“What the fuck?” Fast said angrily as he rose from his leaned position.
His men ran to the windows. “The main house is on fire, Boss! The main house is on fire!”
Fast ran fast to the window. The main house, where Fast stored all of his money and his weapons, his personal bank and gun-running operation, was up in flames. “Motherfucker! Put it out,” he yelled to his men. “Put it out!”
And the guards, except for two, took off running out of the barn and toward the main house. Fast pulled out his own gun and walked in front of Sal and Reno. “Don’t even think about trying something smart,” he said. Then he stared at Sal. “You pulled that shit?”
“What shit?” Sal asked, staring right back at Fast.
And then, within seconds of Fast’s men running to the scene of the fire, there was another explosion. Fast ran to the barn windows again. And that’s when he saw grenades were being lobbed from a van, and his men were dropping like flies.
“Did they hit our men, Boss?” one of the guards asked him.
“Yes,” Fast responded.
“How many?”
“All,” Fast said and quickly turned to Sal. He pointed the gun at Sal as he walked angrily toward him. “I should have killed your ass when you banged my woman,” he said.
“Kill me for banging that?” Sal asked. “I thought I was doing your ass a favor.”
“You asshole!” Fast put the gun to Sal’s head, as if he was ready to pull the trigger.
But before he could pull anything, a bullet was fired that hit him on his very trigger hand, and the gun dropped. Fast grabbed his injured hand and looked up. His men turned their guns toward where the gunfire came from. And they all saw Tommy Gabrini standing there. The men thought to fire, but they didn’t get a chance. Tommy shot and killed both of Fast’s guards. Then he turned his rifle on Fast.
Sal and Reno were so relieved to see Tommy they didn’t know what to do. Then they got a hold of themselves and got back to work. They stood up, Sal picked up Fast’s gun, and Reno slammed Fast down in the chair. “Now motherfucker,” Reno said, “we get down to business!”
“Who was that guard going to call in my organization?” Sal asked him.
When Fast didn’t respond, Sal knocked him in the mouth with the butt of the gun. Three of Fast’s teeth fell out. Fast was still holding his shot hand. And now he was holding his mouth too.
“Who?” Sal asked again.
Fast still didn’t say anything. Reno and Tommy looked at each other. Sal pistol whipped Fast again, this time knocking out yet more teeth.
“It’s Robby,” Fast finally said, as he spat blood out of his mouth. “It’s Robby Yale. Robby’s the mastermind. It was Robby who ordered me to take you out.”
But, to Reno and Tommy’s shock, Sal didn’t move. He didn’t call Gemma. He didn’t ask them to call her.
Sal knelt down to where he had eye to eye contact with Fast. “There was a mastermind, alright,” Sal said. “And you ain’t it. Robby ain’t it. Who ordered you to ice me?” he asked him.
“But Sal!” Reno said. “What about your family?”
“They’re fine, Reno,” Sal responded. “Robby’s got them covered.”
“What makes you so sure?” Reno asked. “What makes you so sure, Sal?” he asked again.
Sal looked at Reno. “What’s your problem? You act like it’s your woman in Robby’s custody. It’s my woman. Not yours. She’s fine.”
Reno stared at Sal, understanding the implication. “Fuck you,” he said.
Sal looked at Fast. He knew where his breaking point was. For some men, it defined them. Fast was one of those men. Sal pointed the gun at Fast’s genitals. “Who ordered those hits on me and mine?” he asked again.
Fast’s eyes stretched. He knew Sal would pull that trigger. He knew he would!
“I will not ask again,” Sal said, and cocked the trigger. Sal was looking for one particular name. Then he’d believe Fast Eddie Bronson.
“Easy,” Fast finally said. “Easy Max Capone.”
And Sal, satisfied, removed the gun from Fast’s manhood.
Reno was staring at Sal. “How did you know it wasn’t Robby?” he asked.
“Because it never is,” Sal said. “That’s some fucking line they’ve been told to spew. And it didn’t matter.”
“But he’s watching your wife and baby. You weren’t worried that he was watching your family?”
“Robby isn’t watching Gemma,” Sal said. “Gemma’s watching Robby.”
And when they made it back to Sal’s estate, after placing Fast Eddie in one of Sal’s torture chamber-styled safe houses, opting not to kill him until he gave them all the intel he could on Easy Max Capone, Reno and Tommy saw what Sal meant. When they made it into the safe room inside Sal’s estate, Gemma was sitting in the back of the room, with her baby on her lap, aiming her gun at Robby Yale, and anybody else. It was nothing personal, but Gemma had a feeling that something had gone wrong, and she immediately took a defensive posture. She immediately went into trust no-one mode. Although it was a false alarm inside the safe room, Sal could not have been prouder.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Sal was half-asleep in the bathtub by the time Gemma broke away from Reno and Tommy and made her way upstairs. Robby Yale had gone home to rest up; Cab Coleman was placed in charge of the safe house that housed Fast Eddie Bronson, with Yvonne, unbeknownst to Fast, down in the basement of the same house; and Lucky was fast asleep in his nursery. It had been another long day.
When Gemma saw Sal sitting in that custom-made claw-foot tub he loved, and saw that he was leaned back and dozing off, with his legs wide open and flapped out over the tub, her heart ached for him. He wouldn’t tell her how harrowing their mission had been; he wouldn’t give her even the smallest detail of how tough it was.
But Reno told her. It was touch and go all the way. And if it wasn’t for Sal’s quick thinking, he said to her, no telling how it would have turned out. Gemma knew Reno was like that. He praised Sal no end behind his back. But to his face, let Reno tell it, Sal could do nothing right.
Gemma removed her clothing and got in the tub with Sal. When Sal felt her foot hit against his inner thigh, he woke up out of his stupor. And was thrilled to see her as she sat in front of him, facing him. “You took your pretty time,” he said to her.
“Had to put our son to bed,” Gemma replied, “and make sure Reno and Tommy were fed. Reno’s heading home after he eats, but Tommy called Grace. He’s going to stay the night.”
Sal nodded. “Good. Once my men get Fast to tell us all he can about this Easy Max Capone character, I may need him. And once Fast tell me everything I need to know, then I’ll be sending him home, too.”
Gemma reached for the bath soap. “Somehow I doubt you mean that barn he’s been living in.”
Sal nodded. “Good bet.”
Gemma poured soap in her hand and began bathing Sal’s entire body. He leaned his head back, closed his eyes, and enjoyed every second of her caresses. He needed her like he needed air to breathe, and he knew it. In the old days, whenever he came home from a difficult mission, he had to rely on hookers or some other female he didn’t give shit about, and she didn’t give shit about him, to soothe him. But it never worked. Something was always missing for Sal. Now he knew what it was. It wasn’t just that there was no love there when those ladies tried to soothe him. There was no Gemma there. And that, Sal now knew as Gemma poured more soap in her soft hands and began massaging his penis, was a big fucking difference.
By the time she finished bathing him, and by the time she finished bathing herself, fucking was exactly what Sal and Gemma wanted to do. Once they got out of the tub and dried off, Sal moved up to Gemma and placed his hands on the sides of her slender arms. “Thanks,” he said to her with such a heartfelt look in his eyes that it made him look so sweet and vulnerable to Gemma.
But before she could comment on that look, and the way he made her feel, he pulled her into
his big arms and held her in a wonderful, crushing bear hug. Sal could feel her hardened nipples against his hard chest, and his hands massaged her soft, tight ass before he lifted her into his arms, and carried her to their bed.
He pulled back the covers, placed Gemma in bed, and then got in beside her. After covering her again, he didn’t, as he planned to do, immediately start making love to her. It felt too good just to be in bed with her, and to hold her. They were face to face, and both were staring into each other’s eyes.
Gemma began rubbing Sal’s brown, silky hair. “Reno told me it was touch and go out there,” she said.
Sal rubbed the smooth edges of Gemma’s soft, shoulder-length, bouncy hair. “Two things I know for sure,” he said. “It’s always touch and go out there. And Reno talks too much.”
Gemma smiled. But then her look turned serious. There was a time Sal would not tell her anything about his other business. But now that his other business was his only business, he shared more with her. And she took full advantage of that sharing. In many ways, she felt as if it was bringing them closer as a family. “What about the other guy,” she said. “What about Billy Minoche? Yvonne Welker didn’t seem to think he had anything to do with the hits, but what about taking over your territory? What did Fast Eddie Bronson say about that?”
“Nothing to say about it. My men checked Minoche out already. He has no backing. Minoche likes to flex his muscle this way every now and then, just to see if there’s blood in the water. He backed off. My men already know what to do with him if he starts sniffing again.”
“And what about you?” Gemma asked.
“I have bigger fish to fry. I need to make sure we get every fucker involved with those hits so that my family can live free again.”
“And I can return to my law practice and campaign. Not to mention my clothing store.”
Sal nodded. “That’s right. But until I get that last piece of this puzzle, I need you to work from home again.”
“I already planned for it,” Gemma said with a nod of her head. “Tyler’s coming over tomorrow. Naturally, he’s highly upset by these starts and stops we’ve been experiencing.”
Sal looked at him. Tyler sometimes took too many liberties with Gemma and got ahead of himself, in Sal’s view. “And what did you tell him when he voiced his displeasure with the way you’re running things?”
“I told him he worked for me, not the other way around, and if he wasn’t happy with the way I was handling the campaign, he was free to leave.”
Sal’s heart warmed inside. He could count on Gemma in every way. If something were to happen to him, he knew that their son would be in safe, fantastic hands. “What did Ty say about that?” he asked.
“He hemmed and hawed as only Tyler can. And got back to work.”
Sal grinned a grin that reminded Gemma of Lucky. And then, as they lay there, staring at each other as if they couldn’t believe how wonderful it was to have their partnership, their smiles slowly dissipated. And Sal was now rubbing the side of Gemma’s face in a way that let her know exactly what he wanted from her. And it wasn’t going to be pretty.
Sal moved closer and kissed her with a hard, lingering kiss. When she thought it was going to end, and he was going to let her back up for air, he wrapped his big arms around her and kissed her even harder, and longer, and with even more passion.
Gemma felt his passion to the roots of her hair and wrapped her arms around him too. And then she was in the throes of that same passion. She was kissing him with similar vigor and longing. Their heads would move from side to side as they kissed. Their eyes would open, and close, and squeeze tight as they kissed. Their kissing would stop momentarily, and their lips would rub against each other, and they both took the chance to breathe again. And then they were kissing, they were at it, once again.
Sal finally tore himself away from Gemma’s mouth and moved down her neck to her breasts. She laid on her back as he began to ravish her breasts with the same ferocity that he ravaged her mouth. Gemma was groaning with sensuality as he sucked and fondled her. And then he moved down further, between her legs.
Sal loved the taste of Gemma as he began licking her with long-lasting, slow-on-purpose licks. He licked and flicked and then eased his tongue between her folds as he mouth-fucked her.
Gemma’s legs were wide open, and her hands were squeezing his hair, as he did her. And when he bit her down there, and made her vaginal juices ooze with the pleasure of that unleashed joy, she couldn’t help it. She yelled out with such a sense of wonderment and happiness that Sal had to look up at her with a grin, and shush her. She grinned, too, and stifled herself. She curbed her outward display of enthusiasm because they still had guests, Reno and Tommy, in their home. And Sal knew, if Reno heard them, he wouldn’t hear the end of it.
But their grinning ways soon ceased when Sal moved his face back up to her face, and began kissing her with that same passion with which he had been licking and sucking her. And then the main event always, which was his fully aroused penis, entered her.
Gemma felt pure elation when he entered her. Sal felt pure power when he entered her. Not power over her. But power over loneliness. And despair. And all of that shit in that outside world that always beckoned him to come, and to handle, and to figure out. With Gemma, there was nothing to figure out. With Gemma, he felt at home.
They made love in their bed, in the comfort of their home, for a long time. It was sweet and slow at first, and then that need broke inside of Sal and it was fierce. He went from the easiness of his strokes, to a steady increase that soon became a pounding. Gemma’s legs were open wide and bent at Sal’s side, and Sal’s ass was pumping harder and harder into her, as she held on with all she could. He was leaving it all on the field. He was thrashing her in a way that kept her on the verge of cum for several minutes. Until the verge ruptured, and she had to go there. She went there with a hard, searing orgasm.
So hard, and so wonderful was her orgasm, that it broke the dam wide open for Sal. And he came. He stopped pumping and poured into her. He stopped pumping and held onto her. He used to be able to continue pumping even as he saturated her, but not tonight. He had given her his all with such love and care and affection that his strength was gone, it had completely evaporated, when he came.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Robby Yale and Curtis Kane were asleep in bed, that next day, when Robby’s intercom buzzed. Robby woke up and groggily pressed the button on his nightstand. “Yes?” he asked.
It was Security at the luxury condo where Robby lived. “Mr. Reno Gabrini and Mr. Tommy Gabrini are here to see you, sir,” the security officer said.
Robby’s eyes stretched with disbelief, and he jumped his naked body out of bed. Reno and Tommy? And both of them were there to see him? The only way it would have been more frightening was if his boss, Sal Gabrini, had been downstairs too. But he knew he had only one option. “Please send them up,” he said calmly.
Curtis was just waking up when Robby ended the conversation. “Send who up?” Curtis asked.
“Reno and Tommy Gabrini are downstairs,” Robby said nervously as he quickly put back on his pants.
Even Curtis understood the significance of that, and quickly removed the covers from his body too. “What do you want me to do?” he asked as he got his own naked body out of bed.
“Go in the bathroom and lock the door,” Robby ordered. “Stay there until I say you can come out. I don’t care who knocks on that door, you’d better not say a word, and you’d better not open it, unless it’s me.”
Curtis felt all kinds of ridiculous. He still didn’t understand why Robby didn’t just tell those Gabrinis the truth. But he didn’t argue with him again. He, instead, grabbed up all of his clothes from the night before, and hurried into the bathroom. “You make me feel like a criminal,” he said, as he went. When he got into the bathroom, he slammed the door shut.
Robby looked at the door when it slammed, and then stopped. He felt like a cri
minal, too. But he knew who he was dealing with. Alpha-males like the Gabrinis were not going to allow any homosexual, no matter how masculine he presented himself, to run anything of theirs. He’d been around alphas all his life, and to them he would be considered unnatural and disgusting. He knew he would lose his job, and all the power that entailed, if his secret ever came to light.
He buttoned his shirt, put on his shoes, and grabbed his cell phone. They might need him to leave right away, and he would need his phone to text Curtis and let him know the coast was clear.
But as he closed the bedroom door, and made his way toward the front door of his condo, he knew he had a bigger job at hand. Because he never knew what direction those Gabrinis were coming from. Was it about Fast Eddie’s capture, as he suspected it was? Or could it be about his personal life? If that were the case, then Robby knew his job would be to convince Reno and Tommy that he was as normal as they were. That any rumors about his homosexuality were ridiculous on their face. “Me, gay? Me, queer? Me, a faggot?” Robby knew he would have to respond like that, or say something equally obnoxious. “Are you out of your fucking mind?” he knew he would also have to add.
In the corridor walk-up to Robby’s condo, Reno and Tommy were debating if they were overstepping their bounds. Reno decided that they weren’t.
“Somebody has to do it,” Reno said. “Sal sure as hell won’t. But there’s too much smoke around Robby’s name. And then Fast brings him up again. He claimed he had Robby’s ass on speed dial! And we’re supposed to just take Sal’s word for it? Sal has blinders on when it comes to Robby Yale, and for the life of me I don’t understand why.”
Tommy had to agree with Reno’s assessment. “I don’t either,” he said. “But you’re right. Sal’s instincts say Robby is to be trusted with his life, and he lives instinctively.”
“We all do,” Reno responded. “And maybe he’s right about Robby. But damn, Tommy, why would Fast lie like that? Why would he tell his man to get Robby Yale on the phone, if it was bullshit?”
Sal Gabrini: Love And War Page 14