Page 18 of Nikki Sinatra: For Her Lover
But whoever the guy was, he didn’t sit right with Juda. Mainly because he was standing at their table staring unabashedly at Juda, even as Nikki was trying to talk to him.
“Hello sir,” Nikki said to Mick.
Mick said nothing. He continued to stare at Juda.
“I didn’t expect to see you here.”
Mick didn’t break his stare.
“What are you doing here?” Nikki finally asked.
And Mick finally looked away from Juda and looked at her. “That’s the wrong question. The question is what are you doing here?
Nikki hadn’t prepared an explanation. She had no idea she’d run into anybody she knew. And especially not him! “I’m having a quick drink with a friend of mine.”
Mick looked skeptically at her. “A friend of yours?”
Nikki didn’t mean to call Juda a friend, but that was what came out of her mouth. Now she had to stick to it. All of this subterfuge was so not her! “Yes sir.”
Juda expected her to introduce them since they were so-called friends, but to his disappointment she didn’t.
Mick continued staring at Nikki as if he knew there was more to thisdrink with a friendstory than she was telling him, but she didn’t say another word. So he did. “Let’s go,” he said impatiently.
Which shocked Juda. “Go? Why should she have to go? Just because you said so?”
But Nikki knew Juda was out of his depth. “Stay out of this,” she warned him.
“Your ass had better stay out of this,” warned Mick.
But Juda could be a ticking time bomb himself, and he quickly stood on his feet. “And what if I don’t?” he asked that arrogant bastard.
Nikki quickly stood up and got between the two men. She knew Juda meant well, and Mick didn’t have to go there, but that was how Mick rolled. “It’s okay,” she said to Juda. “I’ll be okay.”
But that only irritated Mick. He grabbed Nikki by the arm and shoved her away from her so-called friend. “Take your ass outside,” Mick ordered her.
To Juda’s shock, Nikki, who never took shit from anybody, took it from this sleepy-eyed asshole. She actually began leaving.
But Nikki knew what she was doing. Mick could break Juda in two if he became angry enough. Not to mention what he could do to her. She wasn’t sacrificing herself nor Juda to prove some point to Mick. No way was she going to win that battle. That was why she didn’t say a word. That was why she left.
Mick looked at Juda one more time, but left behind Nikki.
Juda looked at Nikki as she was leaving. Why was she taking that bull crap from that guy? But when Nikki glanced back at him as she and Mick were about to exit the restaurant, it was in that moment that Juda realized that it had to be Mick the Tick. He was the only somebody that would even try to handle Nikki that way. That man he tried to protect her honor from was Mick Sinatra! It had to be him. His heart began to pound once he realized who he had just tried to gomano-a-manowith. And he sat back down.
Outside, Mick ordered Nikki to go to his SUV to talk to him for a moment and he walked behind her. She could feel his stare, which only made her even more self-conscious than she usually was around him. But he did open the front passenger door of his Escalade for her, placed his hand on her back to help her up on the front seat, and closed the door behind her.
She leaned her head back and took a deep breath while he walked around to the front driver side door. She hated the feeling, but to this day that man still terrified her.
He got in and closed the door. Then he turned to Nikki. She expected him to lead off with who was that guy and what were they up to. Or similar questions like that. But he didn’t go there. “You were in an accident,” he said instead.
Nikki inwardly frowned. How would he know about that? Did Teddy tell him? Or, she thought with sudden dread, did he have a security detail on her at the time of that chase she had with Emilio? But had that been the case then they would have ran up on Emilio’s Maserati while they were waiting on that train, or they would have chased him down after she crashed in that ditch. She knew he kept tabs on Roz that way even though Roz hated it. But why would he keep tabs on her like that? Why would he continue to allow her to be the second-in-command of his syndicate if she had to have security everywhere she went? That would make no sense.
But then how did he know? “How did you know I was in an accident?” she decided to ask him.
But, as usual, he asked a lot of questions but rarely answered any. And, Nikki like everybody else, gave in. “Yes sir,” she said. “I was in an accident.”
Mick looked at her when she confirmed it. “Were you harmed?”
Nikki shook her head. “No sir. Thank God.” She appreciated his concern, which seemed genuine, but she still wasn’t about to give any great details. “I ran off the road,” was all she was willing to say.
