Just Do Me A Favor

Just Do Me A Favor

by B. B. Irvine

Copyright 2020 B. B. Irvine

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Chapter 01 - A Favor Asked

The phone ringing him awake at just six thirty in the morning might have been cruel and unusual punishment if Leto Macellum had a hangover, especially as he so rarely drank, but he had decided not to drink last night. He had gone to bed very late, and was tired, but not cruelly so. When he was working shifts at the hospital in New York City he woke up every morning at five fifteen, so getting up an hour later was still like sleeping late.

As to being woken at six thirty in the morning, that was neither unusual when he stayed over in one of Baxter Benton’s homes, nor intentionally cruel – just self centered as usual, when Baxter Benton needed something. He had many friends stay with him as guests, and they all somehow ended up being put to work for him at least once during their stay. Baxter always made it humorous, but he was always completely serious, no matter what it was he was asking for as a favor.

For as long as they had been friends, Leto hadn’t minded Baxter’s quid pro quo guest plan, and he had stayed at several of Baxter’s many houses worldwide over the years. That had meant trips to places he had seen and experiences he’d had that he would have missed if he hadn’t gone along with Baxter’s refrain of, "What are friends for?"

Baxter Benton was letting him hang out in luxury, so helping Baxter with various chores seemed like a fair return, since Leto’s total wealth could be represented in Baxter Benton’s flatscreens bill alone. He kept hoping he’d eventually get a date with one of the women who were friends with Baxter’s current girlfriend, but every new girlfriend meant the previous one and all of her friends became persona non grata non-entities. Generally by the time he learned the new order, either Leto’s visit was over or Baxter had moved on. That pattern seemed unlikely to change anytime soon.

The sun was just creeping over the Atlantic Ocean, and it would be another warm day here in Florida. Leto picked up the phone.

"Lee? Come on, buddy, no time for sleeping! Make yourself useful! I need you to do a favor, okay?

What time is it, Baxter?

Six thirty. Look, just do me a favor!

Sleepy, annoyed, Leto rubbed his tousled hair. He kept in good shape, was built well, and slept only in boxers. He looked through the blinds at the dawning sun and the lush green land surrounding the mansion. What?

I’m on my way to the big meeting at Sheerfurd’s, we talked about it last night while I kicked your ass in pool again. Remember? Took another twenty bye-bye?

Leto remembered it, of course, but he ignored that, and just listened.

Anyway, forgot a briefing case in my car at the Muni Lot. If you do me this favor, you get to use the car afterward while you visit, since you don’t feel comfortable about putting my paid driver to work. Baxter snickered. Are you anti-ex-Army, or do you have a brother in the Navy, or something?

Leto frowned. No, not at all. What about the keys?

I’ll give you the combo to get in, and there’s a key fob unit under the driver seat. The case is either inside the car or in the trunk, I’m not exactly sure. I was sort of drunk, to be honest. I threw it in there and someone gave me a ride.

Leto felt immediate doubts about Baxter’s explanation, but he couldn’t seem to put anything into words that would qualify in terms of getting him out of this simple favor. At the Muni Lot?

Cinnabar will drive you there, you get the case, text me, and I’ll let you know where to drop it off so I’ll get it in time for the meeting. I’ve sent her a text. Cinnabar was Baxter’s driver-car bodyguard, an edgy Latina with dark brown eyes and a hard, scarred body that had seen combat during her days in the U.S. military.

Cinnabar had struck him as the perfect driver for Baxter Benton, because she didn’t take any of his crap at all, and her look of warning shut Baxter right up. She had the hard edged confidence of combat to give her some attitude when that was needed, and she knew how to respectfully disagree in a forcible way.

Leto had never wanted to be driven anywhere by anybody, but when she had driven them both around, he had liked the way she worked, and the way she looked. He just never let on, and had never made a pass or said more than a pleasant word in passing. Making passes at the staff was disrespectful, no matter if he admired what they had done, or how pretty they were.

Leto shook his head. Based on recent visits, he was pretty sure she started work at seven. "Oh, Cinnabar is going to love this!" muttered Leto, who had no doubts at all about that.

He started getting dressed.

Chapter 02 - Cinnabar Preps The Car

Outside the mansion, Cinnabar was almost hostile as she finished setting the blue Lexedes limo car’s mirrors. She knew Baxter Benton well enough to expect the most unexpected demands at the most impossible moments, usually when she wasn’t even supposed to be working. Any suggestions that any worker had any other life besides working in the service of Baxter Benton was received with disbelief and hostile disdain, followed by belittlement as Benton compared that to whatever sort of crisis his demand was due to.

What annoyed her was how Baxter sometimes did realize what an asshole he was being, and then even the lowliest service worker got top level red carpet access to whatever Baxter Benton could offer to help. He often carped about giving any time off for funerals, but then paid for the burial (generally a hefty expense), and helped out in other ways.

He just had to be an asshole first, far too much of the time.

Those genuinely redeeming moments was why she had put up with so much Benton crap for the past couple of years. If Baxter had been a total and consistent loser, he’d be impossible to work with, and would have failed in business long ago; he had niceness in there, somewhere, and even if it only came out whenever a calculation said it ought to, it was a saving grace.

He can afford all sorts of nice toys, too, thought Cinnabar, looking around the car. This nice blue Lexedes Cheepir limousine car had been modified with a larger horsepower engine, armoring in the rear, and bulletproofed front and rear windshields. Baxter also had a modified Lexedes Road Boar XG, which was the high end, fully armored car he had shipped to Europe, Asia, or to anywhere else he wanted travel by car and still impress in safer style.

She never knew what sort of vehicle Baxter Benton was going to buy next, or that she would get to drive – or learn how to drive. The company paid for any lessons she had needed in order to remain as his primary driver, and after getting her rotary wing (heliciopter) pilot license, she was now halfway through fixed wing flight school, which was nice.

The room provided in her contract was nice too, at least in terms of her budget: it was free, within a small corporate hotel used mostly by BaxBentEnt executives on company business, but also for certain employees. The building was two minutes away from Benton’s mansion, and she could walk there if she had to. There were also four single bedded employee rooms available at the mansion, for use by any worker stuck working late. It meant she was never truly off unless she was somewhere else, not at the mansion or even at home, and it meant whoever came over to visit her there was seen and noted somewhere.

Nothing was ever truly free at Baxter Benton’s. Not even his closest guests got away without helping out.

It still annoyed her to be asked, thirty minutes before the start of her day, to drive a guest around to do some chores for Baxter Benton. Baxter didn’t want to offer up any of his own cars to be driven by anyone, not even an old friend like Leto Macellum, but Baxter would be getting a kick out of finally making Leto ride in one of his limo cars by offering its use afterward in exchange for the hassle of doing the favor.

Cinnabar straightened, stretched carefully, then relaxed back against the seat headrest. She had been up since five as usual, worked out and trained in Tae Kwon Do, and was stretching out during her cool-down before her shower when the text alert chirped. Since she was Baxter Benton’s driver-bodyguard (in the car), she checked it: when it came to Baxter Benton, it was better to know as soon as possible. So here she was. The mirrors were set, the car was clean, and she was ready to drive it downtown to the Municipal Lot. And where is my principal for this morning, Mister Leto Macellum? thought Cinnabar.

She got out of the car, shut the driver door, and stood there, waiting. Cinnabar wore black jeans and a dark blue denim jacket today, more casual than a proper chauffeur or a bodyguard with a suit. But her dark brown eyes could never stop scanning for threats, and she was actually ready to respond to anything – like a soldier.

A soldier who had done a lot of waiting, and had never liked it very much.

Of all of Baxter Benton’s business partners, associates, family, and friends, Cinnabar knew the least about this one, Leto Macellum. She could see he was about her age (as was Baxter Benton), he was fit and worked out, he was – Leto was a decent looking guy – but he seemed kind of… She thought he was just too bland, sort of. And he had never made a pass or anything, had never leered (unlike ninety nine percent of Baxter’s other friends) or even made a joke to make her think otherwise.

They had been polite every time Baxter Benton introduced them (Baxter was terrible with names, never recalling who he had already introduced to who, and he had always called Leto, Lee,), or while in passing around the mansion and out on the grounds, but Mr. Macellum had never driven alone with her once to anywhere, no matter how many times she had heard Baxter Benton offering him a car with a driver.

Cinnabar had never taken that as personally as Baxter Benton had. She had heard Baxter complain about it more than once to his ex-wife Molly Benton, and he had made fun of his weird friend Lee more than once to other friends.

Leto Macellum had always been quite polite and respectful when he had accompanied Baxter Benton anywhere that she had driven them, but whenever his old pal Lee came to visit, Baxter usually liked to drive them around in one of his sport cars, just like in the old days. Especially over the past year, ever since the Bentons had divorced.

Cinnabar had it easiest, at least: her job was to wait to drive somewhere, then do that over and over again, until the last drive of the day was into the mansion’s garage. The only hard part was when one of Baxter’s passengers was difficult,