FOUR
Seven Months Later
He saw her as she bent over and lifted a box from the floor, and he loved the view. “That butt looks like it belongs to Katrina Gabrini,” he said behind her.
Trina, offended, sat the box on the display rack and turned suddenly. But when she saw who was standing there, looking as if he’d just stepped off of the cover of Vanity Fair, she smiled.
“I don’t believe it!” she said. “Jody Parks?”
“In the flesh!”
“In the flesh,” Trina said, “and still commenting on somebody’s ass.”
Jody laughed. He was a good looking brother, with creamy black skin and Asian eyes. And one of the smartest men she’d ever known.
“So how you been doing? It’s been a while, Tree.”
“How are you is the question? Still have your accounting business?”
“Absolutely. It’s doing really well too.”
“Is it?”
“It is. I’ve expanded my reach. I’ve gotten a reputation as something of a turnaround expert.”
Trina had no idea what that was exactly, and she didn’t pursue it. Jody Parks was persona non grata as far as Reno was concerned.
Jody knew he had only a few minutes to make a lasting impression. The last time they met wasn’t pretty. Reno all but beat him away from her. He had to get to the point fast, and he knew it. “I take struggling businesses,” he said, “and turn them around. You don’t recognize them when I’m done. And I’ve had nothing but success.”
A struggling business? Trina could relate to that. But Reno would beat her behind if she tried to partner up with Jody again.
“But enough about me,” he said. He could see that I’m not feeling it look in Trina’s eyes and knew he had to be careful. He didn’t want to scare her away. “How are things going with you?” he asked. “With this store of yours?” He asked this as he looked around the store.
Trina nodded her head. “Things are going fairly . . .”
“Fairly well?”
Trina couldn’t lie. “Fairly lousy, to be honest with you.”
“Lousy for you, or for Champagne’s?”
“Lately they’ve been one in the same. I’m not gonna lie. But this too shall pass.”
“No it won’t,” Jody said flatly.
Trina looked at him.
“I don’t mean to sound harsh, Tree, but you know I’ve always leveled with you in the past. I never tried to pretend up was down and down was up, none of that shit. But I know what I’m talking about. Bad businesses don’t change on their own. You have to make it happen. That’s why I didn’t drive on by tonight. That’s why I’m here. I can help you turn Champagne’s around.”
It sounded like the very lifeline Trina needed. Her business was failing big time and Jody claim to have a prescription that wouldn’t involve her moving to the PaLargio or anything like that. But Reno would kill her!
Jody sensed Reno was the wall she wasn’t willing to scale. He also knew he had to address it now. “I know you’re hesitant because Reno and I have had our differences. He thinks I disrespected you---”
“You did disrespect me,” Trina made clear. “Don’t try to sugarcoat it. Reno didn’t make it up.”
“Okay, you’re right,” Jody said. “I disrespected you. But, Tree, put yourself in my shoes. Reno put a lot of pressure on his management staff, and the pressure was on for me to produce more than I was producing. So I saw my chance. I was entertaining some Russian businessmen and was this close to sealing the deal. They saw you walking through the casino and wanted to know who you were. I should have told them the truth. I should have told them that you were Reno’s wife, but I was trying to close that deal. So I embellished a little. Okay, a lot. I claimed you were my woman and they could have you too if they signed on the dotted line. It was wrong, it was hurtful, and I will forever regret it. But I wasn’t trying to disrespect you, Tree. I was trying to close a deal.”
“But you knew how Reno was. He wouldn’t go for underhanded shit like that. He’ll fire you before he let you harm his reputation, or disrespect me. And that’s why he fired you. On the spot.”
“Yes, he did,” Jody said with a chuckle. “I’ll give him that. He didn’t hesitate to get rid of my black ass.” Trina laughed. “But that’s exactly why, instead of driving on by here tonight, I stopped by. I feel I owe you.”
Trina shook her head and reached down for another box. “You don’t owe me a thing,” she said.
Jody immediately grabbed the box from her and sat it on the display rack himself. “Yes, I do. At the very least I owe you an apology. I apologize for disrespecting you a year ago, Tree.”
Trina smiled. “You sure have a way of minimizing your behavior. A year ago, you say, like it was so long ago.”
“I’m a rake, what can I say? You knew that going in, Reno knew it too, but we still were friends. I valued your friendship.”
Trina remembered the good times too. She exhaled. “I accept your apology,” she said.
Jody smiled. Working like a charm, he thought. “Will you also accept my help?”
“Thanks, but no,” Trina said as she grabbed the box cutter from the side table and slit open the top of the box.
“I can turn this place around too,” Jody said. “It’s the least I can do for an old friend.”
Trina looked at him with that pensive look that used to turn him on. “Why?” she asked him.
“Why would I want to help an old friend?”
“Why would you want to help me when you know Reno won’t like it?”
“Because you’re an old friend! We used to have an excellent relationship before I made that stupid comment to those Russians. I don’t want you to think I saw you as some sexual object and that was all I was about, because it’s not true. Reno may think it is, but it’s not. We used to laugh at the silliest things and could talk to each other like brother and sister. There was no sexual energy around us, and you know it.” Jody’s look turned serious. “I want my friend back,” he said.
Trina continued to stare at him. Then she folded her arms and turned his way. She always did respect his brains. Eye candy with brains, she used to call him. And for the sake of her business she wasn’t above picking that brain. “So how do you do it?” she asked. “How do you turn these struggling businesses around?”
Jody smiled. Yes, he thought, his heart leaping with anticipation. Working like a charm.
The double doors slid open and Reno stepped onto his private elevator near the back of the lobby. Lee Jones, his chief operating officer, stepped on behind him.
“Sorry to have to involve you in this, Reno,” he said as he pressed the button to the tenth floor. “But she won’t listen to reason anymore.”
“She never listens to reason,” Reno said. He was so fed up with Shay Grayson and her diva tantrums that he could barely contain his rage. “Where is she anyway?”
“Still holed up in her suite. I tried to handle it myself, but there’s no getting through to that woman anymore. She says the show won’t go on tonight unless you agree to her demands.”
“I already agreed to her demands,” Reno shot back. “What the fuck she’s talking about? When I signed that contract I agreed to her terms. She’s been headlining since the PaLargio reopened, and she thinks I’m going to change those terms this late in the game just to appease her nonsense? She thinks I’m that fucking naïve?”
“I told her she was wasting her time,” Lee agreed. “But she’s got that entourage of hers egging her own. You know the types. Yes-men flunkies telling her how great she is and how she deserves better and how they’d never seen such disrespect in all of their born days.”
“A load of crock.”
“You know it! But she’s drinking that Kool-Aid like it was water in the desert. Even I’m getting tired of this shit, and I’m one of her biggest fans.”
Reno exhaled and ran his hand across his face. He wasn’t a patient man to begin with,
even Lee could attest to that, and these bimbo eruptions always lit a match to that impatience. Especially when they come from the likes of some barely talented diva like Shay Grayson. A constipated cat sounded better than that chick, if you asked Reno.
But she was beloved in America. People flocked to her concerts. That was why Reno broke his own rule and gave her a run-of-show contract. He knew she was good for business. But to have these childish tantrums every other week was getting old to Reno. She was good for business, all right. But she wasn’t that good.
The elevator doors dinged open and Reno and Lee, both men dressed in sartorial elegance in their designer suits and imported shoes, made their way to the suite at the end of the hall. Lee Jones, a tall, handsome black man who had been at Reno’s side for years, felt personally affronted by Shay’s behavior. He was the one who had turned Reno onto the idea of hiring her in the first place. He was the one who had been her biggest supporter. But Reno was a busy man. He didn’t have time for this shit. He’d already bent over backwards to accommodate her ridiculous demands when Lee personally knew that Reno Gabrini wasn’t the kind of man to bend over backwards for any performer. That was why, despite all of the new business her nightly shows were bringing in, Lee was beginning to regret ever mentioning her name to Reno.
Once they made it to the door of the suite, Reno, to Lee’s surprise, didn’t bother to knock. He barged on in. But Reno knew what he was doing. He’d known people like Shay Grayson all of his life. Hated their own shadows, they did. That was why they were never alone. Not even in bed.
She tried to lure Reno to her bed once. He told her he would rather sleep with a truck. Although she threw a vase at him at the time, causing it to crash in pieces against the wall, she never again played the seductress with him.
But that didn’t mean she didn’t try to seduce everybody else in her crosshairs. She did. Because she had to have somebody by her side. At all times. That was why Reno would bet his casino that there were at least a dozen hangers-on hanging around her right now.
And he was right. More than a dozen. From dress and hair stylists, to gay friends and greedy boyfriends, her massive suite looked like a Vegas show in and of itself. Like a veritable free-for-all. And Shay Grayson, the young, beautiful blonde sitting in the middle of that room, was holding court.
“Reno!” she said with loud gaiety and extended her limp hand as if he was going to kiss it. He didn’t even touch it as he sat in the chair in front of her. He was so tired that he slouched down in the chair and rested his elbows on both arms. She looked down at the big bundle between his legs. She’d heard his dick was like solid gold when it got inside of a woman. But he treated her as if he wouldn’t give a taste to her even if she was the last woman on earth. And she hated him for that. He was the only man who’d ever turned her down in her entire life.
Reno, in fact, was the center of attention as soon as he walked into the room. Lee stood beside his chair. And although the noise continued around them, most eyes were now on Reno. Despite Shay’s worldwide fame, he was the undisputed boss of this joint. And everybody in that room knew it.
“How you doing, Shay?” Reno asked her.
“Terrible,” Shay said as she withdrew the hand he refused to shake. She began looking at her fingernails, as if that was her intention for extending it all along. “It’s become too much for me to bear.”
“Oh, yeah?” Reno asked, staring at the pop princess, wondering what it was about her that people were so turned on about. She couldn’t sing worth a damn, and danced even worse. And her looks weren’t all that rare to him. But she had a mammoth following. “What’s the problem? What is it you can’t bear?”
“Everything, Reno. It’s been too hard. It shouldn’t be this hard! And how do you expect me to perform in a suite this small?”
“You don’t perform in this suite.”
“You know what I mean! After I get offstage. I’m Shay Grayson! It’s been pointed out to me, and I agree with it, that I should have the best in the PaLargio. The best suite.”
“You do have the best suite,” Reno said. Where in the world, he wondered, was she going with this?
“You call this the best?” she asked. “This isn’t the best! There’s a penthouse suite on the top floor that covers the entirety of that floor. That’s the best suite. That’s the suite I should have.”
Reno stared at that woman as if she had just grown an additional head. Even Lee couldn’t believe it either. When he was with her earlier tonight, she was complaining about the staff treatment of her entourage and why she couldn’t be listed in the program credits as the director of her show since every part of the show were all her ideas anyway. Now her suite wasn’t big enough? Where did that come from? Lee shook his head. This woman obviously, even after all these months, didn’t realize who she was dealing with.
Reno, however, knew exactly who he was dealing with. He continued to remain slouched down in his chair, staring at her. “My family live in the penthouse,” he finally replied in what Lee could only describe as a remarkably measured voice.
But Shay still didn’t see the danger. “Exactly!” she replied to Reno, as if he had just agreed with her grievance. “I think, since I am the hands down star of this establishment, that I should have the penthouse. At least for my term of contract. You and your family can move out. Then, once I’m gone, you and your family can move back in. As simple as that. And I want it written in my contract so there can be no mistake about my status. As simple as that.”
“Let me make sure I understand you,” Reno said, still remarkably calm. “You want me to pack up my family, move out of our home upstairs, and turn our home over to you? Is that what you’re requesting?”
Shay smiled what the press often called that sweet smile that could melt the sun. Only it looked reptilian to Reno. “Yes,” she said. “That’s exactly what I’m requesting.”
Reno nodded his head. And then stood up. “You can take your request,” he said to her, “and shove it up your ass.”
The entire room went silent when he spoke so harshly to their breadwinner.
The breadwinner was stunned. “What did you just say to me?”
“Shove it up your ass,” Reno said again, even louder, his face frowned with anger. “If you don’t like the terms, then leave. Get the hell out. I’ve got a hundred stars clamoring to take your place. A thousand stars who’d give a right arm to headline at the PaLargio. Are you fucking kidding me? Who the fuck you think you are? You don’t run this. I was running this joint when your no-talent ass was shitting in diapers, do you think you’re dealing with some fucking novice here?” Reno asked this with a look that made him wonder if she really did think he was some newbie to the game.
He continued. “You’d better get your shit together, Shay, do you hear me? I’m tired of your bullshit. You get your ass downstairs and do your performance like the pro you’re supposed to be and leave me the hell alone. If I have to come up here again about some new nonsense of yours, I’ll invoke the morals clause of that contract and toss you out on your fat ass. And I’ll have the paparazzi outside waiting to photograph the toss. And if you don’t believe me, if you think I’m blowing smoke up that ass, then try me. I’m begging you to.”
Then Reno looked at her entourage, who collectively backed up as soon as his cold, blue eyes looked their way, and then he looked back at Shay. “As simple as that,” he said, and then left the room.
Lee shook his head as he followed behind his boss. He had warned Shay that nothing good would come of her continual badgering. He had warned her how stirring up Reno’s ire was just like playing with fire. But when Lee glanced back, and saw the look of anger, rather than humiliation, on her face, he knew she still didn’t get it. He knew she still was determined to toss that match on that gasoline all the same, just to see, with her entourage egging her on, if it would really explode.
Reno, however, already had his mind on other things. Anything was better than dealing with div
as. His phone began ringing as Lee joined him in the corridor and they began walking back toward the elevators.
“She’s nuts, Reno,” Lee said.
“Crazy as goat shit,” Reno agreed. When he pulled out his phone and saw who was calling, he glanced up at Lee. “I’ll check you up later,” he said to his right hand man and Lee, understanding, walked on ahead of his boss.
Reno then pinched his temple as he walked slowly along the corridor, his suit, though expensive, rumpled and showing signs of serious distress. “What is it?” he asked into his phone.
“She just went to dinner,” the voice on the other end said.
“Yeah, so,” Reno replied. “What are you bothering me about that for?”
“A very attractive man is with her.”
Reno slowed his walk. “Yeah?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do I know him?”
“I don’t think so. I’ve never seen him before, that’s for sure.”
“You have his photo I take it?”
“I do.”
“Shoot it to me,” Reno ordered, and then killed the call.
Within seconds a series of photos arrived on Reno’s phone. He stopped walking completely as he looked at them. First it was the photo of the guy. Tall, handsome black guy. And Reno knew immediately who he was. Jody fucking Parks. Then he was opening the passenger side door of a car, helping Trina in. Then he was walking in front of the car to get to the driver’s side, and he was photographed with a big grin on his face. As if, Reno thought, he was a man who couldn’t believe his good luck.
Then more photos came in. Jody and Trina getting out of the car at a restaurant Reno knew as The Carlton. It wasn’t a fancy restaurant by any means. Reno certainly wouldn’t have taken Trina to a place like that. It didn’t even have valet parking for crying out loud. But it was close to Champagne’s, which, he assumed, was the point.
Reno Gabrini: A Man in Full Page 4