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Chapter 5
"Really, Lewis? Who is this guy?" Rose complained when he told her of the arrangements.
"He's a friend of mine. Harmless. You'll be safe with him."
"And I'll be out of your hair."
"Well, you said it." Lewis agreed.
The apartment had become full with lots of men in suits. Bodyguards that worked with Lewis and Mickey. For some reason, they had all found themselves in New York at the same time.
One walked over and pat Lewis on the shoulder. "They are inbound, Lewis."
"Turn on the chandelier," Lewis instructed.
Rose didn't seem to notice. "Lewis. I don't know about this. Mickey said-"
"Rose. I promise you. You'll be completely safe. It's only for a few minutes, and I'll send one of the guys to get you."
Two more men walked into a thunderous cheer. It had to do a lot to do with the fact they were carrying in two tall stacks of pizza. Within seconds, the men had picked it out of their hands and carried it into another room.
Lewis called over to them. "Sam."
Sam was wearing a pin-striped three-piece suit and his dark hair was cut very short. His buzzcut matched his neatly trimmed beard. Either that, or he just hadn't shaved in a week. A deep scar ran from the back of his ear and twisted around to the back of his neck. Rose couldn't help shudder a bit as her mind wandered to the possibilities of what could have happened to him to create such a mark.
He was a muscular man and wore his suit a bit big to be able to move around easier. Like Lewis, he had the appearance of someone who had been in the service.
Sam walked over, "Sir."
"Rose, this is Sam. He's going to be helping out tonight and will take you to Danny's. Thirty minutes. Alright."
She glared at him.
"Rose. I'm very sorry but there is just no way you can be here for this. It's important."
"Fine."
Lewis groaned at the call of his name from another room. "Sam. Pizza. Tell Danny thank you, and-"
The sound of broken glass crashed in another room.
"Was it Jack?" Lewis shouted.
Several men answered back that it was.
Lewis groaned, "Every time."
"What the hell is going on in there?" Rose asked.
"Just a meeting. Sam. Five minutes." Lewis turned and walked away. Just before he disappeared around the corner, he stopped and put his hands on his hips. "You lot picked a hell of a time to drop-in."
"Drop-in?" Rose asked.
Sam already had the door opened for her and held a pizza box in the other hand, "After you."
She stepped into the hallway and Sam walked the hallway beside her.
"I don't think I've met you."
He grinned at her. "I'm sorry. Sam."
"Sam? Not Samuel?"
He shook his head and walked with his hands in his suit's pockets. "Nope. Just Sam. Although, I'm friends with a man named Samuel. But, no one calls him that."
Rose smiled. She couldn't put her finger on it but liked this man. He had the same air about him, that Lewis did, that just seemed to put you completely at ease around him. Her mother would call it a good first impression, but Rose wondered briefly if there may be more to it. She thought it probably had something to do with his training as a bodyguard.
It was clear from the scar that he had been injured badly. Rather recently from the color.
"Don't tell me that you call him Sam." She teased.
"No, he hates that."
"So you call him Samuel?"
Sam grinned, "Nope. Lewis' rules. He's Sammy. Always Sammy. Nothing, but Sammy. Not even Doctor Sammy."
"He's a doctor?"
"Yep. He's the reason my head looks this good. And still attached to my neck."
They had reached the door. Sam knocked and sang, "Sammy Sammy Fo Fammy-Banana Fana fo fammy -Me-My-Mo-Mammie-"
The door opened just as Sam got to, "And it's Danny!"
"You're in a good mood, Sam." Danny laughed at the greeting. Then he saw Rose and forced himself to take a deep breath. "Well, he wasn't shitting me-"
Sam spoke. "Danny, I bring you this woman in the hopes that you would please babysit her."
"Excuse me?" She complained.
"Keep her out of trouble. And above all, keep her from wandering off. Lewis was insistent on that last bit. Wandering. She's a wanderer."
Rose rolled her eyes, "He gets it, Sam."
Danny chuckled, "Come in."
Danny walked back into the apartment and Rose followed. Sam closed the door behind them.
The apartment was very spacious for a place in New York. The view was stunning in the large sitting room/kitchen area. The sofa spread the edges of the lower part of the floor where it sat. Behind the sofa, was the small kitchen area. A television played a college football game that had been muted.
Danny wasn't what Rose had expected at all. Lewis and all of the other men she had seen over the past three weeks, always wore a suit in some form or another. Danny was dressed casually in a pair of nice trousers and a black t-shirt that only made his dark eyes almost give the appearance of what she would love to be able to achieve with mascara.
"Wandering, huh?" Danny rubbed his hands together and walked over to the fridge. "So, how forceful am I to be about this?"
"Oy!" Rose insisted.
Sam spoke as if he was presenting her. "It is to your decretion, sir. Lewis trusts you, and that's good enough for me. However, I will tell you that I can have over 30 men in this room within seconds."
"They not taking the elevator then." Danny opened the pizza box that Sam had just sat on the bar.
Danny smiled as he looked at the pizza, "Thank Lewis for me."
"Sure thing," Sam said as he reached into Danny's refrigerator. "I'll take him a beer for you."
"Take him two," Danny told him. "Tell him I'm celebrating."
Sam grabbed three bottles. "I'll do that." He rushed to the door. With his hands full, Rose opened it for him.
"30 minutes. Starts now. You'll be fine."
She mumbled. "I will be telling Mickey about this."
"Calibrate that entire discussion with the knowledge that it was his idea."
She closed the door in his face and sighed.
"Can I get you something to drink?"
Rose looked at Danny who was opening the wine and thought to herself. "Great. And he thinks it's a date."
"Relax. I've been reassured by Lewis that it is not a fix-up." Danny said and poured a glass of red wine.
"May I have a beer?" She asked.
Danny pointed at the refrigerator. "There are several different kinds. Pick whatever you want."
By the time Rose had walked over to the refrigerator and taken a bottle, Danny was leaning against the cabinet eating a piece of pizza. She sipped it as she walked to the other side of the bar. She sat on the end so Danny could see the television from across the room.
She looked down at the pizza, "What is this?"
"National Championship."
"What?"
"College football-"
"No. What sort of pizza is this?"
He didn't take his eyes off the game. "It's called dill pickle hamburger pizza. I wonder where the hell Lewis found it. I didn't know anyone else knew what it was."
She sat back and drank her beer.
"Although, Lewis eats Oreos with salsa," Danny mumbled.
It caused Rose to laugh. "And baby carrots with chocolate ice cream."
His attention left the game. He stared at her in disbelief. "Carrots and-"
"Ice cream." She laughed. "Yeah, he does. He's so strange."
Danny laughed. His deep voice seemed to begin on the first floor of the building.
She giggled, "I'm Rose."
"Danny."
"Danny, and not Daniel?" She sipped her beer and turned to look back at the television.
"Nah, Danny. It's even that way on my birth certificate."
"Danny." She repeated and sipped her beer.
He drank the wine and poured himself another glass.
Rose noticed. "What are you celebrating?"
He didn't take his eyes off of the television as he answered. "I got a call about an hour ago that I had not one, but two, full cash offers for two of the properties I'm selling."
"That's wonderful! So, is that what you do? You're in real estate?"
"No. I'm Danny."
"A bodyguard then?"
"No!" He laughed. "Danny Morgan."
She took a piece of the pizza and lay it on a napkin. "Like that bank?"
"Shit, I wish." He drank the rest of his wine and looked up at the television again.
She tasted the pizza and was surprised that she found that she enjoyed it. Before she knew it, she had finished the slice.
Danny hadn't removed his eyes from the game. "Damn, this kid had an arm."
"Had?"
"Yeah," He another opened beer.
"You just drank that wine!"
He bleched politely, "I'm sorry. Did you want it-"
"No!" She fussed. "Are you trying to get drunk?"
"Completely shit-faced." He smiled. "There's plenty if you want to join me."
She grinned, "Well, you're doing it wrong."
"Damn,-" He laughed out loud.
"What?"
"Control freak-"
"No, look." She explained, "If you drink beer first, it makes you drunker or something.-"
"You sound very convincing on this subject-"
"BUT-drinking wine makes you sick. Hang on, how does it go?"
He politely belched again, "Beg your pardon."
"Look. Wine before beer, you're in the clear. Beer before wine-"
"And everything will be fine." He finished. "Yes! I have heard of that before."
She laughed at him. "Did you really want those properties to sell that badly?"
"I would have paid someone to take them. Tried to actually."
"What were they?"
His attention was back on the game, "Baggage. That's what they were. Expensive baggage. Ah! A flag on the play! That's a bad call, too. Maybe he's onto something. I should start keeping count."
She shook her head, "How many times have you watched it?"
"I don't know."
"What? You just watch games you've already seen?"
"I'm no idea what you are talking about." He said along with the muted television. "And touchdown. Too bad your kicker practiced over the phone that week."
"You know it so well you do that?"
"What? You don't quote things you watch?"
"Yeah, movies-"
"Phhh. That's pretending. This is-" He grit his teeth, "That always hurts to watch."
"What?"
"That kid broke two bones in that leg. Twisted his ankle the next season. Still went 4th in the draft."
"Men are so strange."
He laughed under his breath at her. "What would you expect me then?"
"I have no idea." She took another piece of pizza and lay it on her napkin. "Maybe be someone who has a plate."
He turned to open a cabinet. He sat the plate in front of her, "Sorry. You are right. I'm being rude."
"No. Sorry. It's me-"
"Yeah, it is."
She gasped, "Well, that's rude!"
His laughter reverberated as he disappeared around the corner. "Beg your pardon."
How dare this man. Did he not realize who she was? Of course, he did! Everyone knew! He was probably ducking to the backroom to make a note about something she would see in a quote in the next few days.
She stood up and walked around the living room area of the apartment. The large floor-to-ceiling windows didn't bother in here because they sat back a bit in the building to allow a balcony. The extra three or four feet of length allowed her to be able to stand right up to the window without that sick feeling of how high she was in the building, returning.
The snow was coming down outside. The flakes were huge. The city looked peaceful in the storm. The balcony already had over a foot of snow that had blown over the side.
Danny walked back into the room, dropping his hands as he walked around the corner. "Alright, I owe you an apology."
She turned and looked at him. "What? Why?"
He looked at her in complete confusion. "Because, I was completely wrong about that."
"About what?"
"About what you were talking about."
"When?"
"Just now. Before I went to pee-"
"I don't need to hear about what you are doing-"
He held his hands out. "You're right. My mistake. Sorry."
She watched him as he walked over to the wine bottle and poured himself another glass.
"No. Now, stop." She demanded and walked over to him.
He politely offered her the wine. "See. Already I'm doing better. I was only coming over here to pour it for you, ma'am."
"Ma'am?"
"You prefer something else? Maybe bi-" Danny stopped before he had the rest of the word out of his mouth. He exhaled loudly and leaned forward on the cabinet. "Oh, I may be too drunk."
She walked over to him and wrapped her arm around his waist.
"I don't need any help.-"
"Yeah, I can see that."
She helped him over to the sofa and he collapsed in a sitting position. The television hung on the pillar that divided the room directly in front of him.
"I can see a lot better over here! Damn, that was a great idea."
Rose shook her head and returned from fetching the wine he had poured. She sat on a sofa that flanked the one he was on.
Danny had become oddly quiet. For as loud as he had been, she thought she may have temporarily gone deaf.
She looked over at him. He was staring at the television.
She realized how drunk he must be. She began to giggle and sipped her wine.
He looked over at her. "What?"
"So, is this the 'shit-face' you were going for? Well done."
"Thanks." He said with a huge smile. "Rose Tyler is a swearer."
She pulled her legs up under herself and sipped her wine. "Yeah, I am. I'm also a smacker. So, keep that in mind."
Danny grunted, "Umm. Maybe later."
She laughed under her breath. "Dream on."
He snapped his fingers. "Well, hell. Offer is on the table."
"You are way too drunk." She laughed. "Do you talk to everyone the way you are speaking to me?"
He thought for a long minute. She had time to take two sips of her wine. He continued to sit there, staring at the television as if he was going to say something.
"Danny!" She finally said.
He jumped after a moment.
Then she knew. "And you are high."
"High as eagle titties." He pointed out. "I'm celebrating. You just happen to be here for it. Get another drink. Help yourself. Because you know…."
He became distracted by the television. Then after a bit, he said, "Have you tried Oreos and salsa. It's actually not bad."
"Okay, you are toast." She smiled. "Danny….you need to go sleep it off-"
"Trying to get in the bedroom." He mumbled with his head resting on the back of the sofa. He took a deep breath.
"Are you going to be sick?"
He looked at her as if he was offended. "No. Are you?"
"Hell, if I drank that much, Captain Morgan, I –"
He pointed at her, "Captain Morgan. That's a good one. I had some of that earlier."
"What in the world are you celebrating?"
"I told you. I sold those damn houses-"
"And you're this excited because of that-"
"Well, yeah. Wouldn't you be?"
Just then, the unknown hum that comes with electricity wound down. The lights and television went black as the power went out.
Rose's sighed in the sudden black. But then she heard his deep voice.
"Hey, Rose."
"What, Danny-"
"The lights went out."
She laughed, "Shut up."
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