Bad Blood Ch. 03 - Fine Day For a Reunion

He chuckled, "Right as always, Sonny." After saying that, he picked up Janelle's hand and kissed it. My brother was pussy-whipped alright, but it was Janelle, after all - who could fucking blame him?

Then I looked at my nephews and their wives, "Sorry boys, don't get me wrong, your wives are damned pretty, but just like grapes, they just need to age a bit more to become fine wine like Nicki and Janelle here."

Janelle gave me a sharp look. I thought for a minute I'd pissed her off, but then she flashed me that damned smile of hers that could make a choir boy steal from an offering basket. "Sonny, you are such a charmer. It's a good thing Andrew found me first."

I grinned back at her. "Yeah, is it, but now I got a chance to even up the score." I took Nicki's hand, and said, "That is, if you'll agree to have dinner with me tonight, Ms. Chantelle." If you think I was I moving too fast, you can bite me. I was 63 years old, and sure as hell not getting any younger.

Nicki looked at my brother's wife and teased, "Janelle, your brother-in-law seems pretty forward. Can I trust him?"

She laughed and cracked, "Sonny's a charming man, Nicki, so sure, go to dinner with him, but trust him? HA! Keep one hand on your purse and the other on your panties, otherwise he'll snatch them both off of you in no time."

It must have been a gal thing; all the women in the room whooped loudly at her remark. I smiled in return, but Steven and Brad just kind of looked uncomfortably at each other. I wondered what that was about?

Misty spoke up, "Mama can palm read and tell fortunes for real! Mama, please, will you read some palms?"

Darlene jumped in, "Ooooh, yes, Nicki, please!"

Nicki shook her head and smiled, "Well, if the girls insist, I'll do a couple of readings. Who'd like to go first?" I didn't have to be asked, I volunteered. She took my left hand, examined it carefully, and closed her eyes. She stroked my palm with her fingers, and I swear I felt a low-voltage current running through them. She did this for a minute, then took a deep breath and exhaled. Eyes still closed, she spoke quietly.

"There are years of darkness here, but it's behind you, not ahead of you. You are a man of strong passion." She involuntarily shuddered. "You are powerfully loyal, a man who would never cheat on his lover or allow his family to be hurt." Then without opening her eyes, she placed her forefinger in the center of my palm and made a small circle with it. "There is money in your future," she murmured, then her eyes sprang open, and she looked directly at me in surprise, "and...a child!"

If the women thought Janelle's remark about not trusting me was funny, they practically wet their pants laughing at the idea of an old guy like me fathering a kid! Not wanting to piss off Nicki, I stood up and gently replied, "Thank you for the reading, Nicki, but I think your prediction might be a bit off. I'm new in town with only a few bucks to my name, I got grey hair, wrinkles, and bags under my eyes. I seriously doubt any woman would want to get with me."

"Don't be too quick to dismiss my vision, Sonny Montello," Nicki replied curtly, "it would be an error to underestimate me." I thought to myself 'Crap! I've insulted her and our date's probably off now', but then she concluded, "I'm staying at Steven and Misty's house, by the way. Pick me up at 6:30pm, and I expect to be taken somewhere that serves decent seafood."

Darlene handed baby Amelia to Brad, and sat down in the chair I'd just vacated. Holding out her hand, she asked "Would you please do me next, Nicki?" Uh oh. Since Darlene's mother was Silas Chantelle's first wife, I was watching to see Nicki's reaction.

Apparently, Nicki was a kind soul and harbored no resentment. She merely smiled and began her reading. It didn't take her long. "I see there were very dark clouds over you and your husband in the past." Darlene frowned; apparently, Nicki had hit a sensitive spot, but continued, "Those clouds are now gone, and you have a very strong link to him, unbreakable I daresay."

Darlene beamed at Brad, then Nicki nodded towards Janelle, "You also have a very strong link to your husband's mother, stronger than to your own."

Darlene grinned at my sister-in-law, her face now slightly flushed. Then, as she did with me, Nicki closed her eyes and made a small circular motion with her forefinger in the center of Darlene's palm. She drew a surprised breath and said, "Congratulations on your twins."

Darlene sat up straight her eyes wide with surprise, and shouted, "WHAT?"

Nicki asked, "Have you experienced mild cramping and spotting recently? Fatigue and nausea?"

Darlene looked at Brad, who for his part looked like a guy who'd just touched the third rail at the 50th Street subway station back in New York. "Yes, but I thought it was just my period being weird."

"That was actually your period bidding you farewell. On the way home, you might want to stop by the pharmacy and pick up a pregnancy test stick."

Nobody had to tell Darlene twice. Within 3 minutes she'd packed up the baby, grabbed Brad and excitedly dashed out the door.

A stunned but delighted Janelle asked, "Was that true? How did you do that?"

Nicki explained, "I have the Roma gift of sight. I simply read her aura, and in amongst everything else there were two tiny glimmers of light reflecting back at me. I'm no doctor, of course, but I'm pretty sure Darlene will confirm it soon. As for the part about her having a strong bond with you, I wasn't making anything up. I saw no bond with her own mother but with you, she has a deep connection."

Janelle nodded, "That's nice to hear. A few months back, Darlene and her mother had a falling out, and I stepped in to support her. As far as I'm concerned, she's my girl now." I laughed quietly to myself, knowing she was sugar-coating it. I knew the whole story because while I was in lock-up, Andrew had written me about it. Darlene's mother tried to kidnap the girl and take her back to Louisiana, and it ended up with Janelle giving the bitch a good beat-down. My sister-in-law was one hell of a woman, that was for sure.

After we finished eating, the remaining women packed up Amelia and went to the mall to do some clothes shopping. My brother laid down on the couch to take a nap, the old fart, but I was excited and energized. Being fresh out of prison will do that to you.

I went into the kitchen and started cleaning up the dirty dishes. As I was loading up the dishwasher Steven came in, still wearing that serious-ass look on his face. I asked, "Something up, Steven?"

Always the responsible clone of his father, Steven replied, "Uncle Sonny, I just wanted to give you a heads-up. Be careful with Nicki Lynn. She's beautiful and sweet, but she's also a Chantelle. In our experience, a Chantelle woman can be...a handful. You can ask Brad, he had to find out the hard way."

I laughed out loud, "Your brother looks pretty damned happy to me, and his wife is a hot little number!"

Steven nodded his head, "Yeah, Darlene's always been gorgeous, and things definitely worked out great between them, but early on she gave him a really rough time. As for me, I love being married to Misty, but there are times when I'm as much a lion-tamer as I am a husband. She keeps me on my toes."

That was surprising to hear. "Really? She seems crazy about you and that baby."

"Oh, don't get me wrong, she is, and I've been crazy about her since the day we met. All I'm saying is, if you're going to get involved with Nicki Lynn, be careful. When Chantelle women set their mind on something, they can be pretty relentless in getting what they want. Savage, even."

I shook my head and chuckled. "Steven, I just spent 7 years locked up with the dregs of humanity. What on Earth could that sweet woman do to me that's worse than that?"

This discussion would have been uproariously funny, but I could see my nephew wasn't joking. I assured him, "Thanks for the heads-up, but don't forget who you're talking to. I love your dad, but I'm definitely not my goody-two-shoes-straight-arrow-never-been-in-trouble brother."

I put my arm around the kid. "It's nice that you want to take care of your old uncle, but remember, I'm Santo fucking Montello. In my life, I spent more time in trouble than out of it. Your mother-in-law is a beautiful woman, while I'm old, tough and mean. I wouldn't give two shits if Nicki Lynn Chantelle is a serial killer as long as I can get a cuddle and a kiss from her, you follow?"

Steven patted me on the back and said, "Sure Sonny. Just don't say I didn't warn you." That pretty much ended the discussion.

++++++++++

For my first date in 7 years, Andrew loaned me the keys to his Mercedes and three hundred bucks for what we as kids used to call 'walking around' money. I showered, shaved, and borrowed some khakis and a clean button-down shirt from my brother to wear. Janelle must have fed him good; while I was in prison, he'd gotten thicker while I'd gotten leaner, so the clothes fit good.

Steven suggested I take Nicki to this place called Le Palais Grande, a fancy French joint where he'd taken Misty on their first date. Ordinarily you had to book reservations at least 45 days in advance, but my nephew had a guy on the inside - Phillipe Bardin, the restaurant's sommelier -- who got us a reservation that night.

When I went to Steven and Misty's house to pick Nicki up, she looked great! Her long dark hair was done up in a French twist, and she was wearing a clingy long dark blue evening dress she'd borrowed from Misty. She explained that it was a bit snug, but she'd managed to squeeze into it. From my point of view, I had zero complaints. She looked hotter than a bag of jalapeño peppers, I'm telling you.

Turns out I wasn't the only one who thought Nicki was an eyeful; when we walked into the restaurant, I could pretty much hear every man's neck snap from twisting to get a look at her. Those jealous losers could suck it, because this hottie was MY date! When we were led to the table, instead of being seated across from me, Nicki sat in the chair next to mine. This suited me just fine. The closer I was to this living doll, the better.

Steven's pal Phillipe picked out a nice white wine, and while he poured it he told me the story of Steven buying Misty an $800 bottle of wine on their first date. I had to admit, my nephew was a class act all the way. I think Nicki was impressed with her new son-in-law as well.

We shared steamed mussels for appetizers, then for the main course Nicki got her seafood, the grouper basquaise - pan-seared grouper in a balsamic brown butter sauce - while I got the butternut squash risotto. Ever since I was a kid, I always loved a good risotto but somehow it was never on the menu in the High Desert State Prison dining hall, go figure!

For dessert, we shared a nice warm chocolate souffle, although Nicki's half was more like 85 percent of it. This woman obviously loved to eat, which was just fine in my book. I liked women with some meat on their bones!

When the table was cleared, we ordered a couple of nice strong cappuccinos. I wasn't sure how Nicki was feeling, but between the great food and my gorgeous companion, I was on top of the world. I decided to tease her a little, and asked "Were you planning on slipping one of them love potions of yours into my drink tonight?"

Nicki didn't answer, instead she reached down into her purse and pulled out a tiny glass vial with a tiny cork in the neck. I grinned, ear-to-ear, then leaned over and pressed my lips gently to hers and whispered, "La mia bellissima strega."

She softly kissed me back, and whispered "What does that mean?"

"It means you're my beautiful witch. Believe me, Nicki, you don't need no damned potion, but if it makes you happy..." I took the vial, pulled the cork out and tossed back the entire thing, then grinned at my lovely date. The taste was, well, let me put it this way: while I was locked up, once or twice I'd tried 'pruno' -- toilet wine made secretly by prisoners -- and this was worse. So much worse. The things we do for love, eh?

Nicki's eyes were wide, "Sonny, it only takes two drops, not the whole vial!"

I chuckled, "Nicki, I'm a Montello. We never do things halfway."

I paid the check in cash, leaving a 30% tip. As the two of us walked out to the car, arm-in-arm, a strange feeling started to come over me. I looked up, and every star in the night sky was literally blazing; the full moon shining like a spotlight. In fact, every one of my senses seemed to be working overtime. The feeling in my fingertips when I stroked her hair, the sounds of the croaking frogs in a nearby drainage ditch, the sour/bitter flavor of the love potion still on my tongue, the light scent of her perfume, my brain was overloading. Oh, and my dick had acquired the rigidity of a marble pillar.

I held the door open for my date, and as she slipped inside somehow my hand caressed her wonderfully round bottom. Although she didn't need my assistance, I insisted on helping her put on her seatbelt. Once the buckle clicked, I ran my hands up and down her torso to make sure everything in her anatomy was properly positioned. My reward was her taking my head in her hands and pulling my face into hers. I finally had to break away from that kiss only because the awkward bent-over position was giving me a muscle cramp in my lower back. Getting older sucks!

When I drank that love potion in the restaurant I did it just for show, not believing for a minute that it was real. Given how I was feeling now, I wasn't so sure any more. As of this moment Nicki was the most desirable woman in the world, and I'd do anything she asked me to:

Rob a nun? No problem, I'd take her money and her rosary, too.

Steal baby formula from an orphanage? Glad to, how many cans you need?

Eat an endangered species? Sure, baby harp seal makes great sushi!

I now felt every living cell in my body tingling, and they were all screaming in unison, "WE WANT NICKI!"

I closed her passenger side door and wobbled around the car to the driver's side, as the weight of my excited manhood seemed to be throwing me a bit off-balance. Once I got in, my hands were shaking a bit and I ended up dropping the car keys twice. The second time I bent over to pick them up off the floor, I felt Nicki caress my face and heard her whisper, "You've made me feel so good tonight, I don't want it to stop. When you take me home, will you come in and keep making me feel good?"

This had to be a trick question, right? My mouth was dry, and my tongue was failing me, but I managed to get out "Yeah."

As much as I wanted to punch it and make the engine in Andrew's E450 earn its living, I took it easy. I was driving with an expired license, after all. Being in prison didn't allow me to visit the DMV to renew it, so getting pulled over by the California Highway Patrol would have been inconvenient to say the least. Nonetheless, I cheated a little bit and drove at two miles over the speed limit. When I felt Nicki's hand on my knee, I increased it to three.

As I drove, she started talking. "While the family were waiting for you to arrive, Janelle told me a lot about you." Uh oh.

"What did she tell you?"

"She told me that you were handsome, that you were a bad man with a good heart, and that you always took care of your family even when it meant you had to break the law to do it."

"In my defense, I'm not a bad man any more. I served my sentence, and I've been a law-abiding citizen," I quickly glanced at the dashboard clock, "for 11 whole hours now."

"She told me you'd never had a girlfriend that she knew of."

"I had one or two in high school, but after that, most of the time I was too... professionally occupied." What I meant was, being in and out of prison didn't exactly win me any 'most eligible bachelor' awards, but I was embarrassed to tell her that.

"So now you have a fresh start."

"Yeah, now that my life of crime is officially over, I was thinking of maybe opening up a florist shop or something."

She reached up and playfully touched the tip of my nose. "No, you silly man, I meant relationship-wise."

With a racing heart and pumped full of love potion, this was not exactly at the front of my mind, but I knew I had to play this right or I might lose my chance with Nicki. "Well, I ain't got much to offer right now. Like I told you earlier, I got no money, and don't know no woman who'd be interested in me."

I felt her hand move up my leg to my crotch, and lightly rub against my hardness. "I told you in my reading, I saw there was money in your future," she said, and pressed more firmly against the lump in my trousers, "and as of right now, you have a woman who's very interested in you."

Reaching under her skirt, she deftly slipped off her bikini briefs -- I have no idea how she even DID that with a seatbelt on - and stuffed them in my shirt pocket, then leaned back and gave me a seductive smile. My palms began to sweat, and my head felt like it was going to explode.

Ten minutes later, I pulled into Steven and Misty's driveway. Turning the motor off, I ran around to the passenger side and opened the car door for Nicki. Slowly, she slid those amazing legs out, then using my arm as leverage, pulled herself up. I think the love potion was really kicking my ass now, this was almost an out-of-body experience. Someone, I think it was me, asked her, "Have I mentioned how fantastic you look tonight?"

She pushed me back against the car, grabbed my shirt collar and pulled me down for a kiss, her tongue teasing mine, then asked, "Have I mentioned how I never want you to stop mentioning it?" Then she shocked me by reaching down and tearing my shirt open, the buttons making ticking sounds as they scattered on the driveway. She ran her hand over my now-exposed chest, her fingers outlining the bulge of my pectorals. At this moment I was silently grateful for the hours I'd spent weightlifting in the prison exercise yard.

"Oh, my, look at these muscles," she cooed, then placed a kiss directly on my sternum and ran her fingertips through my silver chest hairs. "Sonny Montello, you are one hell of a man. Take me inside before I melt!"

This wasn't some beginner's seduction class, this was doctorate-level stuff. I realized Steven was right to warn me. Nicki Lynn Chantelle was a female tsunami, and I was being swept away. In her hands, the man I'd been -- savvy, tough, ex-con Santo 'Sonny' Montello -- was being sculpted into something new, and there wasn't a damned thing I could do about it.

I picked Nicki up and threw her over my shoulder -- I was plenty strong, and to me she weighed hardly anything -- and opened the front door as she screeched in laughter. Since it was after 11, I figured everyone would be asleep and I tried to quiet her down, whispering "Hush, you'll wake the kids and the baby," but it was undone when the hall light turned on. Steven was standing there, and I kid you not, his jaw was hanging open just like in the movies.

We must have been quite a sight; me, with my shirt torn open and exposed chest, his mother-in-law Nicki slung over my shoulder with the skirt of her dress riding up, exposing her ass cheeks above her shapely legs.

In a low voice, I started to say, "Sorry for the noise, but this isn't what it looks like..." but then I changed it to, "...aw, hell, who am I kidding, this is exactly what it looks like." I reached in my pocket and threw him the car keys. "Do me a favor and let your old man know his car will be here for the night if he needs it. I'll bring it back to him first thing in the morning."

Steven blushed, and stammered out, "Sure. I think he, uh, can use Mom's Lexus if he needs to."

"Cool," I said, patting Nicki's bottom and causing another round of giggling, "Then we can sleep in. Which way to her guest room?"