Reno Gabrini: For His Lover (The Mob Boss Series Book 14) (14 page)

The motel was nearly out of town, on the edge of the
interstate, and Reno’s Porsche pulled into the parking lot.
 
He got out, looked around, and made his way
across the sidewalk to the room.
 
He had
a key, so he unlocked the door and walked in, closing the door behind him.

Stephanie Deevers was in bed, naked beneath the coverings,
lying on her stomach.
 
Reno walked over
to her, and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Thanks for coming,” she said, in a voice barely audible.

Reno frowned and began rubbing her back.
 
“How are you feeling?”

She attempted to smile, but couldn’t pull it off.
 
“As well as can be expected.
 
Awful, in other words.”

“This isn’t the way to do it, babe,” Reno said.
 
“As awful as it is, this isn’t the way to do
it.”

“It’s the only way I know, Reno.
 
I know it’s difficult for you, but you’ll go
on.
 
You’ll get through it.
 
But it’s the best way for me.”

Reno continued to stare at her.
 
To study her.
 
His heart was breaking for her.

“I wouldn’t have come to you, to involve you, if I had a
better choice.
 
I’m a coward, I know.”

“You’re not.
 
Don’t say
that.
 
You’ve always been brave as long
as I’ve known you.
 
And you still are.”

“It’s hard, Reno,” she said, her voice breaking.
 
“It’s real hard.”

Reno quickly got on the bed, and pulled her into his
arms.
 
Tears were rolling down her face.

“With Jimmy’s situation, you’ve been through a lot lately,
and I know I’m asking too much.”

“Don’t you worry about me,” he said, holding her
tighter.
 
“Don’t you dare worry about
me.”

“I shouldn’t put this burden on you.
 
But you remember when we were kids in
Jersey?”

Reno nodded.
 
“I
remember.”

“You used to always tell me that we’ll be together
forever.
 
No matter what.”

Reno smiled.
 
It was
kid’s play to him.

But not to Stephanie. “You don’t know how safe that made me
feel.”
 
She looked at him. “You know why?”

“Because you didn’t know any better.”

“Because I believed you,” she said.
 
Reno looked at her.
 
“I believed you would do everything you
said.
 
And you said a lot, Reno.”

Reno smiled.

“You said we would always be together.
 
You said all of that shit my old man was
putting me through would end someday, and you would be the one to end it.
 
You said I would always be the most important
human being in this world to you.
 
You
were my number one lover, and I was yours.”

They stared into each other’s eyes.
 
Reno could see the pain and agony in her
beautiful eyes, but he could see the determination too.
 
“Tonight is the night, Reno,” she said.
 
“If you love me, and I need you to love me unlike
you have ever loved me before, you’ll do right by me.
 
You’ll look out for me like you
promised.
 
I have nobody else.
 
I’m depending on you and you alone,
Reno.
 
You can’t let me down again.”

Tears were dropping freely from Stephanie’s eyes, and Reno
closed his own.
 
It was almost too much
to bear.
 
He loved this woman.
 
He’d loved her all his life.
 
But they weren’t kids anymore.
 
This shit was real.
 
He had a family to think about.
 
A wife.
 
But Stephanie was right.
 
They
went way back.
 
He neglected her too
long.
 
He wasn’t going to neglect her
again.

He kissed her forehead, pulled her closer into his arms.
 
And held her even tighter.

Trina was alone in the store, behind the counter, when Jazz
and Andre walked into Champagne’s.
 
This
wasn’t the way they had wanted it to go down.
 
She wanted more than what they had.
  
But Stephanie had agreed to have the cameras in the room.
 
She agreed to give us the live feed.
 
She had to take what she could get.

Besides, Stephanie’s way was the faster way.
 
It involved higher stakes.
 
It would be a chance for Jazz to turn that
knife a little into Reno’s arrogant ass, and finally get her revenge.
 
And Andre was glad to get the show on the
road too.
 
All he wanted was to get
paid.
 
He wasn’t interested in revenge or
any of that other personal shit.
 
He just
wanted the money.

Trina didn’t realize Jazz was in her world again until she
looked up.
 
When she saw Jazz, of all
people, standing in her store, she froze.
 
Memories flooded back.
 
They used
to be so close when they both waited tables at Boyzie’s.
 
She remembered how badly she wanted her success
to be Jazz’s success too, and she gave Jazz all kinds of chances.
 
She even went behind Reno’s back giving that
girl three and four and five more chances.
 
But all of it failed.
  
Jazz was
too busy blaming the world for her failures than to find any success.
 
Now she was back.
 
And Trina was floored.

“Hello, Tree,” Jazz said with her best charming smile, the
kind she used nowadays to keep her salon customers coming back.
 
“Don’t look so surprised.
 
I know you might think I’m a ghost, but I’m
not dead yet.”

Trina had to stop herself from staring.
 
“I’m just very shocked to see you.
 
It’s been a while.”

“Even longer than that for me, but I feel you.”

“How have you been?” Trina genuinely wanted to know.

“To hell and back.
 
As
usual.
 
How about you?”

That was always the problem with Jazz.
 
Nobody was going to out-victim her.
 
Trina never tried.
 
“I’ve been good,” she said.
 
“Thanks for asking.”

“Yeah, well,” Jazz said, looking around, “I see this little
store of yours is still doing well.
 
I thought
it wouldn’t last a good year.
 
Now it’s
thriving.”

Trina knew Jazz did not come into her store to discuss her
success.
 
She knew her too well.
 
“So what can I do for you?” she asked.
 
“Here to shop, or just to chat?
 
We have a new collection I think you’ll
like.”

“How would you know what I’ll like?” Jazz asked and Andre had
to elbow her.
 
But Jazz ignored him and
continued to speak to Trina.
 
“I’m not
here to give up my hard earned coins on this high-ass crap.”

That was more like Jazz, Trina thought.
 
Blunt and nasty.
 
“What are you here for then?”

Jazz looked at Andre.
 
Andre reached his cellphone out to Trina.
 
“Take a look,” he said.

Trina hesitated.
 
She
knew it was going to be about some nonsense.
 
But she took the phone and pressed what appeared to be a video.
 
Although there was no audio, there was plenty
of action.

Reno was sitting on the edge of a bed in what appeared to be
a motel room.
 
Some naked white woman was
in the bed.
 
Then Reno, fully dressed,
got in bed with the woman and pulled her into his arms.
 
Trina’s heart dropped.
 
Reno was holding a naked woman, in his arms,
in a motel room.
 
And then the video
stopped.
 
She looked at Jazz.

“I always told you he was a dog,” Jazz said as she took the
phone from Trina’s hand.
 
“Now you can
see it for yourself.
 
And before you
start making excuses for Reno the way you always do, I need you to know that
they’re still in that motel room.
 
And if
their past is any predictor, they’re going to be making love all afternoon.”

“You can come with us and see for yourself,” Andre
added.
 
“Or deny your lying eyes.”

Trina was floored.
 

“I’m only looking out for you, Tree,” Jazz said.
 
“I’m only looking out for my old friend.
 
That lady he’s fooling around with is just
using him.
 
She came to me with this shit
because she knew we used to be tight.
 
Yes, she’s in it for the money like all his other women are.
 
But I’m tired of men treating us like
this.
 
I’m looking out for you.
 
I did it for you.
 
For the sisterhood.”

Trina looked at Jazz as if she was crazy.
 
“Your ass did it alright,” she said, “but you
didn’t do it for me, so don’t even try that.”

Jazz became angry too.
 
“Okay, so I’m doing it for the money too,” she said, and Andre elbowed
her again.
 
But she ignored him
again.
 
“I’m out to get paid, yes, I
am.
 
That says something about me.
 
But what will it say about you, Tree, if you
don’t even want to come with us to see the truth?
 
Your ass still blind?
 
After all these years?
 
After all those rumors of Reno’s
cheating?
 
This is your chance to catch
him in action.
 
He can’t explain it away
if you walk in on his ass.
 
And you’re
still thinking about it?
 
You’re still
hesitating? What does that say about you?”

A part of Trina knew Jazz spoke the truth.
 
Another part of Trina wanted to run as far
away from this situation as she could run.
 
“Where is he?” Trina asked.

“Oh, no, sister,” Jazz said.
 
“You aren’t looping us out of this picture.
 
We want money.
 
You write the check and pay us for our
efforts, and we’ll take you to your cheating ass husband.
 
You don’t pay, then tough.
 
All you’ll have is the memory of that video
that only shows you part of the picture.”

Trina stared at her.
 
“How much?” she asked.

“Ten thousand for now,” Andre said.
 
“I’m sure you can come up with that much in a
horty-torty place like this place.
 
I’m
sure you can find that much in your safe or wherever you keep the cash.”

“You give us the cash,” Jazz said, “and we’ll take you to
Reno.
 
But only if you agree to keep
those bodyguards Reno has on you away from us.
 
I don’t want anybody harming me because your ass get hot with Reno.
 
You know how I roll.”

Trina stared at Jazz.
 
She knew exactly how she rolled.
 
Downhill all the way.
 
And then
she nodded.
 
“Drive around to the
backdoor.
 
Give me fifteen minutes to
close up the place and get the money, and I’ll be there.”

“With the money?” Andre asked.

Trina wanted to kick Jazz’s ass for putting her in this
position.
 
But she knew Jazz wasn’t the
one on that tape.
 
Jazz wasn’t the one in
that bed.
 
“Yes,” Trina said.

“We’ll be waiting,” Jazz said, and she and Andre left.

Trina immediately went upstairs, to her office.
 
She sat behind her desk and turned on the
monitor.
 
A live stream of her store was
shown.
 
She then pressed rewind and moved
back until she had a clear picture of Jazz and Andre.
 
Then she singled out Andre, attached his
picture to an email, and pressed send.

She then made a phone call.
 
“I sent you an email,” she said.
 
“I need a background check stat.”

“How deep?”

“As deep as you can go in fifteen minutes,” she said.
 
“Call as soon as you get a hit.”