Page 10 of Teddy Sinatra: Go Your Own Way
“Yes sir,” Renardo said, and began hurrying for the docks.
Then Teddy stopped and looked over at Renardo. “Where’s my wife?”
Renardo stopped his progression and looked at the boss. “Nikki? I haven’t seen her all morning. Maybe she’s with your kid.”
Teddy knew that wasn’t true. The nanny was with Kimmie when he left home that morning. But that wasn’t Renardo’s business. “Yeah maybe,” he said, and went into the office.
“You heard the boss,” Renardo said to the capos hanging around. “Let’s sail!”
The men cheered as they hurried to the docks with Renardo.
Inside, Teddy removed his suit coat and placed it over his desk chair, untightened his tie, and sat behind the desk, cocked both feet on top, and leaned all the way back. He began rocking. He got three hours sleep tops after getting out of that shower. Just three hours. Now he felt dead on his feet.
And where the hell was Nikki? He closed his eyes thinking about her, and how wonderful it felt to be inside of her before she left the house. It was amazing to him how much he still desired her. It amazed him still how not one woman he saw, and he saw plenty in his line of work, could compare.
But seeing Caitlan again awoken something inside of him. Thatused to be. Those times when life was his for the taking and he could have any woman he desired. But now he was so saddled with responsibility that he could hardly think straight. And if he didn’t have this shit figured out when Pop got back in town, he thought, he was going to have hell to pay. But what could he do about it now? He was doing all he could think to do. Until he couldn’t think at all and his eyes began getting heavier. And his chin was slowly lobbing downward toward his chest. Before he knew it, in the span of mere minutes, he had fallen asleep in his chair.
Until several minutes later.
“Boss? Hey boss?”
“Yeah?” Teddy quickly responded even as he was opening his eyes and lifting his chin back up.
For his bodyguard that stood inside the office door, he knew the boss was tired and needed his sleep. But he couldn’t let it slide. “I just got a phone call from Nikki.”
Teddy started rocking in his chair again, waiting for more information.
“She told me to shoot her a photo.”
That didn’t seem like a big deal to Teddy. Maybe she was checking out something that seemed odd to her. “So what are you telling me for? She’s your boss. Shoot her the photo.”
“I did. But . . .”
“But what?”
“It’s my job to snap a photo of anybody who approaches you that I don’t know outright.”
“So?”
“So I snapped a photo of that lady,” the guard said.
Teddy frowned. “What lady?”
“The lady from the bar last night.”
Teddy stopped rocking. “She wanted a photo ofher?”
“Yes sir.”
Teddy’s voice elevated. “And you sent it to her?”
“Like you said, she’s my boss.”
“And I’mherboss! Why didn’t you run it by me first?”
His bodyguard was frustrated. “You’re the one keep telling us to treat Nikki with the full respect of our underboss. If the underboss gives me an order, I don’t be running it by anybody. I do what I’m told.”
Teddy knew that was true. He rubbed his forehead. “You’re right. So you sent her the photo?”
