Big Daddy Sinatra 3: The Best of My Love (The Sinatras of Jericho County) (24 page)

He
was fighting back tears, he could tell.
 
“I’d be lost without you, Jenay,” he felt a need to tell her.

Jenay
stared at him.
 
“Oh, Charlie,” she
responded, “I’d be lost without you too.”
 
And they embraced with an embrace that spoke more to their needs, than
their wants.

They
sat on one side of the table and Luke Sinatra sat on the opposite side.
 
Charles was leaned back, with his arms
folded, as he stared at his father.
 
His
father, leaned forward, smiling, stared back.
 
Jenay sat beside Charles, and her heart was hammering.

“You
turned out real good, Charles,” Luke said to his son.
 
“I talk about you all the time.
 
Ask anybody.”

They
were in Warren, Maine, in the visitation room inside the state prison.
 
Neither Charles nor Jenay wanted to be there,
but his father had requested it, just in case he was in fact released.
 
They needed to settle the score.

It
was Charles’s idea to accept his father’s invitation.
 
And when he asked if she would accompany him,
she wasn’t about to turn him down.
 
She
wanted some kind of closure for Charles.
 
She knew he would never forget that night, and he should never forget
it.
 
But his emotional attachment to that
night had changed.
 
His decision to face
his father man-to-man was a step, she felt, in the right direction.

For
Charles, it wasn’t about closure at all.
 
He felt he closed that chapter in his life thirty-six years ago, the day
justice was served and his father was led out of that courtroom in chains.
 
And seeing him at that hearing only made him
more certain that his father had no grip on him.
 
But he still needed to hear from him.
 
Not for himself, but for his children.
 
If this man was indeed released on the
streets of Jericho again, he needed to know what his children would be up
against.
 
Charles was a skeptic when it
came to people changing their nature.
 
They would have to show him an awful lot before he would believe it.
 
He wanted to see for himself just how far
along, after all these years, his father had come.

It
didn’t take long for his verdict.
  

“So
who’s the lady?” Luke asked him.

“My
wife,” Charles said.

Luke
looked at Jenay.
 
Then he looked at his
son.
 
“Married outside the race, I
see.
 
And I know what you wanna ask,” he
added.

“What’s
that?” Charles asked.

“You
wanna know how I feel about the fact that my oldest son married a black woman.”

Charles
shook his head.
 
“I don’t want to know
how you feel about that,” Charles responded.
 
“I don’t give a fuck how you feel about it.
 
You can love it, hate it, be indifferent
about it.
 
Who the fuck cares?”

Luke
gave his son a long look.
 
“You’re the
one with an attitude?” he asked.
 
“After
what you did to me, you’re the one with an attitude?”

“You
wanted to meet with me,” Charles said.
 
“I’m here.
 
Now what did you
want?”

 
Luke shook his head.
 
“When I get out---”

“If
you get out,” Charles corrected him.

“When
I get out I was wondering if you could set me up.
 
You know, a nice house, a nice car, nice
clothes. I want it all.
 
What do you
say?”

Charles
and Jenay couldn’t believe the nerve of this man.
 
“Hell will freeze over before you get
anything from me.”

 
Luke stared at his firstborn.
 
“You’ve always been so hard,” he said.
 
“Even as a kid, you were always so
exact.
 
Right or wrong, no in
between.
 
Anybody else would have let me
leave that night.
 
And I would have
gotten away too!
 
Now I’ve been stuck in
this hellhole for thirty some odd years, and you’ve been living it up with your
black wench and your half-breed children.”

Charles
and Jenay both stood up to leave.
 
They
weren’t about to sit here and listen to this nonsense.
 
And they would have left right then and
there.
 
Until Charles’s father went
there.

“I could
sue you,” he said to Charles.

Charles
stopped all movement.
 
Jenay looked at
Luke in amazement too.
 
“You can
what
?” Charles asked.

“I
can sue you.
 
That’s what!
 
You lied on me that night.
 
You told that jury I just came down there and
shot Cobb Zaxby, and then just shot your mama for no good reason.
 
You knew I had a reason, and it wasn’t
because they were doing what they were doing.
 
I shot both of them because they were trying to kill you.”

Charles
couldn’t believe it.
 
“That’s a
got
damn lie,” he said.

“It’s
the truth!”

“My
mother was trying to kill me?”

“Yes,
she was!
 
Because you were beating on her
lover.
 
So I protected you and snuffed
out both of them.”

Charles
couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
 
“You’re so full of shit it’s a wonder you can sit down.”

“You
know it’s true!
 
And you owe me!
 
You owe me for every year I’ve had to rot in
this place!
 
I can’t wait to get out.
 
I can’t wait to get out of this hellhole and
make your life a living hell.
 
I made you
the man you are today, who do you think you’re talking to?
 
All of your success is because of me!
 
I toughened you up.
 
I did that!”

Then
Luke smiled.
 
“Know why you hate me so
much?
 
Know why you didn’t even speak to
me at that hearing?
 
Because you’re just
like me and you can’t stand it.
 
We’re
two of a kind.
 
You’re probably gonna end
up killing your old lady too when she fucks around on you.
 
And she’ll fuck around.
 
There’s not a bitch ever been born that
didn’t fuck around.
 
Especially not a
black bitch.”

Jenay
immediately held onto Charles’s arm.
 
Because she knew him.
 
And she was
right.
 
Charles wanted to charge his
father, he wanted to beat the shit out of him.
 
But he thought about his wife, his children, his baby girl Bonita.
 
Beating his father’s ass, as satisfying as
that would be, couldn’t compare.

Luke
was surprised that Charles didn’t take his bait.
 
“So you’re a punk now?” he asked him.
 
“That money softened you?
 
I can call your wife every kind of bitches
and you do nothing about it?
 
That’s not
the boy I raised!
 
I was wrong.
 
You’re nothing like me!”

At
first it felt like vindication.
 
Then it
felt ironic.
 
And then just plain
silly.
 
And Charles and Jenay couldn’t
help but smile.
 
They looked at each
other and began to laugh.
 

“What’s
so funny?” Luke asked as they began to leave.
 
“You heard me, boy!
 
What’s so
freakin’ funny?”

But
Charles and Jenay kept laughing and leaving.
 
Because they realized he wasn’t worth an ounce of any other kind of
emotion.
 
He just wasn’t worth it.

They
left.
 
They did not look back.

 
“You’re so pretty,” Willie said as he
continued to kiss her.
 
“You’re a lovely
girl.”

Ashley
was over-the-moon as Willie held and kissed her.
 
He was such a wonderful kisser! They were at
his secluded home in Boston, after she arrived and discovered that no one else
had shown up for his party.
 
At first she
felt eerie about it, and almost wanted to turn around and run away.
 
But then she felt good about it.
 
He wanted her all for himself.
 
He might even introduce her to some of the
biggest players in the game.
 
She smiled.

“Did
you invite anybody else?” she teasingly asked him.

He
smiled.
 
“You know I didn’t.
 
Why would I when I could have you all to
myself?
 
Come here girl!”

And
that was how they ended up on his sofa, talking, and now hugging and
kissing.
 
And it was all good.
 
He was gentle, and expert, not like those
desperate boys she dated, and she was actually enjoying herself.
 
Until he went too far.

Willie
had no intentions of doing anything with Ashley but to make love to her to gain
her confidence.
 
She would fall for him
and he would have an insider in the Sinatra household.
  
But it went left on him.
 
The turn came when he began to unbutton her
blouse.

“None
of that,” she said with a smile, and removed his hands.

“Ah, come
on, beautiful lady,” Willie said, kissing her still, and reaching for her
buttons again.

“No
now,” Ashley said again, still enjoying his kisses, still playful.
 
But he continued to try to undress her.
  
She wasn’t about to go all the way with him,
she didn’t know why he was tripping.
 
But
then even his voice changed from that soft playfulness, to seriousness.

“You’re
going to give me some,” he said with an edge in his tone.

“No,
I’m not,” Ashley said, equally edgy.
 
But
she was still smiling between the kisses because she thought it was a game.

Only
it was no game.
 
Willie was getting
seriously horny and he wasn’t going to wait.
 
But he knew he had to be delicate.
 
He didn’t want to scare the girl.
 
But he wanted to fuck her hard.

“Yes,
you are,” he said, and attempted to unbutton her blouse again.

“I
told you no,” Ashley said, “and my no is final.”

Willie
didn’t like her tone.
 
He had a thing
against arrogant women, and he never liked when they spoke to him that
way.
 
He didn’t try to unbutton her blouse
this time, he took her buttoned blouse and ripped it open.

Ashley
shoved his hands away from her blouse, stunned by his action.
 
“Look what you’ve done,” she said angrily as
she looked down at her now open blouse.
 
She moved to get up, but he pulled her back down.

“Yes,”
he said.
 
“Look what I’ve done.
 
And I’m about to do more.”
 
He opened her torn blouse wider, lifted her
bra, and began sucking her breasts with an angry suck that had Ashley yelling
and beating on him.
 
She squirmed and did
all she could to get away from him.
 
But
he was three-times her size.
 
She might
as well had been boxing air.

And
he reached beneath her skirt.

“Are
you nuts?
 
What are you doing, you
creep?
 
Stop!
 
I said stop it!”

But
he didn’t stop.
 
He couldn’t.
 
He wanted her and he always went for what he
wanted.
 
“You’re giving me some tonight,”
he said, as he grabbed the top of her little skirt, slung it down along with
her panties, and then tossed them aside.
 
Then he stood up over her.

Ashley
was beyond panic now.
 
She was horrified.
 
She looked in his eyes.
 
All she saw was hate and lust.
 
And she was willing to beg.
 
“Willie, You can’t do something like this,”
she said.
 
“Please don’t do it.
 
What about my mother?
 
She’ll kill you if she knew what you’re doing
to me!”

“Then
she’ll just have to kill me,” Willie said as he unbuttoned, unzipped, and
dropped his pants, “because I’m fucking you.
 
You gonna give me some.
 
So turn
your ass over.”

Ashley
knew she had to make a run for it.
 
This
man didn’t care.
 
She had to get out of
his house and get out now!
 

So
she jumped up and almost got away from him.
 
He reached for her, but she was too fast, and she almost made it to the
front door.
 
But he reached again and
caught her, and he not only slung her back, but he picked her up, carried her
to the sofa, let her scream all she wanted because his neighbors were three
acres away, and he laid her wiggling body on her stomach.
 

Without
any prep, without giving her pain a second thought, Willie Stiles slammed his
thick dick into her asshole and fucked her that night.
 

Ashley
was screaming in pain, but he didn’t care.
 
He was getting some.
 
At that
moment, he didn’t even care about the money he needed.
 
His house was in foreclosure.
 
His car was soon to be repossessed.
 
But all he cared about at that moment in time
was fucking Ashley Sinatra.
 
And he
fucked her.
 
He fucked her hard.

When
it was all over, and she was still lying there, still crying, unable to scream
because she was too exhausted and knew it would do no good, Willie pulled her
into a sitting position.
 

He
knelt his naked body in front of her, and held her by the neck.
  
He had to make this clear.
 
“You hear me, and you hear me well,” he
said.
 
“You tell Jenay or anybody else
about what happened tonight, and I’ll kill you.
 
You hear me, girl?
 
I will kill
you.
 
And then I’ll go over to that
apartment of yours and kill your sister too, and then your parents, your
brothers, and everybody else you love.
 
And I can do it.
 
I have ex-cons
who are very close friends of mine.
 
They’d love to terrorize a family like yours.
 
So what are you going to tell your sister or
anybody else when they ask you what went on in this house tonight?”

Ashley
stared at him.

He
slapped her hard across her face.
 
“Did
you hear me, bitch?
 
What are you going
to tell your sister---”

“That
we talked.”
 
Ashley’s face was filled
with distress.
 
“I don’t know!”

“You’re
going to tell her that we talked, that we made love, that you had the time of
your life.
 
You hear me?
 
If you even dream about mentioning rape, or
any crazy thing like that, then your life is over.
 
Don’t you ever forget that.
 
Your life, her life, Jenay’s life, will be
over.”

To
prove his point, Willie got up, walked over to a drawer, and pulled out a
pistol.
 
When he walked back to the sofa
and pointed it at Ashley, she nearly jumped out of her skin.
 
He pointed it at her forehead.
 
“Just in case you doubt me, I wanted to make
sure you didn’t.
 
You will do exactly
what I tell you to do, you got it, Miss Ashley?”

“Yes,”
Ashley said, tears streaming down her face.
 
“I got it.”

“Everything
I tell you to do.
 
You got it?”

Ashley
nodded, staring at that gun.
 
“I got it.”

Willie
actually smiled.
 
“Good.
 
Now go clean yourself up.
 
I want to fuck you again before you leave.”

And Ashley
didn’t delay this time.
 
She didn’t try
any quick getaways this time.
 
A gun was
involved.
 
Threats that could be carried
out were involved.
 
And all Ashley could
do was think about all those times Jenay, and Charles, and even Donald had
tried to tell her to stop the partying.
 
To stop hanging out with all of these men she barely knew.
 
To stop being so easy.
 
She knew it wasn’t her fault.
 
She knew that crazy man in that living room
was the only person to blame here.
 
But
knowing all of that other stuff, remembering all of those other warnings, did
nothing to stop her pain.

She
went into the bathroom and wanted to lock the door, but Willie yelled out.
 
“You lock it, you’re dead.”

She
didn’t even bother trying.
 
She cleaned
herself up, and prepared to be devastated again.

But
early that Saturday morning, when she woke up still in pain, she wasn’t crying
anymore.
 
She wasn’t sad and filled with
despair anymore.
 
She was just mad.
 
She was so angry she could barely contain her
rage.
 
And she knew what she had to
do.
 
Carly was spending the weekend with
their folks, and Donald was working all day.
 
But she took a train to Jericho without telling either one of them.
 
And when she arrived in town, she didn’t go
see Donald, or Carly, or even their folks.
 
She would see all of them later.
 
She went to Aunt Sprig’s house first.
  
She went to the home of the one person she knew who had what she needed.

And
after Sprig opened the door of a home that reeked of alcohol, and after Ashley
sat on her sofa and explained to her what Willie Stiles had done to her, Sprig
stared at her niece.

“You
came to me,” she said, “so obviously you haven’t told Charles and Jenay.”

“I’m
not going to tell them either,” Ashley said firmly.
 
“Dad will try to get him arrested.
 
And Mom will too.
 
I don’t want that.”

Sprig
stared at her.
 
“You want more?”

“Yes.
 
And I know you have what I can use.”

Sprig
leaned back on her sofa and smiled.
 
“So
Charles is raising murderers now?”

“I’m
not playing, Aunt Sprig!
 
You should have
seen what that man did to me, and made me do!
 
I want him dead, and I want to be the one to kill him!”

“Sure,
Ash.”

“I
mean it!”
 
Pure rage was in her
eyes.
 
“I want him dead!
 
And I want to do it.
 
I have to do it.”

“What
if you get caught?”

“I
won’t get caught.”

“But
what if you do?”

“I
won’t!
 
Now are you going to help me or
not?”

“How
do you know I can help you?”

“You
own guns.
 
I heard Mom and Dad talking
about it.
 
They said you own all kinds of
guns.”
 
Ashley stared at her aunt.
 
“I need one,” she said.
 
“If you don’t give it to me, I’ll get one
some other kind of way.
 
But I’ll get
one.”

Sprig
had never thought of Ashley as a serious person.
 
Carly, yes.
 
Ashley?
 
Never.
 
She and Donald were two of the most
unserious
 
people she’d ever known.
 
But Ashley was a revengeful person.
 
That was different.
 
She could relate to revenge.
 
But she knew the risk.
 
It would be a slap in the face to Charles if
he ever found out she supplied his daughter with a weapon.
 
But when did she ever have a problem with
pissing off Charles?

“Come
on,” she said to Ashley, and carried her into a locked bedroom that contained
her little arsenal.