“Carter sure will be in for one hell of a shock when he comes home one day,” thought Frank to himself with a wry smile on his face. While all these things were true, they didn’t really have much impact on the job or on anything that Frank was actually going to be doing about either Carter or Mary Lou.
ORIGINALLY, FRANK HAD thought that, somehow, he would discover a way to threaten Carter, but he also knew he needed Carter to be reasonably stable so he’d deliver what they needed of him for the job. So although Frank wanted to use what he’d found out about Rita, he knew it would have too great an impact on Carter. Once they had the money, he would happily mess with Carter’s head - or put a bullet through it. Just not now.
The important thing was to keep his eye on the prize: the cash in that vault needed to be in his possession and then he could spend it on his big dreams.
In the meantime, Carter must wait and Frank realized there wasn’t much point in watching Rita in bed with herself any more.
Frank turned his attention back to Carter for a moment. Now they knew what the inside of the bank looked like to a high degree of detail: the tellers, the security guard, the vault with safe and deposit boxes, was there any need for Mary Lou to continue to turn up there, risk any kind of discovery and still spend time in his apartment? The job didn’t demand it any more and it would make him happier knowing Carter was a part of her past. Then he’d know he had her to himself and that way, he’d know he could count on her for his future dreams and not be put in the annoying position of having to kill her later on. Because while he couldn’t say he loved her, he did feel a certain affection for her. And, he reckoned, she must feel a certain affection for him, otherwise why did she stick by him while he was in the joint? She was a good-looking girl and fabulous lay. The thought never occurred to Frank that Mary Lou might actually love him and she felt a strong loyalty to the man in her heart. But the same thought hadn’t crossed Mary Lou’s mind either.
He pulled himself out of his reverie and noticed he was still in the middle of a tree, so he shinned down, walked at a straight pace back to his car and drove home to the Halethorpe apartment and waited for the warmth of Mary Lou’s body and the comfort of her linguini.
THE NEXT TIME he met up with his uncle, Frank had just eaten a salami-on-rye from a diner in Lansdowne a couple of blocks away from the cemetery. They hooked up by the same gravestone as the first time they discussed the job.
Things had moved on quite a bit for both of them and the plan was taking very good shape.
“How’s it going, my boy?” asked the old money lender, investor, business partner and relative.
“Good, Uncle.”
“And what exactly does that entail? How is it good?”
“We’ve got a good picture of what the inside of the bank looks like, thanks to Mary Lou.”
“Great ass, that girl,” interrupted Lagotti.
“And the crew is in good shape too. I’ve kept them separate in the main. I don’t want us to be seen hanging together in case we’re spotted on the day, but Andrew and Brian are together so the core of the team is okay. And Pete’s a loner anyway so I wouldn’t expect him to be a social butterfly.”
“He’s one crazy fucker, for sure.”
“Well, he’s certainly the least stable of all of us, but I respect your recommendation. From what I hear, Pete the Wheels is the best driver not in the can by a wide margin.”
Frank waited for a second to let that thought hang in the air.
“But some think he has, um, homicidal tendencies. There’s talk that Martin, who was my first choice to ride shotgun, was killed by him three months ago. I didn’t do anything out of respect for you.”
“Thank you. Pete does have a history, for sure. I know nothing of this Martin situation but it wouldn’t be the first time that Pete has spilled blood.”
Frank was silent for a second or two, mulling over Lagotti’s words and the implication he had a psychopath in his gang.
“I’ll keep on eye on him then. The good news is his only task is to drive away from the bank fast and get us out of town.”
“Yeah and not kill anyone along the way.”
Frank turned to his uncle to see how much he was joking, but Frankie was playing a straight game.
“And then we get the money over to you.”
“Indeed,” noted monotone Lagotti, waiting to find out what was going on inside Frank’s head.
“So Uncle, what’s the deal with laundering the money?”
“Well, young man, I’m glad you’ve asked that question. As I said a while ago, I’ve wanted you to focus on the job at hand, but now is the time for us to talk business.”
“So what’s the deal, Uncle?”
“What do you think it should be?” asked Lagotti, knowing he didn’t want to be the first to name his price.
“Well,” smiled Frank, “ten cents on the dollar as there’s going to be a lot of our sweat and blood going into this job.”
Lagotti put up his hand to silence Frank. The initial offer was painfully low and they both knew it. Frank had only started quite so low because he was negotiating with his uncle, otherwise by now Lagotti would have signaled Luigi to break some of Frank’s fingers. And they both knew that too.
“That’s a touch low, my boy. The job would not be happening if it wasn’t for my initial investment for the guns, the explosives and the vehicles. And that ignores the simple fact that without me refreshing the money at the other end of the job, there’ll be no job at all.”
“So what do you suggest?” asked Frank, knowing they needed to get this sorted out quickly, because his first offer was close to an insult.
“People usually get twenty-five cents on the dollar from me, but I can give you thirty cents as you’re family.”
“Is that the best you can offer us?” Frank said quietly, facing the ground, eyes searching for the base of the nearest gravestone. Lagotti noticed the change in Frank’s tone and recognized Frank knew he had stepped a bit too far, but also wanted to get a better deal for himself.
“Tell you what,” he said, “let’s make it forty cents on the dollar and stop there.”
“Thank you. You won’t regret this at all.”
“I know I won’t, my boy. Is there anything for us to discuss?”
“No, Uncle.”
“Then with our tribute agreed, let’s get outta this bone yard,” he responded. Lagotti unceremoniously stood up, hugged his step nephew and departed the cemetery.
Pleased with the deal he’d got from his uncle, Frank decided things were actually going okay and he could afford some R-and-R with Mary Lou. This would also give him a chance to check her out and try to figure out what she was really up to.
18
CARTER AND MARY Lou waited in line to see a movie, just to break free from the routine of their daily lives, so he said. Besides, the tellers had told him it was funny and that counted as a recommendation. No Way to Treat a Lady was a thriller starring Rod Steiger and Lee Remick with George Segal as a cop.
Mary Lou thought Steiger was still quite handsome in an old-man sort of way. But she certainly wouldn’t throw him out of bed if he turned up one night although Segal was far too nebbish for Mary Lou’s taste. There was something about his nose she didn’t like and, while she couldn’t quite say what it was, it was a big enough deal to her that she knew he wasn’t attractive to her.
Carter on the other hand did have a bookworm charm to himself, but he was a gambler and liked to play the odds. The risk taker in him was what she found attractive. As she mused while the movie droned on, the tricks and turns of the plot were leaving her cold by now, there was clearly a physical level to the attraction and she was definitely enjoying sex with Carter more than with Frank. Somewhere inside him was some kind of kindred spirit. He understood her and she understood him. Now, of course, he only really knew her as the person she was pretending to be. She had made up some stuff to help him believe and trust her, but apart from that, she
was being true with him. Or as true as she could be with a married man out of whom she was extracting information so her fella could steal from his place of work.
Mary Lou shifted her weight onto the other side of her body - these seats sure weren’t comfy - and found herself leaning her head on Carter’s shoulder. The movie was going on for quite a while. She loved his smell and inhaled it off his shoulder and sleeve.
But the movie was boring and she hadn’t come out with Carter just to be bored. That was not part of her plan. Besides, tomorrow she was going to be flying down to Florida with Frank and Mary Lou was very excited. She had only flown once before when she had visited Ron in Vegas and that was quite scary because she had to negotiate the airport by herself. This time she could let Frank carry that burden.
To take her mind off Florida and Steiger, she dropped her arm nearest Carter off the shared armrest and placed it on his leg. Then she started to stroke his thigh, which made him open his legs slightly to make space for her hand to travel up and down its full length, all the way from his knee to his crotch and back again. Then back to his groin, where the hand stayed, massaging his dick and letting her fingers search away until she found his balls.
Within a minute, she could feel how hard he had become with her manipulations. She smiled to herself in the dark, pleased with her work so far and the fact she could turn him on just by stroking him. Then, with just the one hand and in the dark so it was all by touch, she figured out how to unbutton his pants and reached down his shorts, fingering, teasing, squeezing as she progressed. And then she stopped moving her hand altogether, just holding the shaft tight so the only motion was caused by Carter’s own body, which pushed forwards and backwards against her firm grip, causing her clenched fingers to run up and down his dick. This carried on for a solid minute until Mary Lou released him and ran her thumb over his helmet until she felt a jet of liquid and then she squeezed-and-released real hard, repeatedly until the jet stopped.
AFTERWARDS THEY GRABBED a bite to eat in a chichi restaurant round the corner, called El Greco. Carter had a rib-eye and Mary Lou chose the lamb chop. They had a choice of potato and vegetables and Mary Lou had mint sauce on the side.
Carter had been spending most of his waking time thinking about money. The money he had to find every week for Frank Senior and the money he was planning to steal from Frank Senior and the bank.
Every time he thought about these two things, he imagined Mary Lou and himself lying on a beach on the west coast or Mexico, walking along the seashore with his hand on her butt and a bunch of other clichés.
Right now, he was holding her hand in a restaurant in downtown Baltimore, hiding in plain sight from the world and his wife. They were sat next to each other but their hands were under the table, resting on Mary Lou’s right leg. Even though they were miles away from Lansdowne, the last thing Carter needed right now was any trouble from anyone. So he stroked the back of her hand with his and they talked about the movie. About how sexy George Segal looked (Mary Lou, gently teasing) and how the film seemed to have no moral compass (Carter, pompous).
Carter was so paranoid about being spotted with Mary Lou they didn’t even meet in Lansdowne to get to the movie. He had made Mary Lou catch a bus into Baltimore, just in case. To make matters worse, this was the first time Carter had braved being seen in the outside world since they had hooked up those three or four months ago. This was a big step for him and Mary Lou knew it, but he sure was showing how much he trusted her, how much he loved her and how much he wanted to be with her. Even if he spent most of his time with Rita and hid with Mary Lou in an apartment in Halethorpe - the location for which was suggested by Mary Lou, but he had never for a minute asked himself why this single woman hadn’t just offered him a key to her own place instead of making him rent out an apartment instead.
Strangely, the conversation in the restaurant was stilted between them. By shifting the context away from that apartment and turning themselves into a normal couple doing normal things, the two of them were all out of whack. They were used to an easy meal put together by Mary Lou, some horseplay on the sofa then the rest of the evening was spent in bed, stroking, sucking and squelching in between chats and licks until one of them fell asleep, which was usually Carter. Occasionally, Mary Lou would finger herself and come one more time, but mostly, she actually found Carter’s love making included consideration for her body too.
So, sat in El Greco, Carter found the conversation between them far from relaxed, just at the time when he was hoping everything would come good for them. Mary Lou sensed it too. Carter’s response was to start to move his hand up Mary Lou’s thigh and under her black miniskirt - they were all the rage in New York.
While they were slowly sharing their profiteroles together, Carter’s fingers were stroking Mary Lou through her panties and conversation ground to a halt, while they both thought about the cream in their mouths and the tip of Carter’s index finger, curling against Mary Lou’s flesh.
Carter paid for the meal in cash, leaving a very hefty gratuity. Then he drove them back to their apartment.
19
CARTER OPENED THE door for Mary Lou, who walked through first and flipped on the living room light. Carter turned to close the front door and hang his coat on a peg by the door. By the time he had turned back to face the living room, Mary Lou had walked back to stand in front of him. She kissed him squarely on the lips, hands stroking, rubbing, caressing his back, torso, arms. Then she put her fingers on his lips to shush him and pushed down her skirt and shimmied it off. When she bent down to finally remove the skirt from around her feet, her head was level with Carter’s belt. She knelt down, undid the belt, pulled down his shorts and sucked him off, there in the hallway. Carter didn’t know what to think or do, apart from lean on the wall with his fingertips and let the rush of orgasm overtake him.
Mary Lou licked his helmet one last swirly time, took his hand and, still without a word, led him into the bedroom. She let go of his hand and took off her powder blue blouse. Carter took his cue and started undressing too. He watched as she unclipped her bra to reveal her perfectly round nipples and slinked off her black panties. Then he watched her slide into bed.
He realized after his shirt landed on the floor, all he had done was to watch, stare at Mary Lou and breathe in that amazingly beautiful body of hers. He smiled at her as she lay under the covers.
“Hurry up, my darling,” she purred at him. He didn’t need a second reminder. Carter kicked off his pants which were already hanging off only one foot and removed his shorts, which were damp from his hallway semen.
Then their bodies touched each other and lips, hair, arms and torsos writhed away as they both tried to give as much pleasure to the other that their imaginations would allow.
A half hour later when they were done, Carter was resting his head on Mary Lou’s stomach, casually stroking and squeezing one of her breasts as they were talking. His left ear was immediately above the top of her rose and he could smell their sex on her groin. He was content in that moment.
They talked about which parts of their bodies they liked to be licked - just as any other couple might do. And then the conversation moved on to their kinkiest sex acts. Carter admitted he had once had sex in his parents’ bed while they were at a dinner party. This was with his childhood sweetheart, Rita, naturally. Mary Lou told him she had once been tied up and fucked repeatedly by a guy named Ron.
Carter was shocked. So shocked he stopped rubbing her breast, turned round and faced her, kneeling with his legs apart and his penis dangling in between his thighs.
“Are you serious?”
“Why... yes? It was a long time ago anyways. Does it bother you?”
“Um ... I don’t think so. It’s more I wasn’t expecting you to say anything close to that. I mean, I’ve never done anything like it. Not even close.”
“Well, would you like to try some time?”
“Maybe. Maybe.”
The truth was tha
t while it sounded pretty scary to Carter, the idea also sounded pretty sexy. He lay back down and Mary Lou sat on top of him, massaging his dick and then sitting on him until they both came.
Later that night, Mary Lou told him she would have to leave town the next day to visit her sick mother who lived in Florida.
“How long are you going to be gone for?”
“A couple of days is all. I’ll be back by Monday; Tuesday at the latest. But she really needs me right now.”
“Okay then,” his voice trailing off with a mix of disappointment and tiredness. He weakly squeezed her butt cheek - Mary Lou was still lying on top of him, her rose and his dick touching - and promptly fell asleep.
When he awoke the following morning, Mary Lou had already got up and left. He found a note pinned to the fridge door: I’ll call you when I get back. Bring some scarves over and we can tie ourselves up in knots. MLB.
Carter gulped, but noticed he was getting hard just at the thought of it. That lunchtime he popped into the Lansdowne department store and bought six silk scarves, all different colors. Mary Lou and he would have a party when she got back. It was only at this point Carter really cared about Mary Lou’s mother making a quick recovery.
THAT NIGHT, OF course, Carter found himself sat opposite Rita over a bowl of casserole, having downed a glass of scotch before the meal. As he did every night with Rita. The liquor deadened his mind to how he felt about her and about his situation with her.
There was something different about tonight: his head was part-filled with thoughts and images of those silk scarves. And, as he chewed on the cubes of beef and potato, Carter started thinking maybe he had been too harsh with Rita. Maybe they hadn’t rushed into their marriage. Or maybe he was just feeling horny and he knew he wouldn’t be inside Mary Lou for many days.
The Lagotti Family Series Page 9
