Under the Boardwalk
Eight.
“I'm not having more trouble bought to the door Meyer!”
Benny announced Meyer sighed exasperated, rubbing his temples, he was tired of hearing about it now and although it wasn't an ideal relationship he couldn't understand why people couldn't leave them be, they weren't doing any harm, except maybe to Al's pride and Willie's ego.
Al sat behind his desk silently looking over paper work and attempting to run numbers becoming more and more frustrated as the moments dragged on, he slammed his fists down on to the table making his brothers jump, Frank glanced up from his newspaper,
“What now?”
“I can't fucking do this shit! There's a reason we let Ally do it, she would have had this done days ago!”
“Well she didn't cause in case you didn't notice she's not here!”
Frank snapped back, it enraged Al that both of his brothers were being so relaxed about it now, he didn't understand how it didn't infuriate them that their own flesh and blood had deserted them for the opposing side, it made his blood boil, “I could kill him” he thought to himself the idea rooting in his brain and beginning to grow at a startling rate, he looked over at his brothers,
“How many spare men we got?”
He asked trying to sound casual,
“About twenty, why?”
“we could kill them”
He muttered refusing to even try to keep anything from them, they looked back at him confused,
“What?”
Ralph asked sounding concerned, worrying his brother had finally cracked,
“Shoot out, we've done it before we hawk the house and go in when they least expect it”
Frank glanced at Ralph unable to believe he was agreeing with Al, Ralph shook his head looking back down at his book choosing to remain blissfully ignorant of his brothers murderous intentions, Ralph had always been the softer one of the three often using his size to intimidate people in to doing what he wanted, he rarely used violence.
For seven months and three days Charlie and Alessandra had been living on a cloud, uninterrupted and left to their own devices, the two married in a small private ceremony with only Benny and Meyer as witnesses.
Benny worried, it had been quiet for too long and he couldn't shake the feeling the Capone's were up to something, he broached the subject with Meyer only to be brushed off,
“They may have learned this time Benny, she's a grown woman and Charlie a grown man just like we can't control him they can't control her”
It was no comfort, they had all experienced the Capone's rage first hand, businesses were destroyed, homes vandalised and all three of the men jumped on separate occasions leading to cuts bruises and cracked ribs, no one had been hurt more than Charlie though, permanently scarred, in a place he couldn't cover, Benny could still remember visiting his friend in hospital, looking at him laying there motionless his face beaten beyond recognition, dainty stitches framed by deep purple bruises climbed his face and neck, he looked pathetic and Benny had wondered if it would have done him a favour if he had pushed the pillow over his face.
A smash had broken the silence causing all four to rise suddenly, Meyer, Benny and Charlie armed as they rushed through the house to the source of the noise, a front window had been smashed, a broken brick lay on the floor, they looked at each other and without a word walked away, they stood in the centre of the lounge Benny scowling at Charlie, he blamed him, a loud thudding came from the hallway followed quickly by a splintering crash, the four jumped Charlie rushing Alessandra in to another room, he shoved her in to the pantry,
“Stay here!”
“No! Charlie! I...”
“Just stay here!!”
He snapped before slamming the door and locking it dropping the key in to his pocket, he rushed back in to the lounge and stood with Meyer and Benny, they all kept their eyes on the doorway waiting for someone to appear although unsure who they felt ready.
She leant against the door, the sound of rushing water filled her ears, her breathing had become rapid, her heart hammered behind her ribs,she could hear voices but was unable to make out what they where shouting, she could hear Frank shouting and then Benny, she adjusted her pony tail and gathered her skirts firing blow after blow in tot he wooden door with the bottom of her foot, aiming for the lock, she stopped for a moment exhaling loudly and wiping her brow with the back of her hand, she threw her full body weight at the door, it was starting to give,
Charlie glanced over his shoulder a few times worried that the thumping would draw attention to her,
“Just hand her over Luiciano!”
“I don't fucking got her!!”
“We know ya do!”
Benny looked at Charlie with pleading eyes, the gun digging in to his temple and the arm around his neck tightening,
“Theres no need for this gentlemen!”
Meyer interrupted only to be struck by a large fist in the jaw, he reeled and stumbled slightly, soon picking himself upright, Charlie looked at his friend a drop of blood sliding from his lip Meyer wiped it away un-phased before lunging for the bigger man, it went against everything he stood for but was now seething, he Pulled Benny away from him almost throwing him across the room, Benny hit the floor taking a small end table out with him, he scrambled upright, watching the scene unfold, Tiny Meyer Lansky reigning blow after blow on Frank Capone, it was almost comical,
“Just fucking shoot Charlie!”
Benny Cried,
“I can't I'll hit Mey!”
“He'll fucking forgive you I'm sure pull the fucking trigger!”
A shot rang out from behind them, a heavy silence swept the room as the men turned, stood just behind them eyes filled with an intense anger stood Alessandra, Frank smiled,
“Ally time to come home” Without a word she shook her head keeping her arm outstretched, gun in hand finger on trigger, she was clearly on edge just a hair away from doing serious damage, “Stop being stupid come on!”
Her brother demanded, she squeezed the trigger once more the men flinching at the loud noise, all at once, the room filled with bodies sound and dust, Charlie came face to face with a large sandy haired man, he was shoved violently to the floor kicks falling on his ribs and stomach, he pulled himself along the floor winded grabbing the poker from the fire place he flipped himself over swinging the heavy iron implement over his head and sending the larger man crashing to the ground, Benny was defending himself against what he assumed to be an equal opponent surprised by the power the man had, having the man in a headlock was no easy feat but gave Benny an advantage, he dug the barrel of his gun in to the guys temple pulling the trigger without hesitation the familiar warm splatter of blood graced Benny's left side, he dropped the body and smiled, moving on to whoever was next, Alessandra found her self locked in with Al, he had thrown several meaningless warnings at her and many an empty threat, she remained strong not backing down she threw a punch wincing as her knuckles collided heavily with his cheek bone, she stood watching waiting to gage Al's response, he shook the shock off aware his men were falling left right and centre, he glanced over at Bugsy going to town on what was possibly his third or fourth opponent, Al shuddered coming to realise with Benny here they would have been grossly outnumbered either way, the man was a psychopath, known for his hair trigger temper, Al was surprised he wasn't foaming at the mouth, he glanced at Luciano red in the face his hair a mess he repeatedly kicked the motionless figure on the floor at his feet poker still in hand, Frank was with the little one, he turned back to his sister, the rage building back up inside of him, he lunged wrapping his hands around her neck and shoving her in to the wall, her chest heaved and her eyes widened, she clawed at his hands desperately, she attempted to speak only able to gurgle, she glanced over at Charlie Ralph had crept behind him, grabbing the much skinnier man around the neck with one arm swinging him and throwing him like a rag doll, He landed on the floor with a crash quickly picking himself back up Ralph headbutted him leaving Charlie dazed on the floor, he walked away making his way over to Al, who was now spitting venom at her,
“Youre a fucking traitor Alessandra, you fucking know that? We're you're fucking brothers and you leave us all behind and for what a couple of kikes and a cocksucker? I hope you fucking rot”
Her head was swimming as air became scarce, her chest burning and vision blurring she couldn't even respond, her heart was breaking, Ralph pulled him off of her leaving her to crumple to the floor gasping and coughing.
Ralph knocked Benny to the floor, the scrappy Jew stood quickly blood splattering most of him, even Benny wasn't sure what was his and what wasn't. Al fronted Charlie dragging him off of the floor and on to his feet, only to knock him back down with the poker that Charlie had once held, aiming for his ribs, he wanted him to suffer, he spat insults at him as though they were leaving a bad taste in his mouth, Ally threw herself on to Al's back,
“Leave him!”
Giving Charlie a chance to stand up and fight back, he took the opportunity rising quickly headbutting the stout man and snatching the poker out of his hand aiming for his legs, Ally moved quickly as her brother crashed to the floor, she held her hand out to Charlie trying to protect both him and her brother was proving to be difficult.
Meyer was caught up with Frank, throwing punches not worried about where they landed as long as they made a connection, a blow to his chest knocked him backwards a sharp sour pain soared across his ribcage, he looked up at Franks smug face and then down at the taller man's hand, it was wrapped around the handle of a blade, Meyer choked slightly, shock setting in to his system quicker than anticipated, his jaw dropped as the taste of iron filled his mouth, he gently placed his hands over the wound falling to his knees, Frank remained standing his face twisted in to a mixture of rage and satisfaction, Meyer swallowed his head starting to become fuzzy, he fell to the floor, still unable to speak a searing hot pain was shredding his insides apart, he coughed loudly, his vision became blurred, he could hear people and movement around him,
“Charlie!!”
“Move now!”
“Go Frank move!”
The voices all sounded the same, he became aware of Charlie leaning over him, he felt himself being moved Benny looked panicked, he held his hand out trying to comfort his friend, an arm reached from above his head and took his hand, Ally's tear stained face came in to view he assumed it was her hand he was holding,
“Stay with us Mey”
Charlies voice came through as clear as day, Meyer smiled at him noticing how remarkably angelic his friend looked with the light from the window coming from behind him, he couldn't understand why every one looked so sad around him and so beaten, he rolled on to his side and felt himself float before being plunged in to a heavy darkness, he felt rested.
Benny announced Meyer sighed exasperated, rubbing his temples, he was tired of hearing about it now and although it wasn't an ideal relationship he couldn't understand why people couldn't leave them be, they weren't doing any harm, except maybe to Al's pride and Willie's ego.
Al sat behind his desk silently looking over paper work and attempting to run numbers becoming more and more frustrated as the moments dragged on, he slammed his fists down on to the table making his brothers jump, Frank glanced up from his newspaper,
“What now?”
“I can't fucking do this shit! There's a reason we let Ally do it, she would have had this done days ago!”
“Well she didn't cause in case you didn't notice she's not here!”
Frank snapped back, it enraged Al that both of his brothers were being so relaxed about it now, he didn't understand how it didn't infuriate them that their own flesh and blood had deserted them for the opposing side, it made his blood boil, “I could kill him” he thought to himself the idea rooting in his brain and beginning to grow at a startling rate, he looked over at his brothers,
“How many spare men we got?”
He asked trying to sound casual,
“About twenty, why?”
“we could kill them”
He muttered refusing to even try to keep anything from them, they looked back at him confused,
“What?”
Ralph asked sounding concerned, worrying his brother had finally cracked,
“Shoot out, we've done it before we hawk the house and go in when they least expect it”
Frank glanced at Ralph unable to believe he was agreeing with Al, Ralph shook his head looking back down at his book choosing to remain blissfully ignorant of his brothers murderous intentions, Ralph had always been the softer one of the three often using his size to intimidate people in to doing what he wanted, he rarely used violence.
For seven months and three days Charlie and Alessandra had been living on a cloud, uninterrupted and left to their own devices, the two married in a small private ceremony with only Benny and Meyer as witnesses.
Benny worried, it had been quiet for too long and he couldn't shake the feeling the Capone's were up to something, he broached the subject with Meyer only to be brushed off,
“They may have learned this time Benny, she's a grown woman and Charlie a grown man just like we can't control him they can't control her”
It was no comfort, they had all experienced the Capone's rage first hand, businesses were destroyed, homes vandalised and all three of the men jumped on separate occasions leading to cuts bruises and cracked ribs, no one had been hurt more than Charlie though, permanently scarred, in a place he couldn't cover, Benny could still remember visiting his friend in hospital, looking at him laying there motionless his face beaten beyond recognition, dainty stitches framed by deep purple bruises climbed his face and neck, he looked pathetic and Benny had wondered if it would have done him a favour if he had pushed the pillow over his face.
A smash had broken the silence causing all four to rise suddenly, Meyer, Benny and Charlie armed as they rushed through the house to the source of the noise, a front window had been smashed, a broken brick lay on the floor, they looked at each other and without a word walked away, they stood in the centre of the lounge Benny scowling at Charlie, he blamed him, a loud thudding came from the hallway followed quickly by a splintering crash, the four jumped Charlie rushing Alessandra in to another room, he shoved her in to the pantry,
“Stay here!”
“No! Charlie! I...”
“Just stay here!!”
He snapped before slamming the door and locking it dropping the key in to his pocket, he rushed back in to the lounge and stood with Meyer and Benny, they all kept their eyes on the doorway waiting for someone to appear although unsure who they felt ready.
She leant against the door, the sound of rushing water filled her ears, her breathing had become rapid, her heart hammered behind her ribs,she could hear voices but was unable to make out what they where shouting, she could hear Frank shouting and then Benny, she adjusted her pony tail and gathered her skirts firing blow after blow in tot he wooden door with the bottom of her foot, aiming for the lock, she stopped for a moment exhaling loudly and wiping her brow with the back of her hand, she threw her full body weight at the door, it was starting to give,
Charlie glanced over his shoulder a few times worried that the thumping would draw attention to her,
“Just hand her over Luiciano!”
“I don't fucking got her!!”
“We know ya do!”
Benny looked at Charlie with pleading eyes, the gun digging in to his temple and the arm around his neck tightening,
“Theres no need for this gentlemen!”
Meyer interrupted only to be struck by a large fist in the jaw, he reeled and stumbled slightly, soon picking himself upright, Charlie looked at his friend a drop of blood sliding from his lip Meyer wiped it away un-phased before lunging for the bigger man, it went against everything he stood for but was now seething, he Pulled Benny away from him almost throwing him across the room, Benny hit the floor taking a small end table out with him, he scrambled upright, watching the scene unfold, Tiny Meyer Lansky reigning blow after blow on Frank Capone, it was almost comical,
“Just fucking shoot Charlie!”
Benny Cried,
“I can't I'll hit Mey!”
“He'll fucking forgive you I'm sure pull the fucking trigger!”
A shot rang out from behind them, a heavy silence swept the room as the men turned, stood just behind them eyes filled with an intense anger stood Alessandra, Frank smiled,
“Ally time to come home” Without a word she shook her head keeping her arm outstretched, gun in hand finger on trigger, she was clearly on edge just a hair away from doing serious damage, “Stop being stupid come on!”
Her brother demanded, she squeezed the trigger once more the men flinching at the loud noise, all at once, the room filled with bodies sound and dust, Charlie came face to face with a large sandy haired man, he was shoved violently to the floor kicks falling on his ribs and stomach, he pulled himself along the floor winded grabbing the poker from the fire place he flipped himself over swinging the heavy iron implement over his head and sending the larger man crashing to the ground, Benny was defending himself against what he assumed to be an equal opponent surprised by the power the man had, having the man in a headlock was no easy feat but gave Benny an advantage, he dug the barrel of his gun in to the guys temple pulling the trigger without hesitation the familiar warm splatter of blood graced Benny's left side, he dropped the body and smiled, moving on to whoever was next, Alessandra found her self locked in with Al, he had thrown several meaningless warnings at her and many an empty threat, she remained strong not backing down she threw a punch wincing as her knuckles collided heavily with his cheek bone, she stood watching waiting to gage Al's response, he shook the shock off aware his men were falling left right and centre, he glanced over at Bugsy going to town on what was possibly his third or fourth opponent, Al shuddered coming to realise with Benny here they would have been grossly outnumbered either way, the man was a psychopath, known for his hair trigger temper, Al was surprised he wasn't foaming at the mouth, he glanced at Luciano red in the face his hair a mess he repeatedly kicked the motionless figure on the floor at his feet poker still in hand, Frank was with the little one, he turned back to his sister, the rage building back up inside of him, he lunged wrapping his hands around her neck and shoving her in to the wall, her chest heaved and her eyes widened, she clawed at his hands desperately, she attempted to speak only able to gurgle, she glanced over at Charlie Ralph had crept behind him, grabbing the much skinnier man around the neck with one arm swinging him and throwing him like a rag doll, He landed on the floor with a crash quickly picking himself back up Ralph headbutted him leaving Charlie dazed on the floor, he walked away making his way over to Al, who was now spitting venom at her,
“Youre a fucking traitor Alessandra, you fucking know that? We're you're fucking brothers and you leave us all behind and for what a couple of kikes and a cocksucker? I hope you fucking rot”
Her head was swimming as air became scarce, her chest burning and vision blurring she couldn't even respond, her heart was breaking, Ralph pulled him off of her leaving her to crumple to the floor gasping and coughing.
Ralph knocked Benny to the floor, the scrappy Jew stood quickly blood splattering most of him, even Benny wasn't sure what was his and what wasn't. Al fronted Charlie dragging him off of the floor and on to his feet, only to knock him back down with the poker that Charlie had once held, aiming for his ribs, he wanted him to suffer, he spat insults at him as though they were leaving a bad taste in his mouth, Ally threw herself on to Al's back,
“Leave him!”
Giving Charlie a chance to stand up and fight back, he took the opportunity rising quickly headbutting the stout man and snatching the poker out of his hand aiming for his legs, Ally moved quickly as her brother crashed to the floor, she held her hand out to Charlie trying to protect both him and her brother was proving to be difficult.
Meyer was caught up with Frank, throwing punches not worried about where they landed as long as they made a connection, a blow to his chest knocked him backwards a sharp sour pain soared across his ribcage, he looked up at Franks smug face and then down at the taller man's hand, it was wrapped around the handle of a blade, Meyer choked slightly, shock setting in to his system quicker than anticipated, his jaw dropped as the taste of iron filled his mouth, he gently placed his hands over the wound falling to his knees, Frank remained standing his face twisted in to a mixture of rage and satisfaction, Meyer swallowed his head starting to become fuzzy, he fell to the floor, still unable to speak a searing hot pain was shredding his insides apart, he coughed loudly, his vision became blurred, he could hear people and movement around him,
“Charlie!!”
“Move now!”
“Go Frank move!”
The voices all sounded the same, he became aware of Charlie leaning over him, he felt himself being moved Benny looked panicked, he held his hand out trying to comfort his friend, an arm reached from above his head and took his hand, Ally's tear stained face came in to view he assumed it was her hand he was holding,
“Stay with us Mey”
Charlies voice came through as clear as day, Meyer smiled at him noticing how remarkably angelic his friend looked with the light from the window coming from behind him, he couldn't understand why every one looked so sad around him and so beaten, he rolled on to his side and felt himself float before being plunged in to a heavy darkness, he felt rested.