Page 2 of The Marriage Negotiation

The next month was going to be insane. Still, I was looking forward to it. Well, I was looking to my life changing, not necessarily the packing and actual moving. The drive from Texas to New York was going to take forever.

"New York City takes a bit to get used to, especially if you've lived someplace like Texas for most of your life. I'm for California and it was still hard for me to get used to. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask."

A new city, a new life?

I'd done it before. I could do it again.

I smiled as I shook Joe's hand. "I think I'll do okay."

Joe patted me on the shoulder. "Okay, man."

"Just get those papers filed," I said. "I'm tired of being a paper pusher."

Joe frowned. "I'm a paper pusher."

"You're a lawyer." That might actually be worse than a paper pusher, but I didn't mention that. "Big difference."

Joe chuckled. "Not by much. I swear I spend more time going over case law and visiting the records department down at city hall than I do in the courtroom."

"You could always do something else."

"Naw." Joe shook his head. "Working for Jake is actually pretty interesting. Technically, I'm in corporate law, but some of the things Jake is into is like science fiction, man. Like, seriously bizarre. He lets his lab nerds dream and pursue anything that takes their fancy, and it almost always pays off in big ways. Recently, the M zeros in Jake's bank account became B zeros."

My eyes widened. "Jake is a billionaire?"

"He is and that means he takes good care of the people that helped get him there. I've made more money working for Jake over the last year than I did in five years working as a lawyer in California."

Must be nice.

"Jake need an on-call doctor?"

Instead of laughing as I had expected, Joe looked thoughtful. "Maybe."

"What?" I asked.

"Let me drop a bug in Jake's ear," Joe said. "Having an on-call doctor for all of us isn't a bad idea. We tend to get into scrapes here and there. A man named Spencer has been helping where he can, but it isn't always in our best interest to associate with him, so we try and keep it at a minimum."

I frowned at his words. "Why not? Is he not licensed or something?"

"Oh, no, he's licensed. It's just that his husband is mafia. King runs Queens."

I stared for a moment, positive I'd misheard him. "You guys are involved in the mafia?"

"That is a yes or no answer with a long explanation that would take a few hours to explain."

"Short version?" I suggested.

"Yes, but only as friends."

Yeah, that wasn't any better.

"You're friends with a mafia boss?"

"We're actually friends with four of the five mafia bosses in New York City and a couple in Italy."

I wasn't sure I wanted to know, but... "How?"

"Once you get settled in, Jake and I will meet with you for drinks and explain it all to you. Until then, I can tell you that they are all pretty decent men considering the line of work they are in. They have actually lowered the crime rate since they've been in charge and gotten rid of some of the worst criminals in the city."

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