Paddy paid him no attention, just walked past him and never looked back. I wanted to follow him around to learn how to pull that off. Damn, that was impressive. The man must have ice flowing through his veins.
Suddenly, reality set in and my knees became weak, and I had to sit on the edge of the bed. Pádraig O’Malley put the fear of God into me. I couldn’t believe I’d just stood up to him.
“Jesus, David. What did you do to get Paddy O’Malley to pay you a visit?” Fritz asked.
“Zander Lewis sent him to get me to settle the lawsuit.”
“My best advice is to do whatever he says. Paddy is no joke.”
“Yeah, I understand that. Thanks for showing up.”
“I’m going to get some more security here until this is settled,” he assured me.
◊◊◊
I called my dad and filled him in. That turned into a whole circus of lawyers and my mom. Dad apologized for telling her, but I knew if he hadn’t, we might both be living on my uncle’s farm in the barn with Satan’s Spawn. Fritz called Manaia back as well as another beefy guy, who moved like he’d been in the military, for the additional help.
During the afternoon, I paced as I worried.
The housekeeper showed up. Fritz was about to send her away, but the place needed a good cleaning before my aunt, uncle, and grandmother arrived. I wasn’t brave enough to check how my friends had left their bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs.
I also ordered food for the next week and had it delivered. It gave me something to keep my mind occupied. I was putting the food away when there was a knock at the door. Pádraig O’Malley was back.
Manaia searched him for weapons. I’d brought the bottle of whiskey into the house earlier, so I had a drink ready for him.
“Thanks,” he said as I handed it to him.
We sat down at the kitchen table with Fritz and his team standing around us. Even with them there, I wasn’t sure we had enough firepower to handle Paddy if everything went south. There was something about him that screamed that you should never bet against him if the situation turned ugly.
“Zander left out a few details when he hired me. He told me that you’d been involved in a traffic accident and were just trying to cash in. I had my office check into it, and they uncovered the truth. Based on what they found, I told Zander to pay you and make it go away.”
I blinked as I tried to get my head around what he’d just said.
“Did he agree?” I asked.
“We still have a couple of problems to work out. Zander doesn’t have much cash on hand. His lawyers have almost bled him dry. He does own real estate he can sign over. The other problem is personal. He can’t pay my fee.”
“Damn. He hired you and planned to stiff you?” I asked.
He smiled for the first time.
“What if I paid your fee?” I asked.
“I thought you might do just that,” he said, and then turned into a scary mob-like guy again. “You willing to take the real estate in lieu of cash?”
“Will it hurt him?” I asked.
“Take the deal.”
“Okay. Have your office send me a bill, and I’ll approve it. Have Zander’s lawyers get us a list of properties, and we’ll get them transferred to settle this,” I said.
Paddy stood up to leave.
“Would it ever be possible to hire you if I needed something … uhm … ‘fixed’?” I asked before my brain engaged.
He looked at me, and I felt my insides turn to jelly. That look trumped the ‘Mom Stare’ by a hundredfold. I would be practicing that look tonight. I noticed that my security all inched their hands toward their guns.
“Sure … why not? We done here, kid?”
“Yeah.”
I held my breath and let it out only after the front door closed as he left.
“You’ve got balls, kid,” the new guy said.
If he knew how scared I’d been, he would never have said that. I was a total idiot. Something I did know: if I ever hired Pádraig O’Malley, I would be sure to pay his fee. Zander must not realize how dangerous that man was.
◊◊◊ Sunday January 8
I came back from my morning run drenched in perspiration. Lexi was in the kitchen, eating a bagel.
“So, what do you think?” I asked as I hit an athletic pose.
She wrinkled her nose and gave me the evil eye. I got closer and shook my head, and beads of moisture splattered her face.
“Gross, David!” she shrieked.
“You don’t like me all sweaty and breathless?” I asked, giving her my best sexy grin.
She checked me out closer and then averted her eyes.
“It’s okay,” she grudgingly admitted.
“I think you like it,” I said in a husky voice as I enveloped her into a hug, pulling her against my damp t-shirt.
She pushed me away.
“I’m going to have to change clothes and take a shower now,” she grumped.
“Aw. You poor thing.”
Manaia walked into the kitchen and handed me his phone. I looked at him, confused, and he just nodded towards it.
“This is David,” I said.
“Don’t tease the help,” Brook said. “Lexi will think you’re serious.”
“Sorry, Lexi. I was just goofing around,” I told her. Then I put my ear back to the phone. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. Now go take your shower and go make some money.”
