“You’ll have to excuse my behaviour, I’m slightly drunk,” the man spoke unsteadily, “but my intentions are honourable because I’m a gentleman.”

  “I can see that you are a little inebriated,” the girl answered, “You’ve bought me three drinks and told me your life’s history, but you haven’t told me your name.”

  “That’s easy, my name is Nathan.”

  “Nathan? I think I like that name.”

  “So what’s your name then?”

  “I go by many names, but while I am here you can call me Erika.”

  “That’s a beautiful name. So tell me something, Erika. I bought you three cocktails, but you don’t even look a bit tipsy. How come?”

  “Tipsy?” Ericka considered the word for a few seconds, “Oh, you mean affected by alcohol? No I’m not. I can drink many drinks before I’ll be affected.”

  “Closing time in five minutes,” the publican called out across the bar.

  Nathan managed to straighten himself up and speak clearly, “Erika, I know we’ve only known each other for an hour but I really like you. Can I take you home?”

  “I live a long way from here.”

  “Where do you live?”

  Erika point towards the ceiling.

  Nathan puzzled over this for a few seconds, then laughed. “Oh you mean Scotland? So you’re here visiting London. Okay then, may I be so forward as to ask you to come back to mine? It’s only a twenty minute walk from here.”

  She smiled at him, “Maybe, but can I trust you?”

  “Of course you can. I told you I’m a gentleman. Here you can ask my friend. Hey, Mitch!”

  A short man with dark hair stumbled over to their table.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “Mitch, this is my new friend Erika. Can you tell her I’m trustworthy?”

  Mitch laughed. “You? Trustworthy?” Then he put on a serious face, “It’s so nice to meet you Erika. Yes, my mate here is as trustworthy as they come. You’ll be safe with him.”

  As he walked off out of sight of Erika he gave Nathan a thumbs up and mouthed the words “She is super hot!”

  A few minutes later they were walking down the street.

  Nathan reached down and gently took Erika’s hand. It felt warm and soft.

  “So you’re visiting from Scotland?” he said, trying to make conversation, “Are you staying in a hotel?”

  “A hotel? Yes that’s it. I’m staying in a hotel.”

  They rounded a corner and three men approached them from the opposite direction, laughing and swearing. They were obviously drunk.

  “Just put your head down and we’ll walk past them,” Nathan said, “They’ll leave us alone.”

  But as they walked past, one of the men stopped. “Hey, look what we have here,” he slurred, “Pretty lady, how would you like to come and party with us? You can dump this jerk you’re with. We’ll show you a good time.”

  “How would you show me a good time?” Erika asked.

  “Hey, just leave us alone,” Nathan interjected, “We don’t want any trouble.”

  “Nobody asked you, jerk,” one of the men said, giving Nathan a hard push which caused him to lose his footing and fall to the ground.

  “Come on, pretty lady, come with us,” another man said, roughly grabbing Erika’s wrist and pulling her away from Nathan who was clambering back on his feet.

  Nathan tried to intervene, but the third man was suddenly pointing a wicked looking knife at his chest. “Back off or I’ll cut you up,” he sneered.