Chapter 1

Joe Roman stepped out of the shower and stared at his reflection in the mirror. He couldn’t help but admire what he saw. He was six feet two, broad shouldered, with rugged muscles that were part genetic and part weight lifting. He wasn’t a gym rat, but he worked out a few times a week to keep in shape. That combined with a few dangerous looking tattoos on his upper arms and back left him with an intimidating presence. That was the whole idea. He loved the ink and he loved to stay physical and lift weights, but a big part of it was that he loved to be feared. It was important in his line of work.

Since he was eighteen years old he had been an enforcer for the Carliss Crime family. It was something he had fallen into when a friend of his asked him if he wanted a job. It was a simple carrier job at first, but there were a few times when he had to get physical and hurt some people to finish the job. He didn’t hesitate for a second and with his large build and strength it was easy for him to do. The family decided that they liked the way he handled himself and by the time he was twenty he was their number one enforcer.

It was not exactly the job he thought he would have when he was a kid, but it was something he was good at and enjoyed. He was also paid very well for it. He had made almost a half a million dollars last year. Not bad for a twenty-two year old high school dropout.

He finished drying off, watching the water trickle off his tanned muscles. He was not really that vain, but occasionally even he had to admire his physique. He sure as hell wouldn’t want to fight himself. He was a bit of a beast.

But a sexy beast. Since as long as he could remember women had always been drawn to him. He had that combination of physical presence, a tough, rugged demeanor, and he really did not give a shit. That was the key, he had always thought. If a woman was not interested in him then he had no reason to waste any time on her.

Luckily for him Carla was not one of those.

She was still in bed, half asleep. He had picked her up at the Mosh Pit, his favorite bar that he frequented after a long day of work a few times a week. She was new, but the other girls had not doubt told her about his reputation because the second he sat down to have a few drinks she was all over him.

An hour later he was giving her the sex of her life. He thought she might put him deaf with her screams of pleasure. He had to laugh about it. When it came to women he was a hit it and quit it kind of guy. It was just the code he lived by. All of his life he had been a lone wolf and he preferred it that way.

He never really knew his family; Joe had grown up in the foster system where he had to learn to be tough. The world would hit you and beat you down if you didn’t strike it back twice as hard and do it fast. That was something he’d had to learn very quickly. He had been left on the door of the orphanage when he was two years old, had no idea to this day why his family had given him up, and he had decided long ago that he didn’t give a shit. If they didn’t want him than he didn’t need them.

Joe supposed he still carried around that same attitude. He had grown up in a different world and he often felt at odds with the normal world around him. So forming connections with people or God forbid, falling in love, was pretty much laughable to him.

But he loved women. Since he’d lost his virginity to another girl at the orphanage when he was eleven—she was fourteen—he had discovered his passion in life. He loved to be with women and there had been several times when he found himself starting to feel more than he wanted to for a woman. He knew that he was capable of feeling love, but that with his lifestyle it just did not mesh. Falling in love in his line of work and getting too in touch with you inner feelings would get you killed in a heartbeat. He had to stay cold.

“Hey, get up,” Joe said as he finished getting dressed in his usual attire of a tight black T-shirt, ripped jeans, leather vest, and biker boots.

Carla stirred sleepily.

“Hey, I have to go. So get dressed,” Joe said again giving her a light smack on the ass. “Hurry up.”

“Ok, I’m going,” Carla said as she rolled out of bed and grabbed her jeans off the floor.

Joe took one final approving look at her sexy body as she got dressed. She was amazing in the sack and he thought he might be tempted to give her another ride sometime soon.

He kissed her quickly and squeezed her tight ass after leading her down the hall to the front door. He watched as she hopped in her bike and drove out of sight.

A second later Joe closed the door and locked it. His beautiful Harley Davidson was waiting for him in his driveway. He loved that bike; it was so sexy and cool. He’d fallen in love with it the moment he laid eyes on it. It was his baby.

He smiled to a few of the housewives who were kissing their husbands goodbye as they left to go to some boring office job. He had entertained the idea of sleeping with a few of the hotter looking ones, and they had come on to him plenty, but it was essential that he keep a low profile, which was why he had a middle class house in a middle class suburb.

He did not often bring women to his own house, but last night he was a bit drunk and he just figured why not. It was not something he was inclined to repeat often. He preferred it if most people did not know where he lived.

As he rode away he took a look at some of the houses in his neighborhood and thought about some of the families that lived there. At times he envied some of these boring guys, even if they did spend all their days as accountants, attorneys, and small business owners. They had families who loved them. Sometimes Joe liked to entertain the idea. Maybe if he ever got out of this line of work he might settle down with something like that, but this was not really the kind of job you retired from unless you were dead. The Mafia did not let people go; you were a liability the moment you started working for them. If they asked you to work for them and you said no then they would kill you anyway just because you already knew too much.

The traffic was pretty typical for a Wednesday morning as Joe rode to the other side of town. He knew the city better than just about anybody around, and he knew exactly when and where traffic would be bad and how to miss it. Nobody knew the city the way he did. It was another requirement of the trade.

His mind kept drifting back to Carla as he pulled onto 29th Street. She was sexy, sweet, and had a great mind. She was only bartending while she paid her way through nursing school. He knew she would be a great nurse; she definitely had the brains for it. And her body would be rockin’ in that uniform that was for sure.

He pulled up to the small, suburban house and shut off the engine. Joe took several deep breaths to get into character. His first order of business for the day was to collect a payment from Luis Perez. Luis Perez owed the family a lot of money from some gambling debts that he was in no position to pay. He had a big payment to make today or Joe was going to have to beat his ass and take whatever he had with him. This was his final warning. Luis should have considered himself lucky that he had already received one warning last week.

Joe rang the doorbell, glancing around to make sure no one was watching him. He was wearing his hat and sunglasses, which helped to camouflage his identity and they made him look even more intimidating. The hat was a jet black, straw cowboy hat with a threatening looking skull on the front of it that really completed his outlaw look. Combining that with the leather jacket that he always kept in his bike and he was ready to go.

Luis knew better than to ignore him. After about thirty seconds he sheepishly opened the door.

Luis was in his early twenties. He was a college dropout who sold drugs to his fellow classmates at the college, but he had ended up developing a bit of a drug habit himself and using way more than he sold. Now he was in hot water with the boss. It was not a good position to be in.

Joe walked into the house and closed the door behind him, locking the door.

“I hope you got some good news for me, Luis,” Joe said.

Luis cast his gaze downward, which pretty much told Joe all that he really needed to know.

“Where is it?” Joe asked.

“Ok, I’m a little short,” Luis said pulling a wad of cash out of his pocket and handing it to Joe. “But I’m good for the rest. Business is picking up; I’ll have it all in a few weeks. I just need some more time—“

Joe held up his hand. Luis shut up instantly.

Joe counted the wad of cash in his hand. He looked up at Luis skeptically. “Two hundred? That’s all you have?”

“Yea, I’m good for the rest. Please just give me some more time,” Luis said.

“I don’t want to hear it. You were supposed to have five hundred dollars today. You’ve had several weeks already.”

“I know. I’m so sorry.”

Joe sighed.

“Well, sorry is not going to cut it Luis,” Joe said. “Where is the rest of it? You had better not be holding out on me.”

“I’m not—“Luis started.

“Luis? What’s going on?”

Joe turned towards the sound of the voice. He saw a beautiful woman walking out of the bedroom. He was taken aback and in shock for a few seconds. She was perhaps one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen. She was a bit over average height with long blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, a sweet face with a curvy body to match. Her large breasts revealed beautiful cleavage through the tank top she was wearing. She reminded Joe of a Baywatch era Pam Anderson.

“Just wait in the bedroom, Alicia. It’s ok,” Luis said agitated.

“What did you do now?” Alicia asked.

“I said to wait in the bedroom!” Luis said yelling now.

Joe could see that Luis was definitely high. The poor bastard had used up most of the drugs that the family had given him to sell at a higher price hoping that he could recoup the money he owed them. He was obviously still using and not selling.

“How much of the stuff have you sold Luis?” Joe asked.

“Business has been kind of slow.”

“Well, it’s obvious that you are your best and only customer.”

“No, I didn’t. I swear,” Luis said.

“I’m going to hurt you, Luis. You know that’s what happens now, right?”

Joe stepped towards him in a menacing manner.

“Just give him the rest of the money,” Alicia said.

Joe stopped. “Oh, so you are holding out on me with the cash. Is that it? Why, so you can buy more drugs and not pay Mr. Carliss?”

“It’s right here,” Alicia said as she reached into Luis’ other pocket.

“You stupid bitch!” Luis screamed as he slapped Alicia across the face.

Alicia stumbled to the floor.

Joe saw red.

He charged Luis, knocking him across the room where he slammed into the wall. In an instant he was delivering blows to his stomach. As Luis slumped to the floor, Joe caught him and jerked him back to his feet. He slammed the back of Luis’ head into the wall and then held his face right in front of his, squeezing Luis’ neck.

“You don’t ever lay your hands on a woman! You piece of shit! Do you understand me?” Joe screamed.

Luis could not have spoken if he’d wanted to; Joe’s grip was too tight.

Joe dropped him to the floor where he delivered two hard kicks to Luis’ ribs. He emptied the contents of his pockets and retrieved almost two hundred dollars more in cash and a baggie of cocaine.

“You got one week to get the other grand you owe. If you don’t pay, we kill you,” Joe said.

Alicia was now picking herself up off the floor.

“How do you like it? You stupid bastard!” she yelled at Luis, who was half unconscious.

“Come on,” Joe said as he escorted Alicia out of the house.

Beating people up first thing in the morning always made Joe hungry. It was time for breakfast.