Reno's Gift (Mob Boss Series) Page 6

  And he continued to stroke.

  He fucked her with a fast but steady pace. He sucked her breasts as he fucked her. She was leaned back on her elbows, her head lobbed all the way back, her legs now up on Reno’s shoulders, as he fucked her.

  When the release came, Reno tried to slow it down. He tried to pace himself. But the feelings were so intense, and Trina’s vaginal muscles were pulsating around him so forcefully, that he couldn’t hold on. He spilled into her, his body pushing against her, and he fought with all he had not to shout it out. And then Trina came, just as intensely, as she arched up to ease the intensity, but by arching actually prolonged it.

  After they came, and his dick was still inside of her and they were still locked in a tight embrace, Reno eventually looked at his wife.

  “You know how to put it on me, girl,” he said, and she smiled.

  But Reno’s look turned serious. “But if you disobey me again, and I find that clown, that Jody Parks, anywhere near you again, I’m gonna put it on you. And it won’t be pleasant. Understand me, Katrina?”

  Trina stared into Reno’s deep, expressive blue eyes. She married one of the most serious, most sincere men she’d ever met. It used to bother her. She used to want him to let up sometimes. But after all they’d been through, especially after that ordeal with Jimmy, she now believed she understood. He was never wrong when it came to his family’s well-being. So far, he was never wrong.

  “I understand you, Reno,” she said.

  And for the first time in their marriage, she knew it was true. For the first time in their marriage she felt as if she finally understood her husband completely.

  THREE

  Grace McKenzie drove out of the parking garage at Trammel’s corporate headquarters building and headed downtown. It was evening rush hour and the streets of Seattle were nearly gridlocked. With one hand on her cup of Espresso that she had grabbed from the corner café, and the other on her steering wheel, she could barely manage when her car phone began ringing. It required some maneuvering, but she was able to balance her spill-resistant cup as she pressed the button.

  “Hello,” she said.

  “Hey, it’s me. Where are you?” It was Nayla Santiago. Her best friend.

  “I’m on my way to Diamante’s. Cam wanted to meet with me.”

  “Cam? Are you joking? Cameron Birch? What the hell for?”

  “Hold on. It’s not about him. It’s about his mother.”

  “About Jillian? What about her? She decided to leave Trammel rather than have you as her boss. What’s there to talk about?”

  “She wants to return. Cam is trying to facilitate her return.”

  “She must be insane. I wouldn’t let her arrogant ass anywhere near my business.”

  “Yeah, but it was her business. She built that business. And she still owns a hefty stake in that business. I can’t dismiss that as easily as you can.”

  “But thanks to Tommy Gabrini it’s your business now. He gave you controlling interest in that company. It’s yours whether she likes it or not. She was your boss, now you’re hers. And as to Cam discussing her return with you? Please. He may be her son, and he may own five measly percent of Trammel, but he’s also your ex-boyfriend. An ex-boyfriend that your current boyfriend already had to get straight for putting his hands on you. I don’t think he’s in a position to facilitate anybody’s return, Grace. Especially not that witch Jillian. She treated you like a dog when she was in charge.”

  But thanks to Tommy, who gave Grace his forty-one percent shares, coupled with her own ten percent, she became majority shareholder. Jillian walked out of Trammel and never returned as soon as she found out.

  Now she wanted back in.

  “So where’s this meeting taking place?” Nayla asked Grace. “Please don’t tell me at Jillian’s house. It’ll be her and Cam against you.”

  “You know me better than that. I told Cam I’d meet him at Diamante’s.”

  Nayla’s laughed. “At Tommy’s restaurant? Girl, you’re wrong for that! You’re meeting your ex-boyfriend at your current boyfriend’s restaurant?”

  “It’s not as dramatic as all that, Nay, keep your shirt on. It’s just that it’s the only place where I’d feel comfortable meeting Cam. I certainly didn’t want him at my office, or my home. And I wasn’t going to his home. Diamante’s is the best place.”

  “But why? Tommy’s still out of town, isn’t he?”

  “Yeah, but Sal Luca’s there,” Grace said. “I didn’t tell him anything, but I know him. He’ll keep an eye on Cam. You can believe that.”

  “Sal Luca,” Nayla said with obvious distaste in her voice. “I don’t know how you say two words to that little racist.”

  Grace laughed and turned into Diamante’s parking lot. “Sal is not a racist, Nay, come on.”

  “He is a racist, I’m not taking it back! He looks at me like I’m a piece of trash whenever I’m anywhere near him. The only reason he treats you with respect is because he’s afraid of Tommy. But get that asshole away from his brother for two seconds and I guarantee you there’s a white sheet with two holes it in somewhere in his closet.”

  Grace shook her head. “You need to quit,” she said. “But anyway I’m here now so I’ll talk with you later.”

  “You know why I called, Grace,” Nayla said.

  Grace hesitated. “Yes, I know,” she said.

  “Why didn’t I get the job?”

  Grace exhaled. Here goes. “Because you weren’t the best person for the job,” she said.

  “I’ve been with Trammel almost as long as you have. Now that you run things you should be looking out for me. I think it’s wrong that you would give that job to a complete stranger off the street when I was more than qualified for it. And I’m your freakin’ best friend!”

  She might have been Grace’s closest friend, but Grace wasn’t about to go down that road. There was no way on earth she was promoting Nayla to a senior management position at Trammel. No way. She was barely holding on to her current position, Grace wanted to say. “I picked the best person for that particular job,” she said, instead.

  “Yeah, right, whatever,” Nayla said. “It’s like a stab in the back, but I’ll get over it. I’ll talk to you later,” Nayla then added and brusquely hung up the phone.

  Grace clicked off too. Ever since she became the chief executive officer at Trammel, she’d been making enemies. People wanted advantages from her that she wasn’t willing to give to them. She knew their work ethic. She was right there when they were cheating then-boss Jillian. She would be the fool of fools to put them in position to cheat her.

  She drained down the last of her Expresso, placed the empty cup in the cup holder, and got out of the car just in time for the Valet to come over and retrieve her keys.

  When Grace walked into the restaurant, Salvatore Luciano Gabrini, better known as Sal Luca, was standing behind the bar counter reading a newspaper and jostling around with an old friend.

  “Lebron,” Sal said as he turned the page of the Seattle Times sports section he had spread out on the countertop.

  “Kevin Durant,” Laxmi, Sal’s friend who was seated at the bar, replied.

  “Lebron,” Sal said again.

  “Kevin Durant,” Laxmi replied.

  “Ah, get lost with your Durant. You’re the only person on the face of this earth who thinks Durant can be MVP. He’s good for a big man, and he has a monster game, but LeBron is one of the best all time. LeBron can give Michael Jordan a run for the best basketball player that ever was.”

  “Get outa here! Bill Russell was the best. Jordan my ass!”

  “How you doing, Sal?” Grace’s voice could suddenly be heard and both men turned to the sound. When Sal realized it was indeed Grace, he smiled.

  “Well hello there. Why didn’t you call and tell me you were coming? I could have had a nice table for you.”

  “Thanks, but I’m fine.”

  “Come on, I’ll get you hooked up in the priv
ate dining hall. We call it Tommy’s room around here because he’s the only somebody who ever uses it.”

  “I’m good. I’m meeting somebody. He’s already here, in fact. But thanks,” Grace added with a smile as she made her way through the crowd. Sal and Laxmi both checked her out. Lax was particularly impressed.

  “That’s a good looking woman,” he said. “Who is she?”

  “That’s Grace.”

  “Grace who?”

  “Grace who. What difference does it make to you? Grace. That’s all you need to know. That’s Tommy’s girl.”

  “She’s a good looking woman,” Laxmi said again.

  “Yeah, you said that already,” Sal replied, only he said it distractedly. He was too busy checking out the young man who was seated at the table where Grace just took a seat. A very handsome, blond-haired, surfer dude type. Tommy had some serious years on Grace. This guy seemed to be exactly her age. What was up with this, he wondered.

  “Think she’ll give me her number?” Laxmi asked. But Sal was too busy watching.

  “Sal?” Lax had to say before Sal bothered to look away from Grace’s table and back at the man in front of him.

  “What?”

  “I said do you think she’ll give me her number?”

  “Do I think who’ll give you their number?”

  “The pretty black chick. Grace.”

  Sal frowned. “What, are you deaf? Didn’t I tell you she was Tommy’s girl? Didn’t I tell you that was my brother’s girl?”

  “So what? When is that a big deal? Plenty females around here have been Tommy’s girl. But that didn’t stop him from letting them do whatever they wanted to do. I remember kissing a dame he called himself fooling around with, and he walked right by me like it was nothing.”

  “Yeah, try kissing Grace. I dare you, try it. When Tommy gets through with you, you won’t have lips to kiss anybody with. I guarantee it.”

  Laxmi smiled and looked at Grace again. “So who’s the guy she’s having dinner with then? That ain’t Tommy.”

  Sal looked at Grace too. “Yeah,” he said. “I know.”

  But Grace knew exactly who it was. It was Cameron Birch, her ex-boyfriend and her ex-boss’s son. And Sal was right. He did look like a surfer dude. But he wasn’t. He could barely swim.

  “It’s good seeing you again, Grace,” he said as he sat across from her. “It’s real good seeing you again.”

  Grace wasn’t about to pretend that it was good seeing him, because it wasn’t. It was painful. And regretful. And filled with the kind of memories she would just as soon forget. She was here for Jillian and Jillian alone. And the only reason she would even consider having Jillian back at all was because it was her and her late husband who founded Trammel. Financial circumstances caused her to have to sell most of the shares, but that didn’t erase the fact that if it wasn’t for Jillian and her husband, there would be no Trammel.

  “So,” she said, to make her seriousness clear, “you said you wanted to talk to me about your mother’s return.”

  “We’ll get to that,” he said. “I just want to know how you’re doing.”

  “Look, Cam, I’m not here to act as if we don’t have some crazy-ass history together, because we do. You said this was about your mother, that you couldn’t talk about it over the phone, and that she won’t meet with me because she’s too proud. Which, knowing Jillian like I do, makes perfect sense. But that’s all I want to talk about. Now what is it?”

  She could see that glint of anger in Cam’s big eyes. He was terrible at hiding it. Especially now that she knew what to look for. And it worked. He got down to business.

  “She wants back in,” he said, “but on her terms.”

  Grace could have taken offense at his reference, but she didn’t. In her mind, too, Trammel would always be Jillian’s company. “On what terms?” she asked him.

  “President and Chief Financial officer.”

  “No,” Grace said, shaking her head. “I just hired a CFO and I’m president and CEO. As I said to her before she walked out, the senior VP slot is available. But that’s all that’s available.”

  “That’s not fair, Grace, and you know it!”

  “No, it’s not fair. You’re right about that. But nobody’s sabotaging me. There are three positions of absolute trust at Trammel. CEO, CFO, and Chairman of the Board of Directors. Tommy’s chairman. I just hired a CFO. I’m CEO. There’s no way I’m putting any of those positions in Jillian’s hands. No way. Not the way she treated me when she did have the power. Now she either accept the VP slot or she doesn’t. But that’s all she’s getting.”

  Cameron was now shedding all pretense at understanding. “You’re having a field day with us, aren’t you?” he said. “Got yourself some rich sugar daddy and you figure you don’t need us anymore. Bringing me here,” he said, looking around. “I couldn’t believe it! Bringing me to your sugar daddy’s restaurant! What, Grace, you’re trying to rub it in? You’re trying to gloat? You want me to see how successful you are now and how my own mother has to come hat-in-hand to the great Grace McKenzie?”

  Grace shook her head. “Yeah, right, it’s me. I’m the problem. You don’t do shit. It’s all on me. Just like you didn’t put your hands on me in Vegas. Cameron? Never! And just like Jillian treated me like I was her slave when I worked for her. But oh no, now I’m trying to show her up? Please.”

  Grace began to gather up her purse, realizing this was a colossal waste of time. “Just tell Jillian the offer hasn’t changed. She either accept the vice presidency or she’ll have to move on. And that’s final, Cam. Tell her it’ll be my only offer.”

  Cameron began to pull out what Grace assumed was a cell phone. But it wasn’t. “Tell her yourself,” he said and then, with what turned out to be an automatic pistol, he pulled it out and fired.

  “Noooo!” Grace screamed and jumped up from the table just as patrons began to scramble and scream at just the sound of gunfire in their midst. And Sal Luca, as soon as he saw Cameron pull out that weapon and put it beneath his own chin, lunged across that bar counter and ran for Grace. He had his own weapon drawn by the time he grabbed her and slung her behind him. He pulled her just as Cameron’s head lifted back from the impact of the blast, and then lobbed to the side.

  Grace had her mouth covered, her heart pounding so loud even Sal could hear it.

  Sal stayed in front of her, keeping her behind him, as he couldn’t stop staring at the man who decided to blow his brains out in Tommy’s restaurant. And that fact alone, that a nobody kid would have balls like that, blew Sal’s mind.

  “Motherfucker,” he said lowly, like a whisper, in a voice filled with amazement.

  “Pop just drove up,” Jimmy Mack said as he stared out of the big, bay window of their five-bedroom home. Reno owned it, and had for years, but this was the first time the entire family had lived there. It was a far cry from the energy of the Strip, something Jimmy missed immensely, but until the PaLargio was back in service they either stayed in somebody else’s hotel, or stayed here. Reno moved them here.

  Trina looked up. She was sitting on the sofa thumbing through a European catalogue to see what her boutique’s Buyer might be able to snag for them. Her baby boy, Dominic Gabrini, Junior, was standing on the sofa beside her, playing with his all-green, flexible, Incredible Hulk doll. “He just drove up? Good. It would have been better if he could have shown up for dinner, but I’m glad he’s home.”

  “He never shows up for dinner,” Jimmy replied.

  Trina glanced at him. “He’s a busy man,” she said.

  “Even with the PaLargio out of commission?”

  Trina ignored that. “I’d better warm up his food.”

  “Don’t bother,” Jimmy said. “He’s on the car phone so you know he’ll be a while. He’s probably yelling at somebody about something.”

  Trina smiled. “That’s your daddy. I don’t think he could function if he didn’t have somebody to yell at.”

  �
��He’s a dynamo all right,” Jimmy said and Trina smiled as she continued to flip through her catalogue. She could detect a hint of pride in Jimmy’s voice and that pleased her. Reno could be a difficult man to understand. She was always thrilled when Jimmy, Reno’s oldest child, understood him.

  Jimmy felt he more than understood his father as he stared at him. He didn’t used to get that hurricane-force wind everybody called Reno, but now he fully got him. He got him that night he had that monumental decision to make that would forever change Jimmy’s life. Somebody had to die that night, and Reno’s enemies made Reno make the call. Jimmy would never forget the sight of his father dropping to his knees and begging for his enemies to kill him instead. To spare his family and kill him instead. Although the decision his father ultimately made nearly took Jimmy away from this world, he knew it was the only decision his father could have made. Gut-wrenching as it was, it was the only decision to be made. And Jimmy respected his father completely for having the guts to make it.

  He stared at that same father as he sat in his Porsche and pointed his finger and then ran his hand through his messy hair while he talked on his phone. Jimmy’s male friends wanted to be like his father, and his female friends wanted to fuck his father. Which made Jimmy, given who his father was, a very popular young man. Even now he knew of girls trying to get tight with him so that they could get closer to his father. And even that didn’t bother Jimmy. Girls like those were a dime a dozen and he wouldn’t want them anyway. Besides, he surrounded himself with his family more than his friends these days. His father, and Trina, and his baby brother Dommi were all he needed nowadays.

  He smiled when his father hit his hand on the car’s dashboard and then pointed it at the phone, as if the person he was upset with was the phone itself. If his father couldn’t be animated about something in this life, Jimmy doubted if the man could exist. Most people went from zero to one hundred on the excitability scale. Reno went from one hundred to one thousand, in Jimmy’s estimation. It reminded him how much he missed him when he wasn’t home. The house just wasn’t the same when Reno wasn’t in it. At least at the PaLargio Jimmy could always find his father somewhere around that village-sized establishment, and even when he couldn’t his presence still overwhelmed the place. But now that they were in suburbia waiting to move back home, it was different.