Deal
November, 2017
She plucked the cigarette from between his curled lips and drew a long, deep drag. The smoke that poured in plumes from her mouth was slow, soft, steady and rose in a sleepy cloud above their heads. The ghost of her breath joined its cousins to rest against the ceiling in a fog of gloomy gray and the haze of red from the blinking neon seemed dimmer for it, though he knew that must be a trick of the eye.
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"You got cash, I got the rest," she hummed through worn red lipstick that did not cover the scar clumsily cut from cupid's bow to chin. A sizzling stream of ash and a sigh and she handed the spent cigarette back.
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"What if it doesn't work?" he muttered even as he counted one crisp bill after another into her outstretched palm.
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She licked a thumb and shifted the bills far more quickly than he'd seen anyone before. Seemingly satisfied, she pocketed his payment and handed him a black velvet bag that pulsed and purred against his callouses.
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"Well," she told him as she stepped back into the corner of the bar, "you'll be dead and I'll be rich."
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He slipped the warm sachet into the deep pocket of his coat. When he turned to thank her, she'd already floated out with the smoke.