Extorting This place.

I looked down at my wristwatch yet again. Fuckin' Ray, always late. I had called my guys, Dom and Ray, and told them to come to my place, we had work to do. This morning, I went to see my captain, Alonzo Leone, he had a job for me. I was to extort this guy named Emilio-something, the owner of a tavern over in Queens. He used to kick up to the Sigliri's, but with their boss Tony Paladino incarcerated for murder, the family was in tatters, and their turf was up for grabs. I took another sip from my coffee and peered into the living room. Dominic was playing with my kid, Anthony, and they were both hollering and laughing. Fuckin' guy, Dom was 240 lbs of cold-blooded killer, but when he was anywhere near kids, he was like one himself. Sometimes I think to myself he oughta' have become a kindergarten teacher instead of a mobster. As I heard the sound of the doorbell, I got up to answer the door. As I opened the door, I was greeted by Ray, smiling brightly. He was a skinny guy, and not very tall, and as always, he was wearing his black leather jacket. "How you doin', good to see ya!" he half-shouted, and we gave each other a hug. "Yeah, good to see you, Ray." I said and smiled. "You're late, though. Let's get going." I put on my jacket and after "Uncle Dom" had said goodbye to my kid, he joined us too, and the three of us made our way towards the driveway where Ray was parked. I didn't have time to go to the back yard to say goodbye to my wife Gina, thanks to Ray being late. Asshole. We got into Ray's old Lincoln and drove off. Ray tinkered with the radio, trying to find a station, and with the other hand, he was lighting a cigarette. He was a great driver, though, one of the best I know, so I wasn't worried about him crashing us into a wall or something. "This Emilio guy we're going to visit, who is he?" Dom asked from the back seat. "I don't know all that much about'im. He runs a pretty successful tavern not far from here, used to be a speak-easy back in the day, and he aint protected. So, the skipper told me to go see'im." Dominic nodded his head as I spoke. "What's the plan, then?" he asked. "Well, we tell him to pay up, if he refuses, we rough him up a bit, same as usual" I said and grinned. "Was plannin' to go before he opens so no nosey customers get in the way, but thanks to Ray here being late, that may not be possible. What the fuck were you doing anyways?" "Gimme a break, huh? I'm sorry, I was at my girlfriend's place!" Ray half-yelled from the driver's seat. "I bet he was at home jerking off" Dom said from the back seat, staring out the window towards the busy streets of The Bronx. "Fuck you" Ray grinned. We finally reached our destination, rolled up to the curb and got out. As we entered the tavern, we were met by the scent of cigarette smoke. A few customers had already dropped in to get their Sunday brunch. I took a deep breath and walked up to the counter, where a middle-aged, skinny guy with glasses and short black hair was cleaning the mugs and listening to the radio. As I approached, a fake smile appeared on his lips, and he spoke, indifferently "What can I get for you, sir?" "You can get me the owner" I said, dryly, and he looked at the three of us, seemingly slightly worried. He pointed towards a door in the other end of the room "He's in the back, what should I tell him it's about?" "We'll go see him ourselves, yeah?" I said, and me and the boys headed towards Emilio's office. The patrons followed us with their eyes, they probably knew there was going to be trouble. I took a deep breath and put on my meanest don't-fuck-with-me face, then pushed open the door to the office and entered, Ray and Dom right behind me. Emilio was sitting behind his desk, going over some business. "Emilio?" I asked as I walked over to him."I hear you'se been operating this joint without paying protection. That's not good. Not in this neighbourhood." Emilio's eyes widened, and he got up from his seat. "Look, I don't need your help with protecting my place. I've been through this before, you fucking punks aint shit." He barked. Dom and Ray walked closer, clenching their fists, ready to intimidate the guy, but all of a sudden, he swung for my face, hitting me right on the chin. I staggered for a moment, and he raised his hand for another blow, but before he could strike, I lunged forward, and after a brief struggle, pinned him against his desk. "You motherfucker!" I yelled as I let my hand connect with his nose. I raised my fist and sent it towards his face again, and his nose broke with a sickening thud. "Stop, stop!" he yelled as I raised my hand a third time. I pulled him up by his collar and stared him into the eyes. "You got a family, you fuck? You better pay up, or I'll come visit them, and it aint going to be pretty." I hissed. The fire of rebellion in his eyes was turning into fear. "I'll pay! Just take it easy, okay?" he stuttered, and I let go. "See, was that so fucking hard?" I grinned. "We'll see you in a week, you need a hand with anything, let me know." We turned around and got out of the office. People were giving us a few odd looks, but otherwise, everything was nice and quiet. Once we were outside, Dom turned towards me and laughed. "He almost took you down there, huh, Vinny?" "Shut the fuck up, he sucker-punched me, crazy fuck." I replied, frowning. We got into Ray's car and drove back to my place.

Yeah i know kinda botch that up.. Thanks though

I don't mind.:) it was nice listening to your story. Thanks for sharing!

Nice story Vincent, i enjoyed reading it :)

Nice story Vincent,usually i act lazy when it comes to long stories,but i enjoyed reading yours.

Very nice Vin, but a bit tough on the eyes.

As Awesome walked passed the gathering, he couldn't help but hear their conversation. Mainly because he was eavesdropping, like.

What crazy nonsense are you guys talking about? Hitting an "enter" key? "Keyboard"? Sounds like science fiction to me. And you there, the one with the "Screamomax" name tag, you're obviously foreign, because the word you're looking for is "listen", not "read". Reading is what we do with books and stuff. Listening is what we do with speech and other stuff. True story.

Awesome whistled as he left them to no doubt continue to talk strangely amongst themselves.

<em>Sliver listens to the story and smiles</em>

Not bad I look forward to hearing what other stories you can give us.

Very good story! One thing, try to divide it up into paragraphs instead of one huge block. HOpe to read more!

Good story.

Just next time space things out a bit. I know we all make mistakes, even my brothers first story was squashed.

Ken/Giz walks out the door rubbing his eyes

Very nice story