"You"d lose your gonads before your goons could get over here." Johnny shrugged. "Kazuo has you in his crosshairs. It"s your decision."
"You might want to consider what Johnny said for another reason as well," Kazuo murmured, slipping a pendant from under the b.u.t.toned collar of his shirt, the jade seal a translucent glimmer in the torch light. "Johnny and I have been friends a long time." He turned to Johnny. "How long has it been, mon ami?"
"Fifteen years, give or take."
Yuri"s face had gone ashen, Raf was openmouthed. Even the guards knew better than to move at the sight of the f.u.kuda insignia gleaming on Kazuo"s chest. The f.u.kuda clan"s reputation and reach were formidable. In the pyramid scheme of organized crime, they were top dog.
"We"re waiting for your answer," Kazuo said, pointedly. "You ha.s.sled Johnny"s girlfriend; you shouldn"t have. We don"t want it to happen again. I"m sure my father would also appreciate knowing she was safe from any further visits from you. You understand how it works-my friends are my father"s friends."
For a brief, ominous moment the word father hung in the air.
"I-I ... " Yuri swallowed hard. "I-I-it was a mistake," he stammered.
"And?" Kazuo softly challenged.
"I apologize for bothering her," Yuri quickly said, his eyes darting from side to side as though searching for a means of escape.
"You, too, Raf, darling," Kazuo ordered, his voice whip-sharp.
"Sorry," Raf swiftly responded. "We"re... real-sorry."
"And it won"t happen again?" Kazuo gently queried.
"No... no-of course not." Raf nodded at Kazuo. "We didn"t-know... I mean, that she-he... was your friend."
"What about you, f.u.c.khead?" Kazuo jabbed a slender finger at Yuri.
Yuri recoiled, as though he were about to be beaten and, sweating profusely, whispered, "We didn"t-know... we won"t go near-"
"Any of them," Kazuo prompted.
"Yes, yes... never again." Yuri had found his voice.
"Now you darlings toddle along. We"re finished with you. A last word of warning though-stay out of California, too. Understand?"
"Yes, yes ... " Both men nodded their heads like bobble dolls.
"Now beat it," Kazuo crisply ordered.
The men turned and tripped over each other trying to flee, eventually disappearing down the stairs at a run, their bodyguards right on their heels.
Lifting his hand, Kazuo beckoned a waiter and ordered a bottle of Krug. Leaning back in his chair, he tucked the pendant back under his shirt and smiled lazily. "I"d say that went well."
Johnny grinned. "You"ve got the touch."
"With people like that"-Kazuo made a dismissive gesture with his hand-"all they know is brute force. So when in Rome ... " He grinned. "What say we wind down after our drink?" He paused as the waiter poured their champagne, and set the bottle in an ice bucket. "I know a very nice brothel not far from here," he went on as the waiter walked away. "It"s discreet, quiet, excellent wines."
"Not me, but feel free."
Kazuo"s brows rose. "Am I hearing right? Johnny Patrick turning down s.e.x?"
"I"m not in the mood."
Kazuo grinned. "Even more astonishing. Has darling Nicky emasculated you?"
"Don"t ride my a.s.s. Everything"s operating just fine."
There was a don"t-push-it in h is tone, Kazuo noted, and well- mannered and urbane, he remarked, "Come to think of it, my wife is having a dinner party for some distinguished scientists day after tomorrow. Something to do with the Arctic ice cap. I should probably show up."
"I should get back, too. I owe you, Kaz," Johnny said, understanding his friend had come to help without regard for his own schedule. "Next time, it"s my turn."
"Glad I could be of help. It"s been a while, hasn"t it? Funny how life gets in the way of friendships."
"We both have more on our plates than we did when we were hanging loose in our twenties. Kids"-Johnny grinned-"or soon-to-be kids, work"-he shrugged-"and more and more work."
"If you settle down with your tree house lady, maybe you"ll take a vacation and come see us."
Johnny liked the way Kaz referred to his wife. Maybe Kaz was right about recognizing when a woman was the best. Maybe he should have sense enough to see the light himself. "You and your wife come and visit us sometime, too," he offered.
"Us?" Kazuo drawled.
Johnny grimaced. "f.u.c.k you."
Kazuo grinned. "It happens to the best of us, bro."
"p.i.s.s off. I"m not even sure I can get my head around the idea."
"Tell me about it."
"That"s not f.u.c.king helpful," Johnny grumbled.
"Do I detect an actual romantic state of mind?" Kazuo said with a smile. "Surely not."
Johnny blew out a breath. "f.u.c.k if I know. But I do know if I decide to get married again, it"s gonna be for all the right reasons. If it means figuring out this love and romance stuff"-he grinned-"I"m gonna have to figure it out."
"I recommend diamonds as a means to possibly solving your dilemma," Kaz offered. "I suggest you bring home a large one for Nicky. I know this very good jeweler."
"Forget it."
"It can"t hurt to look. Gustav will open his store for us. I"m a good customer." He lifted his flute with a smile. "To the blissful state of matrimony."
Johnny raised his gla.s.s and grinned. "No way."
Thirty-eight.
The next afternoon, as Nicky left her office at the end of the day, she saw Johnny leaning against her car, a handsome j.a.panese man with long black hair standing next to him. She instantly understood the man must be Kazuo.
Both the men were smiling.
Which meant, she hoped, she could stop worrying.
She"d been mega-tense in Johnny"s absence, his phone call at Chez Panisse unsettling, even more so his lack of explanation and quick departure. What made it even worse was the fact that she couldn"t call any of her friends or family and whine to them about her fears. If she even mentioned the word gangster to her family, they"d get on the first plane, fly out here, and drag her back home. Gangster was only a movie word in Black Duck. As for her friends... she wasn"t quite ready to tell them she was maybe in love after a week. They"d think first, that she was out of her league, and second, that a man like Johnny Patrick wouldn"t remember her name in another week.
Which might be true.
So she"d been forced to stew and fret all by herself.
And apparently all for naught, she cheerfully noted as she walked up to the men. They were both dressed casually in slacks and dark T-shirts. Johnny looked gorgeous as ever, and his friend could have been the j.a.panese Bruce Lee, he was so incredibly beautiful.
It just went to show that worry could be a real waste of time.
"You weren"t gone long," she said, approaching them with a smile.
"I was in a major hurry to get home."
If ever there was a heartwarming smile, she"d just witnessed it, Nicky thought, all her apprehensions swept away in an instant by Johnny"s smile.
"Nicky, I"d like you to meet Kazuo f.u.kuda, Kaz, this is Nicky. Nicole Lesdaux to be exact," Johnny added, curving his arm around her shoulder and drawing her close.
Kazuo grinned. "Johnny spoke of nothing else but you."
"You two must have gone to the same charm school," Nicky said, ligh tl y. "But thank you. I adore flattery."
"Kaz just stopped by for a minute to meet you. He"s heading back home."
At Johnny"s lifted hand, Nicky took note of a black Mercedes and driver waiting at the curb.
"My wife has a dinner party I have to be back for," Kazuo explained. "I"m trying to talk Johnny into bringing you to Tokyo soon."
The casualness of his remark struck her with a far from casual impact. Her pulse began beating violently. Did that mean her relationship with Johnny was more than say... a weeklong affair? Or was Johnny"s friend just being polite?
"I told Kaz we"d try to work something out," Johnny said.
She almost fainted. Work something OUT-like-WOW. Did this mean Cinderella dreams really came true? Did this mean she wasn"t crazy to move from instant infatuation to instant something else way more profound? Okay, okay, take it easy. Johnny was just talking about a trip to j.a.pan. Like a trip to Paris. He probably took trips with women all the time. "That"d be great," she said, ultra-casually, like she might respond to a comment about car insurance, say, or a Disney movie.
"Stay in touch, now." Kazuo glanced at his watch. "Duty calls," he added with a grin.
The men shook hands, then Kaz shook Nicky"s hand. "It was a pleasure to meet you. I can see why Johnny wanted to get home." Then with a wave, Kazuo strode away.
"You sure know a lot of different people," Nicky said, as Kazuo stepped into the Mercedes sedan and the driver shut the door behind him.
"Yeah, I do."
Silence.
Okay. She wasn"t going to get an explanation for either Kazuo or their trip.
"I don"t know how much to tell you." Each word fell into the silence with grudging unwillingness.
She was thinking maybe she didn"t want to know when his jaw was set like that and each word he"d uttered had clearly been said against his will. Then again that line about curiosity killing the cat wasn"t just a baseless phrase. "How about the truth? You went to scout some new band, didn"t you?"
"Not exactly. I can"t actually tell you the complete truth." Disclosing Kaz"s father"s business was off-limits for one thing; there was no room for negotiation there.
"You"re kidding-right? What about "the truth will set you free?" "
" "Truth is stranger than fiction," would be more appropriate to this situation. Look, the whole incident and trip is over. I"d rather just forget it."
"Now, you"re freaking me out. What kind of bizarre trip did you go on?"
"Are we going to have a huge fight about it if I tell you?"
"It depends on what you tell me," she said, the green of her eyes taking on a sudden coolness.
A tic fluttered along his jaw line, he exhaled an inaudible expletive, and understanding some explanation was required to temper that coolness in her eyes, he finally said, "There was no band to scout. We went to get Yuri off your back. I didn"t want him to frighten you again. That was it."
"Why couldn"t you just say that?" Although even as she said the words, she knew how she would have freaked out had he told her.
He shrugged. "I just didn"t want to get into it after your"-he hesitated-"bad experience with Yuri."
"Because I would have tried to stop you."
"I figured."
"You were right. They have guns. Oh, G.o.d, don"t tell me you had guns, too."
"We mostl y just talked."
She was smart enough not to ask him to pa.r.s.e mostly. She"d always been susceptible to nightmares. But it would go a long way toward mitigating any future nightmares if she knew whether he"d been successful in convincing Yuri to stay away. "So is he off my back?" Like could she sleep in her own house again?
"Yep. He"s out of your life."
"Wow. That"s good news. And Kaz must have gone along to help."
"Yep."
"And Yuri just said okey dokey, and you came home."
"That"s about it."
That wasn"t a credible answer, not with a man like Yuri. Just to make sure, she said, "And no one was harmed in the encounter?"
"Nope."