Hired Muscle

By Hank Edwards

In October 1941, the violence of Baltimore's warring mob families is escalating. The danger has decimated many of the businesses around DuMochelle's restaurant where Barry waits tables.

 

When a mob boss and his family begin to frequent the restaurant, a romantic relationship develops between Barry and Vinnie, a bodyguard. Vinnie resists, fearing for Barry's safety and concerned that Barry will want nothing to do with him if he discovers his role in the family. But their passion cannot be denied, and Vinnie is trapped between the love he wants and the only life he's known.

 

As the rival mob family moves in for the kill, Vinnie and Barry find themselves caught in the crossfire.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hank Edwards
• Release date: May 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223395881

Hank Edwards

Hank Edwards has been writing gay erotic fiction for more than twenty years. He has written over two dozen novels and even more short stories. His writing crosses many sub-genres, including romance, rom-com, contemporary, paranormal, suspense, mystery, and wacky comedy. Find out more at www.hankedwardsbooks.com.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

The night I met Vinnie, clouds hung low over the city, dumping rain in torrents as if to wash the citizens clean. So many of the elected officials were dirty, however, it would take a hell of a lot more than a single thunderstorm to sluice the stench of corruption from the city's streets.

It was October 1941, and everyone could feel some kind of change in the air. There were reports of a war in Europe, but that seemed so far away. We had a mob war going on right outside our door. We couldn’t worry about Europe’s battles.

I waited tables at the last chic restaurant in a decaying section of Baltimore. Competing mob bosses had forced a large manufacturer with warehouses and an assembly plant nearby to shut down, and most of the surrounding businesses had fled to different parts of the city.

DuMochelle's, the restaurant where I worked, still did steady business, but the diners were more cautious. The conversation was subdued and the laughter less boisterous. Once they had finished with dessert and coffee, most people scurried to other, safer sections of the city or back to their new suburban homes.

I had just turned away from delivering the check to a nervous table of four when the front door opened. The rain outside sounded like the fountain in the city center. The diners at the table nearest the door shivered and leaned away from the damp chill.

Then a tall, wide-shouldered shape filled the doorway. The maître d' and owner, Enrique DuMochelle himself, stepped back from his podium, eyes wide as the new arrival swept his gaze around the room. I felt a tingle of connection as his gaze met mine, lingered for a breath of a moment, and then moved on.

He had to duck to get through the door, and his wide face, marred by a scar across his left cheek, was just shy of handsome. A fedora partially hid thick, dark hair, and his suit coat stretched tight over a muscular chest and shoulders.

After apparently deciding the room held no threat, the guard stepped aside to reveal a smaller, much better dressed man. I felt the collective intake of breath in the restaurant as Giovanni Lombardi, notorious south side mob boss, walked through the door. Don Lombardi nodded to Enrique who fumbled a handful of menus from beneath his podium and led him to the best table in the place, a large half circle red leather booth. The rest of the diners tried not to stare as Don Lombardi ambled past, his wife, gorgeous in midnight blue, right behind him, and his two children after her.

Two more bodyguards filed in, neither as big as the first one. All three seated themselves at separate, empty tables at various spots throughout the place, and my stomach fluttered as the leading hulk of muscle picked a table in my section.

We waiters scurried into action as a single, cohesive unit. As the bus boys delivered water and place settings, we stepped up and rattled off the evening's specials. When I walked up to the big goon's table, he raised his dark brown eyes to my face and gave me a quick nod.

Would you like to hear tonight's specials? I asked, working to keep my voice steady.

Nah. Just bring me a steak, medium, with lotsa mashed potatoes and creamed corn. The seismic wave of his voice shot right to my crotch and got me hard in a moment. I was never more thankful for the concealment of my black waiter's apron than I was at that moment.

Of course, I replied, anything to drink?

Water, in a bigger glass than this. He waved a meaty hand at the small water glass, then he looked up at me, his gaze seizing mine so I couldn’t look away. What's your name?

Barry, I squeaked.

Vinnie, he rumbled. If the boss likes the food we'll be coming here a lot, so it's good to know the staff.

Nice to meet you, Vinnie, I said. I'll put in your order.

Glenn Miller's Moonlight Cocktail crooned from the radio when I stepped into the kitchen and paused to catch my breath. The direct eye contact with Vinnie had left me a little shaky. I felt drawn to his large body and dangerous good looks like pins to a magnet. He hadn't seemed to notice my physical reaction to him, but I knew my interest would be visible in my eyes. I always gave away too much of myself through my eyes.

The other waiters chattered, explaining the excitement out in the dining room to the kitchen staff. Enrique, the owner and maître d', was gay himself, and had hired a number of men he had met in dimly lit bars or back rooms as his wait staff, myself included. He had never made an overture toward any of us as some other business owners might have done. Enrique was a kind-hearted professional who looked out for his staff. He called us his girls when no customers could hear him, and listened to many broken-hearted sob stories before and after our shifts.

Sam, the headwaiter, breezed into the kitchen, sized up the situation in a glance, and clapped his hands. Everyone jumped back to work, and Sam shot me a look and rolled his eyes. As the two oldest members of the staff, we often shared looks of frustration