Reno's Gift (Mob Boss Series) Page 15

  “Don’t even start, Sal,” Reno said with a smile. “Where was your ass last night? Who was tapping on that?”

  “What are you talking?” Sal asked as if he had no clue. “I took Gemma home.”

  “It took three hours to take her home, did it?” Reno asked. “Three hours? I didn’t know she lived that far. I didn’t know anybody in Vegas who could live that far.”

  “Forget you, Reno,” Sal said as everybody laughed. “Gemma’s not that kind of lady. You should know.”

  Tommy glanced at his brother. Standing up for a woman, separating her as a better class of lady, was something Sal never did. But he just did for this Gemma Jones.

  But Reno didn’t let up. “You ask Tree who’s her daddy. Who’s your mama?” he asked Sal.

  “Who’s your mama?” Dommi parroted his father, and brought the house down.

  Gemma Jones parked her Volvo next to Trina’s Mercedes, grabbed her purse and briefcase off of the passenger seat, and made her way across the parking lot into Champagne’s. Trina had just finished ringing up a customer’s order, and the customer was walking out as Gemma walked in.

  Trina smiled. “It’s about time you get here,” she said.

  “I don’t control the courtroom,” Gemma said as she made her way toward the counter. “And compared to that judge we had today, Judge Judy is a sweet, shy little thing.”

  “He was that bad?” Trina asked.

  “He was brutal,” Gemma said as she made her way behind the counter and sat her purse and briefcase in one of the bottom drawers beneath the counter. “He denied every motion I had and granted every one of the prosecution’s. It was a train wreck from beginning to end.”

  “And you were probably tired before you got there,” Trina said as she glanced over at Gemma.

  Gemma began readying the second cash register for the day and didn’t respond. She wanted to keep her personal life private and Trina could respect that. She therefore moved on too.

  But then Gemma hesitated, and then smiled. “Very,” she finally said.

  Trina looked at her. She knew what she meant. “Yeah, we were wondering what was taking Sal so long.”

  Now Gemma could not contain her giddiness a moment longer. She began shaking her head. “Trina, Trina, Trina.”

  “What?”

  “That man, that man, that man.”

  Trina smiled. Seeing button-down, tough-as-nails, not-about-to-let-any-man-control-her Gemma Jones all giddy with relationship excitement was a sight to behold. Trina wasn’t sure if she liked it, though. It was, given Gemma, kind of hypocritical. “What about that man?” she asked.

  Gemma started as if she was going to discuss it, and then she shook her head again.

  “I see,” Trina said as if no further explanation was needed. “So you let him go there?” she asked.

  Gemma looked at her as if she had just challenged her. “I let him go where?”

  Trina returned the challenging look. “Oh, come on, Gem. There. You let him go there.”

  “I let him drink a bottle of my beer, talk to me for hours, mainly about the Gabrinis, and leave my home. The only place he went last night was back to your home.”

  Trina was surprised. “Then why are you up in here talking about that man, that man, that man if nothing happened?”

  Gemma smiled. “Because nothing happened. And instead of shoving off because no action was to be had, he stayed anyway. And I mean he stayed for hours. I respected that. That’s all I meant.”

  Trina shook her head. Gemma was certainly one of a kind.

  “But it was funny,” Gemma volunteered. Trina looked at her. “The longer he stayed and talked with me, the more he kept expanding. It got so big, girl, that he had a balloon in his pants. When he excused himself to the bathroom, I almost died laughing.”

  Trina leaned back and laughed herself.

  “I was floored,” Gemma went on. “That white man is big, you hear me?”

  But she didn’t have to convince Trina. She was no longer laughing and already nodding. “He’s a Gabrini,” she said. “None of those men have equipment issues. Trust.”

  “Oh, I believe you.”

  But then it was Trina’s time to shake her head.

  “What?” Gemma asked her.

  “Not what. You. I can’t get over it.”

  “Get over what?”

  “I can’t get over you. You’re acting like some starry-eyed kid in love for the first time.”

  “In love?”

  “That’s how you’re acting.”

  “Pa-lease. I am not in love with any Salvatore Luciano, okay? But even if I was, although I’m not, what’s wrong with that?”

  “You, Miss Seventy-five percent, remember? You’re the one who said no man is going to control you. But now you seem more than ready to cede control to Sal of all people.”

  “How do you leapfrog from what I just told you to that?”

  “Because you like Sal. And let me tell you, Gemma, there is not a snowball’s chance in hell that Sal Luca is going to let some woman dictate to him. It’ll never happen.”

  “First of all,” Gemma said in that lawyerly, set them straight tone of hers, “I am not ceding control to Sal or any other man. Did I enjoy his company last night? Yes, I did. Did he fuck me like it was nobody’s business? No, he did not. Would I enjoy it if we went there someday? Maybe. Why not? Do I want to be his girlfriend and ultimately his wife? Hell no! He’ll be packing up and heading back to Seattle soon enough, and will forget he ever met me. Which is fine. I’ll forget his ass too. So let’s just move on and forget about that. It’s not going to happen.”

  And Gemma did get to work. But Trina continued to stare at her. She knew how sensitive Gemma could be. She also knew how insensitive Sal could be. He undoubtedly laid down the law last night, telling her not to get too attached because he wasn’t interested in her that way. And Gemma, being the proud woman that she was, probably made clear that she wasn’t interested in him that way, either. But Trina knew better. Gemma had had more than her share of men wanting her only for that one thing, and over time she started accommodating them because she needed, and wanted that one thing too. But she also wanted so much more. She wasn’t fooling Tree.

  “Besides,” Gemma eventually said. “Sal’s not husband material anyway.” She looked at Trina. The hope in her eyes broke Trina’s heart. “Is he?” she asked.

  But Trina wasn’t going to placate her good friend. “That’s not for me to say,” she said. “Sal offered to die for me and my children once, when we were in that situation with Tony Tufarna. So in my book he’s a kind, loving, wonderful man. But that’s in my book. In most people’s books, however, he’s a whole lot more.”

  “Such as?”

  “He’s a tough, and strong, and mean and vengeful man. Some minorities think he’s a racist.”

  Gemma was staring at Trina now. The door to the boutique opened, and a customer stepped inside. “Is he?” she asked Trina, ignoring the entrant.

  Trina smiled. Don’t worry, she wanted to say. “No, he’s not,” she said instead. “He sometimes says insensitive things. He is not politically correct, that’s for sure. But his heart is good. That’s for sure too.”

  “Hello, Katrina,” a voice said that caused both Trina and Gemma to look. Gemma remembered her as the woman who paid them a visit once before, and asked if Reno was Tree’s husband.

  Trina, however, knew who she was now. “Hello, Belle,” she said to her. “What can I help you with?”

  “I wish to speak with you. About a very personal matter. Could we go into a private room?”

  Trina’s heart wanted to take her upstairs to the office and hear what she had to say. Mainly because Trina felt incomplete. She and Reno never did finish their argument about just what Belle was about, and why he didn’t bother to mention that they had been lovers in the past. But Trina’s every instinct was telling her to stay put; to not go anywhere private with this woman.

  Just
as Reno had drilled into her, she followed her instinct. “You can say what you need to say right here,” she said.

  Belle glanced at Gemma. “Do you mind?” she asked her in a way that clearly meant for Gemma to get lost.

  “Yes, she does mind,” Trina said. “This is a place of business, not a social center. Now what is it that you want?” Trina didn’t like her. She realized that even before she knew she had once been Reno’s lover.

  “Okay,” Belle said. “As you wish.” Then Belle looked Trina dead in the eye. “Reno, your husband, was my lover in the past, and he’s still fucking me now.”

  Although she got a shocked look out of Gemma, she didn’t get so much as a rise out of Trina. Trina, in fact, was staring at her.

  Inwardly surprised by the lack of response, she nonetheless went on. “That night at the mayor’s home, when Reno pulled me into the library, he made love to me even then. Right there on the bright orange couch. He insisted on it, to be honest with you. He said he’d never had a woman quite like me and he missed our combustible get-togethers.” She said this with a smile. “That’s what he calls our unions. Combustible get-togethers.”

  Trina continued to stare at her as if she was staring at a misbehaving child. When there were still crickets coming from Trina, Belle got serious. And her smile left. “He’s planning on leaving you,” she said pointblank.

  Gemma, stunned, looked at Trina.

  But Belle kept on jabbing. “He wants me back and he’s plotting his escape. Even as we speak.” Still nothing from Trina. “We were together in Atlantic City, did he tell you that? He was there with his son. The one that’s not yours. I was quite surprised that he would be parading me in front of his child like that, but he did. He treated me as if I was his real wife.”

  Trina shook her head. “You’re a lying bitch,” she finally said. And she said it so firmly that even Gemma was taken aback.

  “Excuse me?” Belle asked.

  “You’re a lying bitch,” Trina repeated herself. “Now I don’t know what you’re up to, but one thing I know for certain, my husband has nothing to do with it. Or with you. So you can get your old-ass, flat-ass self out of my store.” Then Trina’s face turned hateful. “Now get!” she screamed, as if she was commanding a dog.

  Belle hadn’t expected such a response, and it showed. Her once soaring confidence was now crash-landing. And the anger on her face was equally contorted. But she did get. She left.

  Gemma looked at Trina. She didn’t know what to say. But Trina knew what to do.

  “I’m going to call Reno,” she said as she began to head for the stairs. “I’ll be in the office.”

  “Sure thing,” Gemma said, her face like a mask of confusion. She didn’t think she could ever trust a man the way Trina trusted Reno, especially in the face of so many rumors and allegations. Not ever.

  Reno placed his hands around Grace’s waist and hoisted her up onto the banister. They were at an amusement park, eating cotton candy and attempting to sit on a banister that overlooked a peaceful, geese-filled lake.

  “You’re light as a feather,” he said after sitting her down. He sat down beside her. “I couldn’t lift Trina that easily even if my life depended on it.”

  Grace smiled. “I’m sure she wouldn’t care to hear you say that.”

  “Like hell. She knows how I feel about it. That’s why I make her ass eat. I don’t like skin and bones on a woman. I like curves. Trina has curves and she’d better keep’em too.”

  And Reno meant it. He loved how his wife felt in his arms, and how he felt lodged inside of her. He was a man who had to have something to hold onto. And it had better not be bones.

  Like last night when he took her to bed. The way he fucked her. He got a hard-on when he woke up this morning just thinking about last night, and fucked her again.

  “What about you?” he asked Grace.

  “I’m enjoying myself.”

  “I heard that punk-ass ex-boyfriend of yours tried to ruin your day.”

  Grace smiled warily. “He didn’t try, he succeeded. Admirably.” Then she frowned. “But I don’t even think about that.”

  “You’d better think about it,” Reno said. “That was a horrible thing to witness.”

  “No, I know it was. That’s not what I mean. I mean I can’t let it ruin my day, not one second of it. Cam knew what he was doing.”

  “Damn right he knew!”

  “He wants me to be traumatized and devastated. And yeah, I was for a minute. But then Tommy came to town and he hasn’t gone out of town on any business trips since it happened. I feel very fortunate actually. It’s brought Tommy and me closer.”

  “Which means,” Reno said, staring at her, “you weren’t as close as you could have been to begin with.”

  Grace looked at Reno. “We’ve been working on it.”

  “What’s the problem?”

  “I don’t think there’s a problem.”

  “Then you’re deluding yourself,” Reno said firmly. “There is a big-ass problem if you’re still working on a relationship with a man you’re supposed to be marrying soon. The relationship work should have been over and done. Now it’s time to start working on the marriage.”

  “It’s still the same relationship,” Grace said.

  “That’s where you’re wrong, sweetheart. The way I treat Trina versus how I treated that tail I used to chase is the difference between night and day. And you know why?”

  “Because she’s your wife.”

  “Right. She’s the only one. That’s why I’m telling you it’s a huge difference between before marriage and after marriage. If you’re still putting out the garbage in your before-marriage relationship, then you’re not ready for marriage. Because all you’re going to do is bring that garbage right into that marriage.”

  Grace covered her mouth as tears appeared in her eyes. “I know,” she said.

  Reno frowned. “What are you so concerned about, Grace? Tommy loves you.”

  “I know he does. And I love him. But . . .” She looked at Reno. “The women.”

  “From his past?”

  “Some, yes. But mostly in his present. I mean they’re falling out of the woodwork, Reno. You would think I had stolen a million dollars from them.”

  “Well, hell, you have! We’re talking Tommy here. He’s the real deal. That man has the look, the style, the heart, the money. He’s the total package. You think those chicken headed females gonna let that get away without a fight? I’m surprised they haven’t been camped out outside of your house after he made that engagement announcement.”

  Grace smiled. “You’ve got a point,” she said.

  “So, please, Grace, don’t let those women play with your mind. They were the ones screaming for an open relationship when he didn’t have anybody. But as soon as he commits to someone, they suddenly want him to commit to him. They can kiss your ass,” Reno said. “And you need to make it clear to them.”

  Grace felt so inexperienced and almost petty. To have a man tell her what she should have known all along was embarrassing. But she agreed with him.

  “Yes,” she said. “You’re certainly right. I can’t let them see me sweat.”

  “Now we’re talking. Because trust me. Tommy’s my best friend. Outside of my wife and children I love him above any other human being. I would die for that man. He’s worth it like that. So for a man of integrity like Tommy to ask you to marry him is all you need to know. He asked you. You said yes. End of discussion. Get your ass married and really give them something to talk about.”

  Grace laughed. “You’re a very . . . hard person, but very warm too. If that’s even possible.”

  Reno laughed. “No, it’s not,” he said and Grace laughed. “But I get your point. My wife says you’re afraid of me.”

  Grace didn’t deny it. She thought about it though. “I wouldn’t say afraid of you. You’re just a little more hard-charging than I’m used to. But I am getting used to it.”

  Ren
o nodded as his cell phone began ringing. “Yeah,” he said, pulling it out, “you’re afraid all right.”

  Grace looked at him with a smile on her face. He was so unpretentious and honest that she found him refreshing.

  “Speaking of the devil,” Reno said when he saw his Caller ID. “It’s the wife.” He answered his phone. “Yes, love,” he said into the phone. “I was just complaining about you.”

  Trina was in her office, seated behind the desk, and tears were in her eyes. Many of her female friends said she was blind as a bat, and that Reno was cheating on her left and right. They didn’t have proof, but they’d heard this rumor about him and some woman, or that rumor about him and some other woman, and loved to run and tell her. Even Jimmy said people were asking him about it too. Sometimes she wondered if she was the biggest fool this side of living for trusting her husband so completely. She knew she wasn’t, but sometimes she couldn’t help but wonder if she was.

  “Hey,” she said into the phone.

  Reno hesitated. He knew her. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  There was a hesitation.

  “Tree, what is it?”

  “Belle Patrone came to see me,” she said.

  Reno glanced at Grace. Then he jumped down from the banister and began walking a few feet away from her. “Did she?”

  “She did.”

  “What did she want?”

  “She wants you,” Trina said. “What do you think?” Trina calmed back down. She didn’t mean to snap. “And she says you want her,” she continued. “She says you had her when you and Jimmy were in Atlantic City, and you had her again when we were at the mayor’s house the other night.”

  There was a pause. A long one. “Why didn’t you tell me you saw her while you were in Atlantic City, Reno?”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me, Reno?”

  “What the fuck difference does that make?”

  Grace heard him raise his voice. She looked at him.

  “You know I didn’t bother with that woman, why do you keep acting like that shit matters?” Then he settled down too. And frowned. “But it is curious as hell,” he said. “Why would she claim something like that?”