So much for sleeping in and tripping up Victor’s plan to show me around Temptations. He and Jimmy were at Anthony’s house at eleven o’clock in the morning to pick me up and drive me to my new stomping grounds. The bastards didn’t even make a pit stop for coffee. I quickly learned these guys were all about business and making a buck.
Victor spared no expense when it came to Temptations. The contractors were still working on the final touches on a few things, but overall it was beautiful. Everything was modern and top of the line from the fixtures down to the stemware behind the bar. The bathrooms looked like something you’d see in an upscale hotel with their marble floors and granite counter tops. The lighting system alone had cost him fifty grand. God only knows what this whole venture had cost him if he had spent fifty thousand dollars on light bulbs. All right, so maybe they weren’t simply light bulbs, but shit, I bet a disco ball would’ve been cheaper and just as efficient.
When we arrived the guy who was temporarily in charge started firing off some issues at Victor. The couches for the lounge were on back order and Rico still hadn’t made it his business to test out the sound system. Opening night was in a few weeks, which really didn’t leave much time for back orders, and jerkoffs who didn’t do their job.
“Call the manufacturer back. Tell him I’m very disappointed and was hoping I wouldn’t have to pay him a visit.” Victor said. I studied him carefully watching as his fist clenched at his side and his jaw ticked. “I’ll deal with Rico personally.”
I don’t know why Victor hadn’t thrown Rico a beating yet. The guy was bad news. Even I could see that and I hadn’t been in his company all that much. There was something about his cocky, arrogant demeanor that rubbed me the wrong way. I pushed aside the fact that he was Nikki’s boyfriend and that he was all wrong for her.
Victor turned to me motioning for me to walk along with him as he walked through the club. “That’s Sal. He’s been running things for me here while I searched for a manager.” He smiled slightly. “Now that I’ve hired one he will resume his normal job, and you will take over.”
“What does he normally do?”
“Let’s just say he unloads cargo.” Victor said casually. He turned a corner and opened a door, stepping aside to allow me to enter first. I stopped dead in my tracks taking in the expanse of the oversized room. A large desk stood in front of a glass wall that overlooked the club. On the opposite wall there were four flat screen televisions divided into four equal security screens monitoring every inch of the club. There was a large white leather sectional couch and across from that was an impressive bar similar to the main bar in the club.
“This is your office.” Victor said shocking me out of my thoughts. I turned around to stare at him. Was he out of his mind?
“This is my office?” I asked.
“If there is anything else you think it needs just let me know before the contractors finish. Of course, the bar will be stocked by opening night. There is going to be an intercom that is connected to security, the sound booth, and all of the bars. There is a safe built into the floor underneath the desk.”
A safe? Jesus. I was still marveling over the glass wall. How hadn’t I noticed that when we were in the main room?
It was as if Victor had read my mind because he walked over to the glass and knocked on it with his knuckles.
“It’s black on the other side so no one can see in.” He said helpfully. He cocked his head to the side and studied me for a moment. “You look confused.”
That was an understatement. I didn’t know the first thing about running a nightclub and if I was being perfectly honest up until five minutes ago, I took this whole thing as a joke. Clearly, that was not the case. Victor had high expectations of me. I better fucking deliver or fuck knows what he’d do to my sorry ass. I had to pull my shit together and put my game face on. I cleared my throat stepped towards the desk and sat down on one of the chairs positioned in front of it.
“What’s the deal with the safe?” I asked curiously.
“You’re going to be responsible for cashing out the club at the end of the night. That’s a lot of money son. Throughout the course of the night, you are going to collect money from the registers at the bars. I don’t want too much money sitting in those drawers. I have many enemies Michael any one of them would not think twice about hurting one of the bartenders and robbing me. That being the most likely scenario I won’t tell you the worst case scenario. The way I see it this can go a few different ways. I’m not going to have you walking around carrying that kind of money by yourself. So either you have a guard with you one of my guys or you carry a piece.”