And despite his efforts to alleviate my concerns about his sister, she’s not only a weakness for him, she’s also seeming like a wildcard. I don’t like wildcards because there’s not one cut and dried purpose for them. Wildcards can be valuable, they can also fuck up a game, depending on how the card is played.
We’ll see how my conversation with Tony goes. Getting into business with Jessa would not have been my first choice before this, but the more ways I’ve got to pull her strings and affect her life, the more chances of her being a mild headache I tolerate instead of a full-blown migraine I need to deal with.
***
When I get back to Portland, I check in with Violet and she’s home from Christmas shopping, laying down, tired. I’m relieved she’s home, feel like my stress levels have come down a notch.
I tell her I’m going to Law from the airport for a meeting and that I’ll be back in a bit, to look over the online menu and text me with what she wants me to bring home for her for dinner.
***
I’m sitting down with Tony, both of us having a meal in my office so we can have a private conversation, when I get a text from Violet that says she doesn’t see anything she wants on our menu and would I mind stopping by the Chinese food place we ordered from yesterday for some ginger beef and broccoli?
I write back that I will and then settle into my steak and lobster tail.
“All right,” I say. “Plead your case.”
Tony stares blankly for a minute and then takes a breath so big it’s clear he’s full of nerves.
“Boss, I want your blessing to pursue Jessa full ahead, I mean full-speed-ahead. But, if I don’t get it, I won’t do it. Date her, I mean. I know how big my fuck-up was. And it… it’ll keep me awake at night.”
This is interesting. He keeps talking. And it feels slightly reminiscent to the speech Luca Brasi gives The Godfather on the day Connie gets married. Like he’s practiced it a bunch, but keeps bumbling.
“I know she… she pulled a fast one on me, but she regrets that. I… know, I mean, she’s sorry because we talked on the phone when she got to her brother’s. I called her and I told her my loyalty is to you and that I gotta make up for my mistakes. That I figure she was affectin’ my ability to think clear and that I felt like she’s insincere and her games put us all at risk. She admitted to fucking with my phone and told me she’s regretting that because after all she’s been through since yesterday, she’s realizing she doesn’t really love you. Sorry, Boss. It’s just her competitiveness, you see. She likes to be the one to end it. I think she was real with me. She’s interested in explorin’ things with me. She got shook up on Saturday and likes that I can protect her. She feels bad that what happened was because of her game. I know she’s shook up so that might be part of it, but I think I could build something real with her from that. I really regret my fuck up. If that means I don’t get to pursue her, it’ll hurt, but that’s how much… how much our friendship means to me. If you think my relationship with her makes me a liability, I trust you. I don’t know that I can think clearly with that gorgeous woman in my ear because Killian, her voice does things to me.” He shakes his head.
“You think you can keep her in check?” I ask. “You think you can find a way she’s not gonna go babbling about that shit if things between you two go sour? Because that’s the priority for me.”
He gives a firm shake of his head. “If she tries, I take responsibility and that’d mean me taking care of whatever problems arise. I mean that. Serious, Kill. She only knows your secret because I fucked up. In fact,” he leans forward and gets an expression most people would find not just intimidating, but also chilling, “if she hurts either of us, she’s been playin’ me and I’ll choke her lights out myself.”
Well. Interesting. I lean back and regard him thoughtfully.
I believe every word out of his mouth.
“You’d have to answer to Jag for that, though.”
“I know,” he says. “I’m prepared for that and I’ll talk to Jagger today if I get your permission to go ahead with this.”
I regard him a minute, then finally let the poor bastard out of his misery.
“Well, Tony, I’m thinkin’ of investing in her dream business. Something she’s wanted to do since she was a teenager. That ought to indebt her to me and buy some loyalty.”