CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Grace was sitting up in bed, her reading glasses on, as she reviewed contracts for Trammel on her iPad. She could hear the shower water blasting, and then turned off, and then she could hear Tommy getting out of the shower and drying off.
But it wasn’t until he entered the bedroom from their ensuite bathroom and made his way to her bedside naked and aroused, did she realize the little work she was trying to get done was over.
She only had to look at Tommy, and then at his well-formed body, and then at his member in full attention, to close her iPad.
But it was Tommy who removed it from her lap, removed her glasses, put both on the nightstand, and then got in bed beside her. And they both laid down.
“You might want to lock that door this time,” she said to him as he removed her gown. “TJ gets around,” she added.
“He’s downstairs with his cousins. He said he got some good sleep while I was gone, and felt refreshed. He won’t be looking to share our bed any time soon.” Then he rubbed her soft hair.
They were lying on their sides face to face, and Grace could see the stress still on his face. But instead of talking about it, which they both were tired of doing, she leaned over to his midsection, took charge of his member, and let her mouth do the talking, nonverbally, for her.
It was exactly what Tommy wanted as he moaned and arched as she did him. They still had no reasoning behind what was happening to them, but they knew in time it would all come to light. It always did. But right now, they needed relief.
That was why, when it became too much for Tommy to take without cumming prematurely, he pulled Grace on top of him, entered her, and began a lovemaking session that lasted nearly an hour.
It was painstakingly slow on purpose, as Tommy was intent on making Grace feel as good as she made him feel. He held onto her and she held onto him and they both made sounds that only heightened their passion. But they kept it slow and steady.
But when they finally came, their movements went from slow and sweet to fast and urgent.
It was an electrifying cum. They were still at it for several minutes into their orgasms as if they couldn’t stop the feelings even if they tried.
Which they didn’t. They were thrilled to let it linger on.
As if they were going to go another round before it all eased up.
And they probably would have. But they didn’t have the stamina.
It took several minutes for the sensations to ebb, and for their breathing to regulate. And then, after several more minutes, they both collapsed.
After they laid there with Grace still wrapped into Tommy’s arms and Tommy’s penis still very much inside of her, it didn’t take long before reality returned and they began talking about their situation.
It didn’t take much longer after that for Tommy to bring up Orrie Neal and the fact that he was mentioned.
Grace’s head immediately popped up from his chest. “Orrie was mentioned? What do you mean?”
“We met with somebody I used to know.”
“And he mentioned Orrie?”
“She did, but not in so many words.”
That made no sense to Grace. “Not in so many words? What does that mean?”
“She said somebody who worked at Trammel, a new hire, was the person that paid this guy named Barry Sedaka to snatch TJ.”
Grace was staring at Tommy. “Are you telling me Orrie had something to do with what happened to our children?”
“I’m saying who else could it be, Grace? He works for Trammel. He’s a new hire. You haven’t hired anybody other than him in a long time.”
Grace was stunned. And anguished. “But he’s my chief operating officer, Tommy. And you’re telling me he’s behind what happened to our children?”
“No, Grace, we aren’t there yet.” Then his look turned grim too. “But it’s not looking good.”
Grace leaned her head back and shook it. “This is getting to be too much, Tommy. Orrie involved? This is crazy.”
“I know,” he said, laying her head back on his chest. “Baby, I know.”
But she lifted her head again. This wasn’t news she could relax with. “Is the person that said it reliable?” she asked Tommy.
“I haven’t seen her in decades, so maybe not. I don’t know.”
Grace detected something else in his voice. “Who’s this person again?”
“Her name is Vera Lang.”
“I’ve never heard that name before. How do you know her?”
“I used to know her.”
“But in what capacity?”
Tommy hesitated. Like a lot of the Gabrini and Sinatra men, he too felt that his sordid past was going to be the death of him yet. “I dated her back in the day. She now owns a restaurant. Before Barry was killed, he said he went to her restaurant to collect his payments.”
“She paid him?”
“No. But she rented a lockbox out to supposedly this guy from Trammel. And that guy paid him via this lockbox.”
“So what are we doing about it?”
“We have a tail on Orrie. And I don’t want you to have any contact with that guy until we can clear him.”
“Don’t worry I won’t.”
“And when you do return to work, and if it isn’t clear who did what yet, you will have security on you every second you’re away from his house.”
“I sure hope we get answers. A guard everywhere I go? That’ll be like living in prison.”
Tommy nodded. He agreed. “But that’s what will happen if I’m not satisfied with what we do find out. And so far, I’m not.”
“But you guys are doing all you can, right?”
“We are, yes. We even put a tail on Vera too.”
“On Vera?” Grace didn’t expect that. “Why would you put a tail on her if all she did was rent out a lockbox?”
“Just little things she said that gave us a little pause.”
“Like what?” Grace asked.
Tommy wrapped his arms around her naked body tighter, as if he needed to feel her staying with him. “Like the fact that she knew that Junior’s nickname was TJ when the media always referred to him as Tommy Gabrini, Junior, or Thomas.”
“You think she’s been stalking us?”
Tommy shook his head. “No. I don’t know, Grace. But that’s why we’re taking no chances. Is she the type? No. Not at all. But like I said, I haven’t seen her in a long time. I don’t know her like I used to know her.”
Grace was no idiot. She could hear a fondness for this woman in Tommy’s voice, even if it was a past fondness. And she decided to go there. “Were you still seeing her after you started dating me?”
“No,” Tommy said truthfully. Although he knew it wasn’t the full truth.
And Grace sensed that too. “You broke it off?” she asked him.
He knew then he had to come clean. “I didn’t meet with her face to face the way I did the other ladies in my life, no. But I ghosted her. I stop returning her phone calls. I stop all communication with her.”
“And you never heard from her again until today?”
“Yes,” he said. “Although,” he added.
Grace knew there was more. Tommy could never hide something without discomfort on his face. “Although what?” she asked him.
“Although, in the early days while we were dating, I did attempt to phone her a few times. But she ghosted me.”
Grace stared at him. “Why would you try to call her if you were committed to me?”
It’s just something that happened, he wanted to say. But he knew Grace deserved better than that. “I guess a part of me didn’t want to lose her if we didn’t work out. She was my just in case.”
Grace was hurt by that news. It meant, to her, that a part of Tommy wasn’t sure if she was good enough for him. Which was what everybody was telling him at the time, and in many ways were still telling him. And the truth of it did something to Grace.
She got off of him, forcing his penis out of her, and began to head for the bathroom. But Tommy grabbed her arm. “Grace wait,” he said. But she snatched away from his grasp and kept on walking. “Grace?” he called after her.
When she slammed the bathroom door shut, he looked up at the ceiling. He felt like an asshole for even mentioning her name. As if Grace didn’t have enough to worry about.
And inside that bathroom, after Grace slammed the door, she slid down that door until she was sitting on the floor.
And she covered her face as silent tears dropped from her large, clear eyes.
She knew it was irrational. She knew it happened a long, long time ago.
And besides that, he married her, not Vera Lang.
But the fact that he wanted to keep that woman in the bag as a just in case really hurt her.
She couldn’t deny that it painful to hear.
It went to everything she feared most about her relationship with Tommy: That someday he was going to agree with the vast majority of people and decide that he, too, believed that he could do much better than her.
And that he should have stayed divorced from her while he had the chance.
Grace was a self-confident woman who knew she had many strong and admirable attributes. But Tommy was the grand prize. Somebody like her wasn’t supposed to win the top guy that so many other women would have killed to win. And she was questioning once again why did that kind of fortune come to her.
But as quickly as she stewed in her own pain, she knew she had to snap out of it. Her children needed her. The family needed her. Tommy needed her.
She stood back up, went to the sink and threw some water on her face, and was about to turn on the shower to take another bath when she heard knocks on their door. Did they have some news?
When Tommy got out to unlock it, she peep through the bathroom door. It was Sal.
“We picked up Vera.”
“Why?”
“Get this: She was about to board a flight to Mexico,” Sal said.
Grace could see Tommy inhale. He knew that was big news. “Where is she now?”
“I ordered Robby to bring her here,” Sal said.
That surprised even Grace. “Here?” asked Tommy.
“After what happened with Barbell Barry, I don’t know how safe these safe houses are anymore. And I don’t think we need to be finding out right about now when we need answers.”
Tommy nodded. “Good call,” he said. “I’ll get dressed and come on down.”
Sal looked at him bathrobe, and then looked at him. “Feel better?”
Grace hated when they discussed those personal matters like that. But to Tommy’s credit, she thought, he didn’t go there. “I’ll be down,” he said again, and closed the door on a now-smiling Sal.