Reno stared at the man who was once his friend a moment longer, and then walked out.
SEVENTEEN
As soon as the plane touched down in Vegas late that same night, and Reno and Tree emerged and began to walk down the steps of the plane, Dommi started jumping and clapping in Jimmy’s arms. Although Trina had told Jimmy to keep the baby indoors as he recovered from his cold, she was far too happy to see her baby again to be upset. She was, in fact, overjoyed when she saw her sons standing on the tarmac waiting for them. She bolted down the steps like the high school sprinter she once was, leaving Reno in the dust. But Reno didn’t mind. He had his wife back. His family was whole again. All was right with the world.
“Mommy!” Dommi screamed as Trina ran to him. Jimmy had him decked down in layers and layers of clothing as his little gloved hands reached out to her and his body jerked so far away from Jimmy’s arms that Jimmy could barely hold him back.
But he held Dommi long enough for Trina to grab him and swallow him up in her own loving arms. Dommi laughed as Trina hugged and kissed him. Seeing his mother again had just made his day.
It made Reno’s day seeing all of them together, as he finally made it up to them.
“Hey, Dad,” Jimmy said as he extended his hand to his father.
Reno shook his hand but also kissed him on the cheek. “Everything all right?”
“Everything’s great. The PaLargio didn’t fall apart just because you weren’t in it.”
Reno laughed. “Very funny,” he said and playfully slapped Jimmy upside his head. They had a truce regarding Melita, and he aimed to keep it that way. At least for now.
“But for real though,” Jimmy said, “everything’s fine. I asked Lee just before I came to meet your plane if there were any problems, and he said there were the usual disruptions in the lounges, the drunks, you know, but nothing he couldn’t handle.”
Reno nodded. “Good,” he said. “That’s what I want to hear.”
But as they drove back to the PaLargio, with Jimmy driving, Reno sitting on the passenger seat, and Trina and Dommi seated on the backseat, the festive mood changed. It changed as soon as Jimmy said he had an announcement.
“It better be good news, Jimmy,” Trina said as Dommi played with her hand. “I don’t want to hear any more bad stuff. None.”
“It’s great news, Ma, don’t worry,” Jimmy said, glancing at her through the rearview mirror, wondering if something went down in Mississippi.
“So what is it?” Trina asked. “What’s the big announcement?”
Jimmy swallowed hard. “I wanted you guys to be the first to know. I asked Melita to marry me, and she said yes.”
Reno looked at Jimmy. Trina looked at Reno. A sudden tension overtook the car that was so intense that even Dommi felt its force. He stopped playing with his mother’s hand and stopped asking her questions and became silent too, as he looked at his family with nervous eyes.
Trina waited to hear what Reno had to say, and Jimmy looked at him too. But Reno didn’t say a word. He continued to look at the road ahead of them. But Trina could feel the anger bubbling up inside of him. She could feel the explosiveness. And she knew she had to defuse this situation, and defuse it now, before Reno went to town on Jimmy’s “announcement.”
She looked at Jimmy. He was still taking glances at his father, as if he wanted to will Reno to understand. It was a fool’s errand, Trina thought. “But Jimmy,” she said, “Reno told you about her. About his past with her.”
Jimmy nodded his head. “He told me, yeah,” he said, glancing through the rearview. “So what? I don’t see where that has anything to do with me. I mean, yeah, I would have preferred not to have to deal with that, but it is what it is. I have to deal with it.” Then Jimmy frowned. “I have no choice,” he said.
Reno moved around in his seat, as if he could hardly contain himself, and Jimmy nearly froze with fear when he made that move. But Reno remained silent.
Trina exhaled, and looked at Jimmy. “But don’t you think it’s a little sudden, son?” she asked him.
“No, I don’t,” Jimmy said. “I love her and I want her to be my wife. End of discussion.”
Why did he have to say that, Trina thought. She looked at Reno. And Reno did indeed look at Jimmy. Only he was looking at his son as if his son didn’t have the sense he was born with. But he still remained silent.
Trina didn’t know what more to say. She’d been a non-conformist all of her life. If two people loved each other, and were willing to be faithful to each other, she couldn’t, in good conscience, stand in their way. Even if one of those people were her son. But the idea that Reno once had a sexual relationship with the other person was hard even for her to swallow.
“But have you really thought this through?” she asked him. “I mean, yes, when you guys are together it’s easy then. But what will happen when you guys are with us, and she’s around your father? What if you can’t get past seeing the two of them together, Jimmy? What if I can’t get past it?”
Reno turned and looked at his wife, even as Jimmy looked at her through the rearview. It was the first time she had voiced her concern so concretely. Reno saw the pain in her eyes and then turned back around. His body language was clear: he wanted to kill Jimmy for dragging Tree into this. But he knew it was ultimately his fault. He was the one who had fucked the bitch.
“I have nothing against her, per se,” Trina continued talking. “She seems okay to me. She seems nice even. But every time we have dinner together, or spend any time whatsoever with each other, I’ll be reminded of that past. And I’m telling you it will affect how I feel about her. And in time, whether you want to admit it or not, it’s going to affect how you feel about her too.”
But Jimmy was already shaking his head. “No it won’t,” he said firmly.
But Trina was just as firm. “Yes, it will, Jimmy,” she said.
“Yes, it will, Jimmy,” Dommi said.
“It’ll affect you, too,” Trina went on, “don’t fool yourself. You may grow to hate that woman when you see her around your daddy.”
“So what am I supposed to do?” Jimmy yelled as he hit the steering wheel. “What do y’all want me to do? I love her! I can’t take that back! I love her and I want to be with her and guess what? I’m going to be with her!” Then he settled back down. “I’m going to marry her,” he said. “End of discussion.”
Well, Trina thought. He told her! And she took some satisfaction in seeing Jimmy stand up for what he believed in. But she looked at Reno. And she knew Reno wasn’t feeling it. She knew the only person Reno would ever feel had a right to tell her anything, and to tell it to her with the level of anger Jimmy just displayed, was Reno himself. Which didn’t bode well for Jim.
But Reno continued to hold his peace. Until they made it home. As soon as Jimmy pulled up to the front portico of the PaLargio, and the Valets helped each one of them out of the car, Reno waited for Jimmy to walk around to the passenger side where he stood, the side that was nearest to the entrance. Reno buttoned his suit coat and moved closer to his son, invading every inch of his son’s personal space.
Jimmy’s heart slammed against his chest as his father closed in so aggressively. Although Jimmy was upset too, it was nothing compared to the flames coming from his father.
Reno looked Jimmy dead in the eye. He wanted to make himself perfectly clear. “It’s not happening, pal,” he said to his son. “Just as sure as I’m standing here, you are not marrying that woman. Not happening. I don’t care what you say, and with how much conviction you say it. Not happening. No.”
Jimmy wasn’t breathing. He was too busy staring in his father’s cold blue eyes. There were times when Reno allowed Jimmy to stand up to him. There were times when Reno allowed his son to go toe to toe with him. But this, Jimmy knew by his father’s demeanor alone, was not one of those times.
Reno stared longer, as if he was daring Jimmy to say a word in dispute so he could knock the shit out of him, but Jimmy
didn’t make a sound.
Trina, with Dommi in her arms, walked up to them, her heart hammering too. She hated that they had to be on the opposite side of Jimmy’s happiness, but it couldn’t be helped. Reno wasn’t going to allow that woman to marry his son. And if Jimmy didn’t realize it now, Trina thought sadly, he would later.
Reno placed his hand in the small of Trina’s back and headed for the entrance. Jimmy watched as his cold as a fish father smiled and spoke to the valet staff and the security staff and the management staff that welcomed him back home. He watched his father smile and laugh as if he was so easygoing and sweet, when there was nothing easygoing and sweet about him. And Jimmy suddenly couldn’t stay there. This was his father’s world, not his. He wanted Melita. He wanted her beside him as a reminder that everything was going to be all right. In time, even his father would see it too. Melita had that way of making him believe.
So instead of going inside of the PaLargio, he called for the Valet to return his car, and prepared to go to the woman he still was certain was going to be his wife.
And although Reno was smiling and laughing as he entered the PaLargio, his heart was aching for his son. He looked back at him, as Jimmy stood outside the entrance waiting for the return of his car, and the barrier between them was even greater than the thick doors that now separated them. Jimmy was always the odd man out. He was always the one who had to get the short stick in the Gabrini family. And it broke Reno’s heart.
Reno therefore broke away from Trina and made his way back outside, to his son. Jimmy braced himself for more of his father’s venom, but it didn’t come. Reno, instead, walked up to Jimmy, with a serious, unflinching look on his face, and pulled him into his arms.
Jimmy nearly broke out in tears when his father held him. He nearly cried like a baby. But he held on.
Reno stopped hugging him and looked into his eyes. His valet staff was staring. This was like a movie to them. But Reno didn’t care.
“I love you, James,” he said to his son, his hands on Jimmy’s arms. “But I can’t lie to you. Melita Murphy is a user and she’s using you. I’m sorry, but she is. And I can’t let that stand. You may hate me for it, but I’m not going to let that woman destroy you. It’s my job to protect my family and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Reno squeezed his son’s arms harder, and stared into his eyes, and then he left and reentered his hotel. Jimmy’s car arrived, and he hurried behind the wheel. But before he pulled off he looked back through those thick doors at his father, just as his father was looking back at him.
They were in bed, lying in silence. Jimmy was on his back and Melita was on hers. Jimmy had given her a blow-by-blow, had told her every word his father had told him, and he could tell it hurt her to her heart.
“No was his final word,” he said to her. “As if he has any say in what I do. I’m not a kid anymore, but he don’t seem to understand that. I’m a grown man. I don’t need his permission!”
“You didn’t have to tell him anything,” Melita agreed, “but we wanted to do this the right way.”
Jimmy nodded. “Right,” he said.
“I told you he was going to be difficult, didn’t I tell you that? He’s convinced I’m using you, and I’m not! But that’s what Reno thinks and no human being alive is going to change his mind.”
Jimmy pulled her into his arms. She snuggled against him. “Then our actions will have to change it,” he said. “Once we’re married and he sees he no longer can control me, he’ll accept you. He’ll have no choice,” he added, and kissed Melita on her forehead.
Although Melita smiled and snuggled even closer, Jimmy could tell she was as scared as he was.
“Don’t you worry, Reno,” Trina said as Reno fucked her. “Don’t you worry, baby. Jimmy will come around.”
“He’d better.”
“He will. Don’t you worry. He’s a bright kid.”
They were in the bedroom of their home. She had barely put Dommi to sleep before Reno had her naked in bed. And now she was squeezing the life out of his thick, silky hair as he did her. It was reassurance he wanted, it was reassurance he was getting from her.
She opened her legs as wide as she could possibly open them as his penis separated her folds and licked her with its’ head. Every time her skin felt the texture of his dick slinking into her folds, she arched. He wasn’t the kind of lover who took his dick-head and beat on her clit. He was the kind of lover who took his dick-head and romanced her clit. All with slow-motion pats that took her almost to the point of cumming the entire time he worked on her.
And he worked her hard, grabbing her by the hips and pulling her closer and closer to his rod. He loved the way she felt inside. And to not have her in their bed for an entire week was unacceptable to Reno. That was why he took his time. That was why he had kissed her, and had sucked her breasts, and was now was fucking her with overwhelming force.
They both let out groans of satisfaction as he kept pulling out and then reentering her. Teasing her. Until he slid in and stayed in. Her body arched with joy when he stayed in and fucked her. Her hands clasped the railings of the headboard as he leaned down and licked and sucked her breasts. He licked around her dark nipple and then sucked her hard. She closed her eyes as he licked and sucked and fucked her. Her pussy was wet and red and swollen with his passion. And his strokes were just right, slow and steady, and then faster, and then slow and steady again.
She came within minutes. She couldn’t help it. She arched against him and clamped down on him one time too many and came in a fiery release. He loved her response. “Keep cumming, baby, keep cumming,” he was whispering to her. And she kept cumming.
And then he came with a harsh jerk of his body, and then a tidal wave of release. He strained and grunted as he poured into her. He was amazed that she could always take him to a point of such intensity. And he laid his body down on top of hers and began to fuck her hard, to pour out every drop, as the feelings would not subside.
But then his phone rang.
“Damn!” he said out loud. They both were disappointed by the interruption, but they also knew he had to take it. He’d been waiting for a certain call.
He leaned against her a moment longer, to catch his breath, and then he reached over to the nightstand and grabbed his cell phone. “Yeah, what is it?” he said into the phone. It was Boz, one of his security chiefs.
“The meetings set,” he said.
“For tonight?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
Reno knew what that meant. “He’s scared,” he said.
“Maybe,” Boz said, “but that’s not his reputation. He’s cautious. He doesn’t want to go to war with somebody with your reach. But he’s no chump. He has his connections too. So I don’t think he’s scared.”
“If he’s smart he would be,” Reno declared.
“He want you to come alone,” Boz continued. “Of course we made it clear he’d better show up by himself too. But you know the drill, boss. His people are gonna tail you to make sure you come alone, and your people are gonna tail him to make sure he comes alone.”
“Yeah, I know the drill,” Reno said. “Get everything set up.”
“I’m already on it,” Boz said, and Reno killed the call.
His sweaty body was still on top of Tree, and her wet body was still oozing with his cum. He looked at her, raking her hair out of her face, and kissed her on the mouth. The thought that Jody Parks had followed her to Dale for who really knows what reason infuriated him still. Nobody was touching her. They’d have to go through him first. And they weren’t going through him.
But he couldn’t be distracted. Not yet. His dick was still throbbing deep inside of her, and his release was still pouring into her. And they were both still feeling it. They were both still at the height of their passion.
He wrapped her in his arms again and continued to fuck her hard, as if that phone call never happened.
EIGHTEEN
The car,
a Chrysler 300, was already waiting when Reno’s Porsche drove up beside it. They were under a viaduct, in an area that was wet and soggy. Except for the occasional traffic on the bridge just above their heads, there were no signs of activity. The perfect location for a meet, Reno thought.
Compton Durail stepped out of his vehicle as cautiously as Reno stepped out of his. But both men knew the other’s reputation, although Reno had just hours before learned of Comp’s, so neither expected any surprises. Compton, a tall, black man in his late twenties, and Reno, an average-height white man in his late thirties, could not have been more dissimilar. Comp dressed casually, in jeans and an oversized cotton shirt. Reno wore his crumpled, but expensive suit.
“I won’t say it’s good to meet you, Gabrini,” Compton said with a smile. “Because it’s not.”
“Likewise,” said Reno. He was struck by Compton’s warm personality. He was a killer, and a lowlife drug dealer, but he had charm like a motherfuck.
“So,” Compton said, looking Reno up and down too, “old Jody-Jody sung like a canary. But I’m sure, given your rep, you didn’t exactly give him a lot of options.”
“Sing or die, those were his options,” Reno said.
Compton laughed. “Yeah, I heard about you Italians. Respectful thugs is what y’all think y’all are. But you know what? I say you’re just thugs like the rest of us. Coldblooded thugs. But what do I know, right?”
“Why did you send Jody to Mississippi?” Reno couldn’t gather a lot of intel on this guy, but he did find out from several sources that he was no bullshit artist. He was a man who didn’t beat around any bushes.
“He owed me money,” Compton responded, true to his rep.
“He owed you money for what? His accounting business?”
“For drugs.”
That stopped Reno cold. “Jody was an addict?”
Compton smiled, revealing a front row of gold teeth. “A very good customer. He plunged his business into bankruptcy buying blow from me. And then later, he started buying on credit from me, claiming all kinds of big paydays that never paid out. He owe me big time.”
Reno Gabrini: A Man in Full Page 18