I didn’t need to ask about the clothes. I knew what she was doing, and the girl was fucking smart. She wanted to throw any men off their game when she came into the room, especially men I was meeting with. They’d be too busy staring at her tits and not paying enough attention to what I was doing. I took her hand and squeezed it as Steven turned around to look at the two of us.
He frowned. “I’m not your chauffer,” he said.
“Too bad,” I said. “Did you get confirmation on the meeting?”
He grunted and turned around. “He’ll be there.”
“Good. Let’s get moving then.” I squeezed Aida’s hand and she smiled at me, her teeth dazzling. I was tempted to pull her against me but I felt like a lovestruck fucking teenage boy.
I could barely recognize the woman she was turning into, but I fucking liked it.
“Who are we meeting with?” she asked.
Steven glanced in the rearview. “You didn’t tell her?” he asked.
“Not yet.” I looked at Aida and shifted toward her a bit. “We’re meeting with my contact inside the Jalisco.”
Her eyes went wide with surprise. “Didn’t the Don tell you to leave them alone?” she asked.
“He also told me to do what I had to do,” I said, although I was paraphrasing a bit. “This won’t get back to the Don and it won’t matter.”
“Dante,” she said, shaking her head. “You should be careful. I’m not sure this is a good idea.”
“He says he knows where Vlas is.” I spoke the words slowly, staring into her eyes, and I watched as her expression shifted from nervous uncertainty to something much different.
Hate and rage played across her face.
“How do you know?” she asked.
“We’ve been in touch with him since everything happened,” Steven said. “Just last night, he said the Jalisco had heard from Vlas, and they knew where he was hiding out.”
“Shit,” Aida said. “Why didn’t you tell me right away, Dante?”
I shrugged. “Wasn’t completely sure and I didn’t want to get your hopes up. We’re going to meet with our guy now and work out the details of how this will go down. I can’t say this will definitely pan out, but it’s our best lead so far.”
She nodded slowly and took a deep breath. Her breasts swelled up and down and I was almost fucking mesmerized. Her little distraction trick was going to backfire if I couldn’t get myself under control.
“All right,” she said. “This is good then. We don’t have to bring the Jalisco into this anymore though. Let’s just find out where Vlas is and move on, right?”
“That’s the plan,” Steven said, frowning.
I glanced at him and gave him a flat look then turned back to Aida. “You’re turning into a little mafia tactician, you realize that, right?”
She smiled and shrugged. “I’m here and I’m in this. I guess I decided I’m going to embrace the role.”
“Good for you,” I said. “I like it. Suits you.”
“You think so?” She laughed and tilted her head. “I just think you like my outfit today. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you staring.”
“I bet you have,” I said. “Don’t think I don’t know why you’re wearing it.”
“To distract easily distracted men like you,” she said.
“Okay, enough,” Steven said. “If I have to be your chauffer, at least don’t fucking flirt where I have to listen to it.”
I laughed and patted Steven’s shoulder. “Don’t be so glum,” I said. “We’ll find you some pussy when this is all over.”
“When this is all over, I plan on getting paid,” Steven said. “And my dick sucked. Not necessarily in that order.”
I leaned back and laughed. Aida rolled her eyes but she was smiling too. The car rolled through some side streets and came out onto Broad, the main artery down the center of the city. Steven took us up further, around city hall, and into the north of Philly, well away from our normal territory. He pulled down Fairmount Avenue, took that past the Eastern State Penitentiary, and parked along the street. Aida looked confused as we got out of the car and stepped onto the sidewalk.
“Why are we here?” she asked.
“This is where we’re meeting,” I said.
“Yeah, but why here?” She looked around and her frown got deeper. “Lots of tourists.”
“That’s exactly the point,” I said. “Neutral territory. The Leone Family doesn’t own this territory and neither do the Russians. Right now, I don’t think anyone runs these streets. The gangs control further up north, which means Fairmount is a sort of neutral buffer zone between the crime families and the gangs.”
“Huh,” Aida said. “I never knew that. I’ve lived here my whole life and I never even noticed that.”
“Easy to miss unless you’re in the world,” I said. “Now come on. Let’s not keep our friend waiting.”
Steven took point and we followed just behind him. The morning was crisp and cool with a bright sun and only a slight breeze. Fairmount was an up-and-coming neighborhood with some little corner mom and pop stores, some fancy hipster bars, and a few ubiquitous Italian pizza places. Tourists wandered from the Penitentiary, which was an enormous stone prison that closed years ago and got mostly used for tours, down to the Art Museum which was only a few blocks away.
The trees were nice though looked like they were young and recently planted, and there was construction going on in most of the buildings. The neighborhoods north and south of Fairmount were mostly families, and the streets were quiet, clean, and safe. If it weren’t so far from all the action of the main center city and beyond, I could see myself living in Fairmount and being happy there.
Steven took us to a placed called Bishop’s Collar, a bar that was painted black all around the outside, with a black door and black window frames.
