A Mob Boss Christmas: The Pregnancy (22 page)

Reno wanted to laugh.
 
“My gift?” he asked.

“From your son to you and Tree, yes,” Tommy
responded.

Reno looked at Jimmy.
 
Jimmy was so proud and full of himself, Reno couldn’t help
himself
.
 
“You
cheapskate!” he said.

“Cheapskate?”
Jimmy
asked.
 
“What do you mean?”

“Just what I said.
 
You’re cheap.
 
Did you pay for Tommy to come here?”

“Pay for him to come?”

“Yes, Jimmy Mack!
 
Well, did you?”

“Why, no,” Jimmy said, confused.
 
“Uncle Tommy has his own plane.”

“Exactly,” Reno said, enjoying this.
 
“Did you pay for the fuel for that plane?”

“Well, no, sir, but I--”

“What about the pilot?”

Again it was a no.
 
“No,” Jimmy said.

“What about Uncle Tommy’s valuable time?
 
He has a lot of business interests around
this country.
 
He’s losing a lot of time
and money coming here.
 
Did you agree to
compensate him for his time and revenue lost?”

Jimmy was flustered.
 
“No,” he said, disheartened.

“So this grand Christmas gift you got for me and Tree
didn’t cost you a dime?”

Jimmy was floored.
 
He had never even thought of it that way.
 

Tommy and Trina, however, knew Reno well.
 
They were trying hard to suppress their
smiles.
  

“I didn’t think about it,” Jimmy said.
 
“I just thought it would be neat to have
Uncle Tommy---”

“Neat?” Reno asked, suppressing his own smile.
 
“You thought it would be neat?
 
This so-called gift is going to cost Tommy
thousands upon thousands of dollars and you thought it would be neat to call
him up and tell him to come on down.
 
At his own expense, of course.
 
And you thought that would be a swell idea?”

Jimmy was defeated.
 
He looked downright distressed.
 
“Yes, sir,” he said.
 
“I didn’t
even consider the cost.
 
I didn’t even
think about any of those things.
 
But I
should have.
 
All of the money
involved!
 
I really should have thought
about that.
 
What kind of gift is
this?
 
I’m costing Uncle Tommy so much
money!
 
What kind of gift is that?”

Reno couldn’t take it anymore.
 
He laughed.
 
“Come here, you,” he said as he pulled his distressed son into a big
bear hug.
 
Trina and Tommy laughed
too.
 
“It’s a great gift, Jimmy.
 
And heartfelt.
 
Thank-you, son.
 
Thank-you.”

Jimmy smiled with great relief, especially when he
realized they were all needling him.
 
“I
knew how much you and Trina loved Uncle Tommy so I thought it would do you both
some good to see him again.”

“It did us all the good in the world, Jimmy,” Trina
said, hugging Jimmy too.
 
“You’re a
really good boy.
 
Your mother raised you
right.”

Jimmy beamed.
 
This was his first Christmas without his mother alive and by his side
and it was difficult.
 
But it warmed his
heart whenever anyone, especially Reno and Tree, said good things about her.

And then they gathered around the tree, said a prayer
of thanks, and then opened the more traditional gifts.
 
Although Reno bought Trina a Cartier watch,
and Trina bought Reno a gold necklace, most of the remaining gifts belonged to
Jimmy.
 

Jimmy was literally a young man in a shoe factory as
he opened up every Jordan he could imagine wanting, and jewelry and clothes and
cologne and Beats headphones.
 
Jimmy had
never had this many gifts before in his entire life.
 

Even Tommy was impressed.
 
He looked at Reno and Tree.
 
Reno was leaned back on the sofa, watching
his son with such love and pride, and Trina was seated on Reno’s lap, leaned back
against Reno’s chest, beaming with love too.
 
This was what Tommy wanted.
 
This kind of warmth and tenderness and love.
 
But then he smiled.

“That’s it?” he asked as Jimmy opened his last gift.

“Yeah, why?”
Reno asked.

“What do you mean why?” Tommy asked.
 
“Where’s my gift?
 
I bring you me, and you give me nothing in
return?”

Reno laughed.
 
“Man, get the fuck out of here!” he said with a smile.
 
Trina was laughing too.

“I’m serious,” Tommy said.
 
“I flew all the way here, gift-wrapped myself
and
everything,
and you don’t give me anything at
all?
 
After I flew all this way
gift-wrapped?”

“And you can fly your gift-wrapped ass right back,
too,” Reno joked.

Jimmy, however, realized his blunder.
 
He had completely forgotten about a gift for
Tommy.
  
He had to think fast.
 
And then he smiled.
 

“Stop worrying, Uncle Tommy,” Jimmy finally said
after thinking about it.
 
“Your gifts are
right there.”

Tommy looked where Jimmy was pointing.
 
Jimmy was pointing at Reno and Tree.
 

“Oh, hell nall!”
Tommy said,
and Reno and Trina fell out laughing.
  
 

Then Trina realized her bladder was too weak to
handle this much fun.
 
She hurried to the
bathroom.

“You act as if we aren’t worthy gifts,” Reno, still
laughing, said to his cousin.

“You aren’t!” Tommy shot back.
 
“I want some Air Jordans, too!
 
And jewelry and clothes.
 
But I get you and Tree?
 
This is some bullshit here!”

Reno couldn’t stop laughing.
 
This had to be the best Christmas he’d ever
had.

Until he heard that blood-curling scream.
 

It was Trina.

In the bathroom.

Reno knocked the box of Jordans out of Jimmy’s hand,
as he ran to see about his wife.

He wasn’t great but at least she wasn’t alone.
 
That was the conclusion Jazz had made when
she invited Nathan over to her fancy hotel room, a room Trina was sponsoring.
 
Her ex-boyfriend Nathan had an old lady now,
but all Jazz had to do was give him a phone call, promise him some ass, and he
came running like a lap dog.
 
Nobody did
him like she did him, and she knew it.
 
Although she was never all that crazy
about
 
his
swag.

He was sweaty and on top of her, still pumping on
her, but it was going nowhere with her.
 
She liked the idea of having sex with Nathan than the actual act.
 
It had always been that way.
 
And today was no exception.
 
Especially since she had
Reno on her mind.

“Nate,” she said as he pumped on her.

“What?”

“If there’s somebody you wanna get rid of, how much
will it cost?”

Nathan smiled.
 
Looked at her.
 
“You’re crazy, girl.
 
Why you always talking that crazy shit?”

“I’m just asking.
 
You know all kinds of shady characters.
 
How much would one of them charge?”

“To ice somebody?”

“Yeah.”

Nathan knew she was kidding, but he played
along.
 
Anything to
keep this good feeling going.
 
“Depends on who it is,” he said.

“Reno Gabrini,” Jazz said without stuttering.

Nathan laughed.
 
“What?
 
You’re out of your fucking
mind!
 
Reno Gabrini?
 
Girl, you shouldn’t even play like that!
 
Reno Gabrini?
 
Seriously?
 
You’re kidding.”
 
Then, when Jazz didn’t immediately disavow
it, he looked serious.
  
“You are
kidding.
 
Right?”

Jazz realized she had let her bitterness show a
little too much, especially to a man like Nathan who was too small and narrow
minded to even consider going after big fish.
 
“His wife is my best friend,” she said.
 
“What do you think?”
 

Then she smiled.
 
“I knew it would get a rise out of you.
 
In more ways than one.”

Nathan laughed, especially as his dick began to
expand again.

“Now cut the conversation and put it on me like I’ve
never had it on me before!”

“Well, all right,” Nathan said greedily and Jazz held
on as he pounded her harder.
 

But Reno was on her mind.
 
She could have been at the PaLargio, living
it up, if it wasn’t for him.
 
She could
have eased her way back as Trina’s best friend if it wasn’t for him.
 
She was beginning to believe that the day
Trina met Reno was the day the good life ended for Jazz.
 
It was irrational, and on some level she knew
that it was.
  
But she couldn’t help how
she felt.

And right now, as Nathan gave her nothing more than a
warm, naked body to hold onto, she felt like fucking Reno up.
  
That was how she truly felt.
  
More and more each day.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The doors to the hospital slid open and the gurney
carrying Trina was hoisted in by the paramedics.
 
Dr. Paxon, who had been notified, met them at
the entrance.
 
With a team of medical
professionals at his side, he took over the gurney and rushed Trina to a back
room.
 
She was the wife of the owner of
the PaLargio, which put her on the A-list.
 
Which meant that the chief of obstetrics was also
waiting for her.

Reno, Tommy and Jimmy Mack entered just behind them,
and were immediately stopped by the nursing staff and told that they would have
to go to the waiting area.
 

Reno kept looking past the nurses and kept his eyes
on the gurney that carried his wife.
 
He
kept looking as the doctors threw the covers off of her and exposed her baby
bump.
 
He kept looking as the gurney
turned a corner, and then disappeared.
 
Tommy and Jimmy were worried.
 
They knew nothing about pregnancies, and Reno knew next to nothing, but
they knew enough to know that a pregnant lady wasn’t supposed to bleed.
 
They were very worried.
 
Reno’s big blue eyes, however, were
terrified.

They waited in the waiting room for nearly two
hours.
 
It was a wonder Reno didn’t pace
a hole into the floor.
 
Tommy sat
quietly, with his legs crossed, his face, his hair, his general demeanor
unruffled.
  
Jimmy, too, was holding up
well, although he was constantly looking at his father and wondering if he was
going to be all right.
 
Mainly because Reno didn’t look as if he was.
 
He was a nervous wreck and wasn’t trying to
pretend to be anything else.
 
When he saw
that
blood,
and that look of horror on Trina’s face,
he nearly buckled.
 

But he didn’t.
 
He yelled for Jimmy to call 911 and for Tommy to help him get Trina to
the floor.
 
And he held her there.
 
She was crying and terrified, too, but he
held her and didn’t stop telling her that everything was going to be all right.
 
Now he was praying that he was telling her
the truth.

“Mr. Gabrini,” a familiar voice said and Reno and
everybody else turned to the sound.
 
It
was Bob Paxon.
 
Reno hurried to him.

“How is she?” Reno asked.
 
“Is she going to be okay?”

“The baby is going to be just fine.
 
There was some bleeding, yes, but there was
no spontaneous termination.”

“Trina,” Reno said.
 
“I’m talking about my wife.
 
How
is Trina?”

“Oh,” Bob said.
 
“Yes, of course.
 
She’s fine,
too,” he said as if it went without saying, and Reno finally exhaled.
 
Tommy and Jimmy did too.

“Can I see her, Doc?” Reno asked.
 

The doctor said that he could.