image courtesy of Maurice Benard Connection

a Sonny & Brenda Story
by scullysboy

Chapter 16

That evening, it was obvious to everyone at Il Paradiso that Sonny and Brenda were officially a couple. He was having a hard time keeping his hands off her, even when the customers starting pouring in for dinner. "Come see me in the office when you take a break. Get one of the waitresses to cover for you," Sonny whispered in her ear. Brenda blushed, feeling like everyone could hear what he was saying. But she knew she'd be in there the minute she had a chance. Their time on the floor of the photographer's studio that morning had been quite memorable. Their passion was burning even stronger than it had the other night, probably because they came so close to losing each other. Sonny had sat on the floor, with his clothes on but loosened up, and Brenda rode astride him totally naked. The thought of someone coming in and seeing the Face of Deception impaling herself on the dark and dangerous businessman would certainly had been fodder for the tabloids. But luckily, Sonny's assessment of the photographer was correct, and he didn't return for two hours, giving them plenty of time to satisfy their lust. Just thinking about it, as well as Sonny's invitation, was getting Brenda very aroused. She quickly scanned the bookings to see when there'd be a break in customers arriving. She found one, then glanced at her watch. "One and half hours," she told herself, "then, you can go in there and get screwed silly."

Sonny sat in the office wondering when she'd come in. All sorts of thoughts of what they could do were swimming around in his head, but the one that seemed most appealing involved her bent over his desk and...the door opened. "Are you ready?" Sonny looked at Jason like he had three heads. He surely wasn't referring to Brenda, whom Sonny was more than ready for. "For what Jason?" Jason stared at him, "the meeting with Sorel's men?" "Oh shit," Sonny muttered, "I forgot about that." "I can handle it for you," Jason offered, "just tell me what you want done." Sonny shook his head, "no, I need to do this. Not that I don't trust you, but I want to judge for myself what their intentions are. Either they're playing with me, waiting for a chance to make a move, or they're sincerely interested in joining us." "There is another alternative," Jason suggested, "then you don't have to worry about their intentions." Sonny chuckled, "I know Jason, and that could very well be the outcome. Let's go." As they walked out of the office, Sonny thought about how he was going to tell Brenda he had business to take care of, and that their "date" would have to wait a while.

She saw them approaching and it was clear they were on their way out of the restaurant. Sonny stopped by her side, while Jason went to the door and waited. "You're leaving?" Sonny nodded his head, "yeah. Just for an hour or so. I have something to take care of." "Great. It that something like what happened here with that guy? Are you going to go and get yourself shot or something?" Brenda's voice was getting louder as she was getting more and more upset. She couldn't get the image from her dream of Sonny's bleeding to death out of her mind. "Keep your voice down!" Sonny admonished under his breath. "I told you I'll be back. Then we can keep that date in my office," he added with a smile. "The only date you're going to have is with your mob buddies," Brenda fiercely whispered, and turned away from him. Sonny stared at her and shook his head. What had he gotten himself into? He turned, and left with Jason without saying another word. Brenda went back to work, and tried not to cry.

Jason walked in front of Sonny as they entered the warehouse. Johnny, and several more of Sonny's men were already inside guarding Sorel's three associates, who had already decided to play ball with the local mob lord. Sonny looked them over, then looked at Johnny who informed him, "they're clean sir." Sonny nodded his head, then looked back at the men. "So, which one of you wants to try to convince me that I shouldn't finish you all, right now?" The men looked at each other, then one of them volunteered to speak. "Mr. Corinthos, we want to apologize for the way Mr. Sorel approached you. He obviously didn't treat you with the respect you deserve." "His presence in my town was disrespectful," Sonny interrupted, "as is yours." The man swallowed hard, then continued, "yes sir. We're hoping you'll give us a chance to remedy that impression. We want to be of use to you." "Your intent was to deal drugs in my town; what possible use could you be to me?" "Sir," one of the other men spoke, "we thought it unwise of Mr. Sorel to try to do that. But, being loyal soldiers, we followed his orders. Now, we will do that same for you." Sonny stepped aside with Jason. "What do you think?" Jason, who had an uncanny ability to tell when someone was lying, replied, "they're afraid, but I think they're telling the truth. They want to work for you." Sonny gave him his orders, "find work for them, but split them up. And have someone keep an eye for them, for say...six months. That's let us know if they're for real or not." "Yes sir," Jason replied. Sonny turned, and headed for the exit. Jason quickly motioned for Johnny to follow him, which he did. Then, Jason turned back to the men who were anxiously awaiting to hear their fate.

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