Page 49 of Scarred King
“Have you ever heard of blue balls?” he chuckles and puts his empty glass down on the table. “They want the men to ask for a private room.”
I look around. “Where are these rooms?”
“You want me to show you?” his voice is low, and he puts his hand on my thigh.
“No. Come on, stop it.” I scold.
“Then stop asking all these questions that are making me horny.” He replies angrily. I am silent and a few seconds later a man in a black suit sits down on his other side.
“Giovanni,” Ralph nods at him.
“We haven’t seen you here for a while.” says the man in an Italian accent. “And I couldn’t find you anywhere.”
“What do you want?” Ralph asks impatiently. “You're disturbing me on my date.” He stresses the last word and looks at me contentedly.
“I apologize.” The Italian places his hand on his chest and smiles at me. I really don’t like him. “But I have a very interesting business opportunity for you, yeah?” he addresses Ralph again.
“You have one minute.” Ralph combs his fingers through his blonde hair and puts his hand back on my thigh, as if he’s worried that I’ll use this distraction to escape.
“Look,” the Italian continues in a flattering voice, “recently we can’t keep up with all our work. We have too many distribution areas, yeah?”
“And why should I care?” Ralph growls in annoyance, instinctively I put my hand on his to try and calm him down. Astonishingly, it works, and he leans back and takes a deep breath.
“Because we want to propose that you switch with us, Your area B for our C and D areas.” I have no idea what their codes mean but I listen attentively. “Look,” he brings up a map of the city on his cellphone. “We'll give you these big areas in exchange for your small distribution area, yeah?” Ralph sits up straight and I guess he is starting to get interested in this deal.
“I still don't understand your sudden generosity, you're so stinking greedy.” He keeps looking at the map.
“We have commitments to dealers, yeah? The distribution area is way too big for us and we can’t meet our commitments.” He gives me a phony smile and looks nervous.
“Can I see?” I hear myself asking and fall silent when they both look at me surprised. “Just let me look at the map for a minute,” I shrug in embarrassment.
“Since when do your bitches talk, huh?” The Italian’s tone has changed completely.
Ralph stretches his neck to each side and makes a threatening face. “Let her look at the fucking telephone before I cut your face and invite your sadistic brother to wipe your blood off the couch.”
The Italian looks as stunned as I feel at Ralph’s reaction and he immediately hands me the phone. I enlarge the map and photograph it in my head. “Let me see the areas you are talking about,” I say to Ralph and he points at three locations on the map, saying their letters. “Got it, thanks.” I give the phone back to the Italian and lean towards Ralph. “Ask him for a few minutes to think over his offer,” I whisper, and lean back.
“Okay, I heard you,” he says to the Italian casually. “Now give me a few minutes to think it over.”
“I need an answer now, yeah?” for some reason the Italian is insistent and the veins in my date’s neck look as if they are about to explode. He glares at the Italian who jumps out of his seat and walks over to the couches on the upper level.
“Never interfere when I'm having a business conversation,” Ralph says threateningly and squeezes my thigh.
“Fine,” I say indifferently and pull his hand away from my thigh. “Then I won’t tell you why you shouldn’t switch with him.”
“What the hell do you understand about my business?” he says mockingly.
“Nothing, I guess.” I pick up my wine glass and sip from it. “And I don’t know why I even care. I should just keep my mouth shut.”
“Okay. Tell me what you found out. I don’t want to spoil our nice date.” His mood changes suddenly and he is smiling again.
“Say please,” I raise my chin defiantly and he bursts out laughing.
“You are as crazy as me. Go on, tell me.”
“Say please,” I insist.
“Please beautiful, tell me what you saw in the three seconds you looked at the map.”