Then I watch him spit a mouthful of blood onto the carpet, grabbing a handkerchief from his suit pocket. But if I expect him to apologize, I’m wrong. He starts to laugh as he wipes the blood away from his mouth, and Roman seems to double in size as he pulls himself up at the sound, the muscles in his back tensing to cords as he towers over his father.
“Say that again, motherfucker. I fucking dare you.”
“Motherfucker. Interesting choice of words, son. Still, I didn’t realize you still had that in you, Roman. It’s good to see.” Apollo turns his head, a smile spread across his bloodstained lips. But when Roman raises his fist for another attack, his father’s face falls. “All right, all right, you win. I apologize, of course. You don’t want the girl to know she’s just fluff. You want to get laid a few more times before she’s scared off by your reputation. I get it. But you and me need to have a talk.”
Just fluff.
The words echo in my head.
Get laid a few more times before she’s scared off.
Is that…? No. Roman wouldn’t… But didn’t Clarissa try to warn me?
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“Oh, we have plenty we need to discuss. Like it or not.”
“Not,” Roman says, raising one enormous arm to point at Jack. “Not while he’s here, anyway. Get him out of here and we’ll talk, but I don’t think you’ll like what I have to say.”
“Yes, Jack said you’d fired him. I told him you’d never fire a friend of mine.” Apollo finally rises to his feet, clearly feeling like the situation has calmed. He glances at the handkerchief, turns his nose up and stuffs it into his jacket pocket. “Did you?”
“This is my casino. Hiring and firing is my business, not yours.”
“And who gave you this casino, son?”
“You did. Which is the only reason you’re not being carried out on a stretcher right now. But him? He’s the shit I just wiped off my shoe.” Roman turns to Jack, a snarl on his lips. “Ten seconds and I’m calling security. Ten. Nine.”
Jack, clearly uncomfortable under the scrutiny, glances down, but when his gaze finds Roman’s hard cock his eyes jump back up again, staring at Apollo. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”
Roman’s father simply chuckles. “What can I say? He’s right, it’s his casino.”
“Five. Four.”
“Better get going,” Apollo says with a shrug. “Security in this place has been known to get…rough with trespassers.”
“What? This is what I get for fifteen years of loyal service?”
“Two.”
I wonder, as Jack’s eyes go wide, whether Apollo has any friends at all. It’s clear that he doesn’t care what happens to this man. More like, he was just an excuse for coming in here today, which means there’s something else going on. Jack has outstayed his usefulness.
Suddenly, the feeling comes over me that I’m caught up in the middle of something, and that I’d be better off anywhere but here. My heart thunders. Just fluff. I’m just fluff. Clarissa was right all along, wasn’t she? And I didn’t listen. Who would know Roman better than his own father?
“Time’s up.” Roman grabs Jack by the shoulder, but he pulls away, scrambling back into the corridor.
“Get your hands off me. I’m going!”
Roman takes a step forward, growling, but I hear Jack’s faltering steps fleeing toward the front of the house.
“Good,” Apollo says, nodding with satisfaction. “Now that he’s gone, we need to talk about the Russians.”
Roman turns around slowly. “I have nothing to say about that. They were disrespecting Safi.”
“Son, I know this is new for you but you really need to learn to separate business and pleasure. Our associates can get a little…merry, I’ll admit, when they’ve had a few drinks. But throwing them out of the casino? You talk about respect, but you show none to me or my business partners. Now, I can smooth things over, but they are going to want compensation. Another night here, perhaps some…” He pauses, licking his lips, his teeth still red with blood. Then his eyes slide my way and a chill runs down my spine. “Perhaps some female entertainment?”
Roman steps between us, slamming his father back against the wall. “Eyes on me, Dad. I mean it.”
“Fine. But you see my point.”
“No. What I see is you trying to muscle in on a business you decided to step back from. Need I remind you why you chose to take a back seat? Perhaps I should give the FBI a quick call, they could look into these Russian friends, add them to their list of persons of interest.”
“You’re threatening to turn on your own father? You wouldn’t fucking dare! Do you know what we did with rats in my day?”
“Do your worst.”
Apollo huffs in frustration. “I should have beaten some sense into you years ago. Spare the rod, spoil the child, as they say. Perhaps if I hadn’t spared the rod you would have dipped your wick in something sooner and not got so smitten over a second-rate piece of ass like—”