“Val?” she asked. “Where was she?”
“Here. She knocked on my door.” Jimmy lived, with his young daughter Madison, in an apartment inside his father’s hotel. It was supposed to be temporary, until he could find his own place, but Reno and Trina were hoping he didn’t move any time soon. Their easy access to little Maddie was the main reason.
“She’s supposed to be barred from ever stepping foot on this property,” Trina reminded Jimmy.
“I know that. And I also know Dad’s going to cuss her ass out if he finds out. Stef or somebody on his team dropped the ball because, from what she said, they let her right up.”
“You need to talk to Stef about that.”
“I already have. I told him Val and I are divorced and Maddie is in my custody. She has no right being anywhere near this property, I don’t care what she tells them. I told him she has visitation rights to our daughter, but the pickup and drop off is always at her father’s house. Never here.”
“What did he say?” Trina asked.
“He apologized. He said it won’t happen again.”
“It had better not. Can you imagine what your father would have done if he saw her at the PaLargio?”
“I shudder to think what he would have done,” Jimmy said with a grin.
Trina smiled, too. “After all that shit she’s pulled, the only reason Reno kept her stupid ass alive is because she’s Maddie’s mother.”
Then Jimmy’s grin turned into an awkward pause. “So, how’s Champagne’s?” he asked. “How’s Oprah?”
Trina inwardly smiled. Jimmy didn’t give a flip nickel for her high-end clothing store. But he liked her high-end manager, Oprah, and was always asking about her. Why he didn’t just ask her out was a mystery to Trina. “Champagne’s, and Oprah,” she added, “are good. O’s working hard. Why don’t you go over there and say hello to her sometime?”
But Jimmy wouldn’t commit. After Val, he was still reeling from how easily love could turn into hate. “We’ll see,” was how he responded.
Trina smiled. “You sound like your father. He always says we’ll see when he has no intentions of seeing anything.”
Jimmy smiled, too. Then added: “Speaking of Pop,” he said, “where is he? I stopped by the casino and his office. Nobody’s seen him since noon.”
Trina hadn’t seen or heard from him, either, since he left to confront Schizeki. She went back to reviewing a report on her computer. “He’s handling some business,” she said.
“Since noon?” Jimmy asked.
“Yes, Jimmy, since noon. I told you what happened at the school. That scared the shit out of us. The kids were all shook up. They not too long ago finally went to sleep. Reno wants to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“But he should have been back by now, Ma,” Jimmy said. “I’ll bet he hasn’t even called you since he left. Has he?”
There was a slight hesitation because Trina hated to admit it. “He hasn’t phoned me, no,” she said. “But he did check in with Stef earlier this evening. He told Stef he was okay.”
Jimmy shook his head. “I love and respect Dad,” he said. “There’s not a man alive I don’t love and respect more. And I know all of those great words he said about how he feels about you after Miss Bev got shot, but he needs to cut that shit out.”
Trina looked at Jimmy. “And what shit is that exactly?”
Jimmy wouldn’t respond.
“Just say it, Jimmy,” Trina urged. “What?”
Jimmy didn’t want to go there, but Trina had forced his hand. “I’m talking about those rumors, Ma,” he said bluntly. “You know what I’m talking about. They haven’t gone away.”
Trina stared at her stepson. “You believe that nonsense?”
“It’s not about what I believe,” Jimmy responded. “I’ve heard those rumors ever since I came to live with you and Dad, and I was just a teenager then. But instead of those rumors easing up, they’ve gotten worse, Ma. At some point, we have to face the truth.”
“The truth?” Trina asked. “And what’s the truth? Have you ever seen your father behaving inappropriately with any woman ever, Jimmy?”
“It’s not about what I’ve seen.”
“Answer my question,” Trina said with edge in her voice. She was so tired of those so-called rumors she didn’t know what to do. “Have you, James Maxwell Gabrini, ever seen your father behave in any inappropriate way toward any woman ever?”
“I’ve seen him with women before, yes,” Jimmy said.
“That wasn’t my question. He runs a fucking casino and a chain of hotels. Of course you’ve seen him with women! I’m asking have you ever seen your father behave inappropriately with those women?”
Jimmy shook his head. “No,” he said. “I can’t say that I have.”
Trina looked at him again over the top tip of her reading glasses. “Then that’s what you’d better believe,” she said.
“It’s not that simple, Ma.”
“It is that simple! It is that simple! Who are you going to believe? Rumors by women who want what I have, or the reality of how you see your father behave?” Then, in a rare moment, Trina showed her vulnerability and just how deeply those allegations cut her to her core. “He loves me, Jimmy,” she said. “He wouldn’t do that to me.”
Jimmy’s heart broke for his stepmother. He wanted to grab her and hold her and protect her from any kind of conversations like this. But he felt that part of their family life had been swept under a rug and ignored for far too long. “That’s how I felt about Val, too,” he said. “I didn’t think she’d ever cheat on me, either. But she did.”
Trina frowned. “You’re comparing your father, my husband, to that trick?”
“I’m just telling you people aren’t perfect. Not even Dad. He loves you, but that doesn’t mean infidelity isn’t happening. Both things can be true. I mean, think about it, Ma. He went to talk with the guy whose sons told on Dommi. That was around noon today. It’s nearly ten at night now and he’s still not home. He called his security chief but he hasn’t called you. And we’re just supposed to figure that’s all innocent? It would make more sense to me that he’s with some woman who’s able to relieve his stress after a day like today, than still talking to some man about what happened today.”
Trina removed her glasses. “I relieve his stress,” she said. “He doesn’t need any other woman to do a damn thing for him in that department.” Then she pointed her glasses at Jimmy. “Your father is not a cheater,” she said. “You need to stop believing that nonsense and start believing in him.”
“I do believe in him,” Jimmy said. “But I’m a man, too, Ma. I know how men behave. It’s not that they don’t love their wives. It’s just that they sometimes get tired of fucking their wives.”
Trina’s heart dropped. And she looked away from Jimmy. Then she put back on her glasses and looked back at her computer screen. “I know what you’re saying is true,” she said. “But those men aren’t Reno. I won’t believe that about Reno. I can’t believe that about Reno. He wouldn’t sleep with another woman, and then come home to me. He wouldn’t do that.”
“But something has to be up,” Jimmy said. “He stays out all night sometimes and you have no clue where he is or what he’s up to. He stays out all night many nights. That’s not normal.”
Trina didn’t respond.
“I’m not a kid anymore, but I’m still very young. I’m a young man that many females view as most attractive. But even I can’t compete with dad when it comes to the ladies.”
Trina looked at him.
“Before I married Val,” he continued, “I couldn’t compete with him when it came to my own girlfriends. Remember that? Remember how my girlfriends would try to get next to me so they could get next to Dad? And a few of them told me why. It’s not just that he’s good looking, they told me. But it’s that he’s sexy. That he reeks of sexiness, one of them had the nerve to say to me. He reeks of sexiness. With all of these super-gorgeou
s women out here looking for that rare kind of sexiness in their men, how can anybody compete against somebody who’s got exactly what they’re looking for?”
Trina nodded. “I hear what you’re saying. And I’m not pretending that I don’t see how women react to him, or that I haven’t heard those rumors. People have told me that shit to my face. But I don’t believe them. Sorry. I don’t. Maybe I’m that lovesick chick I’ve always said I wouldn’t be. Maybe everybody knows shit that I don’t know. But nobody knows my husband better than I know my husband. I have to go by what I know, not by what they’re telling me I don’t know.”
“And I love your devotion to him,” Jimmy said heartfelt. “I’m not trying to knock that, you know I’m not. But I want you to be prepared for the just in case. I don’t want you to be blindsided. I don’t want you to be one of those devoted ladies who don’t see it coming, until it gets here. You love Pop in a really special, and in a really deep way. I’m not sure if you’ll be able to recover if you find out you were wrong.”
“Recover?” Trina smiled a smile that wasn’t meant to be joyous. “I’ve been through a lot. But if I find out Reno’s been cheating on me, yes, that would take the cake. I know I’ll go on. I have children to raise and businesses to manage. I’ll recover, as you put it. But damn. It’ll just kill the best part of me, Jimmy. And Reno knows it. That’s why I say he wouldn’t do that to me!”
Jimmy felt her pain. He decided to lighten the burden, for her sake, although he still stood by every word he’d said. “What you have going for you,” he said, “is that dad is a special man. There’s no doubt about that. But he’s a man. That’s where it gets dicey. But anyway, I’d better get to bed. I have an early day tomorrow.”
“Uncle Tommy isn’t working you too hard I hope.”
“He’s working me hard as hell,” Jimmy said gleefully. “And I love it! I’m good at this shit, Ma. I’m amazing myself.”
Trina smiled. “Uncle Sal believed in you, and recommended you to Tommy. He’s a good judge of character, too.”
Jimmy smiled. “You mean like you?”
Trina smiled. “Exactly like me! So don’t you worry about me and your father. And you know why? Because there’s one fatal flaw in your reasoning.”
Jimmy was curious. “Oh, yeah? And what’s that?”
“You had the gall to compare your father to Val, first of all.”
Jimmy laughed. “I took that back!”
“And you had the nerve to compare your father to every other man,” Trina continued. “I pity the fool who ever thinks Reno Gabrini is just like any other man. He’s not. Believe me.” Then Jimmy could sense the depth of her conviction. “He’s not,” she added.
And before Jimmy could say another word, the front door opened, and the very topic of their conversation walked in.
Reno looked like hell warmed over, Trina thought, as he entered their penthouse and headed toward the living area. Jimmy thought so, too, but neither said anything. They both knew Reno well enough to know when he was in a mood. He was in a major mood.
“How are you, Pop?” Jimmy said, instead, as Reno approached.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m visiting. I can’t visit my own family now?”
“Where’s Maddie? She here, too?”
“She’s downstairs asleep, in my apartment. And before you blow a gasket, don’t worry. The nanny’s with her. I have a nanny too, you know.”
“Is she wired up?” Reno asked.
Every nanny or household staff that worked for Reno and Trina had to agree to wear a wire during their entire time inside the household. At the end of their shift, Reno’s security removed the wire. But during their shift, their every movement and conversations were recorded. The Gabrinis had had nanny troubles in the past. They took no chances with outside people.
“Yes, Stef had her wired up,” Jimmy said. “My daughter is fully protected. I make sure of it.”
“And how are you paying for this nanny? On my dime?”
“On my own dime,” Jimmy said. “I work for Uncle Tommy now, remember, Pop? After Uncle Sal stepped down to run his syndicate full-time? I make real money now.” Then Jimmy smiled. “Not that chump-change you paid me.”
Trina laughed. Reno smiled, but they could tell his heart wasn’t in it. He leaned down and kissed Trina on the lips. She smelled a whiff of alcohol and weed on his person. Whenever he was especially stressed, those were his go-to medications. They almost always failed him, and then he came to her.
He sat down beside her.
“Everything okay?” she asked him.
“What are you doing?” Reno asked, rather than answered, her.
“I’m just reviewing Champagne’s franchisees’ tracking numbers,” Trina responded. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay.”
“Don’t look that way to me, Pop,” Jimmy chimed in. “And where were you, anyway? Nobody’s seen you since noon.”
Reno frowned. “What are you checking on my whereabouts for? I thought you were the big man in Tommy’s company now. What is my whereabouts your business?”
“I’m just saying! It’s no big deal like that.”
Reno leaned back. It was not his intention to come home and get into an argument with his oldest child. Then he leaned forward and looked at Jimmy. “Sorry,” he said in a rare show of contrition. “I’m a little tired.”
Jimmy’s heart squeezed when his father apologized to him. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d done that. “No sweat, Pop,” he responded.
Reno looked over at Trina. She could see his eyes move down to her breasts, and then back up to her face. “I’m going to take a shower. Come up when you finish reviewing those numbers.”
Trina and Jimmy both knew what that meant. His attempt to medicate himself with alcohol and weed didn’t do a damn thing to relief the stress that overwhelmed his body. He needed the ultimate relief: Trina’s body.
“I’ll be up shortly,” she said.
Reno said his goodnight to his son, and made his way upstairs.
Jimmy looked at Trina. “What do you think could be wrong?” he asked her.
Trina hunched her shoulders. “You mean other than his son being accused of domestic terrorism? You mean other than his wife, last week, nearly dying in a bomb blast?”
Jimmy nodded his head. “I get your point. But I don’t know. It seemed like Pop could weather those storms. You guys were okay and they took care of the guy behind the bomb blast. I don’t know, Ma. He seems troubled by something else. Something awful must have happened at Schizeki’s house.”
“I don’t know what that could be.”
“Maybe he had to ice him.”
Trina frowned. “Because the man’s sons told the truth on Dommi? They snitched, and Reno hate snitches, but he wouldn’t do that to those boys’ father.”
“Then what else could it be?”
“I don’t know, Jimmy, and I’m not going to sit up here speculating with you. Just know that I’ll sort it out.”
Jimmy smiled. “In more ways than one, hun, Ma?”
“Boy, bye!” Trina said with a smile of her own. “Get out of here!”
Jimmy grinned and rose to his feet. “Call me if you need me,” he said. “You know I’m a great listener.”
“You’re a great talker,” Trina said. Then she conceded. “And a great listener. I’ll call you.”
Jimmy moved over, gave her a hug, and then left the penthouse.
Trina finished the report she was reviewing, but left the additional reports for later. She shut down her computer and removed her glasses. She thought about making Reno a glass of wine but deciding against it: he probably had too much to drink as it was. She would have to be enough. She sat her computer and glasses on the side table, and made her way upstairs.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
By the time she made it upstairs, to their bedroom, Reno was just getting out of the shower. Trina had showered earlier in the night, after
putting the children to bed, and now was exhausted herself. But she wasn’t about to have Reno all but tell her that he needed her, and she didn’t come through.
When she walked into their bedroom and saw Reno drying off his fine, muscular body, and when she additionally saw that long rod hanging from that body ready to give her the ride of her life, she was glad to come through. And even in her tired, weakened state, she had enough sense to know that she would be getting the better end of that deal. Or, as she thought mischievously, the better end of that stick.
She removed and discarded her t-shirt, revealing her big, bare breasts, as she walked toward Reno. Reno smiled. She had his attention. This was exactly what he needed. And he watched with lustful passion as those big breasts bounced like chocolate gold as she walked to him. And that sleek, brown body. And that serious, gorgeous face that made the world know she was not the one to trifle with. His penis, with all of that wonderfulness coming his way, began to lift up stiff and hard like an independent object of affection, as if she had its’ attention too.
And when she made it to Reno’s side, and knelt down to suck his already aroused dick, Reno pulled her back up. And pulled her into his arms. “That’s not what I need,” he whispered breathlessly into his ear. “I need to suck you.”
Trina smiled. She knew she’d be getting the better deal.
And as Reno lifted her body up into his arms and began sucking her breasts as if he was going to juice them out, she wrapped her legs around his waist and enjoyed every second of his passion. And as he walked her to the bed, and laid her on the bed, he was still sucking her so vigorously that both of her nipples were swollen. She loved when Reno paid this much attention to her breasts. Because the way he sucked, and squeezed, made her feel as if her entire body was being massaged. It was a beautifully odd, heady feeling.
And by the time he began pulling down her shorts; tracing kisses along her sleek, black body as he pulled them down; and then removed them altogether, her entire body felt inflamed with his passion. And that was before he squeezed her ass, holding it in place, as he moved his head between her legs.
Reno Gabrini- the Man in the Mirror Page 11
