Stephanie smiled, and then laughed. “Onboard with you?” she asked. “You miss my reason for being entirely. I don’t need to get onboard with you and your little cockamamie scheme. You need to get onboard with me! For I’m not flying by the seat of my pants the way you two are. I’m not playing checkers against chest masters. Reno Gabrini is the love of my life. Always has been since I can remember. But she came along, this Katrina, and stole his heart from me. We never were close again. I despise him now. That is why I came to him. You misunderstand my motives entirely.”
Jazz saw hope now. This woman hated Reno too.
“But you add an intriguing element,” Stephanie said as if she was thinking it through even as she spoke. “One I did not consider. I was only after revenge. But revenge and money?” She began nodding. “Now that could sweeten the pot.”
Jazz smiled. Revenge with money. That made it all the more sweeter for her too.
Jimmy Gabrini was on top of his wife, pumping his naked ass off, and she laid there and let him do his thing. Sometimes she was into it, and sometimes she was not. This morning, the morning she made her decision, she definitely was not. And it wasn’t because Jimmy didn’t know what he was doing. He was big and had a powerful stroke. But as he pushed deeper inside of her; as he moaned and groaned and kissed the side of her face as he went deeper still, with his sweaty, naked body on top causing her more discomfort than sensuality, Valerie Gabrini did not have her husband on her mind. She wasn’t even thinking about all of that massiveness inside of her. She just wanted him to finish.
Jimmy knew she wasn’t into it. He could feel how stiff her body laid beneath him as he gave her all he had. But that was the story of their marriage. Some days they were in sync completely. Some days they weren’t. This was definitely one of those latter days.
But Jimmy was a young man who had to have it. On that score he was his father’s son through and through. And he kept pumping his ass off. He kept forcing his thickness inside of her beautiful wet haven until he was stroking like it was nobody’s business. He wanted her to have an orgasm. He was a generous lover. He wanted Val to feel those same sensual feelings he was feeling too.
But when it was obvious to him that she wasn’t even trying, he decided to forget this shit and get what he could get. And he got off. He pumped and pumped until he ejaculated all over her pussy with such force that even Val and all of her inattention took notice. She felt the searing heat.
But she also felt relief. She was relieved that he had cum. Maybe he wouldn’t notice that, although he came mightily, she didn’t cum at all.
After releasing inside of his wife, Jimmy rolled off of her and laid on his back. He was a powerful man now. His father had made him senior VP of the PaLargio Hotel and Casinos, Incorporated, and he was exclusively in charge of all of his Dad’s New England operations. His office was in Manchester, New Hampshire and, per his father’s wishes, they lived nearby, in Dover. And because they were building not one, but two new family-friendly, mid-scale hotels in this state, both called the PaLargio East, he was the big man in his community. Before he came along, the mid-scale Courtyard, Marriott’s less-expensive hotel chain, was the biggest show in town. Now the PaLargio East was threatening to give that chain a run for its money. And Jimmy was in charge of making it all happen. He loved his new role. But even all of that sometimes didn’t seem to be enough for Val.
He looked at her. They married young, probably way too young, and now had a little girl. In Jimmy’s mind, his marriage had to work. Now that he had his father’s total respect because he was handling his business the right way, and now that his father was entrusting him with more and more responsibility, nothing was going to compromise his position. Nothing was going to stand in the way of Jimmy keeping his father’s respect. That included Val. “You and Madison still going to Vegas for the weekend?” he asked. Madison was their baby girl.
But even that question sounded accusatory to Val. “Why wouldn’t we still be going, Jimmy?”
Jimmy looked at her. “I’m just asking, alright?”
“Yes, we’re still going to Vegas. My dad wants to see the baby and I need to find the other half of my real estate portfolio. Dad found some of it, but that’s not enough.”
Jimmy continued to stare at his young wife. “What’s wrong?” he asked her.
“What’s wrong?” Val responded, as if his question was irrational. “Who said something was wrong?”
“If I’m not doing you the way you like, all you have to do is tell me how to do better. And I’ll do better.”
“I told you nothing’s wrong,” Val insisted. “I don’t know why you’re still harping on it.”
“Did you have an orgasm?” Jimmy asked pointedly.
“I don’t have to have an orgasm every time we have sex, Jimmy.”
“You aren’t having one most times we have sex, Val. It’s not like I’m just making this stuff up. Something’s wrong and I want you to tell me what it is.”
“I told you nothing’s wrong. How many times do I have to tell you nothing’s wrong? But whatever Jimmy. Believe whatever you want to believe, alright?”
She moved to get out of bed. But Jimmy grabbed her wrist and stopped her progression. “Is there somebody else?” he asked her.
Val stopped all movement. Jimmy could feel a change come over her. But when she looked at him, he knew she was going to turn it back on him. “I don’t believe this,” she said. “You, of all people, are asking me if I have somebody else? You, my husband, the father of my daughter, had sex with a man in drag and you’re questioning my fidelity?”
The week before they left for New Hampshire, Jimmy told Val about his indiscretion. It was the hardest confession he ever had to make. It almost destroyed their marriage. She even considered not leaving Vegas at all. But Jimmy assured her he wasn’t gay. He assured her he was only bi-curious and that was only for that one time. He begged her to give him another chance.
After seeking guidance from her father, from her church, and even from Jimmy’s parents, Val decided to keep their family together and rebuild that trust with Jimmy. And she also decided to leave her comfortable life in Vegas for their new life here in Dover. But it wasn’t easy for her. Jimmy knew that too. He knew there were many days, maybe most days, when she still doubted him.
“I’m not questioning your fidelity,” Jimmy insisted. “I just want to know why you seemed so distant lately.”
“Maybe it’s because I have a lot on my plate lately,” Val said. “You ever thought about that? I’m not just here twirling my fingers all day long. I’m a real estate agent. I have to get out there and hustle same as you. And I have to be a fulltime wife and mother. That’s a lot for somebody my age. But you act as if you’re the only one out here trying to make it. I have a lot on my plate too, Jimmy. You ever thought about that?”
“I wasn’t trying to minimize your contribution, Val.”
“Yes you were! You always do.” Then a sad look came over her. “Just stop being so selfish and leave me alone.” She snatched away from him, got out of bed, and went into the master bathroom, closing the door behind her.
Jimmy ran his hands over his face. He was a handsome, biracial young man with his father’s muscularity. But sometimes he wondered if he’d ever have his father’s ability to keep a woman satisfied. All of his prior relationships had failed, and now his marriage was, once again, on the rocks. But his father Reno knew the secret. Even Jimmy’s girlfriends used to want Reno. Even Val, Jimmy knew, once had a crush on Reno.
But that was only part of the issue. Jimmy was a babe magnet himself. He couldn’t count the women who wanted to get inside of his pants on a daily basis. They sensed he had a big cock, and they wanted to ride it. Getting a woman wasn’t a problem for Jimmy. It was keeping a woman.
And not just keeping her, but keeping her satisfied day in and day out the way his father knew how to do. Jimmy’s stepmother, Trina, loved his father to death. She’d do anything for him. A
nd Reno would do anything for her. Jimmy used to think that maybe he and Val could have that same kind of relationship. But every time they seemed on their way, either he would mess up or she would shut down. And he couldn’t deal with an inattentive wife. His sex drive was too strong. It was so strong, in fact, that many days he could hardly contain himself. Like right now he wanted to do Val again. He wanted to ram his cock inside of her until she came. But he already knew she wasn’t about to go along with that.
He also knew, as he turned over and tried to lay down a few minutes longer, that he was going to make his marriage work. He was selfish, she said, and thought only of his career. And maybe she was right about that.
But he was going to do better by her. He was going to do everything in his power to make Val proud of him again. Because it was Val he wanted. No other human being had his heart the way Val had. He just had to get her to believe it too.
CHAPTER SIX
Reno thought he was dreaming. He thought he heard ringing in his dream: that was how hard he slept. When he realized it wasn’t a dream, but instead was his cellphone ringing, he reached over to the nightstand and attempted to grab it. When he opened his eyes and realized his phone was not on the nightstand, but most likely still in his pants pocket where he had left it earlier that morning, he tossed the covers off of him, got his naked body out of bed, and hurried to the area where he remembered leaving his pants. But his pants, nor his suit coat or underwear, were where he had tossed them.
He looked over, realized Trina was no longer in bed, and knew what she would have done. She was not going to pick up after him any longer, she had proclaimed for the millionth time, but yet in still she took his entire suit of clothes and folded them over a chair. That was her idea of not cleaning up after him. It was just the opposite to Reno.
When he finally hurried over to that chair, grabbed his phone out of his pants, he answered without looking at the Caller ID. “This is Reno,” he said as he headed back toward the bed.
“Reno, it’s me.” It was Trina. “I need you to come to Dommi’s school.”
Reno frowned. “Why? What’s going on?”
“These damn social workers trying to take Dommi away from us.”
Reno’s stopped in his tracks. “What?”
“Ain’t this some shit? They’re trying to claim we’re unfit parents who don’t know how to raise our own son. They’re trying to take Dommi, Reno.”
Reno hurried back to where his clothes were. “You’re there now?”
“I’m here. I’m right in the main office. I’m looking these fools right in their faces. They better not try that stupid shit with me.”
“Don’t let them take him off of school property,” Reno ordered as he dressed. “Once they get him in their system, it’ll be a hellava lot harder to get him out.”
“I wish they would try to take my child away from this school,” Trina assured him. “They’d have to kill me before I let that happen.”
Reno loved Trina’s toughness. He loved that she could stand in the breach for the sake of their family when he wasn’t there. “And call our attorneys,” he said to her.
“That’s my very next call. They’ve got cops here and everything, Reno. We need to know our legal rights.”
“And we may need them to bail both our asses out of jail if those idiots try to get away with this shit. I’m on my way.”
Then he heard that undertone of concern in Trina’s voice, that undercurrent that made it clear to him that she wasn’t feeling as brave as her bravado would suggest. “Hurry, Reno,” she said.
Reno let out a harsh exhale. “Hang in there, babe. I’ll be there.” He ended the call, tossed his cellphone onto the bed, and dressed in a rush.
Val sat quietly in the parking lot of the Las Vegas outlet mall and waited. This was the real reason for her journey back home, not that cockamamie story she told Jimmy about finding the rest of her portfolio. And she hated lying like that. But all of her life she’d done what everybody else wanted her to do. She was in real estate because that was what her father wanted. She got married so young because that was what Jimmy wanted. She had a baby, when she would have rather had her career together first, because that was what all of her friends declared was what married ladies did. They had babies. They got that part of the bargain out of the way first. And she moved to New Hampshire, New Hampshire of all places, because that was what her father-in-law wanted. Jimmy needed the change, Reno believed. She would be saving Jimmy from the fast life if she relocated with him.
But when the car drove up beside her rental car, which was supposed to be her cue, she remained where she was. She continued to sit quietly in her car, as if she was still thinking about the decisions she’d made in this life. As if she was totally ambivalent to the decision she was about to make that would allow her to reverse course and travel her own path.
Kapper Cole, a tall black man with a muscular frame, sat in the car that had driven up and waited. He knew this was a hard decision for Val, and he didn’t want to rush her. But as she continued to just sit there, as if she didn’t realize he had arrived, he almost blew his horn. But that would only bring attention to them, something neither one of them wanted. So he got out of his car, and got into hers. Her door wasn’t even locked. That was how far gone she was.
“What’s the matter, Val?” he asked her.
Val didn’t look his way. She continued to stare at the mall on the far end of the lot.
“Valerie,” he said, “what’s wrong?”
Val finally looked at him. When she did, and saw his face, she smiled. But the guilt was still there, and was eating her alive.
Kap was no kid. He was, in fact, nearly sixteen years her senior. He knew exactly what she was going through. He placed her hand in his. “We don’t have to do it, if you don’t want it.”
“But I want it,” Val said. “That’s what hurts.”
Kap understood that too. But he had no answers for her guilt. But he did have an answer for her desires. “We’ll try another day,” he said, patting her hand. Then he released her hand and moved as if he was about to get out of her car.
But Val panicked, as he knew she would. “Wait,” she said anxiously. He looked at her. She looked at him. Then she exhaled. “I’m coming with you.”
She grabbed her purse and got out of her car. Kap got out too. He walked her around to the passenger door of his car, helped her in, and then got in under the wheel. He looked at her. He pretended to be the gentleman he was not. “Are you sure?” he asked her.
Val nodded, and then smiled. “I’m sure,” she said.
He cranked up, like the son of a gun he was, and drove them away.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Andre Jackson walked out of the diner with a cup of coffee in his hand and made his way to the parked Corolla. When he got in behind the wheel, he handed the cup to Zell. He was so nervous he could feel the sweat trickling down behind his ears. And they were only just beginning. “Did he show yet?” he asked.
“Not yet,” Zell Tufarna said as she took a long sip of the warm brew. She was a small white woman, with short hair and a face made less attractive by her downturned mouth. “I only wish I could see his hateful face when it happens.” She was on the passenger seat, with binoculars on her lap, as she watched the fancy private school from the diner’s parking lot across the street. “His kid goes to this fancy school and I can barely pay my rent.”
Then she looked at Andre. He was a handsome black man who was only with her, she knew, because of the big payday at the end of the rainbow. If all went according to plan, she was going to become the rightful owner of the PaLargio. She was going to return that crown jewel to the Tufarna family. Andre, as her man, was going to reap those benefits too. But the lengths they had to go through to get to this point was wearing on them both. Especially Zell. “Are you certain she’s going to go through with it?” she asked him.
“Yes, I’m certain. That’s the only thing I’m certain abou
t. She hates Gabrini as much as you do. She’s glad to help.”
“What if she finds out about us?”
Andre glanced at her, and then continued to stare at the school. “She won’t,” he said.
“But what if she does, Dre? What if she realizes it was all a scam?”
“I told you to let me worry about her. You just focus on Gabrini.” Then he sighed. “I wish I felt good about this. But I don’t see how this is going to work, Zell. All of this cloak and dagger shit.”
“Father says it’ll work,” Zell reminded him.
“I know what your old man said. He says a lot of things, and then trots us off to do his dirty work. But what are you saying?” Andre looked at her. “Is this our war or his? How do you feel about all of this?”
“I feel we have to take care of this. Reno Gabrini stole my birthright and I have to take it back.”
“But that was so long ago. And why can’t we just confront him head on? Why all of this plotting and scheming?”
“Because my father is right. When you’re dealing with a lowlife like Reno Gabrini, you have to come at him sideways, around the way, and always where it hurts. Not where it’s legal or right. He doesn’t give a snatch about legal and right or he would not have done what he did to us.” Then she looked at the private, exclusive school again. “It’ll work,” she said. “You just let me and my father worry about the details.”
But Andre was still antsy. “It was better when it was the two of us. We could plan logically. Not with all of this hit him where it hurts shit. We had a plan.”
“And before he got involved that was all we had,” Zell pointed out. “A plan. We planned. We had no proof. We had no way of asserting our rights in a court of law. All we had was what we were told. Now we’re no longer planning, but executing. He’s able to bring our plans to fruition, Dre. And this is only the beginning.”
Reno Gabrini: For His Lover (The Mob Boss Series Book 14) Page 5
