Reno and Trina: In the Shadows of Love, Book 12 (9 page)

“Good question.
 
But one I do not know the answer to.”

Trina was surprised.
 
“Okay,” she said, looking at him.
 
That was unusual to her.
 
Reno
knew every size she wore, down to her panties, and often purchased exactly the
lingerie he wanted her to wear.
 
Except
for any nightgowns.
 
Reno didn’t see the
point in wearing clothes to bed.
 
“Is she
small, medium, or large, would you say?” she asked Shaun.

Shaun removed his glasses and looked Trina up and
down.
 
“I would say she’s just about your
size.
 
So smallish?”
 

But the very fact that he was looking Trina up and
down, assessing her body, in Reno’s opinion, was too much.
 
He interrupted the twosome.
 
He made his presence known.

“Hey,” Trina said with a smile as he approached
them.
 
“I didn’t expect to see you here.”

Reno kissed her on the lips and placed his hand around
her waist.
 
Territorial, Shaun
thought.
 

“Thought I’d take you to lunch,” Reno said, although
he was staring at Shaun.

“Sounds good,” Trina said.
 
But when she realized Reno wasn’t about to
break his stare down of Shaun, she spoke up.
 
“This is Mr. Connors, Reno,” she said.
  
“And this is my husband.”

“Mr. Gabrini,” Shaun said jovially as the two men
shook hands. “It is quite an honor to meet you, sir.”

“How are you?” Reno asked.

“I’m good.
 
Pretty awful when it comes to buying clothes for my wife, but other than
that: A-okay.”

“He and his wife stayed at the PaLargio a few months
back,” Trina informed Reno.
 
“They didn’t
get topnotch service, apparently, and---”

Reno frowned and interrupted Trina.
 
“What do you mean they didn’t get good
service?”

“We were treated rudely,” Shaun said.
 
“To put it politely.”

He was a fraud.
 
Reno could sense it.
 
“What type
of rude treatment did you receive?” he asked.

“It was across the board,” Shaun said.
 
“It was an awful stay.
 
My wife left your establishment in tears.”

“Which members of my staff didn’t treat you right?”

Shaun smiled.
 
“I wasn’t taking names.
 
I didn’t
think the burden would be on me.”

“Well it is on you,” Reno made clear.
 
“Somebody tell me they were mistreated at the
PaLargio, then I need to know who mistreated them because it’s for damn sure
that won’t happen again.”

Shaun continued to smile, but Trina could see his
uneasiness.
 
With her, he was easy
breezy.
 
With Reno, he was on edge.
 
“With respect, Mr. Gabrini,” he said, “it’s
unfair for you to put the burden of proof on your guest.
  
Who takes names at a time like that?
 
Who does that?
 
But you, with your body language especially,
act as if you don’t believe me.”

Reno wondered if this guy was from the moon.
 
“I don’t,” he said, as if that was already
obvious.
 
He looked at Trina.
 
“Don’t tell me you believe this fairytale?”

“I didn’t say I believed it.”

“Then why are you entertaining it?”

“I looked into it.
 
He and his wife, or at least he and a female, did stay at the PaLargio
around the time he mentioned.”

“And?” Reno asked, needing more than that.

“And that was all I was able to confirm.
 
The staff, everyone who served him at that
time, denied mistreating him or anyone else.”

“Of course they would deny it,” Shaun said.
 
He felt as if he was losing control of the
narrative.
 
He wanted this encounter to
be about Reno being unreasonable.
 
Not
about him being unreasonable.
 
“But at
least you looked into it, Mrs. Gabrini, and I appreciate that.
 
And you did apologize.
 
I thank you for that.
 
That was all I was after.
 
I don’t want to sue or anything like
that.
 
It was just a fact.
 
We didn’t feel welcomed when we stayed at the
PaLargio.”
 
Time to cut his losses for
now, he thought.
 
“And I don’t feel
welcomed here,” he added.
 
“So I’ll leave
now. I’ll find my wife’s gift somewhere else.
 
Nice seeing you again, Mrs. Gabrini.
 
Good day, Mr. Gabrini.”

And without a second thought, Shaun walked out of the
store.

Reno watched his slick ass leave.
 
Then he looked at Trina. “You believe that
guy?”

“I don’t know, Reno,” she said. “He was there.
 
He said he and his wife were mistreated.”

“And our people said they weren’t mistreated.”
 

“I’m aware of that.”

“Then why would you be helping him find lingerie and
laughing and talking with a liar?”

“He’s a customer.
 
What was I supposed to do?
 
Call
the man a liar and throw him out?
 
I
don’t know if he’s lying and neither do you.
 
Your staff isn’t perfect.
 
Mistakes happen.
 
People have bad
days.
 
They can be rude sometimes.
 
It happens.”

“Yeah, right,” Reno said.

Trina shook her head, and was about to set him
straight, but Amy walked up.

Amy, at first, was walking swiftly and
jubilantly.
 
Until she saw Reno.
 
She nearly stopped in her tracks.

But Trina had already seen her.
 
“Finished?” she asked.

Reno looked where Trina was looking, and when he saw
Amy coming toward them, his entire countenance changed.
 
If he was annoyed with Shaun’s presence, he
was angry with Amy’s.

“What the fuck is she doing here?” Reno asked his
wife.

“I finished,” Amy said, as she continued her walk
toward her new boss as if she didn’t hear Reno’s snide question.
 
“I finished the paperwork.”
 
Then she looked defiantly at Reno.
 
“Hello, Reno,” she said to him.

Reno didn’t respond.
 
He just glared at her.
 
Amy handed
Trina the paperwork.

“When can you start?” Trina asked her.
 
“Will you need to give two weeks at
McHale’s?”

“Yes, but since I work the nightshift it won’t affect
me here.
 
I can start tomorrow if you’ll
have me.”

Trina smiled.
 
“That’ll be great, Aim.
 
I’ll see
you then.”

Amy smiled, glanced at Reno, and left the store.

Reno looked at his wife.
 
And his look was a combination of anger and
shock. “You hired her?” he asked her.

Trina turned to grab her clipboard, but Reno grabbed
her arm and turned her back toward him.
 
“You hired her?” he asked again.

“Yes, Reno,” Trina said. “I hired her on a
probationary basis.”

Reno frowned.
 
“Why would you do something like that?
 
I fired her, Trina.”

“Based on Quinn’s word alone.”

“It wasn’t her word alone!
 
My associates backed her up.”

“The same associates she sleeps with?”

“That’s none of your business who she sleeps
with.
 
I have to trust who works for
me.
 
I don’t trust Amy.”

“Then don’t trust her, Reno.
 
She’s not working for you.”

“But why are you hiring her?”

“Because she deserves to be heard too!
 
When I was a waitress---”

“Here we go,” Reno said.

“When I was a waitress,” Trina continued, “people used
to lie on me all the time too, and claim I was up to all kinds of shit I wasn’t
even thinking about getting into.
 
But
nobody would listen to me.
 
Nobody would
believe me. I was just a voiceless nobody who didn’t deserve to be heard.
 
What if the same thing is happening to Amy?”

“What if it isn’t?” Reno responded.

“What if it is, Reno?
 
I listened to what she had to say.
 
I heard her.
 
I’m going to give
her a shot.
 
If it doesn’t work out, if
she proves to be as bad as your associates claim, then I’ll get rid of her
too.
 
But they’re going to have to tell
me more than what they told you.
 
I don’t
trust those partners of yours the way you do.
 
I’m not taking their word for a damn thing.”
 
Then Trina looked around.
 
Customers were beginning to notice their
conversation.
 
She lowered her voice.
 
“I don’t have a say in your personnel choices
at the PaLargio---”

“Sure you don’t.”

“I don’t!”
 
Trina had to lower her voice again. “I don’t,” she repeated, in a
lowered tone.
 
“I wanted you to get rid
of Quinn, but you not only kept her, but promoted her.
 
So I left it alone.
 
It’s your hotel and casino.
 
It’s your choice.
 
But Champagne’s is mine.
 
I run this.
 
And I’m giving Amy a chance.”

Reno wanted to set her straight then and there, but he
knew it was not the place.
 
“Get your
purse,” he ordered.
 
“I’ll wait outside.”

Trina hated when he tried to handle her like
that.
 
But he wasn’t sticking around to
witness her protest.
 
He was already
walking out.

“
That man
,”
she said with bite in her voice.
 
But
then she headed upstairs to her office, to get her purse.

Outside, Amy was sitting in her aging Saab checking
her phone messages.
 
No-one phoned or
text about any job interview.
 
No return
calls from people in position whom she once thought were her friends.
 
Another day on the lonely downswing, she
thought.
 
But at least she had a real
prospect now.
 
At least she stood a real
chance now.

She smiled at the prospect and was just about to crank
her car and take off, but the passenger door opened, and to her shock, Reno got
in and sat down.

“What are you doing?” she asked him.

Reno just sat there at first, staring ahead.
 
Then he looked at her.
 
She could see the anger in his big, blue
eyes.
 
But she could see the hurt
too.
 
She knew hurt.
 
She was hurt herself. “What’s your racket?”
he asked her.

Amy frowned.
 
“What’s my
what
?”

“What’s your game, Aim?
 
We both know you’re playing one. So what is
it?
 
What’s the end result of this little
scheme of yours?”

Amy stared at the man she actually used to care about.
“I don’t play games, Reno, and you know it.”

“Yeah, you’re playing something.
 
Bringing this shit around my wife?
 
You’re playing something.
 
What are you up to?”

“I’m not up to anything.”

“Is it blackmail?
 
That’s what you think you’re going to do?
 
Think your ass is going to blackmail me?”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“It will be,” Reno warned, “if you try that shit.”

He looked at her beautiful face.
 
At this woman he used to trust with his
life.
 
The betrayal cut him deep.
 
He looked away from her, and looked straight
ahead again.

Amy’s look softened after she saw the concern in
Reno’s eyes.
 
Her anger was gone, but the
way he hurt her had multiplied.
 
“I heard
Quinn got promoted,” she said, and then looked at him.

Reno continued to stare straight ahead.