Chapter 1: Meeting My Other Half - Jonny

I'm finally returning back home to New York from the US Navy military base in Washington state. I know it’s a little premature since I’m technically on active duty for another four months, but after catching my now ex-girlfriend Tatiana in bed with my commanding officer while his wife is out on maternity leave, he really didn't have a choice but to approve my early leave! I don’t plan on re-enlisting and they don’t plan on dispatching me for another tour, so I'm heading back home. Nothing says it's over like a man putting the entire country between the two of you, right?!

I turn my phone back on as soon as I exit the plane and as I’m coming through the terminal at LaGuardia Airport it’s already buzzing in my pocket. It’s a long-time friend of my father’s. I know the man used to do some crooked underground work for my father while he was a cop before he died, that is! I answered the phone, “hey Sy, what can I do for you”?

“Jonny, my man”, he says. “Wondering if you’re looking for a job now that you’re home”!

“Yeah! I am currently, but I’m still active for a few more months, so I can’t get into anything illegal at the moment”, I tell him.

Sy laughs, “actually, it’s nothing illegal and it’s long term. Interested?”, he asks.

“Maybe, what’s the job?” I questioned.

“I need personal security for my new business partner and her nightclub”, he says. Every woman I’ve ever seen Sy around, and there have been many women, have always been some prissy little upper-class snot-face! This could be good easy money for me if I’m willing to deal with the attitude these women often have, I guess.

“What do I have to do?” I asked him.

“We’ve just financed a building in Red Hook, Brooklyn. While the building is being renovated, it’ll need around-the-clock surveillance. When construction is done, the club that is being built will need bouncers with conceal and carry permits”, he tells me. Sounds simple enough! “I’ll need a team of at least three to five guys, all conceal and carry capable. The girl also needs around-the-clock protection too”! This throws me off a little.

“Why?” I cannot stop myself from asking.

“Something about an ex she’s hiding from”, he says to me casually. “She’s the daughter of a really good friend of mine and your father’s from the police department”. So if her father is a former cop, what type of business partner is this for Sy? “Interested”?

“What’s it paying?” I asked.

“How about you getting me a team together and we'll discuss it? It’ll be worth your time kid, I promise”, he tells me. “How long do you need”?

“Three days”, I responded. “Meet me at my mother’s on Friday”!

“See you then, Jonny”, he says before hanging up. I grab my bag from the luggage claim and hop on the bus just outside of the airport. It takes me to Queens Center Mall, where I transfer to the F train that runs express through Manhattan to West Fourth Street, where I cross the platform to the local B train that takes me to Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. From here I just walk to my mother’s house!

Of course, everyone is here. My mother is like the neighborhood’s mother. I tell her about Friday before I sit down and go through my to-do list… I need a job, an apartment because my mother’s house is just too crowded for me, and a car! I have just spent the last two and a half years sailing around the world, and all of my funds from the military are practically untouched. So, after making a couple of phone calls to some guys about Sy’s job, I got started on apartment hunting!

I spend the next couple of days checking out apartments and I end up settling on a studio basement apartment near Red Hook that offers driveway parking. That’s important in Brooklyn, where street parking is often limited! I also check out a couple of jalopies before I find a decent second-hand car, so by the time Friday comes I literally just need the job.

This particular Friday happens to be one of the hottest days by far this Summer in New York, and it’s only the beginning of August! The heat is still intense even after the sun has gone down. So I’m sweating bullets as I sit in my mother’s yard, waiting for Sy. I managed to wrangle together three other guys, all former NYPD officers of all different ranks, who are willing to hear Sy out. But they’re waiting in the cooled air-conditioned house!

I heard a car pull up into my mother’s driveway, and two doors open and close. But I only saw one silhouette come through the back gate of my mother’s yard. “Jonny, good to see you again”, Sy says as he sticks his hand out for me to shake.

I shook it and said, “hey Sy, I thought you were bringing your new business partner with you”.

The man chuckles as he reaches behind him awkwardly and pulls a woman forward. Her long flamboyantly bright pink hair is the first thing that grabs my attention. Then the fact that her physical stature is so petite she looks like she’d fit in my pocket, and she has heels on, which means she’s even tinier than she currently appears. She’s wearing a white cotton tank top Summer dress that looks like she is wearing one of my undershirts pulled down over her body. It does nothing to hide her curvaceous figure. This girl has the whole package, boobs, and booty! Her skin is only sun-kissed and slightly tanned like she’s been avoiding being outside during the day… Then again, Sy said she was hiding from her ex!

“Jonny Knight, meet my new business partner Amory Williams”, says Sy. Her name literally translates to lovely!

When she finally looks up into my face, her features are breathtaking. Her high cheekbones suit her plump lips, her nose is a tiny button on her face, and her hazel eyes sparkle! She’s so beautiful, you barely notice the huge heart-shaped pink diamond ring hanging from the xo chain around her neck. “Nice to meet you”, she says sternly despite her voice sounding like a song.

She holds her hand out for me to shake, and I pull it to my mouth and kiss it instead. She gasps as I say, “the pleasure is all mine”. Her cheeks turn as pink as her hair. God, she’s gorgeous!

Sy clears his throat and I drop her hand. “So, about the job”, he continues.

I call everyone outside and they are all introduced to Amory and are clearly just as confused by this new job. As it turns out, this hazel-eyed beauty is only eighteen! She honestly doesn’t look eighteen, her figure alone would have led me to believe she was at least the same age as me despite her being so small. She’s just finished some type of finance degree and has acquired a grant to help her start her business. Sy was so impressed by her entrepreneurial skills, that he’s funding the rest of the needed money through a five-year interest-free loan. After that, she’ll have an annual percentage rate added to the balance she owes. The building they purchased was an old clothes factory, and once the renovations are done there’ll be a nightclub on the first floor with two apartments, an office, and a storage unit on the second floor. She plans to live over the club in one apartment with her personal assistant in the other!

Tomorrow we’re going to canvas the building, but once the construction starts the property will need around-the-clock surveillance, and, apparently, so does Amory, who lives Downtown! Her building has a parking spot assigned to her that we can use, so those of us who drive will at least have one less thing to worry about and don’t have to find parking or feed quarters to the meters.

We all sit out back on the lawn chairs in my mother’s yard. She leans back and folds her fingers together over her slender abdomen. Her nails and toes are painted a pretty sky blue color that sparkles in the lighting, like her eyes. As I’m staring at her while she’s in a daze, my mother approaches. She knows everyone sitting around but this girl, so of course, she zeroes in on her!

“Ay dios mío. ¿Quién es esta linda chica?”, (Oh Lord. Who is this pretty girl?) my mother gushes over her.

Amory lifts her head and looks at my mother confused, “huh”?

I couldn’t stop myself from laughing, causing my mother to smack me in the arm. “Amory, this is my mother who thinks you’re beautiful”!

She stares at me momentarily confused and says as she blushes, “oh, tell her thank you for me”!

Now my mother laughs, “I understand, but sometimes the Spanish pops out and I forget not everyone around can understand me”!

“Mamá, esta es Amory, ella es la nueva socia comercial de Sy para quien trabajaré”, (Mom, this is Amory, this is Sy's new business partner that I'll be working for), I told her.

“Amory, your name fits you”, my mother says to her.

Again, Amory blushes and says, “oh, thanks”!

“I certainly think so too”, says Sy. “Now let’s work out the scheduling. I’ll be handling it for the first few months, then, as Amory’s needs change, she’ll adjust accordingly, but you’ll all be on a contract. Amory and I have written up a very thorough and detailed contract. You’re all welcome to look through them ahead of time. They detail salary, requirements, reimbursements Amory feels you’re entitled to, etcetera. As I have said, Amory is very detailed in her expectations”!

I picked up one of the contracts Sy had laid out in front of him and started flipping through it. “I don’t understand, why are we being asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, a consent to video recording, and an agreement for data storage”?

“Although the business is mine, it’ll operate under him”, Amory says as she points to Sy. “I’m currently in a position where I need to make sure my identity is not discovered. But I promise I won’t lie to you guys about anything”!

“I’m in”, I tell her.

“Me too”, everyone else says.

“Are you all sure? You haven’t even seen the building yet”, Amory says as Sy leans back in his chair smiling.

“Mi Amor, this is so thorough it doesn’t matter what the building looks like. I’m in”, (my love) I tell her while a couple of the guys look at me oddly.

“What he said”, Rich finally says.

“Well alright”, Sy says. “Let’s get back to scheduling, shall we”.

Amory excuses herself from this part of the conversation. As it turns out, we’ll all work in rotating shifts where we will each guard her and the building for a set number of hours a day. I’m off Mondays and Tuesdays, and I will be assigned to guard her overnight and her building first thing in the morning. Sy and all the guys felt like, since I’m the closest in age, we’d have more in common to bond over and it would create a conflict of interest if I watched over her while she was awake. I honestly doubt it, but I am disappointed I’ll rarely get to see her!

When we’ve wrapped up for the night, I walk everyone out to the driveway through the back. Amory is walking in front of me and as we’re coming around the edge of the pool she freezes. I bump right into the back of her and she squeals as she spins quickly and clings on to the front of my shirt for dear life. I instinctively wrap my arms protectively around her and become intoxicated by the fruity smell of watermelon and cantaloupe wafting off of her. “¿Estás bien?”, (you okay) I blurt out as she shivers in fear in my arms.

“What?”, she asks as she buries her face in my chest. “What does that mean”?

“Are you okay?” I told her.

“I can’t swim”, she whispers.

“I can teach you”, I offer her even though I have no idea why. I mean, I can swim! I’m in the Navy for heaven’s sake.

“Um, yeah! Maybe one day”, she says shyly as she untangles herself from my arms. I feel even more disappointed at the lack of body contact with her.

“Seriously”, I told her. “What are you doing tomorrow after the tour? We can come back here and I’ll teach you to swim! If I’m supposed to be concerned about your safety and wellbeing, I should at least make sure you can do this”!

“You don’t work for me yet”, she points out.

“Consider it a trial run”, I suggest.

“Umm, okay! I have a doctor’s appointment after the tour tomorrow. You take me to the appointment, and afterward, I’ll come back here with you and you can teach me, okay?”, she says.

“Deal”, I tell her as Sy comes back to the fence to see what’s keeping her. She explains that I’ll be teaching her to swim tomorrow after the tour, and the fact that she leaves the doctor’s visit out doesn’t go unnoticed by me. She waves me off as she links arms with Sy, who takes a loving fatherly hold on her arm. I watched them disappear out of the yard and didn’t even notice my sister staring at me!

“No te hagas ninguna idea Jonny, ella es tu jefa”, (Don’t get any ideas, Jonny, she’s your boss) Emilia says to me. I just shook my head at her and headed inside.

When I sit on the couch and lift up the front of my shirt to wipe the sweat off my face on it, it’s drenched in the smell of her. Delicious! I’m wondering if she tastes as good as she smells. My thoughts just went sideways real fast with all the lingering thoughts of Tatiana, long forgotten. I fell asleep on the sofa fantasizing about Amory!