Jay had received a call from Kim Ruzek the following morning, asking him to come over to the house. Being asked rather than ordered, although in reality it amounted to the same thing, had shown him that she might be in a less volatile mood than she had been the previous night at the casino. That was definitely a good thing.
It was just after noon when he arrived at the Ruzek house, which was possibly big enough to be called a mansion. He identified himself via the intercom outside the large metal gates, and they slowly slid open for him.
Kevin Atwater had the house's front door open when Jay parked up nearby and got out of his car. His Honda was a nice ride, but it still looked like it was disgracing the Ruzek residence by being parked outside it. Their fancy sports cars and SUVs were currently parked in a large detached garage with four doors.
"What's up, man?" Atwater said as the two men shook hands. They got along quite well, although they were almost never asked to work together. Atwater's job was to stay near Kim whenever possible, even to the extent of working as a secretary at her office at the casino.
"How are you?" Jay asked him.
"Doing good."
"What's the temperature like?" Jay asked. It was an informal code they used, referring to the mood Kim was in. The meanings of cool or hot were self explanatory.
"Fairly cool today. She's in the Oval Office." That was another humorous insider reference. Kim's home office had a desk with windows behind it that looked out onto the mansion's garden. Across the room from the desk there were two couches with a coffee table in between. The layout resembled the world famous office used by the President of the United States. True, Kim's office was rectangular not oval, but that hadn't stopped the unofficial name becoming established.
Jay nodded and proceeded through the house. Before he got to 'the Oval', he bumped into Adam Ruzek coming out of the kitchen with a cup of coffee in hand.
"Morning, Jay," the boss said cheerfully.
"Good morning, sir. I'm good. How are you?" Jay always addressed Ruzek as sir, not to kiss his ass, but to show the immense respect he had for the man. Adam had always treated him well, paid him very well, and had promised him that no matter what, Clementine would be taken care of for the rest of her life. That pledge meant the world to Jay.
"Pretty good. Not much time to chat, I've got calls to make. Kim's in her office. Have a good one."
"You too, sir."
They parted ways, and Jay completed the journey to the Oval, where he found the door open and Kim sitting at her desk.
"Jay. Come in, close the door, have a seat."
"Boss. How are you today?" he asked as he carried out the day's first instructions.
"I'm okay." She waited for him to sit down before continuing. "I should apologise for how I spoke to you last night. You caught me at a bad time, after that asshole mouthed off at me. Saying 'if she dies, so do you' wasn't right. You've always done your best for me, and you're appreciated."
Jay noted that she hadn't actually apologised. Too proud for that. But he nodded his acceptance of the apology that he hadn't actually received. "Thanks. I have done my best, and I will continue to. But don't mention last night, it's no problem. The important thing is you want me on protection duty for Erin. That's why I'm here, right?"
"That's right, you're protecting Erin starting today. I informed her last night. You're going to go to her house today and begin the assignment. Shouldn't be hard when she lives next door to you. I don't know if my previous cook died in a carjacking, or got taken out by someone making a play on me. So, until further notice when Erin goes out, you go with her. The lab, her dentist office, grocery shopping, whatever."
Jay's eyebrows raised. "She really is a dentist then?"
"Yeah. And you're now working the reception desk at her office."
"Uh, okay," he said in surprise. "What about my job at the docks?"
"You've just quit. As I said, where Erin goes, you go. I can see the concern on your face. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about your daughter. You made it clear to me from the start that you can't work evenings or overnight every other week because you have Clem, and I agreed to that. You should know by now that I live up to my word. Erin will be adjusting her schedule to suit your schedule with Clem. And hopefully this protection arrangement won't be needed for long in any case. It should only be needed until I'm convinced the carjacking really was a carjacking. Or until I've found out who was responsible and dealt with them."
"Please don't take this as me not wanting to do what you're asking because that's not what I'm saying at all. But you're having me quit my job at the docks to make this arrangement work, then you might pull me from it in a few weeks, and I won't be needed at the dentist office anymore. I might end up in the wind."
Kim raised an eyebrow slightly. "You know me better than that, Jay. You won't end up in the wind." With that, she reached into her desk and took out a stack of money with a band around it and dropped it on the desk. "There's ten grand there. I trust that compensates you for the current inconvenience?"
"Thank you," Jay said, taking the money and stuffing it into his jacket pocket. He knew better than to try and turn it down. Besides, whatever money he could get to put towards Clementine's future, he would take.
"Any questions?"
"I do have some. You've said you've got me the job at the dentist office on the reception desk. Admin work is something I know nothing about. Come to that, I don't know anything about dentistry either."
"Don't worry about it. The other receptionist there is a friend of ours. She'll teach you what you need to learn. Anything else?"
Jay wondered, not for the first time, how many pies the Ruzeks had their fingers in. They even had a receptionist at a dentist office on the payroll. A lot of pies seemed to be the obvious answer.
"I do have other questions," he said. "How often is Erin going to be cooking for you? And how long does it take to produce a batch of meth? Again, I need to be available for Clem on my weeks."
"It won't be a problem," Kim assured him with patience that she wasn't necessarily known for. "There will be one cook a week, on Mondays. Greed and a lack of caution are the two easiest ways to get busted for doing what we do. That's why there's only one cook a week. I'm told the formula takes about six hours to cook. An hour or two to clean the lab afterwards gives you an eight hour work day. You'll be able to collect Clementine from her after school day care at the usual time. Good enough?"
"Alright, sounds good," Jay said brightly. "Thanks a lot, boss. I'll go round to see Erin now, as you suggested."
"Do that. Any problems, call me." Kim motioned towards the door, dismissing him. Her tone suggested there had better not be problems. He was being paid to make sure of that.
"Will do. Thanks again."
Jay got up and quickly left. He said goodbye to Atwater, left the house and drove back home. When he parked on his driveway, he saw a Ford outside Erin's place. She drove a nondescript car, not dumb enough to draw attention to herself. He decided to go and knock on her door right away instead of going into his own house first.
Seeing Erin again was something to look forward to, he thought on his way around to her driveway. She was very beautiful, with a stunning smile and a delicious ass. Her voice was sexy, and somehow the fact that she worked on the wrong side of the law made her even sexier still. He noticed his heartbeat quickening when he knocked loudly on the door. Then he saw the doorbell and pressed that too.
It wasn't long before the door was opened. Erin stood there wearing a light blue fleece jacket and jeans. It was a much less flattering look than the revealing white top and the leather pants from the day before.
"Oh, hi. I had a feeling you might come round. Kim told you about playing bodyguard for me, I assume?"
"She sure did. Told me to come and properly meet you. Guess she figured we ought to start getting to know each other."
Erin flashed one of her truly gorgeous smiles at him. "Right. You'd better come in."
Holy shit, she's hot, Jay thought. Erin stood aside, holding the door open for him. He stepped inside, and the door closed behind him.
A/N: Thank you everyone for the amazing support you showed on chapter one. It was very encouraging to see such interest in this new story.
What do you think Jay might be about to learn about Erin's background?