Page 16 of Be My Valentine

Mark was beside himself. He found them all on the street, just outside the club. Patrick Hanks attacked him with a fierce light in his eyes, shrugging off one of the women who had spent the evening at the table with them; she was dabbing with a scarf at his nose that wouldn’t stop bleeding.

“Who the fuck do you think you are, huh?”

“Don’t go there, Patrick, don’t tempt me! I might finish what I started.”

One of the Gleeson brothers, the less hungover one, promptly interposed himself.

“There’s no point in continuing. We may be back in Philadelphia tomorrow.”

“That’s the first sensible thing that came out of your mouth!” shouted Mark “What were you trying to do?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” laughed Patrick Hanks mockingly and Mark realized why he was known as “the blonde pig” “What do you think? We just wanted to get an easy lay. You saw her, didn’t you? And your super-efficient secretary told us it was doable.”

Mark turned to Annie Carson and repeated slowly.

“The thing was doable. Was it you who encouraged them?”

Annie huffed in annoyance.

“You don’t get it, you seem almost enamoured with her… but look at her, Mark! With her fake goody-two-shoes air, quiet as a mouse. They usually hold big surprises in bed.”

“I’m getting a hard-on just thinking about it.” Babbled the drunk guy with a dumb grin.

“Shut your brother up!” Thundered Mark feeling the rage eating at him.

The man obeyed, giving a shrug.

Mark turned to Annie again.

“You brought them here on purpose…” he reflected aloud “you wanted them to drag her into some corner to…” he couldn’t even say it.

“To get her, yes Mark, you guessed it!” she finished the sentence for him without hesitation “Maybe you could get in line, I thought of you too, you know? Haven’t you figured it out yet? She wears decidedly untrendy clothes, works two jobs and wears out the subway… that one needs money! But she’s smart and she’s set her sights on you. You haven’t taken your eyes off her! You could do so much better, and you know it!” It was clear to Mark that she was referring to herself “I would have made everyone happy in the end. She’d end up with a nice little nest egg and you’d be off the hook.”

“She’s not a whore.” Mark hissed.

Annie shrugged casually.

“I can’t say for sure, it’s true. But there are no other jobs on her resume. What has she done so far? Did you ask yourself that?”

“No,” he replied, “and you shouldn’t either. It doesn’t concern you.”

“I’m doing you a favor and you’re too blind to see it.”

“That doesn’t concern you either.” Mark planted his eyes on her and finally saw her falter.

“All right, if that’s what you want.”

Patrick Hanks was the first to notice that the cars they had called were coming. Although he was on a high, he wasn’t drunk and had listened carefully to the exchange of lines. He waited for everyone to get in and approached Mark.

“Shit, man, I didn’t realize. I could apologize if you hadn’t almost broken my nose, so the only favor will be not turning you in.”

“Do what you gotta do, I don’t care.” Mark cut him short.

“I’m going to give you some unsolicited advice, I’m a top-class whoremaster, take expert advice.” Mark glowered at him “If anyone wants you on a leash, it’s Miss Big Tits.” he sneered “And the girl… she doesn’t give it for money, but I tried anyway, she’s pretty interesting. All you had to do was say so though.”

“Do you really need me to tell you not to bother the people who work for me?”

“Oh, no! That never stopped me, you should know that. All you had to do was tell me Kate was on your hunting ground.”