His plane touched down and Teddy took a cab, not directly to Nikki’s flat, but three blocks away.  And then he jogged there.  He was dressed for the part: jeans.  A pullover shirt tucked in.  Jordans.

When he didn’t see any cops around, or any other activity that would give him pause, he entered the apartment building and made his way upstairs, to her apartment.  He knocked lightly.  He’d already phoned to alert her he was in town.  Within quick seconds, she opened the door.

He entered quickly, closed it back, and locked it.

And finally, after all those months, they were together again.

He looked at Nikki.  And as soon as he did, he knew exactly why he couldn’t get her off of his mind.  It was that look: high cheekbones.  Incredibly smooth dark skin.  Eyes that carried a lot of pain, even when she laughed.  Especially now.  Teddy felt her pain.

His heart squeezed so hard, and felt so strong, that he didn’t know whether to embrace her or run away from her.  What the fuck was this about?  He knew he was attracted to her.  He knew he might even care about her.  Why else would his slick ass be in L.A.?  But this feeling he was feeling was as if he was looking at somebody so near and dear to him that he could hardly bear it.

And before he could say a word to her, or ask her a single question, he had to hold her.  He had to let her know that she wasn’t in this alone.  He moved up to her, totally violating her personal space, and pulled her into his arms.  The intensity caused him to shut his eyes tightly, as he felt her soft, perfumed body against his.

Nikki felt that emotional release, too, when he first walked into her apartment.  Their relationship was already unusual.  They met in L.A. at the bar where she worked, and they met a few times while he was still in town.  But his stepmother had been badly injured by a predator who had been still on the loose, and all of his time and energy were devoted to protecting her.  Nikki rarely saw him.  There was no sex.  No promises.  No commitments.  When he left town, he said he’d call her, but she never expected to hear from him again.  Not because she doubted his word, but because she knew her life.  Not hearing from him again would have been more in line with the story of her life.

But he actually did call her.  And called her again and again.  And her hope meter began to tick up.  He was even promising to take some time away from his work and come and spend some serious time with her.  That promise caused her hope meter to go a little haywire.

But as soon as she got in that place called hope, and even began to dream a little dream, it all stopped.  His regular phone calls became no phone calls at all.  He didn’t even return hers.  Her hope meter, like all those times before, crashed.

But he came to L.A. at the moment of her greatest need.  Her own father wouldn’t give her the time of day to even hear what distressed her.  But Teddy came.  That didn’t just say something to Nikki.  Given how low she was regarded by everybody else in this world, and given how badly she needed him at this moment in her life, that said everything!

And to be held in his big, powerful arms was new to Nikki, too.  They might have embraced when he was leaving L.A. that first time, but it was more like a see ya kind of hug.  This was anything but that!  This was a serious embrace that caused Nikki to close her eyes, and nearly cry, because of the intensity alone.  And how much she appreciated him being there.

But Teddy knew he had to drop this emotional bullshit and put on that mask again.  When they stopped embracing, he had to become her fixer, not her love interest, to make sure she got out of this situation unscathed.

But as soon as they stopped embracing, and he looked into her eyes again, he was enchanted again.  Those feelings were strong again.  He had to suck it up.

“Where is he?” he asked her.

“In here,” Nikki said.  She had to compartmentalize her feelings too.  They had work to do!

She escorted Teddy into her bloody kitchen.  Expecting him to recoil a little on seeing this dead guy on her kitchen floor, Nikki looked hard at Teddy’s reaction.  This would tell her a lot.  Was he as gangster as she made him out to be, or was it all just an act?

It was no act, she saw, when he looked at that body.  He didn’t even flinch.  He, instead, walked over to the unconscious intruder, knelt down beside the body and felt his pulse for himself, and then stood up again.

“He was still breathing last time I checked,” Nikki said.

“He’s still breathing,” Teddy agreed.  “But barely.”

“It’s amazing he’s still alive,” Nikki said.  “I thought for sure, when I came back to this apartment, that I would find him . . .”

Teddy looked at her.  She looked so helpless to him at that moment that he wanted to hug her again.  But he nodded instead.  “Yep,” he said.  He knew what she meant.  Then he exhaled.  He had to get to work.  He reached his hand out to her.  “Give me your gun.”

Nikki quickly retrieved it, and she handed it to him.

“Nobody heard the gunshot?”

“They might have heard it,” Nikki said, “but there’s so many shootings around here, and even in this building, that it’s no big deal to anybody.  Unless it’s excessive.  Just one shot like what I fired?  They turn over and go back to sleep.”

“Damn,” Teddy said with a smile.  “I thought that was only in Philly.”

Nikki wanted to smile, but an injured body, and her part in that injury, stopped her.

“Is it registered to you?”  He was talking about the gun.

He and Nikki looked into each other’s eyes.  It was Teddy’s time to see just how gangster she was.

“No,” she said.  “I bought it from this guy I know.”

Teddy nodded.  Gangster enough, he thought.  “Good,” he said.  “It won’t trace back to you.  Now do me a favor.”

Here we go, Nikki thought.  Was he about to concoct some “punishment” for her in exchange for his help?  Like a demand for sex?  Like a demand that she perform some freakiness in the bedroom?  Then she caught herself.  Sex with Teddy Sinatra would probably be a lot of things.  Punishment wouldn’t be one of them!  Besides, he came all this way.  She felt she owed him. “Okay,” she said.

“I want you to go into your bathroom, and then bring me a glass of water.”

At first Nikki thought nothing of it.  The man was thirsty after his flight and maybe he didn’t like the idea of drinking water from a room where a shooting had taken place.  But she saw that look in his eyes.  He was thirsty alright.  But it wasn’t for water.  “One glass of bathroom water coming up,” she said, and left the room.

As soon as she left, Teddy pulled out a silencer, placed it on the barrel of her pistol, and looked at the man on the floor.  He was a stranger to him.  But an enemy of Nikki’s, from here on out, was his enemy.  He knelt down and shot the barely breathing building Superintendent straight through the eye at close range, ending it once and for all.

What he didn’t know: Nikki had doubled back and was standing at the kitchen entrance looking at him.  Teddy already knew she was there.  He’d seen her reflection in the refrigerator. He stood up, and he turned to her.

“Why in the eye?” she asked him.  “I mean, I knew we had to finish him off.  But why shoot him in the eye?”

“That’s how mobsters do it,” Teddy said.

“But the police might try to link this killing to you if they think it’s mob-related.”

She figured him to be a mobster.  That was surprising to Teddy.  But he nodded.  “I want them to think mob, rather than you.  So that would be exactly what I want them to do.  I can take the heat.  They’ve tried to link many crimes to me and my family.  We have world-class suits, I mean lawyers, and tons of inside guys, to shake off heat on us.  I just don’t want them to link it to you.”

Teddy would never know how wonderful that sounded to Nikki.  But why would he place himself in jeopardy for her?  She studied him.  “Why are you doing this for me?” she asked him.

Teddy was looking down at the dead body now.  “Honestly,” he said, “I don’t know.”  He looked at her. “It just seems like the natural thing to do.  You called.  You were in trouble.  I came.  It’s what I do for certain people.  My family.  Myself.  And for some reason, now you’re on that list.”

Nikki wanted to feel hopeful again.  But she’d been burned once by him already.  “I’ll get that water.”

Teddy smiled. “Your ass knew I didn’t want any water, that’s why you never left.  And I still don’t want any water.”

Nikki smiled too.  Then she thought of something.  “Oh,” she said.  “I meant to tell you.  I argued with Louie, that’s the guy down there on my floor, just before this happened.  A few hours before.  He was on my case about rent I owe.”

“He was in this apartment?”

“We argued in the hallway.  People might have heard us is why it might matter.”

Teddy nodded.  “That’s okay.  If it comes up, we’ll deal with that, too.  He’s a Super.  People argue with him about rent all the time.  That’s nothing new.”

Nikki loved how he said we’ll deal with it.  It made her feel a little less alone.  “So where do we go from here?”

Teddy exhaled.  “We’ve got to dispose of the body, and then clean up this apartment.”

“Dispose of it?”

“He lives alone, or with other people?”

“No.  Alone.  His wife died, from what a couple of the residents told me, a few years back when they were on vacation in Lake Tahoe.  A death, by the way, the cops questioned him about.”

Teddy liked the sound of that!  “He was a suspect in his wife’s death?”

Nikki nodded.  “He was, yeah.  At least from what I heard.”

“Good,” Teddy said.  “That’s good.”

“Why would that matter?”

“Because it means the cops will already see him as dirty.  He’s no good little innocent here.  It won’t take a leap to connect him to the mob.  One thing about cops: bad guys killing bad guys are never high on their priority-to-solve list.”

Nikki understood that.  “Makes sense,” she said.

“I’ve got to get him back into his own apartment,” Teddy said, “and stage it so it appears he died there.  Then we’ll clean up this place.”

“And then?”

“Do you have any friends in this building?  People you talk to on a regular basis?”

“A couple ladies, yeah,” Nikki said.  “We aren’t close or anything like that, but we talk a lot, yeah.”

“Have you ever mentioned me?”

Nikki hated to admit it, but her honesty was the least he deserved from her.  “Yes.”

“Good.  After we clean this shit up, I want you to call them and tell them that your boyfriend is in town and you’re going to go spend a few days in Philly with him.  Sound relaxed about it.  Don’t oversell it.”

“Don’t oversell.  I won’t.  I’ll just tell them I’m going to spend a few days with you.”

“And then that’s exactly what you’re going to do,” Teddy said.  “Hop the plane with me and go spend a few days in Philly.  Then I’ll bring you back.”

It sounded exciting, and terrifying, to Nikki.

“By that time,” Teddy continued, “this loser will be missing, but you won’t appear suspicious.”

“I’ll need to notify my job too.”

“Absolutely.  But first things first.  You start cleaning while I get this body wrapped up and ready.”

“You talk like you know exactly what to do.”

“I do,” Teddy said and looked at her.  “I’m not new to this rodeo, Nikki.  Not by a longshot.  You got a problem with that?”

 Nikki couldn’t believe this guy!  “I shot a man, and I asked you for help to cover it up.  Do I look like I would have a problem with that?”

Teddy laughed.  “Hell no.”

“Give me some credit!” Nikki added, with a smile.

But then she thought about something.  “You know what?”

“What?”

“You’ve never asked me that crucial question.”

Teddy looked at her.  “What crucial question?”

“Why did I shoot him?  You never asked what happened.”

“Because I know what happened,” Teddy said.  “He used his master key, came in here, and tried to fuck you.”

Nikki couldn’t believe how accurate he was.  She stared at him.

Then Teddy said something that she found most revealing.  “It’s the one thing I worried most about with you alone here in L.A.,” he said.

But Nikki was confused on two levels.  The fact that he worried about her at all.  And the fact that she wasn’t sure what he was worried about.  “What’s the one thing you worry most about?”

“Guys like him trying to have their way with you.  They see a gorgeous woman alone in the big city, and they take note.  Some of them try to take advantage.  But you fought back, by the looks of that guy.”

Nikki grimaced at that fight she had to wage just to get away from that asshole.  “That I did,” she said.

“And you keep doing,” Teddy said.

Nikki looked at him.  “You make it sound like an order.”

“It is,” he said, and they stared into each other’s eyes.

“Now let’s get to work!” Teddy ordered for real, and Nikki, sufficiently humbled, got to work.