Reno Gabrini: When His Woman Cries

by Mallory Monroe

  The meeting place was in a park. Reno hated it because it wasn’t isolated. Too much room for error should shit happen. And given that this guy was masterminding a rip-off of his money, shit was going to happen. Reno was going to see to that. But this was the place the Mexican was told to meet up with his boss.

  Pedro Montoya got the call an hour before the scheduled meet. No time for Reno to have his boys run the kind of sweep he would have preferred. But they were in the park. In force. And Reno was at least confident that they had it covered. But he still was antsy about such a wide open, busy space.

  Pedro parked near the entrance gate, the place he always parked whenever he met his money man. He arrived after Reno and his men had already set up, with Reno’s men hidden inside the car. But Pedro got out of the car alone and made his way to the designated bench. Reno was already in the park, in jeans and a jersey and with a ball cap pushed down to make his face difficult to see. He was tossing a baseball to one of his men, and they were both standing within range of the designated bench.

  Bo Jackson was also there, along with Luigi Spanelli, as they lounged around on nearby benches reading newspapers that concealed their faces.

  “That’s him,” Pedro said into his hidden microphone just as he sat on the bench. Reno casually looked as the man the Mexican did business with, a man he had only described to them as a black American male, entered the park and headed Pedro’s way. Although it was a black guy, as Pedro had said it would be, it wasn’t Garry Marshall, as Reno had hoped it would be. But Pedro had already seen Marshall’s photo, and dismissed it. The guy showing up now was a stranger to Reno. And so they began.

  But as soon as it began, it all ended. As soon as the money man approached the designated bench, and Pedro stood to his feet, the money man was shot in the back.

  “Oh shit!” Reno said as he began pulling out his weapon. He didn’t see that one coming at all!

  But before he or any of his men could react, as they all were pulling out their weapons too, a second shot was fired, hitting Pedro between the eyes. Reno knew then and there that this wasn’t about transacting business, but taking out everybody in that park associated with that business. Which, Reno knew, meant taking out his men too.

  “Abort!” he yelled into his hidden mic as he began running for cover. “Abort! Get the fuck out of here!”

  Reno and his men ducked and ran and looked around. People in the park were grabbing their children and scrambling and screaming and running too. Reno was searching and searching for the shot point. But he saw no one. Not on the northern end of the park. Not on the southern end. Not northwest nor northeast. Not southwest nor southeast. Nothing!

  But he couldn’t look any longer. Because more and more gunshots rang out. They had taken down their own men, now there were gunning for Reno’s men.

  “What’s happening, Boss?” Bo asked into Reno’s mic as he ran toward the park’s exit.

  “Those motherfuckers are a mile away,” Reno responded. “They’re shooting at us from a mile away! Get out and get out now! Abort this operation and get out now!”

  And they ran. Reno, Luigi, Bo, and their entire crew dodged bullet after bullet, a rainstorm of bullets, and ran for cover.

  Reno made it home later that night. Trina and Jimmy were sitting on the sofa in the living room, playing cards, and they both suspected, by Reno’s demeanor, that something had gone horribly wrong. When Reno plopped down in the chair and laid his head back, as if he’d just been to hell and back and still had the scars to prove it, they were certain there had been a major complication. Or screw up. They could never tell which with Reno.

  But they both also knew not to rush it out of him. He had to decompress. He would talk when he was good and ready. Jimmy was anxious as hell to know what happened. Trina was more circumspect. She was anxious as hell to take Reno in her arms, and baby him. But not yet.

  Reno finally opened his eyes and looked at his wife and son. Unsurprising to him, they both were staring at him. He turned his head toward them. “Where’s the children?” he asked.

  “Asleep,” Trina said.

  “And Maddie?” he asked Jimmy.

  “Asleep,” Jimmy said.

  Reno nodded, and looked away.

  “Speaking of Maddie,” Trina said, “Jimmy’s lawyer got a call from Val’s lawyer today.”

  This interested Reno. “What did he say?”

  “He made it clear it was against his legal advice to Val,” Jimmy said.

  “Tell me,” Reno said.

  “He said Val has decided to give me full custody of the baby,” Jimmy said. “And she also agreed to supervised visitation only.”

  “Good. And payment? What is this supposed to set you back?”

  “No child support since Maddie will be living with me,” Jimmy said.

  “And?”

  “And spousal support until she remarries,” Jimmy said. “I think that’s a good deal, Dad.”

  Trina was as surprised as Reno. They both told Val not to ask for a dime. “She asked for spousal support?”

  “No,” Jimmy said. “I felt that was my responsibility. I think it’s a good deal.”

  “Spousal support until she remarries is a whacked deal, Jimmy,” Reno said. “A good deal? Are you nuts? What if she never remarries? You’ll be supporting that bitch for the rest of her life!”

  “Contact your attorney,” Trina said. “If you have to give her something, although we don’t think you should give her shit, then put a time limit on it. Tell him you’ll give her spousal support for two years. Maybe it’ll negotiate up to three or four years. But you need to have an end game, Jimmy.”

  But Jimmy was shaking his head. “She’s the mother of my child,” he said. “I don’t want Maddie’s mother struggling to survive. She’s the mother of my child.”

  “The mother of your child,” Reno said, “had no problem accusing your old man of rape. Did you know that?”

  Jimmy knew it. Trina had told him.

  “The mother of your child had no problem sending me to prison for the rest of my life if she could have pulled it off. Don’t talk to me about the mother of your child. As long as you work for me your money is my money, and that bitch isn’t living off of my money for the rest of her life. If something happens to me and Trina, and you take over all of this, that spousal support you’re so willing to give to her will increase a million-fold. It’ll be my money she’ll be living off of! That’s not going to happen. Put a time limit on that spousal support like Trina told you. Don’t be a fool all your life, Jimmy.”

  “Reno!” Trina said with admonishment in her voice. “Don’t take it out on Jim. You make a good point about time limiting his support, but don’t try to act as if Jimmy hasn’t changed. He has. He’s doing everything you’ve asked him to do, and more.”

  “He hired that Samantha chick because he liked her ass,” Reno said, “and that decision nearly got him killed. He’s still making poor business decisions. But you’re right,” he also admitted. “He’s improving.”

  “We’ve got a read on Garry Marshall,” Jimmy said to quickly change the subject.

  Reno and Trina both looked at him. “You found him?” Reno asked.

  “He’s been spotted, yeah.”

  “Where?” Reno asked. “Here in Vegas?”

  “Not even,” Jimmy said. “He’s in Budapest.”

  “In Hungary?” Trina asked. “Damn.”

  “Who’s going?” Reno looked at Jimmy. “You?”

  “I called my own number, yeah. I’ll need to take your plane, Pop. Unless you’ve got something up?”

  “No! Get his ass here. It may take some time, that’s a big place, but you’ll get him. When do you want to shove off?”

  “Tomorrow. Hopefully, before noon. That’ll give me time to get the right people in place.”

  “And I want a quick in and quick out, Jimmy.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “No bullshit,” Reno continued. “Take a full cr
ew with you. I don’t want any fuck-ups. We’ve had enough already. I don’t need anymore.”

  Which, Trina thought, probably included today. “What happened at the park?” she asked Reno. “A fuck-up?”

  “Major,” Reno said, the strain still in his eyes. “Whoever’s behind this shit took out the money man, took out the Mexican, and tried to take out me and my men. Now I don’t have the con who pulled off the shit. I don’t get to question the guy who was providing the cash for the shit. I still don’t know who the fuck is masterminding the shit!”

  Trina and Jimmy could see the pressure building on Reno. He was like a powder keg ready to explode. “Maybe we’ll get some answers soon, Pop,” Jimmy reassured him. “Sam identified Marshall as her money man. Maybe he’s more than that.”

  “Yeah, maybe,” Reno said. “But your ass better not take any chances. I don’t want you hurt, Jimmy.”

  Reno said those words with such emotion behind them that Jimmy felt it to the depths of his soul. His father truly loved him. That he knew without a doubt. “I’ll be careful, Pop. Extra careful.”

  Reno was reassured. But he was also so stressed it was overwhelming him. And Trina couldn’t take it any longer.

  She rose and reached for his hand. “Come on, Reno,” she said. “I need to talk to you upstairs about something.”

  Jimmy knew what she meant, and Reno did too. But he was too exhausted to “talk.” But knowing Trina, he thought as he rose to his feet, took her hand and headed upstairs, he wouldn’t have to say a word. Trina, he knew, would do all the talking for him.

  Trina did all the talking for him. He laid on his back on their bed and she did the rest. She unzipped his pants. She pulled out his penis. And began to give him the kind of achingly slow blow job Reno loved. It was the kind of job that didn’t require him to do anything but relax and enjoy it. And he did.

  It began to feel so enjoyable that he nearly fell asleep, which was Trina’s point. She licked him with slow licks. She sucked him with slow sucks. She mouth-fucked him as if his penis was her Popsicle. Until he came. Not with the explosive outburst he was known for. But with a slow spill that slinked out.

  Trina would have swallowed, if he wanted her to, but Reno wouldn’t allow it. He lifted her mouth off of his penis just as he began to cum, and pulled her on top of him after the last of his cum sat like spilled cream on his shirt. And Trina got on top of his spillage without hesitation.

  “Love you,” he said as he kissed her. And he held her in a big bear hug as if he was her loving, protective cocoon.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The next day, the front door to the penthouse flew open, and Jimmy ran in. When he looked beyond the foyer, and didn’t see his parents, he ran upstairs. “Mom! Dad!” he cried as he ran. He was taking two stairs at a time, nearly stumbling, as his heart was beating out of his chest.

  Upstairs, in the master bathroom, Reno and Trina didn’t hear his cries. They were in the shower, with the water blasting onto their naked bodies, fucking.

  Trina was panting uncontrollably as Reno’s dick shoved into her with hard, swift shoves that felt like whips against her vaginal walls. He was hitting her from behind, and had her stomach jammed against the tile, as his rhythm kept increasing to a point of near-mania.

  Reno was panting too, as the feel of her tightness caused him to push harder. But by pushing harder, he was moving in deeper. And the deeper he went, the more sensual he felt. And it felt so good, he could hardly contain it. He was pounding her.

  By the time Jimmy ran across the landing and entered the master bedroom, he could hear slapping sounds in the shower. Either Reno was beating the shit out of Trina, he thought, or was fucking the shit out of her. Knowing his father the way Jimmy knew him, it was probably the latter.

  Pop!” He stood at the door and yelled.

  Reno suddenly stopped pounding Trina. “What?” he asked angrily.

  “We’ve got us an FBI raid!”

  “Fuck! Where?”

  “Downstairs.”

  “Call the lawyers,” Reno ordered, as he quickly turned off the shower faucet. And he and Trina hurried out.

  Trina had already calmed Reno down by the time they made it onto their private elevator and headed downstairs, but inwardly she was even angrier than Reno. The Feds loved to pull this shit. Almost every year. They come in as if they were the new sheriff in town, toss around boxes and make a lot of noise and get a lot of publicity. But in the end nothing would happen. Year after year after year. It was annoying and it was as wrong as it could be.

  But that wasn’t what had Trina’s blood boiling. What really had Trina upset was the fact that they were toying with Reno as if he didn’t have a mountain of worries already. She looked at him as they headed down. They both were dressed for work: Reno in his Armani suit. Trina in her Versace dress and heels. They knew the drill. They weren’t going down there less than their best.

  But as their private elevator neared Reno’s office floor, she could still sense his displeasure. He was seething inside.

  She moved in front of him, and clutched his coat lapel. “We’ve got to keep it together, Reno,” she said.

  He was nodding. “Yeah, I know, babe. But those bastards!”

  “We have no choice, Reno, or we’ll give them exactly what they want. They want a show. It’s like those cops at riots. They want to provoke you and provoke you until you show out. Then they can point and say, ‘see? I told you they were savages!’ Then they’ll feel more than justified to put our asses in jail.”

  But Reno still couldn’t entirely suppress his anger. “But this shit be embarrassing, Tree,” he said. “They treat me like I’m some nobody! You know how hard I work to keep my shit tight. I don’t cut any corners in my businesses. I dot every I, and cross every T. But those fuckers keep fucking with me. And I’m tired of it!”

  “I am too,” Trina admitted. “But we’ve got to keep it together. The lawyers are on their way. They’re handle this illegal bullshit they’re pulling. They’ll call them out on it. But we have to endure it in the meantime. Okay?”

  But Reno was still unable to bear it.

  Trina placed her hand on his chin and stared him dead in his tired blue eyes. She knew, when he was in this state, only she could calm him down. “Okay, Reno?”

  He was still unaccepting. He was still mad as hell. It wasn’t until he looked into her hazel eyes, did she feel as if he was hearing her. And he nodded. He knew she was right. “Okay,” he said.

  Trina exhaled. She felt better. But that didn’t mean either one of them felt good.

  It was a madhouse. His staff, some fifty-strong, were out in the halls looking into his office suite as the G-men took over. And they were mad as hell too. Reno’s office looked as if a tornado had whipped through it. Some of Reno’s senior executives were trying to reason with the FBI. You can search, they were insisting, but you don’t have to tear the place down.

  They were tearing the place down. Because it was all about intimidation. Reno and Trina saw it as soon as they saw the wreckage. And that was why they remained in the hall too, watching the show.

  Trina shook her head. “They should be ashamed of themselves,” she said. “Our tax dollars going to this. We pay taxes too!”

  “They don’t give a fuck,” Reno said. “Look at them. Just throwing shit around.”

  “They know better,” Trina said. “They know you’re far too smart to mix any mob connections you may or may not have with your business interests.”

  “Damn right those ass wipes know that,” Reno agreed. “But this shit ain’t about finding evidence. Those fuckers want to make a statement.”

  But they didn’t realize Jimmy was actually in the office with the Feds until he came out into the hall.

  “You were in there?” Trina asked, surprised. Reno was surprised too.

  “You guys need to come with me,” Jimmy said. “You need to hear this.”

  Trina looked at Reno. What now, she wondered. />
  Reno was wondering it too as he placed his hand in the small of her back and moved her ahead of him as they made their way into Reno’s office suite. They walked beyond the secretary’s station, which was filled with agents too, until they were in Reno’s office, over at the conference table. The agent in charge, a stiff called Smiley, was sitting at the head of the table. Piles of boxes were on that table.

  “Have a seat,” the agent said.

  “Thanks for offering me a seat at my own table,” Reno said.

  “Pop,” Jimmy admonished. He, like Trina, knew how easily Reno could fly off the handle.

  “Don’t you have a plane to catch?” Reno asked him.

  “I’m heading out. I was just making sure you guys were here before I left. The lawyers are on their way. They, of course, said for me to tell you two to say nothing.”

  “Naturally,” Reno said.

  Jimmy kissed Trina and Reno. “I’m out,” he said, and left the room.

  Smiley smiled. “You have a nice son there. He knows how to treat people.”

  “Cut the bullshit,” Reno said. “What do you want?”

  Beneath the table, Trina reached over and squeezed Reno’s hand.

  Smiley looked around at his men. “Clear the office,” he ordered.

  The men, like robots, stopped whatever mess they were making and left Reno’s office, closing the door behind them.

  Smiley, a burly white man with a receding hairline, looked at Reno. “This isn’t a toss and go,” he said.

  “Oh, yeah?” Reno responded. “Sure looks that way to us.”

  “Contrary to how it looks,” Smiley said, “that’s not what this is about. We’re here for cause.”

  Reno frowned. “Bullshit!” he said. “There’s nothing underhanded in any of my businesses. I personally see to that!”

  “You’ve been losing something north of three million dollars a month in your businesses,” Smiley said. “I know that.”

  This cut Reno short. Trina too. The Feds hadn’t just been observing, they’d been snooping. That worried them. But Smiley would never know it.