Romancing Sal Gabrini 2: A Woman's Touch (3 page)

Trina
looked at her, smiling.
 
“So Sal phoned
you after all.
 
Or, as you call him,
Salvatore.”

Gemma
smiled. “I overdid it, didn’t I?”

“Of
course!
 
But that’s what women in love
do.”

“If
you don’t quit with that love nonsense!
 
We’re still testing the waters to see if we can swim together.
 
That’s all this is about.”

“Sure,
buddy.
 
Whatever you say, buddy.”
 

Then
their lunch orders arrived, and they began eating.
 
Trina looked at Gemma, who was eating her
burger so fast it was almost comical.
 
Anything, she felt, than to discuss the real issue.
 
“So,” she decided to ask, “when’s the big
move?”

Gemma
frowned.
 
“What big move?”

“Your
move to Seattle.”

Gemma
considered her friend.
 
Trina was a
gorgeous girl, too, but most men would say she was no match for Gemma’s darker,
more exotic beauty.
 
Gemma would say
differently.
 
“Who says I’m moving to
Seattle?” she asked.

“Oh,
come on, Gem.
 
One of you will have to
move, and it can’t be Sal.”

“And
why the hell not?”

“Commitments.
 
The Gabrini Corporation is in Seattle.”

“So?”

“Diamante’s
and a Taste of Southern, their two highly successful restaurants, are in
Seattle.”

“So?”

“So
what do you have that comes anywhere near that level of commitment?
 
You have a law practice that’s barely paying
the bills, and one-third partnership in a clothing store that’s barely breaking
even.
  
Now of those two scenarios, yours
and Sal’s, who do you realistically expect to make that move?”

Gemma
didn’t respond to that.
 
Because it
wasn’t that simple.
 
No way was she
packing up and moving to another state just because she loved some man.
 
And yes, she inwardly knew she loved Sal very
much.
 
But he was a very complicated
man.
 
Even Trina knew that.
 
Gemma still had to make certain, beyond any
doubt, that she was willing to take on all of those complications.
 
She loved him, and she wanted to be with him,
but she still had to be certain.
 
Only
time, she felt, and how well Sal treated her, would determine what she would
ultimately do.

“Besides,”
Trina went on, “you don’t want to let that beautiful hunk of a man down, now do
you?
 
It’s okay now, this long distance
love, but it’s going to get tired real soon.
 
If l know Sal Luca, and I do, I know for a fact that he’s going to
eventually expect you to keep that sweet, fresh oven, the wet one between those
legs of yours, warm for him in Seattle too.
 
Not just Vegas.”

Gemma
looked at Trina with equal parts horror and humor. “You heard him?” she asked.

Trina
laughed.
 
“Loud and clear, girl,” she
said.
 
“Loud and clear!”

Sal
entered the smoke-filled bar and took a seat in a booth near the front.
 
He pulled out his smartphone.
 
He had phoned Gemma earlier and checked on
her, so now he was checking his messages.
 
He had tons.
 
He ordered a beer,
received it, and continued checking messages.
 
Hush Puppy, one of the more attractive strippers around the place, came
and took a seat across from him.

“How
ya’, Sal,” she said, slinging her long, blonde hair out of her long, narrow
face.
 
“Long time no see.”

Sal
didn’t bother to look up.
 
“How you
doing, Hush?”

“I’m
doing great now that you’re here.”
 
Sal
wanted to roll his eyes.
 
Cliché talking
was the stock and trade of joints like this.

But
when he still didn’t bother to look up at her, she placed her long, pink,
manicured hand on his.
 
“Surely that itty
bitty phone cannot possibly be more important than I am.”

Sal
looked at her.
 
She was right.
 
He was being rude.
 
He sat the phone on the table and folded his
arms.
 
“So what’s shaking?” he asked.

She
stood up and started twerking.

He
laughed.
 
“Other than that ass of yours?”

Hush
laughed too.
 
“Speaking of ass,” she
said, “I thought I’d give you a little sample for the road.
 
Right in the back there’s a room with our
name on it.”

It
was certainly tempting.
 
Sal couldn’t
recall a time when he was in Jersey, at Barney’s bar, that he didn’t fuck
Hush.
 
With double condoms.
 
But that was before Gemma.
 
“Thanks, but no thanks.”

“No
thanks?”
 
She smiled.
 
“Since when?”

“What
do you mean since when?” Sal asked this in his heavy, New Jersey accent.
 
“Since I just told you no thanks.
 
Since then.”

“But
you know you like it, Sal.”

“I
didn’t say I didn’t like it.
 
But not
anymore.
 
I’m not interested.”

Hush
Puppy sat down and stared at him.
 
“What’s this about?” she asked him.

Sal
was growing agitated.
 
It was tough
enough just to turn her down.
 
“What are
you talking?
 
I’m not interested.
 
Big deal.”

“But
I can take the edge off.”

“I
don’t need you to take any edge off.”

“Since
when?”

Sal
frowned.
 
“What are you with the since
when?
 
Since I just said so.
 
Since then!”

Hush
stared at him again.
 
“I heard it, but I
didn’t believe it.
 
The black chick?
 
Is that the reason?”

“Don’t
you worry about my reasons.”

“You
used to run around talking about how your brother was always dating these black
bitches, never any good Italian girls, and now you’re doing the same thing?”

“If
you don’t get the fuck out of here!” Sal said angrily, dismissing her nonsense.

“You
mean to tell me you’re going to give up all of this,” she said, sweeping her
hand down along her huge fake boobs and flat stomach, “for some black bitch?”

Sal
jumped up, causing Hush to jump up too.
 
He pointed at her.
 
“Get the fuck
out of my face and get the fuck out now!”

Barney,
the owner, hurried over.
 
The few drunks
at the bar looked their way, but turned back around.
 
They were far more interested in their
drinks. “What’s this about?” Barney asked, looking angrily at Hush. “What are
you bothering Sal for?”

Hush
couldn’t believe it.
 
“Bothering
Sal?
 
He was the one coming at me!”

“Just
get your ass backstage and get ready for your next number.
 
If Sal don’t want you, he don’t want
you.
 
Don’t you keep bothering him about
it!”

Hush
looked at Sal again, as she left.

Barney
smiled.
 
“She don’t mean no harm, you
know that, Sal.”

Sal
continued to stand as he took a huge gulp from his mug of beer.

“She
likes you, that’s all,” Barney continued.
 
“You know how to do her.
 
Most men
can’t do strippers, their holes are too big.
 
You’re big enough to fill it.”

“Why
did you call me here, Barn?” Sal asked, finding it disgusting to be discussing
sex with another man.
 
“My plane is
waiting on the tarmac.
 
I’m ready to blow
this town yesterday.
 
So what is it?”

“Patience
has never been your strong suit, you know that?”

“You
got two seconds, then I’m out of here.”

“All
right already.”
 
Then Barney looked
around.
 
Saw nothing but a few drunks
hanging around.
 
“Come with me,” he said,
and began heading for the backrooms.
 

Sal
drank more beer and then followed him.
 

When
they got to the very last room at the end of the hall, Barney stepped aside and
allowed Sal passage in.
 
When Sal walked
in and saw a blast from his past, a man he used to know so well, his heart
dropped.

“What
the fuck?” he asked.

Patrick
Pacheco, called Patty by his friends, grinned a big, gap-tooth smile.
 
“Surprise!” he said gaily.
 
He was seated behind a small desk.
 
Another chair was empty in front of that
desk.

“What
are you doing here?” Sal wanted to know.

“Is
that any way to treat the man who served all those years in prison for your
ass?
 
How about a kiss?”

“How
about a kiss my ass?”

Patty
laughed.
 
“Same old Sal.
 
That’s what I always loved about you,
Salvatore.
 
You always keep that same
evil disposition.”

“I’ll
leave you two gentlemen to it,” Barney said, glad to be the facilitator only,
and closed the door as he left.

“What
are you doing here?” Sal asked.
 
“You
aren’t due out yet.”

“You,
my friend, go to the head of the class.
 
Of course I’m not due out yet, you dickhead!
 
You think I’d be in this dump if I was due
out?
 
You think I’d be anywhere near
Jersey if I could go anywhere I wanted to go and be anything I wanted to be?”

Sal
was stunned.
 
“You broke out?”

Patty
laughed, and started nodding his head.
 
“I broke the fuck out!” he said with joy.
 
“It was beautiful, Sal.
  
And you know what’s even more beautiful
about it?
 
They don’t even know I’m gone
yet!”
 
He started grinning.
 
“They won’t know that until tonight.
 
That’s how easy this shit was.
 
And I’ll be long gone by then.”

Sal
was uncomfortable with this.
 
He knew he
owed a big-ass debt to Patty.
 
Sal shot a
man, the man fingered Patty before he died, but Patty never snitched.
 
The prosecutors offered Patty a lenient
sentence, a couple years tops, if he’d finger Sal.
 
The guy had pulled a gun and was about to
blow Patty away from this life, that was why Sal had to shoot him, but the cops
wouldn’t have cared about that.
 
He was a
Gabrini.
 
His uncle was reputed mob boss
Paulo Gabrini at that time.
 
They would
have convicted Sal and thrown away the key.
 

But
Patty didn’t snitch.

“Why
don’t you sit down, Sal,” Patty said.
 
“I
don’t bite.”

Sal
sat down in the chair in front of the desk.
 
One time, back in the day, these two men were the best of friends.
 
“So what do you want?” Sal asked.
 
“What does any of this have to do with me?”

“What
do you think?
 
You shot that man, I didn’t.
 
But did I turn you in? No, Sal, I didn’t.”

“And
I looked out for your son, just as we agreed.”

“Fuck
my son!
 
You think that’s enough for what
I did for you?
 
All those years rotting
in jail and you think that’s enough?”

“What
do you want?”

“I
need to get lost.
 
And I mean the kind of
lost even dogs can’t sniff out.
 
Which
means I need money to get lost.
 
Your
kind of money.”

Sal
stared at his old friend.
 
And he
suddenly felt trapped.
 
He thought about
Gemma, a woman who was the most upstanding woman he’d ever met, a woman who
swore to uphold the laws of the land without flinching.
 
An attorney no less.
 
She would have a fit if she even knew he was
having this discussion.