Trevor, Big Daddy, and Mick all walked up to the two ladies, with Big Daddy placing his hand on the small of his wife’s back. He was thrilled to see his wife, but angry at her too. “Why is she crying all of a sudden?” he asked her.
“She needs her mother,” Jenay said and looked at her husband. “Why do you think?”
Then Jenay looked at Trevor Reese, the man she held responsible for all of this turmoil her daughter had to endure, and gave him her best nasty look.
Trevor’s heart dropped. Was this the beginning of the end for he and Carly?
“Let’s take it indoors,” Big Daddy said, ushering his wife and daughter toward the entrance. He began looking around the area and up above their heads, should another attack be launched from there. With his wife now at his side, his consternation meter quadrupled.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Reno Gabrini, along with Sal Gabrini and his brother Tommy Gabrini were on Tommy’s private jet, making their way to Boston. All three men were on their cell phones and their laptops and was handling business as they flew. Reno, the son of a mob boss, was the owner of the PaLargio Hotel and Casino on the Vegas Strip. His cousin Sal, a reputed mob boss himself, was a co-partner with his brother Tommy in the Gabrini Corporation, Inc. And Tommy Gabrini, a former Police Captain and Security firm owner, was the CEO and Chairman of GCI. All of them also had a crew of men with them, with Tommy supplying the largest group. All of their security personnel sat in the seats behind them.
But Reno was concerned. And after they all put away their laptops and were talking general talk, he explained to them why.
“Trevor Reese is CIA,” he said. “He’s a government man. I don’t like shitting around with Uncle Sam. Those fuckers can do you some serious damage.”
“I agree,” Tommy said. “But Carly’s involved now.”
“That’s the only reason I’m agreeing to this,” Reno said. “Because of her. Because Big Daddy called us in on this. But if she hadn’t been involved, and Mick would have called with this let’s take on the government bullshit, I would have told him to take his ass to rehab. He has to be on dope!”
Tommy laughed.
“But Big Daddy,” Reno said, and then shook his head. “I don’t turn him down.”
“But what I don’t understand,” Sal said, “is what happened to Carly? All I know is she torched some dude. All I know is she was in some fight and she won!”
“That’s what happened,” Tommy said.
“Then why this government angle?” Sal asked. “What’s that about? Because I’m with Reno on that. I don’t fuck with Uncle Sam.”
“Trevor killed Lanceno Celletti,” Tommy said.
Sal nodded. “Yeah, I heard about that too. I heard Celletti’s people didn’t mind that particular hit. I heard they tried to take Reese out, but they couldn’t.”
“I talked to Trevor late last night,” Tommy said. “He said Celletti’s people are denying any involvement. Big Lou says the order to set Trevor up came, not from Celletti’s crew, but from the government. Namely the Hammer.”
Reno frowned. “Who the fuck is the Hammer?”
But Sal knew him. “Hammer Reese?”
Tommy nodded.
“Don’t tell me that fucker’s still with CIA?” Sal asked. “I thought they fired his crooked ass.”
“They did,” Tommy said. “Publicly.”
“Is this Hammer Reese related to Trevor?” Reno asked.
“They’re brothers,” Tommy said.
Sal frowned. “Oh, shit! His brother? The former Director of the CIA is Trevor’s brother? Get the fuck out of here! What the fuck are we getting ourselves into, Tommy?”
“We’re looking out for our own. They came for Carly. They put her on their kill list. Nobody attempts to take out a Gabrini or a Sinatra without retribution.”
“Damn straight,” Reno said.
“Damn straight,” Sal agreed. “But damn. I like don’t like fooling with Uncle Sam.”
Then Sal tried to picture the target. “Big Daddy has so many kids,” he added, “refresh my memory. Now this Carly. She’s the smart one, right?”
Reno frowned. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Why you wanna say something like that?”
Sal started moving his arms around. “I’m just saying she’s not the dumb one. What the fuck is wrong with that? What did I say wrong?”
“You’re implying that her sister Ashley is stupid,” Reno said. “Why would you call her sister stupid? Just because she didn’t graduate from Harvard like Carly?”
“I didn’t call her stupid,” Sal said. “Get it straight. I called her dumb. There’s a difference. And I called her dumb because her ass is dumb. She and Big Daddy’s youngest boy, that Donald? They’re dumb as rocks! So what? You want me to lie about it?”
“Yeah, keep talking,” Reno said with a nod of his head. “I want you to say that shit to Big Daddy’s face.”
“I’m telling the truth!”
“You shouldn’t call people’s kids stupid. That’s the truth!”
“I didn’t call them stupid, Reno. I called them dumb. I don’t know if they’re stupid or not. But I know your ass stupid. Telling me to give steak to a newborn baby. That’s some stupid shit.”
Tommy laughed.
“I’ll never forget that for as long as I live!” Sal added.
“Can you get over that already?” an exasperated Reno asked. “I didn’t say just give it to’em. Not like no fifty-pound steak or whatever. I said you take a piece, a piece no bigger than a cookie, and let’em have at it.”
“With what, Reno?” Sal asked. “They have no teeth.”
“They have gums, don’t they? They gum that shit up. I don’t know how it works and all that technical shit. But what I said to you was accurate.”
Sal looked at Tommy, who was amused by the two of them. “Just like I said,” Sal said, “Donald and Ashley are dumb. Reno’s just plain stupid.”
Reno frowned. “Fuck you, Sal!”
“Fuck you!” Sal yelled back.
“Fuck you both,” Tommy said with a smile.
But then, one of their men just behind them, said: “Yeah, you wish,” in response to Tommy’s comment.
Sal was stunned. “I know I didn’t just hear that motherfucker say that,” he said as he and Reno began rising to set that fool straight.
But Tommy stopped them. “Forget it,” he said.
Sal and Reno looked at each other, and then sat back down. They both knew about Tommy’s past sexual abuse at the hands of his own father, and how so many men still viewed him as a sexual object because of his remarkable beauty. He had to be gay to be so beautiful, used to be the prevailing wisdom.
But they both also knew that Tommy was all man. He loved the ladies. His own lady especially. But he wasn’t like Sal and Reno. Because if the guy making that comment had been one of their men, he would be in serious trouble. But he was Tommy’s man. Tommy didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. They had to respect his wishes.
But when the plane landed in Boston, and they all began to decamp, Tommy told the wise guy who made the sly comment to wait. It wasn’t until everybody had un-boarded the plane, except the crew itself, did Tommy walk up and invade his man’s private space.
The man smiled. “I didn’t mean nothing by it, Tommy,” he said. “We were just kidding around.”
“But you would agree,” Tommy said in that calm way of his, “that your kidding was at my expense?”
The man, knowing what Tommy was capable of, swallowed hard. “Yes,” he said. “It was at your expense.”
“Just as your being here is at my expense,” Tommy said. “Correct? I paid for this plane you flew on. I pay your salary to work for me. But yet you think it’s a good idea to ridicule me? To say . . . What exactly were you saying?” Tommy knew, but he wanted to make sure his man understood that he knew.
Again, his man swallowed hard. And he knew he had to get out and get out fast. “I’m going to depla
ne now and go with the guys.”
He began to leave, but Tommy grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back in front of him. But when he looked into Tommy’s eyes this time, he didn’t see that soft kindness that caused heterosexual men to want him almost as much as women did. He, instead, saw a coldness, an unforgiving hardness in Tommy’s big eyes that caused terror to shoot through his entire body. “You implied that I wanted to fuck my brother and my cousin. That was what your joke, as you call it, was about. Right?”
By this time, Sal and Reno had re-boarded the plane to make sure Tommy was okay. And that was when they saw him, handling his business.
“What do you say?” he asked the man again. “I didn’t hear you answer my question. Was that what your little joke was about?”
The man could feel sweat beads on his upper lip.
“Well?” Tommy asked, moving even closer to his man.
“Yes, sir,” his man said quickly. “Yes!”
Suddenly, Tommy grabbed the man’s balls. The man winced in pain. “Maybe I want to fuck you,” he said as he held on tight. “Maybe that’s how I roll.” He grabbed them even tighter. The man was clenching his teeth. “Or maybe this is how I roll,” Tommy said as he took the man by his balls, lifted him up and slammed him down to the floor.
Sal and Reno both scrunched up their faces in horror and grabbed their own balls, as if they could feel the man’s pain. The man bent over on the floor, crying in agony, and held onto his own balls.
But Tommy no longer gave a shit. He began kicking the man while he was down and bent over. He kicked him in his balls and stomped his penis and kept kicking him in the same spot. But Tommy, when he was riled up, was a dirty player. He kicked the man repeatedly in the head, and the face, and the stomach, and anywhere his five-thousand dollar Mantellassi shoes could kick. Until the man was bleeding and unconscious. The crew near the cockpit was stunned. Sometimes they forgot that Dapper Tom, the gentleman’s gentleman, was also Backdoor Tommy.
When it was clear the man was no longer conscious, Tommy stopped kicking. He stared at him a moment longer, straightened his tie, and then addressed his crew. “Find the nearest dumpster in town,” he said, “and dump his ass in it.”
“Yes, sir,” his crew chief said. “Right away, sir.”
And then Tommy walked toward the exit. He didn’t realize Sal and Reno had re-boarded, but it didn’t matter. He un-boarded the plane and kept on walking.
Sal looked at Reno. “I’d rather fight to the death with you, alone in an alley, with both of my arms cut off, than to scuffle with Backdoor Tommy.”
Reno smiled. “No, you wouldn’t,” he said. “But I get your point.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Carly sat sandwiched between Trevor and Jenay on the sofa, while Big Daddy sat on the coffee table in front of them. He was upset. They all could tell that. But his anger seemed more directed at his wife than anybody else.
He was staring at his outspoken, African-American wife. Although his heart was fluttering at just her presence there, and although he still wanted to pull her into his arms and protect her from times like these, he couldn’t suppress his disappointment in her. And he didn’t hold back. “I told you not to come,” he said to her.
“I know you did.”
“Then what the fuck are you doing here?”
“Dad!” Carly said incredulously, but Big Daddy wasn’t about to take it back. Even Trevor was taken aback by his harshness toward his wife, but he understood where it was coming from. He wanted to keep his wife out of harm’s way. Trevor could relate to that on every level. If he had that option with Carly, he would insist on it too.
But Jenay wasn’t taken aback by her husband’s ire. She expected it. “I wasn’t about to sit in Jericho and wait for word on my daughter’s safety. I’m supposed to be here with her.”
“I’m here with her!” Big Daddy shot back. “You and the children were under Brent and Tony’s protection while I was gone. You knew I would look out for Carly.”
“Of course I know that, Charles,” Jenay said. “But I had to see her for myself.”
“You could have done that by phone.”
“I don’t want to see her by any damn phone. I needed to see her, to touch her, to be there for her myself. Stop making something out of nothing!”
“Something out of nothing?” Big Daddy asked. “A fucking government organization has a kill list with our daughter’s name on it, and you think my decision to keep you well out of it is making something out of nothing?”
Trevor could tell Carly was getting more, not less, upset, and so was he. “Okay, enough!” he yelled. “Both of you came here to help Carly. This squabbling isn’t helping Carly.”
“But you’re helping her?” Jenay asked. Tears began to appear in Jenay’s eyes. “I don’t want this for her!” she said with feeling. “Safe houses and men trying to kidnap her and gunfights and . . . I don’t want this for my child. For none of my children. I don’t want this for her!”
Big Daddy rose from the table and sat beside Jenay. He knew exactly how she felt. He didn’t want it either. He pulled her into his arms.
Now Carly felt worse. And so did Trevor.
“Mom, Dad,” Carly said, “it’s going to be alright.” Her parents looked at her. “It’s not going to be easy. Like you, Ma, and like all of the women in our family, I didn’t fall in love with an easy man. But I’d rather have hard Trevor than easy Joe Blow. I love him. I’m not giving him up.”
Jenay looked Carly deep in her eyes. “Even if it kills you?”
Trevor’s heart sank. Because he knew Jenay was right. Carly’s decision to stay with him could very well come down to many ride or die moments. It was his job to make certain it was always the former for her, and never the latter.
“Even if it kills you, Carly?” Big Daddy asked her too.
Carly began nodding her head. “Yes,” she said. “Even if it kills me.”
Her parents knew, at that very moment, that it was over. There would be no turning back for Carly. When the women in their family went in, they went all in. Carly, her parents now knew, was all in with Trevor Reese.
And Trevor knew it terrified them. “I want to apologize to both of you,” he said.
Big Daddy and Jenay looked at him. “Apologize? For what?”
“Falling in love with your daughter,” he said. “I thought she could be my secret love. I thought I could shield her from my life. At least from the other side of my life. But I was fooling no one but myself. And deep down I probably knew it. But I was too selfish, too in love, to let her go.” He frowned. “I still can’t let her go. But nothing’s going to happen to her. I guarantee you that.”
Jenay saw the distress in Trevor’s beautiful eyes. She knew that look. It was the same look Big Daddy often had whenever they were in a tough spot. She reached out and clasped his hand.
Carly looked at her mother. She knew she was worried sick about her. But she was willing to respect Carly’s decision. Carly placed her arm around her too.
“I know what happened to Carly at that gas station makes you question my commitment to her,” Trevor went on. “And you’re right to question it. My men weren’t there the way they should have been. It could have ended horribly. That’s on me. That’s my fault.”
But Carly was shaking her head. “No, it’s not,” she said.
“Yes, it is,” Big Daddy said. They all looked at him. “He has to take the bitter with the sweet. He dropped the ball. Carly could have been killed. I’m not about to sugarcoat it.” Big Daddy looked unblinkingly into Trevor’s eyes. “It better not happen again,” he said.
Trevor didn’t blink either. “It won’t, sir,” he said.
The front door opened and one of Mick’s men peered inside. “The Gabrinis have arrived,” he said.
“About time,” Big Daddy said and everybody rose, and headed for the exit.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The limousine drove through the gate jus
t as Trevor and the Sinatras made their way out of the door and down the steps. The chauffeur/bodyguard got out of the limo and Reno, Sal, and Tommy stepped out, with each man putting on their expensive suit coats. Tommy, in suspenders, was by far the more elegant dresser, Trevor noticed, but Sal and Reno were sporting well-tailored suits too. Mick, who had met their plane at the airstrip, got out of the limo with them.
Big Daddy led the pack as they headed down the steps. “Welcome one,” he said as he walked, “welcome all!”
Reno smiled. “You make it sound like we’re coming to a hoedown on the ranch, Big Daddy.”
Big Daddy smiled. “Maybe not a hoedown, but certainly a showdown.”
They all looked at him. “Hopefully,” Sal said, agreeing with him, and they all shook hands.
“Hey, Jenay,” Tommy said with a smile as he and Jenay hugged. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Neither did I,” Big Daddy said, and Tommy laughed.
“How are you, Carly?” Sal asked as he and Carly hugged. “I hear you’ve been to hell and back.”
“I’m okay, Uncle Sal,” Carly said. Although Sal was technically her cousin, as was Tommy and Reno, it was the title of honor they gave in the family. “Thanks for coming.”
“Anytime, anytime,” Sal said. “We look out for our own.”
“Including the dumb ones?” Reno asked, looking at Sal.
Sal gave Reno a look something cross as Carly and Jenay hugged the other men.
“Let’s take it inside,” Big Daddy said as he was prone to say, but everybody heeded his words. They made their way inside.
But just as they made their way up the steps, Mick’s phone buzzed. Everybody stopped and looked at him. The men knew it was from the front gate.
Mick pressed the speaker icon. “What is it?” he asked.
“We have a live one at the gate, sir,” his man said.
“Damn,” Reno said. “We just got here!”
Trevor Reese: His Secret Love Page 15