Page 38 of Lordes

“So is this a real thing, you and the lady?” He said when the coast was clear.

“Yes.”

“She’s your girlfriend?”

“Yes, of course.” I had only labeled it tonight but I was sticking to my guns. I believed out four months meant something.

“Where do you find her?” Nicco lifted his scotch glass and took a heaping gulp.

“At a bookstore. She took you that at dinner.”

“Yeah, she did. I would never be inside a bookstore but of course you are Mr. Ivy League.”

“MIT isn’t Ivy League.”

Nicco shrugged. I knew he’d never been to college. “You would know that.”

“Everyone knows that.”

“Not me. I’m happy for you. All the times I flew out here you have never ever introduced me to any woman. I was starting to wonder about you.”

“Wonder what?”

“Your assistant is gay.”

“No he’s not. Christian is married to a woman.”

“Huh, I called that wrong. It’s hard to tell nowadays. You’re a clean-cut Irish Catholic choirboy. I wasn’t sure if you turned you life over to Christ. Maybe one of those priest got a little hands-on during Bible study.”

“You fraternize with too many dirty people.”

“True but that’s not a nice thing to say. I was born with Sicilian blood. I was bred into La Cosa Nostra. I didn’t have a choice.”

“We all have choices.” I assured him.

“My guy, you live in a fantasy world. I live in the real world.”

“I like this world, a world where I don’t have to look over my shoulder and travel with around the clock bodyguards.”

“Everyone should be looking over their shoulders in Chicago.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I do. You know I’m the oldest. I have to do this and believe me it’s lonely at the top. I don’t know who I can trust.”

“You can trust me. I’m not apart of that world and I will never be. I know you think my life is boring but I appreciate what I have and what I built all be myself. I don’t have to sleep with one eye open.”

“Should I envy you?”

I shrugged. “Do whatever you like? You always do.”

“I do envy you. Lordes Donovan is self-made. We need men like you in the organization. I need men like you in my circle.”

“You have two brothers and a sister.”

“You say two brothers and a sister. Knowing Dom there are more out there. Lord, you are stubborn to a fault. One day I will break you down.”

“Don’t count on it.”

---