Until You Come Back To Me, Book 5 (6 page)

After
kissing her, he looked into her sultry, hazel eyes.
 
“I love you,” he said to her.

“I
love you too,” Trina replied.
 
“But I
don’t want Gemma hurt.”

“Nobody’s
hurting Gemma.
 
If Sal hurts Gemma, I’ll
kick his ass myself.
 
And it’ll be my
pleasure.”

Trina
smiled.
 
Reno and Sal never did get
along.
 
And then she cranked up, closed
her car door, and drove away, waving bye to Reno as she did.

Reno
walked to his car, which was even further back along the curb.
 
But when Reno got into his car, and saw the
blonde give Sal a kiss on the cheek and a hug, he suddenly became concerned
too.
 

“
What the fuck
,” he said as he watched
what any outside observer would consider a very chummy couple.
  
And when Sal’s car was brought around by the
valet, and Sal helped the woman into his car as if they had not met for dinner,
but had come together, Reno was even more concerned.
 
Sal’s big brother, and Reno’s best friend
Tommy Gabrini had gone through a divorce some years back, and Reno remembered
how painful that experience was.
 
Not Sal
too, he thought, as he cranked up his car and began to follow behind his
cousin. Nobody was going to hurt Gemma.
 
Not on Reno’s watch.

Reno
Gabrini was a very busy man who had far more that he needed to be doing than
tailing his cousin’s Porsche.
 
But he
tailed him.
 
For Gemma’s sake, he
followed him through the streets of Vegas until Sal and his lady friend were
pulling into the driveway of a modest (by Gabrini standards) house.
 

Reno
felt some kind of way as his cousin, his very married cousin, got out of his
car and escorted the blonde bombshell to the front door.
 
He remembered when Tommy got shot in Chicago
and how some beautiful blonde was living in a big house Sal owned there.
 
He warned Sal then not to be fooling around
on Gemma, but Sal told him to mind his own business.
 
Which Reno knew he should have been doing
right now.
 
But Reno loved Gemma.
 
He knew Gemma before Sal knew her.
 
He had an almost fatherly affection for
her.
 
And what he was seeing didn’t sit
well with him at all.

When
the door was unlocked, Reno hoped Sal would say his goodbye and get his ass
away from there.
 
But it didn’t
happen.
 
Sal went inside the home with
the woman, closing the door behind him.
 
Reno closed his eyes and exhaled.
 
He had too much to do to be spying on some asshole like his cousin.
 
But he didn’t like it.
 
Sal was going to break Gemma’s heart if he wasn’t
careful.
 

And
Reno wasn’t going to allow that.
 

Despite
what he told his wife, and despite what he had said previously himself, Reno
put his nose in it.
 
He grabbed his cell
phone and called Sal’s wife.

Gemma
and Ted were still meeting when the call came in.
 
Gemma picked up her cell phone from her desk
and glanced at the Caller ID.
 
“I need to
take this,” she said to Ted and answered the call.
 
“Reno, hi.”

“Hey,
babe,” Reno’s voice said over the phone.
 
“How are you?”

“I’m
doing well. What about you?
 
Everything
okay?”

“I
hope so.”

Gemma
didn’t like the sound of that.
 
“Excuse
me?”

“I
don’t beat around the bush, Gem.
 
You
know that.”

“I
know it.”

“Sal
left a restaurant with some woman.”

Gemma’s
eyes glanced at Ted for some reason, although she was certain he couldn’t hear
Reno’s voice.
 
“Okay,” she said into the
phone.

“And
not just any woman either.
 
A beautiful
blonde, just like he likes them.
 
Or, at
least, he used to like before he met you.”

Gemma
knew her husband used to have a thing for blondes, which made their coupling so
unusual.
 
“So they left a restaurant?”
she asked Reno.

“They
left and went to a house.
 
I figure it’s
her place, but I can’t be sure about that.
 
I want to go up to the door and drag his ass out of there, but you know
how volatile things get when Sal and I get together.”

“Especially
when you disagree,” Gemma said.

“Right.
 
But I’m parked outside of the house right
now.
 
It’s nighttime, she’s gorgeous, I
just don’t see the fucking point.
 
Even
if she’s a business associate, he should have handled that kind of business in
the daylight.
 
He’s a married man for
crying out loud.”

Gemma
listened to Reno, a man who used to be accused of all kinds of indiscretions
with females.
 
Gemma remembered wondering
how Trina put up with it.
 
But now it was
her man being talked about, and she didn’t like it.
 
“Are they still there?”

“They’re
still there.
 
They just went in.
 
He’ll probably be there for a while if their
chumminess is any indication.”

“Chumminess?”

“Oh,
yeah,” Reno said.
  
“He was hugging on
her and she gave him a little peck on the cheek.
 
Very chummy.”

Gemma’s
heart dropped.
 

“It
might be nothing,” Reno quickly added.
 
But then he thought again.
 
“I
take that back.
 
It’s something.
 
But it might be innocent.
 
Sal helps people.
 
Maybe he’s helping that chick.”

“Why
did you call me, Ree?” Gemma asked him.

“I
called you because it looks damn suspicious to me, and you have a right to
know.
 
I’m no snitch, but I’ll always put
my nose in when it comes to the people I love.
 
Now take down this address.
 
Check
it out or not, but take it down.”

Reno’s
voice always sounded like a command, but Gemma knew he meant well.
 
She followed that command and took down the
address.
 
“Thanks, Reno,” she said
afterwards.

“I’m
no fucking snitch,” Reno reiterated.
 
“But this is different.”

They
said goodbye and Gemma ended the call.
 
She held the cell phone for a moment longer, thinking for a moment what
she should do.
 
Then she thought about
the man Reno was talking about.
 
He was
talking about Sal.
 
He was talking about
her husband.
 
He was talking about the
man she trusted with her life.
 
But yet
she wouldn’t trust him with a beautiful blonde?
 

Gemma
tossed the phone back onto her desk, and looked at Ted.
  
“Where were we?” she asked.
 

Monday
Night Football in the Gabrini household was must-see TV.
 
Sal was in the master bedroom, seated on the
floor with his back against the foot of the bed, watching the flat screen on
the wall in front of him.
 
Gemma entered
the bedroom, another beer for Sal to drink, just as his team was turning the
ball over.

“Fucking
idiot!” he yelled at the TV screen.
 
“How
could you drop it again?”

Gemma
handed him the beer.

“How
could that
freakin
’ asshole drop the ball twice in
one quarter?
 
What is he blind?”

Gemma
looked at the TV.
 
Since she had no
answers either, she didn’t attempt to give one.
 
She sat on the daybed parallel to where Sal was sitting and watched him
continue to complain about the blind wide receiver.
 
Sal wore a sweatshirt and a pair of shorts
that tightened around his thick thighs.
 
Gemma noticed how there was nothing small about Sal-absolutely
nothing.
 
And she realized, just sitting
there, that she was beginning to depend mightily on the sense that he was her
protector; that she could rely on him.
 
Which made the news Reno shared with her earlier that much more
troubling.
  
She turned her attention
back to the game.

But
Sal was sipping his beer, and turned his attention to her.
 
She’d been quiet all evening.
 
He looked down at her slender legs coming out
of the short shorts she wore, and that sense of love he felt for her tried to
overwhelm him again.
 
He fought back the
emotion of it, but he couldn’t fight off the truth of it.
 
He also couldn’t dismiss the fact that his
lady was troubled.
 
“What’s wrong with
you?” he asked her.

Gemma
shook her head.
 
“Nothing’s wrong,” she
said.

“Yeah,
and I’m Captain America.
 
What’s wrong,
Gemma?”

“Nothing’s
wrong, Sal.”

Sal
exhaled.
 
Then he waved his hand.
 
“Come here,” he said.

“I
don’t see anything wrong with your two legs,” Gemma shot back.

“Come
on, Gem,” he said, patting his lap.
 
“I’m
not playing with your ass.
 
Get over
here.”

Gemma
didn’t see what good it would do, but she got up and began walking over to
Sal.
 
She watched him as he watched how
short her shorts were.
 
She sat on the
floor between his legs, her back against his chest, and leaned her head back
onto his broad shoulder.
 
He wrapped his
arms around her and for a few minutes more, they didn’t talk at all.
 
Sal continued to look at his game, and so did
Gem.
 
One of his hands also began to
massage one of her breasts.
 
Sal knew he
was becoming almost obsessed with her body, as he always wanted some, and he
knew that could become a problem too.
 
“How was your day?” he eventually asked her.

“It
was good.”

“Met
with your new client?”

“Not
yet.
 
She’s not sold on anybody other than
Ted representing her.
 
He suggested I
meet with her for dinner tomorrow night.”
 
Then Gemma looked over at him.
 
“Think you can make it?”

This
surprised Sal.
 
“Me?”
 
But when he saw that anguished look on her
face again, he acquiesced.
 
“Yeah, sure,
I’ll make it.
 
I’ll have to move some
things around, but yeah.”

Gemma
nodded.
 
“Thanks,” she said, and laid her
head back onto his shoulder.
 
“How was
your day?” she eventually asked.

“It
was, well it was tough.”

“How
so?”

“It
was just a tough day, that’s all.”

It
wasn’t what Gemma had hoped to hear, but it was what she always heard from Sal:
no details.

But
then Sal surprised her.
 
He continued to
talk.
 
“I picked up the sister-in-law of
one of my men. I picked her up from work.”

Gemma
was hopeful again.
 
“Where does she
work?” she asked.

Sal
frowned.
 
“What difference does that
make? I picked her up.
  
This guy, his
name is Alfie
Farino
, died, and his wife had to be
notified.
  
They had only been married a
couple of weeks.”

Gemma
hadn’t expected to hear anything like that.
 
“My goodness” she said.
 
“I’m
sorry to hear that.”

A
pained look coursed through Sal’s eyes.
 
“It was an awful thing.
 
Just
awful.
 
So I picked up the sister-in-law
from this restaurant she works at, took her to her sister’s house, to Alfie’s
house, and we notified his widow together.
 
It was a terrible scene.”

Gemma
realized what she was hearing.
 
She
looked at Sal.
 
“So she wasn’t your
girlfriend or anything like that?”

Sal
looked at her with shock in his eyes.
 
“My girlfriend?
 
What the fuck I’m
gonna have a girlfriend for when I have you?
 
What are you talking?”

Now
Gemma felt bad for bringing it up.
 
“I
was just wondering---”

“You
weren’t just nothing!
 
Who gave you the
idea that I was fooling around with that lady?”

Gemma
didn’t respond.

“Tell
me, Gemma.
 
You tell me.”

She
was not going to keep any secrets from Sal.
 
“Reno saw you with the sister-in-law and he followed you.
 
He called and told me where you were.”
 

“He
called you?
 
Why that fucking snitch!”

“He’s
no snitch, Sal.
 
He looks out for me like
that, and you know it.
 
He doesn’t want
you to break my heart.”

Sal
looked at her.
 
“Break your heart?”
 
He held her tighter.
 
“I’ll break my own heart and a million others
before I break yours.”

Gemma
smiled.
 
“I know,” she said, and held on
even tighter.

The
door to Reno Gabrini’s massive office at the PaLargio Hotel and Casino flew
open, and Sal Gabrini, massively angry, hurried in.
 
Reno’s secretaries and assistants came in
behind him, assuring Reno that they did everything in their power to stop this
intrusion.
 
But Reno stood up and waved
them off.
 
“It’s okay,” he reassured his
staff.

“Now
get the fuck out of here!” Sal ordered them.
 

Because
they knew the power Sal Gabrini wielded too, they got the fuck out, closing the
door behind them just as they saw Sal continuing toward Reno’s desk.

“Settle
down, Sal,” Reno warned him as he continued to approach.

“Settle
down my ass,” Sal said, still approaching.
 
“You called my wife on bullshit like that?
 
Really, Reno?
 
You called my wife, got her upset and scared, because you saw me with
some dame?
 
And you’re telling me to
settle down?
  
I’ve got your settle down
right here, you bastard!” Sal pushed his older cousin’s chest with the force of
both of his hands, causing Reno to stumble back.
 
But then Reno regained his balance, hurried
forward, and pushed Sal right back.
 
And
just as they used to do constantly as little kids, these two big men, titans of
industry, were now deadlocked into a wrestling match, with each man gaining and
losing ground as they stumbled around the office seeking to break the
stalemate.
 
It wasn’t until they fell
against the desk and Reno was able to pin Sal on top of it, did the tussling
cease.

“Settle
your ass down,” Reno ordered him.

“Let
me go!” Sal ordered back.
 

“For
what?
 
So that you can beat me up, and I
beat you back, and we keep it going all day long?
 
I’m too busy and so are you.
 
So let’s call it a draw and give it a rest,
Sal.
 
Neither one of us have time for
this shit.”

When
Sal gave a weak nod, Reno released him.

Sal
jerked away from Reno’s grasp just as he loosened it, but he didn’t try to
challenge him again.
 
Because Reno was
right, and he knew it.
 
Both men
straightened their expensive suits, and then Sal walked over to Reno’s floor-to-ceiling
window and looked out.

Reno
looked at Sal.
 
This was much more than
just his anger over telling Gemma about that woman, although that woman might
be a part of Sal’s distress.
 
Reno walked
over to the window too, and stood beside his younger cousin.
 
“You know how protective I am of Gemma,” he
said.

“You
aren’t more protective of her than I am.
 
She’s my wife.”
 
He looked at
Reno.
 
“Not yours!”

“That
goes without saying, Sal, what are you talking?”

“I
see how you look at her when you think nobody’s watching,” Sal said.
 
“Your ass gets hard-ons sometimes when you’re
looking at her.”

“That’s
a lie and you know it!”

“Every
time you see her you wanna hit that thang.”

“Every
man that sees her wanna hit that thang.”

Sal
looked at him, shocked that he would admit it.

“But
I don’t hit it and I’m not interested in hitting it,” Reno clarified, as if he
didn’t mean him in that
every man
comment he’d just made.
 
“I have
Trina.
 
What would I look like trying to
hit on Gemma?”

“Then
why would you tell me about every man wanting---

“All
I was saying was that Gemma is a special lady.
 
And I look out for her the way I look out for my sister Fran, although
she’s a pain in the ass that has become a boil on my butt.
 
Gemma’s special.
 
The way she understood after I had to take
out her own sister.
 
It was her sister,
or it was Tommy, and she understood that.
 
It broke her heart, but she understood it.
 
Show me any other woman on the face of this
earth who would accept something like that?
 
But Gemma did. She forgave me.
 
That’s how much I respect her and she respects me.
 
We have that special bond.
 
And I’m not about to mess that up by trying
to hit on her.
 
And I’m not hurting my
wife, the love of my life, by doing something that stupid.
 
Whereas you,” Reno said, “on the other
hand---”

“Fuck
you,” Sal said without the sting.
 

And
then both men, once again, looked out of the window.

“Who
was the lady?” Reno asked him.

Sal
placed his hands in his pockets and exhaled.
 
“Alfie
Farino’s
sister-in-law.”

“Your
side bitch?”

Sal
looked angrily at his cousin.
 
“Why the
fuck you keep bringing that up like I’m cheating on Gemma?”

“Because
I know your ass,” Reno responded.
 
“Because I saw that blonde chick you set up in that house of yours in
Chicago!”

“I
don’t have her set up.
 
Her old man
worked for me, and he was staying there with her as one of my on-call men.
 
He was looking out for the place.
 
Then he got iced on assignment, which was
unfortunate because he was a good man, a really good man, and I let her stay
there to grieve and get herself together.”

“But
Gemma doesn’t know about this set up, or, excuse me, this act of kindness on
your part.
 
Does she?”

“What
she need to know about that for?” Sal asked.
 
“I don’t give her a blow-by-blow of my business dealings, and especially
not that part of my business, any more than you give Trina a blow-by-blow on
that part of your business.
 
We’re the
same, Reno, that’s why we can’t stand each other.
 
Stop trying to act like you’re better.”