Page 38 of Red

“Thank you, Gregory," I mumble as I climb in the back of the car.

We pull up outside of the hotel. I can see a black car parked next to the curb and I smile to myself. Jake opens my door.

“Zeev, everything looks secure. Blanche is waiting in the car, ready for you to escort her inside.”

“Thanks, brother.” Slapping his shoulder, I walk towards the car that is holding my beautiful wife.

I open the door for her to get out and she takes my breath away. Even years later, I still want her more than anything else in the world, I need her more than air. Leaning into the car, I give her a chaste kiss on her lips.

“You look beautiful, Red. I’m not sure I’ll be able to wait till the end of the night to have you,” I whisper against her lips as I pull back.

She gives me the biggest smile and slaps my chest, “You know you have to keep it in your pants for a little while. We need to get our associates to give money to the Children’s Hospital. This helps to create an air of goodwill so people are less likely to blame The Wolves when bad things happen. I still can’t believe that my grandmother didn’t have the foresight to do it.”

Putting my hand on her lower back as I escort her inside the hotel, I speak low only for her. “You know I love it when you talk shop, I might be taking you in the bathroom later.”

We enter the ballroom and just like the wolves, we descend on our prey. An older gentleman walks up to us with a woman who is a lot younger than he is on his arm. Like the professional that my Red is, she addresses both of them, “Good evening, Richard, Mallory. Let me introduce you to my husband, Zeev.”

I shake his hand trying to remember my manners. “Nice to meet you.” Then I look over to his wife and nod towards her, just acknowledging her presence.

Not really wanting to partake in small talk, I let Blanche know that I’m going to go to the bar to get us a drink. Approaching the bar I order myself a whiskey and Blanche a gin and tonic. While waiting for them, a shadow comes over me. Turning to see who is standing there, I recognize the boss of the Irish Mafia Brian. Standing next to him is a young man.

I have a waiter send Blanche her drink to make sure she is taken care of before giving him my full attention. He grins at me and with a hint of an Irish accent says, “Hello, Zeev, I know you don’t remember me, but I knew you when you were just a wee little boy. This is my son Brendan. I was a friend of your father’s.”

“I know who you are.”

His face softens a bit. “It was so tragic the way things ended for him, and I’m sorry for that. Your father and I were trying to create an alliance between the Irish and The Wolves. Old Lady Marelle was not happy about that.”

“Thank you. He was a great man. What can I do for you?”

“Getting right down to business, I like that. I want to propose a plan to help finish what your father and I were trying to create now that the old bitch is gone.”

Nodding, I grunt out, “I don’t make any decisions without my wife, I’ll have to run it by her before any firm decisions are made.”

Not really wanting to mingle with anyone else and intrigued by this proposition, Brian and I stayed in the back of the ballroom throwing back drinks. Brendan abandoned us a while back. I saw him stalking a girl that’s here.

We talk for a few hours about our families and the alliance while the gala continues around us. I look up throughout the night always searching for her, never letting her out of my sight while she flitters around.

As the evening starts to wrap up, Red walks up joining us. She hands me one last drink as I start introductions. “Blanche, this is Brian."

Brian reaches out to shake my wife's hand. “It's nice to meet you, Blanche."

She reciprocates by shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you too, Brian. Did you come here alone?"

"No, I didn't. I brought along my son, Brendan. He’s around here somewhere."

Blanche gives him a bright smile and I know what is coming next, "Have you had a chance to donate to the children's hospital? I'm sure they could use the contribution."

He laughs, "Yes, I did. I donated before the gala."

I smile at the interaction and lower my voice more so no one can hear us. “He’s informed me that before my father was killed that they were working on an alliance between the Irish and The Wolves. He wants us to reinstate it.”

Blanche nods in understanding, “Pursuing a friendship among us is very tempting, I would like us to discuss this further in private. For now, I want to enjoy the night and spend it with my husband. We don’t have much alone time these days, you know how it is." She giggles.

I’m always in awe of her, she can say exactly what is on her mind, but in the sweetest way that the person on the other end doesn’t even realize that she’s telling them to fuck off.

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll give you a call to set up a meeting.”

Brian walks off and I turn to my wife and pull her closer. “How was your night, Red?”

She smiles, replying, “Great! We were able to raise upwards of $500,000 for the Children’s Hospital.”

Brushing my hand across her collarbone, I grin. “You know that an alliance with the Irish will be good. We could use someone else to help distribute our weapons. Plus, Henry, one of his men, did help us when we needed it.”

Grazing her fingers over my lapels, she looks up at me and I can see the sparkle in her eyes. She is up to something. “Yes, we will have an alliance with them, but I don’t want to think about that right now.” Then sticks out her lips as if she is pouting. “Tonight, we will celebrate both of our accomplishments. I am ready to spend time with my husband.”

I rub my fingers over her bottom lip that she stuck out, grazing it softly. She lets out a soft breath, leaning up on her tiptoes and touches her lips across mine, as one of her hands comes up from behind caressing the nape of my neck. Pulling a tiny bit back, she whispers the best words over my lips. “Let’s go to our room. I’m ready to get out of this dress.”

I grab her hand and start pulling her out of the ballroom, towards the elevators as quickly as possible. I need to get to our room where I plan on spending the whole night worshiping at her altar.

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