Mick Sinatra: Needing Her Again

by Mallory Monroe

  But then the front door opened, and Joey jumped to his feet, even as it caused him considerable pain. But could it be his father?

  It wasn’t. It was his half-siblings, the twins. Nikki was bringing them home. And when they saw Roz, they ran.

  “Mommy!” Duke yelled.

  “Mommy!” even the more sophisticated Jackie yelled, and both children ran to Roz.

  Roz got on her knees, to be at their level, as they ran into her arms. She closed her eyes she was so happy to see them again. They were slated to stay at Teddy’s house while Mick was supposed to have headed out of the country, while Roz was heading to California to meet with Billy, who claimed to still want her in his play, and the casting director. But after Mick got arrested, Roz still let them stay overnight at Teddy’s. But then she made the executive decision to bring them home. She knew how to shield them from bad news better than anyone.

  Nikki smiled, too, as she stood there and watched Roz squeeze her children tight, but then Jackie leaned back and looked at her mother. “Are you home for good now, Mommy?” she asked her.

  Roz placed her hand on the side of Jackie’s beautiful brown face. Roz had been staying in Jericho, Maine with Charles for over a week, ever since her big dustup with Mick, and the twins had been back home in Philly with their father. “Yes,” she said, tears in her eyes. The idea of being separated from her children, and Mick, too, another second, seemed impossible after everything that had happened. “I’m home for good.”

  “Daddy says it’ll be okay,” Duke said.

  Roz, and everybody in the room, looked at him. “You spoke with your father?” Roz asked him.

  Duke nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “When, Duke?”

  “When he took us from Big Daddy’s house and brought us back home.”

  Everybody exhaled. “Oh,” said Roz.

  “I asked him if he was going to let you come back home,” Duke said.

  Ordinarily Roz would have said, let me, in defiance of the idea that Mick ruled her life that thoroughly, although, in a lot of ways, she knew he did. But she never went there with her children. She let him talk.

  “And he said, yes,” Duke continued. “He said it’ll be okay for you to come back home. So you can come back Mommy, and we can be a family again.”

  Roz smiled and ruffled his hair. “I’m back, baby, and we are a family.” And she hugged them tightly again.

  When she had finished, Nikki asked the question she was dying to ask. “Any word from Teddy?” she asked Roz.

  Roz looked at her, and then stood up. “I was going to ask you that question,” she said.

  Nikki shook her head. “I haven’t heard a word,” she replied. “I tried to call him, but his phone was off.”

  “He’s Pop’s number two,” Joey explained. “It’s his job to go in hiding. Don’t worry, Nick, he’s fine. He’ll be in touch once we get a better read on what they plan to do with Pop.”

  “Release him, I pray,” Nikki said.

  “So do I,” said Roz, and then she exhaled.

  “Have you heard from Miss Gemma or anybody?” Nikki asked.

  “No,” Roz said. “That’s what’s so infuriating about this.”

  “We may as well get used to it,” Charles said. “It’s going to be a long, drawn-out waiting game. And I use the word game loosely,” he added. “They’re going to try to see if they can break him before they even entertain bail.” Then he remembered the twins were in the room.

  Roz was already on it. She looked at Joey, and Joey quickly obeyed. “Come on, guys,” he said to the twins. “There’s a video game waiting for me to beat you at.” And the twins, always happy to hang out with Joey, followed him out of the living room and toward the family room.

  Roz placed her hand on her hip and rubbed her forehead. “Lord, have mercy,” she said. And nobody in that room quarreled with that.

  But later that night, after the twins and Joey were asleep in their respective beds, and Charles had finally succumbed to sleep, too, and was in bed with Jenay, Roz had taken another long tub bath and had put on a pair of jeans and one of Mick’s big dress shirts. She wasn’t sleep at all.

  She sat outside, on the balcony off from their bedroom, with security visible all around the estate, and she tried to read a book as a distraction but could barely focus on the words. She was too busy thinking about Mick, and if he was okay, and how she would never leave that man again as long as she lived. She saw how he saved her life from that burning limousine. She saw how he was going to die trying to save her. And how he nearly died saving Teddy that day at the docks too.

  She knew he was not perfect. He was, in truth, a badly flawed man. Bad temper. Bad mood. Bad outlook on life most times. Mick was not Mister Nice!

  But he loved her, Roz thought, as she sat the book on her lap and leaned back on the lounger. And even though he wasn’t home the way he should have been as a husband and father, he still treated her better than any man ever had. And he loved their children too. And he took care of them, and looked out for them, and made certain they were safe. Mick, for all his flaws, was the best man Roz had ever known.

  And when she saw the security gate open, and a convoy of SUVs racing toward the main house, where she was, her heart leaped. She dropped that book, stood up, and hurried to the railing. When she saw Tommy and Sal and Reno Gabrini get out, and Sal’s wife Gemma, she at least knew they had some news.

  But when she saw Mick get out, too, his suit coat over his arm, looking worn out but otherwise just fine, her heart soared. And she didn’t hesitate. She ran off of that balcony, through their bedroom, across the landing, down the stairs, and out of the front door before they had moved any further than when she first saw them.

  Usain Bolt had nothing on Roz that evening.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Mick and the Gabrinis were heading toward the steps when they all saw Roz burst out of the front door, run down the steps, and began running straight for Mick.

  “Well damn!” Reno said, when he saw Roz coming.

  But she wasn’t as surprising a sight to see as when Mick himself began running toward Roz. Now that, to the Gabrinis, was a shocker.

  But Mick didn’t give a damn. All he could think about was Roz, and how thrilled to the core he was that she was running to him. He even dropped his jacket when they met up, and lifted her into his arms. The grounds security were shocked. The gate security were shocked. The Gabrinis were over-the-moon with shock that their Uncle Mick would show that kind of affection in public even for Roz, whom they knew he adored. Everybody was shocked. But Mick and Roz? They were just in love.

  It was Roz who pulled back and took a good look at Mick. “Did they hurt you in that place?” she asked him.

  “Hurt me?” Mick said with a smile on his face.

  And even Roz realized she had forgotten who she was talking about. She smiled too. “Never mind,” she said, as the Gabrinis made their way over to them. Tommy picked up Mick’s jacket.

  But then Roz realized that she had forgotten to ask the more important point. “You’re out for good?” she asked Mick with hope in her eyes.

  Mick hated to deflate that hope, but he had to. “No, babe,” he said. “Just out on bail.”

  “Ah, Mick,” Roz said, deflated. “How much did they set it for?”

  “Twenty-five million cash bond,” Reno said. “They let fucking terrorists out for less!”

  “That’s what I’m saying,” Roz agreed.

  “Actually,” said Sal, “they don’t let terrorists out on bail at all. But when has Reno let the facts get in his way?”

  “Let’s get inside,” Mick said before Reno could zing him back. He placed his arm around Roz’s waist, and they all began to head toward the now wide-open front door.

  As they walked, Reno leaned against Dapper Tom. “Tommy?” he asked.

  Tommy leaned against him. “What?”

  Reno leaned back. “Damn, you smell good. What’s that cologne you’
re wearing?”

  “Reno!” Tommy asked. “What was your question?”

  “Oh!” Reno said, forgetting. Then he leaned back against Tommy. “I thought they Mick and Roz were supposed to be on the outs with each other.”

  Tommy smiled. “They are.”

  “Well if that’s being on the outs,” Reno said, “me and Trina need to get out there too!”

  Tommy laughed.

  Sal looked back at them. “What’s so funny?” he asked. “And why you two are all lovey-dovey leaned against each other like that? Gross!”

  They both laughed that time, and headed inside too.

  Mick was already upstairs showering by the time Roz made sure the Gabrinis were fed and made it upstairs too.

  At first, she headed for the window seat. She really needed to talk with him. She wanted him to know she had changed her mind, and that she would be there for him come hell or high water. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized how actions spoke louder than words.

  Instead of heading for the window seat, she headed for the bathroom, removed every stitch of clothing she had on, and went up to their large shower door and opened it.

  Mick turned quickly when he saw the door open. Truth was, he was still jittery after being caged up like some animal. But when he saw that it was Roz, and she was naked and available for him, his heart squeezed with emotion. He didn’t stop thinking about her while he rotted in that jail cell, and he wondered if his arrest would be the last straw. If his arrest would seal the deal for her, and she would divorce him.

  Seeing her standing there caused him to break, and he grabbed her arm. “Oh, babe,” he said, and pulled her into the shower, and into his arms. And he kissed her with so much emotion that he felt as if his heart would pound out of his chest.

  Roz could barely breathe as Mick kissed her and held her so tightly. But it still felt wonderful to be in his arms again. And his penis was getting so hard against her, she just knew his shower wasn’t going to last much longer.

  It was over as soon as she opened that door because Mick was already moving his mouth from her mouth to her neck, down to her breasts, and he leaned her back as he sucked and kissed her there.

  But he moved back to her mouth. And continued to kiss her passionately.

  He missed her so much and wanted her so badly that the thought of being inside of her again was intoxicating him. And he couldn’t hold off a moment longer.

  He placed her back against the wall, opened and lifted her legs, and placed his arms beneath her thighs to hold her up. And then his fully aroused penis entered her with such a fiery penetration that Roz grimaced from the pain of the massiveness of his entry. And then, as he started moving inside of her, hitting her at that just right spot over and over, it was all joy.

  They made love together in that shower for what seemed like forever. Mick kissed Roz as he did her, and she wrapped her arms around him and returned his affection, and even tried to raise him one. She loved him just that much.

  And the idea that he was still at risk, and that he might be imprisoned for more years than she could even imagine, was breaking her heart. But she knew a truth in that moment. A startling truth. She knew that no matter if they locked Mick up and threw away the key, she would still stand by him forevermore. And all of that talk of moving to London and finding herself and even remaining friends with Billy Lancer, was nothingness to her. She thought Mick could have done better by her, and he could have. But she realized, in that moment, that she could have done better by him too.

  When Roz opened her eyes, and Mick saw that sweet, soft love in those eyes, it broke him. Roz was his world. There was no other way to put it. And he began to pound.

  How could she have ever thought he wanted any other woman, he thought as he did her. His womanizing lifestyle was over practically the moment he saw her in that musky theater, when she was trying to be a chorus line dancer on Broadway even though she couldn’t dance a lick. She was terrible! But she won his rusty, mean old heart right then and there.

  When his movements increased, Roz immediately came. She couldn’t stop the sensations even if she’d tried, which she didn’t. She held onto him, called his name, and felt the pulsations all over her body.

  Mick came too, not long after, but his cum caused him to jam her against the shower wall and kiss her hard as he came. Even Roz felt the ferocity of his cum.

  What she didn’t know was that Mick was cumming and battling tears too. Because he loved that woman, and would die if he lost her. Yet he neglected her so.

  The guilt was riding him just as hard as his dick was riding her.

  Yet afterwards, neither one of them found the words to express all of their pent-up emotions. They had been through too much to talk. They were spent! They fell asleep in their bed, in each other’s arms.

  And then a phone call came from Sal. They’d found Charlotte.

  “You found her, or you have her?” Mick asked.

  “We got her. She’s on Macon Street.”

  Mick was glad to hear it. “I’m on my way,” he said.

  “With all those reporters hanging outside of your gate? How you figure on pulling that off?”

  “I’ve got exits they can’t access. I’ll be there.”

  “And Uncle Mick,” Sal said. “You heard from Teddy?”

  “No,” said Mick. “And you better not either. You know the drill.” Then he ended the call.

  Roz looked at him. “What’s the drill?” she asked.

  “Teddy’s my underboss. My second-in-command. I want him out of this. I want him off every grid until the heat is completely off. He knew what to do.”

  “But what about Nikki?”

  “She knows. I talked to her while I was downstairs. She’ll stay here with us, so that Teddy will know she’s okay, until this all blows over.” He got out of bed. Then he looked at Roz. “What are you doing?”

  Roz looked at him. “What do you mean?”

  “Get up! Get out of that bed. You’re going with me.”

  Roz was shocked. “I am?” she asked as she was quickly getting up.

  “Yes, you are,” Mick said. “They found the woman who left me that voice mail, a woman I haven’t been with since before I met you. A woman you think I fucked. You’re going to meet her.”

  Roz couldn’t believe it. She usually had to battle Mick to get him to take her to his safe house excursions. She was pleased.

  “Now get dressed,” Mick ordered, and headed for the bathroom.

  Roz, still astounded that she didn’t have to beg, hurriedly put on her clothes.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  The SUV arrived at the safe house and Mick took Roz’s hand, as she slid across the seat, and they got out together. When they went inside, and saw Reno, Sal, and Tommy Gabrini, Roz was surprised all three of them were waiting at the house.

  “Even Dapper Tom’s here,” she said as they walked over to the table where the Gabrinis were playing cards. “This has to be the most expensive group of guards I’ve ever seen,” Roz said.

  The Gabrinis laughed.

  “How’s everybody?” Roz asked.

  “Still stunned this shit is even happening,” Reno said.

  Roz couldn’t agree more. “I hear you, Reno,” she said.

  “Where is she?” Mick asked.

  Sal nodded toward the hallway. “In the back. She resurfaced when she thought you were locked up.”

  “Surprise, surprise,” Mick said as he and Roz headed down that hall, and the Gabrinis smiled.

  “Uncle Mick got jokes,” Sal said. “How about that?”

  “But that’s him,” Reno said. “That’s how he’s wired. He laughs in the face of danger.

  “You got that right,” Sal agreed.

  But Tommy, who knew him best, didn’t. “He laughs in the face of danger?” Tommy shook his head and threw out another card. “That’s what you think,” he said.

  In the backroom, Charlotte Demple, a rough-lookin
g, razor-thin woman long past her prime, was seated in a chair, her stick-like legs crossed, smoking a cigarette. She was so nervous her hands were shaking. And when Mick and Roz entered that room, she nearly jumped out of her skin. “You scared the shit out of me, Mick!” she declared, jerking back the blond hair that was so dirty that it was more matted to her head than free flowing.

  “Not yet,” Mick said as he walked in front of her.

  Roz walked beside him, but she was shocked by what she saw. That was Charlotte, the infamous phone-caller? That was the woman she had been so jealous of? Why she looked like a meth head!

  Mick backed up and sat on the edge of the bed that was less than five feet away from Charlotte’s chair. Emotions tended to sap his energy more than any physical altercation ever could. Roz remained standing, but stood beside him.

  Mick crossed his legs too. “Why did you make that phone call, Charlotte?”

  Charlotte took several puffs on her cigarette. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What phone call? I told the Gabrinis I didn’t know what they were talking about either.”

  Mick sat even more erect than he already was. “We can make this quick, or we can make this painful. Your choice,” he said to Charlotte.

  She began to frown, and then the tears started. And she began shaking her leg and her head.

  “Just tell us why,” Roz said.

  Charlotte looked at her. “Who are you?”

  “Watch it, Charlotte,” Mick warned.

  “You’re his wife, aren’t you?” Charlotte said to Roz. “You’re the one who changed him, aren’t you? The Mick I used to know wouldn’t have left me in the cold. Out here by myself, all these years, when I was his favorite girl for a long time too! Beautiful. That was me. I was the most beautiful girl in the world, and he told me so. Everybody told me so. Now look at me.” She frowned and took more puffs on her cigarette.

  If she thought she would soften Mick with her hard luck story, she was mistaken. “Who put you up to it, Charlotte?” he asked her.