Reno Gabrini- the Trouble With Dommi Read online

  Dommi’s face was still stinging from his father’s hard lick. Reno, he knew, could hit with lethal licks. More than once did Dommi see his father knock strong men out cold with one hit. But Dommi was nobody’s bitch. He immediately stood back on his feet and defiantly fingered his thick hair out of his face. He was standing up to his father.

  Reno saw it too, and was at least grateful he didn’t cower.

  “What you want me to do, Pop?” Dommi asked his father.

  Reno looked at him.

  “You want me to say I’m sorry I didn’t let those bastards knife me to death? That’s what you want me to say? You want me to say sorry I didn’t let those guys rape my friend? That’s what you want? Because I’m not that man. You didn’t raise me to be that kind of man. Somebody come for me, I’m going for them. And I’m going hard. Somebody come for my friends, I’m going for them. Plain and simple. Just like you would have done, Pop.”

  But whatever Dommi was selling, Reno wasn’t buying. “Are you finished?” he asked.

  Dommi hesitated. His speech didn’t have the desired effect. “Yeah,” he said, and Reno slapped him upside his head again.

  Dommi stumbled again. “I mean yes, sir,” he quickly corrected himself. He was getting tired of his family hitting him upside his head! But he understood why. Nobody was disrespecting Reno.

  “You think you’re a tough guy, don’t you?” Reno asked his son.

  “I know I am,” Dommi responded.

  “So, you know you’re tough. Tell me this, tough guy: why did you leave such a fucking mess?”

  “What mess?” Dommi asked. “I handled my business!”

  “Your ass didn’t stop! You said yourself they tried to rape that girl.”

  “They didn’t succeed because I showed up!” Dommi said.

  “And that’s why your ass had to know when to say when, Dommi!” Reno was hot. “You kick their asses. You were right to do that. But then you get the hell out of there. You don’t turn that shit into a federal case. You don’t take it to that level, Dommi! You took it to that level. Now we’ve got a problem on our hands.”

  Dommi exhaled. He should have known Reno wasn’t going to go for his explanation. It wasn’t as cut-and-dry a picture as he was trying to paint, and he should have known his father would see right through it.

  “This isn’t about self-defense,” Reno said. “Self-defense would have been an ass-whooping and everybody living to see another day. This is about self-control, Dom. You lost control of that situation just like I told your stupid ass you would, and now we’ve got to clean up the shit you caused.” Reno pointed angrily at his son. “That’s what this is about!”

  Reno exhaled. “That girl?” he asked.

  “Mariah,” Dommi said.

  “Where is she?”

  “I don’t know. I mean, I told her to go home.”

  “Home? To her parents?”

  “She lives alone,” said Dommi. “She works at McDonald’s and has her own apartment. Her parents emancipated her when she was fifteen.”

  “You haven’t spoken to her?”

  Dommi shook his head. “Not yet, no.”

  “Get her on the phone,” Reno said.

  “I don’t want her involved, Pop,” said Dommi.

  Reno gave him a harsh look. “Get her on the phone!” he ordered.

  Dommi knew when his father was an inch away from beating the crap out of him. He quickly pulled out his cell phone, and phoned her.

  “Put it on Speaker,” Reno said, as the other end began ringing. Dommi did as he was told.

  “Dommi?” It was Mariah’s voice on the other end. “It’s so good to hear from you! You okay?”

  “I’m okay,” said Dommi. “What about you?”

  “I’m fine. Thanks so much for helping me. They were so close to . . . Thanks for showing up.”

  Dommi gave his father an I told you so look, but Reno’s fixed frown remained fixed on his face.

  “I think Jonathan set it all up,” Mariah said.

  “Him or Amber one,” said Dommi.

  Reno mouthed the words, is she home?

  “Where are you?” Dommi asked.

  “I’m home. Where are you?”

  “Home.”

  Reno mouthed the word cops to his son.

  “You didn’t call the cops, did you?” Dommi asked her.

  “You know I wouldn’t do that.”

  Dommi gave Reno another I told you so look. Reno snatched the phone from his hand. “Keep your mouth shut,” he said to her. “Or you’ll have to answer to me.”

  “Pop!” Dommi yelled. “Don’t threaten her!”

  Reno threw the phone back at Dommi and began pacing around his office.

  Dommi got back on the phone with Mariah. “Sorry about that,” he said.

  “That was Mr. Gabrini?” Mariah asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Wow. But I wouldn’t snitch on you. No matter what happened. That guy had a knife, and I saw it. You did what you had to do. Please tell him that.”

  Dommi was still too upset with his father to tell Reno anything. “I’ll tell him,” he said. “But if the cops call you or anything like that, just don’t . . .”

  “I won’t tell them anything,” she said.

  Dommi nodded. “Okay, good.”

  “But everything’s okay, right?

  “It’s okay,” he said. When he looked at his father, Reno took a finger and sliced it across his neck as a sign for Dom to cut the call. “I’ll call you back,” Dom said to Mariah.

  “Please do, Dom,” Mariah said. “Although you never do.”

  “I will. I’ll call you later.”

  “Okay. I’m looking forward to it.”

  Dommi glanced at Reno who, he knew, was getting impatient. “Yeah, okay. Bye, Mariah,” he said, and then ended the call. “You were wrong for that, Pop,” he said to Reno. “You didn’t have to talk to her like that.”

  “Fuck her,” Reno said frowningly. “I’m trying to keep heat off your ass and you think I give a flying fuck about your girlfriend?”

  “She’s not my girlfriend,” Dommi said quickly. “She’s my friend. Can’t a guy have a friend that’s a girl without being accused of wanting to fuck her or anything like that? Besides, cousin Teddy’s girl ain’t skinny either.”

  Reno frowned. Where did that come from? “What? What does Teddy have to do with this?”

  Dommi realized he had protested too much. “Nothing,” he said.

  “But she’s a prime example of all the loose ends your stupid ass left for us to clean up,” Reno said.

  “What do you mean clean up?” Dommi asked, mortified. “She doesn’t need any cleaning up. You hear me, Pop? I don’t want her threatened. You and Uncle Sal better keep your goons away from her!”

  Reno gave Dommi a hard look. And he frowned. “What’s with you and this girl? She’s the least of my worries. But she’s a worry. And don’t you dare tell me or your Uncle Sal what we can or cannot do when it comes to protecting your ass. You hear me? We’ll do whatever it takes! And if it takes getting her out of the picture to keep her mouth shut, then that’s what it’ll take. You wanted to be in this world. You couldn’t wait to get your ass in this world. Well, this is the world you’re in. And most of the time it’s some cold shit in this world. Do you understand me?”

  Dommi hesitated for a long time, but he answered him. “Yes, sir,” he said.

  But before Reno could get the conversation back on track, the door flung open and Trina came in. With a baseball bat in her hand!

  “Why aren’t you beating his ass, Reno?” she asked angrily. “Why aren’t you teaching him a lesson and beating his ass?!” She took that bat and swung it at Dommi. She missed, and Dommi began running around the office as if he was running for his life. Trina kept chasing him and swinging on him.

  “Tree!” Reno yelled as he chased his wife around the office. “Stop that shit, Tree!”

  But Trina was ignoring Reno and st
ill chasing Dommi. “You’re growing up too soon!” she was yelling as she chased. “Now the cops may come for you. And the mob may be after you. Somebody’s dead. Look what you’ve done, Dommi! You’re growing up too soon! I know it’s me and your father’s fault. We exposed you to more than any kid should have ever been exposed to. But it’s your fault too. You didn’t have to go that far tonight. You went too far! We can’t let this stand. We’ve got to teach you a lesson, Dominic!”

  When Reno finally caught up with Trina, she had just swung again and almost hit Dommi. Reno hurried behind her and easily snatched the bat out of her hand with his brute force. When Dommi saw that his father had his mother contained, he stopped running around that office too. But his heart was aching for Trina.

  Because Trina was in tears. And Reno didn’t have to look at her face to know she was. He held the bat with one hand, and placed his other big arm around her, holding her up. “It’s done now, babe,” he said to her. “There are no more lessons to be taught.”

  Then Reno looked at Dommi with pain and anger in his big, blue eyes. “That ship has sailed,” he said, as he held Trina tighter.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Sophia Gabrini jerked her long hair back as she thumbed through her text messages. She was in the kitchen, inside the penthouse, sitting alone at the large center island. When Dommi walked in, looking haggard and drained as he entered wearing a pair of blue Puma shorts and nothing else, she began staring at him. Girls went wild at their school over Dommi. And she understood why. He had that certain sexy, strong, bad-boy look that ladies liked. Usually she could see past all of the bravado in those bad boys. Most of them, when you peeled the skin of the onion away, were just scared little kids to Sophie, pretending to be so tough. But not her brother. Dommi, she was sad to admit, was as thuggish and rough as he appeared. He had that life deep within him. Just like their father. Just like their uncles. Just like, in ways her family would be shocked to know, Sophie herself. She was, in many ways, her mother’s daughter, and their mother was as gangster as they came.

  After staring at Dommi for several seconds as he ignored her and poured himself a glass of milk, she decided to go there. “What did you do?” she asked him.

  Dommi looked at her, but continued to drink his milk.

  “What did you do, Dom?” she asked him again.

  He frowned. “I didn’t do nothing! What you asking me a question like that for?”

  “Some of the kids in school are saying a body was found in the alleyway at Mo’s last night, and somebody else was beaten real bad too.”

  “And what that shit got to do with me?”

  “A scene like that seems to have Dommi Gabrini written all over it.”

  “That’s some bullshit, Soph, and you know it,” Dommi said.

  But Sophie kept staring at him, because she knew him. “What did you do?” she asked him again.

  And then the kitchen intercom buzzed and both sister and brother attempted to reach it before the other one could. Dom was faster and beat Sophie to it. He pressed the button. “Yeah, what’s up?” he asked into the intercom.

  “The cops are here, Dommi,” said one of the security personnel downstairs. “And they want to see your ass.”

  Dommi had that kind of personal relationship with all of Security around the hotel and casino. It started when he had the balls to steal a car right in front of his old man’s establishment. He was fearless in their eyes. Their “admiration” continued.

  But when they said the cops were there, and that they wanted to see him, Dommi wasn’t feeling fearless. His heart, in fact, dropped. “Keep’em downstairs, Quince,” he said, released the button, and then took off running.

  “Where are you going?” Sophie asked. But Dommi was already out of the kitchen.

  Upstairs in the master bedroom, Trina was naked on her stomach and Reno was on top of her bare ass, and he was pumping the shit out of her. It was their morning fuck, and both of them were in the throes of their passion. So much so that Reno laid all his weight on top of Trina as he did her, and she took it easily. Because he was making her feel so good. Reno had her so dick-whipped that she craved him. She’d never craved a dick in her life, until she met Reno.

  Reno craved her, too. He craved doing her from the first time he did her, in her tiny hood apartment late at night, and it never eased up. Between her legs were golden to him, and he could never get enough.

  That was why he was still doing her with slow strokes that meant he didn’t want it to end. She was wet and ready, and he was pushing in deeper and deeper, and then moving almost out of her, and then pushing back in deeper and deeper. And he was gliding over every one of her vagina’s erogenous zones in such a way that she was almost cumming from the moment he started fucking her.

  But he glided over her one time too many, and there was no almost in it. She came. And when Trina came, Reno always knew it because her vagina tightened around his penis and he could barely hold on. And he was cumming too. And it felt so good that Reno couldn’t help himself. His slow, sweet strokes became urgent. And instead of pumping her, he started pounding her. And they both were moaning, and groaning, and even the bedsprings were singing a tune too.

  And that was when Dommi was running up the stairs and began banging on his parents’ closed bedroom double doors. They were on their own wing, far away from the other bedrooms, and Dommi could hear the moans and groans. He knew exactly what his father was doing to his mother. But they had a big-ass problem that wasn’t going to wait. And, although he hated to admit it, he still didn’t know shit about containing situations. He just knew how to handle them. He needed his father.

  When they still wouldn’t answer his bangs, he inwardly said fuck it, and opened the door.

  “What the fuck?!” Reno yelled angrily as he quickly pulled out of Trina and slid off of her, covering her up. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he yelled at Dommi.

  “The cops are here, Pop,” Dommi quickly said. “The cops are here.”

  Even Trina realized the severity of what Dommi had just said. Were they there to take her baby away? Did they find video that Sal and his men missed? Trina looked at Reno.

  Reno, understanding the severity, too, dropped his anger and began getting out of bed. “Where are they?”

  “I told Quince to keep’em downstairs,” Dommi said.

  “Go get dressed,” Reno said. “And I mean in a suit and tie. Your ass wanna be gangster, you’d better look the exact opposite. You’d better make those cops think there’s no way in hell an upstanding citizen such as yourself could ever be involved in what they’re claiming.”

  “A suit and tie, Pop?” Dommi asked.

  “Yes, a suit and tie!” Trina yelled at him. “You think your father and uncles wear that shit for their health? Go get dressed like your father said!”

  “Yes, sir,” Dommi said. “I mean ma’am,” he corrected himself.

  “And if you say a word to those cops without me giving you permission first,” said Reno, “I’ll kick your ass.”

  “Yes, sir,” Dommi said, and then hurried out of the bedroom.

  Reno looked at Trina and ran his hands through his hair. “I thought we were prepared for him growing up. But we weren’t prepared for shit. This shit is hitting me like a ton of bricks, Tree.”

  Trina already knew that much. “Will they arrest him and take him away, Reno?” Trina asked him. “He’s a Gabrini. You can’t let them take him away!”

  “I know that,” said Reno. “Your ass don’t think I know that?” He knew he was snapping at the wrong person, but he couldn’t help himself. The trouble with Dommi was that it always was more to the story than he would ever tell them. That was what worried Reno. Did Dommi miss telling him something?

  Reno began heading for their massive closet. He had to dress the part of the anti-gangster too. “Call Sal and Gemma,” he said to Trina. “Tell Gem that Dommi may need a lawyer and I want her to represent him, and tell Sal to get in to
uch with his contacts at the police department.”

  “Gemma’s in court this morning,” said Trina, grabbing her cell phone from her nightstand. She and Gemma were partners in a clothing business and, by necessity, kept tabs on each other’s schedules. “And don’t you have contacts at the police department yourself?”

  “I’ve got contacts,” Reno admitted, “but Sal knows the Sheriff and shit. Get Sal on the phone,” he said again, as he entered their walk-in closet.

  And Trina didn’t hesitate. She always did what Reno ordered her to do when it came to times like that. She called Sal.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Two Homicide detectives were seated in the outer sanctum of Reno’s office when Reno and Dommi walked in, both wearing Armani suits as if they were businessmen of the highest order. Reno was. That was a fact. He was considered the most powerful businessman in Vegas. But Dommi was looking the part too.

  The detectives rose to their feet when Reno and Dommi walked in. “Mr. Gabrini,” said the lead detective, as if he was ready to interrogate them right then and there.

  But Reno walked past them. “Right this way,” he said coldly as he kept walking. Cops nauseated him, mainly because most of the ones he had to deal with were crooked as hell, but for Dommi’s sake he knew he had to play the part. Even his executive staff, who populated the waiting area, looked upon the cops with a mixture of disdain and curiosity. Especially when they saw that the very popular Dommi was with the boss.

  The cops, knowing that they weren’t exactly in friendly territory, glanced at each other, as if they weren’t used to being ordered about. But there was little hesitation in their movement. They followed Reno and Dom.

  Reno’s office was usually very chaotic, and that morning was no different. There had to be ten people already in his office.

  “Everybody out,” he ordered to all of his assistants and managers that were either waiting to meet with Reno, or making their phone calls to A-list clients in case the clients wanted to talk directly with Reno. But he kicked them all out.