In the ensuing weeks Nikki did an impeccable job of balancing her schoolwork, her business and Esposito. Life was going pretty well in the early part of December, but as her final exams approached for the semester, she devoted the entire week to school, leaving Al and Greta to take care of the business activities.
She was learning how to be a good boss by watching Esposito. Nikki now knew that she could delegate things to the girls and it would work out as long as she monitored the overall business. She also wanted to move away from exclusively selling drugs and get into other endeavors. Bookkeeping and loan sharking were safer and more profitable long-term, and she also wanted to find a few legitimate business to not only help drum up business, but to provide a cover for them.
That would be on the backburner during exam week, however, and while she was able to leave her business dealings to Al and Greta, Nikki still had to endure Erica at home. Not only had she begun to dress a bit more provocatively, but Erica was also beginning to dress somewhat like Nikki. Conservative outfits had turned into high-heels and tight-fitting jeans and pants, along with leather jackets, although Erica’s was a motorcycle style jacket.
One night Nikki came home during exam week to find Erica sitting on the balcony sucking on a Camel Crush. Her jaw nearly hit the floor upon the site of the girl who chastised her for smoking when they first met. Nikki went outside and lit a cigarette of her own.
“What the hell is going on here?” Nikki smiled as she sat down. The smile quickly faded when she saw Erica in tears, however. “What’s wrong with you?”
“I started smoking a few weeks ago and my dad freaked out,” Erica sobbed. “That led to a fight about changing my major. I want to be in marketing, but he wants me to be a lawyer. He said if I don’t quit smoking and stay in my major, he won’t pay for my tuition anymore. Plus I won’t be welcome at home.”
“That’s pretty fucked up,” Nikki conceded. “You get good grades, so it shouldn’t matter what major you have. I went through the smoking thing, he’ll get over that.”
“I don’t know what to do,” Erica cried. “I’m not like you.”
“Oh my god, just stop crying,” Nikki moaned. “You smoke and you try to dress like me. Seems like you’re trying pretty hard to be like me.”
Just as she was about to head back inside to avoid her crying roommate, a lightbulb went off in Nikki’s head.
“What if you worked for me?” Nikki asked.
“I don’t want to be a dealer,” Erica responded.
“Who said anything about that?” Nikki snapped. “I’m looking to start some new things and I think you could be good at it. You could afford to stay in school and it would be on-the-job training.”
“What would I have to do?” Erica asked warily.
Nikki filled her new plans. She thought Erica would be perfect to find guys on campus to place bets or find similar students that might need loans for things they don’t want to ask their parents for. Plus once she found a legitimate business, Erica could market it.
“So I don’t actually have to do anything illegal?” Erica asked as her face perked up.
“You’re just the facilitator,” Nikki told her.
“OK, deal,” Erica said.
“We’ll talk about it more after exams are over,” Nikki said. “So, no more crying now.”
Nikki got through her exams with ease, finishing her semester with 4.0 GPA, which allowed her a few weeks to celebrate. First, though, she needed to sit down with her three girls to discuss the future of the business, so she invited Al and Greta over for a meeting.
As they sat down at the table, Nikki was pleased to see her three associates all wearing leather in a haze of smoke, which was now possible thanks to Erica becoming a smoker. She introduced Erica as the newest member of the organization, and informed them of the new direction it would be going. Al seemed to be pleased, but Greta had some questions.
“Are you going to make all the decisions by yourself or do we get a say?” Greta asked.
“Excuse me?” Nikki asked sternly as she puffed on her Marlboro Red Label 100.
“It just seems like we do all the work and take all the risks, while you make decisions and sleep with a gangster,” Greta said. “Shouldn’t we get a say?”
“First of all, who I sleep with is none of your goddamn business,” Nikki snapped. “Second of all, this isn’t a democracy. I run this business and I’ll do it how I see fit. I make the contacts and I have the ideas. I’m the fucking boss of this organization. Are you not happy with how much you get paid? If you want more money then shut the fuck up and listen to what I say because this is about bringing in more of it.”
“Sorry,” Greta mumbled.
“You should be,” Nikki barked. “Especially after we saved your ass to bring you here. If you question me again you’ll wish we left you. We don’t kill people. That’s not what this is about. That costs us money, but if you think I’m not afraid to put you in the ground then try me.”
Greta remained silent for the remainder of the meeting unless she was spoken to. This was the first time anyone had challenged Nikki’s authority, and she did not want to continue to deal with such things. Since Al worked well with Greta and brought her in, Nikki pulled her aside before she left.
“Look I need you to make sure she’s in the right place to be with us,” Nikki said. “You are my No. 2 and you always will be. You get what we’re trying to do and the bigger we get, the more power you get. So please make sure this situation is dead.”
Al nodded as she walked at the door. Nikki knew that she could trust her no matter what. Finally, she turned to Erica.
“So what do you think?” Nikki asked. “Can you do this?”
“I think so,” Erica said. “It got a little intense there.”
“Just keep your mouth shut outside of our group and don’t challenge me and we’ll be good,” Nikki told her.
Erica nodded. “I’ll get to work right away.”
Nikki took the first steps in expanding her business and she was excited about the direction it would be going.
______________________________________________________________________________
Later that night Nikki wanted to take another step towards expanding her business. That meant finding a legitimate business, which could also double as a clubhouse. She knew exactly which one she wanted to pursue.
There was a club not far from campus that was decently attended, but Nikki knew that if marketed properly, it would boom. So, that night she paid the owner a visit with her three associates in tow.
Nikki decided on a pair of black slacks that fit snugly around her perfectly shaped butt, along with a tight black top, pieced together by a thick black leather belt and her black leather high-heeled boots. She tied her curly brown hair in a ponytail, grabbed her leather blazer and went off with Erica in the passenger seat.
When they arrived at the club, Nikki asked to speak to the owner and she was directed to a room upstairs overlooking the restaurant and bar area. They entered the room and found a portly Italian man sitting behind a large desk, who introduced himself as Joe Cusamano.
“What can I do for you pretty ladies,” Cusamano said.
“I want to buy this place,” Nikki responded.
“With what?” Cusamano chuckled. “Monopoly money? I think you girls are in over your heads.”
“How about cash?” Nikki asked as Al plopped a briefcase on the desk.
“This place is worth way more than that,” Cusamano said. “I’m not selling.”
“I know who you are,” Nikki responded as she lit a cigarette. “You should sell to me. I’m going to run you out of business if you decide to stay, and then I’ll just take this place. Either way it’s going to be mine.”
“I don’t know who you are,” Cusamano said. “I have the most powerful family in this part of the state. Do you think I’m afraid of a threat from a teenage girl?”
“Suit yourself,” Nikki sighed as she stubbed out the cigarette on the ashtray in front of Cusamano and stalked out of the room with her girls trailing.
Once they reached the car, Nikki opened the back door and grabbed a tire iron and handed it to Greta. Then she grabbed a bat and gave it to Al.
“What are we doing?” Greta asked. “That didn’t go very well.”
“Did you really expect to just walk in and take a bar?” Nikki asked. “I knew he would say no. So now we take it. This is why I’m in charge. I’m prepared. In about 10 minutes he’s going to walk out the back door by himself. There’s a reason why you’ve never heard of him. There’s a reason we’ve been able to get so successful so fast. He’s a fucking moron.”
They ducked around to the dark alley leading to the back door. Nikki stood in the alley smoking a cigarette when Cusamano swung the door open.
“What are you doing here?” He shouted.
“One last chance,” Nikki said. “Want to sell?”
“You’re dumber than you look,” Cusamano laughed. “It’s just us back here.”
Nikki laughed wickedly and snapped her fingers. At that moment Al and Greta came out of shadows and both struck him in the knees, sending him to the ground. Nikki followed up by landing a right hand to his jaw. While on the ground, she kicked him in the gut, while Al delivered a shot to the side with her bat.
“I guess I’m not so dumb,” Nikki said softly as she squatted down, her leather blazer creaking and rising up to reveal her belt. “I’m actually pretty fucking smart. So do you want to sell yet?”
“Fuck you,” Cusamano muttered.
Nikki simply laughed, exhaling from her nose. She took one final drag and then put it out on his chest.
“Pick him up,” Nikki barked. “Let’s go. Erica, open the door.”
Al and Greta did as she was told and they led Cusamano in the back door, which led to a basement room that served as the clubhouse for his organization. Nikki was indeed clever, as the small family had all of its members inside when they shoved the door open. Several men jumped up, but Al held her pistol to Cusamano to make sure they didn’t move.
“This is what three women did to your boss,” Nikki announced. “I know that you are all overworked and underpaid. I’m taking over now. I own this place. Either you can stay on, work for me and make double what this clown paid you, or you can try to fight it and end up like this. If you don’t think I have contacts then you should probably ask yourself why I would do this without them.”
Just as they appeared to breakout into a fight, both sides broke out into laughter -- save for Greta and Erika. Nikki was prepared once again. It was a set up.
“What the hell?” Erica asked.
“I told you that I knew he would say no,” Nikki laughed. “So I went directly to them and offered them the cash. They work for us now.”
Nikki proved to Greta and Erica once and for all that she knew exactly what she was doing. She had Cusamano’s men dispose of their old boss, leaving her in possession of the club, which would now serve as her office.
“Ladies, tonight we celebrate our grand opening,” Nikki shouted. “We are going to run this fucking town.”
______________________________________________________________________________
While Nikki’s business was getting off the ground in a major way, she had made the decision not to return home for Christmas when Esposito asked her to spend the holiday with him. Quite frankly, she did not mind not going home at all. With Esposito, she wouldn’t be judged.
On Christmas Eve afternoon Nikki arrived at Esposito’s mansion. When he opened the door, he saw his gorgeous young girlfriend standing in the doorway wearing a tight white top the reached her midriff, along with a pair of tight black leather leggings, a rhinestone-studded belt with a Western style buckle hanging loosely around her hips and a pair of knee-high black leather boots with a stiletto heel. Not to mention her silver jewelry dangling from her neck and a mid-length leather car coat that went to the middle of her thighs.
“Whoa,” was all that Esposito could muster when he saw Nikki.
“You like, baby?” Nikki smiled seductively.
“That’s not quite what I pictured for church clothes,” Esposito joked as he shut the door behind her and took her coat.
“Well honey, you knew I was sinner when you met me,” Nikki laughed. “Speaking of which, I think we have some time before we have to leave.”
With that Nikki grabbed Esposito’s tie and led him to the bedroom for a vigorous round of lovemaking.
“It’s a good thing we’re going to church, you have a lot to repent,” Esposito said as he attempted catch his breath.
“Babe, we both know this is the least of my sins,” Nikki said with a freshly lit cigarette dangling from the corner of her mouth as she put her black thong back on. “You better hurry up, though, or we’re going to be late.”
Both got dressed again and headed out to the car. When they stepped out into the cold, it had begun to snow, but the driver had not yet opened the back door.
“What the fuck is taking you so long?!” Nikki barked as she lit yet another cigarette before getting into the car. “Do you expect us to just stand in the snow all night?”
“I’m sorry, Miss Nicole,” The driver responded. “It won’t happen again.”
“It better not,” Nikki warned as she pointed at him, cigarette smoldering between her index and middle finger. “Or your fat ass will be getting a new fucking job for Christmas.”
“You know, you don’t have to chew his head off,” Esposito joked once they were in the back of the car.
“I won’t be disrespected by anyone in anyway,” Nikki snapped as she took a drag on her Marlboro.
“Yes, dear,” Esposito smiled.
“Don’t patronize me,” Nikki smiled through an exhale as she leaned over to kiss him. “Otherwise you’re not getting your Christmas present.”
Nikki’s outfit certainly got stares -- familiar ones -- at church and at this point she simply enjoyed women looking at her in jealousy and men out of desire. When they returned home, they picked up where they left off prior to church, but this time they didn’t even make it to the bedroom, rather simply going at it on the rug in front of the fireplace in the living room.
The next morning Nikki came downstairs wearing a long-sleeve black shirt that came down just below her belly button and a pair of light blue bootcut jeans with a thick black leather belt around her waist, white bandana in her hair, acting as a headband. Not an eyelash was out of place.
“You don’t know the word casual, do you?” Esposito joked.
“This is casual,” Nikki called from the kitchen as she put her watch on her wrist.
“I love it,” Esposito said.
“You better,” Nikki quipped. “Because it ain’t changing.”
“I love you,” Esposito said to Nikki as she plopped down next to him on the couch with a freshly lit cigarette in her left hand and a cup of coffee in her right hand.
“I love you too,” Nikki said without hesitation.
The words almost caught her by surprise. Love wasn’t something Nikki thought about often. Yes, Esposito was 22 years older than she was, but for the first time in quite a while, she felt love for someone other than herself. With Mark, it was simply a physical attraction and an attraction to his lifestyle. With Esposito, Nikki felt a real spark.
Nikki rang in the New Year at her new club, with her four best friends and her boyfriend. As she sat on the new couch in her office with all of them around, Nikki couldn’t help but reflect on the whirlwind year it had been. She had experienced so much change in just a year’s time and she loved everything that she had become and despised everything that had left behind. There was no turning back now.
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