Reno Gabrini: The Trouble with Dommi

by Mallory Monroe

  “You ate enough ribs to be so stuffed,” said his wife Gemma. “That’s for sure!”

  Sal looked at his wife and smiled. Then he took her hand and rubbed his own belly with it. Although he had a rock-hard stomach, it was beginning to show a little paunch. “It’s your job to make me feel better,” he said to laughter from the others assembled around the deck. “Do your job, woman!”

  “Let me get this straight,” said Gemma. “You’re saying it’s my job to make all of those ribs that you just piled into this belly of yours digest faster? Is that what you’re saying is my job?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying, yes,” Sal said. “Do your job, woman!”

  Tommy, who was stuffed, too, but had a knack for looking elegant and poised no matter what the circumstance, shook his head. “My brother is special, guys,” he said to laughter. “Don’t pay his nonsense any attention whatsoever!”

  They were at Sal and Gemma’s Vegas home, in the back by the pool, and all of the children, including Sophie and Destiny, were in the pool horsing around. Even Cecil and Earnestine Hathaway, Trina’s parents, who made it their mission to keep a hawk’s eye on all of the younger ones, were sitting poolside sipping wine and enjoying the fresh night air too. Sal’s father would have been there too. But he was enjoying his time away from it all on vacation in Ireland.

  But Dommi, even Trina’s parents could tell, was antsy to get to the club with his friends.

  Trina leaned over to Reno. “It’s now or never, Reno,” she said. “I’ll give him ten more minutes and he’s out of here.”

  Reno knew it too. That was why he nodded at Tommy, Sal, and Jimmy, and all three got up and began heading into the house. Reno got up too. “Dom!” he yelled.

  Dommi, who had just gone underwater in the pool, surfaced and looked in his father’s direction.

  “Come here!” Reno said.

  Dommi’s heart squeezed. Oh, great, he thought as he got out of the pool in his trunks, with his thick, curly hair flat on his head. Time for the talk! Time for his dad and his uncles to give him some pointers about navigating as an all-grown-up Gabrini in this world. And he was nervous about it. He didn’t know why. But he could barely manage his nerves.

  Reno began heading inside of Sal’s house, too, and Dommi, understanding that he was to follow his father, grabbed a towel and did just that.

  Grace and Gemma looked at Trina. But Trina was staring straight ahead. She couldn’t even talk right now. Rarely in her life had she been so worried about one of her children the way she worried about Dom. Even Jimmy, during his trouble-plagued past, didn’t give her heart as many palpitations as Dom did. Because she knew Dom. She knew what that boy was capable of. She was worried sick.

  In Uncle Sal’s home office, all of the men were already seated in chairs when he walked in. And they had a chair waiting for Dommi. Dommi, with his towel still in his hand, sat in the seat. Tommy was amazed at how muscular Dommi had gotten since the last time he saw his nephew shirtless. He’d been undoubtedly working out, Tommy decided, with Jimmy or maybe even with Sal. But certainly not with his father. Although muscular himself, Reno wouldn’t know what a workout looked like lately.

  “Do you understand why we called you back here?” Reno asked Dommi.

  “Yeah, sure,” said Dommi. Then he smiled a smile that didn’t reach his big eyes. “Time for the talk. Not the being a black man in America talk. You and Mom already gave me that one. The other talk. The being a Gabrini in America talk.”

  “Uncle Mick is out of the question,” Reno said bluntly. “You will not be working for him.”

  Dommi frowned. “But what if he wants me to?”

  “I don’t give a fuck what he wants!” Reno was already upset. “I said you will not be working for him, and that settles it. I’m not letting you get into any of that mob shit, are you crazy?”

  “You were in the mob once,” said Dommi. “And Uncle Sal still is.”

  Sal leaned forward. “Who told you that lie?” he asked his nephew, although everybody in the room knew Dommi spoke the truth.

  “Let’s get something straight right now,” Reno said to his son. “I was born in the mob, you’re right about that. But as soon as I grew up and came to my senses, I got the fuck out. My old man was in that shit. He put me in that shit. But when I had a choice, I got out. I’m making the choice for you. You aren’t going in.”

  Dommi ran his hands over his handsome face. “It’s not about going in or not going in, Pop,” he said. “It’s about what I’m good at. I’m good at enforcing. Uncle Mick said so himself, and you know he should know. Uncle Sal told me that once too. I’m an enforcer. It’s what I’m good at.”

  “Are you good at getting shot?” Jimmy asked his younger, hotheaded brother. “Are you good at dying? Because that’s what enforcing will lead to.”

  “Uncle Mick used to be an enforcer,” Dommi fired back at his big brother. “Cousin Teddy is an enforcer as we speak. They ain’t dead yet.”

  Jimmy looked at Reno. There was no getting through to Dommi when his mind was made up, and all of them knew it.

  “What we’re trying to say to you, knucklehead,” Sal said, “is that we don’t want you making bad choices. Yeah, you have what it takes,” Sal added. Reno and Jimmy gave Sal a hard look.

  “You have what it takes,” Sal continued, “but that doesn’t mean it’s the right path to take. Nobody wants danger twenty-four-seven. But that’s exactly what you’re bargaining for if you pull your ass in.”

  “That adrenalin rush?” Dommi asked. “I need that, Uncle Sal. Just like you need it. Or you wouldn’t be in it either.”

  Sal was astounded. “Adrenalin rush?” he asked his young nephew. “You think I’m living that mob life, supposedly, because I want an adrenalin rush? I have a wife and kid! You think I risk my life because I like the danger? I hate the fucking danger! I hate that I’m putting my family at risk over and over again. It’s not about any adrenalin rush, are you out of your fucking mind?!”

  Dommi didn’t understand. “Then what is it about?” he asked sincerely. “Why are you in if you hate it?”

  “Because I can’t get out!” Sal yelled painfully, although he knew he had previously denied any involvement in the mob. But Dommi, he felt, deserved an explanation. “Don’t you understand what I’m saying, boy? I’ve got too many enemies gunning for me. Same with Uncle Mick. We’ve got too many enemies and none of those fuckers are going to turn a blinds’ eye just because we declare ourselves mob-free. There’s no such thing! Once you’re in, your ass is in for life!”

  “Dad got out,” said Dommi.

  Reno leaned his head back in exasperation, and then looked at Dommi. “I was born in that shit. How many times do I have to tell you that? I was allowed to get out because I never elected to get in. I never formally got in! But I still had blowback, son. To this day, I still have blowback from some of my old man’s enemies. To this day! But I charted a different course for my children. I promised your mother that none of our children will go in that direction, and I aim to keep that promise. That’s the only reason she let me knock her ass up, because I promised.”

  Dommi just sat there. His thick, curly hair and five-o-clock shadow made him look older than his eighteen years. “Uncle Mick let cousin Teddy in,” he said. Teddy Sinatra was always his go-to example. “It’s working out just fine for cousin Teddy.”

  “Uncle Mick let your cousin Joey in too,” said Sal. “How’s that working out for Joey?”

  Joey was paralyzed because of his involvement in Mick’s dealings. But Dommi had an excuse for that inconvenient truth too. “Joey is on a far lower level than Teddy,” said Dommi, “and y’all know it. I’m on Teddy’s level. Y’all know that too.”

  Reno shook his head. “You’ve got an answer for everything. Don’t you, boy? But what your ass is failing to realize is that Teddy Sinatra was already into that shit before Mick let him in. He was already in. I remember when he was drug running for Mick’s s
ister Amelia, that’s how deep he was in. He was already tamed before he got under his old man’s influence. You aren’t tamed yet.”

  “If you’re so opposed to me working for Uncle Mick, then Uncle Sal will tame me,” said Dommi.

  “Uncle Sal?” Reno said the name as if it was a contaminant. “His ass ain’t tamed yet either!”

  Dommi laughed.

  “Fuck you, Reno,” said Sal.

  Then the room went quiet again, and Dommi’s look became more serious. He looked at his father. “I thought it was understood,” he said, “that I would go to work for Uncle Sal, or Uncle Mick. I thought that was understood, Pop.”

  “Then you thought wrong,” said Reno bluntly. “I never signed off on that death certificate, and I never will. Never! And no matter how old you get, I’m still the boss of your ass. Don’t you forget that, Dom. You will still do whatever I tell your ass to do.”

  Reno’s father gave Reno that same speech years ago, but he was giving it to keep Reno in, not to keep him out. It didn’t work on Reno either.

  Dommi rubbed his hand across his face again. He was agitated and angry and, Reno could tell, confused as he could be. He wanted in so badly he could taste it. And Reno knew it. And that, for Reno, was a hard, cold pill he didn’t want to swallow. He thought he was ready to face it when Dommi was younger and getting into all the shit he got into. But now that the time had arrived, Reno had cold feet. He couldn’t face it!

  Reno looked to Tommy. He was always the voice of reason in the family. And Reno’s eyes were clear: help me, they were saying to Tommy. Save my son!

  Tommy, who had been completely silent, leaned forward, staring at Dommi. Dommi was no Jimmy. Jimmy could be tamed. And between Reno and Tommy and even Sal, they did tame Jimmy. But Dommi was as hotheaded as Reno and Sal, and Tommy knew it. Trying to come at him by denying he was who he was wasn’t going to work. So Tommy, also known as the brains of the family, didn’t even try.

  “We love you, Dominic,” he said to his nephew. “That’s why we’re concerned about your path. The first time you’re being shot at. The first time you’re being hauled off to jail. The first time you’re madly in love with someone, and they’re in danger because of the decisions you’ve made, that’s when you’ll understand what we’re trying to tell you. We just want to spare you the agony. Because we all, every one of us in this room, can attest to the agony. And in that moment, when your family is at risk, it’s not pain, Dommi. Pain is easy. It’s agony. We don’t want you to go down that road.”

  “Then the answer’s simple,” Dommi said. “I won’t have a family. I won’t fall in love. I won’t do any of that shit. I’ll fly solo. What happens, will happen. But it’ll only happen to me.”

  Reno frowned angrily. “What the fuck are you talking? You come from me and your mother, you dumb ass! What happens to you, happens to us too. Now don’t worry about me agonizing over your stupid ass. Don’t you ever worry about me. But worry about your mother agonizing over your stupid ass. Worry about her for a change!”

  Reno was getting animated, as he always did when he spoke of anybody hurting Trina. And the mention of Trina did seem to disturb Dommi’s confidence.

  But then Dommi stood up. “I haven’t made any decisions about anything yet, so there’s no need for anybody to be worrying.” Then he frowned, as if he understood the gravity too. “When I decide something, I’ll let you know,” he added. “I’ll let all of you know,” he said as he stared at the Gabrini men. And then he just stood there, as if there was more to say but he wasn’t willing to say it. And then he walked out of the room.

  Within moments of his departure, Trina hurried in, her arms folded, her eyes uncertain. “Well?” she asked, staring mainly at Reno. “What’s been decided?”

  Reno looked shellshocked to her. “He’s fearless,” Reno said, then he looked at Trina. “There’s no stopping him now, babe. He is who he is, and that’s what he’s going to be. No matter what we say.”

  “I told your ass it wasn’t going to be as easy as you were making it out to be,” Trina lashed out at Reno. “I told you just saying it was in his blood and letting it fester was the wrong way to raise him. But you wouldn’t listen to me. We should have done more to shield him, Reno. We should have done more! Now any blood he sheds is going to be on our hands too!”

  Reno got up and began hurrying to his unhinged wife.

  “His blood,” Trina said, as the tears began to fall, “is going to be on our hands. Our hands, Reno,” she said, her own hands shaking. “Our hands!”

  Reno pulled her tightly into his big arms. And she sobbed for her son.

  Tommy and Sal and Jimmy were feeling guilty too. They were feeling as if they could have done more to slow Dommi’s wild ass down when he was younger and they still stood a chance at reaching him. But Dommi was so cute with his wildness. It was all so cute!

  Now it was just plain scary because they all knew that every Gabrini man had that same wildness deep within them. And it was a wildness that was capable, if not controlled, of getting them killed in any tough situation they encountered, because they’d take it too far.

  Reno looked at them as he held his wife.

  But they couldn’t look at him.

  They dropped their heads in shame and anguish too.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Mo’s was jumping by the time Dommi sped his high-revved, older model Camaro into the parking lot and got out and hurried inside. He was dressed the way Dommi dressed: in Jordans, a pair of jeans, and a pure-white tucked-in t-shirt that highlighted his six-pack and muscular biceps. His shoulder-length, thick and curly black hair was bouncing with his every movement. L. L. Cool D., some of the guys dubbed him, because ladies loved Dommi Gabrini too. But Dommi was cool to the ladies. He’d seen what all of that falling in love did to his big brother Jimmy when Jimmy was married to Val. He’d seen what it did to many of his friends. He wasn’t getting all mixed up and tangled up like that.

  “What’s up, Dommi G!” said Terry “Hawk” Hawkins, his main man, as Dommi walked over to their elongated VIP couch and the two men slapped hands. Hawk already had two females on either arm, as did the other guys in the section. But they all made room for Dommi, their leader, and he ended up sitting in the middle of the pack. He didn’t make himself their leader. They made him their leader. Although everybody knew Dommi preferred to go it alone.

  “How’s it going so far?” Dom asked.

  “This place is freaking awesome,” said Hawk. Hawk was a gorgeous black guy who Dommi knew would have his back in any rough situation. And vice versa. But Hawk was more into making love to the ladies than all of that gangster shit Dommi liked. They were opposites, but they were tight. “The females, as you can see right here, are off the freaking chain!”

  Dommi smiled. Hawk had a gorgeous black girl on one arm, and a gorgeous white girl on the other arm. The other guys in the large section had ladies of various hues around the couch too.

  “Want one?” another in their group asked Dommi.

  Dommi glanced at the girls. All of them had their breasts practically hanging out of their blouses, and their skirts up their asses to almost the indecent level of exposure. And all of them seemed more than willing to switch arms if he’d only want them too. But none of them were Dommi’s type. He couldn’t say what type he truly liked, but it wasn’t any of them. “I’m good,” he said, ordered a drink although he and his buddies weren’t old enough to drink. But who was going to tell? It was graduation night. Everybody was underage. Everybody was drinking their asses off.

  But Dommi wasn’t so into partying that he couldn’t notice his friend Mariah in the room. She was sitting at Amber’s table, next to Jonathan, although Jonathan’s full attention seemed to be on every other beautiful female in that group, and especially Amber.

  But when Amber looked over and saw Dommi looking their way, as if he was looking exclusively at her, she got up and began heading his way.

  “Uh-oh,” said Hawk when
he saw her coming, too. “Miss Prom Queen is coming over. She likes you, Dom. You know that, right?”

  Dommi didn’t respond.

  “Do a brother a favor and hook me up,” said Hawk, which caused one of his ladies to slap him on the chest.

  He quickly recovered. “Just kidding,” he said, although Dommi didn’t understand why she was so angry that Hawk liked Amber. He had another woman on his other arm! It was all so high school to Dommi.

  But if Amber thought he would forget the disrespectful way she treated Mariah at their graduation, especially when she called Mariah a thing, she had another thought coming. Some people didn’t suffer fools well. Dommi didn’t suffer assholes who thought they were better than other people at all.

  “Hey, everybody,” Amber said with her winning smile and every one of the guys, and even the girls in that section, smiled and spoke back, and had a little small-talk chitchat with her.

  But then Amber turned her attention to the man whose attention she was there to get all along. “Hey, Dommi,” she said with that winning smile.

  But Dommi didn’t hesitate. He remembered how she treated Mariah. “Go fuck yourself,” he said to her.

  Everybody in the section went still. Nobody spoke to Amber that way! And Amber’s face couldn’t shield her anger.

  But she didn’t lash out the way they expected her to. She didn’t even frown, although it was obvious she wanted to. But Amber, being the professional bitch she was, turned it back on Dommi. “Maybe later,” she said. “But not now.” Then she turned and walked away.

  Everybody on that couch broke into laughter. “Why your ass talk to Am like that?” Hawk was wondering, but Dommi had already moved on. Amber wasn’t worth his time or attention.

  But Mariah was. And Hawk noticed how Dommi kept taking peeps at her. Which confounded him. “What’s with you, man?” he asked Dom.

  Dommi looked at him. “What do you mean?”

  “I see you staring at that big bear.”

  “What big bear?” another guy in the group asked.