Mick Sinatra 2: Love, Lies, and Jericho Read online

  “Five, ten minutes tops. Are your children there yet?”

  Mick looked at his children. All four of them were from four different mothers. Another one of his shames. “Yeh, they’re here.”

  “They’re happy to see you I’m sure.”

  “We’ll see,” Mick said. “You just drive carefully. Don’t speed.”

  “You mean like you? I won’t.”

  Mick ended the call. Then he cut the bullshit and made his way to his children.

  They all stood up, all smiles, when they saw him coming. The sense of pride they felt in being related to him, to being his children, could be seen in their eyes. It wasn’t just that he was handsome and rich that impressed them the most. It was his power, the fact that he was feared and highly respected, that most impressed them. He was the giant among giants, and they loved that.

  “Hey everybody,” Mick said jovially as he approached his children. He moved toward Gloria first.

  “Hey, Dad,” she said as they hugged. “You look happy.”

  “I’m alright. What about you?”

  “I’m good. Thanks for asking.”

  Mick hugged each of his children and all four of them, just like him, kept up the smiles and surface talk. They all sat back down.

  “Where’s Roz?” Teddy asked.

  “That’s Miss Graham to you,” Mick said. “She’s on her way,” he added.

  “She’s beautiful.” Teddy smiled. “And nice too. A great combination.”

  “What would you know about it?” Joey asked. “You date a bunch of dogs. You’ve never dated a pretty girl.”

  “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, little brother,” Teddy said. “And if your eye is crooked, like yours, how could you ever see anything straight? Beauty can be right in front of you, and you’ll miss it.”

  “They’re still ugly,” Joey said, and Adrian laughed.

  Gloria shook her head. “Don’t pay them any mind, Teddy.”

  “Is it true, Dad?” Adrian asked him.

  “Is what true?”

  “Joey’s working for you?”

  “He’s making a start.”

  “What about me?”

  “I’m a busboy in the cafeteria at SI, Adrian,” Joey said. “Don’t get carried away. You’re a playboy. Busboy and playboy don’t go together.”

  “So why are we here?” Gloria asked her father.

  Mick found her question odd. “I can’t invite my children to dinner?”

  “You know what she means,” Teddy said. “It was a whole week’s notice, so we assumed it means something’s come up. We just want to know what.”

  Before Mick could answer, the waitress arrived and took all of their drink orders. Mick ordered for Roz. To his relief, she arrived just as the waitress left. Mick stood up, prompting the children to stand too.

  “Hey, babe,” Mick said as he kissed Roz on the lips.

  “Hello, guys,” Roz said, waving a collective wave. Teddy, Gloria, and Adrian gave her a hug too. Joey nodded. “What’s up?” he asked.

  “Have you told them?” Roz asked excitedly as Mick held out her seat.

  “Not yet,” he said, and sat down beside her.

  “Have you told us what?” Teddy asked. “Inquiring minds really want to know.”

  Everybody looked at Mick. Mick smiled. He leaned forward. “We wanted to let you know that I have asked Rosalind, Miss Graham, to be my wife.”

  Joey and Adrian looked shocked. They never, not in a million years, thought their father would ever marry anybody. Especially when he didn’t marry their mothers even after they turned up pregnant. He just plopped them down in some big house and kept them quiet by loading their coffers with cash. But Gloria and Teddy were thrilled. For them it was about time their father found some true happiness. They were elated.

  “That’s great news, Dad,” Teddy said, reaching over and squeezing his father’s massive bicep. “I didn’t think you had it in you, old man!”

  Mick couldn’t help but smile at that one. Of all of his children, Teddy seemed to be the only one who found a way to overcome the fact that he did not have a fulltime father in his life growing up. He was able to move off of that debilitating spot. Mick was drawn to him more than the others probably because of that strength he saw in him. “Thank you, Theodore.”

  Gloria was happy too. “Congratulations, Dad, and welcome to the family, Roz.” Then Gloria quickly glanced at her father. “I mean, Miss Graham.”

  “Roz is fine, Gloria,” Roz said with a smile. “And thanks. I’m looking forward to it.”

  “Does your family know?” Gloria asked her.

  “Not yet,” Roz said. “We’re going to take a slow drive to Tennessee tomorrow morning to let them know. We wanted to meet with you guys before we left.”

  Gloria was curious. She knew, from experience, that black families could be just as closed-minded about interracial relationships as white families could be. “How do you think your family will take it?” she asked.

  “She’s marrying a rich, powerful man like our dad,” Joey answered, “how do you think they’ll take it, Glo? They’re going to be overjoyed. Thot like that just won the lottery.”

  Mick gave Joey a look that could have frozen the sun. But Roz was unfamiliar with the term. “What’s a thot?” she asked.

  Joey was about to answer, but he saw his father’s eyes. He felt the chill, and quickly realized, as if he didn’t already know, that his dad treated this particular female far different than any one he had ever seen him with. Including his mother and his siblings’ mothers. He kept his mouth shut.

  Roz leaned against Mick. Apparently she had missed something. “What’s a thot?” she asked.

  “A thot,” Adrian gladly answered, “is the euphemism for that hoe over there.”

  When Roz heard the meaning, she was shocked. She looked at Joey.

  Joey knew he was in a danger zone. He could see the anger on his father’s face. He knew he had to clean it up. “I didn’t mean anything by it,” he quickly said. And then he smiled. “I was just joking around.”

  But Roz failed to see the humor. “I have done nothing but respect you, Joey,” she said in all sincerity. “I have never disrespected you, not ever. Tell me one time when I treated you as anything less than Mick’s cherished son? Give me one example! But then for you to turn around and call me a vile name like that, and expect me to find it humorous after the fact, is not acceptable. I respect you and you will respect me back. You demand it, and so do I. You hear me?”

  Joey glanced at Mick again. And then he nodded. “I hear you,” he said. “And I apologize.”

  Roz knew it was disingenuous. But she knew this man-child was going to be her stepson someday. They had to get along for Mick’s sake. And even though she doubted his sincerity, she didn’t question it. “Apology accepted,” she said.

  But Mick was cut from a different cloth. He stood up, walked around the table to Joey’s side, and without ceremony slapped Joey so hard he slapped the taste out of his mouth. Joey’s entire body fell over the chair, causing the entire restaurant to look at him, and then he quickly got up.

  Mick looked him dead in the eye. It was shit like this that made getting close to his children damn near impossible. He wasn’t the man he should have been when they were growing up, but he still wasn’t going to take their nonsense. “Use a derogatory term when referring to my lady,” he warned his son, “and you won’t get up again. Understand?”

  Joey’s heart was pounding against his chest. He knew what his father was capable of. “Yes, sir,” he said. “I understand. I’ll apologize to her again.”

  Mick frowned. “She doesn’t give a fuck about your chicken shit apology. You just treat her right, or you’ll answer to me.”

  Joey nodded. “Yes, sir. I promise you I will.”

  Mick stared at his son longer. And then he walked back around and sat back down. Joey sat down too. Roz would have crawled under the earth if she could have at that very moment.
She hated that she was the reason father and son were in conflict. But it wasn’t as if she started the conflict.

  More small talk ensued as Mick constantly checked text messages as they came in, and he even responded to a couple, but none of his children seemed offended. At least not publicly, Roz thought. They were very adept at putting on that public face and letting their father get away with murder. Except, perhaps, for Mick’s oldest child. Adrian smiled a lot, but Roz saw a lot of pain in those wiry eyes.

  “Any questions about the announcement?” Mick asked his children. And then he smiled. “Speak now or forever hold your peace.”

  The children laughed. It was hardly funny, but that was the kind of relationship he had with them. Very surface. Not unlike, Roz thought, all of those yes-men that worked for Mick.

  “I have a question,” Adrian said.

  “Shoot,” Mick said.

  “How will this marriage affect our standing?”

  Mick stared at him. “Your standing?”

  “Our financial standing,” Adrian clarified, and Gloria and Teddy both rolled their eyes.

  “Oh, come on, Adrian!” Gloria said.

  “Really dude?” Teddy asked. “That’s your question?”

  “What?” Joey didn’t see where Adrian had said anything wrong. “That’s a legitimate question.”

  “They know it is,” Adrian responded.

  “No, we don’t know it is,” Teddy responded.

  “Joey and I have our concerns, yes, we do,” Adrian said. “Dad doesn’t treat us the way he treats you and Gloria and that’s just a fact.”

  Mick’s cell phone, seated in front of him, buzzed again. Roz looked as he turned it over and skimmed the text. Apparently some major business deal was going down or he would have shut it off. Mick was a lot of things, but he tried to at least be attentive when he was around his children. He was trying.

  But Adrian didn’t notice the fact that he was reading a text. His comments were more directed at Teddy and Gloria. “And if you don’t think I’m telling it straight,” he continued, “just think about all the help he gives the two of you, and then think about what he does for Joey and me, which is next to nothing.”

  “Joey’s working for him now,” Gloria said. “How is that nothing?”

  Mick looked at Gloria. Although he knew she still had issues with him, she was at least trying to move on the way Teddy had done. Which was more than he could say for Adrian.

  “I said next to nothing,” Adrian clarified. “And it is next to nothing compared to what he’s done for you. You have a modeling career now thanks to Dad. Teddy’s business is flourishing thanks to Dad. But we know why. He loves your mothers. That’s why he treats y’all right.”

  He loves their mothers? Roz thought. That was news to her! She didn’t think Mick gave a flip nickel about any of his baby mamas. And strangely enough, Mick wasn’t disputing that characterization.

  “Dad takes care of you and Joey the same as the rest of us,” Gloria said. “We’re all trust fund babies. Teddy’s the only one who won’t touch a dime of it.”

  “Because he has his own thing going,” Adrian said. “He’s making his own money. But that’s thanks to Dad too. But Dad doesn’t give me any extra help.”

  Gloria frowned. “Why does he have to give you extra help? What does that mean anyway? Why can’t you help yourself? You’re a big boy now.”

  “With boy being the operative word,” Teddy said.

  But Adrian didn’t back down. “I still say he should do more for us. That’s a fact.”

  Roz could see tacit agreement in the eyes of all of Mick’s children as they all looked at their father, but not one of them verbalized that agreement. And then the waitress arrived, took their dinner orders, and left, and all was right with the world again. Until Adrian brought it back up.

  He looked at his father. “So I ask you again: how will this marriage affect us?”

  “It won’t affect you financially at all,” Roz decided to say. “I’ll be more than happy to sign a prenuptial agreement.”

  “You aren’t signing shit,” Mick said firmly.

  “But if he’s worried about the money,” Roz said.

  “Then that’s his problem,” Mick responded. “A man who worries about another man’s money,” he added, staring at Adrian, “is not a man.”

  “Mick!” Roz said, surprised by his harshness. But Mick did not take it back.

  “Yeah? That’s how you feel about me? About your oldest son? Then you can kiss my ass!”

  Mick immediately lurched across the table, grabbed Adrian by his shirt, and slung him all the way over the table. He and terrified Adrian were face to face. “Kiss mine instead,” Mick said.

  Roz saw restaurant staff about to head their way, to ask if everything was okay, but she held up a hand for them not to come. They didn’t come.

  “Go on,” Mick said to Adrian. “Kiss mine, motherfucker. What are you waiting on?”

  “I was just talking, Dad. I didn’t mean anything by it! I was just running my mouth.”

  Mick figured as much. He released his son and Adrian sat back down. Sufficiently embarrassed.

  Mick looked at his children. He might have dropped the ball when they were younger and was on a guilt trip now, but that didn’t give them a license to disrespect him. “I’m not taking your bullshit,” he said to all four of them. “You understand me?”

  They didn’t respond, but it was obvious to anybody that they fully understood.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Mick sped onto Roz’s driveway in his Lamborghini and got out and headed for her front door. Dressed comfortably for the cold weather, he wore a pair of brown dress slacks, a white turtleneck sweater, and a brown bomber jacket. His thick brown hair was pushed back, and his face was clean-shaven, but with his lazy eye and menacing looks, not to mention the NASCAR-style car he drove, even he knew he still had a long way to go to project the conservative image he was going for.

  Always security-conscious when it came to Roz, he turned the knob of her front door before ringing her bell, just to make sure she had locked it. He smiled. She had. And then he rang the bell.

  After dinner with the kids last night, they went their separate ways. Not because they wanted to, but because he had a major meeting that would undoubtedly run late into the night, and Roz still had packing to do. So he went his way and she went hers. Mick only prayed it didn’t portend things to come in their relationship.

  The door opened and Roz, smiling grandly, welcomed him in. But Mick found himself staring at her as he walked in. She was the epitome of elegance to him, even though she was dressed youthfully in skinny jeans, stiletto boots, and a waist-length black leather jacket with zippers everywhere. But it was all in the way she carried herself. She never wore fake boobs or had to sashay her hips from side to side just to draw a man’s attention to her ass. She never did tricks with eyeshadows and eyebrow pencils to draw a man’s attention to her face. She was the draw. The entirety of her. From something as simple as the dimples on her cheeks, to something as complex as her seriousness, Mick often found himself excited to see her again. His heart even slammed against his chest in anticipation, when she first opened that door.

  “That’s what I love about you,” Roz said as he moved across her threshold and closed the door. “You always do your best to be on time.”

  “Only to see your mug again,” Mick said as he pulled her into his arms. He noticed that her hair was parted on the right side of her head this time and hung along her shoulders in thick waves of bounciness. Sexy as hell. “You look adorable,” he said, as his hungry mouth moved toward hers. “Just lovely.” And then he kissed her.

  Roz adored the way Mick kissed her. It was always hard and deep and long. It was the kind of kiss that never failed to make her horny even though she opened that door without a hint of sex on her mind. But just seeing him again, and tasting him again, did the trick. She threw her arms around him, and basked in his love.

>   What Mick loved about Roz was the way she always allowed him to take the lead. She was a strong woman, one of the strongest women he’d ever known, but she knew when to ease up before she stepped into his territory. She knew when to let a man be a man without feeling as if her very womanhood was being threatened. But she had reassured him that she wasn’t interested in overstepping her bounds. “Getting into a pissing contest without a penis,” she once told him, “is stupid.” He laughed when she said it, and loved her for saying it.

  Roz thought that they would kiss a little while and then hit the road. They did, after all, have a long trip ahead of them. Tennessee wasn’t exactly around the corner. But just as she thought he was easing up on kissing, she realized one of his hands was unbuttoning and unzipping her jeans, and his other hand had opened her jacket, lifted her sweater and bra, and was fondling her breasts. Instead of easing up on his kissing, he moved his lips down further, to those breasts.

  He moved her back against the table in the foyer and began to suck and kiss and lick her. And when he looked up at her, and she saw that his lazy eye was almost closed with lust, and his regular eye was hooded too, she knew it was all over. They weren’t going anywhere until he fucked the shit out of her. No doubt in her mind. He never had that look without putting something on her she wasn’t going to soon forget.

  He lived up to the hype that morning. He sucked her nipples and fondled her breasts until they were aching with pleasure. And then he slid down her pants and panties, and moved down, between her legs. He began eating her with that urgent control she loved. She couldn’t lean back far, because they were still in the foyer, so she lifted her arms behind her head and held onto the coat rack behind the table she sat upon. And she gladly, proudly, let him have his way with her.

  Mick loved her surrender. He could feel it on his tongue when her clit began to pulsate as he licked it. He could feel it deep inside of her when he began to eat her. Her body had arched up high; so high that he could stand up and eat her. And he did. He ate with the purpose of drying her up. But every time he did, her vaginal juices spilled again, and he happily had another meal to finish.