Gagliano,Anthony - Straits of Fortune.wps by Unknown Read Free Book Online Page A

"I did when I worked at one." "Which one?" she asked. "I've been to all of them." I told her. "Let me guess: You were a bouncer. Don't take it person- ally, but you're the type they'd stand by the door." "Really?" I said. "I thought of it more as public relations. The darker side, of course." "You see?" Vivian said triumphantly. "I told you, an- other disguise," she said. "Tell me, who are you really, Jack Vaughn?" I decided to give her a serious answer. "I don't know," I said truthfully. "I really have no idea." "Jesus Christ," Cal said. "All this talking is killing me." He sprang out of his chair and stalked out of the office. I was glad to see him go. Something in my tone must have convinced her that I was telling the truth. We stared at one another for a moment. I sensed a certain hunger in both of us to keep up the conver- sation. She was the kind of person you could really talk to. "I know what you mean," she said, looking around the room. "Sometimes I think that perhaps I've traveled too much. After a while everything seems foreign." She looked at me earnestly as though to see what I would make of her statement. "I think I know what you mean," I said. "Yes, I think you do." Then Cal had come back. I know the three of us talked, but I don't know if I made any sense that day. She wanted someone she could trust to come out to the house and train her dad, a Colonel Patterson. It didn't matter, though. I would 40
    have buried dead mules in her backyard with a tablespoon if she had asked me to. We had known each other for a thou- sand years. It was just a question of getting reacquainted. No need to rush. When she had gone, Cal frowned at me for long moment. He twirled a pencil around in his gnarled fingers and shook his head. "What the hell was that all about?" he asked in that gruff voice of his. "What? You heard her," I said. "I'm going to train her father." "It's not what I heard, shithead; it's what I saw." "I don't know what you're talking about." "My ass you don't. You two really hit it off. I about ex- pected her panties to fly off when she stood up." "You're crazy," I told him. "I've been crazy, and I'm going to stay crazy, too, but there was something pretty jazzy going on between you two." He looked more worried than pleased when he said it. "You know what they say about business and pleasure." "You're telling me I should stay away from her? You don't have to tell me that, Cal. And you're forgetting one thing: I am a certified personal trainer. That has to mean something in this crazy world." "It means shit. Look, wise guy, I didn't say you had to stay away from her, not necessarily, but you've got to play it right. And sometimes that means not playing it at all. Can you grasp the subtle fucking mystery of what I'm telling you? Sometimes you just got to grin and bear it. You got to stand like Cary Grant with his hands in his pockets. You're smart. You know what I'm saying. Don't give me that certi- fied bullshit." "I know what you mean. I've got to stand like Cary Grant." "Is that right? Say that when she's sitting by the swimming 41
    pool, wise-ass; when it's hot and you're thinking, What the hell? When she's asking you to put the suntan lotion on her back. What are you going to say then, Charlie Chan? What? `Cal, I fucked up. Her father's on his way over here with a flamethrower. Save me, Cal.' " I laughed. "What the hell movie did you get that from?" "No movie, real life. I been in this business for fifty years. Right after the war. I was real cute then, muscles and every- thing. Not out of a bottle like Raul. He's on the juice again, by the way. You know how many women have tried to kill me? Go ahead, guess." "All right," I said. "Ten." "Actually, it was nine. Then I got old and retired from being stupid. You're still on active duty in that department. I'm thinking of making a comeback, though. I can still get a boner you can hang a mink coat on. Hah! I bet you never heard that one before!"
    I had an apartment