a place we know| ✓

seven

"And find a place where every single thing you see tells you to stay."
S E E K E R
.
.
December 13th
9:17 PM
New York
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The moon was high and the air was bitterly cold.

Thick flurries of snow drifted from the dark sky and dusted Audrey's hair, the late night chill forcing its way into her lungs and bones as the brisk wind stung her eyes.

She wrapped her an arm around herself to trap even a fraction of the warmth her body was depleting and knocked on the off-white door in front of her with a shaking fist.

Ace's apartment building stood right between two rotten alleyways and across a corner store. The streets were restless and fitfully cruel, and Audrey remembered being swarmed by unwanted gazes the moment she stepped foot off the bus.

Almost every wall was covered in graffiti, the sidewalks dirty. It would take a miracle to transform this part of the city into the picturesque neighbourhoods she used to live in with her family.

She knocked again, and to her left rose a guttural chuckle and the sound of heavy footsteps. Come on, Ace, open the door. A man seemingly materialized out of the dark hallway and his gaze fixed pointedly on Audrey caused her heart to climb into her throat.

"Oh, well ain't you a pretty one." The same man who she'd served at the diner two days ago grinned, revealing his yellowing teeth. "Thought you looked familiar."

She kept her face as still as possible and looked straight ahead to mask her fear. Audrey's knocks proceeded to get louder as the man approached her. She noticed his scruffy clothing and his crooked nose, the smoke he breathed out smelling nothing like Gunner's usual cigarettes.

"I didn't see you the other day," his laughter scratched at his throat as if it were trying hard to escape on its own. "I gotta say I missed you all sweet n' stuff, takin' my order and everything. Did ya give my little offer a thought?"

He stood only a meter away from her, his aura causing her skin to crawl. "I already told you I have a–"

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Both sets of eyes darted to Ace's burly figure in the doorway. He threw a side glance at the man then enclosed his hand around her forearm and pulled her inside. "Get fucking lost, Cam. Want me to tell your girl you've got your eyes set on someone else? You know she won't be happy about it."

Cam scratched his jaw and spat. "She ain't even my type of girl. She's too shy for me." He pinned her under his sinister stare.

"Good, now fuck off." Ace slammed the door and the arms that were once secured around her slim body were folded over his chest. "Why're you knocking at my door at this hour? Where's your kid?"

"I'm looking for Gunner." Audrey chided herself for sounding so meek in his presence. Ace was intimidating, and although this wasn't the first time she encountered him, she always felt bare when they were alone.

"He stepped out for a couple of hours," he said, walking further inside the apartment. It was just as bad as theirs, but it smelt repulsively of drugs–she always made sure Gunner did nothing of the sort at home. "Taking care of some stuff, y'know."

She observed as he slumped onto the couch and reached for the half-empty bottle of beer resting atop the coffee table. Despite his ruggedly handsome appearance, with skin that retained its tan all year round, eyes that glistened a rich, deep brown, and hair cropped to perfection, his lifestyle had transformed him into something ugly.