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  On The Rocks

  An MM Gay Contemporary Romance

  By Meg Morie

  Copyright © 2017

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty One

  Chapter 1

  Jack

  “I think I have found a job for you, Jack.”

  “A job? What kind of job, Cal?”

  I didn’t want to sound desperate, but I was feeling the grips of anxiety course through me. Everything was telling me that I needed to find something soon, or everything was going to go tits up. The bills were piling up, and even though Annika was always easy to deal with, she was getting frustrated as well with the lack of funds I was able to help her out with. Adam needs things, and I am the one that is supposed to be providing for him. I had to find something to alleviate the pressure on Annika.

  “Well Jack, look, it’s not really what you are used to, but it is sort of in the same line of work as before. You would just be working on the other side.”

  “Just tell me what it is. I just put in an application with the trash service today. It has to be better than that.”

  “I didn’t realize it was that urgent, Jack. You just told me that you were looking.”

  “It is that urgent, but I like to believe that it isn’t. I owe Annika some money, and there doesn’t seem to be anyone that wants to hire me in any official capacity since I left the LAPD. I am certainly not getting the best references.”

  Cal made a sound, and I didn’t want to have this conversation with my old partner, but I had to do something. He called me, and if he did have something that would pay some bills and put food on my son’s table, then I was going to take it. I missed being a cop, but I had to move on, no matter how hard it was going to be.

  “It’s way beyond what you are used to. I know how you feel about corruption.”

  “And this isn’t far off?” What did he have in mind, and why was he being so ambiguous about it?

  “Just tell me what it is. It can’t be as bad as you are making it out to be.”

  “Well, it’s a security job for a person. They need a kind of body guard, I guess you could say. It would be good money, twice what you made as my partner, and I think you are perfect for it.”

  “But…?” Cal was hesitant for one reason or another, and he seemed to be trying very hard not to tell me what it was that made him that way.

  “But it is for someone that I know you don’t approve of.”

  I felt like Cal was still being a little too weird about it. I wanted him to just spit it out already, and when I asked him to, he finally did, and I was speechless. I hadn’t been expecting the answer he gave me. I was taken aback.

  “See, I thought it would be too much.”

  “Are you sure you are talking about Nick Corrello?”

  “The very one.”

  Nick was known in Los Angeles as the head of the Corrello Mafia. He was hot-headed, and even though he had yet to be convicted, most people attributed several murders in the area to him. As a cop that worked his beat, I am pretty sure that I have seen several people that found themselves on the wrong side of Nick, and none of them were able to talk. He was ruthless and short-tempered. What in the world was he going to need a bodyguard for? It was clear that the man could take care of himself, and I had my doubts that he would want an ex-cop watching him.

  “What the hell does Nick need a body guard for? And how the hell do you know about it?”

  “Come on Jack, you know that I did some moonlighting, still do.”

  I remembered. My partner Cal was just as corrupt as most other cops, but I had grown to like him in the six years we had worked together. I could see how easily he would justify one bad decision after another, and I had gotten out so that I wouldn’t find myself going down the same slippery slope. What I didn’t understand was that a year and a half after leaving that job, I was looking down that same slope a little differently. Going to work for a man like that would be nothing but abandoning everything that I believe in. It was not something that I wanted to do, but Adam needed money for his preschool, and Annika needed help. I hadn’t found anything that was stable enough, and now I was seriously thinking about how this would all work. Was it that easy?

  “I know, but for Nick Corrello? He is the worst of the worst.”

  I heard the man sigh, and I knew that I was asking too much or complaining too much.

  “You can’t always keep your nose clean, Jack. I can’t. Most people in this city have done something that they regret. I’m no different, you know that. Not all of us can keep out of the dark shadows as well as you have.”

  He was getting defensive, and I knew that he was just trying to help. I needed a job, and Cal had found me one. Was it worth it to feed my child?

  “I thought that you needed something bad. That’s what you told me. I was just giving you an option.”

  “You still didn’t tell me why the guy needs muscle in the first place. He is a damn legend here. I doubt that anyone will try to mess with him.”

  “I don’t really know why, but I know that it isn’t for him.”

  I racked my brain trying to figure out who it was that he could be trying to protect. I was
no stranger to guys like Nick Corrello. I knew their world, and that was part of the reason that I tried to stay out of it. The Mafia was deadly in LA because of guys like him. Could I really put my life on the line for a guy like that? A couple of years ago I would have put my life on the line to put him in jail and bring him to justice. It just seemed wrong to think of doing anything else.

  “I don’t know, Cal. I appreciate the offer, but I just don’t know.”

  “Well, if you figure it out in the next day or two, give me a call, and I will set up a meeting between the two of you. I have missed you, Jack. It was good to see you even if you don’t take the job. I miss you, and I wish that you were still my partner. You should see who they have paired me with.”

  “Is he as straight-laced as I was?”

  “No one was as straight-laced as you were, Jack. This just wasn’t the line of work for you.”

  “And you think that working for the mafia is?”

  Cal shrugged and motioned to the waitress to bring the check.

  “I don’t know Jack, but that is what I could come up with. You said that you needed to find a job that paid worth a shit. This is it. Sometimes a man has to set aside his feelings to get what he needs.”

  I had heard it before. It was similar to what he had told me the first time I realized that he was taking bribe money to look the other way. It was a shock then, and I told him that it never would be an issue with me. My pride was holding me back at the moment, and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do about it. I did need a job, but at what cost?

  “Thanks Cal. You have always been a good friend. You are about the only thing that I miss from the precinct. We had some good times together, but I don’t know if I can go down this road.”

  “I won’t say anything about this conversation to Nick. If you change your mind, call me. I will set up a meeting with the two of you.”

  I thanked him and paid for the bill. I didn’t think I was going to call him, not about this, but I knew that his offer was going to be running around in my head until then.

  After leaving the restaurant, I had a lot of thinking to do. I got a call from Annika, asking me if I could watch Adam for a while. She needed to go take care of something, and I was always open to helping her out. Anything I could do to see Adam more, I was going to do.

  I made my way over there, trying to forget what Cal had told me. It was just out of the question.

  Chapter 2

  Jack

  “So, I will only be gone for just a little while.”

  “No problem Annika, what’s up?”

  She paused for a minute, and I wondered what was going on in her mind. It was clear that she was thinking about something, and she didn’t want to tell me about it. I figured that she had a new boyfriend or something like that.

  “I am going in for a job interview.”

  “Oh really? I thought you liked it down at the firm?”

  She sighed and smiled at me. “I do, Jack, but the money isn’t quite what I am looking for right now, and they aren’t going to give me a raise until I get my next degree. I am kind of stuck, and right now, it just isn’t enough. With everything going on, the city is expensive. Well, you know.”

  I had a bad feeling that it was because I wasn’t bringing any money in, and now I knew for sure that it was. She never said anything to me about money, not in a bad way, but I knew that she was struggling, and it made me feel even worse.

  “So where is it at?”

  There was another look to the side, and then she shrugged. “Don’t freak out. It’s in Chicago.”

  “Chicago!”

  She shushed me and told me not to freak out. “Don’t let Adam hear you talking about it. It isn’t set in stone, and I don’t know what else to do right now. This is kind of like a last resort. You know that he loves his school here. I have tried to hold on, Jack, but something has to give. I can’t go on with what I am making, and I know that you are trying, but you haven’t found anything either. I don’t want to move him so far away, but they are offering the kind of money that we need. You know how expensive everything is here, and his private school is an arm and a leg. I just don’t know what else to do, and I am quickly running out of options.”

  I could tell that she was distressed, and she hadn’t wanted to tell me, but now she was letting go of the weight on her shoulder, adding it to mine, and that was exactly where it should have been. I knew that it was bad; I just hadn’t realized that it would be this bad. I couldn’t let her go. I just couldn’t. There wasn’t anything between us anymore, but I would never get to see Adam. I would never get called over to watch him for a couple of hours like I was doing right now. Everything that we had worked for would be gone, and I would be a long-distance father who never got to see his son.

  “What if I told you that I did find a job, one that would make it possible for you to stay? I would be gone more for a little while, but the pay is much better than I was making at the precinct.”

  Her emerald green eyes lit up, and she smiled, “Really? That would be so great. You know that I don’t want to take Adam away from you. You are a great father, and if there is any way that we can stay, I would love to. He needs you in his life, just as much as you need him in yours.”

  “Well it isn’t official, but I was offered a job today that would take care of everything. I wasn’t sure if I was going to take it or not, but now I know for sure I will. I didn’t know it was this bad, Annika. I am sorry about putting you through this.”

  Annika smiled and sat down on the stool at the bar. “You are doing your best, I know that. So, what is it?”

  I was about as ambiguous as Cal had been with me when I was choosing my words to tell her about it. “Just a bodyguard position. I am not sure who it is for yet, but the pay will be better than the LAPD, and it will make it so you can keep your job and stay here. I wasn’t sure if I was going to take it, but now I know that I have to.”

  “Why weren’t you going to take it?”

  I didn’t want to tell her about how dangerous it was or anything else about it, but I had to give her something.

  “I will just have to be gone more. I like when you call, and I can be there for you and Adam, but this would be better than you having to move hundreds of miles away. I will take this job, and though I won’t be able to see you two as much, you know I will make sure to be here as much as I can.”

  Annika twirled her dark hair around her finger and smiled at me. “Thank you. Jack. I didn’t want to go and take him from everything. He loves his preschool, and he loves you. All our family is here. If there is any way that we can stay, I want to.”

  “Good, then it is settled. You stay here, and I will take that job.”

  She smiled at me and agreed. “I am not even going to go to the job interview then. I was dreading it. I am so glad I said something, Jack. I just didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want you thinking that I was trying to run off with our son or that I was pressuring to take a job. I know that you are looking, but the market is not that great right now.”

  It would have felt that way deep down if she had gone through with it without telling me about it, but I know Annika, and even though our marriage hadn’t really worked out, I was happy that I had Adam with her. She had always done the right thing for our son, and I knew that it was getting hard. I just hadn’t realized how hard. I also knew many times over how I lucky I was to have such a great ex-wife. She really was a godsend in so many ways.

  “I know you wouldn’t do that, Annika. You are a great mom. I am sorry I haven’t been able to help more. Give me a couple of weeks, and I will be able to help out a lot more. Things are going to change for the better.”

  “I know you are doing your best Jack. Leaving the police department was hard, but it was for the right reasons, so I am glad you have found something that you can be proud of. You have consistently had this morality that I have always admired in you. I hope Adam gets the sense of right or wrong that you have.
”

  I didn’t comment for a minute, because I wasn’t proud at all, not really. How could I be proud to work for a crime syndicate? I couldn’t, but I would be proud to keep my son here where I could see him and have a relationship. Once I had Adam, I realized that he was the only thing that mattered, because he was literally the best thing to happen to me. I wasn’t going to give that up for anything in the world. I just never would have guessed that the same notion would change the way I looked at right and wrong. Or maybe it was the same, but I had learned that I had to do what I had to do to make it. It was a sobering concept.

  “I am just happy that you guys don’t have to go. I can’t imagine my life without the two of you in it. If I didn’t get to see Adam, I don’t know what I would do.”

  Annika patted my hand and squeezed it for a minute to reassure me. There wasn’t anything between us romantically anymore, but there was a friendship that I had come to count on, and I don’t know what I would do without it. We decided to raise Adam together, and we had succeeded thus far. Adam was only four, but I knew that raising him with Annika was far easier than anyone else that I could have picked. Annika was still the same sweet woman that I had married so long ago. It hadn’t worked out with us, but she was still just as sweet and giving as she was then.

  I went to get Adam from his room to get him ready for dinner. Since she wasn’t leaving for the interview, she offered to make dinner for the three of us, and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend an evening. My son was in his fort that he had transformed into a pirates’ cove. They were apparently being stalked by dinosaurs, and I hid with him in the cove until dinner was ready. I couldn’t pass up a good dinosaur-pirate ambush.

  When Annika called us into the kitchen, I raced him in there and just barely won. Soon I wouldn’t be able to keep up, but for now I was still his champion. He still looked up to me as if I could do no wrong, and there was no better feeling than that. I had this inkling of guilt suddenly, wondering if I would deserve it once this job was done.