A MOB BOSS CHRISTMAS: THE PREGNANCY (MOB BOSS SERIES) Read online

  “Our home is a hotel, Reno.”

  “I don’t give a fuck if it was a hovel! I don’t want that chick anywhere around me! No. You give her a few bucks and throw her ass right back where you dug it up from!”

  But Trina knew she had to battle Reno here. “She’s my friend, and I’m not throwing her anywhere.”

  “Yeah, okay,” Reno said, shaking his head in that way that Trina knew meant defiance. “I bet her ass won’t be staying at the PaLargio.”

  “I’ll bet her ass will be,” Trina replied.

  Reno looked at her, and then looked back at the road, and then looked at her again. He was so angry he could barely see straight.

  And the argument continued in the Penthouse, when Jimmy arrived with Jazz at his side.

  “Oh, hell no,” Reno said as soon as he walked into the living room and saw Jazz standing there. She and Jimmy had just arrived and Trina was closing the door. “Get that bitch out of my house and get her out now!”

  “Reno!” Trina said, amazed by his language.

  “Oh, so it’s like that, Reno?” Jazz asked.

  “Yeah, it’s like that,” Reno replied. “It’s exactly like that. Trina may have caught amnesia but I haven’t. I remember well when you worked here and began spreading all those rumors about me sleeping with every female in sight of the Strip. I remember that well, Jazz. I remember all that shit you tried to break up me and Tree, I remember that, too.”

  “That is so not true!” Jazz insisted.

  “It is true!” Reno insisted louder. “You’re a backstabbing bitch who disrespected me and you disrespected my wife and now you have the gall to show up in my home? Get the fuck out of here!”

  “That’s enough, Reno,” Trina insisted, to Jazz’s relief. “She’s not staying in the penthouse, but she’s staying at the PaLargio until she can get back on her feet.”

  “Thank-you, Trina,” Jazz said to hurt Reno. “You know me. You know what he’s saying is no-where near the truth.”

  “Yes, it is true,” Trina said, looking at her friend. Jimmy looked at her. “Reno doesn’t lie,” Trina continued. “What he said is true. You misused our friendship when Reno, on my word, allowed you to work here. You did do that. You’ve been insinuating about his fidelity to me since I married him, you did that, too. I’m not gonna even front. But that was on me. This time I’m giving you a helping hand because you need it, and it’ll probably be the last chance you get to get your act together. But don’t claim my husband is lying, because he’s not.”

  “And that’s why I want her ass out of here right now!” Reno proclaimed. “You can find her a room somewhere, you can do what you have to do, but she’s not staying here. Not at the PaLargio!”

  “She is staying at the PaLargio, Reno,” Trina said. “And she’s staying as my guest until we can work something out. It’ll only be for a few days, until after Christmas, but she’s staying here.”

  Reno looked at her. He couldn’t believe she would defy him like that, and especially over some piece of trash like Jazz.

  “Jimmy,” he said, “take that woman to the lobby and wait until you hear from me.”

  “Jimmy,” Trina said with equal conviction, “take Jazz downstairs, get the key to one of the empty rooms, and take her and her luggage to that room.”

  Jimmy looked from Trina to Reno. Reno was staring at Trina. He couldn’t understand it. Why would she go out on a limb for a so-called friend like that?

  “What should I do, Pop?” Jimmy asked his father.

  Jazz was astounded when Jimmy called Reno ‘pop.’ She looked at him.

  Reno exhaled. “Do what my wife tells you to do,” he said to Jimmy, and then looked at him. “Always.”

  Jimmy nodded his head. His father was a strange dude, he thought. He was tough as nails about everything in this world Except Trina. He acted like mush when it came to Tree.

  “Yes, sir,” he said, and escorted a triumphant-feeling Jazz out of the penthouse.

  Reno then looked at Trina. “Don’t you ever defy me like that in front of my son.”

  “I wasn’t defying you, Reno, but I’ve got to help Jazz.”

  “Why?” Reno asked with a frown. “She’s not worth it, Trina. You know she’s not!”

  “I know Jazz has problems, I know that. And she’s about as reliable as a baby. But she was a friend when I needed one, when I was down, too. She didn’t turn her back on me. She didn’t say I was too lowly for her friendship. She befriended me. And I can’t forget that. You say you don’t have amnesia, well neither do I. I remember Jazz when she was my best friend. She’s had a lot of setbacks, and yes, they were all of her own doing. But I still can’t forget what she did for me. She’s not dirt to be tossed out. She’s a human being who used to have a lot of heart. And I think the least I can do right now is help her.”

  Then Trina got to the crust of the matter. “But for the grace of God, Reno,” she said, “Jazz could have been me.”

  But Reno wasn’t buying that. He shook his head. “No,” he said. “You wouldn’t have pulled the shit that woman pulled. Here I am hiring her to work in my establishment and she’s sleeping with the guests and pulling all kinds of stupid shit. No. Don’t you dare compare yourself to that heifer. You’re nothing like her.”

  “I still have to help her.”

  “Then you give her some money, drop her ass off at some other hotel, and wash your hands of her. You would have done your part.”

  “That’s not doing my part,” Trina said. “That’s kicking her to the curb. That’s treating her like she was never a part of my life. I can’t do that. Not now. Not two days before Christmas! You didn’t see that room I took her from. You didn’t see the loneliness in her eyes, and the tears. I saw that. And that’s why she’s staying here at the PaLargio until she can come up with a plan. That’s the least I can do.”

  “She’s not staying here, Trina.”

  “Yes, she is, Reno.”

  Reno stared at her. If she was anybody else he would have knocked the shit out of her. But she was Trina. He knew he could never hurt her. But right now he had to get from around her. Right now he couldn’t stand the sight of her and didn’t trust his anger.

  “Fuck it,” he said angrily and left, slamming the door behind him.

  Trina closed her eyes. She hated when they argued. But she knew, deep down, that Jazz was at the end of her rope. Trina had to not just help her, but show her that she was willing to risk some peace in her own life to help Jazz find some peace in hers. She had to show her that she was worth it. Reno couldn’t understand that, because he’d never known what desperation felt like. Trina did, when she first came to Vegas after an abusive relationship and couldn’t find a friend. Jazz befriended her at her lowest point. Trina felt strongly that it was her turn to return the favor.

  Cheri Dallas was coming into the lobby of the PaLargio just as Reno was tearing out. He seemed so upset that he walked right past her without saying a word. Only a woman, Cheri had decided, could make a man that mad. And given that it was Reno who was so upset, she further reasoned, that woman had to be Trina.

  Knowing a possible opportunity when she saw one, she turned back around and headed out of the PaLargio, too.

  “Get my car,” Reno ordered the valet as soon as he made his way outside.

  “Oh, Mr. Gabrini,” the stunned valet said, “yes, sir. Right away, sir.”

  As the valets scrambled to accommodate the boss, Cheri arrived by Reno’s side. He wore one of his double-breasted Armani suits, a pair of his imported Italian shoes, and his hair, for once, wasn’t a total mess. He looked gorgeous, Cheri thought. “Going my way?” she asked, and Reno turned, surprised to see her.

  “What’s that?” he asked her. He was so consumed with anger that he could barely pay attention.

  “I said are you going my way?”

  Reno’s eyes moved down, at her breasts, and then back into her pretty face. He was in one of those places of anger where he just didn�
�t give a damn. Trina came from a different place than he came from. Where he came from you didn’t bring your enemies into your home, it didn’t matter how good they used to be. But she always had such a soft spot for Jazz of all people. For that bitch of all people. And Reno didn’t like it. He didn’t give a fuck right here and right now.

  “If your way leads directly to the nearest bar,” he said to Cheri, “then I’m going your way.”

  Cheri smiled. They had bars inside the PaLargio, but apparently he needed to get away from here. Which undoubtedly meant, she thought excitedly, that he apparently needed to get away from Trina.

  “Sounds like a deal to me,” she said as the Porsche arrived, and Reno hurried behind the wheel. The valet opened the passenger door for Cheri, and she got in beside Reno.

  Cheri couldn’t stop smiling. She couldn’t stop feeling as if somehow this little trip could possibly end up being the ride of her life.

  She looked at Reno. He looked distressed. But that only made her feel all the more hopeful. Trina really messed up this time, she thought. She really messed up big time. And Cheri Dallas would be right here, at Reno’s service, to clean up the mess Queen Katrina made. She couldn’t stop smiling, and feeling downright giddy, as Reno burnt rubber and drove far away from the PaLargio Hotel and Casino on the Christmas-spirited Las Vegas strip.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  After drinking nearly everybody under the table, Reno was sufficiently sloshed. Cheri managed to get him back to the Porsche, and retrieve his keys, but driving a drunk man wasn’t easy. Reno continued to lean against her, as he was barely conscious, and kept mumbling something about that wife of his. Cheri knew she should have driven him straight home to that wife, but she kept looking over at the adorable man and couldn’t bring herself to give him up that easily. Not that easily.

  She decided, as she drove, to take him home with her. At least for a little while. Besides, she thought with a mischievous smile, he wouldn’t know the difference anyway. And to her, given the way he was treating her lately, if she was going to get anywhere with this guy it was now, while he was still on the outs with Trina.

  “What is it?” Reno asked as she helped him out of the car and into her home. “What is it?”

  “Everything’s fine, Reno,” Cheri said as she plopped him down on her living room sofa. Reno was lovable, she thought, when he was stoned. But the more he began to talk about Trina, almost pining about her, the more concerned she became. What if he remembered everything? If she gave him more liquor, which she had planned to do, what if he remembered her giving him that liquor?

  She placed his car keys back into his pocket. Better it seem as if he drove them back to her place, than the other way around.

  “I’d better get some coffee into you,” she said just in case. “Before I send you home to your wife.”

  She went into the kitchen. There, she thought. She covered herself. If he remembered anything, he would remember that she was just trying to sober him up before sending him to his poor, pregnant wife.

  But by the time she returned from the kitchen with the coffee, Reno was fast asleep. Just like that. He had fallen sideways onto the couch, his head on the pillow, his feet still on the ground. Cheri sat the coffee tray on the table and placed his legs up on her couch. He looked so attractive to her, with his gorgeous hair and beautiful face. She leaned down and slanted what had become a bang on his forehead. Even drunk and pitiful he was gorgeous. But then she stood there thinking about it. She thought hard about it. He never wanted anything sexual to do with her, and she knew it. He, in fact, sometimes acted as if he hated her guts. Why should she want to seduce a man like that? She was pitiful, she thought. But she wasn’t that pitiful.

  She put the coffee back in the kitchen, turned off the lights, and took herself to bed.

  But she couldn’t sleep. Not with such a hunk of virility in her living room, literally a room away. And she was horny as hell, too. She hadn’t had any in weeks, thanks to the crazy hours the PaLargio’s numerous problems forced her to work.

  She touched down there and realized she was already wet just thinking about Reno. And how grand his rod had to feel, especially if she could get that rod deep inside of her. She never viewed herself as mistress material, she had too much going for her for that. But if that was the only way she could get continuous sex from Reno Gabrini, she just might be game.

  But she had to make sure the plumbing worked right first. She had to make sure fucking Reno Gabrini would be worth the career risk she knew she would be taking.

  She got her wet self out of bed, and headed for the living room.

  When Jazz saw that it was Trina who had been knocking on her hotel door, she knew what it meant. Reno, she thought as she allowed Trina in, had won again.

  “It’s not about that,” Trina said when Jazz made that smart remark. “It’s not about winning or losing. It’s about doing the right thing. And it’s not right for me to go against my husband.”

  “But I’m your friend, Tree,” Jazz reminded her. “I knew you before you even heard of Reno Gabrini.”

  “But he’s my husband now. And he doesn’t think your being here is a good idea. And he’s right, Jazz.”

  “Why is he right?” Jazz wanted to know. “Because he lied on me and claim I was telling people about his affairs?”

  Trina stared at Jazz. “You did lie and tell people he was having affairs.”

  “Yeah, well, one man’s lie is another man’s truth. Because I told the truth. I told what I heard and I believe what I heard. I was trying to protect you, Trina.”

  Trina frowned. “Protect me by running around calling my husband a cheater?”

  “By warning you!” Jazz said. “By telling you to get away while you could, before he started controlling everything about your life. But you wouldn’t listen. Now he’s controlling everything about your life.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “It is true! Look at what happened in Georgia. You go to Georgia with him, don’t even stay six months in Georgia, and he pops up with another child I’ll be you didn’t even know he had.”

  “He didn’t know it either.”

  “Yeah, right. And if you buy that I’ve got some swamp land in India I can sell to you real cheap.”

  It was a conversation like this, where Jazz was her old hateful self again, that made Trina realize just how right Reno was. “I’ve arranged for you to stay at a hotel a couple blocks from here. My stepson is waiting downstairs to take you there. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to keep my word---”

  “You gave me your word, Tree,” Jazz said, jumping on any opportunity to throw it back in Trina’s face. “You said you was gonna help me.”

  “I am helping you. I just can’t let you stay here while I help you. I knew Reno would be upset, but I never dreamed he’d be this upset, Jazz. He doesn’t want you anywhere around him.”

  “And you know why, don’t you? Because I told on his ass! Because having me around means he can’t run around with all of those whores he’s been running around with.”

  Trina stared at her old friend. Why, she wondered, was she constantly trying to recapture something that probably never really existed? Jazz was there for her when she was broke and disgusted just like Jazz. But as soon as she started moving on up, as soon as she started moving up that social ladder toward Reno, Jazz was suddenly against her and started doing everything in her power to break her away from Reno. Trina saw it as clear as day now. She knew Jazz harbored some jealousy. And on some level Trina may have even understood the jealousy part. She saw the jealousy all along. But she never saw the hate. Not this kind of hate. Until now.

  “Because I said I would help you,” Trina said, “I’m going to keep my word. I’m going to let Jimmy Mack take you to the hotel and I’ll foot the bill. I’ll also have one of my assistants get in touch with you and see what kind of work you want to do and if we can help you find a job in that field. But because of how you feel about my husband, a
nd therefore about me, it won’t be here at the PaLargio.”

  Jazz just stared at Trina. “So it’s like that, hun?”

  “It’s exactly like that,” Trina said. “I’m giving you one final chance to get you a job and to get back on your feet. If you blow it, it’s on you.”

  Jazz began shaking her head. “You’re wrong for this, Tree. You promise you would help me, not some crusty-ass assistant!”

  “Jazz, you’d better be glad I’m doing this much for you. You’re a hateful woman. I see it as plain as day now. You were always telling me how I had blinders on when it came to Reno. And you were right. I did have blinders on, but not when it came to Reno. I had blinders on, all this time, when it came to you.”

  “Yeah, is that something Reno taught you? Is that it? Hun, Tree? Is that what this is all about?”

  Trina stared at her friend a moment longer, and then walked out of the hotel room.

  Jazz ran up to the door and yelled out. “Kiss my ass, Katrina Hathaway! Kiss the blackest part of my black ass!” Then she slammed the door of her hotel room.

  Trina started to turn around and toss her out of that room with her bare hands. She started to race downstairs and tell Jimmy not to take that witch anywhere.

  But she didn’t do it. She was the one who went to Jazz and gave her hope. She was the one who went to Jazz and promised to help her. She had to help her now. But Reno was right. She should have never brought Jazz here in the first place. She was going to keep her word and help Jazz out, but that was as far as it was going to be able to go. Their friendship no longer existed.

  Trina, in tears, headed back for the penthouse.

  Jazz, inside the hotel room, leaned against the door and cried.

  Reno was sitting half erect on the sofa by the time Cheri made her way into the living room. His feet was on the floor, but he was still asleep.

  Good, she thought. Better to have him already in position, as if it was all his idea. And that would be her backup plan. She would claim it was all his doing. She went along with it, but he, she was determined to make clear, was the instigator. Why, after all, would he have insisted on coming home with her in the first place?