A MOB BOSS CHRISTMAS: THE PREGNANCY (MOB BOSS SERIES) Page 9

  “Good evening,” she said as she approached them. Some spoke, some didn’t. All of them stared. “I’m looking for a girl named Jazz.”

  “Upstairs,” one of the older men said. “Second room on your left.”

  “Thank-you,” Trina said and began to walk up the steps.

  “I got three dollars,” one of the younger men said. Trina looked at him. “I got three dollars,” he said, “if you suck my dick.”

  Trina almost slapped the little idiot. He didn’t look much older than Jimmy Mack. “I’ve got three hundred dollars,” she replied to him, “if you let me cut it off.”

  The other men yelled out “oooh! and covered their mouths with laughter. The young man looked angrily at Trina. Trina kept going up the steps.

  “She told you!” one of the men said.

  “Fuck you!” the young man responded.

  Trina followed the directions and made her way to Jazz’s room. When she knocked, the door was eventually opened by Jazz herself.

  “Y’all need to stop bothering me,” Jazz said before she realized who was standing at the door. When she saw that it was Trina, she could hardly believe it. She frowned. “Tree?”

  Trina attempted to smile, but she couldn’t manage it. “Hey.”

  “What the. . . What are you doing here?”

  “I came to see you.”

  “But how did you know I was here?”

  “I ran into Nathan.”

  Jazz hesitated. “Nathan?”

  “That’s right.”

  But Jazz still seemed hesitant. And embarrassed, Trina also noticed. And then she relented. And allowed Trina passage in.

  Danny Petuiccio, better known as Danno, walked briskly into Reno’s office with a concerned look on his face. “We’ve got a situation, boss,” he said as he headed for his desk.

  Reno looked up. One of his executive assistants was standing beside his desk handing him a series of documents to sign. Jimmy Mack was seated in front of the desk, talking with his father about college and whether or not it was necessary. Reno said it was. Jimmy wasn’t so sure.

  “What situation?” Reno asked without looking away from the documents he was signing.

  “Mrs. Gabrini,” Danno said and Reno and Jimmy and even Reno’s assistant looked at him.

  “What about her?” Reno asked.

  Danno looked at Reno’s assistant.

  “I’ll finish these later, Bess,” Reno said and the assistant immediately gathered up the remaining documents and left.

  Reno looked at Danno. “What is it?”

  “Our guys followed her to a rooming house.”

  Reno frowned. “A rooming house?”

  “Yes. It’s supposed to be for homeless people but it’s more like a haven for crack heads and drug dealers.”

  Reno’s heart began to pound. “Where is she?” he asked.

  “She’s gone inside. They didn’t know if you wanted them to grab her, or stand down.”

  Reno had to think about that. If Trina found out just how much security he had on her, including GPS, she might not speak to him again. Ever.

  “No,” he said, moving from around his desk. “Tell your men to remain in position, but to stand down. I’ll grab her.” And shake her, too, Reno thought with some degree of anger as Danno gave him the address and he hurried out of the office. Jimmy Mack, without bothering to seek permission, followed behind him.

  Reno blew his Porsche through another intersection and drove as fast as the heavy traffic would allow him. Jimmy Mack was on the passenger seat, and he looked as concerned as Reno.

  “Who could live in a place like that?” he asked his father.

  “I have no idea.”

  “You think Dirty could have gotten a word to her and he wanted her to meet him?”

  “Hell nall. Trina wouldn’t meet Dirty, other than to show him to me. He wouldn’t dare call her, because he knows it too.”

  “Then why would she be in such a rough area? Danno said it’s one of the worse areas in Vegas.”

  Reno shook his head. “Damn if I know,” he said. “But I’m sure gonna find out. Then I’m gonna kick her narrow ass,” he added as he overtook another slow car, and then slammed his hand on the steering wheel. Why did Tree keep putting him through this shit, he wanted to know.

  When Jazz closed the door of her room, it was only then did Trina realize how dark and dingy the room was. Only one window, and it was narrow and faced a brick wall. Talk about a dead end, Trina thought.

  “I would tell you to have a seat but I know the wife of Reno Gabrini wouldn’t want to sit on anything in here.”

  Trina, however, sat down on the sofa Jazz was referencing without even batting an eye. Jazz snorted. “So much for that theory,” she said.

  Jazz sat down, too. “Want something to drink? They have a vending machine on the first floor.”

  “No, but thank-you.”

  Then silence ensued. Jazz rubbed her thighs and stared at Trina. Trina looked around the tiny room. It was cold and drafty and smelled of mold. There was another couch, against a dingy wall that undoubtedly doubled as a bed, a broken down chair, and a tiny room-sized refrigerator. Everything about the room, and even the surrounding neighborhood was depressing. And that defeatism showed all over Jazz’s once pretty, but now distressed dark face.

  “So you’re back from Georgia,” Jazz said.

  “Yeah, we came back.”

  “Reno missed the PaLargio, didn’t he?”

  “No, I wouldn’t say that was the reason we came back. It was just time to come back home.”

  Jazz looked as if she didn’t believe it, but Trina couldn’t worry about that.

  “What about you?” Trina asked. “I hear you’re no longer working at Boyzie’s.”

  A sad look came over Jazz. “That’s right.” She hesitated. “He fired me.”

  “Why did he fire you?”

  “Because I was acting a fool. I got into it with one of the customers and we were rolling on the ground fighting, child. The customer deserved her ass whopping, don’t get me wrong. But I was out of line.”

  Trina was surprised she admitted it. Usually Jazz had every excuse in the book. “You were arrested?”

  “Damn right, I was. They took my black ass straight to jail. Gave me ninety long-ass days. But you know what was the most amazing thing about that whole experience? I never dreamed how much you could lose in just ninety days because when I got out of jail, I had lost everything. My apartment, my little car, my income, everything.” Jazz exhaled. “And now I’ve got to figure out a way to get it all back.” Then another distressed look came over her face. “At my age.”

  “Why did you move here?”

  “I had nowhere else to go,” Jazz said. “I was grateful they let me stay here.”

  “The people okay around here?”

  “Hell no. The men keep bothering me for sex and the women are just a bunch of crack heads. I wouldn’t ordinarily be caught dead in a hole like this. But beggars can’t be choosy. And I don’t have shit. I’m on the critical list, girl.” Then Jazz shook her head. She wore her hair natural now, in a short, man-cut Afro. “I still can’t believe how stupid I’ve been,” she said.

  There was a long period where nothing else was said. Trina was at a loss for words. What could she say, anyway, to a friend who had nothing left? Could she just stand up and walk out? Nice to see you, wouldn’t want to be you? Maybe some people could. Trina was not one of them.

  She stood up. She owned a hotel for goodness sake. “I want you to come with me, Jazz,” she said.

  “Come with you?” Jazz asked. “Come with you where?”

  “To the PaLargio. I want you to stay there as my guest until you can sort things out.”

  Jazz’s heart began to soar. Could it be possible? She stood up, too, staring at Trina. Trina quickly realized how all of Jazz’s swagger and defiance was gone.

  “Are you sure, Tree?” Jazz asked her.

  Trina nodde
d her head. “Yes, I’m sure. You’re my oldest friend in this town. You’re coming with me.”

  Jazz began to leap for joy.

  “So get your things together and let’s go. I don’t know about you, but this place here, it gives me the willies, girl.”

  “You?” Jazz said as she hurried behind the sofa and came out with a fully packed suitcase. Trina was surprised.

  “What’s that?” she asked her.

  “My things.”

  “You’re packed already?”

  “I never unpacked.”

  Trina smiled. “Don’t tell me. You just knew I was coming.”

  “Hell yeah I knew your ass was coming,” Trina laughed. “No, I didn’t know,” Jazz admitted. “But I knew I wasn’t planning on staying here long. I didn’t know where I was going, but I knew I was getting out of here.”

  “Let’s get out of here then.”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice,” Jazz said, hurrying, with her luggage, for the front door. It reminded her of those good old days, when she and Tree were tight. But then she thought about Tree’s other half and stopped. She looked at her. “Are you absolutely certain you wanna be fooled up with me?” she asked her old friend.

  “Yes, Jazz. I told you yes. No friend of mine is living in a place like this.”

  “But Reno’s not gonna like it.”

  Boy did Trina know that. “Let me worry about Reno,” she said, knowing that she was asking for trouble. But what could she do? Jazz needed a serious helping hand, and she was in a position to lend that hand. It wasn’t somebody else’s responsibility. It was her. In a lot of ways Trina felt as if she was her sister’s keeper. “Got everything?” she asked Jazz.

  “Yeah,” Jazz said. But as they began to leave, tears appeared in her eyes.

  Trina went up to her. “What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing’s been going right for me. Everybody I called said I deserve what I got and nobody had anything but criticism for me. I know I messed up, but they act like they never did anything wrong before in their entire lives. And then you show up, two days before Christmas, and I have hope again.”

  Trina’s heart swelled with emotion. “We’re friends, Jazz. We’ve been through a lot together.”

  “Yes. Yes, we have.”

  “I don’t like a lot of your ways and I’m sure you don’t like a lot of mine. But you were there for me when I first came to town and didn’t have a friend in sight. You were real good to me then. I’ll never forget that.”

  She and Trina embraced. Then Jazz wiped her tears and hurried out of that hellhole that was masquerading as Jazz’s home.

  Two young men were leaned against Trina’s Bentley by the time they made their way outside.

  “Look at them fools,” Jazz said as soon as she saw them.

  “Fools is right,” Trina said as she walked toward her car. “Because they’re the fool of fools if they think they can intimidate me.”

  “Oh, no,” Jazz said, hurrying up behind the fast walking Trina, “Reno has rubbed off on you!”

  Trina would have smiled if she wasn’t so upset. But she was too upset. “May I help you?” she said to the two men, particularly to the one who was leaned against the driver’s side door. Trina didn’t know it but thanks to Reno she had back-up all around the area. And was about to have Reno himself.

  “Did I ask for your help?” the young man replied. They were clueless.

  “Apparently you’re asking for something because you’re leaned against my automobile.”

  “Your automobile?” the young man asked. “Now that’s news to me. I thought this was my automobile.”

  “Boy, if you don’t get your stank ass away from my car,” Trina said as she brushed past him and began opening her door. Just as she did, Reno’s Porsche drove up behind them. And just as he did, the young man pushed Trina away from her car door, causing her to stumble.

  “What the fuck?” Reno asked angrily when he saw the man push his wife. He couldn’t get out of his seatbelt fast enough. Jimmy was shocked too.

  But Reno wasted no time. He reached into his glove compartment, pulled out his gun, and hurried out of the car. He held his gun by his side.

  Jimmy got out, too, but Reno was already at the young man’s side.

  The young man was about to go for Trina again, and Trina and Jazz both were about to go for him, but Reno, to Trina’s shock, suddenly was upon them and grabbed the young man from behind. He then slung the young man on his back and onto the hood of the car. Then he placed the gun, not against the young man’s face, but deep into the young man’s mouth. The kid nearly pissed in his pants when he felt the barrel near the back of his throat. The other young man took off running. The men on the stoop stood up, but not one of them had any interest in interceding.

  “Who do you think you’re playing with?” Reno asked the troublemaker.

  The boy was shaking his head as if to say nobody, but Reno wasn’t trying to hear an answer. He cocked his gun inside the man’s mouth.

  “Reno, no!” Trina yelled.

  “Who do you think you’re playing with?” Reno asked the young man again, ignoring Trina. “That’s my wife you’re fucking with! That’s my wife you motherfucker!”

  Jimmy could hardly believe his eyes. But he would have done the same thing, he believed, if some dude would have pushed his wife. Jimmy moved toward Trina, and began pulling her back, protecting her.

  The boy began to piss in his pants. Reno saw the circle of wet appear at his crotch and frowned. “You nasty motherfucker!” he said, and pushed the young man away from him. “Get your punk ass out of here!”

  And the young man took off running, too.

  Reno exhaled. He was tired of this shit. Then he headed back toward his car. He glanced at Jazz and then looked at Trina. “Get in the car,” he said to her.

  “I’m going to drive the Bentley.”

  “You’re going to get your ass in my car right now, Katrina,” Reno said angrily, correcting her. “Jimmy Mack?”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “You drive the Bentley.”

  “Yes, sir,” Jimmy said, moving toward Trina to get the keys.

  Trina knew not to dispute Reno, not when he was this upset. She gave her keys to Jimmy.

  “Jazz,” she said to her friend as Reno all but forced her toward the Porsche, “you ride with Jimmy.”

  Jazz had no idea who Jimmy was, but she got in the Bentley with him just the same. When she looked back, Reno was slinging Trina down on the passenger seat in his Porsche, and slamming the door behind her.

  Jazz turned back around. Her heart began to hammer. She needed Trina right now, she needed her friend badly. And she knew Trina would fight to help her. Trina was a strong-willed woman, maybe one of the strongest Jazz had ever met.

  But Reno ran that household.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Reno yelled at his wife as he drove her back to the Strip. “I told you to take somebody with you at all times, or at least let me know where you’re going while you’re pregnant like this.”

  “Don’t even try that, Reno,” Trina said. “You wouldn’t let me go anywhere by myself since we’ve been back from Georgia, don’t try to act like it just started since I became pregnant. You’ve been like this ever since we got back from Crane!”

  “Hell, yeah, I’ve been this way. And you know why I’ve been this way! I don’t know who else is out there gunning for me.”

  “Nobody’s gunning for you. It’s all settled now.”

  “Yeah, it was all supposed to be settled when Frank Partanna died. It was all supposed to be settled when we left for Georgia. But it wasn’t.” Reno gripped his steering wheel. “How many times do I have to tell you that you’re not the wife of some ordinary Joe? You’re the wife of a man like me, Tree, a man with some serious mob entanglements.”

  Trina looked at him. She hated when she worried him like this.

  But Reno would not let
up. “I’m sorry, but it’s a fact. And no, I’m not a mob boss and no I’m not in the mob, that shit ain’t true. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have entanglements. My old man practically ran the east coast once upon a time. Since his death, his enemies have decided that I’m their enemy. You have to understand that.”

  Trina exhaled and leaned back. “I do understand it, Reno, but you have to understand my position, too. I don’t like the idea of having to check in or have somebody with me all the time. It’s suffocating.”

  “It’s not all the time, Tree, and you know that. When the heat is on, the heat is on. And I’m sorry but I’m not about to sit back and let those fuckers use you for target practice just because you need your freedom. You’re free. You can go anywhere you damn well please. But not alone. I don’t care how you feel about it, you are not running around here alone. I will not subject my wife and unborn child to that kind of jeopardy. You understand me?”

  Trina didn’t answer. She folded her arms.

  “You understand me, Tree?”

  “Yes, I understand you,” Trina snapped. “I don’t like it, but I understand it.”

  Reno stopped at a red light and exhaled. Then he thought about something. He looked at Trina. “And what the fuck Jazz got to do with this? Where did you grab her up from?”

  “She was living in that rooming house. I came to get her.”

  Reno glared at his wife. She looked so elegant to him with that fur halo on her head. “You came to get her?” he asked. “What, her old man was beating on her or something?”

  “No, she fell on hard times and I decided to help her. That’s all.”

  The light changed and Reno began driving again. “Help her how?”

  Here goes, Trina thought. “I’m moving her into the PaLargio until we can figure out what to do next.”

  “You’re moving her. . .” Reno couldn’t believe it. “Trina, I know better than that.”

  “It’s only temporary.”

  “The same girl who’s running around this town talking about I’m having affairs with women and totally disrespecting me is the same girl you want to move into our home?”