Thank you to my editors, LadyCibelle and Techsan, for their editing. They always make my stories a much better read.
I was so tired of traveling. All I ever did was go from one office to the other, each one having its own crisis. You would think that by now with all the time I spent showing those idiots how to do it right, they would catch on. But no, always another screw-up and the boss come in all upset. How many times have I asked him to get someone else to do this? Hire a young kid fresh and eager; someone that won't mind being gone all the time.
The funny thing is the boss is my dad. I shouldn't be saying this but we dealt with a lot of ex-mob activities. I was in charge of changing all our businesses to being legitimate operations.
Dad was getting old and I would be one of the head bosses in charge after his retirement. Other family member would also be taking over some of the other operations and sharing in the responsibilities. My two brothers, two sisters and a lot of cousins were all part of the operations.
It was the dawn of a new era and my dad knew it. We moved out of the drug business. I didn't want any part of it and it was being watched way too closely. I took over the construction area of the businesses. Our operations were now in more than sixteen states and getting bigger everyday. That's why I had to do all this traveling. We had fleets of trucks that traveled the whole United States. We were responsible for thousands of good jobs out there. Good legitimate work for good people who wanted part of the American dream.
It's funny when you think about it. We were a legit operation and had a goodly amount of politicians in our pockets. We just explained our needs to them and that we could run our operations from any state we chose. It would mean a large loss of jobs to any area we moved out of. The scare tactics always worked.
We seemed to get most of the government contracts in most of the highway and building projects. We had the power and the power brought in the money; the money got us the best legal people on our side. I guess you could call it the circle of power.
Of course I was born into the family. I went to private schools as did my brothers and sisters. Most of us took business management courses in college. Some of our relatives were top notch lawyers. Dad wanted us all to be well tutored in these areas. He must have had the going legit plans years and years before. He told me one day that he didn't trust most outsiders with big ideas. He was waiting for our family to become knowledgeable in the business and financial world.
Anyone in charge of the new businesses was related to our family or very close friends.
There have been many times the Feds and the IRS had shaken us down. They weren't able to ever find anything to topple us. Nowadays we had the common man on our side. As I have mentioned, we supplied jobs, good paying jobs. Construction laborers, truck drivers, building and trade jobs, and all the small jobs that trickled down from there. The restaurants and vending companies near our job sites and the stores, both the large chain stores and the mom and pop stores, did a good business because we were there.
We didn't shake businesses down anymore. No need to, the money was more than plentiful. I was a millionaire a few times over. When I walked the streets I was respected. I think that's all any man really wants, to be respected and earn a good living to support his family. Everything else automatically follows.
I was in my early forties and have dated more women than I care to count. I tried getting married three times but it was always about the money. I wanted to be loved for who I was, not for the financial reward. I gave up looking after the third divorce.
I was in Las Vegas checking out one of the new buildings going up. It was one of our companies building the structure. No one knew me except for a few of the bosses. My name might have been well known but not my face. That's the way I liked it. After conferring with them I decided to get a bite to eat and head for home the next day. My home was located in the outskirts of Youngstown, Ohio. I ran my part of the franchise from there. Hell, there wasn't anything in that town that I didn't have an interest in.
In the old days, say fifty years ago, it was kind of a mob capital. We were close to Lake Erie, bordered Pennsylvania and West Virginia and a hop, skip and jump to New York and New Jersey. My dad sure had the stories he used to tell us. Now, I believed most of them were true. A lot of them were passed down from my grandfather who passed away five years ago.
So here I sat, eating another dinner in another restaurant in some city I probably wouldn't see very often. After heading out to the company's branch office early every morning, I was usually too exhausted at night to do much more than sleep. Sometimes eat, like tonight; although, as I stared at my food, I wondered again why I bothered. I was divorced three times and would like to find a woman who wanted me just for me.
According to the server, there was a band playing downstairs in about an hour. Figuring a drink sounded much better than my food, I took off. It looked like a good crowd already. Checking with the bouncer, he directed me to a booth near the back. Dim lighting, a bit to the side, but great viewing.
Soon the opening act began. The music wasn't exactly my first choice, but it was still very good. Between that and the drink, I was finally relaxing. People wandered around, looking for friends, and getting fresh drinks. I just ignored it all, and sat back.
When the last break was about over, the waiter brought over a fresh drink. A few minutes later, the bouncer slid in across from me. "Sir, I have a small request," he said. "With all the seats taken, would you mind if I sent someone over to share your booth for the remainder of the show?"
Since I had decided already to go back to my room, I agreed. "Let the new guy have the booth," I thought. I nodded to the bouncer that it would be okay. After looking up I quickly had a change of thought.
She was stunning. Almost embarrassed, she quietly sat down. Trying to think of how to talk when the noise level was so high, I just smiled and nodded my head. Maybe when the bands changed over, it would be easier.
I had a hard time paying attention to the music after she arrived. The idea of leaving was no longer a good one. As long as she was here, I was staying. A couple of times, she glanced my way, blushing when I caught her.
As soon as the clapping stopped, people started talking loud. Leaning over the table, I told her my name was Rob, along with a brief bio. I explained that I was a businessman from Ohio and would be heading home the next day.
This seemed to work, since I got a full smile back. Her name was Dawn, and she worked in a real estate office out of Pennsylvania. She was there with a couple of girlfriends who went bar hopping and she just wanted to get off her feet and relax. This was her first time there, and she was glad when the bouncer helped her find a place to sit. Walking through a crowd was not something she was comfortable with.
She and her girlfriends lived outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and were there for a four day vacation. This was her first day and she wasn't sure where to go or what to do.
I mentioned the company I was here to troubleshoot for, and how I traveled all the time. She was excited to hear about the places I had been. I didn't tell her I owned the company or could afford to buy the lounge we were sitting in.
