With her relationship heating up with Daniel, Nikki had returned to her former self once again. She still enjoyed her biker clothes, but when she was in the office, it was obvious who the boss was while she was in the room.
Nikki also enjoyed spending time with Daniel’s parents, whose wealth opened up opportunities she could take advantage of to increase her own financial interests. She had an increasing desire to involve her family in more high-enterprise business endeavors, including the waste management industry in New Jersey, which was a cash cow.
The only problem was Esposito currently had supreme control. Nikki felt she had a way to get her foot in the door and swipe the business. The local union leader -- Jimmy Costanza -- was a friend of Thomas and he happened to attend the family’s Labor Day party, giving Nikki an opportunity to make her pitch.
For the event, Nikki opted for a dressy navy blue tank top, tucked into a pair of tight white capri pants, tied together with a thick brown leather belt and a pair of six-inch navy blue high heels, her normal gold jewelry, a fedora upon her head and full-shield designer sunglasses.
Nikki made certain she didn’t approach Costanza immediately. Instead she decided to bide her time and select the perfect moment in which she could speak to him privately. Patience wasn’t something that came naturally to her, so she found a way to constantly stay in view of him throughout the party without being suspicious.
She was halfway through one of her what seemed like an endless stream of cigarettes that day when she noticed Costanza was finally alone. Daniel had been talking to her, but Nikki stopped him in mid-sentence and walked over to him. She introduced herself, made some small talk, before lighting another cigarette and getting to the point.
Nikki laid out her ideas to Costanza, who listened intently, albeit surprised by the pitch coming from the 20-year-old beauty in front of him. When she finished with her plan, Costanza stood there and thought carefully for a moment.
“So let me get this straight,” Costanza began. “You want us to leave an agreement with one of the most powerful and dangerous men in New Jersey?”
“I do,” Nikki so said matter-of-factly, taking a drag on her cigarette.
“How do you expect that to happen without both of us ending up in one of those garbage trucks?” He asked.
“As you know, I have a lengthy history with him,” Nikki responded. “If we do this the right way, that’s not going to happen.”
“How can you be sure?” Costanza persisted.
“You let me take care of that,” Nikki said confidently. “That’s part of the deal. You have to trust me.”
“Trust isn’t something that comes easily dealing with people like you,” Costanza said honestly.
“First of all, why would I intentionally put myself in a position to get popped?” Nikki said in an irritated tone, followed by another gigantic exhale. “Second of all, what would ease your mind?”
Costanza thought for another minute. He wanted a guarantee, but had never thought about the type of guarantee. Nikki stood in front of him, staring intently. She took one final drag on her nearly-spent cigarette tossed it on the ground and crushed the butt with the toe of her shoe. Then, she stood with her left hand resting on her thick brown leather belt, her Rolex halfway up her wrist.
Rather than continuing to wait for a response, Nikki finally offered up an idea. “How about I get you a written guarantee from Esposito?”
“How are you gonna do that?” Costanza asked.
“Let me figure that out,” Nikki responded.
“If you can get me that guarantee by November, then you’ve got a deal,” Costanza said.
Nikki stuck out her right hand, gold bracelets jingling on her wrist, and Costanza accepted the handshake.
Now she had just had to figure out how to get that guarantee.
____________________________________________________________________________
With her school year resuming, Nikki had quite a bit on her plate. Not only did she have to refocus her thoughts on school, but she also had to think of how to get Esposito to hand over the waste management racket in New Jersey.
In late September, Nikki’s Friday class was canceled and it just so happened to be homecoming weekend at her high school. While she had little interest in rekindling any of her high school friendships, Nikki was curious to see how her old friends were doing. Not only would Daniel be coming for the weekend, but Jasmine and Gina would be coming along as well.
Nikki, Daniel and Gina opted to attend the high school’s football game on Saturday afternoon, albeit from a distance considering her father was still an assistant coach for the team. Should they cross paths, it would be a shock for him, considering they had not spoken since the divorce.
The weather was cooperative for the game, with the temperature in the mid-60s and sunny all day. Nikki chose to wear a pair of tight red slacks, with a tight white tank top tucked in and a thick black leather belt around her waist. She wore her typical gold jewelry and a pair of black leather high-heeled loafers. Meanwhile, Gina wore a tight gray Perrillo Family t-shirt, tucked into a pair of navy blue jeans, a thick brown leather belt with rhinestones and a western buckle, along with brown Ariat cowboy boots and her silver Michael Kors watch around her wrist. Both women chose to allow everyone to get a full view of their tattoos in the early fall sun.
They arrived at the game just as it was about to kick off and just like they did during her youth, they parked behind the school and walked over to the field. Nikki lit a cigarette before hopping out of the back of the Mercedes SUV driven by Jasmine, while pointing all of the local scenes to her boyfriend. Gina had a half-smoked Marlboro in her left hand and slipped the rest of the pack into her back pocket, the box peeking out of the top.
Gina and Jasmine discarded their cigarettes before leaving the parking lot, but Nikki savored hers until they reached the gate to enter the game before casually flicking it aside and blowing out a long stream of smoke before greeting one of her former teachers taking money at the gates.
Throughout the first half, several people came up to Nikki and Gina to exchange pleasantries, which was a bit uncomfortable for the latter and annoying to the former. Gina felt ostracized by so many of her former friends after the divorce, several siding with her ex-husband. Meanwhile, Nikki still held a grudge over those who passed judgement during her transformation in high school.
Nikki did, however, enjoy seeing how stunned people were with Gina’s transformation since moving away. She took great pleasure watching eyes drift towards her full sleeve of tattoos while speaking to her.
A great deal of the pleasure came from how much Gina had reacted towards Nikki in high school, but not in a malicious way. She always heard, ‘Just wait until it happens to you’ from her mother and now she got to pay her back. At one point during the first half of the game, Nikki lowered her designer full-shield sunglasses and gave her mother a wink that resulted in a subtle elbow to the ribs from Gina.
Towards the end of the second quarter, Gina’s old friend and colleague, Bonnie, walked up to them as the stood along the fence surrounding the field. Behind a pair of aviator sunglasses, Gina rolled her eyes as she approached with a smile on her face.
“Gina! It’s good to see you!” Bonnie exclaimed. “I had no idea you were coming.”
“It was kind of a last-minute thing,” Gina responded. “How are you doing?”
“I’m doing well,” Bonnie said. “Did you hear about Mary though?”
“No,” Bonnie said shortly.
“That night we went to the bar, somebody mugged her in the parking lot,” Bonnie told her.
“Oh really?” Gina said, trying to hide feigned surprise. At the same time Jasmine gave Nikki a look and she immediately understood the cause of Mary’s attack.
“Yes!” Bonnie said.
“How is she doing?” Gina asked, again trying to act concerned.
“She wasn’t hurt too bad physically,” Bonnie said. “But mentally she has been a wreck ever since. She doesn’t leave the house alone after dark anymore. She’s has just been very reserved when we have our girl talk.”
“Oh, that’s too bad,” Gina said, pretending to itch her nose to hide a smirk.
“Yeah,” Bonnie said. “I think it would mean a lot to her if you gave her a call.”
Just as Bonnie uttered the words, the horn sounded for halftime and that was music to the ears of Gina. Rather than respond to her old friend, Gina simply said, “Sorry to cut this short, Bonnie, but we’re going to go have a smoke.”
As they exited the gates, the three women each plucking cigarettes into their mouths to feed their habits, Nikki looked at her mother intently.
“What?” Gina asked, freshly lit cigarette bouncing between her lips as she put her pack back into her back pocket.
“What was that about?” Nikki asked. “Wasn’t that one of your best friends?”
Gina gave her an abridged version of what happened the last time she had gotten together with her friends, to which Nikki began to laugh hysterically while Daniel gave a look of bewilderment.
Nikki then turned to her bodyguard and said with a laugh, “You’re supposed to tell me these things. I’m not supposed to be kept out of the loop.”
After they finished their cigarettes, Daniel and Nikki trailed behind and he whispered to her, “Why would they attack someone like that?”
“Because she had it coming,” Nikki said shortly.
“But--” Daniel began before Nikki cut him off. “Don’t worry about it, honey.”
Gina had enough of the game by the third quarter, but Nikki and Daniel decided to stay and Jasmine could return to pick them up afterwards. As it turned out, Gina leaving saved her from a potential awkward encounter when the game was finished.
As they walked down the street towards the parking lot, Nikki paused momentarily to light a cigarette and when she resumed walking, she felt a tap on her shoulder. When she turned around, she stood face-to-face with her father, freshly lit cigarette still dangling from the middle of her mouth.
“Nicole,” Rick said. “I had no idea you were going to be here.”
Nikki turned to her boyfriend and sarcastically said, “Groundhog day.” She then returned her attention towards her father.
“Well considering you made a decision 18 months ago to erase Mom and me from your life, I’m not sure how you would know that,” Nikki said coldly, intentionally blowing smoke directly into his face.
“I’ve made some mistakes, I’ll admit that,” Rick conceded.
“You cheated on your wife and disowned your daughter,” Nikki spat.
“I’m sorry,” Rick muttered. “It looks like I was right about that guy, though.”
Nikki laughed coldly as she exhaled again. “You’re never going to get it.” With that, Nikki grabbed Daniel’s hand and walked away, turning her back on Rick.
____________________________________________________________________________
They decided to stay in the casino hotel in Niagara Falls as usual and they returned for dinner, but Nikki wanted to return to town that night in search of any of her former friends.
For dinner, they would go to one of the restaurants in the casino, which required a change of clothing. On the way back from the game, the sky turned gray as nasty storm clouds rolled in, causing the temperature to drop nearly 15 degrees before the got back, perhaps signifying the beginning of fall.
When they got back to the room, Nikki greeted her mother and they discussed plans for the night. Gina announced they had a reservation for dinner in an hour. The younger Perrillo asked why so late and the response was not one she enjoyed.
“Your father called me,” Gina said. “He said you blew him after the game.”
“Fuck, news spreads fast,” Nikki said in an annoyed tone. “I did. He’s a piece of shit.”
“I don’t think there’s anyone that agrees more with than sentiment than me,” Gina began, taking a drag on her half-smoke cigarette. “But he’s your father. You should try to have a relationship with him.”
“I don’t want a relationship with him,” Nikki said, speaking through an exhale. “He’s a piece of shit that abandoned us.”
“Look, you may be the boss in the business world, but I’m still your mother,” Gina said adamantly. “You’re going.”
“Fine,” Nikki said reluctantly, ashing her cigarette in the ashtray in front of her mother.
After the plans were decided, Jasmine turned to Daniel and said, “I think you and I better get dinner on our own.”
“That’s not necessary,” Nikki said from across the room.
“Yes it is,” Jasmine chuckled. “That’s gonna be an awkward meal. We’ll come back in a couple hours. Let’s go kid.”
Daniel did as he was told and walked over to his girlfriend to kiss her goodbye before following the muscular black woman out of the room.
“You better get ready,” Gina told her daughter, who was sitting on the couch, the cigarette in her hand nearly smoked to the top of the orange filter.
Nikki went to her suite across the hall, as Gina shared one with Jasmine. She went to her luggage and chose a silk red blouse, along with a black leather miniskirt that fell a few inches above her knees. On her feet were a pair of black high heels with straps around her ankles and toes. She still had her typical gold jewelry and put her black leather blazer.
After dressing, Nikki went back across the hall to find her mother putting the finishing touches on her outfit for the night, which was a sleeveless turtleneck shirt, tucked into a pair of black slacks and a thin black leather belt with rhinestones and a western buckle to tie it together. She also had on the high-heeled black loafers Nikki wore to the football game and her black leather coat, which was much like her daughter’s except for a buckle-less belt, with the ends tucked into her pockets.
When they got down to the restaurant, Rick was waiting for them outside. After an awkward greeting between the now-divorced couple, they went into the restaurant and were seated at a table.
Luckily smoking was permitted in just about every crevice of the casino, including the restaurants. So as soon as Nikki plopped down in her chair, she took off her coat, draped it over her chair and lit a cigarette. A few seconds later, Gina followed suit and lit a cigarette herself.
“I see you’re still smoking,” Rick said to Gina. “It’s still surreal to see.”
“There’s a lot of surreal things with our divorce,” Gina said, let rip on a massive exhale.
“Yes, well,” Rick stumbled before turning to his daughter, who was in the middle of taking another drag on her cigarette. “So, Nicole, I’m sorry your engagement didn’t work out.”
“No, you’re not,” Nikki scoffed as smoke trickled from her mouth and nose.
“No, I’m not,” Rick laughed nervously. “But that boy you were with this afternoon seems nice and wholesome. What’s his name?”
“Daniel,” Nikki said shortly.
“And where is he tonight?” Rick asked.
“We thought it was better that he didn’t have to endure this spectacular night with us,” Nikki said, stubbing out her cigarette in the ashtray and releasing one last exhale.”
As dinner arrived, Gina took off her coat, also draping hers over the back of the chair, revealing her tattoo-covered left arm. Her ex-husband had yet to see her tattoos until then and was completely oblivious. When he laid eyes on the colorful ink on his ex-wife’s arm, Rick was stunned.
“Gina!” Rick exclaimed. “Why did you do that to yourself?!”
“Because I thought it looked good,” Gina said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“You’re 50 years old!” Rick said disapprovingly.
“I’m 51, actually,” Gina said sarcastically.
Nikki finally cut in to save her mother from a lecture that she didn’t deserve.
“Dad, why did you want to meet tonight?” Nikki asked.
“Because you’re my daughter and I haven’t seen you in more than a year,” Rick answered.
“Yes, and the last time you saw me, you told me I was the reason you were getting divorced,” Nikki responded.
“Nicole, your behavior did put a lot of stress on our marriage,” Rick said with a deep breath. “We became more distant.”
“My behavior didn’t make you sleep with a slut half your age,” Nikki snapped.
“That was a big mistake on my part,” Rick admitted. “But that’s behind me and I want a relationship with you and so do your brothers.”
“My brothers haven’t contacted me in two years and they couldn’t care less about Mom because of what you have told them,” Nikki barked. She was so angry at this point that she stopped eating her dinner and pulled another cigarette from her purse.
“I’m sorry,” Rick responded.
“Sorry isn’t good enough,” Nikki continued. “I get that I was a bit wild in high school, but when you came to Jersey, you refused to see how well I was doing. All you did was judge me and the decisions that I’ve made.”
“Nicole, you were engaged to a man more than twice your age and you’re running illegal businesses,” Rick said.
“Well, I have never been arrested or even questioned by the police,” Nikki retorted, exhaling as she spoke. “I’m doing well now and you still don’t want to see it. When you want a real relationship with me, where you accept me for who I am, then call me. I assume you still have my number.”
Nikki took one last drag on her cigarette, stood up and stubbed it out in her father’s dinner before grabbing her coat and purse and stalking out.
Gina meanwhile, was still seated, an all-white cigarette between her fingers as she stared at her former husband.
“What?” Rick said.
“I thought you wanted to have a conversation with her,” Gina said, knocking ash off her cigarette.
“I did,” Rick responded.
“No, you just wanted to lecture her,” Gina responded.
“Maybe she needs it,” Rick said defiantly.
“She is doing very well,” Gina said.
“She’s a criminal,” Rick said in disgust.
“You have no idea what she is,” Gina snapped. “Nicole has matured in the last two years. She is a 4.0 student, runs successful restaurants and she was so good with that little girl. I had my doubts about it too, but she proved me wrong.”
“She’s got you brainwashed,” Rick said.
“Excuse me?” Gina asked in disbelief, smoke emanating from her nostrils.
“You’re covered in tattoos and smoking like a chimney,” Rick retorted.
“I smoked when you met me and I quit for you,” Gina said. “You want everything to be your way. That’s just not how it works anymore.”
Gina stood up, and just like her daughter, extinguished her cigarette in Rick’s dinner before leaving him at the table alone.
____________________________________________________________________________
When Gina returned to Nikki’s suite, she found her pacing around in a haze of smoke. She didn’t even have to say a word to express how furious she was with her father. Gina entered the room and Nikki immediately gave her a face of rage.
“Why did you make me do that?” Nikki shouted. “You knew it would end that way!”
Gina sat down on the couch and lit a cigarette of her own and said, “I thought maybe he could at least have a civilized conversation.”
“He can’t,” Nikki said with an exhale. She crushed out her first cigarette right after lighting another with the lit end. “Everything is someone else’s fault.”
“Well now we know that for sure,” Gina said. “If you don’t want to, you don’t have to go through that again. If it helps, he was just as demeaning to me.”
“I swear to God, I hope nobody gets in my face tonight,” Nikki said, shaking her head. “I’ll kill them.”
“Well let’s hope not,” Gina said sarcastically.
Moments later Daniel and Jasmine walked through the door and they decided to head out to the bars, filling them in on what transpired at dinner in the process. Nikki was intrigued by the new adventure in front of them, considering she had not gone out in her hometown previously.
When they arrived at the bar -- the same one Gina had gone with her friends nearly a year prior -- it was littered with familiar faces, most Nikki didn’t care about seeing. It didn’t take long for all male eyes to focus on the leather-clad beauty in the bar. Several men ignored Daniel and asked to buy her a drink, some of them former classmates from high school that didn’t recognize her until they got close.
It took more than an hour, but Nikki finally saw a few of her former friends walk through the door. She knew it was likely they had already been drinking or not drinking at all since most were not 21 and couldn’t get away with using a fake I.D.
Sure enough, when one of the Nicole’s, Hannah and another girl -- who Nikki later found to be Hannah’s college roommate, Julie -- approached the foursome standing at the corner of the bar, it was obvious that Hannah was quite intoxicated, as was Julie.
Hannah immediately grabbed Nikki and gave her a hug as she squealed with excitement. Nicole, however, was not quite as cheerful. Nikki couldn’t tell if it was due to her or Hannah’s drunken state because she was obviously sober.
Nikki played nice and bought them a round of drinks, considering Hannah was one of the few from their former group that was already 21. After chatting with them for a while, they went to use the restroom, while Nikki and her group went to the patio to smoke.
Gina and Jasmine didn’t last long in the brisk fall cold night and went back inside after one cigarette, but Nikki and Daniel remained outside, with the former lighting up once again. As she did, her old friends walked out the door.
“Nikki!” Hannah drunkenly screeched. “There you are!”
Nikki simply laughed at Hannah. Of all the members of her group of friends, Hannah was easily the easiest to get along with.
“I see you’re still smoking,” Nicole L. remarked as they sat down at the table.
“I see you’re still judgmental,” Nikki responded with a smile and another drag on her cigarette.
The response quickly negated anything else Nicole was about to say and a more cordial conversation began. They talked of school and Nikki introduced Daniel, while Hannah and Julie danced around the patio without an inkling of how foolish they appeared.
Eventually they both sat back down and Julie looked at Nikki through squinted eyes from across the table.
“I heard you blew off my boyfriend,” Julie slurred.
“I don’t know who your boyfriend is,” Nikki laughed.
Nicole stepped in to inform Nikki that Jeff was her boyfriend. Nikki didn’t think much of it, considering the incident was nearly five years prior.
“You picked yucky cigarettes over him,” Julie slurred again. “Then you went crazy and started doing drugs!”
“How does she know that?” Nikki asked her former friend. “I know Hannah didn’t tell her any of it.”
“Well it’s true isn’t it?” Nicole shot back.
“First of all, I refused to change myself for a 16-year-old guy,” Nikki said. “Second of all, you make it sound like I became a fucking drug addict.”
“Could have fooled me,” Nicole responded. “You acted like a psycho.”
“You mean I decided to live my life rather than act like a prissy little bitch,” Nikki corrected. “Why do you even care? It was so long ago.”
“Why are you even here?” Nicole snapped. “Shouldn’t you be underneath some biker?”
“Why are you here?” Nikki responded. “You act like I’m the only one that pushed away from the group. You’ve done a pretty good job of that yourself.”
Feeling she might do something drastic right on the patio, Nikki stood up and said, “And at least I’m not underneath any dude with a dick.” With that she walked back inside the bar with Daniel in toe.
Nikki did her best to shake off the frustration brought on by bitterness from a former friend, she went back inside to her group to enjoy the rest of the night. She admitted to herself that she should have known better than to have a friendly reunion, especially with the most outspoken member of the group.
As the night wore on, Nikki noticed Hannah and Julie leaving for the night since the former lived right down the street. Still in a foul mood on the inside, she sent Jasmine out to “help” her to the car.
After about 10 minutes, Nikki walked out to the parking lot, towards the most discrete and darkest part to find Jasmine standing over a crumpled body on the ground. She walked up to them and bent down to check on her old friend, a fresh Marlboro Red Label 100 burning in her left hand.
“Nikki!” Nicole mumbled as blood dripped from her nose to her mouth. “Please help me!”
A cruel smile came across her face and Nicole immediately knew that it was about to get worse instead of better. Nikki blew smoke in her face and stood back up, motioning for Jasmine to continue her assault.
When Nikki backed up to give Jasmine some room to operate, Daniel whispered in a concerned tone, “Why are you doing this?”
“Because this slut had it coming,” Nikki said coldly. “Nobody disrespects me that way, especially in front of my man.”
“It’s really OK,” Daniel said quickly. “This isn’t necessary.”
“Maybe not to you,” Nikki said.
Jasmine finally relented and Nikki walked back over to the sobbing girl on the ground, “Had enough?”
Nicole nodded furiously.
“This is what happens when you fuck with me,” Nikki whispered, wisps of smoke emanating from her mouth from a previous exhale.
“I’m sorry,” Nicole pleaded. “It won’t happen again.”
Nicole looked over to see Gina standing behind Jasmine and next to Daniel, pulling on an all-white cigarette of her own.
“Mrs. Perrillo!” Nicole begged. “Please help me!”
Gina looked at Nikki and the two simply laughed. “Honey, you’re on your own.”
As Nicole was propped against her car, Nikki gave her one last knee to the face and a kick to the stomach before stalking off into the night. Given it was a former friend, Nikki did have Gina go back into the bar to pretend as if she found Nicole had gotten mugged in the parking lot.
As they waited for the rouse to finish in the back of the SUV, Daniel sat quietly perplexed over what just occurred. Nikki noticed and said, “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t understand how you could do that,” Daniel said in disbelief.
“That’s just how it goes,” Nikki said casually.
“You carry a gun, you’re wildly successful for someone your age and you have so many employees,” Daniel said, trying to piece together the puzzle. “What do you really do?”
“Well after tonight, I’m sure you won’t go to the police,” Nikki laughed. “So I might as well tell you.”
Nikki launched into the full story about her secretive lifestyle as Daniel stayed silent throughout. At the end, he remained quiet as he processed the information.
“Is that a problem?” Nikki asked.
“No,” Daniel said. “I should have put it together sooner. It’s just a shock to see you that way in person.”
“I’m sorry you had to see that, babe,” Nikki said sincerely.
____________________________________________________________________________
It took Daniel some time to continue to get used to the fact that his girlfriend was involved with organized crime, but he did come around, wishing to stay out of the fray and inner-workings like Gina did as well.
When they returned home, Nikki still had a month to get a guarantee from Esposito and she had no idea how to do that. Little did she know, an extremely unexpected opportunity was about to present itself, fixing her problems in the process.
Nikki also enjoyed spending time with Daniel’s parents, whose wealth opened up opportunities she could take advantage of to increase her own financial interests. She had an increasing desire to involve her family in more high-enterprise business endeavors, including the waste management industry in New Jersey, which was a cash cow.
The only problem was Esposito currently had supreme control. Nikki felt she had a way to get her foot in the door and swipe the business. The local union leader -- Jimmy Costanza -- was a friend of Thomas and he happened to attend the family’s Labor Day party, giving Nikki an opportunity to make her pitch.
For the event, Nikki opted for a dressy navy blue tank top, tucked into a pair of tight white capri pants, tied together with a thick brown leather belt and a pair of six-inch navy blue high heels, her normal gold jewelry, a fedora upon her head and full-shield designer sunglasses.
Nikki made certain she didn’t approach Costanza immediately. Instead she decided to bide her time and select the perfect moment in which she could speak to him privately. Patience wasn’t something that came naturally to her, so she found a way to constantly stay in view of him throughout the party without being suspicious.
She was halfway through one of her what seemed like an endless stream of cigarettes that day when she noticed Costanza was finally alone. Daniel had been talking to her, but Nikki stopped him in mid-sentence and walked over to him. She introduced herself, made some small talk, before lighting another cigarette and getting to the point.
Nikki laid out her ideas to Costanza, who listened intently, albeit surprised by the pitch coming from the 20-year-old beauty in front of him. When she finished with her plan, Costanza stood there and thought carefully for a moment.
“So let me get this straight,” Costanza began. “You want us to leave an agreement with one of the most powerful and dangerous men in New Jersey?”
“I do,” Nikki so said matter-of-factly, taking a drag on her cigarette.
“How do you expect that to happen without both of us ending up in one of those garbage trucks?” He asked.
“As you know, I have a lengthy history with him,” Nikki responded. “If we do this the right way, that’s not going to happen.”
“How can you be sure?” Costanza persisted.
“You let me take care of that,” Nikki said confidently. “That’s part of the deal. You have to trust me.”
“Trust isn’t something that comes easily dealing with people like you,” Costanza said honestly.
“First of all, why would I intentionally put myself in a position to get popped?” Nikki said in an irritated tone, followed by another gigantic exhale. “Second of all, what would ease your mind?”
Costanza thought for another minute. He wanted a guarantee, but had never thought about the type of guarantee. Nikki stood in front of him, staring intently. She took one final drag on her nearly-spent cigarette tossed it on the ground and crushed the butt with the toe of her shoe. Then, she stood with her left hand resting on her thick brown leather belt, her Rolex halfway up her wrist.
Rather than continuing to wait for a response, Nikki finally offered up an idea. “How about I get you a written guarantee from Esposito?”
“How are you gonna do that?” Costanza asked.
“Let me figure that out,” Nikki responded.
“If you can get me that guarantee by November, then you’ve got a deal,” Costanza said.
Nikki stuck out her right hand, gold bracelets jingling on her wrist, and Costanza accepted the handshake.
Now she had just had to figure out how to get that guarantee.
____________________________________________________________________________
With her school year resuming, Nikki had quite a bit on her plate. Not only did she have to refocus her thoughts on school, but she also had to think of how to get Esposito to hand over the waste management racket in New Jersey.
In late September, Nikki’s Friday class was canceled and it just so happened to be homecoming weekend at her high school. While she had little interest in rekindling any of her high school friendships, Nikki was curious to see how her old friends were doing. Not only would Daniel be coming for the weekend, but Jasmine and Gina would be coming along as well.
Nikki, Daniel and Gina opted to attend the high school’s football game on Saturday afternoon, albeit from a distance considering her father was still an assistant coach for the team. Should they cross paths, it would be a shock for him, considering they had not spoken since the divorce.
The weather was cooperative for the game, with the temperature in the mid-60s and sunny all day. Nikki chose to wear a pair of tight red slacks, with a tight white tank top tucked in and a thick black leather belt around her waist. She wore her typical gold jewelry and a pair of black leather high-heeled loafers. Meanwhile, Gina wore a tight gray Perrillo Family t-shirt, tucked into a pair of navy blue jeans, a thick brown leather belt with rhinestones and a western buckle, along with brown Ariat cowboy boots and her silver Michael Kors watch around her wrist. Both women chose to allow everyone to get a full view of their tattoos in the early fall sun.
They arrived at the game just as it was about to kick off and just like they did during her youth, they parked behind the school and walked over to the field. Nikki lit a cigarette before hopping out of the back of the Mercedes SUV driven by Jasmine, while pointing all of the local scenes to her boyfriend. Gina had a half-smoked Marlboro in her left hand and slipped the rest of the pack into her back pocket, the box peeking out of the top.
Gina and Jasmine discarded their cigarettes before leaving the parking lot, but Nikki savored hers until they reached the gate to enter the game before casually flicking it aside and blowing out a long stream of smoke before greeting one of her former teachers taking money at the gates.
Throughout the first half, several people came up to Nikki and Gina to exchange pleasantries, which was a bit uncomfortable for the latter and annoying to the former. Gina felt ostracized by so many of her former friends after the divorce, several siding with her ex-husband. Meanwhile, Nikki still held a grudge over those who passed judgement during her transformation in high school.
Nikki did, however, enjoy seeing how stunned people were with Gina’s transformation since moving away. She took great pleasure watching eyes drift towards her full sleeve of tattoos while speaking to her.
A great deal of the pleasure came from how much Gina had reacted towards Nikki in high school, but not in a malicious way. She always heard, ‘Just wait until it happens to you’ from her mother and now she got to pay her back. At one point during the first half of the game, Nikki lowered her designer full-shield sunglasses and gave her mother a wink that resulted in a subtle elbow to the ribs from Gina.
Towards the end of the second quarter, Gina’s old friend and colleague, Bonnie, walked up to them as the stood along the fence surrounding the field. Behind a pair of aviator sunglasses, Gina rolled her eyes as she approached with a smile on her face.
“Gina! It’s good to see you!” Bonnie exclaimed. “I had no idea you were coming.”
“It was kind of a last-minute thing,” Gina responded. “How are you doing?”
“I’m doing well,” Bonnie said. “Did you hear about Mary though?”
“No,” Bonnie said shortly.
“That night we went to the bar, somebody mugged her in the parking lot,” Bonnie told her.
“Oh really?” Gina said, trying to hide feigned surprise. At the same time Jasmine gave Nikki a look and she immediately understood the cause of Mary’s attack.
“Yes!” Bonnie said.
“How is she doing?” Gina asked, again trying to act concerned.
“She wasn’t hurt too bad physically,” Bonnie said. “But mentally she has been a wreck ever since. She doesn’t leave the house alone after dark anymore. She’s has just been very reserved when we have our girl talk.”
“Oh, that’s too bad,” Gina said, pretending to itch her nose to hide a smirk.
“Yeah,” Bonnie said. “I think it would mean a lot to her if you gave her a call.”
Just as Bonnie uttered the words, the horn sounded for halftime and that was music to the ears of Gina. Rather than respond to her old friend, Gina simply said, “Sorry to cut this short, Bonnie, but we’re going to go have a smoke.”
As they exited the gates, the three women each plucking cigarettes into their mouths to feed their habits, Nikki looked at her mother intently.
“What?” Gina asked, freshly lit cigarette bouncing between her lips as she put her pack back into her back pocket.
“What was that about?” Nikki asked. “Wasn’t that one of your best friends?”
Gina gave her an abridged version of what happened the last time she had gotten together with her friends, to which Nikki began to laugh hysterically while Daniel gave a look of bewilderment.
Nikki then turned to her bodyguard and said with a laugh, “You’re supposed to tell me these things. I’m not supposed to be kept out of the loop.”
After they finished their cigarettes, Daniel and Nikki trailed behind and he whispered to her, “Why would they attack someone like that?”
“Because she had it coming,” Nikki said shortly.
“But--” Daniel began before Nikki cut him off. “Don’t worry about it, honey.”
Gina had enough of the game by the third quarter, but Nikki and Daniel decided to stay and Jasmine could return to pick them up afterwards. As it turned out, Gina leaving saved her from a potential awkward encounter when the game was finished.
As they walked down the street towards the parking lot, Nikki paused momentarily to light a cigarette and when she resumed walking, she felt a tap on her shoulder. When she turned around, she stood face-to-face with her father, freshly lit cigarette still dangling from the middle of her mouth.
“Nicole,” Rick said. “I had no idea you were going to be here.”
Nikki turned to her boyfriend and sarcastically said, “Groundhog day.” She then returned her attention towards her father.
“Well considering you made a decision 18 months ago to erase Mom and me from your life, I’m not sure how you would know that,” Nikki said coldly, intentionally blowing smoke directly into his face.
“I’ve made some mistakes, I’ll admit that,” Rick conceded.
“You cheated on your wife and disowned your daughter,” Nikki spat.
“I’m sorry,” Rick muttered. “It looks like I was right about that guy, though.”
Nikki laughed coldly as she exhaled again. “You’re never going to get it.” With that, Nikki grabbed Daniel’s hand and walked away, turning her back on Rick.
____________________________________________________________________________
They decided to stay in the casino hotel in Niagara Falls as usual and they returned for dinner, but Nikki wanted to return to town that night in search of any of her former friends.
For dinner, they would go to one of the restaurants in the casino, which required a change of clothing. On the way back from the game, the sky turned gray as nasty storm clouds rolled in, causing the temperature to drop nearly 15 degrees before the got back, perhaps signifying the beginning of fall.
When they got back to the room, Nikki greeted her mother and they discussed plans for the night. Gina announced they had a reservation for dinner in an hour. The younger Perrillo asked why so late and the response was not one she enjoyed.
“Your father called me,” Gina said. “He said you blew him after the game.”
“Fuck, news spreads fast,” Nikki said in an annoyed tone. “I did. He’s a piece of shit.”
“I don’t think there’s anyone that agrees more with than sentiment than me,” Gina began, taking a drag on her half-smoke cigarette. “But he’s your father. You should try to have a relationship with him.”
“I don’t want a relationship with him,” Nikki said, speaking through an exhale. “He’s a piece of shit that abandoned us.”
“Look, you may be the boss in the business world, but I’m still your mother,” Gina said adamantly. “You’re going.”
“Fine,” Nikki said reluctantly, ashing her cigarette in the ashtray in front of her mother.
After the plans were decided, Jasmine turned to Daniel and said, “I think you and I better get dinner on our own.”
“That’s not necessary,” Nikki said from across the room.
“Yes it is,” Jasmine chuckled. “That’s gonna be an awkward meal. We’ll come back in a couple hours. Let’s go kid.”
Daniel did as he was told and walked over to his girlfriend to kiss her goodbye before following the muscular black woman out of the room.
“You better get ready,” Gina told her daughter, who was sitting on the couch, the cigarette in her hand nearly smoked to the top of the orange filter.
Nikki went to her suite across the hall, as Gina shared one with Jasmine. She went to her luggage and chose a silk red blouse, along with a black leather miniskirt that fell a few inches above her knees. On her feet were a pair of black high heels with straps around her ankles and toes. She still had her typical gold jewelry and put her black leather blazer.
After dressing, Nikki went back across the hall to find her mother putting the finishing touches on her outfit for the night, which was a sleeveless turtleneck shirt, tucked into a pair of black slacks and a thin black leather belt with rhinestones and a western buckle to tie it together. She also had on the high-heeled black loafers Nikki wore to the football game and her black leather coat, which was much like her daughter’s except for a buckle-less belt, with the ends tucked into her pockets.
When they got down to the restaurant, Rick was waiting for them outside. After an awkward greeting between the now-divorced couple, they went into the restaurant and were seated at a table.
Luckily smoking was permitted in just about every crevice of the casino, including the restaurants. So as soon as Nikki plopped down in her chair, she took off her coat, draped it over her chair and lit a cigarette. A few seconds later, Gina followed suit and lit a cigarette herself.
“I see you’re still smoking,” Rick said to Gina. “It’s still surreal to see.”
“There’s a lot of surreal things with our divorce,” Gina said, let rip on a massive exhale.
“Yes, well,” Rick stumbled before turning to his daughter, who was in the middle of taking another drag on her cigarette. “So, Nicole, I’m sorry your engagement didn’t work out.”
“No, you’re not,” Nikki scoffed as smoke trickled from her mouth and nose.
“No, I’m not,” Rick laughed nervously. “But that boy you were with this afternoon seems nice and wholesome. What’s his name?”
“Daniel,” Nikki said shortly.
“And where is he tonight?” Rick asked.
“We thought it was better that he didn’t have to endure this spectacular night with us,” Nikki said, stubbing out her cigarette in the ashtray and releasing one last exhale.”
As dinner arrived, Gina took off her coat, also draping hers over the back of the chair, revealing her tattoo-covered left arm. Her ex-husband had yet to see her tattoos until then and was completely oblivious. When he laid eyes on the colorful ink on his ex-wife’s arm, Rick was stunned.
“Gina!” Rick exclaimed. “Why did you do that to yourself?!”
“Because I thought it looked good,” Gina said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“You’re 50 years old!” Rick said disapprovingly.
“I’m 51, actually,” Gina said sarcastically.
Nikki finally cut in to save her mother from a lecture that she didn’t deserve.
“Dad, why did you want to meet tonight?” Nikki asked.
“Because you’re my daughter and I haven’t seen you in more than a year,” Rick answered.
“Yes, and the last time you saw me, you told me I was the reason you were getting divorced,” Nikki responded.
“Nicole, your behavior did put a lot of stress on our marriage,” Rick said with a deep breath. “We became more distant.”
“My behavior didn’t make you sleep with a slut half your age,” Nikki snapped.
“That was a big mistake on my part,” Rick admitted. “But that’s behind me and I want a relationship with you and so do your brothers.”
“My brothers haven’t contacted me in two years and they couldn’t care less about Mom because of what you have told them,” Nikki barked. She was so angry at this point that she stopped eating her dinner and pulled another cigarette from her purse.
“I’m sorry,” Rick responded.
“Sorry isn’t good enough,” Nikki continued. “I get that I was a bit wild in high school, but when you came to Jersey, you refused to see how well I was doing. All you did was judge me and the decisions that I’ve made.”
“Nicole, you were engaged to a man more than twice your age and you’re running illegal businesses,” Rick said.
“Well, I have never been arrested or even questioned by the police,” Nikki retorted, exhaling as she spoke. “I’m doing well now and you still don’t want to see it. When you want a real relationship with me, where you accept me for who I am, then call me. I assume you still have my number.”
Nikki took one last drag on her cigarette, stood up and stubbed it out in her father’s dinner before grabbing her coat and purse and stalking out.
Gina meanwhile, was still seated, an all-white cigarette between her fingers as she stared at her former husband.
“What?” Rick said.
“I thought you wanted to have a conversation with her,” Gina said, knocking ash off her cigarette.
“I did,” Rick responded.
“No, you just wanted to lecture her,” Gina responded.
“Maybe she needs it,” Rick said defiantly.
“She is doing very well,” Gina said.
“She’s a criminal,” Rick said in disgust.
“You have no idea what she is,” Gina snapped. “Nicole has matured in the last two years. She is a 4.0 student, runs successful restaurants and she was so good with that little girl. I had my doubts about it too, but she proved me wrong.”
“She’s got you brainwashed,” Rick said.
“Excuse me?” Gina asked in disbelief, smoke emanating from her nostrils.
“You’re covered in tattoos and smoking like a chimney,” Rick retorted.
“I smoked when you met me and I quit for you,” Gina said. “You want everything to be your way. That’s just not how it works anymore.”
Gina stood up, and just like her daughter, extinguished her cigarette in Rick’s dinner before leaving him at the table alone.
____________________________________________________________________________
When Gina returned to Nikki’s suite, she found her pacing around in a haze of smoke. She didn’t even have to say a word to express how furious she was with her father. Gina entered the room and Nikki immediately gave her a face of rage.
“Why did you make me do that?” Nikki shouted. “You knew it would end that way!”
Gina sat down on the couch and lit a cigarette of her own and said, “I thought maybe he could at least have a civilized conversation.”
“He can’t,” Nikki said with an exhale. She crushed out her first cigarette right after lighting another with the lit end. “Everything is someone else’s fault.”
“Well now we know that for sure,” Gina said. “If you don’t want to, you don’t have to go through that again. If it helps, he was just as demeaning to me.”
“I swear to God, I hope nobody gets in my face tonight,” Nikki said, shaking her head. “I’ll kill them.”
“Well let’s hope not,” Gina said sarcastically.
Moments later Daniel and Jasmine walked through the door and they decided to head out to the bars, filling them in on what transpired at dinner in the process. Nikki was intrigued by the new adventure in front of them, considering she had not gone out in her hometown previously.
When they arrived at the bar -- the same one Gina had gone with her friends nearly a year prior -- it was littered with familiar faces, most Nikki didn’t care about seeing. It didn’t take long for all male eyes to focus on the leather-clad beauty in the bar. Several men ignored Daniel and asked to buy her a drink, some of them former classmates from high school that didn’t recognize her until they got close.
It took more than an hour, but Nikki finally saw a few of her former friends walk through the door. She knew it was likely they had already been drinking or not drinking at all since most were not 21 and couldn’t get away with using a fake I.D.
Sure enough, when one of the Nicole’s, Hannah and another girl -- who Nikki later found to be Hannah’s college roommate, Julie -- approached the foursome standing at the corner of the bar, it was obvious that Hannah was quite intoxicated, as was Julie.
Hannah immediately grabbed Nikki and gave her a hug as she squealed with excitement. Nicole, however, was not quite as cheerful. Nikki couldn’t tell if it was due to her or Hannah’s drunken state because she was obviously sober.
Nikki played nice and bought them a round of drinks, considering Hannah was one of the few from their former group that was already 21. After chatting with them for a while, they went to use the restroom, while Nikki and her group went to the patio to smoke.
Gina and Jasmine didn’t last long in the brisk fall cold night and went back inside after one cigarette, but Nikki and Daniel remained outside, with the former lighting up once again. As she did, her old friends walked out the door.
“Nikki!” Hannah drunkenly screeched. “There you are!”
Nikki simply laughed at Hannah. Of all the members of her group of friends, Hannah was easily the easiest to get along with.
“I see you’re still smoking,” Nicole L. remarked as they sat down at the table.
“I see you’re still judgmental,” Nikki responded with a smile and another drag on her cigarette.
The response quickly negated anything else Nicole was about to say and a more cordial conversation began. They talked of school and Nikki introduced Daniel, while Hannah and Julie danced around the patio without an inkling of how foolish they appeared.
Eventually they both sat back down and Julie looked at Nikki through squinted eyes from across the table.
“I heard you blew off my boyfriend,” Julie slurred.
“I don’t know who your boyfriend is,” Nikki laughed.
Nicole stepped in to inform Nikki that Jeff was her boyfriend. Nikki didn’t think much of it, considering the incident was nearly five years prior.
“You picked yucky cigarettes over him,” Julie slurred again. “Then you went crazy and started doing drugs!”
“How does she know that?” Nikki asked her former friend. “I know Hannah didn’t tell her any of it.”
“Well it’s true isn’t it?” Nicole shot back.
“First of all, I refused to change myself for a 16-year-old guy,” Nikki said. “Second of all, you make it sound like I became a fucking drug addict.”
“Could have fooled me,” Nicole responded. “You acted like a psycho.”
“You mean I decided to live my life rather than act like a prissy little bitch,” Nikki corrected. “Why do you even care? It was so long ago.”
“Why are you even here?” Nicole snapped. “Shouldn’t you be underneath some biker?”
“Why are you here?” Nikki responded. “You act like I’m the only one that pushed away from the group. You’ve done a pretty good job of that yourself.”
Feeling she might do something drastic right on the patio, Nikki stood up and said, “And at least I’m not underneath any dude with a dick.” With that she walked back inside the bar with Daniel in toe.
Nikki did her best to shake off the frustration brought on by bitterness from a former friend, she went back inside to her group to enjoy the rest of the night. She admitted to herself that she should have known better than to have a friendly reunion, especially with the most outspoken member of the group.
As the night wore on, Nikki noticed Hannah and Julie leaving for the night since the former lived right down the street. Still in a foul mood on the inside, she sent Jasmine out to “help” her to the car.
After about 10 minutes, Nikki walked out to the parking lot, towards the most discrete and darkest part to find Jasmine standing over a crumpled body on the ground. She walked up to them and bent down to check on her old friend, a fresh Marlboro Red Label 100 burning in her left hand.
“Nikki!” Nicole mumbled as blood dripped from her nose to her mouth. “Please help me!”
A cruel smile came across her face and Nicole immediately knew that it was about to get worse instead of better. Nikki blew smoke in her face and stood back up, motioning for Jasmine to continue her assault.
When Nikki backed up to give Jasmine some room to operate, Daniel whispered in a concerned tone, “Why are you doing this?”
“Because this slut had it coming,” Nikki said coldly. “Nobody disrespects me that way, especially in front of my man.”
“It’s really OK,” Daniel said quickly. “This isn’t necessary.”
“Maybe not to you,” Nikki said.
Jasmine finally relented and Nikki walked back over to the sobbing girl on the ground, “Had enough?”
Nicole nodded furiously.
“This is what happens when you fuck with me,” Nikki whispered, wisps of smoke emanating from her mouth from a previous exhale.
“I’m sorry,” Nicole pleaded. “It won’t happen again.”
Nicole looked over to see Gina standing behind Jasmine and next to Daniel, pulling on an all-white cigarette of her own.
“Mrs. Perrillo!” Nicole begged. “Please help me!”
Gina looked at Nikki and the two simply laughed. “Honey, you’re on your own.”
As Nicole was propped against her car, Nikki gave her one last knee to the face and a kick to the stomach before stalking off into the night. Given it was a former friend, Nikki did have Gina go back into the bar to pretend as if she found Nicole had gotten mugged in the parking lot.
As they waited for the rouse to finish in the back of the SUV, Daniel sat quietly perplexed over what just occurred. Nikki noticed and said, “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t understand how you could do that,” Daniel said in disbelief.
“That’s just how it goes,” Nikki said casually.
“You carry a gun, you’re wildly successful for someone your age and you have so many employees,” Daniel said, trying to piece together the puzzle. “What do you really do?”
“Well after tonight, I’m sure you won’t go to the police,” Nikki laughed. “So I might as well tell you.”
Nikki launched into the full story about her secretive lifestyle as Daniel stayed silent throughout. At the end, he remained quiet as he processed the information.
“Is that a problem?” Nikki asked.
“No,” Daniel said. “I should have put it together sooner. It’s just a shock to see you that way in person.”
“I’m sorry you had to see that, babe,” Nikki said sincerely.
____________________________________________________________________________
It took Daniel some time to continue to get used to the fact that his girlfriend was involved with organized crime, but he did come around, wishing to stay out of the fray and inner-workings like Gina did as well.
When they returned home, Nikki still had a month to get a guarantee from Esposito and she had no idea how to do that. Little did she know, an extremely unexpected opportunity was about to present itself, fixing her problems in the process.
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