Charles was out of town, but Jenay didn’t see where meeting an old friend for a drink would hurt. “Sure,” she said. “But I have a better place. It’s called Jericho Inn. They have an excellent restaurant there. You know the place?”
“That Bed and Breakfast?” Willie asked. “Yeah, I know it.” He inwardly smiled. He’d love to fuck her there too, he thought. “I’ll love to meet you there.”
“Then the Jericho Inn it is,” Jenay said.
Willie voiced his goodbyes to the others, and headed for his car. They all watched as he got into his Corvette Stingray, put on his shades, and sped off.
Ashley looked at Jenay. “You’re going out with him? And to a hotel? When Dad finds out he’s going to be so angry!”
“Angry?” Jenay asked.
“Yes!”
Girl bye,” Jenay said as she began walking toward the jet-black, month-old Mercedes her husband purchased for her. Ash, Carly, and Norm followed her.
“I’m serious, Ma,” Ashley said. “You know how Dad is. He’s going to be upset about this.”
“It’s his hotel,” Jenay said. “I’m going to meet a friend for a drink at the hotel your father owns. What’s he going to be upset about?”
“He never likes it when any man takes any interest in you whatsoever,” Carly said. “As much as I hate to admit it, I have to agree with Ash.”
“Then both of you are being ridiculous,” Jenay said. “Willie is an old friend who knows a lot of my old friends back in Boston. We will have a drink and catch up on old times. End of story. Besides, I picked the Inn because I know the Inn and the people around the Inn knows me. If he isn’t who he used to be, then I’ll have backup.”
Carly smiled. “Oh, I see.”
“Yeh,” Jenay said, opening her car door. “Mama knows what she’s doing.”
They all laughed, and got into the car.
But Charles wasn’t laughing later that night. He returned home early, catching a flight out of New York last minute to avoid another overnight stay. But when he arrived home, and saw Tony and Robert playing chess in his game room, but no Jenay, he exhaled.
“What are you two doing here?” he asked.
“Babysitting,” Tony said.
“My baby?”
“Your baby. She finally took her talking behind to sleep.”
Where’s my other baby, Charles wanted to ask. “Where’s my wife?” he asked instead.
“She went out,” Robert said. “She was meeting an old friend for drinks at the Inn.”
Charles was disappointed, but he knew he would see her when she returned. “I see,” he said.
“She went to meet an old male friend for drinks at the Inn,” Tony said, and then he looked up at his father. And when their eyes met, Tony knew he didn’t have to say anymore.
And he didn’t. Although Charles gave no response to his son’s comment, he heard it loud and clear. He went and checked on his sleeping daughter, poured and sipped himself a glass of wine, and then he did as Tony knew he would do all along.
“I’m going out for a little while,” Charles informed his sons. “Can you guys hang around a little longer?”
“Sure thing, Pop,” Tony responded. He was inwardly pleased. Nobody, and he meant nobody, was breaking up their happy home.
Jenay and Willie were laughing as they walked out of the Jericho Inn’s restaurant.
“We were nuts then,” Willie said as they walked along the curb to Jenay’s Mercedes. It was parked near the front entrance.
“Totally,” Jenay agreed. “But you have to admit: we had fun.”
“I know that’s right.” Then they stood at her car. “Those were the days, Jenay. The best days of my life. Yours too?”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Jenay admitted. “These days are the best days of my life. But I get your point.”
Willie always liked that about Jenay. She never went along to get along. He looked around, at the beautiful grounds that were well-lit in the night. “This is so lovely, Nay,” he said.
“Thank-you.” Jenay was proud of it too.
“And to think you own all of this.” He looked at her. “And you do own it, right?”
Jenay almost said her husband owned it, but she remembered how Charles hated when she made that distinction. If he owned it, she owned it, he always reminded her. “Yes,” she said. “God is good.”
“All the time,” Willie said. “But you know what we should do?”
“What?”
“Plan a reunion of the old Boston gang, and we can stay here at the Inn and make a nice weekend of it.”
Jenay nodded. “You know that actually isn’t a bad idea, Willie.”
“I have one every decade or so.”
Jenay smiled. “But I’m serious. It would be nice to see everybody again.”
“And I can set everything up,” Willie said. “You wouldn’t have to lift a finger. All you would have to do is supply the rooms. It could really work, Jenay.”
Jenay wasn’t ready to commit to it totally yet, but she was willing to consider the possibility.
And as they continued talking about that possibility, Charles drove up. Only he parked his car in the main parking lot, rather than along the curb where Jenay and Willie were standing. But he saw them. He saw when Jenay opened her car door and reached inside to grab something to give to the guy, and Charles saw the guy stare hard at his wife’s ass. He didn’t just stare, but he clutched his dick, as if he couldn’t wait to give her some.
Charles had thought about simply taking a look, just to make sure some bozo wasn’t trying to get into his wife’s pants, and then he’d go back home. He’d let her have her drink with her old friend. But after eyeing the old friend eyeing his wife, Charles didn’t give it a second thought. He got out of his car, zipped up his bomber jacket, and made his way up to the twosome.
“You can reach me at the number on the card,” Jenay said as she leaned back out of the car and handed Willie her business card.
He wanted to come onto her right away, but he knew it would be a turn-off for her. He had to be patient, pick his time, and then go in for the kill.
“Maybe you can meet my husband the next time you’re in town,” Jenay said.
“I would love that,” Willie lied. “But I heard he wasn’t the easiest man to get to know.”
“Don’t believe everything you hear. Especially about my husband. These people around here have C.S.D.S..”
“What in the world is that?”
“Charles Sinatra Derangement Syndrome. Just the mention of his name drives them crazy and make them lie more than a sailor cuss.”
Willie laughed. “You’re good,” he said. “You have the kind of wit that I---” He noticed that Jenay had looked away from him, and had noticed somebody else. He looked too.
“Speaking of the angel,” Jenay said with a grand smile, as Charles approached.
“Shouldn’t it be speaking of the devil?” Willie asked.
“Not when it comes to my man,” Jenay said, and hurried to Charles. He grabbed her in a warm embrace and kissed her on contact.
“Hey, baby,” she said as they kissed. “I thought you were still in New York.”
Charles was hugging his wife, but he had his eyes on Willie. “Who’s the suit?” he asked.
“An old friend,” she said as they stopped embracing. She took Charles by the hand and began moving him toward Willie. “Come and let me introduce you.”
Willie had seen photographs of Charles Sinatra, so he already felt he knew the man. But what surprised him was how good looking the guy was. And how attractive a couple he and Jenay made. Getting Jenay to cheat on her husband wasn’t going to be as easy as he was led to believe. He didn’t want to have to force the issue. But he would if he had to.
“Charles, this is Willie Stiles. Willie, this is my husband.”
Both men shook hands. “Nice to meet you,” Willie said.
Charles, however, didn’t say a word.
“We were discussing a reunion of our old Boston gang,” Jenay said. “He’s going to put some feelers out to see if there’s any interest.”
“Excuse me,” a voice was heard near the Inn’s entrance. Jenay and Willie looked and saw one of Jenay’s employees standing at the door with a clipboard.
“Yes, Megan, what is it?” Jenay asked.
“Can you sign the authorization before you leave, please?”
Jenay exhaled. “Always more to do,” she said. “I’ll be right back,” she said to the men and made her way toward her employee.
“So,” Willie said, wasting no time. He needed to get a feel for this husband of hers. “You’re Jenay’s hubby?”
“That’s right.”
“I hear they call you Big Daddy. What I don’t understand is why.”
“That’s none of your business.”
Willie’s smile left, and he immediately felt challenged. “Oh, so it’s like that?”
“You know my wife?”
“Yeah, I know her.” Then he decided to taunt him, to see what he was made of. “I know her real good. And trust me, I know why you married her. She’s got it all. Beauty, brains. And that body.”
“Her body is none of your business either,” Charles made clear.
“Not now it’s not,” Willie said with a laugh. “But back in the day? Man please. I couldn’t get enough of Jenay Franklin. I used to love licking that thang.”
Charles leaned back and punched Willie so hard that Willie was knocked out cold. He didn’t know what hit him. His big body fell straight down and hit the sidewalk like a wrestler hitting the canvas.
Jenay and her employee didn’t see the hit, but they saw Willie drop. “Oh my God!” Megan yelled, and they both ran out to see what in the world had happened.
Jenay was especially upset. She looked at Willie. He was out cold. “What happened?” she asked her husband. She fell on her knees and attempted to awaken Willie. “Charles, what happened?” she asked again. “Did he pass out?”
Willie began to come to, and with Jenay and Megan’s help, he sat up. It was only then did Jenay see the bruise on the side of his face. A fist bruise. She looked up at her husband. “You hit him?” she asked, astonished.
Charles took her by the arm and stood her up. “Yeah, I hit him,” Charles admitted. “Let’s go,” he said.
“Should I call an ambulance?” a flustered Megan asked.
“No,” Willie said. “I don’t need no damn ambulance!” But when he went to stand up, he was still too woozy. He sat back down.
“Charles, what happened?” Jenay asked again as Charles began moving her toward his car. “And I have my car here, what are you doing?”
“You’re going to leave it here for now,” Charles said. “I’ll have one of the boys drive it home.”
But Jenay snatched away from him. “I’m not leaving it, that’s ridiculous. And what did you do to Willie? Why did you hit that man?”
“That man,” Charles said, “was disrespectful to you.”
“How?”
“He talked about the good old days.”
Jenay frowned. “So? What’s disrespectful about that?”
“The good old days when he used to fuck you,” Charles added.
Jenay could feel rage sweep through her entire being. “Fuck me? He never had sex with me!”
She tore away from her husband’s side and hurried back to Willie. Willie, with Megan’s help, was just standing up. And Jenay slapped him back down. Megan continued to hold him, to help break his fall, but he landed on his ass even still. Megan didn’t know what was going on.
“I never slept with you,” Jenay said angrily, “and I don’t appreciate you claiming that I did!”
Charles was standing behind her, ready to defend her, as Willie stood back up. Only he stood up as if he was ready to attack.
Charles moved in front of his wife. “I dare you,” he said.
Willie rubbed his cheek. The pain was so excruciating it felt as if his face was on fire. He knew he couldn’t take another hit. He backed off.
Charles looked at his wife. And Jenay knew by his look alone he was upset with her for going out with a creep like Willie to begin with. Only Jenay wasn’t buying into that. Willie was a creep, she knew it now, but she had no way of knowing it before he told that sick lie to her husband. “Drive your car,” Charles said to her, “but take your ass straight home. No stops. You hear me?”
Jenay could have battled back. She could have told him how she had no way of knowing the kind of man Willie proved himself to be. He wasn’t that kind of man when she knew him in Boston. But she knew her husband. He didn’t want to hear it. “I hear you,” she said, and got into the Mercedes he purchased for her. She looked hard at Willie Stiles, angry with him but disappointed in him too, as she drove away.
Charles looked at Willie too. “Stay away from my wife,” he said to him. “Megan, go back inside,” he told the employee. “Don’t give this prick the time of day.”
“Yes, sir,” Megan said, and hurried back into the Inn.
Charles left. But after Willie stood back up and began heading for his car, he immediately made a phone call.
“We’ve got to change the plan,” he said. “I just got into it with Jenay and her husband. Yeah. No, it wasn’t about that. My stupid ass made a comment about having sex with Jenay and that set her bastard husband off. I told you it was a stupid mistake! But don’t worry,” Willie said as he got into a car he didn’t even own, “I got this. All you wanna do is take them down. Why should you care how I do it? Just know it’ll get done,” he said, and killed the call.
He threw his cell phone aside and leaned his head back. How could he have been so stupid, he wondered. All he had to do was keep his cool, stay patient, and that bitch would have been eating out of his hand. But oh no! He had to play the macho man with hubby. Now she probably won’t ever talk to him again.
Unless, he thought, and he was thinking hard, he destroyed them in a different way. Jenay talked as if her children were her life. And he’d already seen how fast one of those girls, that Ashley, really was. All he had to do was wink at her and she was begging for some from the moment he laid eyes on her. He was going to give her some all right. He was going to have her eating out of his hand so completely that she was going to be the one to bring her own family down.
Willie smiled. “Yeah,” he said aloud. “That’s it. They win the first round. I will win the next one.”
CHAPTER TEN
A week later and Donald’s Jeep stopped at the curb in front of his father’s downtown office. He and Jenay stepped out, walked to the back of the Jeep, and Donald opened his trunk.
“I don’t know why I couldn’t just take you to the airport,” he said as he lifted her luggage out of the trunk.
“Who are you telling?” Jenay asked. “You know I know it too.”
“Why does he do that?” Donald asked. “He makes me feel as if he doesn’t trust me to do anything right. Not even to take his wife to the airport.”
“It’s not you, Donnie,” Jenay said as they walked toward Charles’s Jaguar. It was parked directly in front of his office. “He trusts you.”
“But did you tell him I could take you to the airport? Did you tell him I can handle it?”
“He knows you can handle it, don’t be ridiculous. And yes I told him it would make more sense if you drove me rather than bringing me here so he could drive me.”
“What did he say?”
Jenay pulled out the key she had to her husband’s Jaguar and opened his trunk. “He said no, that’s what he said. He said nobody’s taking me to the airport but him.”
“That’s stupid,” Donald said as he lifted her luggage into his father’s trunk.
“It’s not stupid, Donnie, come on. I’m going to be away from the man for an entire week.” She smiled. “Maybe he’s going to miss his baby and wants to see me off.”
Donald smiled too. “He is so possessive o
f you, like he’s always afraid you’re going to leave him or something. He doesn’t even realize how possessive he really is.”
Jenay couldn’t believe the lack of insight her youngest stepson had. Although Donald wasn’t all that younger than Jenay, she sometimes felt as if they were worlds apart when it came to maturity. “It’s called being in love, Don,” she said to him.
He looked at her. “Love?” He closed his father’s trunk.
“Love,” Jenay repeated. Then she smiled. “You should try it on for size.”
“After I spent that year in prison for beating up my pregnant wife,” Donald said, “all these girls around here think I’m a wife beater.”
“You were a wife beater,” Jenay said bluntly.
“But they forget that my so-called wife was sleeping around on me. They forget that the baby my ex-wife had was not mine and the DNA proved it. They forget all of that.”
“Because it doesn’t matter,” Jenay said. “You beat your wife. She was pregnant. Stop trying to justify what you did and admit you did something terrible, you went to counseling for it, you paid your dues. And make it clear to these girls that you’ll never do anything like that again.”
“But how can I make it clear to them?” Donald asked. Jenay could hear the pain in his voice. “How can I prove a negative? Ashley is the only girl around who doesn’t treat me like I’m some monster.”
“That’s true,” Jenay said. “She loves you very much. You and she hit it off from the moment she and Carly came to live with us six years ago. But your father and I adopted them, Don. She’s your sister,” Jenay made clear.
Donald frowned. “I know that. Why would you say something like that?”
“And get that edge out of your voice with me,” Jenay said, with edge in her own voice.
Donald exhaled. “I’m sorry, Ma.”
“I said a thing like that,” Jenay went on, “because you’re attracted to her for the very reason you just said. She’s beautiful, she’s fun to be around, and she treats you well. I don’t want you to get it twisted, that’s all.”
Donald understood what she meant because it was true. He was, and probably still was, attracted to Ashley. “I won’t get it twisted,” he said.
Big Daddy Sinatra 3: The Best of My Love (The Sinatras of Jericho County) Page 11
