get the entire story from that night. Short version is he refused to ride and we walked it home, because I wasn't going to leave him to wander through the dark on his own, high as a cloud." With that said he starts up the bike and is soon easing it out of the parking lot and then onto the highway. Poe drives it pretty cautiously - in the way someone might when they're pretty light on practice and don't want to get everyone killed. Once they get moving for awhile he seems to find his comfort level, but still nothing crazy.

Once they make it into the city, Mae taps gently on Poe's shoulder, pointing to a coffee shop. "Right here!" She calls out so he can hear her. Once they're parked she clambers off the bike and walks in a slow circle to get her legs used to being mobile again. "All right, there is a coffee shop right over there across the street. I'll be in here." She points to the building they parked near, it seems to be called Paradise. From the looks of it, it's a gentleman's club, the door open, music playing loud inside.

"This'll take me a half hour tops, then we'll head to my place to pick up some of my clothes. Easy peasy, back before you know it." She leans down to check out her appearance in the mirror, pursing her lips as if she might kiss it. "This'll do." She pops a few buttons on the blouse to really show off her cleavage and starts to walk toward the club.

"Half an hour?" Poe asks, blinking and then narrowing his gaze toward Mae. He doesn't dig any deeper than that, however. It's her business and Mae is a big girl. He drops his eyes to the newly revealed cleavage and gives a short nod with a smile. "Will get their attention. Alright. I'll settle in across the way with a coffee and poke away at my phone and do some hipster watching while I wait. Take whatever time you need." He glances up toward the club again and gives what he hopes is an encouraging smile. "And take care of yourself." Not much else to say. He looks for a break in the traffic and slips across the way to tuck into the coffee shop.

Mae smirks, glancing down at the inked skin on display. "See you in a little bit." She calls back, turning to make her way into the building. Ten minutes after she walks in, a black sedan pulls up out front. Two men get out, wearing suits and sunglasses. The back door opens and a third man climbs out, dressed in a similar fashion. The car pulls off, and the men chat among themselves for a minute or two before they make their way into the club.

Someone at the coffee shop points over to the club, and soon there are a few people taking pictures and recording video with their phone. People are running out of the club, one woman screaming as she flees. The music has stopped and shouting can be heard inside. One of the coffee house patrons murmurs softly. "I'm going to call 911."

A scream sounds from the club, it might be vaguely familiar to Poe, it sounded more than a little angry.

Poe's attention is divided between the sandwich he'd ordered, his phone and lazy people watching. A large bite is taken off the sandwich at about the time that the sedan pulls up and the well dressed men get out to head inside. It's not all that unusual for well dressed men to frequent a gentleman's club at this time of day, so his attention returns to his phone and sandwich again. It's not until the stirrings in the shop cause him to look up again that he registers that something is happening. He doesn't wait around long to watch and think - he's more a man of action. Out of his seat and crossing the street while he takes in the scene of the patrons fleeing out of the club in obvious distress. He picks up his own pace going the other direction and reaches the door of the place about the time that he hears the angry Mae-scream. He hurries inside.

Most of the employees at the club have taken off, what's left are the three men in suits, three men who look like they could be bouncers, Mae and a lazy looking guy sprawled in a chair. Mae is a tall woman, so when a man can hold her so that her boots are scuffing the floor. One of the men in a suit has got to be at least 6'3".

"Just give them what they want." She grunts at the lazy asshole. "Why did you call me here if you were planning a fucking double cross, you could have done this while I was at home." She doesn't seem to be afraid, even though the men in suits are clearly armed. She glances toward the man standing between the suited guards. "Carlos, I had no idea what the fuck Luca was planning. I wouldn't be here if I had any clue. You know that."

Carlos flicks a glance at Mae and then back to Luca. "Yes well, now we have a problem. I gave you drugs, I expect payment. This is all really a simple arrangement." He gestures lazily toward Mae. "I have your best dancer, and I'm going to take her with me. If you are not forthcoming with the funds, she will not be fit for much when I return her."

Mae snarls at that, pulling against the hold around her neck. "I don't work for Luca anymore, he asked me to come here to help him out with something. Just put a bullet in him and let me go about my merry.." Luca looks up at that, smirks at Mae and makes a gesture like, 'take her'. This was probably his plan all along.

Poe gets deep enough into the room to spot the little gathering and has enough sense in his sometimes thick skull to hang back and watch. He might be upset later that Mae hadn't been all that straight with him about what her business was here, but this wasn't the time to worry much about it. He'd dealt with enough of these types to know that they wouldn't be kind with Mae if they walked out of here. At best they'd break a kneecap and just leave her to suffer. The 'at worst' list was a lot uglier.

Still, Poe wasn't armed. He keeps himself ducked out of sight and continues to watch. Perhaps things would just get resolved? If not he needed the men in closer quarters. Moving directly into the room was just going to get him a bullet for his troubles. And he didn't have a gun to strike first with.

Carlos rolls his eyes, gesturing for the two suits to take Mae outside. He continues to stand where he's at, and it looks like he's going to chat with Luca some more... or worse. You can bet that he's going to take care of business, it is just that look in his eye. Mae has the same thoughts as Poe right now, once she's in the car, things are dire. So when they start to pull her down the dark hallway toward the door, she catches a glimpse of someone near the coat check. She's banking on that being Poe, and when they get close, she goes limp. Dead weight. When she does it, she loops her arm around the man dragging her, trying to take him down with her. He grunts, the sound quiet enough not to alert the people still inside the club, but they're arguing in polite tones, so it's possible they wouldn't have noticed.

It could be that Mae noticed Poe's shadow lurking in the hallway, but clearly the men who were dragging her out to the car hadn't seen him there. He tenses and presses back against the wall while he waits for his opening - and it's given to him very clearly when Mae drops and grabs the man hauling her. The action distracts the other man and Poe is able to take three long strides out of the shadows and swing all of his weight behind the punch that he levels toward the man's jaw. It's a solid crack, the suit and sunglasses teetering for a half a breath before the crumbles to the ground.

With that man down he turns to close the short space where Zoiya struggles with the other, looking to help her with the attacker - knowing very well their time is likely limited before the third man inside realizes that things aren't going exactly as planned.

Mae is successful dragging the second man to the ground, not even batting an eyelash when Poe steps out of the shadow to glass jaw the first man. It's so well timed that it doesn't make a lot of noise, certainly though the thud of a 200 pound man teetering to the floor like a felled tree is going to make some noise. The man Mae has a hold of, gets one strangled groan out when she gets her arms around him to drag him down as dead weight. Once he's on the ground, her thighs wrap around his face, and in any other world, he would be in heaven. The fact that she's squeezing him into unconsciousness probably isn't sitting too well with him. He tries to tap out on her thigh but she squeezes harder, until that hand flops on the floor.

Carlos is raising his voice, and Luca is looking past him at what is happening in the hall. He makes a low mention of it toward Carlos, who turns, pulling a rather large gun from his jacket. Might be time to go.

Mae is on her feet, drool on her thigh, but really is that something to worry about right now? "Go go go!!" She yells at Poe, shoving him toward the door, chancing a brief look over her shoulder. A round is fired, and it digs into the wall next to the door. "Fuck!" She yells as they spill onto the street. Sirens can be heard, and they're close. "On the bike, you drive, head toward the north part of Bellevue!" She is pulling her helmet on, ready to jump on the bike behind him.

Adrenaline is great and Poe had loads of it in this critical seconds. He reaches Mae about the time she puts the man out with the power of her thighs - that's something to see - but again not the time for glib comments. He's already moving when the gun shot explodes behind them, fleeing out the door and not questioning Mae's instructions. The helmet is shoved onto his head and the bike brought to life with a couple quick motions, settling into his place and only waiting for Zoiya to get on the bike before he kicks it into gear and starts to accelerate down the street. "Where?" He calls as loudly as he can over the noise of the bike as he navigates down the street and takes a hard left to point them north on a main road. He's not looking to get them killed on the bike, but he weaves through some traffic and makes choices that might not technically follow the rule of the law.

Mae points to a road that leads to a two lane highway, leaning forward to shout. "Get on there, head to the second exit, hang a sharp right and pull into the apartment complex!" She gets a good grip on him so that she doesn't get pulled off by the turn, and then the sound of that hyena like laughter sounds from where she's seated. "That was fucking fantastic!" She yells, and then she just concentrates on keeping hold while Poe drives. Every so often she shifts against him, looking over her shoulder to see if there are reds and blues following, but aside from normal traffic, seems fine.

"You are a fucking maniac, Mae!" Poe calls out into the noise of the wind. That's about all he can convey, especially as the bike speeds up. He also keeps an eye on the mirrors to see if they're being followed, but it doesn't look like it? It hardly meant they were free and clear, but maybe the mess at the club was enough to keep Seattle's best occupied for long enough for them to be mostly forgotten. He shifts his weight and hits the exit that was pointed and takes the sharp right that was indicated and then directly into the apartment complex. The bike is parked and his helmet being pulled off seconds later. He's grinning when it's removed, shaking his head to toss mussed hair back into place. "You should be so very dead right now." He informs her.

Mae pulls her helmet off, hanging it on one of the handlebars. She shrugs toward Poe, rolling her eyes. "I yelled, hoping you'd hear me. If you hadn't.. I'd have thought of something." She looks pretty sure of herself, only when she checks the road they came in on is there uncertainty in her eyes, and she's careful not to show that to Poe. She turns back toward him, tilted grin on her face. "Nice shot though, that guy probably has no idea what hit him." She gives him a playful punch to the bicep and then curls her fingers, walking toward the complex. "This shouldn't take too long, and my roommate is probably out so.. no need to be social." She fingers through the keys on her ring, holding them loosely as they walk toward the elevator.

"Not too long sounds like a good idea. I don't think we should spend a whole lot more time in town. I'm sure we didn't exactly sneak away - let's just hope no one took a picture of the bike so they don't have a plate number." Poe replies, following Mae up toward the building when she leads the way, glancing once more over his shoulder. "You knocked that guy out with your thighs, Mae. That's - fuck. I do enough martial arts to have seen it done, but not in the heat of the moment like that. That's... " He shakes his head, clearly pretty impressed by the easy execution that she'd used on the big man. He follows into the elevator and drops back against the wall, some of the adrenaline high starting to fade. "Fuck. That bullet was only three feet wide though. Ever been shot?" He asks her.

"Bike isn't in my name, they get a shot of the plate and it leads to a man in Chicago." Mae leans against the wall of the elevator, waiting for it to climb to the third floor. "You work a pole, or said you can, you know what kind of strength it takes in your upper body and your thighs. You just.. " She wrinkles her nose, grinning up at Poe. "Listen, sometimes you have to use what's available to you. My thighs are a lot stronger than my arms, I know that. It was quicker that way." She gazes down at her boots, giving them her full attention for a few beats. "Just once." She gazes back up at Poe. "Almost made it twice today, we shouldn't stay long. Carlos and Luca both know where this place is, I'm surprised they weren't behind us on the highway."

The elevator doors open and she steps out, walking down three doors, leaning into the door as she unlocks it. She opens the door, finds the place dark, which means her roommate is out. Great. She takes two steps into the dark living room when a hand comes out, snatching her by the braid, dragging her back toward the wall next to door. There is a brief flash in her head that says, this could be your roommate dummy. A louder voice in her head quietly counters 'play stupid games, win stupid prizes'.

She steps back with those heavy soled boots, her elbow taking the braid grabbing asshole in the solar plexus. She knocks him off balance and they both go tumbling toward the floor. That is when the glint of a gun can be seen in the darkness.

"Neither of you move anymore or we see how brains look against this garish green fucking paint."

Poe reacts quickly, his weight already shifting in the direction that Mae was being pulled. As soon as he spots her land that blow with her elbow he's moving into position to take advantage and make sure the man isn't getting up any time soon.

Of course, he also catches sight of that gun and his movements come to an abrupt stop, turning his body around to face whoever is wielding it and carefully pushing his hands into the air. Bullets are way too damn fast and he'd learned a healthy respect for guns years ago. Most of the time whoever has the weapon doesn't really want to shoot anyone, but most of the people he tangles with won't hesitate if it becomes necessary. "Mae." He says, making sure her attention is on the gun wielder before she gets herself shot in her struggles.

Mae saw it, so she lays there, half atop her assailant her pulse jumping in her neck. "So uh.. why are you in my apartment?" She says conversationally, her eyes on Poe. She seems to have a healthy respect for firearms too.

"I was called when you two rabbited from the club, I was two minutes from here." His hand wraps in that braid, jerking Mae's head back as he slowly gets to his feet, pulling her with him. She winces, but she doesn't give him the satisfaction of crying out. Her eyes are on the gun aimed over her shoulder at her friend. "So.." The man continues, sounding rather friendly, all told. "Carlos trusted Luca to move that powder, and he was rather disappointed to find out it was gone. Luca blamed you Mae. His naughty ex, taking off with his stash." There is an evil chuckle there. "So they had a plan to lure you back in, get some answers or take it out on your flesh.."

Mae interrupts then, and gun or no gun, she sounds pissed. "Why in the fuck would I take Carlos' stash. Even if I was taking off for good, that would get a lot of people not involved hurt." Her braid is jerked so whatever was going to be said next comes out in a yelp.

"Carlos just wants his money. He doesn't really care who gets it to him. Luca isn't making as much money with you gone lil Mae, so you're gonna help square this up." There is a smile in his voice, he's enjoying this. "You go home, like you were planning on doing, someone will be tailing you. You'll get a text telling you how much money you owe Carlos. You'll make good on it, or you'll get a visit. We all clear here?"

"You're playing a dirty game. I don't know the full story here, but this isn't going to go well for you." Poe growls, though he makes no move to do anything else. Someone would be shot before he'd be able to get to the man. "Carlos should know better than to be ranging outside his territory. That's asking for a lot more trouble than losing a bit of cash. Maybe Luca doesn't have the money today, but you take it out of him a bit at a time over a few months and everyone is happy. You follow us home and I wouldn't promise the same good fortune." Maybe the words are too brave given Poe doesn't know half of what he's dealing with. How big is this Carlos? Maybe the locals in Gray Harbor would be more than happy to turn Mae and Poe over and let the business go down there.

"I'm not playing games, and I have the cards this hand. So don't get uppity." The man tilts his head closer to Mae, his voice quiet. "You sure do pick em big, girly. Guess that comes in handy when you're fucking people over."

Mae rolls her eyes and it's written on her face and the way she's holding herself, there is nothing she wants more than to turn and slug the guy in the face, but sheer force of will keeps her still and silent. The man tilts his head, the gun still trained on Poe. "Carlos won't have to range outside of his territory if Mae takes care of her end of things. Trust me, if we need to make a visit, we're aware of how the game works. More than you do, asshole."

The gun cocks with a noise that might make a lesser man piss himself, but there is no pull to the trigger. He shoves Mae in Poe's direction. "Don't try to shake anyone on your tail, we'll take that as a hostile action, and motorcycle accidents tend to be really fucking messy." With that not so subtle threat, he eases toward the door, gun trained on the pair. "Have a good night, kids." The door opens, he eases through, and it shuts.

"Jesus Christ." Mae whispers, and for a moment she just stares at the door, her expression carefully blank. She turns after a moment and walks toward a bedroom, the only indication that she might be affected is the slowness of her stride. She picks up a bag, walks to the closet, pulling open the doors. She starts to pull clothes from inside, stuffing them into the bag haphazardly. She doesn't speak, she seems to be in robot mode.

Poe doesn't say anything else to the man before he leaves the apartment a few minutes later. Nor does he say anything to Mae when she walks away into the bedroom. For a few minutes he just lingers in the main living space, not really paying much attention to anything and doing a small lap while his head processes the situation. His feet eventually take him to the door of Mae's bedroom and he leans against the frame, watching her for a few seconds.

"Guess we didn't get away clean. You going to tell me how much of this is actually on you and how much of it is bullshit and you're being used as a target? I think after being nearly shot twice I'm owed the actual story."

"I used to work at Paradise, obviously." Mae says, her tone even, her eyes on the closet still. "Luca and I got involved briefly, it was messy, and he was dealing for Carlos in his club." She sets down the bag, sinks onto the bed, hands in her lap. "He got a shipment in of cocaine, and was given instructions on when Carlos wanted the money. He made some plans to pass it through the club and to a few dime dealers he had working for him." She gazes at the floor, shaking her head. "I got into a fight with Luca that night, he thought I was flirting with a customer, which.. let's be fair here, Poe, that's kind of my fucking job. I'm a stripper, if I'm cold or standoffish to the clients who's gonna want a lap dance?"

She leans down, zips up the bag, a frown on her face. "He hit me. I don't let men hit me." The words are quiet, her hands on the handle of the bag, pulling it up on her lap. "So I packed up my shit, Dom had rolled me a few days prior and I figured a break was in order. I didn't take any of the powder. I knew about it, I could have, but I didn't. I rode out of town the next night." She plays with the zipper, not looking at Poe. "Luca probably got rolled too, and took my disappearing as a blessing and an excuse he could use when Carlos came sniffing around."

Poe listens, nodding along with the story and studying his knuckles to see if they have an imprint of the man's jaw he shattered not long before. Nope. His lips twist a bit while he tries to unravel certain parts of the story, but honestly isn't very surprised that despite everything some of the edges seem to have been softened. Fair enough. "What about today, Mae? Why the fuck are we back here at all? You weren't coming here to dance or entertain - you knew you were going to be in and out quick like, just didn't realize it was a setup. Did he get in touch and offer you some easy money?"

Mae aims a sharp look at Poe, and for a moment anger is etched there, but then it drains away and she sighs. "Luca sent me a text, asked me to come pick up some money that was owed to me. Told me that he had a lead on a woman who might need to lose some valuables and wanted to know if I wanted in on it. A quick two grand, all I would have had to do is talk up a security goon and keep his eyes on me."

She gets to her feet, slinging the bag over a shoulder, pulling at it so that the loose straps sling across her body. She settles the bag where it will be comfortable while they're on the road. Looks like Poe is driving home. "Listen, if I had any fucking idea that this involved Carlos, I would have stayed very far away from the whole mess. Luca owes me money, I figured he would do the right thing, and obviously I made a huge error in judgement."

She exhales slowly, pulling her sunglasses from where they were tucked into her blouse. "Not the first time, and probably not the last either." She slips the shades on her face, turning to gaze at Poe. "Can we go now?"

Poe listens again and eventually drifts out of the bedroom while Mae explains how the day came to pass. His expression doesn't change a lot - no sign of anger or disappointment. If anything it's simple understanding. He'd likely do the same thing if someone called him and told him he could make an easy two grand. He certainly had before.

He watches as Mae comes out of the room and then head toward the door, but he pauses there and turns full to face her, looking into the reflection in her sunglasses. He reaches out a hand and sets it on her shoulder, voice quiet. "Next time, Mae, I want to know. You want to drag me into your shit? Give me the respect to tell me what shit we're wading into. I'm still going to come, because that's the sort of thing we do for each other. But, I want to know what I'm walking into so there is a lot less chance of both of us being shot. We good?"

Mae glances at the hand on her shoulder, her voice just as quiet. "Fine. I didn't think you would be needed, I figured this was on the up and up." Her expression goes dark and she continues, "However, I have lived through too much shit in my short amount of years, and when my instinct screams at me like it did after that call, I don't question it. I can't afford to."

"Should I have brought Blake, or Lex? What would have happened if it would have been one of them?" She looks haunted for a moment, as if she actually pictured both of those scenarios in her head. "I'm not coming back to Seattle for Luca again, and once my shit is out of here..." Her last connection to Seattle, to Paradise, to her past. Another bridge burned, another city she can't come back to. She chokes up for a moment, and she pushes Poe's hand off of her shoulder. "I got a lot to think about, I won't be so careless of your safety again, you have my word." She makes her way to the door, yanking it open, holding it for him to go through first. "Please, let's get the fuck out of here, the ride home is going to be nerve wracking enough."

"I've got your back, Mae. I want to be here. I just want to make sure I'm going in with my eyes open next time. Not just about my safety - I want you walking out of here too. Not always easy in our business, but you've gotta find people you can trust sometimes." Poe says this after his hand is pushed away and he stalks out the door, moving to the elevator and eventually downstairs where he goes to the bike and puts on his helmet before climbing on and waiting for Mae to get settled. Seems like he has said his piece and is ready to return back home. Is trust really possible in this business? Isn't that the kind of thing that gets you dead faster than being suspicious of everyone?