The door swung open just as I was ready to head back outside and my best friend, Roberta Regal, came flouncing in. “Jesus, it’s slow as shit out there,” she complained. Robbie was in the same boat I was. While she wasn’t starving, she counted on her tips the same way I did. The only difference was I didn’t have a boyfriend who didn’t work sponging off my paycheck.
“I know,” I agreed. “But that didn’t stop some dude in a suit from leaving me a golden treasure of twenty-seven cents.”
She winced. “What a shit,” she grumbled.
I shook off my dark mood. “That’s what the weekends are for,” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. “We’ll make it all back then.”
Her pretty brown eyes shifted, and I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. “Yeah, I uh…”
“What’s wrong, Robbie?”
“Nothing,” she mumbled. “Well, I don’t think it’s anything to worry about yet.”
My brows shot up. “What isn’t?”
She started to bite on her lip, and I wondered if she was going to answer. She finally said, “I overheard Randy on the phone last night and it sounded like he was arguing with someone over money. And, well…I’m just hoping he doesn’t expect me to bail him out again.”
It took everything I had to bite my tongue. I could go on a rant of what a loser her boyfriend was, but I didn’t want to be that friend. I wanted to be the kind of friend that could give Robbie advice based on her life and her personality, and not on what I would do in her situation. Besides, what the hell did I know about relationships? The first and only one I’ve ever been in crashed and burned.
“Well, you know what you can do and what you can’t do,” I said cautiously. “Don’t overextend yourself if you can’t afford it.”
She shook her head and plastered on a smile. “You’re right,” she agreed. “Besides, he hasn’t even asked, so I probably shouldn’t be borrowing trouble.” I smiled back at her for a lack of something better to do. “I’ll see you back out there.” She winked and flounced back out the same way she came in.
I took a deep breath and prayed she’d listen. I’ve only met Randy a couple of times when we’ve gone out for drinks together and, plain and simple, I didn’t like the man. He was a mooch and had that troublesome vibe about him. But, as long as he made Robbie happy, I planned to watch what I said about the guy and word my advice carefully. However, I still didn’t like him.
Growing up, I was used to men who took care of their women. From where I came from, men were men and women were women and there was no confusion. If a man didn’t outright support his woman, then he had a partnership with her, and they took care of each other. From what I could see, Robbie took care of herself and Randy.
Shaking off my thoughts, I went back outside into the restaurant and tried to mind my own business. Robbie wasn’t a stupid woman. She might be putting up with more than most because she cared about her boyfriend, but she wasn’t stupid. All I could do was be there for her when enough became enough.
As I entered the floor of the restaurant, I realized it was true what they said; say the Devil’s name, and he shall appear. But, in this case, it was Edmond who appeared, not the Devil.
He was sitting in my section, and he was all smiles when I approached. “Hey, Frankie,” he greeted me. “How are you?”
I put on my service smile and made sure not to hint at anything more. “Hi, Edmond. I’m doing well. How are you?”
It wasn’t that he wasn’t good-looking; on the contrary, he was. He had sandy blonde hair and sweet, light blue eyes. He had that surfer vibe even though there wasn’t an ocean or lake anywhere near Cedar Creek. There wasn’t even a creek. He was also tall and athletically built. He wasn’t a gym rat with too many muscles, but he also wasn’t a slob with a pouch over his dick.
Overall, he was a nice-looking man. He just didn’t do it for me.
No one did.
“I’m great,” he answered. “I’ll be doing better if ever you take me up on my offer of dinner or drinks.”
I kept my smile in place. “What can I get you, Edmond?”
“Okay, okay,” he teased. “I can take a hint.”
Since he’s been hitting on me for weeks, my money says he can’t.
Chapter 3
Phoenix~
It didn’t matter how many times I’ve been in this house, this study particularly, it always felt like I was sitting down with the sorry souls who were unfortunate enough to cross paths with Giovanni Benetti. Or any Benetti, for that matter.
It was also how I knew when Luca was talking to us as a Mob Underboss and not the boy who we played tag with as children. Whenever we were invited to meet him at the Benetti home, which was still occupied by his mother and father, we knew we were here for business.
Luca owned an apartment building on the outskirts of Morgan City. He occupied the entire top floor while me and Ciro shared the floor underneath, our apartments separated by a shallow hallway. No one had access to our floor or Luca’s save us three. The remaining six floors were empty of residents except for the first floor which consisted of the lobby and the smaller apartments that housed a few guards. The second floor housed a gym, swimming pool, sauna, etc. Any member of the Benetti family was required to be healthy and in shape, so Luca made access to a gym easier for his men. No one in the Benetti family got soft, not even the retirees.
No one.
The third floor was a common area, where
