One, the way she treated my staff. Never have I had a girl on a date and had her treat my staff so kindly, going as far as to attempt to tip one of them herself. Women on dates with me haven’t put their hands in their pocket since… maybe since I was about sixteen. Even then, I was chivalrous with them. Holding doors, paying for things. But an attempt at doing something for themselves or me would not have gone unnoticed.
Of course this wasn’t a date I’d had with Violet, but despite that, it still speaks volumes about her personality.
The gambling thing, too. She’s careful and that’s smart. She doesn’t like to take uncalculated risks and she tries to calculate risk, even if something seems like it’s for free.
It’s not that everyone who gambles is careless, it’s just that her reaction to it all shows me more about who she is. Her reactions to me, too.
She’s unsure about me. She’s assessing things. Holding back her questions and studying me and my environment, the people I’m associated with. This is smart.
It’s also baffling – how Raymond Iadanza talked her into a relationship, I have no idea. She’s not a fucking airhead. Her spending three years with him makes me wanna think she’s a loser but I’m already sure she’s not. I just can’t figure it all out. Though, I intend to.
Was he that good of an actor? How did he sweet talk her that well? Is she just one of those people who believes in the good more than she listens to her own instincts? Did she not see any warning signs?
And the report and recording I got from Wes today, too - Violet didn’t seem cool with gossiping about me with those girls. I listened to the recording and she said very little and when it veered into dangerous territory, she made her exit. Not only that, but she also didn’t reveal anything about me, and didn’t push for more information either.
It was interesting listening to Deb talk about fucking things up with Dario. If I wasn’t absolutely sure he was done with her, I would let him know that maybe she was ripe for a second chance.
I know better. I also know through the grapevine from my brother who works for the Ferrano family doing security that Dare is moving on and he’s happy. I’m not about to fuck that up by dragging old Deb memories up for him. She put him through some real bullshit.
I’ve known my whole life I wouldn’t settle for a bullshit relationship. I watched my ma get kicked around and watched her go back to the same set of boots time and again. Sometimes a different set of boots but with the same results. She repeatedly got kicked. She’d send the good guys packing and always went back to her type. A boozing, loud, blue-collar type who treated her kids as if they were invisible and treated her like a discount whore.
Me and my brother suffered for it. A fucking lot.
Mostly me, at least physically. I shielded Will as best as I could and wound up the parental figure in his life even before she was killed. I was barely seventeen and – in my eyes old enough to look after us when she had her head caved in by a pair of steel-toed boots.
I didn’t let my kid brother see her on the floor in the puddle of her own blood and gray matter. Though that image won’t ever leave my own wretched brain.
I took care of us, immediately moved us outta that building, outta those four dingy walls and ramped up my efforts to be successful. I had help, too, didn’t have to do it all alone since Dario’s father fixed it so no one breathed down my or my brother’s neck about foster care or any of that shit. I was perfectly capable of looking after us. And I did.
My brother is working for that family to save up so he can go back to school, living in the little house I bought when I turned twenty-one and insisting on paying rent. He won’t let me pay for it - insists he’s paying his own way, just like I did. He makes me proud.
Good head on his shoulders. Wants a career change that has nothing to do with the degree he got out of high school. He just broke up with his longtime girlfriend and was broken-hearted for a bit, but he’s better off without her. She flirted with me relentlessly whenever his back was turned, and so I set a little trap to see how serious she was and told Will to watch. He was pissed at me, but he listened and watched. She was serious about getting her hooks into me. And as a result, my brother saw her true colors.
Another thing I noticed about Violet tonight was that she didn’t flirt. And that was further proof she’s a good girl.
Guy Tremblay has worked for me for over a year, starting out in the kitchen quickly proving himself. He’s my head wagering concierge and he is a ladies’ man; loves to flirt. Since the beginning when I first put him on the floor, Guy does this thing where he flirts with a girl I have on my arm when I’m not watching and then reports to me later to tell me how she responded. Calls himself the royal taster. He says he can taste a girl’s intentions five minutes into knowing her.
The first time it happened I was not happy, watching what felt like him trying to move in on my date. I figured he was an idiot and I was ready to not only fire him but kick his teeth in for it, but he quickly spoke, seeing me coming for him in the alley outside the club that first night. He spoke fast, lucky for him. Guy told me he could see I was pissed but said he did it because he has my back – that a man like me who had looks and money has to be careful with women. Dudes with money and no looks, they know why they attract beautiful women. Men like me with looks, cash, and charisma can’t be too careful – it’s hard to know where women stand. He tells me that he’ll help me figure out who’s genuine. He joked that he’s way better looking than I am, so he’s doing me that favor since women can’t resist him, but if they do, I’ll know I’ve got a good girl on my arm. I laughed it off, not trusting him but impressed with his fast-talking so I decided not to beat the shit out of him, instead decided to watch and see.
I rolled my eyes a couple times when he told me that he got results with girls I had with me. Though I laughed it off, he’s been right a couple times in warning about gold diggers I’ve dated. Not long after we met, I started watching surveillance with him and the women I brought around. He definitely knows his way around wooing a lady and it was eye-opening to watch.
Whenever I bring a girl in, he turns the charm on and lets me know what vibes he gets. He slipped by me and shook his head tonight with a thumbs up. She didn’t flirt back. It didn’t dawn until a minute after he gave me the thumb that he figured she was with me.
Everyone at the club likely figured she was – I bring girls around regularly, though it’s been a few months since I’ve brought anyone around, and Alana, particularly, who has appointed herself my unofficial big sister, seemed to be looking Violet over with scrutiny.
With the Amber bullshit we had to deal with tonight, she said nothing to me about it. I’m expecting it to come up in conversation tomorrow at the Numbers opening. She quizzes me about any women she sees me with and doesn’t hesitate to give me her opinion on them. It’s rarely positive.
I liked how Violet treated Heidi. I put her on Violet’s table intentionally to see how it’d go, knowing Heidi would fuck up and interested to see what Violet would do. The way people treat wait staff is very telling on their personality, in my experience.
Heidi kept screwing up orders as a server at another of my clubs, so we brought her in for some retraining as a last-ditch effort. She bumbles whenever I’m around with her little crush. As shitty of a server as she is, I’m sure my presence tonight made her worse. I’ll call Alana tomorrow and suggest she offer Heidi an office job. If that doesn’t work out, she’s done.