Nick raised his hands to protect his face as his body was slammed against the wall. He turned his cheek, prepared to wince, half expecting the big goon’s fist to slam somewhere near his nose.

"Put him down," a voice ordered. Mr. B walked over to where the wall was holding up Nick, whose clothes were slightly rumpled from being flung around. Mr. B put his thick hands around the neckline of Nick’s shirt causing him to flinch. "Relax, Nicky, I never do the dirty work myself. I just wanted to straighten you out a bit."

"Thanks, Mr. B," he said shakily. "I mean I’m no good to you dead. You can’t collect from a corpse."

"Oh you’d be surprised..." he turned his back to Nick and walked towards his desk. "I’ve done some very odd things in my time to collect on a debt. Body parts have become salvageable these days."

"But you wouldn’t want mine," Nick said timidly. "I’ve got diseases."

Mr. B just laughed. "No, Nicky, I don’t suppose your parts would be good to me. You’re highly traceable. Too many people would be looking for you, I suspect. You’ve got friends. Friends become a liability when someone owes money."

"B-B-Besides," Nick stammered. "I’m more valuable to you alive."

Once again Mr. B laughed. "Oh, how modest you are!"

"You get money from me once a --"

"Nicky, Nicky, Nicky, you don’t understand. I don’t want you’re money on a weekly basis. Terms were, one mil at one and a half percent interest per day, payable seven days from the date of the loan."

"I was winning. I was up twice that and then some--"

"And it was gone in a blink of an eye. That’s how them things happen." Mr. B pulled a long cigar from the humidor at the corner of the desk.

"Easy come, easy go, heh," Nick laughed weakly.

Mr. B rounded on him. "My money’s gone. You lost it, now you have to repay it. All of it. And you’re late. Very, very late."

"But I’m telling you, look at the money you’re making on me in interest."

"That’s just my problem," he growled, his hand slammed hard against the desktop and echoed in the room. Nick jumped back a bit. "I’m not getting anything towards the principal. Every day I don’t have that money for someone else’s use is another day I’m out not just the interest, but the interest and the million."

"I’ll get it for you. Interest plus some of the principal, as fast as I can." Nick straightened out his shirt and ran his fingers through his hair as if he just finished the best business meeting ever.

"You’ve got one more week. Then I’m going to start taking recouping my losses any way possible."

"Right, then," Nick said in confirmation as Mr. B’s associate led him from the room. The door closed lightly behind him.

"Mr. B, how come you let him off like that," the associate asked, a little surprised.

"Most of the people we deal with are higher grade of scum than the common folk. This one amuses me...for now."

# # #

"Don’t work too hard." Hoagie stood in front of the doorway to his office, his arms folded across his chest making him more formidable than the great, big teddy bear Aria Kenner knew him to be. She smiled, turning the chamois over to buff the other side of the big black car’s hood.

"Put some elbow grease into it, girly," another colleague chided as he walked by, patting her on the backside.

Aria whirled around, snapping the chamois in retaliation. "I hope you don’t need that hand, buddy, cause you do that one more time and I guarantee you won’t be able to turn the key in the ignition."

"Yeah, I’m scared --"

"You should be!" Hoagie’s voice bellowed across the garage. "One more move like that, and you’ll be pedaling a rickshaw."

Aria smiled derisively. She knew Hoagie wasn’t kidding.

"You okay with tonight’s assignment?"

"Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?" Aria felt herself blush. Nick Mitchell was only a rising star. His career was music, his passion – the photographic arts.

"...are you listening to me..."

Hoagie’s voice was far off and hollow; impervious of her thoughts. Aria wasn’t excited over meeting the recording artist, but rather the company he kept. She was sure she’d run into his best friend, Jeremy Timmons. He was the talent behind their band with a cuteness factor too high to calculate.

"...just be careful tonight."

"You know I always am," she winked. A brief glance at her watch proved it to be later than she thought.

"I gotta get ready," she apologized as she headed for the restroom.

The evening began rather routinely. Aria picked up the client and his friends. After driving them across town to Le Gallerie Noir, she opened his door to screaming fans and camera flashes of the paparazzi.

"Be here at 11:30," Nick mumbled as he smiled at the adoring crowd.

Aria nodded that she understood. She waited a few moments, trying to scan the crowd for a glimpse of Jeremy Timmons, but no such luck.

At 11:15 Aria’s watch alarm went off. She replaced the romance novel she was reading back into the glove box. Once again she checked all aspects of the rear interior. Satisfied that everything was up to par, she pulled the limousine to the front entrance. She had only a few minutes to wait before Nick appeared in the doorway. More cameras flashed as he waved at the hordes of fans cheering behind the velvet ropes.

She turned to open the door for them. Nick and his date slid in as she stopped cold. Before her stood Jeremy Timmons and his fiancée. He was more adorable in person than in the pictures of him she had seen. For a micro-second their eyes met. His mouth was moving yet her ears didn’t register sound. As he disappeared from her view, Aria snapped back to reality.

The cameras continued to flash long after the limousine pulled away. Three blocks later Aria lifted the telephone-type receiver of the intercom.

"The Marlborough Club."

"I know the place," Aria nodded absently. The Marlborough Club was the place to be seen. Aria remembered reading in a magazine article how Nick Mitchell and his friends had been discovered there during an open mike night. That was two albums ago. Currently they had a gold album on their hands and were getting ready to go on tour, or so the tabloids had suggested.

About a mile later the limousine stopped at a red light. Aria looked in the rearview mirror. The scenario that was unfolding behind her was discouraging. Nick had just completed a line of coke and handed the mirror and straw over to his girlfriend. Aria purposefully looked to see what Jeremy was doing. He seemed to be staring out the window. Had he already snorted his share, Aria wondered. The light turned green before she could give it another thought.

Jeremy glanced over at his fiancée, Jackie, who was squealing with delight as her share was passed to her.

"I really wish you wouldn’t," Jeremy looked at her disdainfully, knowing full well that she would snort a line or two just to spite him.

Jackie proffered the mirror to him as if offering the holy sacrament.

"You know better than to even think it," he turned his head toward the window.

"None for you and more for me," she greedily inhaled the remaining two lines.

Aria continued driving for three blocks trying to ignore the shouting that was going on behind her before the intercom buzzed. Without taking her eyes off the road, she pick up the receiver and listened to Nick’s instructions. Seconds later she brought the car to a stop and was escorting Jeremy Timmons out of the vehicle.

"Get in and get going," Nick said gruffly.

Aria looked from Nick to Jeremy and back to Nick. His scowl told her it was no use to try and change his mind. She slammed the door shut and did as he requested.

Jeremy was still standing where he got out as Aria drove away. Her gut feeling told her to back up and let him ride up front, but Nick kept his icy gaze focused on her so she could see it whenever she looked back at her passengers.

Aria nodded and continued toward the nightclub.

"Don’t worry, I’ve called him a cab," the voice was pleasant enough. "And stick around," Nick ordered after flipping his cell phone shut. "We’re only going to make an appearance."

Aria sighed heavily. She hoped they would be longer. She had a nagging feeling that she shouldn’t have left Jeremy Timmons to find his own way home. She didn’t believe Nick called him a cab. "Sir, if you could spare about an hour, I’d like to restock the bar and freshen up the rear cabin for you." Aria hoped she could convince him that it would take that long to complete the task.

"Forty-five minutes, and not a second later," he cocked his head and leered at her.

She wasted no time. The limousine was cruising along just above the speed limit. Aria hoped Jeremy would still be in the vicinity where she had dropped him off.

Where she left him off was considered less than respectable to be found during daylight hours. Nighttime proved to be just as bad. The initial drop-off site was approaching. He hadn’t stayed there -- more proof that he wasn’t waiting for a phantom taxi. Aria slowly circled a few blocks, looking down dark alleyways and at the motley crew decorating a few pub entrances.

Jeremy Timmons had walked about a mile and a half further south. Aria had found him close to an old pub called Stankey’s. It was a dive, nearly deserted save for a few figures staggering from the doorway. Jeremy sidestepped them without missing a beat. Aria let the car creep up until she was within speaking distance. He paused as she rolled down the passenger side window.

"Mr. Timmons, I don’t think it’s such a good idea to be out here at this time. Why don’t you let me drive you home?"

He looked at her as if he were considering it. "Nah, you’re on the clock for him. He wouldn’t be too thrilled by it."

Aria stopped the car as he walked on. Before he knew it, she was walking beside him.
"Don’t you think you should go wait for him back at the club?" He turned on her staring coldly into Aria’s eyes.

"When he invited you ride, you became my responsibility."

"When I left, weren’t you were released of it?" Jeremy’s eyes drifted beyond her. "Did you leave your car in gear?"

Aria turned in time to see headlights advancing towards them. She felt the keys to the limo in her jacket pocket. Stepping out in front of him, Aria waited for the vehicle to pass. "Nope, just another lunatic out and about," she turned to continue walking.

Jeremy didn’t follow. Once again he shielded his eyes against oncoming headlights. The beams intensified as the car got closer. "This idiot must be lost or drunk--"

"Or both," Aria took a step forward, squinting to the brightness to get an idea of what this joker was doing. It became all too evident.

The sedan pulled up onto the sidewalk. Garbage cans set at the curbside for morning pick up scattered with a clang, some crunching under the tires.

"Come on," Aria ran into the street: again Jeremy didn’t follow. He was frozen like a deer caught in the headlights.

Aria didn’t think-- just reacted. She dove toward Jeremy, pushing him out of the path of the oncoming vehicle.