“Okay,” she said. “I said okay!” Then she settled back down. “I’d better get back inside,” she added.
There was a pause on his end of the line. “Talk to you later,” he said, and then the line went dead.
Gemma hung up too.
But when she returned to the booth inside the Barker Lounge, her eyes were trained on Reno. Then she asked Marsh if he could excuse them.
“Sure,” he said. “I’ll be at the bar.”
When he left, she didn’t sit down, but continued to stare at Reno. “Why would you call him?” she asked.
“Call who?” Trina wanted to know.
“Sal,” Gemma said. “Reno called Sal and just so happened to mention the fact that after dinner I was going upstairs to review Marsh’s opening argument.”
“And Sal’s upset?”
“Upset?” Gemma asked. “That man is pissed!”
“Damn right he’s pissed!” Reno said. “And if you’re asking, rather than just insinuating if I called him, then the answer is yes, I did. I absolutely did! And you can be angry with me all you want, Gem, but you’re Sal Luca’s old lady. You aren’t some random woman! Sal had a right to know what was going down, whether you think he did or not. I would expect nothing less from him if it had been Tree and some man, and he expects nothing less from me.”
Gemma was beside herself. She looked at Trina. But she got no sympathy there. Trina exhaled, a stormy yet resigned look in her hazel eyes. “Welcome to Gabrini World,” she said to her friend.
Gemma didn’t realize just how much she was indeed in a new world until that look in Trina’s eyes validated it.
That made it easier for her to go to Marsh and tell him, although she’d continue to consult on the case, it would have to be during business hours only. But she left the restaurant all the same. It was a different world she was now living in, but it was up to her, not Reno, not Tree, not even Sal, to determine what place she had in it. That would be for her to figure out.
“Where is he?” Chazz asked Will as they waited in Will’s car. They were in back of an old, empty building.
“Just keep your shirt on,” Will responded. “He’ll be here.”
But it would be several more minutes, nearly half an hour, before the car drove up. And when Patty Pacheco got out of the trunk of the car, rather than the front seat, Chazz frowned.
“What’s his problem?” he wanted to know.
“What do you think?” Will responded. “He busted out of prison. There’s a nationwide manhunt for his ass. You’d be traveling in a trunk too!”
“Not me,” Chazz said. “I’ve got more class than that.”
“Class my ass,” Will said, as he rolled down the car’s window.
Patty, from their understanding, was coming to give them instructions. Instructions straight from Fab Menza’s mouth. But Patty, instead, once he arrived at the car’s window, greeted them and then pulled out a gun. He shot both men repeatedly. Their bodies buckled and jerked and Patty kept shooting until there was no movement left. Then he shot off a few more rounds for insurance.
He had come on Fab Menza’s orders, all right, but only not for the reasons Will and Chazz could have ever expected.
Patty got back in that trunk, and the car drove away.
THIRTEEN
Gemma arrived at the county courthouse early that next morning. It had been a long night. She had waited half of the night for Sal to phone her and make up to her, but that call never came. Then she spent the other half of the night trying to decide if she should phone him. By the time she decided against it, and was able to get some sleep, it was already three a.m. Now it was eight, she had a long day ahead of her, and she felt like the walking dead.
She was in the break room inside the courthouse. She poured herself a cup of coffee and then made her way to the attorney room. This was where she met her clients. The ones still locked up, that was.
After requesting her latest client’s presence, she sipped her coffee and reviewed her notes. Her eyes felt irritated, and she kept yawning, but she knew she had to pull it together. Kenny Winston was facing a murder rap, with the possibility of twenty years to Life, and the evidence was powerful against him. She wanted him to take the plea the prosecution was offering, but he wasn’t interested. He wanted to fight and win an unwinnable case. So she was fighting. But given the overwhelming negative evidence, she had precious little to work with.
And to make matters worse, as soon as Kenny Winston walked into the attorney room and saw her, he was ready to turn back around.
“I thought you said my lawyer was here to see me,” he said to the guard.
The guard, a burly black man, pushed him back into the room. “Don’t play with me, boy,” he said. “Your black ass know that’s your lawyer!”
“No it ain’t either,” Kenny shot back. “I fired her. She’s no lawyer of mine! They said they’re gonna appoint me a new attorney after I make my declaration in open court today. I don’t want nothing to do with her. She’s just a patsy for the prosecution!”
The guard looked at Gemma. “Is that true, Miss Jones? I mean, about you no longer representing him?”
Gemma began closing her notebook and standing. “Apparently so,” she said. It wouldn’t be the first time she was the last to know. And Kenny was right. They would meet before the judge, he would make his request known in open court, and, if all goes according to his plan, that should be the end of her time on the case.
She looked at Kenny. “I wish you well with your new attorney,” she said.
“Yeah, right. Sure you do! You and the prosecution! Trying to get me to take some plea deal! I’m not taking shit, you hear me? I’m not taking shit!”
Gemma left. He’d regret this day, she knew, when the judge was imposing twenty or more years on his behind. Then suddenly those five years she was able to wrangle out of the prosecution wouldn’t look so ominous then.
But her brave front, and her almost lackadaisical response in front of Kenny and the guard, were as phony as she felt. She walked slowly out of the attorney room, still putting her best foot forward, until she made it down the hall into the Ladies bathroom. When she realized she was alone, she leaned against the sink and fought back tears. Being an attorney had always been her mother’s dream, who was a phenomenal attorney, and her own dream as well. She never dreamed she’d be this bad at it. She hadn’t won a case in eons and even judges were becoming hesitant to agree to court appoint her on a case. And her law practice was her bread and butter. She couldn’t rely on anything else. Not Champagne’s, which was just beginning to break even and may never go any further than breaking even. Not Sal, who became bitterly angry with her last night and didn’t bother calling her to make up. Her law practice was it. Now it was failing her too.
A woman came into the bathroom, forcing her to grab a tissue, bat her watery eyes, and then hightail it out of there. She knew too many lawyers in this building for her to let any of them see her crying. She therefore hurried toward the atrium to make a clean getaway.
But that didn’t mean her day couldn’t get any worse. It did. Almost immediately after she came out of the bathroom. She was in the atrium, about to head downstairs, when Marsh Denning hurried up to her.
“Gem, hey!” She turned around. “I’m glad I caught up with you.” When he saw her puffy eyes, he frowned. “You okay?”
“I’m good, yeah,” Gemma said, attempting to ignore the obvious. “What’s up?”
“Great news. We decided to settle the case. The one you’re consulting on, that is.”
Gemma stared at him. “You did?”
“We did.”
“And when did you decide to do this?”
Marsh smiled. “Yesterday morning. I’m sticking around to complete the final package. I should be heading back to D.C. later today.”
But Gemma was floored. “You settled the case yesterday morning?”
“That’s right.”
She had to fight to
maintain her composure. “Then why were you asking me to review your opening argument last night if you knew the case was settled and there would be no trial?”
Marsh had to smile at that. “Ah, come on, Gem. You know me. You think I was going to resist a chance to hit that?” He said this and gave her body an approving look over.
Gemma just stood there. She couldn’t believe it.
“But you knew that, right?” he asked. “You knew where I was coming from, right? You was lonely, I was lonely, I thought we could make some beautiful music together. Just for a night anyway. But you knew that, right?”
Gemma was beside herself. Not only was she a terrible attorney, but she couldn’t even spot a pickup anymore when she used to know them like the back of her hand. She shook her head.
And Marsh had the nerve to be smiling and extending his hand. “No hard feelings,” he said.
But Gemma looked at his hand as if it were a snake, looked at him with nothing but contempt in her heart, and then headed downstairs. She just left.
Marsh’s smile soon dried up. His heart was regretful. He really could have fallen for her. But not after the way she treated him last night. Not after she suddenly wasn’t good enough to go to upstairs with him. Not after that.
“That’s what you get, bitch,” he said as he watched her leave. “Think you’re going to brush me off and get away with it? That’s what you get.”
When Gemma made it across the parking lot to her car, she got in, leaned her head back, and tried with all she had to pull herself together. This was fast becoming, not just a bad day, but a horrible one. What, she wondered, could she savage of it?
She pulled out her smartphone and reviewed her schedule for the week. It was all about Kenny’s trial and her consulting work for Marsh. Now that both of those revenue streams had dried up, there was absolutely nothing on her docket. Not one case. And Trina made clear that she had Champagne’s well in hand, her and their third partner Liz and the new manager they had hired. So Gemma leaned her head back. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t use the break, because she knew she could. It was just not the kind of break she had been hoping for.
Not that she didn’t have plenty of things to do. She could go home and clean her house the way she wanted to, she thought, and wait for the next case to come along. Or she could spread the word around that she was open to more court-appointed cases.
Then she thought about Sal. Still no phone call from him, still no messages. And he had been right. Marsh wasn’t interested in anything but what was between her legs, just as Sal had called it. Which was ridiculous. The idea that she would let any man other than Sal touch anything between her legs was absurd! But Sal had called it right. Just as she would have called it before she became so full of herself, and stopped paying attention.
She phoned her office. Curtis answered on the first ring.
“Gemma Jones, Esquire,” he said. “May I help you?”
“Yes, Curtis,” she said, wondering what was the fastest flight she could get out of town. “You can help me.”
Later that afternoon, Sal was seated in his office at the Gabrini Corporation in Seattle, Washington, leaned so far back in his swivel chair that Shannon, his senior assistant, thought he was going to tip over. She took her finger and sliced her dark hair out of her face as she waited for him to get off of the phone.
When he finally did hang up, she sat two papers in front of him.
“What’s this?” he asked.
“The pay raise requests for the senior assistants.”
“Tommy saw them yet?”
“He was already on the plane when the lawyers gave final approval. And according to his office, he isn’t due back here until the end of the week.”
“So what do you want me to do about it?”
“Approve them.”
“Without my brother’s input? Not a chance! We’re partners around here. When he returns we’ll sit down and take a look at it.”
“He’s going to say no, Sal, and you know it. We’re counting on you.”
“Then that’s where you made your mistake. I said I’ll look at it, and between the two of us we’ll make a decision. So next. Anything else you need?”
Shannon exhaled. “No, nothing,” she said.
“Then get out of here,” Sal said, picking up his desk telephone. “Unlike some people I know, I have work to do.”
Shannon grabbed the papers and headed out. She had hoped to catch him in a busy mood and slip them pass him. His signature was all they needed.
When she exited, Gemma looked up from her cell phone. She was seated in the outer office, where Sal’s assistants sat behind their desks, responding to text messages. She was waiting for Shannon to notify Sal of her presence. Not that this was easy for Gemma. It wasn’t. She was nervous as hell, and filled with all kinds of anticipation. Was he still angry with her? Was he having second thoughts about their entire relationship? She could hardly wait to find out.
But Shannon headed to her desk as if Gemma wasn’t even out there.
Melody, another one of Sal’s assistants, looked at Shannon. “How did it go?” she asked her.
“No decision until Tommy returns.”
“That’s a no,” Melody said disappointedly. She, like Shannon, was a senior assistant now and would reap the benefit of a pay raise. But now they had to wait.
Gemma looked at Shannon. “Excuse me,” she said to her, “but did you let Mr. Gabrini know that I was here?”
“I told him,” Shannon said, looking Gemma up and down.
“Mind telling me what he said?”
“He’s really busy. He says you’ll have to come back later.”
Gemma stared at Shannon. Once upon a time, Shannon and Sal were lovers. Gemma always felt concerned about that, but she didn’t interfere. But that very fact alone always made her suspicious of Shannon. And that was why she wasn’t about to believe that heifer. Not in a million years would Sal have asked her to come back later. Even if he was still angry with her, he would not have said that. But Gemma was responding to text messages anyway. She kept responding.
Now it was Shannon’s time to stare. “Did you hear me?” she asked when Gemma didn’t leave. “He said you’ll need to come back later.”
Gemma didn’t even bother to look up.
“She’s ignoring you, Shan,” Melody said.
Then the office door opened and Sal peered out. “Shan, where did I put those Brightman papers? I thought,” he started, but then he saw Gemma.
“Gem?” He was stunned. He began walking out of his office, staring at her. “What’s wrong? What in the world are you doing here?”
Gemma smiled. “I thought I’d surprise you.”
Sal’s heart began to soar. But it still was strange to him. “But what are you sitting out here for?”
Gem was going to enjoy this. “Shannon said you were extremely busy and told me to come back later.”
Sal looked at Shannon. His blue eyes were immediately on fire with rage. “I know better than that.”
“You’re busy,” Shannon tried to explain. “I was just---”
“Who do you think she is?” Sal blared. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”
“I’m your senior assistant.”
He looked at Gemma. “Come here,” he ordered. Gemma didn’t hesitate. She got up and stood beside him. He placed his arm around her waist.
“Everybody listen and listen good.” They all did. “This woman right here is Gemma Jones. Miss Jones to every one of you. She’s my one and only lady. When she walks into this building, you’d better treat her as if the Queen of fucking England just walked through that door! Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir,” they all said in various octaves and tones.
Then Sal looked at Shannon. “You knew who she was. You know what she means to me. But you pulled that shit anyway. So now it’s my time to pull the shit. You’re fired. Get the fuck out of my building and get the fuck out now! Melody?�
��
“Yes, sir?”
“Contact Security. Tell them to escort her ass out, and I mean within the next ten minutes.”
Melody didn’t hesitate. She wanted no parts of any firing. “Yes, sir,” Melody replied as if her old mentor Shannon was already dead to her.
“Sal,” Shannon pleaded, stunned that he would do such a thing to her. “Sal!”
But Sal wasn’t thinking about her any longer. Firing her was overdue, as far as he was concerned. She was an ex-lover. As soon as he became serious about Gemma, he should have gotten rid of her then. Or at least moved her away from his personal staff. But she was good at her job. It wasn’t her fault that he had fallen in love with Gem. But today made him see how bad an idea keeping her was going to be. She wasn’t above sabotaging their relationship to gain some perceived upper hand she might have thought she had. He had to stop this now. He stopped it.
“Hello, Security,” Melody said on the telephone as Shannon started cussing him out.
When she started with the profanity, Sal wanted to respond in kind, and personally escort her ass out, but Gemma touched him on the arm. The woman had just been fired. That was enough retribution, Gemma felt.
Sal realized it too. He was learning how to control that sometimes out of control temper of his since he hooked up with a woman like Gem. And he wasn’t going to allow the likes of Shannon Dorn to set him back now. “Come on, babe,” he said to Gem, and they went into his office.
Shannon kept cursing, vowing revenge, even as Security arrived to walk her off of the premises. But the people she most wanted to hear her, Sal and Gemma, weren’t listening anymore.
FOURTEEN
As soon as Sal’s office door closed, he backed Gemma against it and kissed her mercilessly. Long and hard. Then he started tracing kisses all around her entire face, and her neck, and then he was kissing her lips again.
“You don’t know what it means,” he said, between kisses, “for you to come to me like this.”
Romancing Sal Gabrini 2: A Woman's Touch Page 13