Reno's Gift (Mob Boss Series) (22 page)

“I’m
. . . no . . . I’m . . . not-
oh, Tommy
!”
she whispered as the intensity rose.
 
“
Keep doing me, Tommy
!

Tommy
smiled.
 
“Don’t you worry about
that.
 
Tommy’s going to do you until you
can’t bear it.
 
Tommy’s going to give it
to you good, girl, because you give it to me better than any female I’d ever
had.”
 

And
he meant it too.
 
There was something
about Grace’s pussy that was magical to Tommy.
 
He didn’t want any other.
 
Just
hers.
 
She gave it to him just the way he
loved to get it and he took it every chance he could.
 
He wanted her just that badly.
 
Just like he wanted her now, he thought, as
they relaxed into their fuck and rode for nearly twenty straight minutes.
 
Until first Grace came and then Tommy.
 
In that order.
 
Both straining out every drop as if there
would be no peace until they took full advantage of every single ounce of cum.
 
And then Tommy collapsed against her,
completely spent.
 

“I
love you, Grace McKenzie,” he said with a smile.
 
Then his look turned serious.
 
“I love you so much.”

Grace
smiled and leaned her back harder against his front.
 
“I love you, too, Thomas Gabrini.
 
I love you, too.”

“And
I love both of yous,” Sal’s Italian voice yelled out.
 
“So shut the fuck up!”

Grace
looked at Tommy with alarm.
 
Tommy looked
at Grace with surprise.
 
And then they
both broke into laughter.
 
They laughed
and they laughed.
  
Sal eventually joined
them, and laughed too.
 
They laughed
until their bellies ached.
 
This, Tommy
felt, was the beginning of a break all three of them needed.
 
They couldn’t wait to get started.

Reno
was on the grill and Jimmy was pouring ice in the ice chest as their backyard
was humming with festiveness.
 
Fran had
Dommi and was running him around the yard, and the music, that Italian old
school that Reno loved so well, was blaring.
 
This time it was Frank Sinatra singing
Fly Me To the Moon
, from his Sinatra at the Sands album.
 
It was a selection, Reno also loved to point
out, that had a Quincy Jones arrangement backed by Count Basie’s band.
 
It was a classic, Reno pointed out.

Jimmy
listened to his father, but his eyes couldn’t hide their boredom when he went
from talking about Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Junior, which
was bad enough, to Perry Como and Bing Crosby and Vic Damone.
 
That was too much in Jimmy’s mind.
 
But when Trina entered the backyard with
Tommy, Grace, and Sal in tow, the festivities reached fever pitch.

“Tom-my!”
Dominic screamed as soon as he saw him.
 
“Tom-my!”
 

He
jumped from Fran’s arms and ran to Tommy.
 
Tommy grinned from ear to ear and bent down to scoop up the advancing
child.
 
Reno smiled and headed their way
also, as did Jimmy and Fran.
 
Jimmy, in
fact, ran straight to Tommy too.
 
Tommy
held Little Dommi with one hand and embraced Jimmy with the other one.

Sal
shook his head.
 
“So he’s the only one
you yahoos see,” he said as everybody laughed.
 
“Tommy’s the only somebody standing up here.
 
Fuck me and Grace.
 
It’s all about Tommy!”

“We
love you too, Uncle Sal,” Jimmy said as he hugged Sal.

“Nall
now,” Sal said, backing off of Jimmy’s embrace, “go to Tommy.
 
Tommy’s the man.
 
I’m just visiting.”

“Oh,
come here, you jerk,” Fran said and gave a big group hug to both Jimmy and her
first cousin.
 
Sal could no longer
suppress his smile as they hugged.

“It’s
about time you get here,” Reno said as he made his way to Tommy and Grace.
 

Grace
braced herself.
 
Reno wore a pair of
Bermuda shorts and an oversized Hawaiian shirt.
  
He wore sunglasses and had a can of beer and
a cigar in his hand.
 
He was tanned and
gorgeous, she thought, with such attractive legs.
 
But there was still something about him that
gave her pause.
 
She still got the
feeling that he could be just as ruthless as he was friendly.
 

“And
your ass isn’t two seconds in my backyard and already you’ve commandeered my
son.
 
Give him back,” Reno said, grabbing
for Dommi.
 
Dommi laughed as Tommy handed
him over.

“How
are you, my friend?” Reno asked as he and Tommy embraced.
 
Dommi, by virtue of being in his father’s
arms, embraced them too.

“Hey,
Grace,” Reno said as he leaned toward her, gave her a kiss on the mouth, and
one-arm hugged her too.

Although
she was taken aback by his overly friendly kiss, she managed to smile and
embrace him too.
 
“Nice to see you
again.”

“You
too,” Reno said as they stopped embracing.
 
“You’re looking beautiful.”

“Isn’t
she, Reno?” Trina asked as she took Dommi and put him in her arms.
 
“I told her that shade of peach is definitely
her color.”

“Yeah,
it is,” Reno agreed.
 
“It brings out the
brown of your skin tone.
 
And the blouse
with the beading.
 
It’s most attractive.”

Tommy
at first smiled at Reno as fashion critic, and then he burst into
laughter.
 

“Ah,
fuck you, Tommy!” Reno said with a smile of his own.
 
“I know style when I see it.”

“Who
knows style when he sees it?” Sal asked after he, Fran, and Jimmy stopped
embracing.

“I
know style when I see it.”

“You?”

“Yeah,
me,” Reno said defensively.
 
“What about
it?”

“You’re
the only man I know who can make a five thousand dollar suit look like
something he picked up from Walmart, but you’re Mister Style?”

“Ah,
fuck you, too!” Reno said to laughter from the others.
 
“Don’t listen to them, Grace.
 
I know quality when I see it.
 
And that’s you.”

 
Grace actually smiled at that.
 
Coming from a man like him it sounded like
such a compliment for some reason.
 
But
then his bite turned harsh, she thought.

“I
thought they locked you up,” Reno said to Sal.

“Locked
me up?” Sal asked, puzzled.
 
“What they
looking like locking me up?
 
Locked me up
for what?”

“For
looking ugly on Tuesday,” Reno said and everybody laughed.
 
“They said it was a crime against humanity.”

“Yeah,
you got jokes, okay,” Sal said dismissively.
 
“Bet your ass wasn’t laughing when Tony Tufarna had you twisted around.”

Reno’s
smile left.
 
Sal had gone there.
 
“Tony Tufarna didn’t have me twisting around
shit!” Reno said.

“I
told you not to go about it the way you did, but you didn’t listen to me.”

“You
didn’t tell me a fucking thing, Sal Luca, and your ass know it!”

“My
nephew nearly lost his life because of your dumb-ass decisions!” Sal yelled and
Reno, without hesitation, took his fist and cold cocked Sal.
 
Sal staggered back, but he didn’t fall.
 
He, instead, was ready to return the
hit.
 

But
Tommy grabbed him and pulled him back before he could, and Trina, Jimmy and
Fran all grabbed at Reno and pulled him back.
 

They
all knew the deal.
 
Reno and Sal never
got along, not even when they were kids in Jersey.
 
It was something about the similarity of
their personalities that clashed mightily.
 
And although they had landed at some kind of truce as they got older,
the tension always found a way to rear its head.
 
Everybody was accustomed to such outbursts,
except Grace.
 
Tommy could see that she
was affected by it.
 
He moved over to her
and placed his arm around her waist.

Reno,
however, easily managed to jerk away from those holding him back, as if all
three of them were weightless.
 
He walked
up to Sal, not to fight him again, but to set him straight.
 
“You’re entitled to your own opinion,” he
said to his first cousin, “but not your own facts.
 
I would never do anything to endanger the
life of a child of mine and your ass know I wouldn’t!”

“What
do you think I’m a fucking idiot?” Sal asked.
 
“I know you wouldn’t do a thing like that.
 
Endanger your own kid, come on.
 
What do you take me for?”

Reno
looked at Sal as if Sal had just lost his mind.
 
“Then why did you say what you said, Sal, if you didn’t mean it?”

Sal moved
around, as if he knew why but was hesitant to tell it.
 
Then he decided to tell it.
 
“Because you called me ugly,” he
admitted.
 
“You hurt my feelings, man.”

At
first, everybody thought Sal was serious.
 
Even Tommy wasn’t sure.
 
And then
Sal himself smiled, and everybody else smiled, and then everybody were laughing
again.
 

Reno,
smiling too, shook his head.
 
“You’re one
sick motherfucker,” he said, to even more laughter.

Later,
when Jimmy took over the grill, Reno, Tommy, and Sal disappeared into Reno’s
home office.
 
He explained to them what
happened last night.
 
He also explained
Belle’s involvement and her insistence that Bruno had revenge on his mind.

“But
I don’t get it,” Sal said.
 
“I’ve never
known Belle Patrone to be all tight with Bruno Lucci.”

“She
claims to be looking out for me,” Reno said.
 
“We had a face-to-face while I was in Atlantic City and she was telling
me then that Bruno was making noises.
 
She claimed then to be concerned he might give it his best shot.”

“But
she’s the one running around hiring guys to try and take you out,” Sal said.

“If
the guy was telling the truth,” Tommy offered.

“Why
wouldn’t he be?” Sal asked his brother.
 
“He told Reno some female paid him, then he goes to, not just any house,
but the house where some female, namely Belle, is staying.
 
That’s one hellava coincidence if it’s not a
connection.”

“There’s
a connection,” Reno said, certain of it.
 
“I just don’t know what that connection is.
 
Belle seems to be playing different games at
the same time.
 
Trina even said she was
in Champagne’s the other day, asking if she was my wife.”

Tommy
looked at Reno.
 
“She was scoping out
Trina?” he asked.

“That’s
what I figure, yeah,” Reno said.

“But
why?” Sal asked.
 
“What’s Belle playing
at?
 
She knows better than to think
you’re gonna leave your wife for her old ass.
 
And if it’s not about that, then what is it about?
 
What does Tree have to do with Bruno Lucci?”

“Nothing,”
Reno said firmly.
 
“She never met him
before.”

“But
what does she think about the fact that Belle might be involved now?
 
How does she feel about the fact that you
traced the guy to the mayor’s house?”

“I
haven’t told her about that yet,” Reno admitted.
 
“It just happened last night.
 
I don’t know enough to discuss it, and I
don’t want to get her worried about something that I haven’t even figured out
myself.
 
It’s frustrating as hell.”

“Jimmy
was with you,” Tommy said.
 
“You don’t
think he’ll spill the beans and tell her?”

“Hell
nall,” Reno said.
 
“He knows I’ll kick
his ass if he discusses any of my business with anybody.”