School was a month away from starting and Nikki had to figure out how to coexist with her new roommate before classes started, but she also had some things to sort out at home before then. One of those things was her relationship with Mark. Nikki had grown distant and was ready to move on with her new life.
It was finally time to break the news to him and officially turn the page onto the next chapter. She also needed to speak to her parents in an attempt to at least try to reach a cordial relationship with them while she was back in town for a few days. It would also be her first chance to take her bike on a road trip, which would be a bright spot for the week.
The six-hour ride home was soothing for Nikki, allowing the wind to blow through her face reinforced her belief that buy the Harley was one of the best decisions that she had ever made. Finally she pulled into Mark’s driveway, unsure of how this situation would play out, given it was the first time she would ever experience a breakup in her life.
When Mark heard the chopper roar into his driveway, he didn’t expect to see his beautiful girlfriend standing next to it wearing a Harley Davidson tank top tucked into a black pair of bootcut jeans, tied together with a thick black leather belt, a pair of black cowboy boots and her leather vest. She adjust the chains around her neck as a freshly lit cigarette dangled between her lips.
“When did you get a bike?” Mark asked in shock.
“Last week,” Nikki responded casually through an exhale.
“I haven’t heard from you much since you left,” Mark said.
“Yeah, I’ve been pretty busy,” Nikki answered. She then put her cigarette back between her lips and turned around as she fixed her bandana, subtly showing off the fact that she had cut the logo off her vest. “I think we need to talk.”
“Are you breaking up with me?” Mark asked as he ushered her inside the house.
“I think it’s time,” Nikki said. “We’re moving in different directions and I can’t do what I need to do while I’m tied to you and this club.”
“So you’re choosing business over me?” Mark demanded. “You realize you’re just an 18-year-old girl, right? Do you really think you can run your own crew against grown men?”
“I have faith in myself,” Nikki said. “I’ve grown a lot in the last few months and I owe some of that to you, but I know what I’m doing.”
“You have no idea what you’re doing,” Mark shouted. “You don’t just get to walk out. I let you in -- I let you be part of everything. You don’t get to walk away from that.”
Nikki sensed that things could turn violent and she noticed a Glock 22 sitting on the kitchen table. Before Mark could react, she took a step back a swiped it off the table.
“Put your hands up, turn around and give me your other gun,” Nikki demanded, pointing the gun directly at Mark. “I know you have it on you.”
Mark put his hands in the air, clearly not realizing this was the direction this conversation would go. Nikki quickly took the gun out of his waistband and put it in her purse. She also took the knife off his belt and put that in her purse also.
“I tried to be civil about this,” Nikki shouted. “I was going to be nice about it, but you gotta stand here and threaten me. Nobody threatens me!”
“You have no idea what you’re doing,” Mark laughed.
“I don’t?” Nikki asked. “I know that you aren’t gonna do a damn thing. You can’t kill me because everyone will know it was you. You can’t go after my parents because everyone will know it was you. You can’t do anything because then the club will find out everything you told me and you’ll just end up in a hole in the ground.”
Mark stood there silently. She was right. There was nothing he could do to stop her.
“You had to know this was going to end at some point. Look at you and then look at me,” Nikki said with a cold laugh as she pushed her sunglasses onto the top of her head to reveal a cold, dark stare. “You are just a means to an end. I have the brains, the ruthlessness and the ambition to be a boss. You’re just happy to be a grunt.”
Mark plopped down on the couch, depression rushing through him. He had been defeated. Nikki backed out of the house, still pointing the gun at her now ex-boyfriend, not lowering it until she was out the door. She quickly stashed it in her vest pocket and hopped on her bike, speeding off.
Nikki quickly found a secluded place to pull off. She needed a cigarette badly to calm the adrenaline racing through her body. She didn’t think that’s how the conversation would go, as it was the first time she had ever pointed a gun at someone. Now she had two in her possession, so she stashed both guns and the knife in her saddle bags, safely hidden underneath a raincoat. Guns were something she didn’t have yet, and would likely need now that she was on her own.
Nikki was now officially a single woman, setting out on her own. There was no looking back now.
______________________________________________________________________________
Now that Nikki had taken care of business between her and Mark, it was time to return home to face her parents. This situation wouldn’t involve guns, but it would be much more difficult to endure.
For the second time in a matter of hours, Nikki shocked someone by pulling into the driveway on her brand new motorcycle. Her parents came out, stunned that their daughter was riding her own hog. Nikki got off the bike and quickly lit a cigarette, eyeing her parents from behind her sunglasses, waiting for judgement to come.
“Hey,” Nikki said.
“Where did you get this?” Her father asked.
“I bought it,” Nikki said simply.
“How did you afford it?” He asked again.
“I have my ways,” Nikki shrugged.
“Nicole, when are you going to realize that you are headed down a path of destruction as long as you are with that boy and that club?” Her mother said.
“Well, you don’t have to worry about Mark or that club anymore,” Nikki said. “I dumped that loser before I came over here.”
“So now what?” Her father asked, somewhat relieved.
“I’m on my own now,” Nikki said. “I’m going to school and taking care of my own business.”
“What does that mean?” Her mother asked quizzically.
“It means just what I said it means,” Nikki said. “You disowned me, so there’s no point in getting into all this shit.”
“Nicole, we want you in our family,” Her father said. “We just want you to be a productive and decent person.”
“Well, I am who I am,” Nikki said flatly. “If you don’t think I’m those things then so be it. I just came here to try to smooth things over, but I guess that’s not going to happen.”
Nikki’s parents looked at her, longing for their sweet, innocent daughter to break free from the tattooed biker with smoke billowing from her mouth and nostrils like a chimney.
“You are always going to be our daughter,” Her father said. “When you are ready to come back, you are welcome here.”
With that, Nikki returned to her bike and rode off. That was about as good as the meeting could have possibly gone. She had officially branched out on her own and it was time to sink or swim.
______________________________________________________________________________
When Nikki returned to Princeton she knew that she had some work to do. If she was going to start her own business, she needed to find some people for her crew and she needed to find a supplier, which for now, meant partnering with someone with a little more power until she could build up her own.
Nikki knew what she was going to have to do and it had taken weeks of researching who to attempt to align herself with. It was just a matter of convincing someone to trust an 18-year-old girl. As she told Mark and had exhibited in recent months, she was indeed intelligent, ambitious and ruthless, but she needed to someone to look past her teenage beauty to see that.
One thing that Nikki had in her favor was the fact that she was Italian and looked like it. In a place like New Jersey, that was going to provide her a common ground. Of course the people she needed to link herself with, was a crime family not too far away.
After completing her research, Nikki knew that she wouldn’t just be able to walk in and meet with the boss. She knew what clubs and restaurants he frequented and she would have to find a way to use her charm to earn a sit-down with him.
So on a Thursday night, Nikki pulled out a pair of black slacks that fit tightly around her firm buttucks, found another dressy black shirt that she tucked in, and tied it together with a thick black leather belt. She slipped on her black leather boots with a five inch stiletto heel underneath her pant legs and added on her bracelets, necklaces and watch.
She gave herself one last approving look in the mirror and went into the kitchen, tossed two packs of cigarettes into her purse and put on her black leather blazer. This was a night she wanted to look professional for, so her tank tops and motorcycle would need to stay home for the night and her tattoos would be covered up. She thought about placing her gun in her purse, but Nikki knew that if she was able to get a sit-down, her purse would be checked and her gun would be seized.
Nikki smoked nervously on her way to the restaurant in Belleville, roughly an hour away from her apartment. She was not nervous because of any potential harm, but getting a supplier and establishing footing would make or break her plans.
When she finally arrived, Nikki got out of the car and extinguished her cigarette before entering the restaurant. She took a seat at the bar and ordered herself a vodka on the rocks with her fake I.D. She picked a spot where she could scan the entire place. It didn’t take her long to find who she was looking for, seated in the back corner of the room. Now she just had to figure out how to make her move.
After about an hour, the man made his way to the bar and Nikki knew this was the time. She quickly glanced at her watch as the man with slicked back hair and an expensive Armani suit approached. She made sure to quickly make eye contact and flash him a smile. Sure it enough, he took the bait and made his way over.
“I don’t think I’ve seen you in here before,” He said. “And I would definitely remember a gorgeous smile like that.”
“I just moved here from Buffalo,” Nikki responded with a smile. “I start my freshman year at Princeton in a few weeks.”
“Ah, brains and beauty,” The man said with an impressed look on his face. “It’s nice to meet you. My name is Angelo Esposito.”
“Nicole,” Nikki said as she reached out her hand. “And I know who you are.”
“Oh do you?” Esposito said as he kissed Nikki’s hand. “Sometimes my reputation can proceed me. You can’t believe everything you hear, though.”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” Nikki laughed.
“I like you,” Esposito smiled. “Italian?”
“I am indeed,” Nikki said.
“Well Nicole, I would love it if you joined me at my table,” Esposito said.
“Well Mr. Esposito, I would love to,” Nikki responded. “But I’m here for a reason. I have business opportunity for you and all I ask is for you to hear me out.”
“Why don’t we head out to the patio in the back,” Esposito offered, clearly intrigued by what this young girl wanted.
Nikki took his hand and headed out the back door to the secluded patio, where one of his bodyguards stood watch.
“So Nicole, what is this business opportunity that you have for me?” Esposito asked as he lit up a long Cuban cigar.
Nikki began to tell him about her past and association with the Kingsmen, along with how she wanted to branch out on her own. As she finished the story, she pulled her pack of cigarettes out of her purse, extracted one and placed it between her lips. Esposito was quick to offer a spark with a gold-plated lighter.
“Well Nicole, I’m not sure what you’ve heard about me, but I’m a legitimate businessman,” Esposito stated. “I don’t involve myself in nefarious activities.”
This was the response that Nikki had expected to receive initially.
“Mr. Esposito, I know who you are and what you do,” Nikki said. “I’ve done my research so you don’t need to bullshit me. I need a supplier to get my business off the ground. I’m willing to give you a 20 percent cut for the first six months until I get up and running. Afterwards we go our separate ways and I promise to stay away from your territory.”
Esposito was impressed by the moxie of this teenager sitting before him. Few grown men would be so bold to approach a known mob boss with a business proposition, let alone an 18-year-old girl.
“You have obviously done your research, but I’m sure you know that I’m a bit skeptical about trusting such a young girl,” Esposito said thoughtfully. “Do you have a way to distribute any product I can send you?”
Nikki knew this would be the most difficult part to sell him.
“I haven’t gotten a crew together yet,” Nikki said. “I’ve got some prospects, but I’ll need a month to finalize all the details.”
“So you are coming to me without everything in place?” Esposito asked.
“If I couldn’t get a supplier then there wouldn’t be a point to finding a crew would there?” Nikki responded.
Esposito sat back in his chair and took a drag on his large cigar and sat quietly for a moment, thinking of what to say next. Finally, he pulled a business card out of his wallet and reached across the table.
“I’ll tell you what, get your crew together and give this number a call in a month,” Esposito said. “When you get things taken care of, we’ll talk again.”
Nikki took the card from him, attempting to hold back a smile and a scream of excitement. It worked.
“Thank you, Mr. Esposito,” Nikki said, cocking her arm at a 90 degree angle, her silver watch catching her leather sleeve so that it couldn’t slide down her wrist as she took a drag on her nearly spent cigarette.
“Nicole, you are in this now,” Esposito said. “You must deliver now. Please don’t make me regret this.”
She assured him that he wouldn’t and shook his hand before extinguishing her cigarette and heading back inside to leave.
Once she reached her SUV, Nikki lit a cigarette. She inhaled and the feeling was practically like she had just had sex. She had done it. Nikki charmed a mob boss into getting what she wanted. Now, she just had to find herself a crew and it needed to start with Al.
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