The bodyguards jumped into the limo, and their driver took off too, for a mad race through the streets of Rome that ultimately gave Mick the advantage.
He turned down a lonely side street, slammed on brakes, put the gearshift in Park, and got out of the SUV.
When the limo turned down that same street, Mick pulled out, not his tiny J-Frames, but his sawed-off shotguns, both of which were hidden inside his coat, and began walking toward the limo and firing nonstop. The Driver was purposely hit first, as he careened to avoid the incoming, and the bodyguards, not expecting this kind of onslaught, were unable to return fire, but had to duck to avoid being killed. But it was a fruitless exercise anyway. What bullets Mick fired that didn’t take them out, the limo, as it went on two wheels and then performed a series of flips, finished the job. The limo ended upside down in the middle of the street.
But Mick didn’t rest on his laurels. He knew the men who had taken his own men out were on their way too. He jumped back into the SUV, opened the passenger door and slid the deceased Driver out, and took off again.
By the time the men who had indeed murdered Mick’s backup team had arrived on that side street, in their own SUV, Mick was long gone. They got back into their SUV and raced to the airport, the only place they could imagine Mick would have gone, but the plane was gone when they got there.
But Mick was still driving, to Anguillara Sabazia, a town that was an hour’s drive from Rome, where his plane had been ordered to wait.
CHAPTER THREE
Roz was pacing. Back and forward, and back again. Her knee-length coat was open, her hands were in the pockets of her Gucci slacks, and her heels pounded the pavement of her studio as if she was determined to pound home her point. Her brand new acting studio wasn’t two months old, and the waiting list was long, but the students who had just returned from a mass audition in New York, her so-called elite class of talent, had sorely disappointed her.
“I still can’t believe it,” she said to the actors and actresses who stood before her. Most were young twenty-somethings looking for their first big break, but a few were much older who were looking for a break too. There were three teachers in the room also, standing up front near Roz, but no one was safe from Roz’s ire, and they knew it.
“When Jace phoned and told me the results,” Roz said, “I was dumbstruck. I would have rather you didn’t show up for those auditions than to show up and show your asses off the way you did! Half of you didn’t even remember your lines, he said.” Roz still couldn’t get over that one. “You didn’t remember your lines? That’s acting 101! The biggest audition of your life, and you forget the lines? What the hell did you think you were auditioning for? Broadway? Or a high school production somewhere?”
Roz had to calm herself back down. She was pacing to help keep herself calm. “If that wasn’t bad enough, he then said yeah, some of you did remember your lines. But those of you who remembered the lines, still came unprepared to discuss anything about the motivation of your characters. You didn’t have a clue. He said one of you walked onstage grinning, even though the character you were portraying had just lost her child in the prior scene. He said most of you hadn’t even read the prior scenes to know what the hell was going on! You had lines to utter and that was all you worried about, as if a scene has no context!”
The teachers began moving around too. This reflected badly on them as much as it did on Roz. Maybe even more so since it was their jobs on the line. They were angry too.
“At least a few of you came through,” Roz said. “Stacy, Karen, and Travis.”
Roz looked at them, and all three smiled. “Thanks, guys. Jace said you knocked it out of the ballpark the way he expected everybody else to do. Good job. You can take the rest of the day off.”
“Hallelujah,” Travis said excitedly to giggles from his fellow students. But he and the other two didn’t hesitate. They knew what a taskmaster Roz could be. They hurried to the side wall, grabbed their backpacks and other gear, and headed out of the front exit before she changed her mind.
As they walked out, Mick walked in, closing the door behind him. When he saw Roz pacing the floor, talking to her students, he remained in the back and leaned against the side wall.
He’d just gotten back from Rome. It was not usual for him to get back in town and then rush to go see his wife. But lately, things had been changing for Mick. Feelings had been intensifying. An overnight stay away from Roz was more difficult.
He watched as she finally stopped pacing and sat on the edge of the stage. She was in Gucci head-to-toe, styled down, and had the look of a woman who knew exactly what she was doing. But it wasn’t her style that warmed his heart, or even the fact that she had it together. It was her. Rosalind. His tough, strong, smart and gorgeous African queen. The mother of his twin babies. The only woman he’d ever cared for enough to marry and be completely devoted to.
So devoted was Mick to Roz that when she told him, in passing, that she someday hoped to add an acting studio to the Graham Agency, her talent agency, he didn’t hesitate. He contacted his contractors, blueprints were developed, and within the month construction began. That was how he felt about this woman. It scared the shit out of him, feelings this deep for another human being, but he could no longer deny it. Having that monster need to see her face again, as soon as he hit town, proved it too.
A couple of Roz’s students, two twenty-somethings in the back of the group, did notice the big, gorgeous man in the fancy suit leaning against the back wall. They even smiled at each other, with eyes that dared the other to try and hit on him after Roz’s admonishments were done. But Roz had no clue her husband was not only in the studio, but was back in the country already. Her sole focus was on her students.
“Jace handed you a gift on a platter,” she said to them, “and you treated it as if you didn’t want it. Because if you don’t want this, why are you here? Why are you wasting my time? Why did you waste Jason’s time? Those auditions were yours to lose. Even if you had been adequate, you would have gotten the job because he knew you had unquestionable talent. He knew it because you were chosen to be a part of the Graham Agency. He didn’t have to do this. He didn’t have to agree to pack his production with my people. But he did. Out of respect for me. And you had the nerve to blow it? You didn’t take the biggest audition of your lives seriously? New York is only a couple hours away from Philly. But Broadway is a lifetime away when you don’t take advantage of your chances!”
Again, she had to calm back down. Mick could feel her anguish, even from where he stood. And he wanted to kick every one of those students’ asses for making her feel that way.
“What do you think this is?” Roz asked her students. “Coming to the studio. Going out on auditions. You think this is a fucking joke? You think you’re going to make it in this business on your good looks and smiles? There are better looking actors out there every day of the week, with far better smiles, so you can forget that. And I know what I’m talking about. Almost every actor was better looking than I was when I was out there busting my butt. But I was still able to get roles. Not because some casting director thought I was cute. Child please! Most of them didn’t find me attractive at all. But I got roles because I bust my butt. I hustled. I worked my ass off. Most of you don’t even understand what that means!”
Roz leaned her head back and crossed her ankles. Mick’s jaw tightened. He understood it now. She was blaming herself. Their asses failed her, but she was blaming herself. And it brought up another emotion in him. An angry emotion. He began to wonder if Roz had what it took. A mass firing was what this pile of shit called students deserved. But did she have it in her to pull that trigger?
“You embarrassed this agency,” Roz continued. “You embarrassed me. Forgetting lines. Not understanding your characters. Not trying to understand. It’s unacceptable. Based on that one audition alone, I would be justified in kicking every one of you out of this program for good. I would be justified starting over with
a new group. There’s a wait list to get into this agency, darlings. Don’t get it twisted. This is no broke down shit up in here. There are plenty of aspiring actors who would love to take your spot.” Then she looked at her students pointedly. “Fuck up again,” she warned, “and they will.”
The students and teachers sighed a literal sigh of relief. But Mick inhaled. She couldn’t pull the trigger. He would have, if he had been in her position, without batting an eye.
“Get in groups of two,” Roz said, “and start rehearsing those same scenes again. And later today, when I come to your group, I want to know everything there is to know about the character you’re portraying. But if you give to me that shit you gave to Jace, with all of those bungled lines and foolishness, you won’t get a second chance. You’re out the door immediately. I promise you that.”
The students, terrified and emboldened, hurried into groups of two as Roz looked at her three staff members. They were on edge too. “Teachers,” Roz said, and they came closer around her. “I need you to float and find out what the hell went wrong. They were supposed to be ready to go, and they weren’t. Your asses are on the grill, too.”
“We understand, Roz,” Ryan Bogdanovich, one of the teachers, said for all of them. “We are so sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“See to it,” Roz said, and all of them hurried to do as they were told.
As the teachers scattered, Mick pushed away from the wall and began walking toward the stage. Most of Roz’s students did not know who he was, and some of them, despite the jeopardy their careers were in, turned to take a look at him. Roz didn’t see him, however, until he was almost at the stage.
When she saw him walking toward her with his suitcoat buttoned and his hands in his pockets, looking like that debonair hero she’d come to respect as much as she loved, her heart swelled with emotion and she almost jumped off of that stage and ran to him. But she knew Mick didn’t allow for that kind of blatant public display. She didn’t either. Not at work. She smiled instead. Greatly.
“When did you get back?” she asked as he approached her.
Mick hated to admit it, because he knew it would speak volumes about his weakness for her. “I just got back,” he said.
Roz was pleased. It used to be a time that Mick would return to town early in the morning, but he wouldn’t bother to come and see about her until he made it home, often late that night. But not lately. “When you phoned and said you were going to be delayed, I was thinking many more days, not just one more day.”
The thought of why Mick had to stick around that additional day still left a bad taste in his mouth. The two Dons, men he elevated years ago, and who worked for him even longer than that, had arrived at his restaurant ready to take him out. And their men had already taken his backup out, he later discovered. His casualty count was higher than he ever dreamed it would be. But he finished the job. He got those fuckers back. Those who participated in the scheme were snuffed out like the dirt they were, and the Dons’ entire organizations were now under Mick’s complete control. As if he needed more on his plate. But he was still royally pissed. “I was able to move some things around,” he said. “I text you, but I am assuming your phone is off.”
Roz, thinking about her students and how they blew the big time mightily, nodded her head. “Good assumption,” she said with a smile.
He removed his hands out of his pockets and folded his arms when her dimpled smile lit up her face. His heart felt such a connection to this woman that it alarmed him sometimes. He wanted to forget where he was and who was watching. He had a powerful need to kiss her. So he did.
When he unfolded his arms, leaned over, and placed a sloppy kiss on her luscious lips, Roz was stunned. Mick showing this kind of affection? With all of these eyes around? She was shocked.
But she wasn’t shocked when his kiss lingered. They’d been away from each other for only a couple nights, but it affected them both. She’d never met a more virile man than Mick, and being with him had turned her into a virile woman. A peck on the lips wasn’t going to do it.
And it didn’t. Mick placed his arms around her waist, and she placed her hands around his neck, and their love overruled their good sense and they found themselves in the throes of a long, passionate kiss. So, passionate that they commanded the attention of all of Roz’s students. Some were smiling, or elbowing one another. Some had the nerve to comment.
It became so distracting that one of the teachers, Ryan, verbally admonished the students. “Alright, people,” he said in a loud voice and with a clap of his hand, “focus on yourselves! You’ve just been rejected en masse and you’re worrying about what somebody else is doing? Hello? Worry about yourselves! We’ve got work to do!”
It was Ryan’s voice that caused Mick, who could have kissed Roz even longer, to come back down to earth and remember where they were. Their foreheads touched after they stopped kissing, and they pulled apart. Mick’s cock was so aroused that he had tented. He remained close to Roz to make sure it deflated before anybody else saw what could only be described as his definite weakness.
“I would ask you how things have been going in my absence,” he said, “but I see not so well.”
“Not so well,” Roz agreed. “A friend of mine, a casting director on Broadway, allowed me to select my best students to audition for important roles in his upcoming production. It was their roles to lose. All they had to do was show him what they’ve shown me, and they would be in. But only three made it in. Three out of fifteen actors. I couldn’t believe it.”
Mick stared at Roz. This kind of epic fail cut to the core of her being. She worked so hard, and did everything she could to make it on Broadway, but it didn’t work out for her. Now her students were being all but handed roles, and they couldn’t accept the gift. “If they won’t stand up and be counted,” he said, “then fuck’em. You have a waiting list just as you said. Get rid of these losers and find yourself artists who want to work hard and take advantage of their opportunities.”
Roz knew in Mick’s world it was cut and dry that way. Emotions had nothing to do with it. But in Roz’s world, in show business, emotions had everything to do with it. People had bad days. Talent wasn’t so easily interchangeable. They deserved, in her mind, another chance. “They have what it takes,” she said, “or they wouldn’t be here.” Then her look turned somber. “But I don’t know, Mick. Maybe they aren’t as good as I think. Maybe my eye isn’t as critical as it used to be when I was out there grinding too.” Then she attempted a smile that failed. “I’ve got work to do myself.”
Again, out of character, Mick placed his hand on her arm and squeezed it in a way that hurt her. “It’s not you,” he said. “Don’t dare blame yourself.”
Just as Roz reached up and touched his hand on her arm, and he felt her searing touch, he removed his hand. “I’ll let you get back to work. I just wanted to drop by,” he said. And see you in person again, he wanted to add. But didn’t. In Mick’s mind, his being there said it all.
“There’s something I want to talk to you about later.”
Mick looked at her. “What is it?”
“No biggie. It can wait until tonight.” She jumped down from the stage. “I’ll walk you out.”
And despite their audience, Mick still couldn’t help it. He placed his hand on the small of her back, in an undeniable show of possessiveness, as they walked out of the studio that Roz still couldn’t believe Mick had built for her.
Once outside, they walked across the sidewalk to Mick’s Maserati. Roz smiled. “That’s a tow-away zone, buddy,” she said. “All I have to do is give the word and the tow truck will come.”
Mick smiled too. “I want you to try it,” he said. “I dare you to try it.”
Roz laughed. They walked around to his driver side door. “Are you going to the office?”
“After I see the twins, yes.”
“Oh, they’ll be so happy to see you. Especially Jackie. But after you see the twins and m
ake your way to SI, will you please tell that daughter of yours to give me a call? Since you gave her that promotion, I don’t get a chance to see her as much as I used to. We’re due a ladies’ night out.”
“I will let her know. After messaging you on my plane coming back, I text Gloria. She, unlike you, returned my text. She wants me to have lunch with her today. Care to join us?”
Roz shook her head. “Would love to, but can’t. I plan to be right here all afternoon. This major fail is my number one focus right now. If my studio can’t produce better talent than this, then I don’t see the point of having one. I’ve got work to do.”
“But I don’t want you blaming yourself, Rosalind. I mean that. You can’t perform for them. You can’t prepare for them. They have to do that for themselves. And if they fail, that’s on them.”
“I know it is. But my agency name is on the line too. It’s rare to get these mass casting calls. I have to produce when we get chances like that, or we won’t get any more.” Her distressful look subsided. She patted his chest. “I’ll get it together,” she said.
Mick believed it. Roz was the strongest woman he knew. He hugged her this time, closing his eyes as he did. But when he moved her closer, and she could feel his rod hardening again, she pulled back. “No more of that,” she said with a smile. “I’ll see you tonight.”
Mick felt odd as hell. He was usually the one who pulled back first. “Every bit of me,” he said. “Count on it.” Then he got into his car, and sped away.
Roz waved after him, but she knew he was not about to wave back. Not Mick. But he came to see her as soon as he stepped foot back in town. That was a monumental step up for him. She took what she could get. Then she thought about her students, and the task before her. She went back inside her studio.
But outside, in the parking lot across the street, Johnny Choo was sitting in the backseat of the Town car watching the Graham Agency. Bulldog Valtone was seated beside him. When Roz first came outside, with that gangster husband of hers, his heart began to pound.
Mick Sinatra: Breaking My Heart Page 3