Page 54 of Give Me Perfect Love

Discipline.

It takes a real man to raise two broken boys. It takes love and patience, and it also requires a toughness that few have.

Lee Grant is one of those few. Ten times over.

He showed me that I could have anything, and I showed him that he was right.

After I graduated with a business degree, and with some borrowed money from Pops, I purchased this building and turned it into a successful nightclub.

But that wasn’t enough.

I wanted more.

I grew up around horses. I grew up around horse tracks, and I’d seen a lot of gambling going down at those tracks. I listened when people thought I wasn’t. I watched and soaked it all up. I’d seen the money, and I knew of a way to bring that home.

Right in the basement of this building.

It started out small-time. And then I bought the building next door, let Antonio have his restaurant there, and expanded the whole lower half.

What started out with just a little off-track betting became something more and it quickly grew. Now people come from all over. They could gamble where it’s legal, but crooks like the rush of doing something wrong. It’s not fun when you know you can’t get caught.

Jace slaps the bar. “Bobby, my brother and I have had a stressful day.” He looks to me. “Wouldn’t you say, big brother?” His eyes are swimming, and he’s pale from cocaine. It disappoints me that reckless has jumped the wagon.

“I’d say,” I agree, tilting back my beer.

Jace nods. “Let’s take some shots. Bobby, bring that bottle of Johnny Walker over here.”

Bobby does as he asks and Jace takes the bottle by the neck. “I’ve got this,” he says, twisting the top off and pouring each of us a shot.

I reach up and grab mine as the boys do the same, Bobby looking a little unsure.

I shrug. “Club is not open yet. Have a drink, boy.”

“That’s right. Have a fucking drink,” Jace says. I look over at him, not entirely happy with the way he’s behaving, but I’ve really got enough shit going on right now and he’s grown. I scrub a hand over my beard as he lifts his shot glass. “To you, big brother.”

I narrow my eyes, but clink glasses with him before tossing fire down my throat.

Jace shrugs his coat off and takes a seat beside me, slipping the saved cigarette from his ear that he never smoked earlier.

“What do you say about that nurse?” he asks, lighting his cigarette.

“She seems to know her job.”

“That’s not what I mean.” He grins and blows smoke into the air. A gray trail rises above us and spreads out into the atmosphere. There’s no smoking in here either, but I’m not in the mood to be his dad.

“I know what you mean. Don’t mess with her. She’s taking care of Mary.”

He picks at the label on his beer. “Yeah,” he murmurs. “Think she’s going to make it out of this?”

I shrug. “Who knows.”

He grabs the bottle and pours us another round. “Let’s drink on it,” he says. “To Mary.”

I lift my glass. “To Mary.”

The mood shifts from laid-back bar to raging nightclub within a few hours’ time. We’ve had more shots, but Jace has disappeared with some buddies of his to the private lounge, and I sit in the same spot I was before.

My eyes look around the place as I take another sip from the beer I just got. I’ve had several of these, but I’m not wasted, just perfectly mellow and not worrying about shit. Ben stands at the bottom of the staircase, always watching.

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