Chapter 15

Before they moved up the driveway to Vinnie’s home in New Jersey, he stopped like he had forgotten something.

He leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Are you carrying?”

Lucy had completely forgotten about her small handgun inside her purse.

“Yeah, I’m sorry, Vinnie, it’s a habit and it is hard to shake.”

“That’s OK, doll face. Just shove it in the glove compartment. Here is the key to lock it.”

He tucked her arm under his when she returned, and he reassured her that a couple of the guests were actually cops in New Jersey and he didn’t want any unnecessary grief from the locals.

“Don’t worry, honey, you are safe with Uncle Vinnie. Nobody will fuck with you with me in the picture.

The house was crowded, and the chaos was heightened by a bunch of unruly kids running around like they had been chained up all winter in the basement and just got a weekend pass to mingle with other humans.

He planted her in the midst of a gaggle of mature women all wearing black like one would find in a funeral rather than a happy day like a wedding in the spring. Some of them were speaking Italian but she found it difficult to follow because it wasn’t the school taught dialect but some local slang that was unfamiliar to her immature ears. Still, she smiled a lot and nodded her head like she understood them and was in total agreement with whatever they said. It was obvious that there were two main factions at the celebration, an old traditional Italian group and a modern Italian mixed marriage group that spoke only English as if it were required by decree by the federal government.

Her dress was sort of a mix between the two and she could have fit into either group without difficulty.

She saw Vinnie talking to a group of middle aged men with big bellies and missing a lot of hair on the top of their heads. It was obvious he was of the same age group, but he stood out because of his muscular build and the wavy black hair on the top of his head that was the hair he was born with. She knew he was naturally hairy all over his body and she like getting it in her mouth when he gave her something suck like a snack for a dedicated employee.

A small group of well dressed young women were gathered around the center of attraction, the bride, who was only hours away from becoming a wife and had a long night in front of her if she was a virgin. Personally, Lucy thought that horse had already left the barn from the round belly that looked like the future wife was already three months pregnant and right on the verge of showing her to be a fertile field that had already had a lot of plowing before the wedding day.

She suspected that some of the black wearing older women were gossiping about that possibility with raised eyebrows and a lot of hand movements that made her laugh with the obvious intent of the motion. It was something that was uniquely Italian, and she knew it was a silent language all its own.

She knew Vinnie only drank diet cola and he wouldn’t touch drugs of any type with a ten foot pole.

Still, he fit in with good old boys despite his differences. He was like a tiger in the midst of a bunch of water buffalo stalking with each step like he was on a bed of nails like the Houdini types in the old country.

She didn’t know Vinnie’s reason for sticking her in the corner with the old dames, but she suspected he was leery of the biting tongues of the young Italian bitches talking their shit like prima donnas on parade. He knew that Lucy was short tempered and didn’t want any trouble before they even got a chance to greet the bride and groom.

A couple of tough looking guys with roving eyes were ogling her pantyhose and she wished she had worn the dress that was about two inches lower on the hemline because she was certain that from a certain angle, they could see her French undies.

Vinnie’s father and two uncles were sitting in the kitchen drinking vino from paper cups. They all looked like peas in a pod, and she could see the resemblance in Vinnie’s facial features. His mama had already passed away and he seldom referred to her in any of their previous conversations. She wasn’t sure of the reason, but she hoped it wasn’t because he didn’t want to bring up his mother’s name in front of a fucking floozie.

Lucy still thought of herself as being a good girl, just playing a role in her undercover assignment that she had to maintain in order to survive.

She knew that her criminal activities were just something forced on her by a freaky accident that left her with a shit-pot of drugs and nowhere to dispose of them except to distribute them with the use of street whores that saw it as an easier way to earn money in a hard, cruel world.

Sure, she had sold the love of her life, Tony, down the river, but it was to save his ass from the family that would have rubbed him out if he hadn’t been busted by the feds for violating the Rico Act of organized crime.

She thought about her history with Vinnie and knew that despite his strict handling of her activities he could have been a whole lot rougher because she knew she deserved it for her lying ways and her downright disloyal betrayal of him and the entire organization because that was her job.

They had done the nasty two step only once thus far, but she had been down on her knees to him dozens of time over the past eighteen months learning a lot about his likes and dislikes and allowing him to rummage through all her private parts like she was his steady girlfriend.

He knew that she had opened her knees for several of the hoods that worked for him on his orders, as well as several VIP associates that functioned as sources of income to the family. She knew he didn’t mind her sexual coupling because they both knew it was only business and not some misplaced love in all the wrong places.