Page 27 of A Vicious Rumor

"Yeah, sure," I said before falling into line to follow the guy.

"Primo, this kid's looking for work. Inky referred him to us," the big guy said.

"Thank you, Dino," the man in all black said in a smooth voice before setting his glass down on the bartop. "You and Franky are free to leave while we talk."

Without a word, the bartender made his way out from behind the bar, and he and, apparently his name was Dino, exited back into the hallway.

"So," the man in front of me said in a deep voice. "Why do you want to work for me?" he asked.

I cleared my throat and shrugged my shoulders. "Quite frankly, I don't know who you are. But, your guy said that I could make some money and that you were looking for fresh faces in the area."

"So, it's money that motivates you?" he asked me, still not looking up at me.

I shook my head. "No. Money is just what I need. It's not what motivates me."

He smiled into his glass as he took a sip of the amber liquid. "That's good. Never let money be your motivator."

"You don't do all of this for money?" I asked him warily.

"Money's what I need. It's not what motivates me," he said, repeating my words. "What's your name?"

"Rock," I replied.

"Not your real name, is it, Rock?"

I shook my head. "No. But neither is Dino, I'm willing to bet."

The man chuckled. "You're smart. That'll help you in the long run. But, in the short term, try and keep the brains tucked away. Intelligence has the tendency to get people at the bottom in trouble."

"Yeah, okay," I said.

"Dino," the man said, startling me slightly at the increase in volume.

The sound of boots hitting the floor in all but a run echoed through the warehouse space, as Dino made his way to us. "Yessir?"

"He's fine. Get him set up. Keep him out of trouble."

"I understand," Dino replied. The way the man said the last line made me think there was something more behind his words than what they were at face value. "This way, kid," he said, his tone totally changing when he addressed me.

I fell into line and without a goodbye, left the mystery man behind me in the warehouse. As I followed Dino into one of the side rooms, I realized that I still didn't really know what the boss looked like, because he never once looked at me straight on.

"Sit," Dino said, pointing to a metal chair. The room was sparse. There was a plastic folding table off to one side, and a few metal folding chairs scattered about. A whiteboard was up on the wall, but other than that and a bright fluorescent tube light flickering above us, the whole place was barren.

"You ever done this sort of thing before, kid?" he asked me.

I shook my head, and he rolled his eyes.

"Listen up, then, cause I ain't gonna repeat myself."

9

LILY

Five weeks had gone by and I hadn't so much as heard from Tyson. I was starting to wonder whether he'd been some figment of my imagination that afternoon at the park. I'd have believed it if it weren't for the fact that Tyson's bracelet had been sitting on my dresser since that night.

I'd fixed it up within a few days of having it. I just hadn't counted on it being with me for quite this long. In some ways, I'd wished Tyson hadn't appeared that day. It'd completely thrown my emotions into a whirlwind.

I wasn't sure what I felt about Tyson.

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