But as soon as they walked in, they saw Oz sitting on a sink fully clothed in a suit and tie. At first, they started to think he was just in the wrong place. Then they saw him for what he was. They could spot mob a mile away.
“Who are you?” the taller of the two men asked just as Oz’s man Darkus walked in behind them and locked the door. They turned when they heard the click, and then looked back at Oz.
“What’s this about?” the smaller man asked.
“It’s about you,” said Oz.
“Us? What about us? There’s been some mistake,” said the taller man. He could also perceive danger faster than most.
But Oz stood up and began walking toward the gentlemen. “A mistake? I don’t think so,” he said.
“Who are you, first of all?” the taller man asked.
“I’m a friend of Morpheus. Remember him? The head of one of the Greek families that the Ghost Mafia killed?”
As soon as Oz said the name of the shadow organization, both men knew danger was around them.
“You are a member of the Ghost Mafia, aren’t you?” Oz asked.
Both men decided they had only one option. Only one. And they tried to make a run for it.
But Oz grabbed the taller guy and bashed his head into one of the shower stalls, while Darkus grabbed the shorter guy and threw him against the wall. Then both Oz and Darkus began beating the men down. Oz had the taller man held up only by the catch of his collar as he beat him. When he fell, he started kicking him.
“This is for Morph,” he said. “You cold motherfuckers! And Madinis. This is for both of them!” And he continued to beat them down.
When it was obvious that he had beat the last breath out of the man, Oz tossed him into the shower stall. It took Darkus a little longer, but he took out his man too, and tossed him right alongside Oz’s man.
Then they exhaled, unlocked the door, and the cleanup crew, dressed as janitors with big trash cans on a dolly, came in to clean up their mess.
Although Oz hated that part of his other life, he knew he had to handle it. And he did.
He and Darkus walked away.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Gloria already had her bagel between her teeth and was tossing papers in her briefcase when Shirley opened the door.
“Your Uber’s here,” she said.
“I am so late!”
“What can I do to help?”
Gloria glanced at Shirley. She wasn’t normally the how can I help type. But she appreciated it. “Get my overnight bag, will you?” she said, and Shirley quickly grabbed Glo’s bag. Then both women hurried out of the office, down the hall, and out of the diner just as a limousine drove up behind a Subaru, which was the Uber driver’s car, and parked. Both women stopped in their tracks as Oz got out of the back of the limo dressed in a long black trench coat tied at the waist, a black hat, and with a cigar between his teeth. And he was smiling a smile that oozed that Oz charm.
“Need a ride to the airport?” Oz asked. He remembered she said she would be heading to the airport around that time. His goal was to fly her all the way to Philly, and make amends. He didn’t know why he was bothering, but it was important to him.
But his gesture was as plain as day. Shirley certainly was taken. “Wow,” she said.
But Gloria was pissed. He accused her just two days ago of something she didn’t do. Now he wanted her to just hop on in and forget about how angry he acted towards her? She didn’t even bat an eye. She opened the back door of the Uber, tossed in her briefcase, and then took her overnight bag from Shirley and tossed that in too.
“Gloria, wait,” Oz said when he realized his stunt had backfired. “Gloria?”
But she got in the Uber, and told the driver to go. He drove off.
Shirley, shocked that a man like Oz Drakos would dare chase after some woman, looked at Oz with a mystified look on her face. And Oz should have been embarrassed by such a public turndown when the private ones had done it for him already. But he wasn’t embarrassed. He became determined.
He got back into his limo. “Follow that Uber!” he ordered his driver. And although his driver said yes, sir, and did as he was told, he glanced at his boss through the rearview, wondering what in this world was wrong with him too.
Gloria was wrong with him. Oz knew there was no denying it as he sat in the backseat of his limo as it sped to the airport. Alex always told Oz that he was a man who had to have a challenge in his life. But he didn’t view Gloria as a challenge. But then why, he wondered, was he chasing after her as if she was the only woman on the planet?
She wasn’t.
But was she the only woman on the planet for him?
She was already out of her Uber and inside of the airport by the time Oz arrived. He jumped out, too, and made his way inside. When he saw Gloria, he hurried up behind her.
“Gloria?” he yelled to her. And he knew she heard him. But she didn’t turn around.
But as soon as he was about to say her name again, she abruptly stopped, turned around, and then hurried up to him. They were within an inch of each other. “Why are you doing this?” she asked him with a bewildered look on her face. Her big eyes were darting from his right eye to his left, as if in his eyes she could find the reason.
Oz was so taken aback by her sudden confrontation that he didn’t know what to say. “Why?” he asked her, buying for time.
“Yes!” Gloria was still searching his face as if she was searching for clues. “Yesterday you all but cussed me out for something that wasn’t on my heart at all. Now today you want to take me to the airport and won’t even take no for an answer? Why are you doing this, Oz?”
Oz tried to smile. But words still escaped him. “Because,” he said.
“Because why?”
He wanted to be honest. He wanted to tell her that his behavior wasn’t his normal behavior. He’d never pursued a woman in his life. A woman played hard-to-get with him, he left her alone. He didn’t chase after her. Not ever!
But he was chasing after Gloria. And he couldn’t say why. He couldn’t deny the fact that he was interested in her and wanted to get to know her. But why was he that interested? Why did he want to get to know her that badly? Those were the questions he couldn’t answer.
But he felt as if he would expose himself too completely if he told the truth. He wasn’t certain if she would be a good enough steward of his heart to go in that far that soon.
But she wouldn’t let up. “Because why, Oz?” Gloria asked him again.
“Because,” he said again, and then added, with a smile that took all he had to produce: “Because I want to sleep with you. Isn’t it obvious?”
Gloria stared at him. Her worse instincts about him had just been confirmed. He wasn’t interested in her! He was only interested in her body. Just like all those other men before him. Just like the story of her life. “Get lost, creep,” she said angrily, bitterly, and, Oz noticed, sadly, and left his side.
Oz couldn’t believe the words that had come out of his mouth. You stupid fuck! he inwardly yelled at himself. Because you want to sleep with her? You didn’t just tell her that. Tell me your stupid ass didn’t just tell her that!