Chapter Text
Price kissed his teeth against his lips, an annoyed air about him as he pushed past the doors of his office with a thick file in hand and a coffee in the other. He didn’t normally like drinking coffee, but after seeing the job offer that had landed in his lap last night? He knew he needed it.
The three men sitting in his office stopped chatting the second he stepped in. Price nodded to them before stepping around the table and sitting with a heavy sigh.
“That bad?” Gaz spoke up first. He was relaxed, chin on his open palm as he watched Price with a raised brow.
“Worse than actual missiles in Mexico?” Soap jokes, he was spread comfortably on Price’s couch. Ghost was the only man who kept quiet, arms crossed as he sat on the far end of the couch, as far away from Soap’s sprawl as he could get.
“Missiles didn’t have Price sighing like that, I’ll tell you.” Gaz, always quick to respond to a comment with one of his own. Price placed the file down and cleared his throat.
“It’s a long-term protection detail, I’m assigning Soap and Ghost to it.” Price was barely able to get the sentence out before Soap was groaning.
“You’re fuckin’ jokin’–”
“CEO of some tech company reached out a few weeks ago, wants a small team for long-term protection.” Price looked at Soap’s scowl, then to Ghost’s covered face. He prayed Soap kept the protection target on good terms with the two of them, it was difficult enough to let go of a lieutenant like Ghost for a mission like this, he didn’t want to lose him to a resignation letter.
“Cap, we’re no mercs.” Price silenced Soap with a finger. Price would have to chew Gaz out for the shitty grin he was hiding behind his fist.
“He’s pumping money right into military pockets, Brass made it very clear we owe him this and then some. Ransom case last month has him spooked, hit too close to home, I think. He reached out to get a team for his family.”
Soap was the one groaning again. “Sir, babysittin’ posh pricks out in fuckin’ nowhere?” He almost sounded like he was whining.
Price pressed his lips into a thin line. “Would have rejected it if I had that choice. Hate politics, and having to bend over for a favour Brass owes but…” Price sighed, hand coming up to rub at his tired eyes. “Now, the girl…” Price sighed again, opening up the file and staring down at her ID photo. Young, just graduated college, should have a bright future ahead of her. If it wasn’t for the endless issues intel managed to dig up on her.
“She’s…?” Gaz prodded, all smiles when he realised he wasn’t the one who would have to suffer through this glorified baby-sitting job. Price just shook his head.
“A lot.” He gestured vaguely to the file, the corners of his mouth tightening. “Three arrests, zero convictions—daddy’s money took care of that. He already sent a formal apology ahead of time for whatever we’re about to deal with.”
Gaz lets out a whistle, sending a sideways glance to the other two men. Soap just raises his brows, sinking further into the seat as he sighs.
“So, we’re babysitting a rich brat ?” Ghost cut in, arms crossed. “This is what they’ve got us doing now?”
Price shrugged, he really didn’t want them doing this job either, he’d much rather have two able men out in the field with him instead of playing bodyguard to some rich wanker’s family. “Ransom had links to the cartel, same group from the op we did in Mexico. They want experienced men on this job, and if it’s any consolation, he’s paying a lot .” Price flipped through the file quickly. “Six figures each, boys, on the higher side too.”
Soap whistles, hands thrown up at the number. “Sold.” Price almost rolled his eyes.
“ Six figures?” Gaz leaned forward. “Mate, do they need a third man for the job?”
You held Amir’s arm steady, nails digging into his flesh. He kept trying to slip away, ‘just a sec, I almost slipped’ or ‘sorry, forgot I was supposed to hold it up,’ and it was fucking up the phone flashlight that was supposed to be helping you fix your lipstick in the dim club.
“Jesus, Amir, stay still.” You spoke over the loud bass, he just rolled his eyes and stood comically still. You looked up and sent him a sickly sweet smile that dropped from your face the second you looked back to the mirror in your hand.
You wiped at your smudged lip liner, digging around in your bag for your lip gloss.
“Aw, look at you being all obedient.” Kavi spoke from her spot in the booth. You gave her a quick glance, she pulled at the bottom of her skintight dress as she stood from her seat. “Nothing smart to say? You really think her dad’s gonna put her on house arrest?” Kavi stepped closer, having to speak just a bit louder to be heard.
The VIP floor was loud, even when it was supposed to be far away and ‘secluded’. You uncapped your lipgloss with a sigh, did she have to remind you of your father’s plans? The three of you had agreed to meet up tonight, and it just so happened this was the same night your dad had said to keep free because he wanted to introduce you to the men he’d hired to ‘ keep watch over my girl ’. You thought he was pitifully naive if he thought you were going to sit around waiting to meet a random group of men who’d be breathing down your neck until your dad gave them the green light to leave.
“No clue when I’ll be seeing her again, if she’s lucky her bodyguards will at least be hot.” Amir said. You looked up with a frown and he just winked. “Can prop ‘em up like art pieces, good idea, no?”
“They’re just getting paid to stand there and glare. Bet they’ll hate me by the end of the week.” You dropped your lip gloss into your purse and pushed Amir’s hand away with a smack of your lips. “Thanks, babe.”
He tucks his phone into his back pocket, cut off by Kavi who claps her hands together. “alright, wonderful, can we finally go get those drinks?”
“After you.” Amir said, throwing his arms around both of your shoulders, leading the two of you across the VIP lounge and to the spiraling staircase that led down to the main floor.
Once the doors opened to the main floor, you almost flinched at the laser lights that flickered in dizzying bursts of green, blue and pink. It was loud, entirely too loud to even think. You looked up at Amir, he noticed you staring and glanced down with a smile. You pressed into him, craning to spot Kavi on his other side.
She was sidled up on his other side, throwing you a wink and making a smoking sign with her fingers before nodding over across the room.
The club was alive, people had melted into one big crowd, faces blurred in the erratic lights. You squinted across the club, at what Kavi had nodded at. It was hard to see anything, especially when Amir was pulling you this way and that to maneuver the three of you through the crowd towards the open bar.
The lights flashed and you saw people’s faces in snapshots. Laughing, kissing, grinding — rinse and repeat. Through the mess of faces, you spotted Kavi’s on-again off-again boyfriend at the entrance with his own group of friends. They waved over at Kavi, shaking a cigarette pack and holding up a bottle of alcohol that was lit up by blue LED’s on the bottom for some odd reason.
“Drinks on them?” Kavi said in a light tone, but you knew she wasn’t joking. Not when she was heading over to them, brown curls bouncing as she practically skipped over. Well, there was the open bar plan completely abandoned.
“Really? Kavi, he is such a dickhead.” You whined, reaching around Amir and pinching her arms.
Amir leaned down to your ear, lips grazing skin as he spoke. “She won’t listen, blinded by the dick.”
You pushed at his face, about to try to convince her to abandon that asshole again but she’s walking ahead of the two of you, dragging Amir by his belt.
You didn’t like her boyfriend, you hadn’t bothered to remember his name because frankly, they never lasted longer than three weeks at a time. All you knew was that he was tall enough to have her swooning over his height and ignoring his annoying ass personality. If it wasn’t him being controlling, it was always something else like cheating, lying, the list goes on and on.
“‘Comin’ through.” Amir called out loudly, pushing between a group of women. He turned back to you, “Almost lost Kavi there.” Your manicured nails dug into the flesh of his wrist, it was still slung over your shoulder. He just laughed to himself, you didn’t hear it over the deafening bass but you saw his shoulders shake.
You stepped carefully around a spilled drink, feeling the floor shake under your heels. A guy to your left shouldered past you hard, not giving a shit about personal space. You stumbled into Amir, swirling your head around before you even steadied yourself.
“Fuckin’ watch it.” You snapped, but your voice was barely audible over the music. Amir’s hand moved to settle at your waist, pulling you close and dragging you along.
“Gonna start a fight in those platforms?”
“Asshole didn’t even say sorry.” You looked in front to see Kavi just a couple steps ahead, already rushing to meet her loser boyfriend. You sighed, looking towards the bar just in time to see a guy take a body shot off someone else’s chest, you almost pouted. That looked like a lot more fun than whatever Kavi was leading you to.
You almost envied how lighthearted Kavi was, even with her shitty taste in men, she still found the time to sway her hips to the music and dance her way around big groups of people.
You brought Amir down to your ear with a quick pull at his shirt. “She’s such an idiot for still talking to him.”
Amir grinned, black hair falling in his eyes for a moment before he pushed it back. “She’s never been the brightest one here.”
Your thoughts drifted as you spotted Kavi breaking free from the heart of the crowd and throwing herself into her man’s arms. You groaned.
“Fuck, need that drink right about now.” You spoke, throwing up a fake smile when her boyfriend nodded to you. You wanted to punch the bastard but you kept your expression under control when the two of you neared within earshot of his little group.
“Kavi, baby, came just in time.” His arm was around waist, throwing a nod Amir’s way as he started walking ahead of the group. “We got a couple bottles with your names on ‘em.”
You clung to Amir like his second skin, you didn’t trust any of these fuckers with a canned drink, let alone a bottle . They led you up to their booth, tucked into a raised section of the club like some kind of sleazy throne room. You immediately took the farthest corner of the couch and yanked Amir down with you.
The boyfriend, whose name you still hadn’t bothered to learn, spread himself across the middle couch like he owned the place, legs wide and drink already in hand. He slapped the back of the couch once, loud, like he was calling a dog’s attention.
“Be a doll, Kavi, grab me a lighter from my jacket, yeah? You know which one.” He grinned, all smug charm, and then turned to you without waiting for her response. “You look good, we’ll take good care of you too. Long as you behave.” He added a wink.
You blinked. Amir’s hand instinctively closed around your shoulder. And just like that, you remembered exactly why you hated this asshole.
One of her boyfriend's friends, a lanky man wearing sunglasses in the club (of all places) uncaps the bottle and pours a line of shots. Amir’s arm was still around you, you were thankful he was a naturally touchy guy, it scared off the creeps in the club and sure as hell kept her boyfriend and his sleazy friends away as they chatted amongst themselves and with Kavi.
You had no idea when or how she met these men, if you had to guess it was probably first year of college, but even then you didn’t think she was that insane back then. Amir’s rings are cold against your shoulder as he squeezes the flesh once.
“Lighten up, your drinks here.” He says it loud but somehow you’re the only one who can hear it over the music. He accepts two shots from the lanky dude with a hand, downing one quickly before his hand is curling around the front of your jaw and angling it up.
“Open up.” Is all the warning you get before he’s funneling the shot down your throat. The alcohol burns and without any mixer? This shit sucks. You make a face, and he just grins wide, sharp, white teeth on display. “See? Have fun.” Is all he says before he’s reaching for another pair of newly poured shots.
“Total fuckin’ mess, this.” Soap grumbled, squinting down at his phone screen. The tracker app had led them to some underground club, he didn’t know what this place even was but it was late enough in the night that there wasn’t much of a line outside the club anymore.
If you were to ask him how this even happened in the first place, he’d probably just say bad luck. But if you wanted the longer version it’d go something like: the two of them landed at the airport, packed and ready to introduce themselves to their new employers. The CEO was nice enough, a bit of a worried father energy to him, he was kind enough to get his driver to drive them to his daughters apartment, wonderful.
Then they rang her doorbell, once, twice and after five minutes her father blinked in confusion. He called her phone, mumbling something about ‘she might be asleep ’. He ended up entering the code to her apartment, inviting them all in.
It took them about three minutes to confirm she was, in fact, not at home.
Soap turned to Ghost who was already sighing like he’d expected this. Her father was immediately speaking contingencies with them and Ghost just stared at Soap with a neutral look that screamed ‘I hate my fucking job’ .
After a quick panicked apology from the man, he linked up Ghost’s phone to her location. Ghost shared the location with Soap and told him to get her driver there ASAP.
So that’s the long version of how Soap ended up in front of a club he didn’t know, Ghost by his side as they walked along the side of the club in a dark alley, caked with mysterious liquids and skittering rats.
"Would rather be sloggin’ through mud than standin’ in this shitehole." Soap grumbled just as he spotted the back entrance.
Ghost didn’t answer, was too busy pulling out his military I.D. and flashing it to the guard who stood by the back door. The man took the card, pointed his flashlight and frowned at it, Soap was just behind Ghost, stepping back and forth, restless.
The man just looked them over once, then nodded wordlessly and stepped aside after handing back Ghost’s I.D.
“Aye, great. Thanks.” Soap spoke, already pushing past the guard and into the club.
It was loud, and fuck, the smell. Sweat, perfume, smoke, alcohol — It was a nauseating mix, one that had Soap blowing a breath out in frustration as he looked back down at his phone. No clue where she was now, but Price had given them a wonderfully vague description of what kind of girl to look out for.
“Hate this place.” Soap mumbled, but his words were completely swallowed by the bass.
Ghost turned around, looked at Soap and did a little motion with his fingers to sweep the club. Soap nodded, pushing past people. Naturally, they turned around to swear or protest but they either saw Soap’s glare and kept quiet or they saw a tall ass man wearing a balaclava and kept quiet. Wonderful options, the both of them.
Soap looked up at VIP, that was where she probably would be. He wanted to get her, get out, and back to her apartment as soon as humanly possible.
Bright sparks caught Soap’s eyes and he turned his head just in time to catch a girl on the elevated section of the club, holding a sparkler bottle that she swiped off the bottle girl. Soap paused, squinting as he watched the woman twirl the bottle girl around and pass the lit bottle to the man beside her.
She matched the description, but Soap wasn’t sure, so he turned to Ghost. “That's the lass?”
Ghost was already looking, doing a quick once over before nodding. Ghost stayed back by the staircase, he wasn’t much of a people person anyway. Soap sighed, watching the girl take another shot that the bottle girl poured down her mouth and he noted just a couple things.
The first was that she was so incredibly inebriated that he genuinely could not understand how she was still balancing on her heels. The second was that her skirt was so short that he probably wouldn’t be able to carry her out over his shoulder without flashing everyone. The third was that the bottle girl (who’s job was to carry the fucking bottle ) was busy dancing and pouring shots down his clients throat.
Soap steps up just as one of the guys starts to rise from the couch.
“Who are you—?”
Soap shouldered past him roughly. “Security.”
He spotted her immediately, she had crashed onto the couch, tangled up with another woman. Soap blinked for a second, unsure how to go about this as he watched her bury her head into the woman’s shoulder.
A darker-skinned man waved to catch Soap’s attention, rings catching the strobe lights and glinting harshly.
“That one’s yours.” He said, nodding to her.
“Kavi, I told you—told you he’d send people t’take me. Didn’t I? Said it. Said it like, three times.” Soap stepped around the table, holding a hand out to warn one of the guys at the table not to move. “Big… big scary assholes or whatever.”
“Aye. You’re done.” Soap gestured for her to get up and to his surprise she actually did. Or at least tried to.
The woman next to her, Kavi, gave her a small push upward, but all she did was immediately roll her ankle and nearly eat shit on the edge of the table. Soap caught her by the arm and steadied her.
“Amir, you fucker .” She slurred, one hand on Soap’s arm to steady herself as she pointed a sharp nail the man’s way. “You were supp— supposed to warn me.”
Amir just grinned, hands up in mock surrender.
Soap tightened his grip by the elbow. “Come on, let’s get goin’.”
She leaned back, her whole body completely dead-weight, just to grab her purse from Amir’s extended hand. She wiggled her fingers his way in a drunken wave, even blowing a kiss like she was waving off her fans.
Soap dragged her to the base of the stairs where Ghost was standing watching the whole exchange happen with folded arms. The second Soap made eye contact with him, he turned his head away. No help there, typical.
Soap turned when she was suddenly lurching forward, nearly eating shit once again as she stumbled down the stairs.
“Christ.” He almost exhales the word, and all she does is laugh. He keeps his grip tight on her elbow as she bounds her way over to Ghost.
“You.” She said, pointing a finger his way. “What’s with the mask? S’kinda scary.” She leaned back, supported by Soap's arm again, then blinked slowly. “Wait— you guys kidnappin’ me?”
Ghost looked at Soap and jerked his thumb towards the exit. “Cars outside.”
Soap tried to get her to follow him but every step was a new distraction for her.
First the ‘ooh-ing’ at a fancy bottle being brought across the dance floor by a group of bottle girls and ‘aah-ing’ whenever a random girl came to ask some ridiculous question like ‘what lip gloss are you using?’, ‘do you need help? ’ and his favourite, ‘are these men bothering you?’.
His last straw was when she stumbled on her own ankle, heel nearly cracking sideways as she nearly pulled him down with her.
Ghost was already a couple steps ahead.
Soap sighed. “Right,” he turned to her. “Up you go.”
She looked up at him with lidded eyes, head tilted. “What?”
He gripped the edge of her skirt and that was all the security she got to not flash the club as he threw her onto his shoulder in one clean motion. He kept his grip tight, expecting her to start protesting.
“Oh, fun .” She giggled out, slumping into his shoulder immediately. She swung her legs a little and Soap’s other arm came up to steady them. “Oh, I’m not really wearing underwear.”
Soap froze.
The second he saw a group of people cheering and aiming a phone their way, Soap decided getting out of here was much more important than whatever she just said. He readjusted his grip and began speed-walking to the exit.
“Bye! I’ll be back!” She shouted from his shoulder, giggling uncontrollably as she leaned to get one last shot from some girl.
It was a quick walk to the service exit, people almost seemed to move out of the way when there was a girl on his shoulder and a scowl on his face. He opened the door, careful not to hit her head against the doorframe as the two of them finally reached a quieter hallway.
Ghost was standing by the doorway, a lethal glare fixed on the girl before he shook his head once.
“Let’s get movin’.” Was all he said, pulling open the exit door as Soap ducked out into the alleyway. The guard they had seen at the start of the night just blinked his eyes in confusion as Soap walked past him with the girl on his shoulder.
The car was parked just in front of the alleyway. Wonderful . He opened the door and placed the girl down on her heels.
Ghost took the front seat without even offering to take the back seat, fair. He pushed her down into the back seat with a hand over her head when she nearly knocked right into the doorframe.
Soap slid into the seat next to her, the car immediately smelling like alcohol and expensive perfume. He pulled the door shut and glanced her way when he found himself entirely too squished in the back seat for just two people.
She laid flat against the seat, staring up at the ceiling as she kicked her heels up and landed them right on his lap. She dropped her purse onto the car floor, jewellery jingling with each movement.
“Legs off.” He said, grabbing her ankles and pushing them off.
They were intentionally dumped into his lap before he could even readjust himself. He turned to her just as her head lolled to the side, lip gloss smudged as she blinked slowly. “M’tired,” she mumbled, knees sliding over his thighs as she twisted to get comfortable again, completely oblivious or completely shameless. Hard to tell which one.
He reached to shove her knees off, fingers wrapping around the joint with a frustrated exhale, only to freeze when she giggled and winked at him. “Bit forward, no?”
Then his eyes betrayed him, dropped right down to the curve of her thighs, to the short hem of that skirt, to the fact that yes , she had lied earlier about not wearing any underwear — and no , he wasn’t imagining the black lace panties.
He let out a short, silent breath and turned his head toward the window like it might offer salvation. “Christ alive,” he muttered under his breath, pulling her knees back together and leaving them on his lap. Fine, whatever, it wasn’t a long ride anyway.
“M’you’re… British?”
He scowled at her as she grinned, eyes barely opened.
“Irish?” He ignored her.
Then a soft gasp, “wait no! Scottish ?” She grinned big.“Ohhh, you are. You are, I’ve never met a, like a real Scottish person before. That’s so crazy.” She grinned, wide and a little lopsided. “Say somethin’ again. C’mon. Just talk. I’ll close my eyes.” She closed her eyes, digging the base of her heel into his thigh as she spoke. He prayed for strength to not chuck her out the window.
He looked down at her, the mess of glitter on her cheek bones, glossy lips and slightly messy hair. She was flushed, barely awake and half out of it. Soap looked away, pretty and spoiled. Just great .
“Don’t let her throw up in the car.” Ghost spoke from the front.
“Handle my alcohol very well, thank you.” Was all she said, before sinking further down into the car cushions. Soap kept his hands by his side as she dug her heels into his thigh again.