"Lovebug? How bold you are to thing you've the agency to call me that." Eliza pulled her hand back from his hypnotizing grasp, then pushed past him into her apartment. She stood a few feet away, looking down at unbuttoning her coat. "And I don't want you breaking in here anymore."

"Breaking in? It's just your maintenance that lets me up here." William clasped his arms in front of him.

"Yeah, cause you bribe him." Eliza began taking off her earrings.

"Bribe?" William repeated her word. "Sure, you can say that."

He thought back to the first time Eliza's building maintenance man interacted with them. A little Italian man who hardly any English.

Through the dark halls of the building walked William and his boys. These three guys were most important to his occupation, if you could call it that. All were Irish, as he kept those close to him in business close to his homeland too.

One was a very tall with one eye, but you could tell that if he still had that eye he'd be tall, dark and handsome. They called him Connor "The Crane", for his ability to lift up anyone who wasn't complying with his will. And his tall stature made it all the more intimidating.

The other guy with them was the opposite of Connor when it came to height. Most people in the streets didn't know his true name, they just called him "Bunny" because although he was short he'd kick your ass. And because of his embarrassment surrounding lack of height, he was always thirsty to commit the most brutal acts.

Then finally, a man that was the youngest of all of them tagged along. It was William's younger cousin, Jack. His hair was deeply red, a trait that came out in their family every so often. And he really was a handsome lad, just at the age when he was coming into his own. However, due to his age, sometimes the things he witnessed were almost too much for him. William had a way of forcing Jack to witness things, because he needed to build up "calluses on your heart".

All four men appeared in the old room that read maintenance. The little Italian man was there, sitting in a chair in front of a desk.

"Hello, how may I help you?" He asked in his thick accent.

All of the men stood there respectfully. Then William stepped forward. "We'd like a key to Fitzgerald apartment."

"The young woman up there?" Asked the man.

"Yes, her." William nodded.

"About 'ye tall, negro?" The man asked.

"That's the one!" William pointed, then he looked back at his men and they all erupted in multiple voices that were loud and rowdy. All of them agreed at once.

"Pretty girl, eh?" The man asked.

"Beautiful, beautiful." Bunny said in the middle of the commotion of all the boys talking once. They all were loud and rowdy to further intimate whoever they were speaking to.

"But no, I cannot." The man pointed. "Not unless she tells me that it is okay."

"You can't?" William asked. Behind him all of the boys were saying awww amongst themselves. Jack became nervous, he followed along with the other men but feared things would take an ugly turn.

"Yes, I need her permission." Said the maintenance man.

"Permission." William nodded. "You know, she left me a little something to prove I have permission."

"She did?" The man asked.

"Yeah, here!" William shouted. All at once the men lunged at the man. They pushed him against a wall, William being in the forefront. "How about that key?"

That day, the maintenance man did end up giving the key. And he did it swiftly. Later that night when Eliza returned from work, there was William with a set of flowers. She was shocked and baffled, but was calmed to know the man let him in. There was some mystery about him, a danger that she enjoyed. He was like a puzzle she wanted to solve.

William was brought out of his memory, back to Eliza who now found her way into the kitchen. She heated up the food she left for herself in the ice box.

"I'm sorry I haven't been around. I had work to do." William removed his hat from his head, revealing his blonde hair that shined in the dim light of the iridescent bulb.

"Work." Eliza said under her breath. "That so called 'profession' you're always caught up in."

"You can joke all you want." William walked up behind Eliza, then reached into his pocket and took out a wad of 500 dollar bills, wrapping an arm around Eliza to wave it in front of her. "But this is real money."

"Mhm." Eliza slowly lowered his hand out of her way. "And how did you get that money."

"We agreed we wouldn't talk on that." William stepped back, placing the cash back into his pocket.

"Most men are able to talk proudly about their jobs. Bus driver, banker, train car driver. But you can't. And that's because your job involves destroying the lives of others." Eliza pointed out.

"Since I've come in your life, I'd say it's been far from destroyed." William commented. "I've given you furs, jewelry—"

"All from money that was acquired shadily." Eliza said, still not turning around to face him. She just continued on preparing her food.

"What is a guy to do?" Asked William.

"Call." Eliza said. "Show up."

"They don't want me in those speakeasies anymore. They're hot now. The cops know men like me go there!" William followed Eliza as she brought her food to her small table against a wall, which only had two chairs.

As Eliza sat down with her plate, William eagerly pulled out the chair beside her. "Come on, Lovebug, don't act as though your job is totally in the clear."

Eliza looked up at him wearily from her food.

"Yeah, you go up there and bless people with that voice of yours. But you're working in a shady business just like the rest of us."

"It's different." Eliza poked her fork into her meat.

"Really? Those Temperance gals wouldn't think so." William smiled. Eliza wasn't so amused. He leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table. "Come on, let me see those pretty brown eyes. And that smile too."

She tried to fight it, she really wanted to. But William had a way of always drawing her back in. She reluctantly let a small grin show, and her eyes slowly looked to him.

"That's my girl." He swiped her chin with his thumb. Then leaned forward and kissed her. The kiss became deeper, then more intense. Until finally Eliza couldn't hold it back any longer.