“He’d love to see you again, you know that. Unlike his feelings for me, he really loves you.”
Tommy dismissed such talk. “He doesn’t know what love is.”
“Just don’t rule it out, all right?” Sal said. “That’s all I ask. Don’t rule it out.”
Shannon opened the door again. Sal threw his hands in the air. “Does this look like a fast food restaurant to you?”
“I’m sorry to disturb y’all again but a woman’s here to see Tommy, I mean Mr. Gabrini.”
“A woman?” Sal asked. “What woman?”
“She says she’s his girlfriend.”
Sal frowned. “You mean Grace?”
“No. I know Miss McKinsey. This woman went to Tommy’s, to Mr. Gabrini’s office first, but his secretary told her that he was in your office. So she’s here now. I told her you were in a meeting, Mr. Gabrini,” she said to Tommy, “but she didn’t care. She said she wants to see you and she wants to see you now.”
Sal looked at him. “What girlfriend?” he asked as Tommy stood up.
“I’ll handle it,” Tommy said as he headed for the exit.
“And now that they know about that engagement,” Sal said as Tommy headed out, “the shit hits the fan.”
When Tommy saw that this so-called girlfriend of his was Kelli Montiscue, he all but dragged her out of Sal’s suite of offices and upstairs to his suite. To the shock of his assistants in the outer sanctum, Tommy swung open his office door and slung Kelli inside by the catch of her small arm. He slammed the door behind them. When the door slammed shut, his assistants couldn’t suppress their amused looks. Dapper Tom and his women, was the prevailing thought.
But inside was a different thought. Tommy wasn’t having it. Kelli almost fell when he slung her away from him when the door closed, but she was a runway model. She maintained her balance.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked her, his face a mask of anguish. “This is my place of business. You don’t bring that shit here!”
“What was I supposed to do, Tommy? You won’t return my phone calls, or text or anything. You haven’t returned a single one of my calls!”
“I don’t return your calls because there’s nothing to talk about. I told you that! What’s wrong with you?”
She walked around the office, sitting her purse on his desk, and then turned around, leaning against it. If Tommy didn’t know any better he’d think she was on some sort of drugs. She was certainly thinner, and looked as if she’d been living recklessly in some respect. But he knew her better than that. She sniffled and wiped her already red nose with an already overused tissue. “I’m supposed to be next in line,” she said.
Tommy walked up to her, shaking his head. She was still harping on that. “Next in what line, Kell?” he asked her. “There is no line, Kell.”
“When Shanks died, I was supposed to be next in line. Me!” she yelled as her finger stabbed her chest. “Not somebody you just met. Me! You said I was your favorite girl. You always said that.”
Tommy ran his hand through his hair. He probably said that line to every woman he ever fucked. “You take things too seriously, Kell. I told you that.”
“Oh, so, what is that supposed to mean? Are you saying you were lying? Is that what you’re saying, Tommy? Are you saying that I wasn’t your favorite?”
It seemed like they’d had this conversation before. It seemed as if his firmness all those weeks ago wasn’t firm enough. He hated going there, but he knew, just like before, he had to go there. “Yes,” he said clearly. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. I was lying my ass off. You were only my favorite because you were underneath me. And the next one who was underneath me was my favorite too. And the next one after that.”
Kelli slapped Tommy hard across the face, his hair slinging wildly from the impact of her hard hit. “You bastard!” she yelled. “How dare you talk to me like that!” Tears stained her pretty eyes again. “How dare you!”
Tommy felt the sting of the slap, but he needed her to understand him. “It’s over,” he said plainly. “I have tried to let you down easy, I have tried to keep this rational and unemotional, but you won’t allow it. You somehow think that coming here, disturbing me at work, will change my mind. It won’t. It is over, do you understand me now? We weren’t in a committed relationship to begin with, and now we aren’t in a relationship at all. It’s over, Kell. It is over. So you need to get your shit, get out of my building, and leave me the hell alone. Is that clear enough for you?”
Kelli looked at Tommy with a mixture of hatred, regret, and pain in her eyes. Tommy hated going there with her, because he did care for her, but he wasn’t about to lead her on or pretend she stood any chance whatsoever with him now that Grace was his woman.
And although she lingered, although she stared at him until staring at him was pointless too, she eventually left. She gathered up her purse, straightened her well-appointed pantsuit, and walked out of Tommy’s door.
But as Tommy stood there, remembering that look in her eyes, remembering what Sal had warned him about, he knew he had to make a move. He walked behind his desk, picked up his desk phone, and requested a meeting with his Security Chief. It was high time, it seemed to him, that he placed Grace under some protection. Not forever, but at least until, as Sal so amply put it, the shit stops hitting the fan.
“Have a seat,” Grace said to Nayla and Jared as they entered her office. She was seated behind her desk, preparing for her staff meeting, but asked the two of them to see her first.
“What’s this about, Grace?” Nayla asked. She was already upset. Not just because of the short notice of this meeting, but because she and Jared had planned a rendezvous away from the office, on the pretense of a business luncheon they needed to attend, and she was cutting into their fun time. Nayla was therefore more than ready to express her displeasure with Grace. She had tried earlier, but Grace was tied up in conference calls and couldn’t give her so much as a minute of her precious time. Nayla, however, didn’t buy any of it. Grace could have seen her if she wanted to.
“I’ll be brief,” Grace said, but Nayla interrupted her.
“First of all,” Nayla said, “I don’t see why we weren’t given adequate notice. Jillian never had a meeting without letting us know well in advance so that we could adjust our schedules. At least she respected us that much. But you jump up calling us all willy-nilly whenever you want to call us, and I don’t think that’s right, Grace. You could have given us at least twenty-four hour notice. You could have at least done that.”
Although Jared privately agreed with Nayla, he wasn’t about to speak it in front of Grace.
It didn’t matter to Grace. She ignored Nayla’s inappropriate outburst anyway. “When I met with staff several weeks ago,” Grace said, “I informed both of you, along with all of my other managers, that there would be changes made. I informed you that those who were doing an excellent job might get promoted, and those who were not might get demoted or worse. I told you then that my decisions will not be based on anything other than your work product and if you’re doing the job you’re being paid to do. If you aren’t doing your job, I consider you a liability to this company and I won’t tolerate it.”
What had been annoyance in the room because of the short notice, was now undeniable fear. At least on Jared’s part. Nayla didn’t give a damn.
“Effective immediately,” Grace continued, “Penny Shavers, Head of Marketing, has been dismissed.” As soon as Grace spoke those words, Nayla’s expression changed. She and Jared both knew Penny wasn’t doing a damn thing, and many times were falsifying what she was doing, but they still never dreamed Grace would have the nerve to fire her. Not Grace! But, to Nayla’s shock, she had.
“Also effective immediately,” Grace went on, “Jared, you will continue to work in the Sales Department, but you will no longer run that department. Carrie, your assistant, will run it for now. And Nayla, you will continue to work in Logistics, but you’l
l no longer run Logistics.”
Nayla leaped from her seat as if she had been sitting on pins and needles. Jared was too stunned to speak. But Nayla wasn’t. “What are you talking about?” she blared. “That’s my department!”
“Not anymore it’s not. Your department is one of the worse run in this company. The only reason I’m not firing you outright is because I believe, unlike Penny, you stand a chance at improvement. But if you don’t improve, if you don’t stop leaving the office for hours on end with nothing to show for it, then you will be dismissed. And dismissed summarily.”
Nayla couldn’t believe it. She stared at Grace as if she was staring at a stranger. And that was what Grace felt like to her: a stranger. But she thought about Penny, and thought about her rent, and held her fire.
It wasn’t until she and Jared were alone in her office, later that day, did the blades come out.
“Can you believe that bitch?” she blared. “Gonna demote me? Me!”
“Calm down, Nay,” Jared said. “I got demoted too!”
“Calm down my ass! Give her a little power and she thinks she’s running something!”
“That’s the part that just riles me.” Then he shook his head. “And she’s supposed to be your best friend. Some best friend,” he added.
But Nayla was shaking her head. “She was never any best friend of mine! Not mine! The only reason I befriended her ass at all was because she was so pitiful. Now she thinks she’s going to lord it over me? Oh, no. She messed up now. That bitch messed up now!”
CHAPTER TEN
Tommy sat at a back booth inside Diamante’s and stared out of the window. Grace had just arrived in her Dodge Charger and was handing the keys to the Valet. Although she loved that little Charger, Tommy knew that wasn’t going to work. He also knew he was going to have to be careful, when he broached the subject. But it was a fact. She needed a car upgrade.
But her clothes, after that trip to Rodeo Drive, were now dead on. She was dressed sharply, Tommy thought, in her Versace skirt suit, and when she entered Diamante’s he could see the guys go out of their way to check her out. But they were wasting their time. That beautiful black woman coming toward him belonged to him. And him alone.
He knew it sometimes didn’t seem so, given the long hours she worked and given how often he was out of town, but that was why he insisted they get together tonight. He needed to slow his business trips down, and Grace had been at the helm of Trammel long enough now, he felt, that she could start focusing elsewhere. Namely on him. But as he stood to greet her, he saw more concern than any thrilled to be there vibe in her eyes.
“Hey,” he said as he took her hand and they kissed on the lips. He stared into her eyes. “How are you? Hectic day?”
“As usual,” Grace said as she sat at the booth, not across from him the way she normally sat, but beside him. She needed to feel his nearness. He immediately placed his arm around her waist, which warmed her.
“Something happened?” he asked.
Grace hesitated, and then responded to him. “I demoted Nayla,” she said, and then looked at him. He could see her anguish. “I hated to do it, but I would have been a sham if I allowed her to continue as a department head when her work ethic is so horrible.”
“It’s gotten worse since you’ve been in charge, hasn’t it?”
Grace nodded. “Yeah. She’s barely in her office an hour before she’s supposedly out in the field checking on drivers and meeting with clients. Only there’s no record of any meetings and most of the drivers are complaining that she won’t return their phone calls, let alone meet with them.” Then Grace frowned. “She’s definitely gotten worse.”
“Nayla has serious issues with your success. It has probably been her issue for a long time. It’s just catching up with her now.”
“I guess you’re right. She’s been giving me hell.”
“And you give it right back to her. Fire her if it comes to that.”
Grace frowned. “I pray it doesn’t come to that.”
“But if it does, don’t you hesitate.”
Grace nodded her head. She was glad to know that Tommy was standing firm with her, but it wouldn’t have mattered if he wasn’t. Every move Grace was making at Trammel, moves that weren’t endearing her to anybody, were absolutely necessary for the future success of that company. Her employees didn’t know it, nor would many of them admit it even if they did, but her controversial actions today all but guaranteed that they would have employment tomorrow. But all they saw now was how bitchy she was, and how, as many have commented, the power had gone to her head.
After the wait staff took their order, Tommy looked at Grace. He could see dark circles under her eyes. “You’re working too hard,” he said to her.
“And you aren’t?” she asked with a smile.
“You know what I mean. I can shuffle a number of different matters. This is new to you.”
“I know. But I just need to get it right, that’s all. I want to get this right.”
Tommy squeezed her. “You’ll get it right, stop worrying about that. You’ll be fine.”
Grace knew it was true too. She needed to slow down. But taking over Trammel had consumed her entirely in recent weeks. This was the first time, in fact, that she and Tommy had actually been able to meet for dinner in weeks. If he wasn’t out of town, she was tied up in meetings of her own. And even tonight she had wanted to beg off, suggesting tomorrow night would be better. But Tommy said no. They were going to go out and have dinner tonight.
He also insisted, after dinner, that she drive to his house.
Grace started to ask why as they walked toward her car. But she knew why. It had been a while since they last slept together, and Tommy was obviously a little edgy. Whenever he preferred that they go to his house rather than hers, she knew it was because he wanted to be able to take her there, sexually, without fear of disturbing the neighbors. Given the size of Tommy’s house, nobody was going to hear a thing.
She got into her Charger, and Tommy got into his red Ferrari, in contrast to his brother’s white Ferrari, Grace often thought amusingly, and he followed her to his home.
He slammed her against the front door as soon as he closed it, slung off her skirt and panties, and then lifted her until her legs were across his shoulders. And he buried his face between her thighs.
Grace knew Tommy was addicted to her cunt. He rarely ever had sex with her without licking her folds in those long, slow drags she loved. And this time was no exception. He licked her and slid his tongue between her folds until he was kissing her there, and sucking her there, and eating her there. She lifted her hands over her head as Tommy worked it. They were standing in his massive foyer, with the silence in the room a mere background prop to the sounds of his mouth-fuck, as he ate her until she was so moist, and so sensual, that she almost came.
Instinctively realizing it too, Tommy grabbed her up in his arms and headed for the stairs. He was unbuckling and unzipping his pants as he walked. It had been too long for him. Not having Grace beneath him now had him desperate with the need to have her there. So desperate that they didn’t make it to his bedroom. They were halfway up when Tommy laid her on the stairs, pulled out his dick, and shoved it in. He had to get a taste now, he had to screw her right this moment, or he was going to cum outside of her.
He screwed her hard. Right on the stairs of his big home. Her hands latched onto either side of the railing as Tommy thrust into her with hard shoves that made her feel the explosion of his arousal with every stroke he made. He grunted in a hard, rough grunt with every thrust. Her head was lobbed backwards as he fucked her, which made her look so sexy to Tommy that he placed his hand around her neck, pressuring it to heighten her pleasure. And it worked. She began to scream.
Her small body was taking the blows in a way that made him know she loved it too. He slung her blouse and jacket up, exposing her bra, and then he slung that up too. At first he just looked at her large breasts as they bobbed
wildly from the impact of his thrusts, and then he put his mouth on it. He licked and sucked her so hard until every one of her senses were so aroused that she couldn’t help it anymore. She started cumming. She slung her legs between the rails, as she came.
As soon as she opened her legs as wide as she did, it became too much for Tommy. He started cumming too. He grunted oooh so loudly that it seemed to echo throughout the home. He pushed into her with his final push and released with a torrential release. He creampied Grace so definitively that he could not force himself to stroke again. Not even once. And when he pulled out, his cum poured out of her in such a thick whiteness that it saturated, not just her cunt, but her thighs.
After their cum Grace was still lobbed backwards, but when she lifted her head and looked up at him, she knew, by his sensual look alone, that he was not through with her yet.
He grabbed her into his arms and carried her to bed. He undressed himself, and undressed her, and by the time he placed her on the sheet, underneath the covers, he was aroused again.
She was still dripping with his cum when he laid on top of her and entered her again. Although this time it was a wonderfully slow fuck, it was just as intense. She held onto him as he rode her cunt. He rode it with long, masterful strokes that sounded as if he was sloshing around and stirring liquid, rather than stirring her sexual desires.
He kissed her on the lips and then wrapped her in his arms, as he fucked her. He was making such tender love to her body that she stretched and moaned and settled down to an incredible place of serenity. He fucked her in ways that made every fiber of her being come alive with sensuality. And this was her man. This gorgeous creature on top of her, muscular and sweaty and all man, as he grunted and moaned too, was all hers.
And when they came, they came together. Usually it was one and then the other, but not this time. They came together. Tommy pushed in while her cunt pushed out and they both released to a thunderous ejaculation. So thunderous, in fact, that they still felt the tremors well after the release.
TOMMY GABRINI 2: A PLACE IN HIS HEART Page 10
