TOMMY GABRINI 2: A PLACE IN HIS HEART Read online

  Grace ended up so saturated that Tommy had to clean her up, not only with a cloth, but with a big-ass bath towel too, before he could even carry her to the Jacuzzi. But when they got into the Jacuzzi, with his dick still red from overuse, and her cunt still on fire because of that overuse, Tommy’s strength deserted him. And he fell asleep.

  Afterwards they were in bed, snuggled together, and watching a movie. Then commercials came on. A car commercial. This one for a Hyundai Sonata.

  “That reminds me,” Tommy said, as they watched the commercial. “I want you to begin a car search.”

  “A car search?” Grace asked as she looked at him. Then she looked back at the TV. She didn’t get it. “For a Hyundai Sonata?” she asked.

  Tommy smiled. “For whatever car you want. Just as long as it’s a luxury car.”

  “I have a nice car, Tommy.”

  “I know you do. But I want you to have something more.”

  Grace understood about the clothes. But the car? “If I wanted a new car, which I don’t, but if I did, I can buy it myself.”

  “You won’t take a bigger salary at work yet,” Tommy reminded her, “so I don’t know how you figure you can buy anything at this point.”

  “I want to earn more money, you know I do. But the funds just aren’t there. That’s why I can’t take a bigger salary yet. Jillian was borrowing so much against the company’s assets, in the name of T&D, that I’m working overtime to figure out what those bills she racked up actually paid for, first of all, and then to get those bills paid. And I have to get them paid before I can even think about pulling money out.”

  Tommy’s heart swelled with pride. He would have expected nothing less from her. He looked at her hair, and began to rub its softness. “I knew when I made that decision to turn Trammel over to you that you would do right by it, babe,” he said as he rubbed. “I knew you would. You’re sacrificing to get it back on track, and I think that’s exactly the way to go. That’s what the boss should do.” Then he looked at her. “But just so you’re clear: Your sacrifice is not mine. I take care of you. I pay your bills. And if you start earning a million dollars or more, I’ll still take care of you. I’ll still pay your bills. Just so you’re clear.”

  Grace smiled. She would have expected nothing less from Tommy, either. “But I still don’t understand why you think I need a new car when my current car is perfectly fine.”

  “It is perfectly fine, I agree with that. But I’m not about to drive around town in the height of luxury while you, my lady, drives around town in a Dodge. Nice though that Dodge may be. It’s not going to happen, Grace.”

  Grace smiled. “Afraid your friends will laugh at me?” she asked.

  “It has nothing to do with my friends. And there’s nothing for them to laugh about. But you get the best. That’s all there is to it. No wife of mine---”

  “I’m not your wife yet.”

  Tommy smiled and slapped her on her bare rump. “No wife of mine,” he continued to say anyway, “is going to have anything less than what I have. Not ever.”

  Grace stared at him. “Point blank period?” she asked.

  Tommy laughed at such phrasing. “Point blank period,” he echoed.

  Grace snuggled closer to Tommy’s big body as the commercials ended and their movie returned. She couldn’t recall a time ever in her life when she worked as hard, loved as well, and felt as grand.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  More weeks came and went and their relationship continued to remain solid and strong. They continued to plan their wedding, although it was Grace who was doing most of the planning and Tommy was simply saying yes to whatever she planned. There were spurts of female drama too, off and on, from the moment Grace started dating Tommy. But there was a definite escalation after his proposal.

  From more than the usual phone calls, to accusations that Tommy was still sleeping with this former lover or that one, Grace couldn’t help but notice the uptick. Tommy wouldn’t even let Sal in on what was going on, although Sal could see for himself that it was taking a toll on his brother. But Sal was in love by then, with Gemma Jones, and had his own drama to deal with.

  There were many allegations they had to deal with, and Grace knew that it came with the territory of loving a sexually popular man. But it began to take a toll on her when one allegation in particular came up. Tommy, it seemed, had just been slapped with a paternity suit.

  They were at dinner, at Cascader, when Milton Alderman, Tommy’s longtime personal attorney, phoned him. Grace always knew whenever a phone call was problematic because Tommy would stop whatever he was doing, eating in this case, and lean back. He would then listen far more than he talked.

  When he hung up, Grace dabbed her mouth and waited for him to tell her what was going on.

  But instead of telling Grace anything, Tommy continued to eat, which astounded her. “Well?” she asked.

  Tommy chewed his meat, drank a sip of wine, and then leaned back again. “That was Milt,” he said.

  “Your attorney? What did he want?”

  Tommy ran his hand across his mouth. “It seems I’m going to have to take a paternity test.” He said this and looked hard at Grace.

  Grace’s heart began to pound. “A paternity test?” she said loudly out of surprise, and then lowered her voice when others in the upscale restaurant looked at them. “A paternity test?” she asked again in a lowered tone.

  “Unfortunately yes.”

  “But that means you’re being sued, right?”

  “That’s right. But I’ll take care of that. I don’t want you worrying about it.”

  Grace found that the oddest thing to say. How could she not worry? “But that means somebody’s claiming that you’re the father of her child, right?”

  “That’s what it means, yes. But I’ll fight it, and it’ll be kind.”

  “So it’s not true?”

  Tommy frowned. “Of course it’s not true, why would you ask me something like that?”

  “I’m asking you because somebody’s suing you, Tommy. You can’t tell me you’ve been slapped with a paternity lawsuit and expect me to say tough luck and keep on eating.” She paused. “Who’s the accuser?”

  That was the part that seemed to bother Tommy the most. He frowned. “A friend of mine.”

  “And by friend you mean one with benefits, right?”

  Tommy was growing increasingly ashamed of his far too active past. He didn’t respond to that.

  “What’s her name?”

  He frowned. “What difference does that make, Grace?”

  “It doesn’t make a difference at all,” she said. “But your reaction to just saying her name certainly does.”

  It wasn’t what Grace thought. It was the fact that he viewed this lady as a longtime friend, and for her to make this kind of allegation, was what was hurting Tommy. “Cathy,” he said. “Caterina.”

  “Caterina? She’s French?”

  “No, she’s American. But she lives abroad.”

  “And you’re certain you’re not the father?”

  “I’m positive.”

  “Why? Because you never had sex with her?”

  “Of course I had sex. . . She’s a former girlfriend, all right?”

  “So you’ve had sex with her?”

  “Yes, Grace, I’ve had sex with her.”

  “Unprotected?”

  There was a hesitation. “No,” Tommy said, but he didn’t say it as firmly as Grace would have liked.

  She felt torn. She knew she had no right being angry with him about it because it happened before they were even together. At least that was what she was assuming.

  “How old is the child?” she asked him.

  He exhaled, and ran his hand across his face. “I think Milt said she was three months old.”

  Grace’s heart dropped. “Three months old? But . . .” But didn’t he just admit having sex with her? She stared at him. “Tommy, what’s going on?” she asked him.

 
; “I’ll straighten it out, all right? This is nonsense. I’m not that child’s father.”

  “But you said you had sex with her.”

  “In the past, yes, I did.”

  “Like three months ago?”

  “Of course not! I was with you.”

  “Then why would she claim you’re the father if there was no sexual contact? It’ll be so easy to disprove.”

  Tommy’s phone rang again. “Oh, for crying out loud!” he blared. He checked the Caller ID.

  “Tommy?” Grace said, stunned that he would even glance at some phone at a time like this. “Did you hear me?”

  “I’ve got to take this,” Tommy said.

  “It’s your lawyer again?”

  “No. But it’s business. I’ve got to take this.”

  “Then take it,” Grace said angrily, grabbed her purse, and hurried up from her seat.

  “Grace!” Tommy yelled, reaching for her. “Get back here!”

  But his reach missed, and Grace was gone.

  “Listen, let me call you back,” he said into his phone. “I’ll call you back.” He killed the call, stood up, and was about to hurry out. But he remembered he had not paid for the food they’d been eating. He therefore pulled out two one-hundred dollar bills, tossed them onto the table, and then hurried out. By the time he made it out, however, Grace, who had met him there in her own car, was gone.

  Tommy was so angry by the time he arrived at her apartment that he didn’t bother to knock. He pulled out his key, unlocked the door, and hurried through it, slamming it behind him. He searched the apartment for her until he found her, out on the small balcony outside of her bedroom, sitting on her patio chair. She’d already changed into shorts and a t-shirt, and was sipping wine.

  Tommy walked to the rail and looked out at the busy Seattle skyline. Grace watched him as he placed his hands in his pants pockets and turned toward her. He was upset, there was no doubt about that, but she was upset too. And she had a reason! But Tommy’s anger was always more intense.

  The frown on his face made clear his displeasure with her. “What’s your problem?” he asked her.

  “My problem? Because I decided to come home I’m the one with the problem? Because I didn’t feel like waiting around for you to find time to get off of that damn phone and address my serious question, I’m the problem?”

  “I had a phone call. It was a business call. I had to take it.”

  “That’s not even the issue and you know it. Why would a woman you haven’t seen in years suddenly claim you’re the father of her three-month-old child?”

  “How the hell should I know why? I can’t answer for her!”

  “And why would you admit to having sex with her if you knew you didn’t have sex with her in the timeframe of this paternity suit?”

  “You didn’t ask me about a timeframe.”

  “But what other timeframe would I be talking about, Tommy? You tell me some woman has accused you of fathering her three-month-old child and I’m not supposed to be a little concerned?”

  “There’s nothing to be concerned about. I’m not the father. Why would I get bent out of shape over something I know isn’t true? It’s not true. It’s a lie. What more do you want me to say?”

  Grace didn’t know what more. But something more than what he was saying.

  Tommy saw her agony too. He exhaled. “ Come here, Grace,” he said to her.

  She hesitated, but she then made her way over to the railing where Tommy stood. He placed his hands on her t-shirt, pulling it toward him. He then lifted her chin up to his face.

  “Do you truly believe that I would have unprotected sex with another woman after I committed to you, impregnate the woman, and hurt you like that? Do you really believe I would do that to you?”

  Grace wiped the singular tear that had moved down her face. She looked up into those beautiful eyes of his. “No,” she said honestly. “No way.”

  Tommy smiled a smile that showed every year of his age. Because he knew he could always depend on Grace. She was no drama queen, and he loved that about her.

  “I love you, lady,” he said. “And let me be clear. I am not running around impregnating anyone. Not even you. At least not until after we’re married. Then I’m going to have you knocked up every year.”

  Grace laughed.

  “Got it?” he asked.

  “Got it,” Grace replied.

  It would take several more weeks but he proved his word to her. The DNA test came back negative. Tommy was not the father. And once again, like all the other attempts before, this one, too, failed to shake their relationship.

  Until the drama reared its ugly head yet again, in ways neither one of them could have predicted. Because instead of phone calls and scurrilous accusations against Tommy, which were taxing but manageable, it all began to turn sideways. Toward Grace.

  She had been working hard all that week. So much so that she didn’t usually leave the office until late at night. This time it was even later at night, nearly eleven, as she made her way into Trammel’s parking garage. Her brand new Audi apple red RS5, bought and pay for by Tommy, was parked in the space reserved for CEO, and she quickly headed in that direction. She didn’t think she would ever love a car as much as she loved her Dodge Charger, but she was falling fast for her Audi. It scared her to drive it at first, when she found out that it had cost Tommy nearly a hundred-and thirty-thousand dollars, but as the days came and went, her fear was replaced with joy. The idea that a man would do so much for her, and would have her so elevated in his eyes that he would want only the best for her, was a new experience for Grace. An experience, if she were to be honest, that she now cherished.

  As soon as she sat inside her car, that smell of newness still exciting her, her cell phone began ringing. She looked at the Caller ID and smiled.

  “Why am I not surprised it’s you?” she asked with a grin.

  “You’d better be at home,” Tommy said on the other end.

  Grace began cranking up. “Where are you?”

  “I’m at the office, but that’s different.”

  Grace laughed. “Yeah, right.”

  “But seriously, Grace, it’s eleven o clock at night. Do I have to come over to Trammel and drag you out of there?”

  “For your information I’m in the car leaving now,” she said as she began backing out. “But what about you? Do I have to come over to Gabrini, Inc. and drag you out of there?”

  Tommy, seated behind his desk, smiled and leaned back. “I’m wrapping it up as we speak.”

  “Good.”

  “Did you at least get you something to eat tonight?”

  “Of course I did. Nothing spectacular, but I ate. What about you?”

  “I grabbed something too.” Then Tommy began rubbing the top of his head. “We’re two very busy people,” he said.

  Grace nodded as she pulled out into traffic. “Agreed.”

  “Maybe too busy,” Tommy added. “I think we need to get some time away.”

  “Time away? I don’t see how I can swing that just yet, Tommy.”

  “I don’t see where I can swing it, either, but I’m going to do it. And so are you.”

  Grace didn’t say anything. It was simply impossible for her to get away right now, with Trammel still in shambles as far as she was concerned, but she also knew Tommy. And nobody could be more stubborn about ordering her around when he was convinced it was in her best interest. He was going to make her find a way, and she knew it. “We’ll see,” she said.

  “Anyway, get off of that phone while you’re driving. And drive carefully.”

  “You too.”

  “And call me as soon as you get home.”

  “You too.”

  Tommy smiled. “Bye, love.”

  “Bye,” Grace said, and hung up her phone.

  When Tommy hung up too, he looked across the room. Sal was at the conference table, along with two potential buyers of a major business Gabrini, Inc. was attemp
ting to flip, and all three men were smiling at Tommy.

  “You baby her,” Sal said matter-of-factly, nodding his head, and the other men laughed.

  Tommy felt slightly embarrassed, but he smiled anyway. “Up yours, Sal,” he said lightheartedly, and the men laughed even louder, as he headed back to the negotiating table.

  When Grace arrived at her apartment complex, she grabbed her briefcase, a stack of loose files, and the cell phone she had tossed onto the passenger seat and made her way out of the parking garage. She walked into the lobby. It had been yet another long day. She was so tired, in fact, that she didn’t even see the woman as she spoke to the Doorman, the Security Guard, and the Concierge on her way to the elevators. Other people were in the lobby as well, coming in from Seattle’s active nightlife or going out into it, so she wasn’t trying to see anybody at that point. But just as she adjusted her loose files and was about to press the elevator button, her hair was yanked back, causing her to fall back. Her cell phone, her files, and even her briefcase all went flying from her hands as she fell, and before she could understand what was even happening to her, a woman had jumped on top of her and was attempting to beat her senseless.

  Grace could hear feet running their way, but she didn’t wait for anybody’s help. She managed to flip the skinny woman over onto her back, then she got on top of the woman and began returning the beating. Only Grace was even angrier than the woman had been. She was in pain and she hated that she had been blindsided like that, and she was beating the woman down. For every one lick that woman had given Grace, Grace was giving that woman four. By the time Security and the Concierge made it to the fight, and saw the state of the woman, it was Grace who appeared to be the aggressor. It was Grace that they had to sling up and physically restrain.

  The man Tommy had hired to follow Grace, a man Grace didn’t even know was following her everywhere she went, was about to intervene too until he realized the one-sided nature of the fight. Instead of blowing his cover, he remained as one of several onlookers and was able to allow the building Security to easily pull the two ladies apart. Although Grace was bleeding from the lip, the woman was bleeding from the lip, the nose and the mouth, and she also had what appeared to be two black eyes.