Page 9 of Nikki Sinatra: For Her Lover

She saw him when he walked in, looked around until he saw her across the seedy restaurant at a window booth, and then he made his way in that direction. He looked around again, unzipped his windbreaker, and then slide onto the booth seat in front of her.

His dark eyes gave her a full body perusal. “If it ain’t the one and only Nikki Baker in the flesh,” he said as he looked her up and down.

Nikki’s maiden name was Baker, but it still stunned her to hear anybody call her by that name.

And although she kept her married name after she divorced her first husband, she didn’t feel as if she’d ever been a Tarver either.

For some reason she felt as if she’d been Nikki Sinatra all her life.

That name, even more so than her birth name, just seemed to fit her the best.

“It if ain’t the one and only Juda Gavin,” Nikki responded, and he laughed.

He seemed bigger than the last time she saw him, which was only a week ago.

But that was how he seemed to her. With his high-yellow complexion and European features, many used to question whether he was black or white, when Nikki knew he was both.

But he was every bit as cocky as he’d always been. “How’s life been treating you?”

“Why would you care? You said you didn’t wanna have nothing to do with me just last week. Now you calling me this week?”

“I still don’t wanna have anything to do with you.”

“Then what you call me for?”

That was the rub, Nikki thought. But he was the only one who was there when it all went down. She exhaled. “I saw him last night.”

“You saw who last night?”

Nikki waited and then exhaled it out. “Emilio.”

Juda was just about to toss a handful of nuts into his mouth when he heard that name. He stopped in shock and sat his hand back down. “What you mean you saw Emilio?”

“I saw him.”

Juda nearly jumped out of his skin. “What the hell, Nikki! When? Where ?”

“Last night. At a bar.”

“Here in Philly?”

“No on the moon, Juda. Yes here in Philly!”

“Shit Nikki. Shit! Did he see you?”

“Yes he saw me. Waved and smiled at me.”

“No that bastard didn’t.”

“Yes that bastard did.”

“So what did you do?”

“I got in my car and took off. What do you think I did? But he followed me.”

“Geez.”

“Then he pulled up beside me.”

“Did he say anything?”

“He said we need to talk.”

“To talk ? When that fucker ever wanted to talk? You believed him?”

“Hell no. I took off. When he pulled up beside me again I swerved and rammed his car. He started spinning out. But then I lost control myself and ran into a ditch. I totaled my car.”

“What did he do then?”

“He regained control of his own car after it had flipped, and then he left the scene.”

Juda sat back. Nikki could tell he was blown away too. Then he looked at her. “What we gonna do about it?”

“We got to handle it, that’s for damn sure. You think he’s gonna just forget about it and leave? Hell no. We got to handle it.”

“But how? That motherfucker don’t fly solo. He’s always got backup.”

“I know. That’s what worries me. He didn’t have any last night though.”

“How would you know all that?”

“This morning I bribed the manager of that bar into letting me see the footage. Emilio came alone, he left alone, and nobody followed him when he pulled out of that parking lot following me.”

Juda exhaled. “But still. You can never tell with that bastard.”

“I know.”

“You got guys following him around?”

“Hell no, Juda. You think I want people to know about that mess? Nobody can know about that ever, are you crazy?”

“Okay okay, it was a stupid question.” Then he exhaled. “This some disturbing shit, Nikki. Mill can go ballistic on your ass. But he’s clever too. You don’t try to go toe-to-toe with him.”

“You don’t think I know that? I dated him remember? I thought I was in love with that fool remember?”

They sat for a few moments without talking. Then Juda looked at Nikki. “You know somebody can handle it?”

“Do you?”

“No. No way. I’m not getting mixed up with that fucker. He’ll do anything.”

“So will I if he comes for me and mine.”

“Then why don’t you handle it yourself? Or get rich white boy to do it for you?”

Nikki shook her head. “He don’t know anything about this part of my life and I’m keeping it that way.”

Juda nodded his head. “I don’t blame you. Shit. I don’t blame you.”

“If I try to take care of it myself, the family might get blowback. And I can’t risk that. They’ve got to stay out of this.”

“But even Emilio isn’t crazy enough to go after Mick Sinatra.”

Nikki frowned. “What you bringing him up for?”

“Because of what I heard about Mick the Tick. Emilio might have heard it too.”

“What are you talking about?” Nikki asked him. “What have you heard?”

“I heard Mick Sinatra is in love with you.”

“Boy bye! That man is not in love with me. He’s my father-in-law for crying out loud. Stop being ridiculous.”

“That’s what they’re saying. I heard ain’t nothing he won’t do for you. But I get it. Even he’ll probably kick your ass to the curb if he knew the truth.”

Nikki didn’t disagree with that statement, which told Juda all he needed to know.

“You gotta know somebody can do it, Juda,” she said with a plea in her voice. “Somebody. You’re in the underbelly now. I know you’re back out there slinging that dope again.”

“What you know about what I’m doing?”

Nikki didn’t respond to that.

“I came to town for your help, but you wouldn’t even give me a job on the docks where they make that real money.”

“I got you a job.”

“But not on the docks.”

“I couldn’t have you around me. I wanted nothing to do with that shit from my past. Nothing.” Then she exhaled again as the stress was building right back up again. “Can you find somebody or not?”

“I know somebody that can take him out. Somebody unconnected to both of us. But if Mill brought an army with him that we don’t know about, it’ll be war.”

“ Yes I know that.”

“But you still want him out?”

“Yes. If there’s an army and there’s blowback, it’ll be blowback without their leader. Which is easier to manage.”

Juda nodded. “I agree with that.”

“So you’ll handle it?”

“I’ll handle it. But it’s gonna cost you.”

It had already cost her more than she should have ever had to pay. “How much?”

Juda could see the desperation in her eyes, and he wasn’t above exploiting it. “Two hundred thousand. One hundred up front. The other hundred when the job is done.”

“Get real.”

“You know how dangerous this is, Nikki.

“I didn’t say it wasn’t dangerous. But I’m not paying somebody I don’t know two-hundred grand to do a job you and me both know I can do myself.”

“Then do it yourself, Nikki. Oh. Wait a minute. I forgot! You don’t want Mick the Tick and Teddy T to know about it. That’s it, ain’t it? When all I gots to do is tell’em myself.”

Before Juda knew what was happening, Nikki had lifted up, reached over that table, grabbed him by his shirt, and pulled him all the way over that table until they were face to face.

“If you breathe a solitary word about this to anybody, even the guy you hire, you will be torn limb by limb.” Then Nikki frowned.

“You think Mick Sinatra made me Teddy’s underboss because I’m easy and nice and sweet?

I can be all those things. Yes I can. Until you fuck with me.

” Her look turned hard. “Don’t fuck with me, Juda.

For real. Remember how it worked out for you the last time you tried that shit?

” And then she released him with a push-away. And she sat back down.

Juda remembered that last time well. He was on the run, didn’t have a pot to piss in, but called on Nikki and she helped him out.

She was living in L.A. back then. She sent him money and even got him a job at the bar where she was working.

Until he heard all those guys talking all that shit about how they wanted to bust Nikki’s fat ass and see how it pounded and he got in on the disrespect.

He meant nothing by it. He was just trying to fit in.

But Nikki kicked him to the curb. They lost contact for years.

Until he moved to Philly and saw her one day.

And she helped him out again. Nikki was solid gold. She was all he had. And he knew it.

When Juda sat back down at the table, he wasn’t as cocky anymore.

Because he did remember what happened to him the last time he disrespected her.

And because he heard horror stories about Mick the Ticking Time Bomb and what he was capable of, he knew as soon as he snitched on Nikki the weight of that entire Sinatra and Gabrini family would come down on him like a ton of bricks.

Not just Nikki. They might be angry with her if they found out what was really going on and kick her ass every way to Monday, but they’d kill his ass. “How much?” he asked her.

“One hundred grand. Ten now.”

“ Ten, Nikki?”

“Ten now. Ninety grand when the job is done. Half is too much of an incentive for them to forget doing the job and take off. Ten is all they get up front. Take it or leave it.”

Juda knew that wasn’t the going rate for what she was asking of him, because he could get exposed too, but he also knew it was as good as he was going to get from Nikki. She was never a pushover. She was always a badass and always would be.

Besides, he’d get a decent cut either way. He would pay out five now, and twenty when the job was done. And pocket the rest. It was still a win-win for him. “I’ll take it,” he said.

But Nikki already had no doubt that he would.

“You won’t get a dime of that ninety,” she made clear, “until the job is done. Hear me well. I’ve got to have confirmation.”

Juda smiled and shook his head. “Same old Nikki. Don’t you think I want that bastard gone too? What happened to his family was awful, but what is he coming for us for? I didn’t do that shit to them.”

“But I his eyes I did that shit to him and he knew we were allies. You left town just after I left. He figured you was on the run with me.”

“We didn’t meet up until years later, and that was only by chance.”

“I know that and you know that. But does Mill know that?”

“He wouldn’t believe it even if he knew the truth.”

Nikki nodded. “True that,” she said.

Then Juda shook his head. “Just give me the upfront and I’ll get on it,” he said.

Nikki had been prepared to go as high as forty upfront, but Juda didn’t know that.

She had four envelopes of ten thousand cash in each.

She pulled out one and slid it over to him.

“Only get in touch with me when the job is done. Text me your address and I’ll head over to give you the final payment. ”

But Nikki watched Juda put the envelope into his inside coat pocket. “Aren’t you going to make sure it’s all there?”

Juda smiled, reached over, and placed his hand on top of her hand. “You know I trust your ass, Nikki,” he said. “You ain’t never been no crook in my eyes. I trust you. I always have.”

He was getting a little too close for comfort for Nikki. She removed her hand from beneath his hand.

But just as she did, she noticed movement in her peripheral vision. When she looked over at the bar area, she was shocked to see that Mick Sinatra, of all people, was heading her way.

Mick in a place like that? What were the odds? Her heart dropped. “Oh. My. Lord,” she said out loud.

And Juda, unaccustomed to Nikki talking with such a robotic cadence, as if she’d been spooked, looked too.