Page 17 of The Tempted

Back home I wasn’t really a club-goer. There weren’t any clubs in our town anyhow, which meant if you wanted to go to one you would have a drive out of town to go to one. I was more a neighborhood bar type guy. Give me a beer and a pool table and I was happy.

“Not really,” I said, shrugging my shoulders as I did so.

“It’s probably a good idea if you go to a few other clubs in the city. You know get a feel for what the competitors have that draws in a crowd. I’ll tell Anthony to go with you. That guy needs a night or two out anyway,” he waited for a beat. “Or maybe Nikki, she’s always out hopping from club to club with that boyfriend of hers,” his lip twitched as he finished his sentence.

My lip curled in disgust at the mention of Nikki’s boyfriend, causing Victor to raise an eyebrow at me.

“I take it you’re not a fan?” he said, holding back a knowing smile.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m surprised you haven’t given that guy his walking papers,” I thought about it for a moment. “Or that she hasn’t either.”

“I try not to get involved in affairs of the heart anymore,” Victor said, turning around to stare at the glass wall. “I sabotaged my relationship with one daughter already not looking to do that again.”

So that’s why Victor was letting Rico get away with acting like a prick. It made sense, I suppose. He didn’t want to destroy his relationship with Nikki over a guy, especially since apparently, that had been the case with Adrianna. I wondered if it was her relationship with her son’s father or if it had been another guy. However, I was still baffled as to what Nikki saw in him. A girl like her could get any guy she wanted why she would settle for an arrogant jerk off like Rico was beyond me.

“There’s something else I want to make clear Michael,” Victor said, turning back around to face me. His facial expression had grown serious in a no nonsense type of way. Finally, the Victor I remembered emerged. I peered at him, wondering what had him so passionate with determination.

“People pass judgment on the man that I am they think I’m a monster and in some ways, I probably am. I don’t play by the rules and I walk a crooked line. However, there are things that I am adamant about not having in my businesses. There are things I won’t get involved with, you might think I’m a hypocrite, that’s fine, but I am telling you right now I will not have drugs in any of my establishments. I won’t stand for anyone pushing drugs in this club. I expect you to control that situation. I’m relying on you,” he said his eyes glued to mine.

“Wait a minute, you expect me to control who does drugs in this place? It’s a club…,” I started only to be cut off by him.

“That’s not what I’m saying. I won’t have anyone distributing in here the last thing I need is the DEA sniffing around me. It’s not going to be easy either. Kids these days will take anything they can get their hands on. They crush up pills and snort them in the bathroom. We don’t want anyone overdosing in our club either. People are going to do drugs the same way people are going to get piss drunk. The difference is we will supply the liquor, not the drugs. You follow me?”

I nodded. I was going to need to be sharp and on point every night my eyes were going to have to be all over the place. This wasn’t going to be a walk in the park for me. I needed to get my shit together because opening night would be here quicker than I thought and Victor had high expectations of me.

“Good. I think we’ve covered everything. You’ll be on your own tomorrow. If you have any questions, you can call Anthony or Sal. Jimmy and I will be out of town for a few days.”

“Okay,” I rose to my full height unsure how to proceed. Should I shake his hand? Victor made the decision walking around the desk to drape one of his arms around my shoulders as he escorted me to the door.

“Oh, I almost forgot! I want to surprise Nikki her birthday falls on the same day as the grand opening I put in a call to Rosalie’s Bakery they are making one of those fancy custom cakes for her. She doesn’t know anything about it. I want her night to be top of the line so if there is anything else you can think of just do it. Maybe live entertainment or something. I don’t know. I just want her to be surprised and happy.”

I may not have thought much of Victor but in that moment, he gained my respect as a father. I liked the idea of him being behind a special night for Nikki. I stepped out of the office turning around to be face to face with him. “I’ll figure something out,” I would. I wanted to be a part of her birthday to be a part of her special night. One way or another I’d figure out a way for that night to be something she never forgot.

“I don’t think Rico has anything planned, but you might want to run things by him,” Victor said, speaking the words as if it pained him to say them.

“I’ll handle him,” I said with a nod. I actually wouldn’t mind having a conversation with the little prick. “I’ve got this,” I said with determination. Victor smiled at me before I turned and walked out. I glanced around Temptations feeling an unfamiliar sense of purpose. I was being given an opportunity to make something out of this place. While I worked on making Temptations a brand and not just a watering hole, I could work on making myself a name. Maybe I wasn’t destined to just breeze through life without a purpose anymore. Victor was putting his faith in me and it dawned on me that maybe it was time I put a little faith in myself.

---