“No, it’s not her.”
“Who? And Jesus Dante, we’re talking like we’re teenaged boys not men in our forties. You don’t need to come to a club to forget a woman. You pick one and make her yours.”
That’s what he’s like. Him and his sex crazed brothers are all the same. They took hot bloodied Italian to the next level of the meaning.
“This situation is complicated.” And now I have Rachel’s words stuck in my damn mind. Her warning of not being there one day stuck with me .
It grated me. I realized I didn’t know if I was okay with that and I didn’t know if I was okay with being under Peter’s thumb and watchful eye.
That’s another thing that led me here tonight. My visit is a mixture of business and pleasure.
“How is it complicated?”
“It just is. You know those women who are off limits, but you want them bad?”
“Yeah, I know that kind all too well,” he chuckles. “Who are we talking about?”
“Peters’ daughter.” I say with caution and Salvatore quirks a brow. He knows Peter and he’s also seen Rachel several times.
He knows me well enough to know when I’m into a woman so he must have guessed that I like her, but he’s never asked me about it.
“God, Dante… fucking hell. She’s not a kid anymore.”
“I know.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“Peter. He told me to stay away from her.”
“Did she tell you to stay away?” he throws back.
if this was another friend the conversation would have ended with Peter’s warning. Not Salvatore though.
“She didn’t. But, come on Salvatore. I can’t go there and it’s making me crazy. That’s why I’m here, well one reason.”
The other reason is a job offer he gave me. A year ago Salvatore asked me to come on board to do the marketing for the club and the Odyssey hotels. He and his brothers own a chain of hotels in the Caribbean that are basically like extensions of the club. They offer adult packages and have a club on site. It’s like sex in paradise. Same as here.
“Dante, if you work for me I need you wholeheartedly. I offered you a million dollars as a retainer fee last time and you turned it down to continue working for Peter. I got to say I was a little offended, and jealous.” Salvatore smirks.
“I’m sorry. At the time he needed me more and I just thought I’d help him.”
That’s what I did all of last year. I dealt with his clientele outside of Chicago and secured new business deals that brought the man in a fortune.
Rachel wouldn’t know this but Peters business was going down under. He was losing big time and there was talk of merging with a company who would have taken more than their fair share of takings. He would have lost his dream.
I fixed it and then I came back and decided to work side by side with my old pal like the good old days.
That was my first mistake.
“You wear your heart on your sleeve Dante…”
That was my next mistake, and possibly one I’ve been doing for longer than I realize. I wore my damn heart on my sleeve, and had too many instances where I grew closer to Rachel than I should have. A dinner here and there. A meet up here and there. talking, hugging her, just the slightest touch and that was it. It screwed me over big time.
“I do. So what you’re saying is the job might still be open?” I ask. I need to keep my options open. That’s what I’m doing here.
Salvatore smirks. “You’re my friend Dante. The job never closed. You always have work with me.”
I smile at that, appreciating him more. “Thanks man.”