"Well, I'll tell you what..."

The intercom buzzed, "Yes?"  Bella said.

April's voice, "Mr. Byrne is here to see you."

Bella's face lit up and she rose from her seat with enthusasim.  "Thank you, April."

The intercom turned off and Bella motioned for Eric to walk with her as she went to the door and opened it to find Gavin standing there.  "Gavin and I will come by your place tomorrow at around two.  We'll make the drive with you, get her settled, and if there's any problems we'll be there to help,"  she said nodding to Gavin and putting a hand on Eric's shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Don't you worry about a thing.  This time tomorrow everything will begin looking better.  I promise."

Eric bowed his head respectfully, both at Bella as he took his leave and at Gavin as he passed the other man at the doorway. Gavin nodded and flashed a cheeky grin at Eric. 

Gavin walked into the room slowly, with a wide smile on his face as he lowered himself into the chair Eric had just vacated. “That guy? He wants to fuck you. Bad.”

“Don’t be silly.  He’s a nice young man.”

“I’m sure he is. A nice young man… who wants to give it to you. And for the record, when I say fuck you bad, I didn’t mean “badly”. Tara just told me what an adverb is. And yea, I’d bet you… twenty million.”

Bella crossed her arms under her breasts.  “Twenty million… do you even have twenty million?  And that young man… he’s been taking care of his drunk mother and his younger sister.  He’s a hard worker… loyal as straight an arrow as they come. Honorable kid. He should be made by now if he hadn’t asked not to be I’d be talking to your sister about him tonight.  He wouldn’t know what to do with me if he had me.”

“Oh he’s straight as an arrow alright. And I’m sure he’d figure out something to do with you.”

“Gavin!”  She shook her head, “You’re terrible.  I’m serious here. The kid probably hasn’t even been with a girl.  He’s too busy. I think he’s as innocent as they come despite his claims he would kill for me.”

“I bet you another twenty million he’s been with at least three women. No. Twenty thousand.”

Bella narrowed her eyes, “This feels like a trap and  in poor taste and yet… I find myself strangely compelled to see how the hell you plan on proving it.”

“Got twenty on you? Nevermind, I’ll take it on credit. Already proved. Kid visits two different brothels on a regular basis.”

“No way.  And even if he does do that you don’t know he’s been with those girls, maybe he’s lonely or needs advice about how to deal with his sister.”

Gavin stared at Bella, his sky blue eyes skeptical and his eyebrow arched.

“And how do you know he’s visiting brothels?” asked Bella.

“I check up on every guy who looks like they want to jump my wife. I don’t blame him. I’ll jump you right now if you give me an opening. But I do my homework.”

She smirked, “So … homework.  He’s a horny young man.  Newsflash so are a ton of guys who work for this operation.  He’s a red-blooded American.  That doesn’t mean he wants to fuck me bad.”

“Do you not understand what America is? That’s exactly what that means. And yes he does. Lots of guys look at you. Not everyone looks at you like he does.”

“Wait.. lots?”  She arched an eyebrow.  “I mean… I used to get a lot of attention, and I occasionally still get a nice tip of the hat and such but I mean… it’s been a long while since any guy has put the moves on me.”

“Do you think that maybe the fact that you’re married to someone who has killed a thousand people has an impact on this? Nevermind the fact that you’re the Right Hand of the Godmother.”

She shook her head, “Men will try to fuck anything that moves, married or not.  I just assumed I was getting older and less desirable to people who weren’t constantly made aware of my skills between the sheets.”

“Ridiculous. How old are you? 40?”

Bella’s nostrils flared. “32!”  

“Right. My bad.”

“SEE!  Even you think I’m a crone and you fuck me on the regular!”

“If you were a crone I would not fuck you on the regular. But we could still be friends.”

“Gavin Byrne you are like every … no not like every man you’re worse than any man I’ve ever known.  If I were to offer it to you, night or day or anywhere… you wouldn’t refuse me.  I don’t think you’ve EVER refused me and the day you do, I will know that our marriage has ended or is on it’s way to doing so.”

“I dunno. I’m feeling very… resistant tonight. Might have to test me.”

“I think you don’t want to push that button.  I will win that bet Mister Byrne.”

“Bet you twenty thousand.”

“You want to bet millions on the idea that the kid wants to 'fuck me bad' but thousand on getting laid?  Are you so sure I’m going to win and want to save a buck?”

Gavin smirked at her. “I win either way, don’t I?”

“I suppose that’s true,” said Bella. “So just curious, before I commit to this insanity, how would you go about proving the boy wants to fuck me?  Are you going to ask him? He’ll deny it even if he did.”

“First off, you just have eyes. Second, you use your eyes to watch him. Boom. Easy.”

“He’s been here for two hours while we talked about his mother’s alcohol problem, he didn’t seem odd to me at all.  If anything I felt like I wanted to wrap him up in a big hug - the poor kid has been through some shit. He’s hurting.”

“Well, sure, kid likes his mother. Tough times. Maybe tonight was a bad night. I’m just saying… he wants it. I’ve spent my whole life reading people. Not ready to trust me on this one?”

“Well now you’ve gone and done it.  I’m going to have to figure it out. And once I do it’s going to be weird.”

“Don’t make it sound like it’s going to be a difficult process. Just give him a hug and listen for the springing sound from his pants. And it won’t be weird.”

“Oh?  You think it’s perfectly okay that I know the boy wants to nail me and then I spend the rest of the time pretending I don’t know this?”

“Why do you need to pretend you don’t? I work with people who want a ride on the Gavin train all the time. You just act polite about it.”

Bella blinked.  “So… you work with women who want you all the time… who are these women?  Just curious.  No reason exactly.”

“All of them, obviously.”

“Hmm.”  She sighed.  “Well that’s a lot of women to kill, and bodies to hide but I guess someone has to do it.”  She winked.  “I’m really going to hate having to do it but I can’t let women go around wanting to ride the Gavin Train…”  She stifled her laugh.

“And look. I told you I did my homework. He does seem like a good kid. He actually reminds me a lot of Will, and you know I wouldn’t say that lightly.” A shadow crossed Gavin’s face. 

Bella’s laughter died and she drew a deep breath.  She looked at the floor at the mention of Will.

“Eric seems… honorable. If I actually thought he was going to try to fuck you, I’d be talking to him, as well as you.”

“He can want all he wants but it takes two to tango, as they say.  I think you know where I stand on the matter and any attempts to violate my wishes… well, I think we both know how that would play out.”

“Like I said, he seems like a good guy. I’m not worried about him. But you seemed oblivious, so I figured I’d mention it. Didn’t want you to actually pat the guy’s knee and have him pass out or something.”

“It is flattering though,”  Bella said, a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of her lip.  

“It is. He has excellent taste.”

“He is a very good looking young man.”  Bella let her gaze drift off to the corner of her eye, poking at her husband to see if she could arouse some small spark of jealousy in him but failing.  “Strong.  Rather large for someone so young… filled out a lot in the last few years I’d say.” 

“If Aurora was fifteen years older,” thought Gavin, “… well, no one’ll ever be good enough for her. But a big, strong guy who takes care of his family? Could do a lot worse. Anyone else you could try to set him up with?”

“Agreed.  No one will be good enough for Rora.  As for Eric…” She paused and thought about it a moment, “Most of the girls I could think about are already involved with other fellas.  I’ll keep my eyes peeled though… of course, I could introduce him to your sister when she gets back in the saddle.”

“He’d be a rebound at best.”

“She could use a nice guy around when she’s ready for that.  She won’t keep him, no one will ever live up to William … I mean, she’s already asked me to throw Kacey off her scent so… if she’s not up for rebounding with him it won’t be with some random kid she’s never really known.  Surely.”

“I just feel like…” Gavin took on a peppy voice, “Heya kiddo, want to fuck the Godmother? No pressure!” He shrugged, dismissing the idea. 

“He might like it.  Tara’s a pretty wild girl.  Can’t imagine where she gets such genetics from.  Honestly…”

“No idea.” Gavin paused. “What about April? She barking up anyone’s tree?”

“April?  I hadn’t thought about it.  Truth is I keep her so damn busy she doesn’t have much of a time for a social life.”

“I mean, I know she’s new. But she’s around the right age.”

Bella nodded, “Yeah she is.  I honestly just never considered it before.  I mostly keep her around for how friendly she is, effective and well, she’s got the prettiest… handwriting.”  she smiled.

“Uh-huh,” said Gavin. 

“Don’t tell me you don’t look at her … handwriting.  You know you have.”

“I feel like however, I answer this question either April or myself is winding up at the bottom of the Delaware. So… who is April? Not sure we’ve met.” Gavin smirked. “I’d just try to get Eric pointed in some other direction. He needs to fall for someone else, and maybe he can move on. Otherwise, he’s just going to keep pining for you. And I plan on living a long, long time.”

“You know that hair color of hers is natural.”  Bella winked at her husband.  “Alright, alright, I’ll… help him sow some of his oats.  Point him in the direction where he can blow off steam safely and not get himself killed by the Godmother’s hitman brother.”

“I mean, I’m sure he’d love to have you in the room with him. Give him some pointers.” 

Bella smirked, “You do NOT want to know what I was thinking just now.”  she giggled.  “Let’s just say I don’t want to sleep with the fishes either, so I’ll forget the thought.”

“Oh, I think I know,” Gavin stood up and shrugged off his suit jacket. “Now? Now you’re in trouble…”

“Do I bother to run?  Or will the wolf always catch me?  Hmm…” Bella mocked playfully. “That poor kid has no idea what sort of troubled he’d get in if he keeps sniffing around my office.  I’d hate to be any man who you thought was trying to get too close to me.”

“I can’t blame the kid. He fell for you… I understand the appeal.”

“I’m too old for him.  He barely really knows who I am.  I honestly can’t see it. Even if you account for the idea he has a thing for older Italian women, it seems a stretch to my mind.”

“I’m not trying to talk you into him, Bella. But you’re 32. You look 25. He’s 22, and he’s probably had a crush on you for a decade.”

Bella smiled, “You think I look 25?”

He approached her, resting his hands on her hips and standing in front of her as she leaned back against the edge of her desk.

“On a bad day. Most days, you look exactly the same as you did in Montreal. And Chicago. Especially Chicago.”

“Oh I liked Chicago.  I could stand for that… or not.”  she smirked. “You are so getting lucky tonight Mr. Byrne.”

“I’m already lucky.” He moved closer toward her.

“Maybe before you leave this office…”  Bella reached up for his shirt and began to unbutton it.

“You’ve been working too hard. Are these papers important?” Gavin didn’t wait for an answer, lifting Bella onto the desk and placing her on top of the papers. 

She laughed, “Are you asking your wife or Tara’s right hand?  Cause, the answers are very different.  Oh dear… your sister is going to kill you, Gavin.”  

“She’s been saying that since before I can remember. I’ll risk it.” Bella had opened his shirt, and Gavin leaned in to kiss her neck.

“These are insurance claims if she has to request these papers over again…” 

“Fuck the insurance. They’re not paying us anyway. Doesn’t matter. We’ll rebuild it.”

“Your sister,”  She gasped.  “Wants me to try to get what I can out of them.  What will I say when you tear up all this paper and leave it covered in my sweat and-”

“Okay,” said Gavin, stepping back with a smirk. “Clean them up, then. I’ll wait.”

Bella leaped off the desk and turned around to begin gathering up the papers, organizing them as quickly as she possibly could - clearly as eager as Gavin was.

She had them mostly organized as Gavin stepped behind her, pressing himself against her as his hands went under her dress to rest on her hips. Still, her hands were free to organize the papers.

She made a noise that almost was a whimper, “Chicago…”  She sucked a breath between barely parted lips, carelessly piling papers that would need to be resorted later.  “Was one hell of a night.”  She almost hit the chair with the pile she’d gathered, but most of them fluttered to the floor as she tried to toss them aside.

Gavin spun his wife around, lifting her again to sit at the edge of her desk. He’d lost his shoes and his pants, and he moved toward her to kiss her.

“You know, I don’t think you locked that door when you came in… if April walks in, I may lose her as an option for Eric… she’ll be mad with lust for you.”

“And if Eric walks in you can indulge in that thought you had. But you’re right, it’s not fair to April. She’d be swimming with the fishes…” Gavin backed off to go lock the door and returned to his wife wearing a grin- and nothing else.

***

When it was over, Gavin had fallen forward onto her, kissing her gently. He shifted on his side and rested there with her as they both breathed heavily in the darkness.

“You need a bed in your next office…”

“You told me never to get a bed in my office.”  She sighed. “Remember? Tara had a bed in her office and you said it was sad.”

“That was before we kept destroying desk supplies…”

“I’ll get a couch…”  A photo fell off the wall behind them, Bella’s eyes momentarily flashed to where it had been before looking back to Gavin.  “A big one.”

***

“I’m sure Mrs. Byrne will only be a little while longer…”  April said to the man in front of her shuddering as she heard what was probably the lamp crashing to the floor.  “Um… but if you’d like to just leave your number I can always have her…”

“GAVIN!”  Bella's voice could be heard through her still closed office door.

“... call you later.”  April said turning six shades of red.  

“That might be for the best,” The older man said standing up and departing.

April looked at the door to her boss’ office for not the first time wondering what it would be like to be married to a man like Gavin Byrne, a man who seemed to have an endless hunger for his wife.

After about ten minutes she attempted the intercom, hoping that maybe they hadn’t broken it.  “Mrs. Byrne?”

Bella cracked up laughing hearing April’s voice from under her desk somewhere.  

“Mrs. Byrne, it’s five I was going to head out for the day… the mayor’s office had sent someone down to talk to you at the request of Godmother Byrne… I’ve left his number on the desk.”

Bella giggled, “Oh… shit.  Your sister is gonna kill me.”  She then reached her arm down over the side of the desk blindly feeling around until she found the arm of her chair and then found the intercom on the chair.  She made a face at Gavin that said be quiet.

“Have a nice night, April.”  She said into the intercom after pressing the button.

“You too, Mr. and Mrs. Byrne.  I’ll lock the door behind me.”  

Bella busted out laughing after letting the button go and kissed Gavin again.

The next day, Eric was pacing outside his family's house. He'd told his mother and his sister that his boss would be visiting, and while his mother had agreed to clean herself up, Rhiannon had apparently decided to torture Eric. To avoid shouting, he'd left the house and started pacing, trusting that Rhia wouldn't ruin things for him.

As he saw a black car that he assumed belonged to Bella- to Donna Byrne- he stood still, waiting for a moment on the small porch that he barely seemed to fit onto before moving down the walkway to greet her.

Bella was dressed in a sensible pair of slacks and feminine blouse with pearl buttons as she climbed out of the driver's seat, her husband in his normal street clothing exited via the passenger's side. 

This was expected, the surprise for Eric quite possibly came when the second car pulled in.  The driver was Bella's bodyguard Linval in his usual suit and tie.  The woman in the passenger seat, however, wasn't another guard - it was Bella's secretary April.  The young woman wore a powder pink sweater and skirt, her dark hair was bound up in a crocheted snood.

April gave a smile to Eric but he might not have noticed as Bella was talking at the time.  "Hey."  She crossed the small yard quickly.  "I hope you don't mind we brought some help.  Not sure how this was going to go so I figured better safe than sorry." 

Eric nearly fell over when Bella stepped out of the driver's seat. For two seconds, he thought she'd driven herself over alone. The Gavin got out of the car, and Eric forced himself to smile wider. But his bowed head toward Gavin was full of genuine respect as Bella walked around the car. 

"Mr. Byrne. A pleasure. Thank you for coming."

"I assure you, Eric," said Gavin with a grin, "The pleasure is all mine. My wife has told me quite a bit about you. I'm surprised we haven't crossed paths before."

"I've only broken into the business relatively recently, since-"

As Bella finished her walk around the car, Eric cut himself off and bowed his head much lower than he did when he met Gavin, who took the opportunity to roll his eyes and smirk at Bella. 

"Donna Byrne, thank you so much for coming. I'm sorry to give you more work to do."

As the other two people emerged from the second car, Eric shook Linval's hand and greeted him, then smiled warmly at April.

"Thank you both for coming to help. I hate to air my family's dirty laundry, but I may the help."

"It's not a trouble at all, Eric."  April said warmly.  

"Where the Don goes, I go."  Linval said with a nod of respect for the wise guy in front of him.

"Do we need to play along with any story you've given to her or your sister?"  Bella asked.  "Whatever makes it less stressful for her and you is what we'll do.  I'm here not as a Don today, I'm here as a friend.  We all are.  So... dispense with the formalities on this trip... just this once.  Alright?  Bella will be just fine for today.  I just need to know who to put in what car and what if anything you've told her already.  If nothing, well, we'll make it up as we go."

She eyed Gavin, knowing his dislike for lies but also knowing he'd understand that stressing out an older woman with as many problems as this one had, well ... it served very little purpose.

"Thank you... Bella." Eric nodded. It sounded right.

"I just..." Eric sighed. "I'm not really clever. I didn't make up some sort of lie. I just told them that the don would be visiting. They know what I do for work. I just told them today that you'd be stopping by. I'm hoping that if you just show up and order her into a car, she'll get in and she'll be so intimidated by you that she'll just go."

"I mean, everyone from our neighborhood sees you and your husband as larger than life. If you're just tell her she's going and seem vaguely threatening... I think that would do it."

Bella nodded, "If you think she'll listen.  We'll try that."  She patted Eric's arm and proceeded up the steps confidently.  April came up beside Eric and smiled at him.

Quietly, just loud enough for Eric to hear, April spoke, "If anyone can talk your mother into going for help, it's Isabella Byrne.  She could sell ketchup popsicles to Eskimos wearing white.  People trust her.  They like her.  I know that you know that, don't worry, everything is going to be fine."  It was the most she'd said to the man that didn't deal with business in all the time she'd known him.

Bella opened the door and peeked inside.  "Mrs. Dillion?"  she smiled.  "I'm Bella Byrne.  Your son works for me."  She came inside followed by her companions.

"Thank you, April. I hope you're right," said Eric.

"And even if April's wrong about how good she is, she can just filibuster. Indefinitely. Until you give up," said Gavin.

Eric tensed. The man had preternatural hearing; he'd have to keep that in mind. 

Mrs. Dillon seemed to be in her mid-forties. Her hair was mostly brown, though more than a few grey hairs were present. She was wearing a moderately expensive floral dress, obviously her Sunday best, as she answered the door.

"Of course. Come on in. You're most welcome. He mentioned you would be coming today, but he didn't mention what it was about." As Mrs. Dillon moved past the stairs, she shouted up. Eric winced, either at the shouting or at the fact that his sister wasn't in place. "Rhiannon! Our guests have arrived!"

Almost immediately, a  sixteen year old girl appeared at the stairs. Her hair was lighter than Eric's and it fell to her shoulders. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she curtsied to the group.

"Can I get you something to eat? Drink?" asked Mrs. Dillon.

"No, I'm afraid we've already had lunch, but thank you for your hospitality.  You have a lovely home and a darling family."  Bella turned and looked at the young woman, giving her a smile.  "I have a daughter as well.  My Aurora is just a few years younger than you."

She looked back toward Eric's mother, "You may not be aware but your son is one of my hardest working and most loyal men.  For anyone who stands out the way Eric does, I like to go the extra mile from time to time.  So I'm here with a few gifts."   She smiled at Eric.  

"Eric has asked that I not reward him in the traditional ways of our family, so after talking with my sister in law, we've agreed that Eric will be receiving a substantial raise in recognition of his efforts which will include a provision for his sisters continued education."  She nodded to Rhiannon.  

Bella let this news sink in to the family before continuing, "And as for you, my gift to you personally requires a bit of a car ride.  So... grab a jacket and please join us.  We can get to know each other better on the way." 

Rhia bowed her head politely to the don, not daring to say more.

At the praise of Eric, Mrs. Dillon smiled. "It warms my heart to see you say that, Don Byrne."

Gavin looked like he was going to pipe up about his own upcoming promotion, but Bella elbowed him in the ribs where only Linval, April, and Eric could see her. At the mention of gifts, however, Eric seemed shocked. A raise?

Rhia blinked, then smiled at the mention of her education.

Mrs. Dillon looked slightly nervous, but didn't hesitate for a moment to grab her jacket and make her way outside. Her face was stoic as she made her way out to the car.

Bella, Eric, Mrs. Dillon, April, and Gavin made their way to the first car, while Linval led Rhiannon to the second one.

"April," said Bella, pausing at the car, "could you please lead my husband to the second car and keep Rhiannon company?" Gavin looked to open his mouth, but a look from Bella sent him after April.

Bella sank into the driver's seat, enjoying the feel of the leather. Mrs. Dillon had sat in the back seat. Eric, seemingly, had no idea whether to sit in the front next to Bella or in the back next to his mother. Eventually, he opened the back door and climbed in, looking slightly cramped but content with his decision.