Read Online Funny Boys by Warren Adler - Free Book Online Page B

laughed and put his arm around Mutzie as he drove.
    “Always get hot and hungry after a job,” he said.
    She wondered about this, wondered about the kind of job that could cause such a reaction. She wanted to ask, but she supposed he would think it was intruding on his private business, men’s private business. This was all so new to her, so strange. Looking at Pep in profile as he drove, she felt that she had somehow grown closer to him through this violent act. She supposed that most women were penetrated in such a way the first time. There was just no possibility of avoiding it. He might have seemed ruthless, but wasn’t a certain measure of brutality required? After all, it was like breaking a seal and you couldn’t do that except by a good hard push. There was, she decided, no way it could happen the first time without hurting. No way. Every woman ever born had to go through it. God made them that way.
    She cuddled against him as he drove. The very fact that he was still interested in her after her resistance proved that he really cared about her. He stopped the car in front her apartment house. Then he leaned over and gave her another big soul kiss which she responded to with equal fervor.
    “You were great, baby,” he said, when they had released each other.
    “Am I still going to be your girl, Pep?”
    “From here on in you’re my numba one, baby,” Pep said.

    “And you still respect me, Pep?”
    “You betcha.”
    “And from here on in we’ll see each other a lot?”
    “A lot, Mutz,” Pep agreed. “Only I ain’t gonna be around next week. I gotta do a job in Buffalo.”
    “They keep you pretty busy, Pep,” Mutzie said.
    “Yeah,” Pep said chuckling. “I’m in demand cause I’m good. The best.” He shook his head. “Tonight was a doozy.”
    Before tonight, she had felt that it would be too nosy of her to ask any further questions about what he did. He had said he was a contractor, but she wasn’t really sure what he meant. Apparently, he was in some sort of business with the men on the corner and with those men she had seen him with in the restaurant. Considering what had happened between them tonight, she decided to ask him to explain it a bit more. After all, if she was his number one girl, surely he would be willing to share these other aspects of his life with her.
    “Pep,” she said hesitantly. “What sort of jobs do you do? I mean the kind of work. I know you’re a contractor and I know that Seymour was on the job with you tonight and I …”
    He turned toward her and, even in the dark, she could see the sudden fire of anger in his eyes.
    “I got a deal faw you, Mutzie,” Pep said. “Simple deal. Nevah, nevah, I mean nevah evah ask me what I do. In udder woids, no questions asked. Yaw job now is to be Pep’s goil. Nothin else. Pep’s goil. Got it? Anybody asks you what you know about Pep’s business, all you say is: I’m jes Pep’s goil. No more than that. Got it, Mutzie? You sit quietly and be Pep’s goil. You don listen to nothin and if you listen you don heah. And you don see nothin. Like a filly with blinders runnin around the track. Got it? You wanna use yaw tongue …” he grabbed his crotch, “you save it for this, capish?”

    His sudden vehemence frightened her. She had over-stepped. What he did away from her was not her business. No way.
    “I promise, Pep,” she said. “Cross my heart. I will never, never ask that question again.”
    “That’s my numba one,” Pep said, patting her thigh. He was quiet for a long time, but she could tell he was thinking about something. Suddenly, he stirred and sat upright, startling her. Pushing her an arm’s length from him, he grabbed at the front of her sweater, bunching it in his hand, and put his face close to hers. “Seymour told you sumpin?” Pep snarled. He seemed even angrier than he had been just moments earlier, even angrier than he had appeared at the restaurant when the two men had accosted her.
    “Pep.