Author's note: This story has been published here previously. I took it down to do a bit of editing. I hope I've caught whatever eluded me the first time.
*****
It was almost the perfect way to end a very productive day, Michael thought as he poured two fingers of scotch and took a seat in front of the fire. They had finally gotten the okay for the new casino in Greek Town, so all the back room deals with the city council would finally pay off. Fucking politicians were worse than gangsters. Also the newly renegotiated deal with the distribution company for their porn was a long term win. The old timers might not understand the legalities but they all understood money. All in all, business was beautiful. They were up over twenty-five percent from last year at this time. Eventually, the porn business was going to be even better than the whore business. There were bigger profits and less exposure. However, Michael smiled to himself as he looked over his handiwork, right now the whore business still had its perks.
At the moment, two of those perks were staring at him, waiting for the next command.
He'd always enjoyed his library, even if he rarely took the time to read. Michael liked the room itself, with the large casement windows overlooking the patio. He liked the stone fireplace as well. When he first saw the rolling library ladder, he could see the practicality although tonight, it was finally being used to its full potential.
To his left was Candy, although she looked like she was the type to spell it with a K or an I at the end. Candy was a bony blonde with wobbly, fake breasts and a spray tan. Since Michael found all of those traits to be disagreeable, he had secured Candy to the rolling ladder. Her hot pink, shiny latex dress was particularly hideous and he'd pulled it up over her tits, both to hide the bad boob job and to humiliate her. Candy was bare underneath and exposed with her ankles bound in leather cuffs to the sides of the ladder. Her blue, fake nails looked like talons, something reminiscent of a bird. Michael watched as she wiggled her claws, anxious to be freed. He had zip tied both hands to a rung overhead.
Candy had a high pitched screech of a voice, also bird like, so Candy had a ballgag in her mouth as well. In her case, some things were better left unsaid.
Between Candy's legs was Irina. She was another bottle blonde with the same skinny stripper build. She was probably a boring bimbo as well but thankfully her English was poor and Irina didn't have much to say. Irina's mouth was busy on Candy's slick cunt and the sound of her lapping up Candy's juices was the most attractive thing about either of them at the moment.
Roz had sent them with an apology. "I know, I know the stripper look is not your thing." Her voice came from an impossible depth. Her laugh was a gasping cough and Michael had to assume it was a result of her two packs of Camels a day habit that she'd had since he was a boy. Roz had continued, "Jazz quit. She's got some crazy fucking idea that the married boyfriend is gonna to leave his wife. And Penny has cramps."
Michael had to ask, "Don't you have any new girls, Roz? Someone with some meat on their bones? I thought curvy was in style now."
"Anything else, boychik?" Roz asked with another raspy cough. "Most of my clients like 'em skinny. That way they don't look like fat, suburban housewives."
Michael had a list, the running list he kept in his head of the girl, the one that he might just be waiting for. At least he would have been if he believed anymore. "Somebody sweet, maybe a little younger..."
Roz had interrupted with a raucous half cough, half laugh, "Let me guess. And a virgin too?"
Michael knew he was being picky and the trouble was he always had been. There were plenty of reasons that he resorted to the company that he paid for. He'd settle for someone that he could talk to, even if it was just to explain the rules. "Who's your best girl then?"
Roz sighed and sounded serious as she explained, "Honey, my best girl is too scared for what you have in mind. She can't be marked up. Then I don't make any money off her. Which means I come up short and I know that you don't love me that much."
That made him sound like a monster. "Really, scared?" What about all these girls who swooned over Fifty Shades of Gray? He thought handcuffs and safe words pretty standard stuff for the younger crowd.
The Madam reminded him, "It doesn't help that your face has been on the news lately, Michael."
The murder charges had been dropped though and a man in his position always had a RICO charge or two pending. It came with the job. "I can't do anything about that, Roz. Goddamn reporters are like fucking vultures."
Roz coughed again, "And why can't you get another nickname? It's not so easy to find girls that want to see "Icepick" Romano, honey."
Michael half wanted to defend himself. Given the situation, he really thought he did the city of Chicago a service getting rid of a piece of shit like that. Yes, technically it was an icepick but it was a tiny, silver cylinder used for chipping away at ice for a proper cocktail. He wasn't a fucking psychopath, it just happened to be on hand, thankfully, to sink into the carotid artery of the assassin that they'd sent. Michael had been pleasantly surprised that the arterial spray had missed him entirely and instead painted the wall with the man's life. It was light weight, easy to wield and easy to hide and since that evening's activities, Michael had kept one on him at all times. Hence the name, hence the consequences of the name.
"That's because I'm cold as ice," he had joked with the old woman. There was that too. His heart seemed to have frosted over. That also came with the job. So did loneliness, Michael had thought as the melancholy settled over him. "Well then, Candy and Irina it is."
So another evening of half-hearted frivolity had begun.
He swirled the remainder of the scotch in his heavy, crystal tumbler and took a drink. Watching Irina on her knees, lapping slowly like a hesitant, little puppy was stimulating. She was scared of him, that was obvious. She also wasn't a full blown lesbian but Michael was sure that it wasn't the first time that she'd buried her face in another woman's twat for money. He couldn't imagine that Candy tasted like her namesake although the bulge in the front of his pants seemed to enjoy watching Irina's skinny hips move in the short, black dress while on her knees.