#1 Chapter 8
First Dirty Job
As soon as I got downstairs, I was hit with a bunch of requests from all four corners.
“Jenny, tall black!” Jonny. Very demanding.
“Jenny, hot chocolate! And make that swan on it too. I like it.” Bobby. Very whiny.
“Jenny, a short black.” Heath. I didn’t know much about him.
“Jenny, long black please.” Finnie. Very polite.
I was about to deliver their orders when Gio’s husky voice travelled to my ears, alerting me to full active mode.
I turned toward him by instinct and almost drooled again. What was up with this mafia boss? Was he trying to show off his full spring collection in his wardrobe? This dude was really playing with a maiden’s heart here. And didn’t he just have a shower this morning when I accidently dumped my scalding coffee on him?
“What the fuck are all of you doing?” Giovanni yelled at his underlings. “Get your bloody asses on the street and start collecting money.”
“Yes, boss.” They all scurried off their chairs, flipping over backward trying to reach the door.
I stood there staring at the chaos. What just happened?
Giovanni glared at me when I didn’t move. “Jay, you go, too.”
“What?” I blurted.
Did I hear that right? Giovanni wanted me to go with those guys to do mafia jobs. Was he kidding me? This was only my first day as his maid. Surely threatening and hurting people were jobs only reserved for the male species. A soft delicate creature like me couldn’t even hurt a fly, let alone a human being.
So, I put forth my good reasoning. “But I’m a woman.”
“You’re an apparatus, equipment in this household, like this chair or table here,” he barked, shutting me up. “Now get moving and make me some money.”
“What am I supposed to be doing?”
“Follow them and you’ll find out,” he hissed in my face.
Was he still mad at me from this afternoon? Heck! Did he find out I’d used his bathroom? I had to be careful next time.
“Jay!”
“What?”
“Get going. Or do you want me to whack your butt?”
Whacking? Would I be punished if I defied his orders? Gee, this guy was a sadistic brute. There was no way I was staying around to find out. My gluteus maximus was very sensitive tissue. So I raced outside like the devil-aka Giovanni Dente-was chasing my tail.
As soon as I caught up to the guys outside, they were already sliding into the black van. I hauled myself into the van before it took off, only to come face to face with a crying man.
“Why are you crying? You know boss doesn’t like us showing our feminine side,” Finnie said, consoling the crying Bobby who was sobbing like a child.
“I can’t help it. Why… why do I have to be called Bobby? It’s so… so not manly,” Bobby explained between hiccups.
I didn’t know what the commotion was about, but I cleared my throat anyway, alerting them to my presence. They all glared at me. I wasn’t the least bit intimated. If I were to stay in Cory Mansion as maid, then at least I should get on their good side. Who knew? My time here might be more enjoyable if I were to become their friend. Always look on the positive side of everything, I say.
“Bobby. It’s Bobby, isn’t it?” I asked, using my soothing voice. But I still couldn’t believe I was about to console the very man who’d tried to throw me off the bridge just this morning, though. “It’s okay, Bobby. I think you have a cute name. We can call you Bob for short, if you like. What do you think, guys?”
“Nooo,” Bobby wailed, shaking his head like a little baby.
“Okay, how about Bobby Baby, then,” I suggested again.
Oh crap! I think I touched a sensitive spot. Bobby wailed even louder.
“I don’t want to be called Bobby Baby,” he sobbed.
I hushed him up. “The big boss might reprimand us again if you don’t stop crying, you know?”
And what do you know? Just when I mentioned him, the devil arrived.
“What the fuck are you sorry asses crying about?” he yelled through the car window. “Didn’t I say to get your asses on the street and collect the money?”
“Sorry, boss. We’ll be on our way now,” they all said in unison, seat belts sliding into place.
“Crazy bastard,” I muttered under my breath, putting my seat belt on properly as well.
“Jay!”
Crap. Did he hear me?
“Yes, boss.” I immediately twirled around in my seat to face him.
“You stay behind. I just remembered you didn’t make me my flat white.”
“You can drink the guys’ coffees. They didn’t get to drink theirs yet. On the kitchen island.”
“I already did. But I still want my flat white.”
“Ah, sorry boss, but I have to help Bobby and the guys collect the money first.” I made my excuse.
I didn’t want to stay in this huge mansion all by myself with Giovanni. The episode of the naked Adonis flinging his thingaling in the bathroom was still fresh in my mind. Not to mention he might smack my butt as he threatened just minutes ago. Whacking and smacking, that just wasn’t my thing.
“Will be back to cook you dinner by six, so I won’t be too long.”
“Jay, wait. You have-”
I didn’t wait for him to finish. I slammed the door shut in his face, and Finnie slammed his foot on the accelerator, driving me away from the Greek god.
My first dirty job and I was stuck between two macho men in a black van. I couldn’t believe my life had degraded to this level. Not that I was rich before, but this was just beyond my imagination. If I told my friends I was actually living with a mafia clan, would they believe me? I shook the thought out of my head and concentrated on the task at hand.
We were now parked in one of the secluded, highly prized neighborhoods, sitting in the van, observing the building, we-Bobby, Heath, Finnie, Jonny and myself-were supposed to collect the money from. Heath, who’d hardly spit a word out since this morning, finally said his first word to me. “That’s some courage you showed when you said that to big boss right there.”
I cracked my neck, staring at him. Heath was even taller than Giovanni. I estimated him to be about six feet six. Maybe I should rename him Bigfoot.
“You really think I’m all that courageous.” I eyed him with questionable doubt.
“No, Jay. I think you’re just some stupid girl who’s about to get her butt kicked for real if you behave with that attitude again. Boss doesn’t take it too kindly when someone shuts the door in his face when he’s talking to you. That’s disrespectful.”
“Well, I say he’s being disrespectful for always shouting and swearing at us like some mad person. Lunatic. That’s what he is. Always using that F-word. F this. F that. Don’t you guys hate it when he swears at you all the time?”
“That’s just the boss’ way of saying he cares for us,” Bobby explained.
“That’s some weird way to show his love,” I muttered. Although I didn’t want to say this out loud, I thought this whole mafia clan belonged in a mental institution, the boss and his underlings. Even his hot body and face wouldn’t help save his life. “I say if he ever swears at me again, I’ll… I’ll…”
“You’ll what?” Heath asked, challenging me.
“I’ll… I’ll… Hey, look, there’s a hot woman over there.”This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org.
Heath and Bobby were like any normal men. With the mention of a hot woman, their eyes swirled around like a camera lens.
“Where? I don’t see a hot woman.” Bobby pouted when none appeared.
“Oh, you missed her.” I lied. At least I didn’t have to answer Heath’s question after distracting them like that.
Back to the subject of Giovanni, I asked them some more. “Hey, at least I’m bound to him because of my Pa’s debt. If I leave, he’ll…” I made a zipping sound and a cutting gesture across my neck. “You know what I mean. But you guys. What are you in it for?”
“He saved my life. I’m bound to serve him forever. It’s my promise to him,” Bobby said, expressing his sparkling sincerity in his eyes.
Is Bobby gay? Does he have a crush on that mafia boss? Ooh, I ship gay couples. They do look hot together.
“All right, enough of this sappy talk. Let’s get to work.” Heath shut us all up, including my fantasizing thoughts.
Heath and Bobby broke in the door like cops on the raid and burst into the room. A man near the corner who was sitting playing cards rushed out the back way, but Heath was really fast. He grabbed the guy by the collar and stopped him.
The man struggled, but Heath was stronger. He pinned the guy to the wall.
Heath didn’t say anything. It was Bobby who spoke. “Where’s the money?”
“What money? I ain’t got any.”
Heath strangled the guy tighter, and Bobby punched the wall. I thought he must have bad aim, but no, that must have been his way of intimidating the guy. Although, I bet the only one in pain would be him and his knuckles.
But I was wrong. The guy did cower in fear. “I say I ain’t got any money. Just look around ya. I ain’t got no money.”
I looked around the apartment. This guy was obviously lying. He was living in such a high-maintenance building. Someone had to pay for it.
“You said you don’t have any money,” Bobby voiced my thoughts. “Then what’s with the iPad and flat screen?”
“They’re rented.” The man shook like he was about to pee in his pants.
“Rented?” Bobby’s harsh words made the man’s legs crumble even farther.
“Aye. Rented. I just want to show off to me friends that I live in the fast lane.”
“Well, now it’s time to live in the slow lane. Give us the money.” Bobby threatened by punching his fist into the wall again.
“But I ain’t got none.”
“You give us the money, Grandpa, or I’ll cut you into thin slices of bacon and fry you up. Add a poached egg, too, and you’re all ready for breakfast. Have you ever heard of it, eggs benedict?”
“No. I’m vegan.”
“It’s an English breakfast. Now, do you want to be that eggs benedict?”
“No.”
“Then give us the money.”
Gee, was this the same guy that just cried on my shoulder a moment ago. He was threatening to turn this guy into breakfast.
Although, that did do the trick. The guy was shaking in his boots. He crumbled like the Berlin wall and instantly went to retrieve the cash from under his mattress.
It was a quick exchange. Once the guys collected the money, they all retreated to the black van. My feet wouldn’t move as I stood rooted to the floor. I stared at the collapsed form of the vegan man.
“I’m sorry. Try to make the repayment next time instead of spending money impressing your friends.” I tried to console him before Bobby called me back to the car. And then off we went again, collecting more badass money.
I was starting to think this mafia clan was actually a debt collection company. But then again, what did I know of mafias and their activities? It had only been my first day as maid for the mafia boss.
Suddenly, my nose twitched. This usually indicated something interesting would happen in the near future. Although, I had absolutely no idea what that could be. But I didn’t have to wait long to find out. It came faster than I could say the word whack.