Not that I would go too close to her – I wasn’t stupid. You didn’t date the boss’s daughter unless the boss told you to. He hadn’t done that, though she was my age and I was considered one of Rinaldo’s favorites.
Had been, anyway.
If he ever gave his blessing, I’d do her. She was hot and had a smart mouth that made me laugh. It didn’t seem too likely now, not with me on the shitlist indefinitely. It was enough to make anyone paranoid, and I was already a little bit on the unstable side.
An animated T-Rex took a bite out of a Stegosaurus as my vision blurred.
Head throbbing…and the taste of dirt in my mouth. On my stomach, coughing, trying to get the dust from my lungs…but only inhaling more of it. Hands bound behind me, and I can’t turn enough to the side to get my face off the ground…
I woke, startled, and glanced up at the television to see a bunch of World War II footage on the screen. I quickly shut the damn thing off. I sat up and put my head in my hands, trying to clear the memory-dream from inside.
A large wet tongue against my forearm centered me, and I reached over to scratch the base of Odin’s ears.
“I need a better distraction,” I muttered to myself.
Odin huffed at me as I grabbed my jacket and keys and shoved a Beretta down the back of my pants. He was probably looking at the clock and assuming I was going to work, but I’d gotten my job done earlier. Now I needed to spend some of my cash.
My parking spaces in the garage held two vehicles – a used black Mazda hatchback I had purchased on my way back from Arizona about an hour after my old Chevy truck died and a silver Audi R8 convertible that I rarely ever took out unless it was one of the high-end social occasions I sometimes felt obligated to attend.
The public transportation in Chicago was awesome, and I was a big fan of it ninety percent of the time. Every once in a while there was a need to get from one place to another door-to-door, though, and that was what I needed on this night. I slipped behind the wheel of the Mazda and headed south to the area where the gentlemen’s clubs tended to spill out onto t
he street corners.
There were a hundred reasons I loved Chicago. Someone could live here for twenty years and still have new stuff to do. Jobs were everywhere, despite what the dudes sitting in the doorways of rundown buildings holding out cups and signs claimed. They might not have been good jobs, but there was shit to do and ways to make money. I loved the buildings the most – the whole concrete jungle idea. I loved figuring out how to get to the top of them and look down over the whole city. The Skydeck on top of the Willis Tower was an awesome place to relax.
Okay, maybe not to everyone, but I loved it.
I slowed the car as I approached the corner, and a half dozen girls and one guy took a few steps closer to the passenger side door. One of the girls actually came around to my side and laid her boobs over my windshield, smiling and grinding away at me. She was way too skinny though and had that junkie look about her. I checked the rest of them out quickly, and it didn’t take me long to decide on the one with the biggest ass. My finger depressed the window button, and the guy placed his hand on the roof of the car to lean it.
“You lookin’ for somethin’ special tonight?”
“All-nighter,” I told him. “Gimme the dark-haired girl with the round ass.”
The dude leaned in a bit more, and I tilted my head a bit so he could get a good look at me.
“Yeah, I know you,” he said. “One of Rinaldo’s guys. Arden, right?”
“You got it.”
“You sure you want that one? She’s new and givin’ me a bit of trouble.” He snickered. “Nothing you couldn’t handle. Fuck, might use you to make an example out of her, ya know? You do side jobs?”
“Yeah, sure,” I said with a shrug. “She won’t give me no trouble, though.”
“Well, you give her a little discipline if ya need to, ‘kay?”
“’Kay,” I repeated. Like I was really going to fuck up a girl I was fucking. Pimps were assholes, no doubt about it.
“Employee discount!” he announced with a laugh and a wink. “Come over here, Bridgett.”
The black-haired girl walked over to the side of the car, and the pimp opened the door for her. She looked up at him with a bit of concern.
“You’re gonna be taking care of Mister Arden tonight,” he said as he gave her a little push inside. “He’s a good customer, so you be good to him.”
She only hesitated a moment before getting inside. Her tiny skirt rose up and gave me a view of her little black panties. She had on stupidly high heels – like they all did – which were going to look pretty good over my shoulders. She shivered, but I didn’t know at first if the motion was from the temperature change or from nervousness.
I gave the pimp half the cash before I drove off with her. I’d owe him the rest when I brought her back, assuming she took care of me the way she was supposed to. I knew she would. However she ended up in this business, they all knew better than to piss off a client. Those who didn’t know the rules ended up in the river or the lake.
“What’s your name?” I asked. I knew what it was – the pimp had called her by her name – but I wanted her to say it.