Bad Blood Ch. 03 - Fine Day For a Reunion

I heard what she said, but I couldn't believe it, and all I could say was, "What?"

Incredibly, when she sat up in bed I saw there were actual tears in her eyes. What the hell had I done? She pointed to the door and shouted, "I SAID GET OUT!" Afraid of upsetting her worse, I ran out of the room, and out of the house.

Andrew had rented a car for me so I could get around, instead of using his Mercedes. Not knowing what else to do, I drove over to his house. I figured I could get some advice there. Fortunately, he and Janelle were home. They invited me in to come in and sit down, and I explained how Nicki had gotten upset and told me to leave.

Janelle immediately had a theory. "Did you ever think about what's behind her insecurity? Like maybe she's scared?"

This had never crossed my mind. "Scared about what?"

"Scared about losing you to a younger woman when she needs you."

This was odd, Nicki seemed pretty independent. I was confused what Janelle was getting at. "Needs me how?"

"Have you noticed how emotional she gets when you take care of Misty's baby?" I really didn't follow where Janelle was going with this.

"Well, yeah, but I just figured it was a grandma thing, getting all emotional how I'm good with her grandbaby."

"What if it wasn't about Misty's baby? Remember how in her reading she saw you with a child? What if she's picturing you with her baby?"

Well, that question certainly rocked me back on my heels. "Wait a minute -- are you saying...I mean, at her age? I thought she was beyond that point."

"She's not gone through menopause yet. A woman has to go through 12 consecutive months without a period for that. She told me she'd just finished a period right before she arrived in California, so pregnancy is still possible. I'm sorry to intrude on your personal life, Sonny, but have you been having unprotected sex?"

"Well, yeah, at our ages, I thought we were safe! Jeez, if I became a dad now, I'd be 81 by the time the kid graduated high school!"

Janelle put her hand on mine. "Come on, Sonny. The kid could do worse than have a loving man like you for a father. I'm sure Misty and Darlene would have given anything to have you as a father instead of Silas Chantelle. Worst-case scenario, if heaven forbid something does happen to you, the child will have Steven, Brad, or even Andrew to step in and act as a guardian and father figure." I saw I was quickly losing this argument, so I tried one last objection.

"Janelle, Nicki's a dozen years younger than I am. What if she gets tired of me?" My sister-in-law scowled, clearly getting tired of my bullshit.

"Santo Montello, I really thought you were smarter than that."

Oh, man, I really was in trouble now. She'd just called me by my real name, the way my folks used to do when I messed up. I looked at my brother, but he was so stone-faced he could have been on fucking Mount Rushmore. No help there. I was in for a scolding, and Janelle let me have it.

"The very idea that Nicki would ever leave you is preposterous. The poor woman survived being in a bad relationship with her ex. When she met you, she knew she'd finally found a good man -- she even saw it herself when she read your palm. In case you hadn't noticed, she's been bending over backwards to prove it!"

Janelle pointed her finger in my face for emphasis. "I dare you to name one thing she's done that displeases you. JUST ONE!" She sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. "Go ahead, Sonny, name one thing. I'm waiting!"

One time when I was a kid, Mama took me and Amedeo to the American Museum of Natural History in New York where we saw an exhibit with hundreds of different butterflies pinned to boards. My sister-in-law had just pinned me down like one of them butterflies. There was no escaping, she had me square on.

Defeated, I lowered my head. "You're right, Janelle, there's nothing Nicki has done that hasn't been perfect." I lifted my head up, and saw a look of grim satisfaction on her face. "Even if she still wants me, though, I got nothing to offer her. I got no money to my name, and can't get a job because nobody will want to hire a 63-year-old ex-con. I can barely afford to take care of myself, much less raise a family."

Just then, my brother the stoneface piped up. "That's where you're wrong, Sonny. Money's the least of your problems." He slid a thick brown envelope across the table at me. "I was going to give this to you on your birthday next week, but it looks like now's a better time." I glanced at the contents of the envelope, and it looked to be full of financial certificates.

Andrew explained, "I know how hard you worked to take care of me ever since Pops got sent up to Bedford Hills. Every time you sent me money while I was in school, I put aside ten percent for you in a savings account. Once I graduated and started working I didn't really need help anymore, so when you sent money I just put whatever you sent aside for you." Holy shit, I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

My brother wasn't done though. He went on, "Once I was established, I got more strategic about managing your money and started diversifying. Some of your money I kept in your savings account, but also began investing in a few blue-chip stocks, mutual funds, long-term high growth bonds, some high-yield bond portfolios, and a couple of real estate investment trusts. Not all of it is liquid, but your net worth at the moment is in excess of five million dollars. If you don't go crazy and buy a private jet or something, the money from those investments should last you a long time. Buon compleanno, fratello maggiore!"

What a hell of a birthday gift! Andrew and I both stood up, and I walked around the table to embrace my brother. My voice choked with emotion, I managed to choke out, "Ti voglio bene, fratellino!" Suddenly everything I'd done, all the time I'd sat in jails and prisons, all the times I supported my baby brother, had been worth it.

Then Janelle suggested: "How about you boys go have a nice brotherly lunch together? I'm sure you have plenty of things to discuss."

I asked her, "Don't you want to come with us?" It was odd for her to stay home, since she seldom left Andrew's side, the lucky bastard. Besides, I liked being around her, she was prettier and smelled better than my brother.

"You boys go, I have a hair appointment." I thought this was bullshit because Janelle's hair was always perfect, but I didn't say said nothing. Maybe my witch girlfriend's psychic gifts were rubbing off on me, but something was up - I could feel it.

++++++++++

We went to Andrew's favorite restaurant in Davis, Gunrock's Stable, named after a famous thoroughbred racehorse from the 1920s who was locally bred with 476 mares. The stud got around!

We sat down and ordered -- Andrew had a chicken salad sandwich, while I went with a crab salad sandwich -- and that's when shit got really weird. My brother's personality literally changed right in front of me.

He started off with, "So, now you're set for life, big brother, let me ask you, do you really want to share all that money with Nicki Lynn?"

Coming from my brother, that question caught me by surprise. "What the fuck are you talking about, Andrew? The first thing I want to do is buy her a ring!"

He held up his hand. "Not so fast, Sonny. Hear me out. From what Steven told me, I get the impression Nicki is probably great in bed, but she's as poor as a church mouse." Whoa! I didn't like where this was going at all.

He added, "Misty and Darlene are nice girls and keep Steven and Brad happy enough, but the boys are still young and can always get new wives. What I'm saying is, you're not so young; you shouldn't settle for some high-mileage white trash just because she's OK looking and is good in the sack. Now you have money, Sonny! Nicki throwing you out may be a blessing in disguise!" WHAT!?!?!

This was getting infuriating, and my brother kept making it worse. "Why not find some sweet young thing to shack up with you instead? You want to be old fashioned and get married, fine, I'll have my lawyer draw you up an ironclad prenup to protect your assets. You'll have yourself a trophy wife, get laid like a sailor on shore leave every night, and be living the high life!"

I couldn't believe these words were coming out of my own brother's mouth. It was like Andrew's sweet personality had just done a total flip! An hour before, he'd revealed that I was monetarily set; words couldn't begin to describe my gratitude. Now here he was talking trash about my girlfriend and suggesting that I give her the heave-ho, and I was so pissed off I was about 10 seconds away from smashing his face in!

Now completely furious, I called him by his real first name. "Amedeo, what the hell is wrong with you? Have you lost your fucking mind? You're the original 'loyal to your woman' guy! How could you even suggest I dump Nicki?"

It sounded like he was dead serious as well. "Santo, I'm just looking out for you! Trust me, Chantelle women are nothing but piranha fish with nail polish! You don't know the whole story but when Darlene and Brad first got together, she extorted $15,000 out of him, then got knocked up and was planning on pinning him with child support payments." OK, now THAT was news.

Andrew went on, "On top of that, Steven didn't know, but Misty was already pregnant when he asked her to marry him; if he hadn't proposed, she was going to pin him with child support as well! I'm telling you, you cannot trust these Chantelle women!"

I sat back in my chair, stunned. This all sounded like some kind of crime story in one of those stupid police detective shows. I couldn't believe that my nephews had both married grifters. I'd spent the last 7 years locked up with a bunch of them, and I knew the type well. Darlene and Misty were sweet and loving, and there was no way the girls fell into that category!

Maybe I was just being stubborn, but while Steven had warned me Chantelle woman could be a handful, I refused to see those sweet girls or my Nicki being manipulative like that.

The waitress brought our food, and we ate in uncomfortable silence. As I ate, I thought about Nicki. When we met, she didn't give a rat's ass about me being old, or fresh out of prison and penniless. She'd treated me with kindness and more. After 7 years locked away being treated like I was sub-human, she made me feel like a real man again.

Nicki had liked me for who I was. She was my woman now, end of story! Yeah, so she'd gotten upset and asked me to leave her alone. So what? People say and do stupid shit all the time when they're upset. I had a thick skin, it would take a lot more than that for her to hurt my feelings. I really loved her, so I wasn't going to give up that easy.

Even though I'd only eaten about half of my sandwich, I pushed my plate away and told Andrew, "I love you, bro, and I respect that you think you're trying to do what you think is best, but right now I gotta say you can just fuck right off. Nicki is my woman, and the only way I'll turn my back on her is if she kicks me to the curb."

I stood up and threw $40 on the table to pay my share. "And let me just tell you this right now, if you ever repeat any of the shit you just said to me in front of Nicki or those two girls, I will slap you so fucking hard even Google won't be able to find your teeth, you understand me?"

I didn't wait for his answer because right then I didn't give a shit about anything else he had to say. Instead, I headed to the parking lot and drove back to Steven and Misty's place.

When Misty opened the door and saw it was me, she reached up and slapped me hard. "What did you do? Mama's been in her room crying all morning!" (Steven later told me I was lucky I only got slapped; usually when she was pissed, Misty went straight for the balls.)

I tried to explain, "Look, we had a misunderstanding. I noticed I was getting a little soft, and told your mother I was thinking of going to the gym. She got real upset and threw me out. I gave her some time to cool off, now I want to apologize that I upset her."

Misty rolled her eyes like I was some kind of idiot, and it turns out she was right. "Oh, great. You know that's what my daddy did right before he divorced her, right? He started going to the gym, and the next thing you know he divorced her and shacked up with that little fitness whore he met there."

Internally, I cringed. "No, I didn't know that. I was just worried she wouldn't want a flabby boyfriend."

Misty's eyes narrowed; I definitely wasn't scoring any points with her today. "You are a damned fool, Sonny. You think my Mama's that damned shallow? It ain't your muscles she loves, you idiot, it's how you make her feel! Shit, she loves you so much she'd bake you a cake every damned day and fatten you up if she thought it would make you happy!" Man, I'd really messed up!

"OK, OK, I get it. Can I please come in and tell her how sorry I am?" Misty stepped back from the door and allowed me to pass.

"Go ahead. You know the way," she said, and walked into the kitchen.

I called after her, "Could I have some coffee?"

"NO!" Steven was right, these Chantelle women could be savage...

I knocked on the bedroom door and called softly "Nikolina, can I come in and talk to you?"

"The door's open," I heard her say. I walked in, and she pointed at a chair sitting in the corner, her bare arm exposed for a moment. She was so sexy just that glimpse of bare skin got my blood going, but I needed to focus. "You sit there, I don't want you close to me." She was sitting against the headboard with the covers pulled up, only her red-rimmed eyes and the top of her head were visible.

I sat as I was told, and started to explain, but she cut me off. "If you're going to break things off with me, Sonny, I'd appreciate it if you'd just take your things out of my closet and leave. I don't want to talk to you."

Thanks to Misty's explanation, I knew where this was coming from, so I was able to stay calm. "Nicki, honey, please believe me, leaving you is the last thing I want to do. The reason I wanted to go to the gym was because I was afraid of losing you."

Nicki snapped, "You're blaming me for breaking us up?" Jeez, did all Chantelle women have this much of a hair-trigger temper? Yes, Steven you told me so!

I said emphatically, "NO, I'm not breaking up with you or blaming you for anything. Face it, I'm an old guy and I look it. You, on the other hand, look like some hot girl in your 30s." She lowered the covers a little, exposing her nose now as she listened. I had her attention. Good.

"I do?" Seeing an opportunity, I moved from the chair to the edge of the bed. Moving my hand up, I felt her foot under the covers and kept my hand there. She didn't tell me to take it away, so this was progress.

"Hell yes you do! Every place we go together, whether it's shopping or out to dinner, younger dudes are always checking you out. Every damned time. A lot of times it feels like that you're the princess and I'm the frog in that old story, except I didn't get any better-looking after you kissed me." I took a breath, then laid my heart out to my lover.

"Nicki, I know your ex-husband hurt you bad, I get that, but the shoe's on the other foot now. All these handsome guys are out there drooling after you, and I'm like some old ugly dog you've taken in. That's why I wanted to stay in shape, to give you another reason to stay with me." Her eyes were filling with tears again, but I wasn't sure if they were sad or happy ones.

"Look, I love you and I'll do whatever you want me to. You want me to leave, I'll leave. You want me to stay, I'll stay. I just want you to be happy, OK?

She lowered the covers, so her lips were now out in the open. "I want a kiss."

I got up onto the bed on my hands and knees, and moved in so we were face-to-face. Leaning in, I pressed my lips to hers, softly and gently. After pulling away again I told her, "I was always jealous of my brother for finding a wonderful woman like Janelle, you know. When I met you, I stopped being jealous of Andrew. Nicki, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me! Why would I ever want to leave you?" I surreptitiously tugged a bit at the sheet she was holding up, exposing her neck and bare left shoulder.

She replied softly, "Because I'm not young and pretty like the women at the gym. I don't believe what you said about other men looking at me."

I lowered my head, and kissed her now-exposed neck and shoulder, then murmured, "Let me tell you something. The way a man survives in prison is by being hyper-aware, always looking around because you never know when somebody's gonna come at you. Old habits die hard. I'm not in prison anymore, but wherever I go I still keep my head on a swivel. You may not see them young guys, but I do. As for you not being young and pretty, that's just wrong. You're very pretty, you act young, plus you're smart and funny. You're everything I want in a woman, there's no way would I leave you." I kissed my way back up her neck and whispered, "I love you, my little witch."

Nicki began crying now, but I sensed these were happy tears. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and began kissing my face. No longer being held up, the sheet now fell to her waist, exposing her beautiful chest and belly to me. Warm feminine scents wafted up consumed me, and my hands moved to cup her breasts.

"Be gentle, they're tender," she whispered. My woman wanted me to be gentle? No problem, I could do that all day every day, I'd do anything to make her happy in bed.

I quickly undressed and slipped under the covers with her. I pulled her on top of me and we kissed passionately, my hungry cock now throbbing, trapped between our torsos. I ran my hands down the back of her ribcage, ending up on her soft ass cheeks. I gave them a little squeeze, and she giggled.

I kissed my way down between her breasts, peppering that lovely navel and belly mound with more kisses and soft nibbles. Then, it was time to unleash my secret love weapon. Nicki was always generous with giving me oral sex, so now that we were back in synch, I figured this would be a great time to return the favor.

In prison, there was this guy, Joey DeSilva, who used to brag at how good he was with women. He'd often regale us in the dining hall with tales of his conquests. I figured it was all harmless bullshit, but when he talked about going down on a woman I listened anyway, figuring even at my age I might learn something.

"A clit ain't a fucking doorbell, you don't mash it down with your thumb," he'd say, "you got to use your tongue and tease it gentle like, while you're kissing those pussy lips you got to suck it in easy between your lips and massage it with the tip of your tongue while you're kissing and licking everything else."

Those words permanently etched in my brain, I kissed my way down to Nicki's knees and worked my way back up between her thighs. Amidst a garden of black curly hair, I saw her clitoris peeking out and moved in on it.

"I love you, strega," I whispered and proceeded to kiss my way around her wet labia before worshipping her little doorbell. Peeking up, I saw her throw back her head in ecstasy and moan. I could feel my cock getting rock hard as I continued pleasuring her. After a couple of minutes, she cried out and stiffened, a climax shooting through her.

Encouraged that I was pleasing her, I continued, but increased the intensity of my efforts and it wasn't long before she climaxed again, screeching this time. I made a mental note to call the prison later and add some money to Joey DeSilva's commissary account as a thank you gift.

Wanting to make this memorable, I went in for round three. As I moved in she put her hand on my forehead and pushed me back, gasping in that sexy accent of hers, "Armăsarul meu, please, no more, no more, I need you inside me." I quickly moved up, kissing her neck while I slipped my hardness into what was now the center of my universe.