Thirty.

Paul POV.
How do I introduce myself? Paul, that’s the name, my age is twenty-one, I’m British, I work in the cafe with this cute sweet girl, she’s so sweet, but lately every time she comes in, there’s a frown on her face. For the last week, she’s came with big red eyes, she’s dragging her feet on the ground, we became good friends.
I couldn’t help it, she’s sweet, loving, and filled of life, we just clicked and became friends, she thinks I’m just a college student, but to be honest I’m not even in college, I never went. But she doesn’t need to know that, I’m just here as a cover, I could just drop out of work, but to be honest I’m staying enjoying her company enjoying the company.
But seeing her come every day hurt, seeing her red eyes, I had to ask her what’s wrong, what broke her heart, although I had a good idea what happened, her somewhat girlfriend, a hitman.
How does a girl as innocent as her ends up with a hitman, Devil, we all know about her, I never claimed to be a saint, I took some wrong turns, I did wrong choices, and I paid for them.
“You okay Elle?” I ask her when she came to work, dragging herself again, our boss can fuck off for some time while we talk, she need some help.
“Mhm” she lies nodding her head at me, but I can tell a lie when I see a lie.
“Let’s go sit” I order her, she’s a submissive at heart, I could tell that, I could see how shy she acts, how she’s the person who have a submissive aura around her.
We both sat on one of the table instead of the costumers, I even got us coffee, cafe latte her favorite, without too much sugar, unlike me who got a sweet tooth, she took a sip of her coffee, avoiding my eyes, avoiding everything, just drinking her coffee.
“Spill Elle” I say trying my best to be as dominant as possible, trying but not succeeding, she looks up at me with a shrug.
“Nothing” she mumbles, whom she’s lying to?
“Elle, you’ve been crying and coming like walking dead. I know about Devil, did she hurt you? Is that it? Do you need to be saved? Do you need protection?” I ask her, her eyes water up, and she shakes her head.
“Did she hurt you?” I ask angry, I don’t care about her being a hitman, or a dangerous woman, if she hurt my friend, I’m gonna hurt her back.
“She didn’t hurt me” finally Elle replies, tears going down her face, but I don’t believe her.
“Did you two break up?” I ask her, she shakes her head again, but then the tears started yet again, making my blood boil, what happened with those two.
“Talk to me Elle, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me” I say holding her hand this time.
“She’s been missing, she haven’t come home” Elle says, Devil going out for a work and not coming right away, that’s not weird.
“Maybe she just got some job” I say with a shrug, doesn’t mean she’s dead or left her.
“No! You don’t get it. I’m not enough for her! And now she’s leaving me!” she says tears going down her face.
“I do get it Elle, it’s okay, she’ll be back soon. You are more than enough!” I say holding her hand, I know how our jobs work, I’m deep inside, more than Elle would ever know.
“No! she told me she’s coming back in the morning, she told me we’re gonna have a talk, she doesn’t want me anymore Paul, I’m too much of a coward to be with her” she cries out openly this time, her tears going freely down her face, making my heart ache for her.
“Not all talks are bad talks Elle. Maybe she likes your innocence?” I say trying to make her feel a bit better but it wasn’t any better.
“Then what if she’s hurt, her job, it’s not always safe” Elle cries, I couldn’t help it anymore, I pulled her toward me, hugging her while she cries.
“Let it all out, let it out” I encourage her while she cries, I pet her head, pulling her hair off her face.
“I want a tissue” she says still sobbing, I hand her one, she blows her nose loudly gaining the attention of few other costumers, I just glare at them and go back to my crying friend, trying to calm her down.
“It’s okay Elle, it’s okay” I say over and over again until she calms down finally.
“She left, it hurt so badly Paul, it hurt right here” she says pointing to her chest, to her heart where the pain is, I don’t like seeing people in pain, especially when these people are my friends, a good friend like Elle is.
“She haven’t left Elle, she’ll be back, maybe the job took too long” I say, I didn’t want to blew my cover yet, I didn’t want to tell her all about who am I. She might be dating Devil, but that doesn’t mean she’s good to hang out with people who are like me, people who are bad.
“She calls when she’s staying out long, she haven’t called, she only went missing” Elle explains.
“Would you like me to look into it?” I suggest, I could do that for her, she doesn’t need to know how I would do that, but I can check and see if the know psycho killer is dead or something.
“How would you do that?” she asks sniffling, yeah right, how would I do that without telling her I’m not a college student.
“I have my connections, no worries” I say with a wink, she just nods, now that’s all settled, it’s time to get back to work.
“Go wash your face, I’ll do most of the work today” I assure her, she smiles and leave to get her self sorted while I get started with work. I’m gonna have to quiet soon, this job won’t last long, I smile at the boss, I’d really like to kick his arse, but it’s good enough of a cover story for now, until I blow it all off.
I did most of the work, Elle was busy crying, trying to call on her phone, and breaking my heart, I was just worried about her, she’s too innocent for all of that, I need to help her, I couldn’t help it. I sent a message to the ones I work with for now, I hate them, they are bitches, they are leaches, ugly persons. But I owe my boss, I messed up and this was my punishment to go down undercover, but man do I wish this job would end soon, it’s the new cold war.
Spies are all around, some of us are there to bring information, others to steal, it’s a game of chess, it’s the big game that counts, always protect your queen even if you had to sacrifice few soldiers.
The message came back, the worst case scenario have happened, Devil had a job with the scumbags, with the people I’m spying on, I should’ve known that. But I’m too low in the food chain to be told anything, I have to poke some more to get more information, the job, I couldn’t find what the job is, but I knew it went badly, why would someone even do a job for them, it never ends well. If I haven’t ended up with the short straw, I’d never work for them either, I’m just another player in the much bigger game.
It took me two nights, a six pack of beer, to get one of the guys to talk, when he finally did, it wasn’t what I’m expecting, Devil was hired, the job went sideway and now they have her, she’s kidnapped. It’s like number one rule, don’t mess with the psychos, she got nothing to lose, not until Elle came in her life, and I never shared that information refusing to put the innocent girl on their target to hurt Devil. This isn’t going to end well, if Elle want to see her alive ever again, we’re going to need help from the big guys.