by Candice Owen
She sat in her car, debating. Maybe I shouldn’t bother, maybe popping up will just make the whole situation worse.
Felicity opened her car door, got out, and walked across the baking asphalt to the diner. As soon as she opened the door, the smell of fried meat and onions hit her dead in the face and she grimaced. How can anyone eat all that heavy greasy stuff when it is sweltering outside?
Blaine saw the look on Greg’s face. He was pissed, so he followed the direction of his gaze to see the beautiful blonde who he had spotted in the desert walking toward them. He thought, Why is he pissed at her? Does she work at the bar or something? Is she one of his girls? She doesn’t look like she would be. There is something fresh and innocent about her, something fragile and soft. Too soft, she would get eaten alive in that bar.
“Felicity, what are you doing here?”
“Hi Daddy, I saw you coming in here. I thought I’d stop in and ask if you wanted anything besides gelato from the grocery.”
Daddy? This is his daughter? Greg gave her a smile, and she smiled back, but as soon as his lips formed that upward curve, he said, “No. Go on, go home. I have business to discuss, and I won’t be home until after dinner; so, Marie should only make enough of whatever it is she’s cooking for you.”
Felicity was used to her father’s terse commands. She gave the man sitting with him one last look. His clothes were old—almost falling apart. His face was slightly gray beneath the new tan—a tan acquired from walking in the desert—and his eyes had a wary, watchful look.
She thought, I know exactly what he is. He’s a former convict looking for a job. Daddy is always hiring ex-cons. I’m interrupting his job interview. He is so hot though! And not just that— he has the look of a guy who will not take any shit but will not start it either. That’s a good thing and so rare. Her belly filled with butterflies.
“It was nice to meet you.” She was hoping to catch his name, but all he did was nod his head and turn his eyes back to the menu. Disappointed and relived all at once, she left the diner, stepping back out onto the scalding streets.
The bar lay across the street, and she gave it a disapproving look. She knew it helped provide her with the lifestyle she had grown up with, but she couldn’t help but think that the place looked ugly. It had a rundown air to it. Why does Daddy love that place so very much anyway?
In the diner, Greg said, “Stay away from my daughter. Do you understand?”
He did. “I don’t really like daughter-types.”
“That’s good, real good.”
Blaine knew that Greg was annoyed because he wanted to talk shop and Felicity had interrupted that. So, he doesn’t let his daughter know any of his business. How much longer can he keep that up? She’s an adult, sooner or later something is bound to happen to let her in on it.
He knew he should pay attention, but he couldn’t seem to be able to do it. All he kept thinking of was china-blue eyes and a pretty, rosy, little mouth that seemed to beg for a kiss.
CHAPTER FIVE
Blaine had to stop in at Greg’s house because he was under orders to do so. He had been working for him for two weeks now and things had rapidly progressed for him. His jobs entailed everything from roughing some middle management level dealers that owed a little too much on their bills to collecting money from the various establishments that Greg protected.
As the weeks went by Blaine was both shocked and sickened by the amount of pies that man had his fingers in. There was a judge that was in his pocket, plenty of cops whose wives had nice cars thanks to Greg’s generosity, and a few doctors who sewed up the guys and took care of more than one of Greg’s girls.
Not all of Greg’s girls worked in the clubs he owned, either. Many of them plied their trade out on the street, and Blaine already knew just how little Greg cared for those women. He had picked up two from jail the day before. They had been strung out, emaciated, and exhausted under the garish makeup.
It had not shocked him when they crowed about how good Greg was to them, saying they hadn’t been in jail more than a few hours. It was sad to him. They focused on nothing more than that they were out, their ride had a gram for each of them in his pocket, alongside fresh packs of condoms, and they got fed at a drooping little burger joint before heading back to the corner they worked.
Blaine was already sick of Greg Pasquale. He knew this was not going to be a job he kept. As soon as he had enough cash, he was breaking out of here—getting away and starting over somewhere clean, somewhere that he could be a different person. He wanted to be someplace where people did not look at him and automatically assume he was a con willing to break a few heads for enough coin to buy whatever he needed.
Greg’s house was over four thousand square feet and located in the middle of the best neighborhood in the city. He wasn’t surprised to see Bennie out there, riding a giant and very expensive lawnmower across the grass.
What did surprise him was Felicity opening the door. She wore a long, white dress that had a Fifties vibe to it. It had a sweetheart neckline and a flared out skirt and was something he would have expected to see on that TV show Mad Men or something like it.
“Well, hello. You’re the new guy right?”
She was even more beautiful close-up. She had a brilliant smile, full of white teeth, and a sweet, open expression on her face. She was leaning against the door frame in an unintentionally sexy pose that was making his heart do backflips in his chest. If that had been the only muscle reacting to her, then everything might’ve been okay; but, it wasn’t.
The only thing he could do was ignore her attempt at conversation. He simply said, “I’m here to see your father.”
“I know that. Why else would you be here?” Her eyes raked up and down his body, taking in the smooth, lean muscle of his arms which were showing plainly under the new, clean t-shirt that he wore. “You don’t have any.”
The sentence confused him. “I don’t have any what?”
“Tattoos. The other guys are covered in them. Were you in prison? Most of the guys who Daddy hires get their tattoos in prison. Or, as soon as they start making money they go over to see Falcon. Everyone has tattoos, even my dad.”
He had to ask, he could not help it. “Do you?”
“If I do, they aren’t where you can see them.”
Is she flirting with me? Before he could say or do anything else, Bennie clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder and said with forced cheerfulness, “Don’t keep the man out here talking, Felicity. You know how much your dad hates it when people are late.”
Felicity stepped backwards, opening the door wider so that the two men could pass by her. Before they got halfway down the hall, Bennie whispered in a low voice, “Whatever you do, do it with somebody else. The boss will have your head on a platter and your nuts in a jar if he catches you fucking with his daughter.”
“Hey man, all I did was knock on the fucking door.”
Bennie’s hands fell away from his shoulder, and all of his false good cheer fell away with it. “You’re a hard case, hmm? Don’t think I haven’t been watching you. I can see what you’re trying to do already man. I got you pegged.”
Great, that was just what he needed. If Bennie had been in prison, he would have been the block bitch. Of course he thought that Blaine was trying to get ahead by being a suck up. The man had probably never made his bones.
“Go peg somebody else.”
The two men stood there, glaring at each other. Blaine was not about to back down. He knew if he did, he would get zero respect from this man. Seconds passed by. Blaine counted off the time with the ticks of his heartbeat. The tension mounted, but finally Bennie said, “I’m just trying to help you out, man. There’s been a few guys who tried to get around that girl that got gone. Are we clear?”
“Crystal.” He was being incredibly clear. Fuck around with Felicity, find yourself floating face up in the nearest river or face down in the nearby sand bed. No woman was worth that.
CHAP
TER SIX
Felicity saw Blaine going into her father’s office. As Bennie went the opposite direction, she immediately thought, Bennie, that big jerk. He is probably going to go bother the maid and try to get a sandwich or a pitcher a tea out of her. He acts like he lives here! It’s so infuriating!
She did not like Bennie, and what’s more she didn’t trust him. He was too chummy with her father, always sucking up to him and trying to get more and better stuff out of him all the time.
Daddy says he works for him, but I’ve never seen Bennie do anything but odd jobs around the house. He always gives the new guys such a hard time. He gives everybody a hard time. I bet that’s why George left. George was cool. I really liked him, and I wish he hadn’t run off to Chicago like that. I could talk to George and tell him all kinds of stuff. He never told me the kind of stuff that Bennie does. Bennie acts like he’s my dad, but he’s not. He’s just some weird guy Dad hired.
The temptation was irresistible. She wanted to know what was being said in that office. She crept down the hall silently on her tip toes so that her little kitten heels would not tap against the hardwood floors. Her heartbeat accelerated as she made it to the door. Spying was not something she did often, and she was pretty sure that Bennie would come out of the kitchen at any minute, pissed off because the maid would not stop her regular duties to make him anything to eat or drink.
In the office, Greg and Blaine were discussing Blaine’s recent trip to the county jail. Greg asked, “How did they look?”
“Strung out.”
“Other than that.”
“Happy to get out.”
“You’re not a very descriptive man are you?”
“I’m not a talkative one.” Blaine did not even like speaking to Greg. He knew his disdain often showed and that was bad because Greg wasn’t one to surround himself with people who didn’t adore him.
“I see.” Greg leaned back in the chair, folding his fingers together in an almost prayer-like position. “You see, I have a slight problem.”
“Yeah, what is that?”
“I got a girl who doesn’t know how to keep her mouth shut.”
“I’m sure there’s really not a lot she can tell.”
Blaine was sure of no such thing. He already knew where this conversation was going, and his guts were twisting into a knot. Planning a takedown looked the same, whether they were plotting it from the hard, twin bunk of a prison cell or from behind a twenty-thousand-dollar rosewood desk.
“She works over on the corner of Mulligan and Stuart. She needs a good talking to, but just a talking to. At least that’s all she needs right now.”
The fact that all Greg wanted him to do was beat her up didn’t sit any better with Blaine. Hitting girls was not his style. He thought it took a low man to do something like that. He would talk with her all right, but that was about it.
Greg wasn’t finished, apparently, because he said, “You been doing a hell of a job, a hell of a job. You know I couldn’t have asked for a better guy to come walking through the door at the bar that day.”
Blaine stayed silent, waiting to see what was happening now. Eventually, Greg broke the silence and said, “I got a bonus for you. Come on out to the garage. Let’s check the baby out.”
In the hallway, Felicity went scrambling backwards and then down the hall. She had been unable to hear much through the thick door, and what she had been able to hear had been mostly jumble that she couldn’t understand.
Her father’s door opened just as she spun around and began walking back towards it, trying to pretend as if she was simply walking down the hallway. He must’ve bought it because he said, “Well, don’t you look lovely today.”
“Thank you, Daddy. Of course, you’ve been telling me that every day of my entire life. I think you’re a little biased. What about you? What do you think?”
Blaine was uncomfortably aware of her light and floral perfume. It floated around her, rising off her warm skin and tantalizing him. Everything about her was tantalizing. It was also incredibly off limits. “I think you look like your father.”
Nothing could have been further from the truth, but she got the message and so did Greg. His new employee wanted absolutely nothing at all to do with his daughter. Blaine saw the look of hurt on her face though, and it made him feel like an asshole.
“What are you doing, Daddy?”
They were all walking briskly along the hallway, and Felicity and Blaine were both a little surprised when Greg stopped and went toward the double doors that led to the kitchen. Bennie looked up from the table where he was sitting — scarfing down a giant tomato and bologna sandwich — long enough to ask, “What’s up boss?”
“Just going to the garage.”
“I’ll tag along then.”
Felicity and Blaine had the same thought at the same time, Of course you will. Blaine looked over and saw the look on Felicity’s face. It gave him pause. She didn’t trust Bennie and that was obvious. The look she was giving him had a sort of sharp and vivid contempt to it.
Greg said, “Felicity, why don’t you find yourself something else to do? I thought you said you’re going out with your friends at some point today.”
Blaine said nothing, but he wondered how the man could be so awful to his own daughter. It was obvious that she was lonely, just as it was obvious that she wasn’t allowed to do too awfully much on her own.
“Okay, Daddy. I think I’ll go over to Jenny’s for a little while.”
She walked away, the bell of her dress swaying around her slender legs. Blaine had to studiously avoid looking at her as she went.
Greg opened the door to the garage that was located inside the kitchen and motioned the other two through it before going in himself. He walked over to a gorgeous motorcycle and said, “This is yours.”
It was a bribe, but it was a hell of a bribe.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Is he pissed off at me?”
Blaine looked at the girl sitting across from him. She was young, and he didn’t want to know how young either. Her skin was clear and unlined, but there was something about her face that said that she had already been around a couple of hard blocks.
On impulse he asked, “Why don’t you just go home?”
She slumped back in the chair, shaking her gorgeous and lustrous auburn locks back from her face. “Why don’t you go fuck yourself?”
He did not have to ask anything else. Either she did have a home to go back to, or her home was exponentially worse than what she suffered out on the streets. There was not going to be any getting through to this one.
“I’m supposed to kick your ass.”
“I could blow you instead.”
“I don’t want a blow job from you.”
“Then, what do you want?”
“Nothing. I just want you keep your mouth shut. You shouldn’t be talking to customers and cops about this little conversation here, either. Those are fresh bruises on your back and arms. Do you want to tell me how you got them?”
The girl looked down at the darkening spots on her forearms and upper arms. She might’ve talked too much, but she wasn’t stupid. “You did it. You didn’t want to hit my face because I might not able to work if my face is all busted up.”
“That’s right. Now tell me what really happened, and by me, I do mean just me.”
“I went to see my mom. My stepdad still lives there. If we’re done with this little meeting of minds, I got work to do. I got a quota to make you know.”
“How much did you give your mom?”
She looked down at the table, trying to ignore his question. Blaine didn’t even know her name, and he did not want to know her name. There were too many girls just like her out here on the streets, and most of them were being run by Greg. “I’m not going to tell on you, and I am not going to ask you again. You are already in trouble. The last thing on earth you need is to come up short on your quota.”
Her voice was a whisper, “Just
two hundred dollars. She needs it. She needs it real bad. I got a little sister, and I don’t want her out here.”
She’d given away her entire daily make. Two hundred dollars was the break line. Anything she made over that was hers to keep; but, if she did not make two hundred to hand over to the goons that collected for Greg, then she lost the right to her corner and the right to keeping her face the way it looked.
Greg said he was not a pimp. He said he provided protection to the girls, and they worked for themselves. If he got them out of jail, he did it because he knew they’d pay him back with interest. Plus, if they were locked up, they could not pay their daily fees.