Reno gave oral like no other. Mainly because Trina knew it was pleasuring him as much as it pleased her. And it was pleasing the shit out of her. She could hardly contain her pleasure.
But before she became too full on the appetizer, Reno moved up, on top of her, and guided his fully aroused rod inside of her. It was an immediate heightened jolt of passion when he entered her, and both of them felt it.
Reno kissed her with unbridled intent on her lips, and pulled her into his arms, as he fucked her. And he fucked her long and hard. He couldn’t stop pounding his dick further and further inside of her until he was in so deep that she could feel it to the farthest reaches of even her stomach muscles.
Reno felt it, too. He felt it to the depths of his very being. He felt it in his hair, and beneath his feet, and in every vein of his penis. He looked at Trina as he moved that dick deep inside of her. This woman who’d been his woman for so long; this woman who bore him children, and helped him in his boardroom as well as his bedroom, was the only woman he ever wanted to brand with his mark. And she was branded. There wasn’t a fucker alive who didn’t know that Trina Gabrini belonged to Reno.
But as he continued to make long, passionate love to her, and as their bodies continued to sweat with the heat from their highest order of affection, Jimmy’s words kept echoing in Trina’s mind. He didn’t want her to be blindsided, he’d said. He didn’t want her to wake up one day and realize her husband belonged to her, and many other women beside.
Trina was nobody’s blind romantic. She knew she was married to a man who had to beat back all of those beautiful ladies and their advances every day of his life. She knew it wasn’t easy for him to do so because he’d been a player for most of his life. Rumors of infidelity were as much a part of their marriage as the day was long.
But she knew Reno. She knew how he made her feel in bed, and in every aspect of their life together. She knew how he was no liar, and would tell it to her straight even if she would prefer it with a chaser. But she also knew he was a strong enough man to allow her to ask him anything any time and any place, and he would answer her.
So she asked him, right there and then, while they were yet in the throes of their passion. “Reno,” she said as he fucked her, “are you cheating on me?”
Reno didn’t stop fucking her. He couldn’t stop. He didn’t cuss her out for asking such an asinine question, either. But he did look at her. And his big, sincere, blue eyes said it before his mouth did. “No,” he said. “Never,” he added, and captured her mouth with his. And he fucked her even harder, as if that question had somehow turned him on even more.
And now Trina was free, too. Because there was no quilt-ridden hesitation in him. His very strokes were affirming what she already knew. He didn’t back down or back out or show a consciousness of quilt for one second. He made love to her with even more vigor. Because she knew he understood. He understood that she had to face a barrage of allegations on a daily basis that a lesser woman would have never been able to bear. Where there’s smoke there’s fire, the old folks loved to say, and Trina could have fallen into that default cliché also. But she didn’t. Because she had her own default position. She knew Reno. She trusted her man. His word meant more to her than a hundred hungry bitches declaring his unfaithfulness. Reno was her default.
And when they came, they came together. Reno and Trina. She was riding with Reno until the day she died. She knew what she had. And as he poured that liquid love deep inside of her, and her vaginal wall wrapped his pouring penis like a blanket, making him pour even more, she wasn’t about to give him up. She was at that stage in her life. It was a stage that horrified and comforted her. It was that stage in life where her husband could break her heart. But instead of leaving him; instead of cussing him out and divorcing his cheating ass, she’d pick up the pieces of that broken heart and trust him with it: all over again.
Later that night, after he held her, and her trusting heart, in bed, under the covers, she waited patiently for him to tell her. He seemed lighter. He seemed as if that heavy burden had been eased. But the burden was still there. She could feel it.
She was right. Although Trina had taken the edge off, and had made him feel that he was not in this alone anymore, he still had to deal with the hard, cold fact. “How are the kids?” he asked her.
“They’re holding up okay,” Trina said. “Dom’s still a little shook up, but he won’t admit it.”
“He never will.”
“Oh, and guess what?” Trina asked. “The chairman of the school’s board of directors called already. They said if we agree to a two-day suspension for Dommi, they will agree to fire the principal. Of course, it is all contingent on us keeping the kids in that school, and you keeping your word to build that new gymnasium.”
Reno shook his head. “Bunch of blackmailers,” he said. Then he looked at Trina. “What did you tell them?”
“I agreed to the terms,” Trina said. “Uprooting the kids would be too much for them. It wouldn’t be fair to them.”
Reno nodded. “I agree. But you also tell those fuckers that if my son does anything again, they are to call us, not the fucking police.”
“I already told them that. They agreed.”
Reno nodded, and pulled Trina closer. “Good.”
“I’ll keep Sophie out of school for the next two days along with Dommi, in a united front. She supports her brother.”
Reno nodded. “Good job, Tree. You’re a great mother to my children.”
“Oh, that’s right. You did carry them for nine months, didn’t you? You’ve earned the right to refer to them as if they were yours alone.”
Reno laughed. “Our children,” he corrected himself.
Trina smiled, too, but then got back down to business. “They’ll go to work with me for the next couple days. They can help me and Oprah unload inventory. Then they’ll return properly contrite and ready to get back in the swing of things. I already told Dommi to stay away from those Schizeki brothers, no matter what.”
Reno nodded again. “Good.” But Reno knew he had to get it off of his chest. “Their father told me something that made no sense,” he said to Trina.
Trina’s heart began to hammer. She dreaded to hear what it was, but knew she had to hear it. “What did he tell you?” she asked as calmly as she could. The last thing he needed was for her to get all uptight, too.
“He told me he ordered his sons to goat Dommi into threatening them because he was ordered himself.”
That sounded strange to Trina. “Who would order him to do something like that?” she asked.
Reno hesitated. He was still reeling from the implication. “His loan shark in repayment for a very big debt.”
“And this loan shark is?” Trina asked.
“According to him, it’s Sam Roustinconti,” he said.
Trina immediately looked at Reno. She even leaned up on her elbow, and exposed her naked breasts once again. “Sam Roustinconti?” she asked. “Reno, are you sure?”
Reno ran his hands through his already messy hair. “That’s what he said.”
“But you can’t just take his word for it.”
“I didn’t just take his word for it,” Reno with an edge in his voice. “Where do you think I’ve been? I’ve been talking to and meeting with everybody in the know about this shit. Me and Sam aren’t tight like that. I haven’t seen him in a while. But the story’s the same.”
“Which is?”
“They say it’s possible. They say ever since I’ve been the big man in Vegas, Sam’s been feeling a chill. He’s been feeling that I’m bigger than him, and he don’t like it.”
“But he’s your godfather!”
“That’s the fucking point, Tree. The godson don’t outdo the godfather. Not in our world. I’m outdoing him, or at least that’s how he feels. You understand what I’m saying?”
“But he’s in Jersey,” Trina said. “Why would he care what you’re doing in Vegas? Why would he care if you
’re the most powerful man in Vegas? Maybe he’s the most powerful man in Jersey.”
“Nope,” Reno said. “Sal Luca runs Jersey. Sam is old school. He’s got nothing on Sal Luca. But he wouldn’t pull this shit on Sal. I’m his godson. My father and Sam were best friends once upon a time. How does it look if his best friend’s son is outdoing him? That’s why he’s pulling this shit on me.” Then Reno added: “If it’s true.”
Trina stared at Reno. “What aren’t you telling me?” she asked him.
Reno looked at Trina. She knew him like a book. “There were rumors,” he said.
Oh, Lord, Trina thought. Not more rumors! “What rumors?”
“There were rumors that Sam might have had a hand in my old man’s assassination.”
Trina was floored. “Reno! But is it true?”
“How should I know? It wasn’t something I could go up and ask him.”
“Why not?”
“Because he would have been offended! He came to my father’s funeral, for crying out loud, Tree. He paid his respects. I can’t turn around and accuse him of having a hand in the murder.”
“But I don’t get it, Reno. I thought it was clear that Frank Partanna ordered that hit on your father. I thought there was no doubt about that.”
“There is no doubt about it,” Reno said. “But some people were saying at the time that Frank was in Sam’s pocket. Some people were saying that Frank would have never made a move on a powerful mob boss like my old man, unless Sam gave him permission.”
Trina felt slighted. She felt as if her faith that Reno did not keep secrets from her, at least not major ones, wasn’t true. And then Jimmy’s voice echoed in her mind again. “Why you never told me this, Reno?” she asked him.
“Because I didn’t know if it was true or not. I tried to find out. Tommy and Sal tried to find out, too. But we turned up blanks. We turned up nothing. What am I going to worry you about it for when I couldn’t even confirm it? Besides,” Reno added with a pained look in his eyes, “I never believed it.”
“But now you have your doubts?”
Reno nodded. “I have to. Why would some nobody trailer park trash like Schizeki bring up Sam’s name like that? What the fuck he knows about my history with Sam Roustinconti?”
“Somebody could have fed him that name,” Trina said.
“Yeah, they could have,” Reno admitted. “But he said Sam came to him personally. No middle man.”
“So?”
“So that’s Sam’s m.o.,” Reno said. “That’s how Sam does business. He never uses a middle man. If he needs a favor, he goes to the person himself. He’s old school like that.”
“So you believe Schizeki?”
“I don’t know what to believe,” Reno said with heaviness in his voice. “But I’ve got to check it out.”
That was the part that worried Trina. “How do you plan to do that?”
“By doing it like Sam does it. I’m going to the source himself. I’m asking him flat out. And not just about Schizeki’s allegation, but about my father as well.”
Trina’s expression turned to grave concern. “But that sounds dangerous, Reno.”
“Don’t worry like that. Sam isn’t going to harm me. At least not where his fingerprints will be on the trigger. He knows the firepower I have behind me.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“He touch a hair on my head and he’ll have Sal Gabrini, Tommy Gabrini, and, oh yeah, Mick the Tick, to answer to. Besides, he’ll be considered a weasel, something lower than a snitch, if he turns on his own godson. He wouldn’t allow his reputation to take that kind of hit. And his entire organization would take an even greater hit if he decides to go to war with a Gabrini. And I’m the biggest motherfucking Gabrini of them all, too?” Reno shook his head. “I don’t mean to brag, but I’m untouchable.”
“You did mean to brag,” Trina corrected him, “but I hope you’re right.”
“I’m right,” Reno said. “You can take it to the bank.”
“But what if he admits it’s true?” Trina asked. “What if he says yeah, he did order Schizeki to have his sons set up Dommi? What then?”
But Reno was already shaking his head. “He won’t admit it,” Reno said. “Not in a million years.”
“Then why are you going to see him?”
“To look him in the eyes when I ask him. To be in the same room with him. To get a feel for the man I’ve known all my life.”
“What do you expect to see in his eyes now that you didn’t see at your father’s funeral? Guilt?”
“No,” Reno said. “I’m bigger now than I was then. I expect to see fear. If I don’t see that, then I know he’s straight.”
“And if you do see it?” Trina asked.
“Oh, he’s a dead man,” Reno said, as if it went without saying.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The Mercedes stopped in front of Champagne’s and Trina removed her sunglasses and turned around. She looked at her two adorable children, who were in the backseat. “I want to make something perfectly clear,” she said. “This is my place of business and the name of my business is not Chuck E Cheese. You will not rip and run and act like you don’t have any home training up in there. You will not embarrass me by harassing my customers, or, Dommi, questioning them.”
Sophie grinned. Dommi frowned. “Why you always have to single me out?”
“Because I know your ass! When I open my doors, and customers start coming in, you’d better behave. You, too, Sophie, it’s not just Dommi.”
Dommi smiled. “See! It’s not just me.”
Sophie pushed her silly brother.
“If I have to yell at either one of you one time, I’m going to beat your behind myself, and then tell Daddy so he can beat your behind too.”
“And Daddy don’t play!” Dommi said affirmatively.
Trina agreed. “That’s right. So behave,” she said mainly to Dommi.
“Why couldn’t we stay home, Mommy?” Sophie asked.
“Because the Nanny has Carmine to take care of. I don’t want you two distracting her. It’s not easy caring for a baby.”
“I know what you mean,” Dommi said. “Lord knows I’ve had to care for Sophie all her born days.”
Sophie looked at him as if he’d grown an additional eye. Trina smiled, that Dommi, and got out of the car.
Dommi and Sophie got out, also, and Dommi quickly moved up beside his mother and grabbed her briefcase. “I’ll take that for you, Ma,” he said like the little charmer he sometimes could be.
“Thanks baby,” Trina said as they made their way toward the front entrance. She could see, in her periphery, two of Reno’s men pull up in a car just behind hers. But she pretended as if she didn’t notice them. She knew Reno always beefed up security whenever he went out of town, and given the mission he was on, she expected to see a presence around her. Dommi and Sophie, however, didn’t have a clue.
It was still a few minutes before opening, so Trina unlocked the door and allowed her two children inside. Sophie was dressed in shorts and a matching shirt, while Dommi wore red jeans, a red-and-white jersey, a red backwards turned baseball cap, and red Air Jordan’s that his father broke down and bought him a week ago. He was styling and he knew it. Carrying his mother’s briefcase only added to his style, he thought.
But when they entered the high-end clothing boutique, and Oprah, Trina’s store manager, greeted the two children as if she was greeting her own kin, they both felt on top of the world. This was their first time coming to work with their mother. It felt great.
“Is it a teacher’s planning day I don’t know about?” Oprah asked as they made their way toward the back counter. Oprah was behind the counter printing a spreadsheet from the computer.
“Not quite,” Trina said as she walked behind the counter.
“I was nearly arrested and deemed to be a domestic terrorist by the FBI,” Dommi proclaimed as if that was a wonderful thing.
Oprah was
stunned. “A terrorist?” She looked at Trina. “And you bought him here?” she asked jokingly.
But Trina failed to see the humor. She wanted to ring Dommi’s neck. She and Reno were doing everything in their power to downplay what happened yesterday, but he was hyping it up. As if it wasn’t embarrassing, but triumphant. “He wasn’t arrested,” she said, “and he’s no terrorist. It was just a misunderstanding between him and two of his classmates. It’s been resolved.”
“We got suspended,” Dommi said, “but we go back to school in two days.”
But Sophie would have none of that. “What do you mean we, black man?” she asked, and Trina and Oprah laughed.
“We’ll be sorting inventory,” Trina said as she placed her purse and phone behind the counter and headed for the downstairs stock room. “Come on, kids,” she added, as Dommi and Sophie followed her.
Outside, two of Reno’s men sat in the car directly behind Trina’s Mercedes. Vat was thumbing through a magazine, while Eddie was listening to The Stephanie Miller Show on Progressive Talk, Sirius XM. He laughed at a joke somebody told, and then glanced over at his partner, and the magazine he was reading. “Golf again?” he asked.
“I like golf,” Vat said. “What’s wrong with that?”
“I can’t stand that shit.”
“It’s better than that shit,” Vat replied, nodding toward the radio. “All of that left-wing bullshit.”
“Better hope Boss don’t hear you talking that way,” Eddie said. “He might not like it.”
Vat looked at him. “Who says Boss is a left-winger?”
“What do you mean?”
“What I said. Who said Boss is a left-winger?”
“He married a black woman,” Eddie said. “He sure as hell ain’t no right-winger.”
“How do you know? I know some right-wingers married to black women. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Reno Gabrini- the Man in the Mirror Page 12