Чарли Стелла - Johnny Porno

So would anybody looking out their windows.

He pulled away from the curb and raced up the block. He was waving at her to get in when she screamed about as loud as a woman could.

“Jesus Christ,” he said once she was inside the car.

He could see the windows of the nearby houses light up as he pulled away.

“I’m sorry, John,” Nancy said. “I’m scared. I’m so scared.”

“Okay, calm down,” he told her as he sped through the neighborhood toward the highway.

“You get their names, the guys hit you?” he asked.

“No, but it was just one guy hit me,” Nancy said. “And he grabbed me, too. Down there.”

John felt his teeth clenching.

“Where can I take you is safe?” he said.

“I don’t know. Nathan’s, I guess. His sister.”

“Did you call him?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“He left me, John. I told you.”

“He’s still your husband.”

“What could he do?”

He knew she was right. It wasn’t Nathan’s problem to start with and shouldn’t become his now.

“What about your boyfriend? You call him yet?”

She was sniffling again. “I don’t have his number.”

“What do you mean, you don’t have it?”

“He’s not home. I don’t know where he is.”

“It was him, though, right? Louis took the money.”

She began to cry again.

“Son of a bitch,” John said.

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I really am.”

As soon as John had figured out she was still screwing her first husband, he’d started divorce proceedings and moved out. The marriage had been a mistake, but they’d had a child together. He could live with his bruised ego, but there was no way he’d walk away from his son.

He had never confronted her about Louis when he found out because it didn’t matter. He and Nancy weren’t happy together and it wasn’t Louis’s fault. John had done what he had to do instead of making a bigger drama than was necessary. He’d moved out and filed divorce papers and seen his kid whenever he wanted until she’d started dating Nathan Ackerman and instituted new visitation rules.

Then when he’d lost his union job, John was too busy hustling odd jobs for an income to support his son and himself. The biggest mistake had turned out to be taking the weekend job Eddie Vento had offered him at the bar in Williamsburg. The way John saw it, even though Nancy had set him up so Louis could rob him, at least some of the responsibility was his own for getting involved with people he knew he shouldn’t have.

Those people.

It was the only reason he didn’t throw her out of Melinda’s car right then instead of pulling into a hotel parking lot on Conduit Boulevard near JFK and helping her hide from the people who were really after him. He escorted her up to a room on the third floor overlooking the Belt Parkway and sat her down on the bed while he dialed Nathan’s sister’s house. The phone rang three times before a woman picked up.

“I’m very sorry to trouble you at this time, but is Nathan there?”

“He’s sleeping. Who is this?”

“My name is John Albano. I’m Nathan’s wife’s ex-husband, one of them.”

“What’s this about?”

“It’s an emergency. Can you please put Nathan on?”

There was a pause on the line John assumed was the woman waiting for more of an explanation. Then she said, “Hold.”

John tried to hand the phone off to Nancy, but she waved him away.

“He won’t talk to me,” she said. “Please, John.”

“Hello?”

It was Nathan.

“It’s John, Nathan. I’m very sorry to bother you.”

“What’s wrong?”

John gave him an abbreviated version of the story, then asked if he would help Nancy.

“Is your son okay?” Nathan asked first.

“Jack’s fine, Nathan. He’s with my mother.”

“Thank God for that.”

“Can you help Nancy in the meantime?”

“I was supposed to travel to Boston in the morning, but I already canceled. I told them it was a family emergency. It is, I suppose. I was planning on getting my things from the house. Where is she?”

“Right here at the hotel. She just checked in. I have to get going soon, though. I can’t stay.”

“Her first husband used her to rob her second husband and now her third husband is going to hide her from the mob,” Nathan said. “Is that about it?”

John couldn’t help chuckling. “It’s almost funny, you put it that way,” he said.

“You’re a better man than me, John.”

“Not in a million years, but I’ll understand if you don’t want to get involved.”

“Give me the address,” Nathan said. “I’ll come by but not tonight. I’ll pass by in the morning. I can’t make any promises after that.”

“Understood,” John said. He gave Nathan the hotel address and said goodnight.

“Good night,” Nathan said.

John hung up and turned to Nancy.

“Is he coming?” she asked.

“You don’t deserve his help, but he’s coming tomorrow. Try not to blow it when he gets here.”

“He wants me back?”

“Jesus, Nan, no. I doubt it. Just try not chasing him away before this is over.”

Nancy started to cry again, then noticed the bruise on his forehead for the first time and pointed at it. “What happened?”

“What’s it look like?”

“Oh, my God. Now you, too.”

“Save it,” John said. “There’ll be plenty more to be sorry about if we don’t get that money.”

“They said they’d come back.”

“And they will. You can bet your ass on that.”

“Can’t you stay?”

“No.”

She covered her face with both hands.

“You should’ve thought about this before you helped that asshole rob me,” John said. “He’s probably in Vegas gambling it away while you were getting slapped around, your hero.”

“I hate him!” Nancy yelled.

“Yeah, for now,” John said. He got up and headed for the door.

“John!”

“What?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Sure,” he said. “I almost feel sorry for you.”

“Please,” Nancy said.

John left.

“The man tells me I have to stay, I have to stay,” Nick told his wife over the phone. “I can’t come home yet.”

“Are you in trouble?” she asked.

“No, but I would be if I left, so I’m staying.”

He saw Eddie Vento leave earlier and although it didn’t look like he was coming back, Nick wasn’t sure he could take the chance and leave. That had been a few hours ago. Now it was after one in the morning and none of Vento’s crew was there.

To top it off, word was they were out searching for John Albano.

“It’s not fair you have to stay,” Angela said. “Nick, I mean it. You’re always the one getting stuck. I wish he’d find himself another driver.”

“Okay, that’s enough,” he said. “I can’t leave yet and you’re starting to talk stupid. I’ll be home soon as I can, but don’t forget I don’t have the car. I’ll have to take a cab.”

She was saying something else when he hung up.

Nick wound up staying until closing. At three o’clock he called a local car service. He waited outside where he lit a cigarette at the curb. He was alone on the street and anxious to get home. He leaned against a car and took a nervous drag on his cigarette. Headlights turned onto the street at the corner and got his attention.

He assumed it was his cab and tossed the cigarette as the car pulled into a space alongside the fire hydrant about five yards from where he was standing.

Nick put his arms out. “What the fuck?” he said.

The car’s brights flashed, blinding Nick. He shielded his eyes and didn’t see it was John Albano until it was too late.