“Shit, Frankie! You had to take out four men?”
“Not me,” he said, as his hand raked through the water filling up the tub. “Ashley.”
Monk could hear the sudden thunder in Teddy’s voice. “ASHLEY?! My cousin Ashley?”
Teddy said it so loudly that Monk had to remove the phone from his ear. Even Ashley heard her cousin from where she was sitting.
“Where is she?” Teddy then asked. “She still at your house?”
“Not now, no. But she was there when they broke in. Unfortunately.”
“And she’s alright?”
“You know she’s alright, Teddy. That would have been the first thing I said if she wasn’t alright. Where the fuck you get off asking me something like that?!”
Ashley, and she was certain Teddy, understood Monk’s irritation had nothing to do with Teddy. It had everything to do with the fact that he wasn’t there, and Ashley, once again since being around him, could have been killed.
“Tell him to don’t tell Daddy,” Ashley said to Monk as she began removing her clothes.
Monk had to settle back down first. “Sorry about that,” he said to his best friend.
Teddy didn’t respond. He and Monk were close, but they’d been known to get after each other too. “She’s no longer in danger?” Teddy asked again. Fuck Monk’s irritation.
“She’s with me at my condo,” Monk said. “She’s out of danger.”
“Tell him not to tell Daddy,” Ashley said again as she tossed her blouse and bra on the floor, and then began removing her jeans and panties.
“She said don’t tell Big Daddy,” Monk said.
“I’m not stupid,” Teddy replied. “Big Daddy’ll kill your ass if he knew. But you hooked up with my cousin? For real though, Monk?”
Monk was sitting on the tub with his leg folded, and at first, he didn’t respond. He knew Teddy was going to give him grief no matter what woman he claimed publicly. But especially so if that woman also happened to be his cousin. “Yes,” he said. “She’s my girlfriend.” Then he winced at the thought of saying it out loud.
But Ashley smiled when Monk referred to her that way. She knew it took a lot for him to say it to a tough guy like Teddy.
And, as suspected, Teddy laughed. “I’ll be damn. The Monk ain’t so monkish after all! But damn. Big Daddy know?”
Monk exhaled. “Oh, yes. He already paid me a visit. Him and your old man.”
“Pop came to see you too?”
“Yeah. I take it he didn’t mention it to you.”
“That’s nothing new,” said Teddy. “Where’s Ash? Let me talk to her.”
Monk got up and handed Ashley the phone. “Hey,” she said into the phone. Monk stood over her briefly as she talked to Teddy, and he rubbed down her soft hair. He also began fondling one of her naked breasts as she talked. There was no way he could just stand there and watch them, without touching them. But then he began picking up her discarded clothes and putting them into the hamper. And then he turned off the tub water valves. Monk began removing his clothes too.
“Why did he leave you home alone?” Teddy asked Ashley after she explained to him what happened with the four guys.
“He had to go to a meeting.”
“Why didn’t he take you with him?”
“You have to ask him that,” Ashley said, stood up, and handed the phone back to Monk.
She looked at his naked form the way he had looked at hers, and then she began to stroke his penis as he spoke back to Teddy. “I’m here.”
“Why didn’t you take her to that meeting with you?” Teddy asked him.
Monk let a moan escape from his mouth as Ashley did him, which caused her to smile and remove her hand. Then she began picking up his discarded clothing.
He sat on the edge of the tub. “I didn’t take her,” he said to Teddy, “because it was no place for a lady. It was no ordinary meet.”
“What do you mean?” Then Teddy got it. “Oh, it was the meeting with DeGarno?”
“That meeting. Right.”
“How did it go?”
“He claims we still have the girl. I told his ass what happened, but he didn’t wanna hear it. He threatened retaliation.”
“That idiot,” Teddy said. “But wait a minute. Are you saying those four guys worked for the Ox?”
“I got a glimpse of a couple of’em. They weren’t familiar. So the short answer is I don’t know who they belong to yet. I’ve got to figure this shit out. That’s why I came to the condo. I need some time to think. And that’s also why I called you.”
“Why? What do you need?”
“A clean up crew at my house to get those bodies out of there.” Mick Sinatra, and Teddy as his underboss, had crews on their payroll in damn-near every major city in America it seemed. Including cities in Jersey.
“You’re not using your own people?”
“No,” Monk said as he watched Ashley get in the tub.
“Why not?”
“The head of the security detail I had stationed at the house got a call, and then he sent the crew packing.”
“Only you have that authority, right?”
“Me or my old man, yeah.”
“Your old man? Ah. So you think your old man might have pulled their assignment?”
“Or the chief is on DeGarno’s payroll. I don’t know. But until I do know, I’m not contacting my team yet.”
“Makes sense,” Teddy said. “And yeah, I’ll get my guys on it right away. But you’re sure you and Ash are okay?”
Monk looked at Ashley, who was in the tub with her head leaned back, her eyes closed, and her dark breasts peeping out of the suds like two mighty mounds just waiting for Monk’s mouth to devour them. “We’ll good,” he said to his friend. And then ended the call.
And when he got into that tub with her, he was facing her and she was facing him. Then he pulled her onto his lap. She immediately felt his erection. And then, without delay, his mouth began feasting on one breast and then the other one, and he began his devouring.
And she began stroking his penis even harder than before, and he began fingering her clit, as they both were moaning and groaning and getting desperate with it. Until it became too much for Monk to handle, and he placed his hand on her hand and guided his penis inside of her.
As soon as Ashley felt that enlargement inside of her, she began riding that rail as if it was the ride of her life. Her eyes hooded, her head leaned back, Monk felt the rub so magnificently that he had to stop sucking her before he came too soon. He, instead, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest. And he closed his eyes, and allowed her to keep riding him, and take him there.
It didn’t take long before they both were feeling the heat of that ride and began bucking together.
“Oh, baby,” Ashley was decrying as he fucked her harder and harder. “Oh, baby, that’s how I like it. Oh, baby!”
Monk was calling out baby and honeys and sweethearts, too, as she fucked him. The craziness of that day, and all of those unanswered questions, were in the rearview mirror as far as they were concerned, as they she moved along his rod faster and faster. So fast that they broke free together. They came together. And held onto each other as the pulsations kept them going as if they couldn’t stop.
Until the craziness of that day crashed back down on them, and the tank emptied. They had nothing left.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Nearly two hours later, as they laid arm in arm in bed, both still wide awake, the call came from downstairs. It was Monk’s GM. “What is it?” he asked.
“You have guests, sir.”
Monk frowned. “Guests? This time of night?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And you’re bothering me why? Why didn’t you refuse them?”
“It’s guests, sir, that can’t be refused.”
Monk was puzzled. “Who?” he asked.
“Mick and Teddy Sinatra, sir.”
Monk looked at Ashle
y. Teddy must have told his old man, and they both came rushing over. “Send them up,” he said to his GM, and ended the call.
“What do they want?” Ashley asked as they both began getting out of bed.
“Whatta you think? They wanna eyeball you. They wanna make sure you’re okay.”
“You told Teddy I was.” They both headed for his room-size walk-in closet.
“That ain’t good enough for a Sinatra,” Monk said as he grabbed a pair of jeans and began putting them on. He tossed Ashley a brand new dress shirt of his, still in the packaging. “They don’t think anybody can do this shit but them. Me and Teddy get into it all the time about that. They have to learn to trust people. To trust me. And by and large I think they do. Except when it comes to one of their own. When it comes to one of their own, they don’t trust shit. They have to see it for themselves.”
“That sounds like my family,” Ashley said as she tore open the package and put on the pristine, light blue dress shirt that stopped just above her knees.
When Monk saw how sexy she looked in his shirt, he walked up to her and kissed her. She hugged him tightly. “Don’t let them see you sweat,” she said to him.
Monk smiled. “Don’t you worry about that. I got it coming to me for not protecting you when I should have. They got every right to tear into my ass for that mistake.”
“It wasn’t a mistake,” Ashley said. “You had security everywhere protecting me.”
“I was supposed to protect you. Not Security. Me. That’s how that shit goes. That’s how they’re gonna see it. And they have every right to be upset about that. But that’s all they got a right to. Because it won’t happen again.” He placed both hands on her arms. “I promise you that,” he said, they heard the elevator doors open, and then they made their way into the living room.
Mick and Teddy walked in just as Monk and Ashley entered the living room area, and as soon as Ashley saw her people, she broke free from Monk and ran into Teddy’s arms. “Hey,” she said happily.
At first, Monk was upset that she had left his side, but then he quickly realized what she was doing. She wanted to lay it on thick. She wanted to make sure they understood she was just fine so that they wouldn’t feel obligated to tell Big Daddy. Even Monk would rather deal with her uncle and cousin, who were a handful to deal with all on their own, than to ever have to deal with her father.
Ashley even gave Mick the Tick a hug, which surprised Monk since he couldn’t imagine that man showing anybody any affection. And although he didn’t exactly hug Ashley back, he did pat her on the back and he didn’t reject her hug. Which was huge for a man like that.
Monk and Teddy also gave their usual half-handshake, half-hug, too, and then they all sat down. Mick and Teddy sat on the sofa with Ashley sandwiched between them. Monk sat in one of the arch-top chairs.
Mick looked at Monk, and didn’t mince words. “What the hell happened?” he asked him.
“I was at Monk’s house,” Ashley began to say.
“I’m not talking to you,” Mick said to his niece.
But Monk would have none of that. That family, he felt, dismissed Ashley too much already. Not in his house. “Back it up, Mr. Sinatra,” he said. “I’m gonna have to ask you to back it up. In my house, Ashley gets to say what’s on her mind. She gets to answer any question from anybody asking it. And anybody in my house is going to let her answer that question, and is going to listen to her answer. Or they can get the fuck out.”
Teddy and Ashley both were shocked by the way Monk spoke to Mick. Was he insane? They waited for the blows to rain down on him the way Mick would have rained down blows on them had they spoken up for themselves that way.
But not a single blow came. Mick sat there, staring at Monk as if he was sizing him up. But then Mick looked at Ashley. “Go on,” he said, to even Ashley’s shock.
When she hesitated, Monk helped her out. “Say what you were going to say, Ash,” he said.
Ashley wasn’t usually all that comfortable speaking around her uncle, but when Monk was around she somehow found the courage to speak up. And she told him what happened. “Four guys broke into Monk’s house, and they tried to attack me. But I beat it back like I was trained.”
She said it so matter-of-factly, Monk thought, when just hearing it again still sent shivers through his spine. Her uncle and her cousin seemed upset too.
“Damn,” said Teddy. “You say it like it’s a walk in the park, Ash.”
“It wasn’t. Believe me, it wasn’t. But thank God I was able to handle myself.”
“Yes, you were,” said Monk.
“Which don’t say shit for you,” said Mick to Monk.
Monk deserved that. He didn’t argue with him. But Ashley did. “That’s not fair, Uncle Mick,” she said. “Monk had tons of security around that house guarding me, but somebody called them off. How could that be his fault?”
Mick looked at Monk. “Who called them off?”
“Had to have been my father,” Monk said. “He and I are the only two in the organization with that authority.”
“Or they could have been on the take for DeGarno,” Teddy said.
Monk nodded. “Yeah, that’s an option too.”
“You had your meeting?” Mick asked.
“Yes. Me and Pop met with him.”
“What did he say about that skating rink shooting? Did he take responsibility for it?”
“No,” said Monk. “He acted like he didn’t have shit to do with it. Same thing for that motel shooting when the girl was snatched again.” Teddy had filled Mick in on that shooting. “All he wants is his daughter back.”
Mick shook his head. “That’s bullshit,” he said. “Sammy the Ox wouldn’t give a fuck about some daughter. Something else is driving him.”
Mick looked at Monk. “How did he seem when you mentioned that skating incident?”
Monk thought back. “He seemed surprised,” he said. “He seemed like he didn’t know what I was talking about. And he said . . .”
Everybody were looking at Monk. “He said what?” Teddy asked him.
Monk was lost in his head again. Remembering that meeting. “He said Paris,” Monk said as if he was talking to himself. “He said . . . Paris. And she spoke . . . French?” Then it was as if a flashbulb had gone off. “That’s why she looked so familiar!” He jumped to his feet and began hurrying to his home office. Teddy and Ashley looked at Mick. Mick got up and followed him, and Teddy and Ashley followed too.
Monk was already seated at his desk pulling up Paris News on his computer. They all gathered around him and didn’t speak as he did his thing.
Ashley didn’t understand what he was doing. But Mick and Teddy didn’t either, so she wasn’t alone. But she placed her hand on Monk’s shoulder. Even with her brother and uncle there, she was still jittery and needed to feel that connection. Where Monk went, she inwardly decided, she was going from here on now.
They all watched as he typed in a name Ashley couldn’t even pronounce: Laurianna Pelletier. It seemed French to Ashley. “Who’s she?” she asked Monk.
Monk was staring at the screen as he pressed Enter. “She’s a woman my old man gave to me on my ninetieth birthday because he thought it was a crime that his oldest son was still a virgin.” He exhaled, and then frowned. “That was eighteen years ago.”
Ashley looked at him. “At nineteen you were still a virgin?”
Monk’s eyes were glued to the screen as the results of his search were coming up. “Yes,” he said with no shame whatsoever. He was in the mob, but he made sure that the mob, and their ways, wasn’t ever going to be in him.
“That’s kind of unusual for a guy in your line of work,” Ashley said. “Why were you still a virgin?”
Mick rolled his eyes. What the fuck difference did it make? But Monk always respected Ashley’s questions, and she had many. He answered her. “I don’t sleep around, I told you that,” he said. And then he saw it. Right on his computer screen. Articles about her d
eath. “She died,” he said.
Ashley saw it too. “Who? The woman your father had given to you for a birthday gift?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know she had died?” she asked him.
Monk was shaking his head. “No,” he said, as he pulled up the newspaper write up.
Everybody moved in closer as they all silently read the article.
“The woman known simply by Parisians as Laurianna, the widow of billionaire shipping magnet Boris Pelletier, lost her year-long battle with cancer and died last evening.”
Monk looked at the date of the article. She died six weeks ago.
The article went on to describe her life, and the fact that she left behind a daughter, “and an entire city” to mourn her lost.
But Ashley was confused. “Your father gave you a billionaire’s wife for your birthday?” she asked Monk.
“She was a hooker when I knew her,” Monk said in that blunt way he was known for. But Monk was too busy staring at Laurianna’s photo in the article to pay much attention to anything else. Because that was why DeGarno’s daughter looked so familiar to him. She was the spitting image of Laurianna, who was apparently her mother. But to make certain, Monk began scrolling down the page, to see if there was a photo of the daughter.
And there was. “I’ll be gotdamn,” he said, staring at the photo.
“Who’s that?” Ashley asked.
“Her daughter,” Monk said as he looked at the same girl he had seen tied up in that motel room. “The daughter she apparently had, not with that billionaire, but with Sammy the Ox.”
“During her prostitute days?” Ashley asked.
Monk nodded. “That’s what I figure, given the girl’s age.”
“How old is she?” Teddy asked.
“Seventeen,” Mick said. He had already found it in the caption under her photo. And everybody looked at Monk. He was the one who said his father had given him the mother of the girl eighteen years ago as a birthday gift. Considering the nine months of pregnancy, the girl’s age was about right.
Ashley felt a pain in the pit of her stomach at the thought that Monk could have a seventeen-year-old daughter out there, and she was missing too? “I thought you said she was that mob boss’s daughter,” she said to him.
Monk Paletti: Taming Ashley Sinatra Page 18
