Switchblade Attitude

Tony’s hands were shaking as he straightens the eggshell white colored bowtie around his neck, noticing just how much it stands out against the inked, tan skin of his hands and neck. His hair is short and styled to peak up slightly in the middle and curl at the end to add texture to his black locks Mike hands him a bottle of the light amber colored Corona with a pat on the back. His own black bowtie is united and hanging around his shoulders. All the guys are sitting around, joking and chatting while they wait for Tony’s mother to grab them and go to the part of the beach they have set up for the wedding that Ande and Tony had been planning on for the last eight months.

“How are you holding up, man?” Mike asks. Tony sighs.

“Freaking the fuck out.

Mike laughs and pats his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Tone. I was shaking like a leaf the whole time before French walked down that aisle. As soon as I saw her, I felt like the strongest man in the world. You’ll feel the same. Deep breaths and a few drinks should help loosen you up.”

Tony nods and looks at himself in the mirror again, running his fingers over his gelled hair.

He steps back and looks over his appearance. An off-white button up, the sleeves rolled so he isn't too hot in the Spanish weather, with matching suspenders and the bow tie that won't stay straight. His black pants are snug on his legs, showing off the muscle in his calves, and the black sneakers he bought to replace the ones he had for three years are crisp and clean ready to be dirtied by fatherhood and the martial life.

Tina comes bounding in the door wearing a soft pale blue dress, twirling around in it. Ande had taken her shopping when she arrived with their mother and all she had wanted to do was wear it for the past two weeks.

"Are you ready?" Tina asks happily, moving around the room and jumping from couch to bed to chair. Tony's mother, Maria, comes in yelling at her and holding baby Alex.

"Tinatia Perry! You stop horsing around this instant or so help me I'll drag you by your ear lobes," Maria threatens, wearing a peach colored blouse and a medium brown skirt, accenting her dark skin and hair. Tina whines at the use of her full name and begrudgedly walks over to her mother.

Tony grins at the sight of his child and walks over, instantly taking the baby from his mother.

"How is my sweet boy, doing?" Tony says softly, and the baby grins and laughs at the sight and sound of his father. "Did you have a good nap?" Tony asks, knowing he can't answer, but waits for his mother to answer instead.

"Slept like a rock, just like you."

Tony just sticks out his tongue, something they all laugh at, and bounces his son in his arms. His child would be exactly six months old in just a week and that excited Tony to no end. He and Ande had created this little beautiful boy and they knew it would be something that would change their lives for good. The rest of the gang of ex-bank robbers come over and crowd around their growing nephew. Alex instantly goes for the sparkling piercing in Mike's lip, grabbing at the metal and tugs.

Mike whines and tries to (easily) pull away but gets caught with Alex starting to cry and wanting to sparkly object he has in his hand. The younger Fuentes brother is at a stalemate and gives in, keeping his head steady while Alex gurgles and continues to hold onto the piercing. Jaime, the gimpy leg fool that broke his foot after two days in Spain, starts a quick game of peek-a-boo that distracts him long enough to let Mike get away and Alex to stay happy.

The family continues to laugh and watch with bright eyes. Tony has the glow of a proud father on his face, something that Maria Perry is very happy to see. After Tony's father had died when he was younger, things had not been easy for the Perry family, and it showed in Tony's history as an international criminal.

"Tony." The father looks away from his brothers and son, not able to take the grin off his face. Maria smiles softly and nods her head. "It's time to go get set up."

The bottom of Tony's stomach falls out, and the untouched bottle of Corona is too hot by now to enjoy and he's scared he'll throw it up anyways. The nerves are there, and he feels like a high schooler again, walking up to the pretty girl in his math class and asking her to prom. But he's already got the question over with and gotten an answer, all Tony needs is to get the next hour over with and he'll have a smooth silver ring on his finger while he and his new-wife and their child go off to the Spanish home they have waiting for them for a night of movies and sweets.

Tony and Ande were too scared to leave Alex this soon. Maybe in a few years when he was older, the couple would go off for a week and just have 'Tony and Ande Time'.

Maria is in the lead with Tony following with Alex in his arms. Tina had run out a few moments before the rest of them and went to grab Lauren and Ande to see if they were ready. The venue itself was small, barely two floors and enough for four large rooms. The couple had slept with just one room between them and had to be watched religiously so not to see each other. (Tony's mom was very suspicious on those things, but too bad for her they had met on the balcony of Ande's room, from where Tony had climbed over, and just embraced each other for a few moments - "I can't wait to marry you," Tony said. "I'm looking forward to it," Ande replied.)

Out on the beach there were thirty chairs set up, and almost all of them were filled with the friends and family that had come. Jessica and Frenchi waved them over, wanting to gush over sweet little Alex who was wide awake at this point and ready to be in on the fun. Maria took Alex from Tony and the boys looked over each other to make sure they would meet Mama Perry;s standards for group photos.

"Antonio!" Maria gasped as she stared down at Tony's ankles. "You go change your socks this instant!"

Tony felt slightly flushed as he looked down at his feet. He didn't seen anything wrong with his ninja turtle socks sticking out from the tops of his shoes before disappearing back under the black denim of his jeans. The only reason she saw them was because he had rolled up the legs, feeling awkward with it ending at the top of his shoe and was used to the fabric stopping about two inches above his ankle.

"But ma-"

There's a scream.

It could have shattered all the champagne glasses and the windows in the venue, but most of all, it shattered Tony's heart.

His feet hadn't fully left the sand of the Spanish beach before the glass doors of Ande's balcony were flying open and Tina ran out.

"They're gone!"

She was crying, and she had a piece of paper clutched in her hand as she fell to her knees, looking at the shocked crowd through the balcony bars.

There's a blur of people's words and Alex crying (and Tony swears to God he isn't crying but he is) and things just seem to stop when he gets to the room Ande had just been in not-too-long ago. How did he not hear them? The room had been flipped upside down. Make up and clothes were thrown across the room. The mattress of the bed was half on the floor, half on the springs of the bed. There was a broken cream colored sandal that Tony had seen Ande breaking in over the last month that they had been in Spain.

Lauren's cell phone was sitting on the vanity with a cracked screen, still connected to the charger plugged into the wall.

Tony stared at the room.

The dress bag that had held Ande's dress for the last two months was unzipped and the dress was missing. Her pajamas were in a pile near the connected bathroom, and so were Lauren's own clothes. They were dressed. They were ready for this moment and then it was snatched out from under them.

"Tony?"

He looks up at his younger sister, realizing that he too has fallen to his knees in a fit of sadness. He's confused and scared and mad. His wife-to-be has been kidnapped and he is more than ready to marry her.

"Tony, who is Jessie Lee?"

Tony stares at Tina. He tried so hard to cover up his past that the old was now starting to swallow the new, happy things he was trying to bring into his life.

"What?"

He felt like his ears were stuffed with cotton and he could barely breathe or see as Tina repeated the name again. It was like a mantra in his head, the words feeling foreign to his brain until he put a smooth, curved face to the name. The blonde hair was so smooth between his fingers, and the pink was fresh and fun and he remembered the good times they had, but the bad outweighed the good by a long shot.

"Tony!"

He's shaken from the black and gray memories of numbness, and brought forth into a world of color and pain.

"Tony, who is Jessie Lee?"

Vic asks it firmly like this, never have heard of the girl before, but Tony must have by the way his soft face twists into pure, unadulterated anger.

"That bitch," Tony hisses as he slams his fist into the hard wood floor. Something bruises and he does it again. Tina starts to cry again, and it takes Mike and Jaime to hold Tony back from doing more damage to himself. "That fucking bitch!"

No one has ever heard Tony this angry since Alana's death, and it is scary.

It's the scary truth, that no matter how much money you use to hide yourself, even the past will find you.

Notes

A note from your beloved author that you should read but don't have to:

You guys have no idea how happy that I am to say I have a sequel to a story of mine. I have never completed a chaptered story (at least one over 5 chapters). I am so proud of myself and it is because of you guys that it got done! Pat yourself on the back because you fucking deserve it.

Now let's see what I come up with for this next story . . .