“Next time you're in here, just ask for Carmen. I'll make sure you get taken care of.”
I nodded in understanding, and she walked off, knowing how to move her ass in the barely there miniskirt and high heels to make sure I got one last good look of her wares.
I downed the rest of my drink and got up from the seat, making sure my pants were unstained. Not seeing anything in the dim lights of the club, I shrugged and buttoned up my coat, making sure my tie and everything looked exactly as it should be. Semi-satisfied, I turned and left the club, getting ready for the rest of the night's work.
I didn't have too many assignments that night, thankfully. Don Bertoli knows exactly how much to push a man, and when to give him some time off to unwind. After taking care of some problems with one of the local motorcycle clubs two weeks prior, Boss had put me on light duty. “Those gear heads may be as stupid as two ducks fucking, but they know how to swing a mean wrench,” the Don explained at the time when he visited me in my apartment, where I was healing up from a swollen shut eye. The motorcyclists had fared far worse. “You handled yourself well, Daniel. Enjoy the time, and we'll work you back into the rotation when the time comes.”
The time had started a week ago, nothing too extreme, a few visits to the businesses that had relationships with Don Bertoli, just to make sure they were up to date with their payments. Sure, collection work was newbie shit, but it was easy, and it kept me from sitting around my apartment for too long. Tonight, on top of the strip club I'd just finished — with a nice wad of cash in my pocket for the efforts — I had two more stops to make before three in the morning.
I was in the parking lot when my cell phone rang. As only ten people in the world had the number to my work phone, I knew it had to be important, and pulled it out. “Neiman,” I greeted. “What's up?”
“Daniel, it’s Carlo,” a mid-tone, accented voice said in my ear, and I immediately stiffened. “I need your services.”
“Of course, Don Bertoli,” I said immediately, sliding behind the wheel of my car. “What do you need?”
“First, go home and get some sleep,” he said. “I’ve asked another man to do the rest of your pickups for the night. What did you get done?”
“Williams' Market and the Starlight Club, sir. I was thinking of going to the others closer to closing time. Give them a chance to make sure they have the cash on hand.”
I heard Don Bertoli's warm chuckle, and was pleased. “You’re wise beyond your young years, Daniel. But don’t worry about that tonight. Tomorrow morning at six I want you at Harborview Medical Center to pick up my niece.”
“Adriana?” I asked. Adriana and I had been friends when I was a child, and while I couldn't say the same any longer, we still would run into each other from time to time. “What happened, Boss?”
“Some psycho piece of shit instructor is obsessed with her, stalked her, and killed her roommate this afternoon. Now don't worry, I have a man watching her room right now, but I know Adriana. She’ll want to go back to classes, and you’re the best man for the job. You’re young enough that you won’t stick out too much amongst the college students, but more importantly, I know that you are a man of honor. You’d never allow anyone to harm her.”
“You have my word,” I swore immediately. My benefactor had treated me well in the twenty-five years I'd been under his protection.
“Protect her like she's the most important person in the entire world. If you see Christ himself resurrected and saying Adriana is not one of the saved, you are to slay the Lamb, do you understand?”
“Absolutely. I’ll be there at six.”
There was a sigh on the other end of the line, and I could tell he had something difficult to say. “Daniel, what I say next is not because I don’t love you like one of my own. You've been a better man than many of them, and I look upon you with the same pride that I do my own sons. You know that, right?”
“I do, sir. And I see you as the closest thing I’ll ever have to a father, you know that.”
“And I appreciate that, my boy. But Adriana, she’s blood, and she is the closest thing I will ever have to a daughter. I won’t have her with a man in this kind of business. So I’ll say this again, even though I know you’ve heard it before, if only so that you know exactly where I’m coming from. If you so much as touch her, let alone do what you’ve done with all those other women, I will make sure that your cock is chopped off and stuffed up your ass before you die a miserable death. Understood?”
“Understood,” I said, a fine sweat breaking out on my brow despite the coolness of the evening. “Perfectly.”
“Good. Give me a call in the morning when you are at the hospital. Good night, Daniel.”