Chances by Jackie Collins Read Free Book Online Page B

“Let’s go,” he said quickly.
    They put ten stitches in his face at the hospital. They asked a lot of questions too, but Gino wasn’t saying anything.
    Zeko was brought in as they were leaving. The two of them exchanged baleful glares but no words. The law of the streets was keep your mouth shut. Neither of them intended to break it.
    Two days later Gino was working in the repair shop, lying under a propped-up Packard, when a stranger visited him. The stranger’s shoes came into view first. Two-tone patent. Very racy.
    “You Gino Santangelo?” A voice from above the shoes inquired.
    “Who’s asking?” He slid out from under the car.
    “Never mind that. Are you?”
    Gino’s heart pounded just a little bit faster. Standing above him was Eddie the Beast, right-hand lieutenant of the notorious Salvatore Charlie Lucania.
    He gulped, tried to conceal his nervousness, and stood up, wiping his oil-smeared hands on filthy trousers. “Yeh, I’m Gino Santangelo,” he managed.
    Eddie the Beast didn’t hesitate. He smashed a punch into Gino’s stomach, doubling him in two.
    “That’s for Zeko,” Eddie said calmly. “He wanted to send his regards on account of the fact that he’s lying in the hospital with a busted arm and cannot convey them personal.”
    Gino straightened up, every street instinct telling him not to fight back. So he stood there, stared at Eddie, and said, “That’s his bad luck, he asked for it.”
    Eddie laughed. “We heard you was one tough little punk. Looks like the word was right. Come on. Mr. Lucania wants to see you.”
    Pinky Banana’s eyes bugged out of his head.
    “I’ll be back soon,” Gino told him, keeping his voice light. “Fix it with the boss. Tell him I got sick or somethin’.”
    “Maybe ya just might,” Eddie inserted ominously.
    Somehow Gino wasn’t nervous. He didn’t feel that anything bad was going to happen to him. On the contrary, he felt on the verge of some great good fortune.
    Charlie Lucania greeted him in the back of a black Cadillac sedan parked nearby. He looked him over carefully, then spoke rapidly. “Heard lots about you, kid. Some good, some bad.”
    Gino remained silent.
    “You got a temper—that’s O.K. I got a temper. You just gotta know when to use it. You understand what I’m sayin’?”
    He nodded.
    “I like t’have good people around me. Bring ’em in young, train ’em, get some loyalty goin’ You understand me?”
    Again he nodded.
    “How old are you?”
    “Seventeen,” he lied. He still had a month to go.
    “That’s all right. That’s good. S’long as you got moxie ’n guts.” Lucania leaned forward. “I picked Zeko to do a job for me. You put him out of action. I’m gonna go easy on you. I’m givin’ you his job. Next Wednesday night. Eight o’clock. Eddie’ll give you the details.”
    Lucania leaned back. The conversation was over as far as he was concerned.
    Gino cleared his throat. “Er, look. I’m glad of the chance… but I don’t ever want to find myself in the can again.”
    Lucania threw him a lazy look. “You a good driver?”
    “The best.”
    “So you won’t get caught.”
    Eddie the Beast opened the car door. “Come on, punk,” he said, grinning. “Out.”
    It was then Gino realized he had no choice.

Carrie
    1927-1928
    The man stared at Carrie, and she stared back at him with huge frightened eyes. He was a big negro, well over six feet. But it wasn’t his height that frightened her, or his considerable bulk. It was the size of his penis.
    She had “entertained” him twice before, and each time he had nearly ripped her in half. She had complained to Leroy, crying and bleeding on both occasions. He had jeered at her for being a baby. She wasn’t a baby. She was a prisoner.
    “I don’ feel good,” she said to the man, blinking back tears.
    “Sure you do, honey,” the man replied, easing off his trousers. “All the ladies feel good when they see what
I
got for ’em.”
    Oh, sweet Jesus!