Ritta, as usual, is cleaning up the barroom at the Fallen Angel before her colleagues arrive. The front door is securely closed, only Titus and her have the key. Here, she feels at home, safe.
Lost in thought, she hears a knock on the glass door behind her, which startles her. Suspicious, she slips along the wall to discover the disturber without being seen. A tall man, glasses, a thin face, short black hair, a well-groomed black suit… Gale, Black's right hand…
“What the hell is he doing here!!” she exclaims, annoyed.
She would have liked to ignore him, but he certainly knows she is there.
So she walks up to the glass door and screams loud enough for him to hear.
"Hello, what do you want?" She looks at him suspiciously, not daring to come too close to the door.
Gale smiled at her "I'm sorry to bother you, I left some documents in the office and unfortunately Titus isn't here to open the door for me yet." Gale has already noticed that Ritta is very suspicious of him and his co-workers. He tries to be reassuring "If you prefer, I'll go knock on Titus so that he can come and open the door for me."
Ritta doesn't like it, she's suspicious of him, she wants Titus to be there so badly. But at the same time, she doesn't want her old friend to be disturbed. She knows that Titus likes to take a nap before coming to work… She resigns herself, grabs the key she hides in her bra and opens the door. Gale walks in cautiously, trying not to get too close to her.
“Thank you very much, I will hurry and leave you alone.” he told her in a sorry tone. His long strides leading him up the stairs that give access to the office.
Ritta, frozen, watches him disappear into the office. She pulls herself together and hastily locks the front door. Then she continues her cleaning, not reassured.
A few minutes later, Gale comes downstairs, a file in his hand.
Ritta watches the man, droplets shining on his forehead, she relaxes a little, thinking he must have had a bad start to the day. After all, he's only doing his job and knowing Black's temper, it can't be easy. So she asks him “Would you like a glass of water before leaving?”
The man smiles at her and approaches slightly, “it would be great, thank you!”
So she takes SweetHeart's place and serves him a glass of water. As long as the bar is between her and this man, she can tolerate his presence.
Gale takes the glass gratefully and downs it.
Ritta raises an eyebrow “Ola! young man, gently! Don't go choking!" she laughs a bit and continues "Are you thirsty yet?"
Gale “Oh yes, I ran so much all day!”. A sheepish smile forming on his lips.
"Come on, Usain Bolt, give me your glass!" she says. Which made the gangster laugh out loud.
Gale can't help but admire this voluptuous woman and her fiery beautiful eyes. He grins like an idiot and nearly chokes as he gulps down the second glass of water she serves him. Ritta bursts out laughing.
"It's cute for a gangster!" she says to him.
“Ah ha! It's weird to put the words “cute” and “gangster” in the same sentence! But I like it! Miss Ritta can call me that, I don't mind!” Laughing.
“Miss Ritta, thank you for your help. I have to get back to my business now or our boss is going to get his nerves on me again!” while making a disappointed pout. He hands her the empty glass and smiles warmly.
“You can just call me Ritta. Good luck!" Smiling, Ritta takes the glass, puts it in the sink, then goes to the door to open it. Gale greets her and disappears through the opening. Ritta observes for a few seconds the back of this man advancing in the street. Then she locks the door “A cute gangster...” Then she laughs as she returns to her cleaning.
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A few hours later, Titus opens the front door, corners it to stay open, and goes to greet his friend. Seeing her smile, radiant, he raises an eyebrow.
“Hello Titus! Yes I smile, it happens to me from time to time!” she throws at him, seeing the dubious face of the bouncer.
“Hello” growls the giant without letting go of his wary look. Ritta stops and looks at him “I should be the one to put on that questioning look!” accusingly, placing her hands on her hips.
The bouncer hastily looks down at his feet and tries to flee.
“Running is not a solution you know? You see each other every day and he is stubborn! He won't let you go!!” she throws it at him.
Titus takes his pedestal table and takes it to the entrance to escape his friend's verbal darts. He thinks that if even he noticed Lulu's behavior, Ritta must have seen all this happen a long time ago!
Raising his head towards the open front door, he sees a figure hastily slipping out of the opening. By instinct, he lets go of the high table and rushes as quickly as he can towards the exit. When he hears Lulu's voice “Hello sir! May I help you?" followed by the sound of something hitting the ground and a scream, he cursed himself for not being fast enough. Passing the door, he sees Lulu on the ground holding his knees in blood, his wound not preventing him from showering generously with insults his attacker who has already flown away.
Titus picks up Lulu and brings him inside. Ritta, who has already grabbed the first aid kit, begins to pull out what is needed to treat the still upset angel.
Titus, having also lost his temper, starts yelling “Lulu seriously! in which language should I tell you that in case of danger you must come to me?!”
Lulu, not liking the tone of the giant, also raises his voice “To reach you I had to be able to pass the door and he blocked it!”
With the waiter's response making the bouncer even more skittish, Ritta interjected "Ola! Ola!" Stay calm! Titus!” turning to her old friend, trying to calm him down "Lulu just thought it was a curious passerby!" turning to the angel "Calm, I'll take care of your knees!" Then she began to bandage the wounds of the young man.
Lulu looked up at Titus, his eyes watering. Which instantly calmed the giant down!
In a softer voice "Excuse me Lulu, I shouldn't have yelled at you." Seeing the angel also calm down “Can you describe this man to me please?”
Suddenly a deep, hoarse voice sounded behind Titus "What happened?" Black and Gale have also just made their entrance to the Fallen Angel.
SweetHeart slipped between the two gangsters and rushed, very worried, to his friend “Lulu, how are you? what happened?"
Titus turned to his boss and said in a dark voice "We need to talk."
Black “Gale, stay here and call some well-armed men.” Then he motioned for Titus to follow him into the study.
Gale quickly texted his phone to round up some colleagues. Then he approached the two angels and their dean, displaying a calm expression to lighten the atmosphere. Looking at Lulu "This must be traumatic my boy, but don't worry, we'll handle this."
Ritta, straightening up, alarmed, addressing the man in black directly “Please! The other servers will be arriving at any moment. The street is not safe for them!”
Gale understanding her concern "I'm going to go and post myself in the street while waiting for my colleagues" He smiles at the pretty forties women and quickly leaves the bar.
Titus told Black about the strange happenings of the past few days: the man who was staring out the glass door as the bar was closed, the shadows and silhouettes quickly escaping his gaze, and then what had just happened.
Black, in a dark voice "Someone suspects I'm here... When Delhi comes, send him to me."
Titus “These are not cop methods!”
Black “I know, but I still have to make sure everything is under control!”
The giant lowers his head, concerned.
Black walks up to him and laying his hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry, my old friend. I promise to do the best I can to protect this place and the people who work there.”
Looking up at his friend and boss, Titus, his gaze imploring "Can you protect SweetHeart too?"
Black, supporting the look of the bouncer, understands his concern, he knows how dangerous it is to associate with him “I would protect him with my own life!” he declares.
Finally, Lulu manages to pull himself together quickly before the arrival of his other teammates. He hid his knees with high boots and everyone acted as if nothing had happened.
Just before the service, SweetHeart, not missing his ritual, walked into Black's office, the men in black escaping through the back door, leaving them alone.
The angel having placed the glass and the ramekin on the desk, Black grabbed him and pulled him onto his lap. While hugging him, he said in a soft voice, "I know you're worried, but please trust me, I'll fix this."
The young man looked at him in the eyes and in a frail voice “Please! Lulu is my childhood friend, all the Fallen Angel staff members are my friends and this place is important to me!”
His angel's imploring gaze was so hard to sustain that he pulled him to his chest, embracing him, kissing the top of his head.