“Don’t do what?” Reno screamed. “Don’t shoot you down the way you’re threatening to shoot down my family? Don’t kill your ass the way you’re threatening to kill my wife and sons?”
“You know I would never do that! You’re Paulo’s kid. You’re my old friend’s son. I was testing you. I was seeing if you still had it in you. That’s what we do. You know that! I thought it was a good idea at the time.”
Reno stared at him. “You thought it was a good idea to put the jam on me? You thought there was a possibility that I was going to let that happen?” Reno frowned. “Are you fucking serious?”
Lazio tried to smile as his two wingmen moaned and groaned in pain. “We were just talking, Reno. You know I wouldn’t hurt your family. I don’t know what Taft and Tush were talking. You know I wouldn’t do something like that! ”
“Don’t fuck with me, Lou. Don’t fuck with me at all. Or I’ll show you what disrespect really looks like. I’ll fuck you over and your whole family over if you even think about making any move toward mine. That knife you’re playing with cuts both ways. And my end cuts deeper. Do we understand each other?”
Lazio swallowed hard. Why did he even consider messing with this fool? “I understand,” he said.
Reno removed his gun from Lazio’s temple and stood upright. He exhaled. Looked at the two downed men. “Consequences,” he said angrily. “Yeah, I’ve got your consequences right here assholes!” Then he thought about it again. These motherfuckers just threatened his family. He couldn’t let them get away this easily. And he didn’t. He shot Taft in the knee this time, and then shot Tush in the shoulder. They wailed in pain and tried to scamper away.
Reno looked at Lazio. Reach or no reach, mob war or no mob war, this asshole threatened his family. He shot him in the shoulder too. Lazio was stunned as his big bulk fell from the chair. “Fuck with my family,” Reno warned, “and I’ll finish the job. I promise you that.”
Reno would have stood there and made more dire predictions to him, just to reiterate how serious he was, but Lazio was no fool. He got the message.
Reno gave Lazio one more look just in case he still had dreams of jamming Reno Gabrini, looked at the other two big-talking fools who were in agony still, causing them to scamper even further away just from his look alone, and then he left.
As the warehouse door slammed shut, and despite the pain, Lazio slung his cell phone out of his coat pocket. He had to call off the hit. He dropped it twice as he tried to press buttons, the pain unbearable but the horror of what Reno would do to him even more horrific. He eventually stopped dropping it, got his nerves together, and made the call. He had to stop the hit. He had to stop it now!
But every call he made went straight to voice mail. Nobody was answering. The hit, no doubt, was already in progress.
Reno wasn’t back in his hotel room five minutes when the call came in from Jimmy. “Hey, son, what’s up?”
“Where are you, Dad?”
“What do you mean where am I? I’m still in Atlantic City. You know where I am.”
“You’ve got to come home.”
Reno hesitated. “Why? What happened?”
“They broke into this lady’s house, and they started shooting. Mom was there, Dad.”
“Trina was there? My wife was there?” Reno’s heart was pounding.
“Mom was there,” Jimmy said again, his voice sounding pained. “She was there. At Ashley Marin’s house. That’s her name. It was her house. And they had on masks and they broke in and they started shooting. And they shot her Dad,” Jimmy said, and Reno’s heart stopped beating.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The double doors of the hospital in Vegas flew open as Reno hurried in like a man on the verge of an emotional collapse. He recognized many of the men he had ordered to get there, standing guard outside of the hospital, inside the hospital, everywhere they could stand guard. They were discreet, and blended in, but Reno recognized every one. Boz, his security chief, was also there. He told Reno where she was, and Reno headed in that direction. He’d just arrived in town and although he had spoken to his wife repeatedly during the trip, that wasn’t enough. He had to see her with his own two eyes. He had to see her for himself. He was still reeling from Jimmy’s phone call. They shot her, Dad, he’d said.
To Reno’s astonishment, he managed to hang onto the phone even after his son had said those words. “They shot Tree?” he had asked his oldest son. But even after Jimmy corrected himself; even after Jimmy said they shot Ashley Marin, not Tree, and that was what he thought he was saying, Reno still felt that dread in the pit of his stomach. Where is she? Is she all right? Was she hit too? A thousand questions flooded Reno’s lips. When he found out what had actually happened, it was still unsettling. But at least he could breathe again.
He nodded to his man at the door as he entered the hospital’s waiting room. As soon as he entered, and saw Trina on the other side of the room sitting between two ladies he didn’t know, as if she was their strong tower, he stopped in his tracks. And just stared at her. She was smaller than the other two ladies, and slightly older, but she looked as if she was holding up better than both of them. His heart had been pounding the entire trip home. Pounding as if it was going to detach from his body. Now, after seeing for himself that she was still in one piece, it only then began to regulate.
Trina, too, had been filled with anxiety as she waited for word on Ashley’s condition. But when she looked up and saw Reno just standing there as if he’d been there for the longest time, her heart had just the opposite reaction. Instead of settling down the way Reno’s had, hers rammed against her chest. And she stood up, and ran to him.
Tears were in her eyes as he swept her into his arms. Stacy and Carmen, who had been leaning on Trina’s strength the entire time, watched the twosome with respect and envy. But Reno and Trina didn’t care who was watching. They held onto each other with eyes tightly shut and bodies as close as close could get. Reno lifted her into his arms, and fought hard not to cry himself, as he held her.
All Trina could think about was that her man was back home with her. She thought she was going to die. When that gun was pointed in her face, and that man pretended he was about to pull the trigger, and then laughed, she just knew she was done for. She thought about Reno, and if he was going to be able to live his life and take care of their children without her, and how Little Dommi would be calling her name, and how sweet Jimmy Mack would give up on love all over again. And she thought about poor Ashley. Especially Ashley.
“He sure knows how to do it,” Carmen said as they watched Reno and Tree.
Stacy looked at her. “He sure knows how to do what?”
“Act like he loves her so much.”
“Girl stop,” Stacy said, looking at Reno and Tree once again. “He does love her!”
“Yeah, her and twenty more. At least that’s what I heard.”
“Yeah, we all hear things,” Stacy said. “I heard all you’re good for is giving head.” Carmen looked at her with an alarmed look on her face. “But I’m sure you wouldn’t like me spreading what I heard, either. Now would you?”
When Carmen didn’t respond, Stacy nodded her head. “Uh huh. Thought so,” she said.
Although Trina was still holding him so tightly he could barely breathe, Reno managed to peel her off of him just enough to see her face. But even then they were still closer than close.
“You’re okay,” he said as if it was a question and a statement.
“I’m okay,” she replied.
“And your friend. What’s her condition now?”
Trina frowned. “Still in surgery,” she said. “Not good.”
“Damn shame,” Reno said. “And how’s my baby?” he asked, pulling her close again. Nobody on the face of this earth tugged at his heartstrings the way she did.
“Your baby’s fine,” she said. “Shook up, but fine.”
Reno nodded. “Good,” he said. “Thank God for that.” Then he look
ed past her. “Who are your friends?”
Trina looked back, saw them staring at her, then finally stopped embracing him. She escorted him over by their side.
“Stace, Carmen, I want you to meet my husband, Reno.”
“Hello, Reno,” Carmen said with a grand smile as she stood up and extended her hand. “Trina talks about you so much I feel like I know you already. I’m Carmen Gutiérrez.”
“Nice to meet you, Carmen.”
“And I’m Stacy Frazier,” Stacy said as she remained seated and extended her hand.
“Now I’ve heard Tree mention you,” Reno said as he shook Stacy’s hand. “You guys used to work over at Boyzie’s together, right?”
“That’s right,” Stacy said with a smile. “We used to wait tables together.”
“Although,” Carmen added, “we did a whole lot more than that, thank you very much.” Carmen laughed. Reno smiled.
“Not Trina,” Stacy made clear.
Reno nodded. “Understood,” he said.
“But yeah,” Stacy said, “we were the five musketeers once upon a time.”
“Now it’s just the three of us,” Carmen said as she sat back down. “And Ash. Poor Ash.”
Trina sat on the sofa between the two ladies, and Reno sat on the coffee table in front of them. His legs were gapped open and he was leaned forward. Carmen was impressed. She’d heard that Reno Gabrini was a good looking man, but damn, she thought. He had the kind of swag that made him look so virile that she found herself checking out the package between his legs. As she suspected, he looked full. Stuffed. About to burst from the damn seams. She crossed her legs and smiled.
“You ladies have been through a very traumatic thing,” he said as he leaned toward them.
Stacy agreed. “It was awful. And if we feel awful, imagine how Ash feels.”
“Right,” Trina said. “But at least her parents are on their way. Hopefully that’ll give her some comfort when she comes out of surgery.”
“They live in Vegas too?” Reno asked.
“New Orleans,” Stacy said. “I gave them a call as soon as I was able to manage it.”
Reno was sorry about all of the pain they had to endure, but he needed answers. “So what was it? You ladies just decided to get together last night?” he asked them.
“We get together every week,” Stacy said. “But this was the first time Trina said yes.”
“We always invite her to our girls night out,” Carmen said, “but she’s always too busy working in that store or, begging your pardon, in the PaLargio. But she finally gave in and showed up.”
“What a night to show up,” Stacy said, shaking her head.
Reno was surprised by this. He looked at his wife. “This was your first time hanging out with them?”
“For a girls night out, yeah. My very first time.” Then she smiled a tired smile. “I’ll bet Ashley’s going to blame me for the whole thing when it’s all said and done.”
Stacy and Carmen laughed. “You know she will girl,” Carmen said.
“But what happened?” Reno asked them. “I know you gals hate to re-live it, but I need to know. Trina said two guys broke in and started shooting?”
“That’s what happened,” Stacy said. “But they broke in with purpose.”
“Why do you say that?”
“It was like they came to shoot Ashley and that’s exactly what they did. They pointed the gun at us, but they just laughed like they liked seeing us all scared, and then they left.”
“Two guys in masks?”
“Right.”
“And you can’t describe them at all?”
“I don’t even remember what they wore,” Stacy said. “Trina remembered that, and told the cops, but I couldn’t say if it was two dudes, two ladies, two children. That’s how shook up I was.”
“I was messed up too,” Carmen said. “They could have been on stilts and I wouldn’t have remembered.”
Reno liked the fact that Trina kept her wits about her and was able to at least give some description of their clothing to the police. But the idea of some joker pointing a gun at her and then laughing about it was no laughing matter to Reno. Whoever was responsible for this was going to pay, and pay dearly.
“It was so weird,” Stacy said, thinking back.
Reno looked at her. “What was so weird?”
“We were talking about Boyzie and how Ash had foolishly fallen for him, and the next thing you know she’s being told by masked gunmen to give a message to Boyzie.”
“A message to Boyzie?”
“Yeah. They told her to tell him that they meant business and wasn’t playing with him anymore.”
“But I think they were talking to us,” Carmen said. “They aimed to kill Ash the way they shot her. I think they kept us alive so we could deliver that message to Boyzie.”
“Wait a minute,” Reno said. He had feared asking Trina too many questions before he had a chance to look at her for himself and assess whether she could handle it, but now that he was back with her, and was there for her, he needed to know the full story. “So this Ashley has some kind of relationship with Boyzie?”
“They’re dating, if you can believe it,” Carmen said. “She could have any man she wants, even you, Reno, but she picks Boyzie of all people.”
“She and Boyzie are that tight you think?”
“Tight?” Stacy asked. “I’ll say. He put a ring on it. I would say they’re tight, yeah, I would say that.”
“They’re getting married?” Reno asked, surprised.
Trina nodded. “Our sentiments exactly,” she said. “But Ash says she loves him.”
“But I don’t get it,” Reno said. “If she’s Boyzie’s woman like that, if they’re engaged, why isn’t he here?”
“He’s in hiding,” Carmen said. “He figure they’re after him next.”
“Did he say who they are?”
Carmen looked at Stacy. Stacy shook her head. “He didn’t say a word. We called him and told him what happened to Ash, and we told him what they said, and he took off. He’s in hiding somewhere is the best we can figure.”
Reno, however, found it insulting. “He’s in hiding? His woman is fighting for her life and his ass is in hiding?” Reno ran his hand through his already tussled hair. These sorry-ass men, he thought.
Trina looked at him. “I love Ashley,” she said to him, “but the last thing I want, Reno, is for you to try to handle this. You’ve got enough on your plate just trying to handle your own affairs. I want you to stay out of this.”
“Yeah, a punk puts a gun to my wife’s head and I’m going to stay out of it. Yeah, sure. In fantasyland that could work. In reality? No way I’m staying out of this.”
Stacy smiled. She liked a man with gusto. Carmen smiled too, looking down at that bundle between his legs again. She wondered if he was as hard charging in bed as he was right now. But then the doctor interrupted her thoughts and all of them stood to their feet. Reno moved over by Trina and placed his hand in the small of her back.
“How is she, doctor?” Stacy asked as the surgeon, still in his scrubs, made his way toward them.
“She’ll live,” he said, and they all sighed relief. He removed his cap, revealing spiky hair almost as unruly as Reno’s. “Provided there’s no unforeseen complications, she’ll be fine. It’ll be a long road to recovery, but she should make it all the way back to her normal functioning.”
“Thank God,” Trina said. She seemed, it seemed to Reno, to be the most relieved of them all.
The doctor looked at him. Reno extended his hand. “Dominic Gabrini,” he said.
“Mrs. Gabrini’s husband?” the doctor asked as he shook his hand.
“That’s right.”
“Can we see her, doctor?” Trina asked.
“No. I’m not allowing any visitors. You said her parents are on their way?”
“Yes, sir. They should be here later today.”
“I’ll probably let them eyeball her, ju
st to ease their minds, but that’s as good as I can manage.”
“The police providing protection for her?” Reno asked.
“They are,” the doctor said. “They have somebody on her door at all times.”
Which, Reno knew, didn’t mean squat. He would have to keep some of his people around too, he figured.
“Go home ladies,” the doctor advised. “Maybe tomorrow you can see her then.”
They all agreed, although Reno already had that very thought in mind when the doctor first declared Ashley to be okay.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
He fucked her hard, and she wanted it that way. It was all about the rest of the day. It was all about being away from each other an entire week, and what happened at Ashley’s, and what Reno had to go through in Atlantic City. He had eased his dick inside of her wet folds, and started out giving it to her in an easy, relaxed way. And for nearly half an hour he kept it that way. Nice and easy. Trina laid there naked and wet, as she felt that familiar wonderment of his thick rod expanding inside of her. There was no feeling like it when Reno put it on her. And she laid there, moving to his thrusts, hearing the slushing sounds of his pre-cum and her vaginal juices echo throughout the silent room. He made her forget her troubles, and focus on his loving alone, as he did her.
Reno, too, felt that wonderment as he slow-fucked her. He was on his side, naked and behind her, rammed against her tight ass as he made the kind of love he reserved only for Trina. But he knew it wouldn’t end the way it started. She was emotional and tired, and he wanted her to relax in his sex. He wanted his dick to be a source of relaxation for her, and then exhilaration. But as they lay there, and Reno felt the love for this beautiful lady he had beside him, and as that sensual feeling slowly began to rise further and further to the surface, he knew it was time to reverse course. Relaxation was over. Exhilaration took over.
And Reno’s thrusts matched their elevated sensuality. And he thrust, not faster, but deeper down inside of her to where only his balls were left out. And he was hitting her spot every time. He knew he was. Every time her vaginal walls squeezed around his penis, he knew he was giving it to her exactly where she wanted it. Women used to love when he would take them there, but it was different with Tree. Because he went there too. Because just the thought of filling her up, of gyrating her, of making her feel like no other man alive could put it on her this good, turned him on.
RENO AND TRINA: GETTING BACK TO LOVE (The Mob Boss Series) Page 14