Sal Gabrini 4: I'll Take You There (The Gabrini Men Series Book 7) (12 page)

“You’re
not!”

“Or I
don’t love you enough.
 
One of the
two.
 
Because if I loved you I would have
never asked you to be my wife.”

“Sal,
that’s ridiculous!”

“Listen
to what I’m saying here.”

“No!”
Gemma said forcefully.
 
She turned to
him.
 
“You listen to what I’m saying
here.
 
Everybody gets whatever the hell
they want.
 
Everybody does whatever the
hell they want to do!
 
But they always
want to change the rules when it comes to you.”

“But
if I love you, Gem---”

“Stop
saying that!
 
Stop buying into their
foolishness!
 
You love me, Sal.
 
No other man has ever, or will ever love me
the way that you do.”

“But
my lifestyle.
 
It’s . . . complicated,
Gem.”

“I
know that.”

“I
deal with a lot of unsavory characters.
 
They’re my crew members.
 
They
helped me out at one time or another.
 
And it’s not a spigot I can turn off.
 
It’s a
got
damn waterfall,
Gem.
 
If one of my crew members get in
trouble, I have to help them.
 
But when I
help them and take somebody out while I’m at it, then somebody else affiliated
with that guy I took out now wants to take me out.”
 
Then he looked at Gemma with troubled
eyes.
 
“Or they want to take out the
person I most love.”

Then
he exhaled.
 
“They think you ought to get
out while you can.
 
And I’ll understand
if you do.”

Gemma
stared at him.
 
If he ever was going to
come completely clean with her about his “crew members,” it would be now.
 
“Why did you need a crew in the first place,
Sal?” she asked him.

Sal
looked her dead in the eye.
 
“Sometimes
things go sideways on you,” he said.
 
“You have to be prepared.”

 
“You didn’t answer my question.”

She
wanted more.
 
It was, he felt, a moment
of truth in their relationship.
 
It was,
he knew, time for him to stop bullshitting and tell her that full truth.
 
“I used to help out,” he said.

Gemma
braced herself.
 
This was a different
line.
 
The words, and the way he said it
was different.
 
He didn’t say he used to
help a friend out, the way he normally phrased it.
 
He was telling her a secret.
 
But she had to ask the right question.
 
Instead of asking about what kind of help,
which was usually the question to ask, she decided to go to the source.
  
“You used to help who out?” she asked him.

Sal
knew it would come to this one day.
 
She
was too savvy for her not to eventually go there.
 
“My Uncle,” he said.
 
“My Uncle Paulo.”

“Your
Uncle Paulo?”
 
Gemma was astounded.
 
“You mean Reno’s father?”

Sal
nodded.
 
“Yeah.”

“But
Sal, he was a mob boss.”

“Yeah,
I know.”

“But
you said you weren’t in the mob.”

“I
wasn’t!
 
He was my uncle, he came to me
for help every now and then, and I helped him.
 
End of story.
 
And when I helped
him, I wasn’t helping him with men he trusted.
 
They were backstabbing him anyway, that was why he had to come to
me.
 
I helped him with men I
trusted.
 
Men who had my back.
 
With my own crew.”

“And
these are the men you still help today?”

“Or
use when I need help myself, yes,” Sal said.
 
He could see the concern in Gemma’s eyes, as if she wasn’t sure just
what she was signing on for.
 
He decided
to plead his case.
 
“But I was never
Mafia,” he said.
 
“I was never any mob
boss or in any mob group.
 
I was never a
made man, nothing like that, Gemma.
 
I do
my own thing.
 
I go my own way.
 
I never lied to you about that.”

Still
no response from Gemma.
 
She was still
digesting it all.
 
Especially the fact
that Sal knew his uncle was a mob boss, but he helped him anyway.

“He
was family, Gemma,” Sal said, as if he read her mind.
 
“That’s why I helped him.
 
He was family.
 
And family, as you know, means everything to
me.”
 
A flash of him fighting his own
brother, rolling on the floor with him, whipped through Sal’s mind.
 
And that depressing feeling returned.

He
exhaled.
 
“Get out while you can, Gem,”
he said to her.
 
“I’m not worth the
trouble, to tell you the truth.
 
Please
get out while you can.”

But
Gemma looked at him as if he was the one with the doubt.
 
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said firmly.

“That’s
what they were trying to tell you tonight,” Sal said.
 
“They think you should leave me.
 
They were saying you need to go on with your
life.”

But
those words only angered Gemma.
 
“I don’t
care what they were saying!
 
I don’t care
what they think I should do.
 
You asked
me to marry you, and
got
dammit we’re
going to get married!
 
And we’re going to
be happy, Sal.”
 

Tears
were now in their eyes.

“For
once in our lives,” she continued, “we’re going to be happy!
 
You’re used to rejection.
 
I know you are.
 
You’re used to people who should love you
abandoning you.
 
I know that too.
 
But I’m not that girl.
 
I’m in this with you.
 
Hell or high water, better or worse, ride or
die, I’m not going anywhere, Sal.”

He
was pulling her into his arms before she finished talking.
 
And his tears flowed.
 
He was so afraid of losing her.
 
He’d been told he wasn’t good enough so many times
that when Tommy and Reno said so too, it almost killed him.
 
But Gemma wasn’t going along with the
haters.
 
She wasn’t going along!

“Oh,
babe,” he said as he held her.
 
“Oh my
baby!”

And
later than night, after they were home, showered, and in bed, he held onto her
as if he was holding onto the most precious gem in the world.
 
She slept like a baby in his arms.
 
He barely slept at all.
 
But he held onto her.
 
He held her all night.

CHAPTER TWELVE

By
the time Gemma had showered and was fully dressed in her Versace pantsuit and
heels, and had grabbed her briefcase and handbag and was heading downstairs,
Sal had already been up for nearly three hours.
 
He was seated at the small kitchen table, sipping coffee and looking out
of the window.
 
Still in his
bathrobe.
 

But
if she expected to find a morose Sal, or an even depressed Sal, she was
mistaken.
 
When he looked up and saw her
heading her way, looking so sexy, he smiled.

“There’s
my lady,” he said as she approached him.

She smiled
too.
 
Surprised to see him so
upbeat.
 
“How long have you been up?”

“Few
hours, I don’t know.”

She
leaned over and kissed him on the lips.
 
But he loved her kiss so much that, as she was about to lean back up, he
grabbed her back down and then sat her across his lap.
 
And gave her a long, proper kiss.

“Of
what do I owe this great affection?” she asked him when he allowed her to come
back up for air.

“Just
wanted to make sure you’re alright.
 
Kissing you does that, you know.”

“Oh
really now?” Gemma said with a smile.
 
“So your kiss holds that much power over me?”

“Hell
yeah.”

“And
my kiss?
 
What kind of power does it
hold?”

“Nothing,”
Sal said.
 
“Not a thing.”

Gemma
ribbed him and they laughed.
 
But then
they both couldn’t help but think about the elephant in the room, what happened
last night, and they both turned serious.
 
Even somber.
 
Gemma began to play
around in Sal’s thick hair.

“I’ve
been thinking about us,” he said.

“So
have I,” she said.
 
“I used to always
cringe when I heard my clients talk about how it’s them against the world.
 
Yeah, right, I used to always say.
 
But now I know what they mean.
 
Because, in our case, Sal, it’s true.
 
It’s us against the world.”

Sal
nodded.
 
“It is.
 
That’s the truth.
 
And I’ve been thinking about that.”

Gemma
looked at him.
 
“Please don’t tell me I
should leave you and the marriage is off. Please don’t even go there, Sal.”

“What
do you take me for, Gemmanette?
 
Do I
look crazy to you?
 
Do you think I’m
going to have myself this prize from heaven and just give it back because other
people don’t want me to have it?
 
You
know me better than that.”

“You
were talking that way last night.”

“I
was pissed last night.
 
I was
 
. . . hurt last night.
 
But this is a new day.”

“And?”

“And
I’ve made some decisions.”
 
He lifted her
off of his lap.
 
“You’d better take a
seat.”

“Oh,
Lord,” Gemma said as she sat on the table chair across from him.
  
She sat her briefcase and handbag on the
table and looked at him.
 
“Okay, sock it
to me.”

Sal
smiled.
 
“Oh, I will,” he said, looking
down the length of her.
 
“I’m going to
sock the shit out of you.”

“I
just showered, Sal.
 
I can’t go to work
smelling like. . .”

“Like
what?”

“Like
I’ve been rolling in the hay giving it up to you!”

Sal
laughed.
 
“Then you’ll just have to
shower again, won’t you?
 
Because I don’t
know about all of that rolling part, but you’re definitely going to give it
up.”

The
thought of being with Sal again, after such an emotional night, was appealing
to Gemma.
 
She’d gladly shower again if
it meant being with him that way.

“But
first,” he said, “I need to talk to you.
 
I need to make some things clear.”

Gemma
braced herself.
 
“What do you need to
make clear?”

“That
I was wrong,” he said.

Gemma
stared at him.

“I wasn’t
wrong to go to your parents first, and then to my family with what I thought
would be good news.
 
That wasn’t
wrong.
 
But I was wrong to expect them to
understand.
 
They know I love you, and I
think they know that I’ll take good care of you.
 
But they’re afraid, Gemma.
 
Your parents are afraid for you, and I know
Tommy’s afraid for me.
 
He knows me.
 
He knows what it will do to me if something
were to happen to you.
 
Especially if my
own actions caused it.”

“But
you can’t,” Gemma implored, and Sal looked at her.
  
“We can’t allow our emotions to rule us like
that, Sal.
 
I’d be devastated too if
something were to happen to you.
 
Of
course I would!
 
I think I would want to
die.
 
But I’m not going to die.
 
I wasn’t raised to give up like that.
 
If the unspeakable happens, I’m going to pray
and live and carry on.
 
I have to.
 
And you have to also.
 
You’d do me a disservice if you don’t, Sal.
 
You’ll break my heart if you give up.”

Sal
nodded.
 
“I understand what you’re
saying.
 
And you’d better live on and be
happy if something happens to me.
 
But
your blues aren’t like mine, sister.
 
Trust me on that.
 
I’ve got a lot
of fools out there who have shit against me I don’t even know they have against
me.
 
So let’s get that straight.
 
Marrying me is not going to be any picnic for
you.”

“Understood,”
Gemma said with a smile.

“You’re
smiling
 
now, Gem, but it won’t be funny
when we’re going through that shit.”

“I
get it, Sal.
 
I know what I’ve signed on
for.
 
But I had a decision to make
too.
 
Either I be with the man I love and
want to be with, or I play it safe and be alone or with some joker I can barely
stomach.
 
Every time I think about it,
you win, Sal.
 
Hands down.”

Sal
smiled.
 
That warmed his heart.
 
“Glad to hear it,” he said.

“And
don’t ever believe that talk about how you’re selfish for wanting to marry
me.
 
That’s bullshit, Sal.
 
You love me and want me to be your wife and
the mother of your children.
 
And that’s
what I want.
 
That’s not selfish.
 
That’s love.
 
Don’t let anybody make you think it’s anything else.”

“Love
with baggage, right?”

Gemma
would admit that.
 
“Right,” she
said.
 
“But love first.”

Sal
nodded.
 
“Right.
 
That’s why I’ve made a few decisions.”

“Such
as?”

“I’m
not going to uproot you from your businesses and Vegas.”

Gemma
was confused.
 
“But what about your
businesses?”

“I’ll
have to commute.”

“Every
day?”

“I
won’t be here every day.
 
We won’t have
that kind of marriage.
 
But being with
you will be first.
 
This will be my home
base.”
 

But
Gemma was already shaking her head.
 
“No,
Sal,” she said.
 
“I can’t let you do
that.
 
You have too much going on in
Seattle.
 
My little law practice and
clothing store pale in comparison to your businesses.”

“That’s
true.”

Gemma
smiled.
 
“Says Mister Modest.”

“I
mean the truth is the truth,” Sal said.
 
“I’m
not going to lie and say the Gabrini Corporation and the restaurants we own and
the Wingate luxury apartment building that I own are small potatoes.
 
Come on.
 
Not one of those businesses are.
 
But after you marry me, Gem, your sacrificing days are over.”

“My
sacrificing days?
 
Marrying you is not a
sacrifice, Sal.”

“Yes,
it is!
 
And I promise you I’m going to do
everything in my power to stay out of dangerous situations, but that doesn’t
mean dangerous situations are going to stay away from me.
 
Old shit is old shit and it can come back to
haunt me at any time.
 
But there won’t be
any new shit, I can promise you that.”

Gemma
smiled.

“That’s
reassuring?”

“Actually,
it is, Sal, yes.
 
Thanks.”

He
nodded.
 
“So,” he said, “I have canceled all
of my meetings and will stay right here in town.
 
We aren’t having any long-ass
engagement.
 
You and I are going to pick
a date, decide on a venue, and select a wedding planner.
 
I’m sure we’ll need one of those, since
neither one of us are the girly girly types.”

Gemma
laughed.

“And
we’ll find a house.
 
Maybe not in Vegas
proper, but near Vegas.”

Gemma
was perplexed.
 
“A house?
 
But we have a house, Sal.
 
This house.”

Sal
looked at her.
 
“What are you needling
me?”

Gemma
wasn’t joking in the least.
 
“No.
 
I’m serious.
 
What’s wrong with this house?”

Sal
leaned forward, as if he was about to school her.
 
“Gemma Jones, I currently own the Wingate
luxury apartment complex.
 
I live in the
penthouse apartment inside that luxury complex.
 
Correct?”

“Correct.”

“That
penthouse is approximately ten thousand square feet.
 
Correct?”

“I
didn’t realize it was that large, but you should know.
 
So yes, correct.”

“This
house is what?
 
Eighteen hundred, give or
take?”

“Sixteen
hundred, give or take.”

Sal
leaned back.
 
“And you think this will
do?”

“It
did for me!” Gemma shot back.

“You
were a single, hardworking young woman who was barely getting by.
 
This worked out beautifully for you.
 
And I want you to keep it.
 
You don’t have to rent it out, it can stay
empty forever.
 
But this is not going to
be our family home.
 
No.
 
Sorry.
 
I’m not setting my wife up in this.”

Gemma
smiled.
 
“But I thought you said I won’t
have to sacrifice anymore.”

“Oh,
I see.
 
So moving from here into your
dream home would be a sacrifice for you?”

“Just
kidding, Sal, geez!
 
I’d love to start
fresh with you.
 
I think it’s a good
idea.”

“Good,”
Sal said, satisfied.
 
“You’re going to be
my wife, and I can’t wait to get started.
 
And if we have to go it alone, Gemma; If my family and your family don’t
want to be a part of this wonderful, beautiful union, then you know what?”

“What?”

“They
can kiss my ass.”

Gemma
laughed.

“Fuck’em!”
Sal said seriously.
 
“I mean it.
 
You’re going to be happy for once in your
life, and I’m just the man to make you happy.”

Gemma’s
smile left and she considered what Sal had just said with the gravity she felt
it deserved.
 
“You are,” she said.
  
“I think a part of me knew it when we first
met in Trina’s office.
 
Every inch of me
knows it now.”