<div align="center"><strong>~ Charlotte, Damek, Si and Steve - Quietly playing games at The Best Little Hot House in Town ~</strong></div><br/>The large black man in urban fatigues lumbered after Si and Steve as they moved into the retail front of the flower shop. Although he usually felt uncomfortable wandering around all the flowery femininity, at the moment he just felt relieved to get a break from listening to all that back and forth female bullshit between his boss and that mouthy bitch. Even though the younger woman was definitely easy on the eyes, the way she acted like she owned the place just didn’t sit right with him.  Besides, the interaction between the two women had both pissed him off and turned him on, which confused him. He liked things simple and straightforward, and the goings-on in the back room were neither. He didn’t understand most of what was being said, but he caught the gist of the tone alright. Rolling his head on his thick neck as he walked, Damek tried to loosen some of the tension that had crept into his muscles during the tense exchanges he had been forced to witness silently.<br/><br/>As he strode heavily by to take up position just inside the front door, Damek ignored the men from the Gamble but glanced meaningfully at Charlotte as he caught her eye. His already menacing face pulled into a dark scowl as he peered outside the glass door for a few moments while Charlotte made her girlish overtures to the men who he assumed were the dark-haired bitch’s bodyguards.  With his imposing physical presence and visible weaponry he wouldn’t make a very welcoming impression should a random legitimate customer - or lawman for that matter - pass by, so after he was satisfied with what he saw outside the big man hurried to the back of the shop again, pausing next to the petite girl at the counter, his hulking frame looming darkly beside her light petite shape.<br/><br/><strong>"Certain colors clash in a bouquet.”</strong><br/><br/>Damek rolled his eyes at the older man’s reply, his initial impression of the uppity-dressed man with a stick up his ass confirmed. Damek hadn’t been hired for his sharp acumen, so he had no idea what Si’s comment meant and he didn’t care. He had his clear orders from Ferret, and he intended to follow them completely. Warily he watched as the man proceeded to wander around the shop, apparently fascinated by the flowers presented for display.<em>"Fucking figures."</em>Damek growled disgustedly to himself. No REAL man would have any interest in such obvious womenfolky things such as<em>flowers.</em>He stood up straighter as he felt a surge of confidence that he could easily take the older, smaller man should a situation arise. The bigger, surprisingly quiet other one looked more like a brawler, but Damek wasn’t worried about that one either.  The extensive map of scars and divots marring the portions of the big man’s skin visible beyond his clothing were testament to his many misjudgments of the past. However, Damek wasn’t one for introspection, and apparently not much for learning lessons well either. Itching for some action he absently cracked the large knuckles of his meaty fists while he stood watching the men, enjoying how his loud popping sounds disturbed the quiet of the shop.  He almost wished one of the men<em>would</em>start something, give him a chance to impress the cute piece of ass behind the counter as well as score some points with his hard-ass boss.<br/><br/>Charlotte on the other hand, far from being just a cute piece of ass, was being personally groomed by Ferret for more than just presenting a charming front to the flower shop, and the young woman rarely missed anything. Already impressed with the way the understated but obviously capable older man carried himself, Si’s succinct and eloquent summary of the confrontation between Sasha and her boss impressed her further. However, giving no outward indication of her thoughts, Charlotte donned a pretty little pout in response to Si’s dismissive observation and Steve’s silence. “Fine.” She spoke to both men with the contrived pout carrying over in her voice, “You didn’t look like my kind of company anyway.” Her eyes flicked covertly to Damek as she returned to flipping through her magazine, outwardly ignoring Steve as well as Si as he staked out the area of the small shop.<br/><br/>Making an obvious show of resting his hand on his silenced Avenger holstered at his hip, Damek moved to position himself with Charlotte at his back and both the men in front of him. Gesturing to a side door somewhat hidden on the far side of the back wall, he addressed Si and Steve in his low gravely voice. “Seems like the three of us manly types congregating in here like it’s some kind of barroom might give one of them flighty female customers the willies if any of 'em happened to stop by. Wouldn’t want to go and ruin any chance for selling them pretty flowers, now would we...<em>gentlemen</em>?"  Keeping his hand on his holstered weapon, he again gestured with his other hand to the door. “After you...now let’s go.”<br/>