Changed Man

“I’m good … wondering when you’re gonna get tired of this guy and come away with me?”

“Never,” Wanda said flatly and then she smiled and bowed slightly. “I mean you no disrespect, but you know that I will never leave Mike for any reason.” Wanda paused. “Doesn’t matter how handsome you are,” she flirted and both me and Angee laughed.

“Got you a good girl here, Mikey. They don’t make them like this no more.” He took Wanda in with his eyes and then he shook his head. “So, what’s up, Mikey?”

“Some place we can talk?

”

“Let’s walk,” Angee said and we followed him out of the pizzeria. “So, what’s up?” he asked again once we had gotten away from his crew.

“I need to know what’s up with Crazy Nicky and Johnny Boy eyeballing my spots?”

“Do you really need to ask me that, Mikey?”

“I guess I don’t,” I said and immediately started thinking about how I was gonna try to fight them off.

“Luca Giovanni gave his approval and everything.”

“Oh, shit,” Wanda said, and I had to agree with her.

If we had to go to the mattresses against Crazy Nicky and Johnny Boy, we’d get crushed. We’d lose a lot of good people trying to fight them off, but in the end, we’d still lose the spots and maybe our lives.

“But it ain’t gonna happen,” Angee said and Wanda and I both stopped dead in our tracks.

“What?”

Angee pointed at me. “You were done, Mikey. You hear me?” Then he got in my face, pointing. “You were done. Fat Luca gave his blessing and the only reason you ain’t knee deep in the shit now is that Greasy intervened on your behalf.”

“Who?” Wanda asked.

Greasy was the name me and Angee called his Uncle, Anthony ‘Big Tony’ Collette. I had known him just about as long as I’ve known Angee. In all that time, he always insisted that I call him Uncle Tony too. He was a made guy in The Curcio Family and I looked up to him; me and Angee both did. It was Uncle Tony that taught me how to shoot, how to pick a lock, and how to break into and hot-wire a car.

“He did? What’d he do?” I needed to know.

“Fuck should I know. I wasn’t there. All I know is that Greasy said for me to tell you not to worry,” Angee said and I got worried. I looked at Wanda and could tell that she was worried too.

“What does that mean?” Wanda asked, and I wondered if we had just traded Crazy Nicky and Johnny Boy for Big Tony.

“It means don’t worry,” Angelo said to Wanda and then he looked at me. “And one more thing, Mikey.”

“What’s that?”

Angee leaned closer and so did Wanda. “He said to tell you to say thank you next time you see him.”

“That’s it?” Wanda needed to know.

“That’s it,” Angee said.

Wanda turned to me. “What do you think it means?”

“I don’t know.” I looked at Angee. “What do you think it means?”

“I think it’s your Uncle Tony being your Uncle Tony, Mikey, that’s what I think it means,” Angee said and started walking back toward the pizzeria, leaving me and Wanda standing there dumbfounded. “Come on. I’ll buy you a slice.”

Chapter Twenty

We followed Angee back in the pizzeria, had a couple of slices and talked. Talked about everything except what me and Wanda wanted to talk about. Every time either of us would try, Angee would just ignore us and talk about something else.