ROMANCING THE MOB BOSS (7 page)

to tel me what I got?” He looked at Trina. “Can

you believe this guy? He’s tel ing me what I

got.” Then he talked into his cel phone again.

“Just cal me a cab wise guy, don’t worry about

what I’ve got.” He slammed shut his phone.

“Sometimes I think I’m surrounded by

imbeciles.”

“Either that, or they’re surrounded by

“Either that, or they’re surrounded by

one,” Trina said with a laugh and immediately

began to run back toward Boyzie’s.

“Oh no she didn’t say that,” Reno said

with a smile. “No you didn’t say that,” he said to

her when he realized she was running away. He

told the driver to shove off, he’s off for the night,

and then he ran, too.

+++

He had planned to talk to her. That was the

plan. Al the way on the plane back from Jersey,

al the way in the limo from the airport, he was

working out in his mind just how he was going to

explain everything about his life, his family, to

her. She was no fly-by-night, no booty cal or

friend with benefits. He wouldn’t leave Jersey

early, canceling the remaining meetings, for just

anybody. This woman had him jacked up, had

him constantly thinking about her, even to the

point of turning down al kinds of offers from

females he almost never used to turn down. But

their sex couldn’t touch hers, and their

personalities couldn’t compare to hers. She

had the inside track at this point in the game,

big time advantages over any other, and he

knew he had to cue her in eventual y on just what

she was getting herself into.

And he thought he had a plan. Thought

he’d get her alone and just lay it out, tel her al

there was to know about him and his life.

Especial y now that she soon would be working

right under his nose, on his turf. He was going

to lay it al on the line. That was the plan,

anyway.

But as soon as they entered her

apartment, and the door shut, and he pul ed her

into his arms, al plans were off. He kissed her,

his lips slowly circled hers, remembering how

she tasted and wanting to taste her even more.

And soon they were tongue to tongue, teeth to

teeth, kissing as if it were going out of style if

they weren’t careful. And it was on from there.

They ended up naked in bed as quickly as their

feet could carry them, and he was al over her,

kissing her, fondling her, entering her, before

either one of them could get a word in

edgewise.

Trina closed her eyes as he entered her,

as she could feel the sheer power of his

manhood poke and prod and slide around deep

within her. And when his gyrations began to

quicken, she held onto him as if she were

upside down on a monkey bar. He pounded,

and she held on, al the way until they both were

lifting up in elation, and then crashing down in

satiation.

They laid there, both drained, and

eventual y fel asleep in each other’s arms. They

would have stayed that way probably til

morning, as they were both bone tired, but Reno

eventual y woke up.

He stayed in bed, however, staring at

Trina. He was fal ing for her, for her laughter

and her uniqueness, for her beauty and the fact

that she didn’t realize just how beautiful she

real y was, for the unyielding sense that this

woman was the catch of the century. And the

idea of losing that, of losing her when he barely

had her to begin with, terrified him. He couldn’t

tel her, not yet. He had to secure her first. He

had to make sure that she was his, and that she

wanted him as badly as he wanted her.

Over the next week, Trina and Reno were

inseparable. He was spending al of his free

time with her, and she was spending al of her

free time with him. They were, in fact, growing

closer every day. And Trina, to her own

surprise, was enjoying every moment of their

time together.

But one night at work, she thought she

saw a ghost. She was heading to the kitchen,

and she saw something in her peripheral

vision. When she walked back into the kitchen

to wait for Louie to plate the food, and then

returned to the dining hal with her tray, she

looked again. And to her shock, to her

amazement, Scotty Labaray, the ex-boyfriend

she once fled, was seated at a table in

Boyzie’s. She almost dropped her tray.

He was at table eleven, looking

gorgeous in his expensive suit, a pair of

prescription glasses on his tanned, handsome

face. She would have ignored him, would have

pretended like she didn’t see him after serving

the food to table five, but he was staring at her

the entire time; staring with those magnetic soft

blue eyes that made her fal for him in the first

place, one of the biggest mistakes of her life.

She walked over to his table.

“Hey,” he said, with a smile on his face.

“Hey yourself,” Trina replied.

“You are not an easy girl to track, you

know that?” he said. “I went al over Reno

looking for you.”

This concerned Trina. She

remembered how control ing he used to be, how

violent. “And why exactly were you looking for

me?”

He smiled again. There was a time she

actual y loved his smile, though he had a

kindness, a sweetness about him, thought he

wouldn’t be as hard, as rough as her ex-

boyfriend sometimes could be. She was wrong

on al counts. “You know why I’m looking for

you.”

“If I knew, Scotty, I wouldn’t be asking

you. Why were you looking for me?”

you. Why were you looking for me?”

Again, he smiled. “I want you back.

There ain’t no two ways about this, sister. I want

you back in my life, in my bed, as my woman.

You the only one knows how to do me, and I

want that back. How’s that for bluntness?”

Trina could not believe the nerve of him.

After how he treated her, he wanted her back?

He couldn’t be that far gone. “And how’s this for

bluntness,” she said: “You must be out of your

gotdamn mind.”

His smile left then. And the true Scotty

was revealed, every inch of his anger, his

bitterness, his out of control violent streak. “You

left me in the middle of the night, like I was

some monster you was sneaking away from,

and I don’t appreciate that.”

She lowered her voice, leaned over to

him, both of her hands on the table. “I didn’t

appreciate your body blows, either. I didn’t

appreciate that black eye, either. I didn’t

appreciate that I had hooked up, not with a man,

but with a pimp who thought he was going to

prostitute me for income, either. There’s a lot of

things we don’t appreciate. But appreciate this:

I don’t give a good gotdamn what you don’t

appreciate.”

It came so quickly, Trina could barely

react. Scotty took his glass of wine and threw

the liquid contents into her face. Then he stood

and slapped her hard across the face. Although

the wine had her dazed, the slap reinvigorated

her. And she slapped him back even harder

than he had slapped her. He was about to

come at her again, he was that kind of bul y, but

two waiters pul ed him back.

“Are you crazy?” she could hear Boyzie,

the owner, running toward Scotty. “Get the fuck

out of my establishment!”

“You messed up now, chick,” Scotty was

saying as the two waiters drug him out. “You

messed up now!”

Jazz had run over to Trina’s side as she

wiped her face with a napkin. “Are you al right,

girl?”

Trina couldn’t speak. Her anger was stil

too raw. She began to head in the back, in the

kitchen.

Jazz fol owed her. “I didn’t see when he

threw the wine on you, but I saw when he

slapped you.” She grinned. “I said, oh, boy, he

fooling with the wrong one this time. ‘Cause

every fool from around here knows you don’t

play.”

“He’s not from around here,” Trina said,

sitting in a chair to calm her nerves, stil wiping

off the wine.

“What happened to you?” Louie the

cook wanted to know.

“None of your business,” Jazz said,

sitting beside Trina. “Just cook, cook.” Then

Jazz looked at Trina. “What you mean he’s not

from around here? You know him?”

Trina nodded. “That’s Scotty Labaray.”

“Get
out
! He’s the dude from Reno?

The pimp?”

Trina nodded.

“Wow,” Jazz said. “I don’t know why I

just assumed this Scotty person was a black

dude. But he white too, hun?”

Trina looked at Jazz. “Why you say it

like that?”

“I’m just sayin’. Dang, girl. You got

these white men fal ing out of trees wanting

you.” Then she paused, leaned back in the

chair. “And speaking of white men, are you

going to tel Mr. Hot Temper Gabrini about this

little incident?”

“I am not.”

“And why the hel not?”

“Because of exactly what you just cal ed

him. His hot temper. You saw what Reno did to

that acne-faced kid. He broke that kid’s nose

for just pinching me, something that happens to

us every day of the week in a joint like this. You

think I’m gonna tel him about this incident,

which means I’l have to tel him about my

relationship with Scotty? That I’m gonna say,

oh, by the way, this guy here also beat the crap

out of me one night to where I was throwing up

blood. And he beat me because I told him I’d

rather eat nails than prostitute my body for

money. I got away from him that same night, but

you think Reno gonna just say good, great job

getting away, kid, and forget about it? Come

on, Jazz. Even your old man Nathan, who

on, Jazz. Even your old man Nathan, who

idolizes you, would say you’re nuts if you think

that.”

Jazz exhaled. “I get your point,” she

said.

“Reno would probably be locked up for

murder before the night is out,” Trina added.

“Okay, I get it.” Then she looked at

Trina. “You can pick’em, can’t you?”

Trina looked at her friend. She didn’t

know if she was talking about Scotty only, or

both Scotty and Reno. “What’s that supposed

to mean?” she asked.

“You can pick’em. I mean, Reno with his

temper is bad enough. But at least he owns a

hotel and gave you a job and is helping you out.”

This bothered Trina. Ever since she told

Jazz about Reno, and how they’d been

spending time together, there had been a kind

of snide attitude in Jazz, a kind of bitterness

there. “You think I’m seeing Reno because he

owns the PaLargio?” she asked her friend.

Jazz frowned, as if nothing could be

further from the truth. “Why would you say

something like that?”

“The same reason you implied it.”

“That not what I mean. But it is a fact

that he gave you a job, a job you start next

week. He’s your friend and friends look out for

each other like that. They get ahead, they pul

their friends along with them.”

So that was it. Jazz figured that Trina

should be, in her words, pul ing her along, too. “I

am gonna help you out, Jazz,” Trina said. “But

my feet ain’t even in the door yet. You saw how

Reno wouldn’t even let me be a manager there.

He’s creating some apprentice job for me, so I

can shadow seasoned managers and learn the

tricks of the trade. I can’t hire nobody, I’m not

even in the door myself yet.”

“But your boyfriend is. He owns the joint,

Tree, come on. Al you got to do is say the word

and he’l hire me as an apprentice, too.”

Trina shook her head. “It doesn’t work

that way.”

“Oh, I see. You can ask him to take you on,

but you can’t ask him about me.”

“I didn’t ask him to take me on, Jazz,

what are you talking about? I didn’t know that

man existed when I applied to work at the

PaLargio, something, by the way, that you said I

was crazy to even attempt.”

“Okay, okay,” Jazz said, smiling now, “I

didn’t mean to make a federal case out of it.