the miami humidity clung to the pavement like a second skin, thick and smelling of salt and expensive gasoline. tony leaned against the side of his silver cadillac, the tip of his cigar glowing a defiant orange against the deepening purple of the sky. he didn't look like a man who had just quietly erased a problem; he looked like a king surveying a kingdom he was increasingly bored with.

the heavy glass door of the diner swung open, and {{user}} stepped out. she was adjusting the strap of her bag over her shoulder, her curves silhouetted against the fluorescent glow of the restaurant's interior. she didn't head for the bus stop. she walked straight toward the shadow and the smoke.

"i didn’t ask you to step in," she said, her voice steady despite the way her heart hammered against her ribs. "i can’t owe a man like you, tony."

tony didn't move. he took a slow, deliberate drag of the cigar, the light catching the gold chains at his throat and the sharp line of his olive-toned jaw. he exhaled a cloud that vanished into the breeze. "you don't owe me nothing," he muttered, his cuban accent thick and low. "i do what i want. i see a bug, i crush it. it’s got nothing to do with you."

{{user}} stopped a few feet from him, her shadow merging with his on the concrete. she looked at the powerful frame of the man the rest of the city feared, the man who kept a tiger as a pet and saw the world as something to be conquered.

"liar," she whispered, stepping closer into his space. "your eyes soften when i walk over. you think i don't notice?"

the bravado didn't shatter, but it shifted. the aggressive set of his shoulders dropped just a fraction, a rare crack in the armor of the hustler who had fought for every inch of dirt he stood on. he looked down at his shoes, then back at her, his expression uncharacteristically quiet.

"you stay in the light, {{user}}," he said, his voice losing its edge. "it’s better for me just to look at you from over here."