1520 Main

9

Trey was barely able to duck the fist that came at him when he walked out of the bathroom later that night.

"You son of a bitch!" Gio bellowed.

Trey continued to comb his hair without missing a beat. "Cute, ain't she? Told you she was."

"You set me up!"

"No," Trey replied calmly, leading the way downstairs and into his office, trying to figure out how to pronounce Poirot now that he knew how to pronounce motif. Gio slammed the door behind him. "I need you to get that little bitch off my back while I get Marina into bed. I promised you a sweet payday if I won the bet, and you've done worse things to make money."

That brought Gio up short. "Bitch?"

"God, yes. She's got me pegged sideways an' her soft little puppy teeth been diggin' inna my heels. The last thing I need is for her fangs to get any longer or sharper and start diggin' inna my ass."

Gio curled his lip in confusion. "Uh ... are we talking about the same girl? Dot? Albright? The blonde?"

"Yes," Trey sighed, knowing there was a lot wrong with this conversation, but not what and no time or energy to figure it out.

"Dunham, she was climbing the wall to get away from me."

"And you were hanging off the edge of the booth to get away from her." The music started up and Trey was done with this conversation. "You've got a new client who asked for you by name. Mrs. Cohasset. She'll be here around nine, so go get your glad rags on."

"Another one," Gio groaned, turning. "I'd rather fuck that cocksucker Moore."

"Because you like getting your cock sucked," Trey pointed out, "and none of your women'll pay to do it when their husbands make 'em do it at home. So I guess," he continued slyly, "the real question is how badly do you wanna get outta this racket and out of the Cosa Nostra's reach? Enough to keep a very pretty, cynical, and vicious Mormon girl occupied while I seduce her best gal? I'm not even askin' you to kiss her, much less seduce her. Just distract her. Shit, take her to a different malt shop and do algebra together. I cannot have her daddy on my ass, you know what I'm sayin'?"

Gio took a deep breath and released it slowly. "I want out of here completely, Trey. Out of the racket, out of this town, out of the country if I must, but alive and well and gone because it's only a matter of time before Luciano finds me."

"Boss Tom ain't gonna put up with Cosa Nostra in this town. That's why you came here, 'member? An' right now the New York gangs're fightin' amongst themselves an' don't have time to hunt down a stray."

"A stray who knows where the bodies are buried."

"Clear that brat outta my path to Marina long enough for me to get her knocked up and I will set you up with enough money to go wherever it is you wanna go." When Gio didn't move and the glower on his face hadn't faded, Trey said, "What."

"That's not enough."

"Whattaya mean, that's not enough? It's a fair trade. More than, stacked up against each other."

Gio leaned over the desk and got in Trey's face. "Do you plan to conduct this courtship entirely at a malt shop after school over homework and Wednesday nights speaking in tongues?"

"No," Trey said archly, putting his hand on Gio's face and shoving him back. "I have activities planned because unlike you, I am used to dating nice girls."