CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN #2
The woman, now annoyed, pushed Trina out of her way with such force that Trina stumbled.
And before Trina could even think to respond, Reno had jumped down from that perch and slapped that woman so hard that she fell straight back. And Reno stood over her. “Touch her again, motherfucker,” he yelled at her. “Touch my wife again!”
Although security had blanketed them as soon as the woman pushed Trina, they were now covering them as nearby patrons in the massive casino were looking on.
The woman was helped up by one of the guards.
She now had a nosebleed and a big bruise on the side of her face.
She held one hand against the side of her still-stinging face and was looking at Reno in shock.
She wanted to tell Reno how she was going to sue his ass, but she was too afraid to say another word.
“Get her out of here,” Reno ordered, and one of the guards quickly got her away from Reno and Trina.
Then Trina looked at Reno. He could defend her honor, but he couldn’t hold a conversation with her? He couldn’t sleep in the same bed with her? Nope. She wasn’t accepting that. “We need to talk, Reno,” she said in that Trina-of-old, demanding way that got his attention. “And I mean now!”
But Reno, being the domineering person that he was, had to control that too.
“Not here,” he said. Then he began heading out of the casino, into the lobby of the hotel, and into one of the small, first-floor hotel rooms. Trina followed him, but only because she knew they had to have a serious heart-to-heart.
When they entered the room, Reno closed the door behind them. He opened his suit coat and placed his hands on his hips. “What is it?” he asked her as if it was all such a bother.
Which hurt Trina even more. “Do I disgust you now?” she asked him as she searched his eyes.
But Reno frowned. “What are you talking, Tree? What disgust? Where did that come from?”
“Do you want a divorce?” Trina was matter-of-factly and too serious to be ignored. It was a yes or no answer with no bull in between as far as she was concerned. That was how serious she looked.
Reno stared at her. The idea of life without Trina was still unfathomable to him. He wouldn’t go there. He couldn’t go there. “No, I don’t want a divorce,” he said. And he said it the way she wanted him to say it: straight with no chaser.
His bluntness worked as a sense of relief washed over Trina. But she also knew that was just a word. His actions over the last four months said differently. “If you don’t want a divorce,” she asked, “why did you desert me?”
Reno’s heart plunged. “What desert?” He didn’t see it that way at all. “I haven’t deserted you.” I would never desert you; he wanted to add.
“I know you hate me now,” Trina continued.
“I know everybody who was in that room and listened to me tell what I’d done hate me now.
I expected the hate. I deserve the hate.
But you can’t ignore me, Reno, as if I no longer exist. As if I’m nothing.
I won’t have that. I won’t live like that.
Because that’s worse than your hatred. That’s dismissive! ”
When Reno saw the pain in Trina’s eyes, and heard the agony in her voice, he stepped to her and pulled her into his big arms.
Tears were streaming down her face, but they were streaming down his face too. “I won’t live like that, Reno,” she was saying as he held her.
“You won’t have to,” he said. “You won’t have to.”
That felt like reassurance, although a big part of Trina knew it was a temporary fix. But it was more than she’d had in a long time.
And when they pulled back and Reno looked into her eyes with that look of love she hadn’t seen from him in months, her heart melted. And then he kissed her, long and sweet and with so much passion that she wrapped her arms around him and enjoyed every second of it.
Reno was overwhelmed with emotion, too, as he kissed her. It had been so long and felt so sweet that he didn’t want to stop. This was his woman. Those pair of twenty-year-olds that young lady spoke about could kiss his ass. Trina was who he wanted.
And he had to have her in every way. Kissing alone was not going to cut it.
That was why he lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed. He lifted her dress and removed her panties, and then he crouched down in front of her and made love to her with his mouth.
Her legs wide open, she was captivated by the way he did her.
It had been so long that it had the excitement of a first-time experience.
And when he dropped his pants and his briefs, and stepped out of them, and she saw his penis for the first time in four months, her heart began to squeeze.
She thought that was over for them. She actually thought that the way he was avoiding her told her that he no longer desired her.
But when he laid on his back, and then pulled her on top of him, and then entered her with a slow, masterful entrance, his actions told her something entirely different. He desired her. There was no doubt about it. He desired her just as much as she desired him.
They made love in a very slow, very rhythmic manner that kept them both on the verge of cumming. No banging or pounding the way they were used to. Just slow, sweet, passionate love.
It was bittersweet for both of them. Reno wished he hadn’t heard that story, and Trina wished she didn’t have to have told it. Because they knew they would never be the same again.
But was that a bad thing? The same for Trina was those blackmailers coming back to double-dip on her, which forced her to relive that horrific part of her past. The same had her in constant fear of exposure.
The same for Reno was that constant fear he had of losing Trina. They had been on the verge of a breakup, or even a divorce, long before that shooting occurred.
The “same” wasn’t so great for either one of them.
A new normal was better. New was better.
And as Reno continued to make love to her with moans and groans that made clear how badly he needed her, and how much they both could be each other’s wonderment, new felt better too.
And then they came.
Trina came first. But she cried out with such joy and relief that Reno came right behind her. They held onto each other with a loving grip as he continued to move inside of her, feeling every ounce of the sensations, as they came.
And when they were depleted, they still couldn’t let go. They laid there, arm in arm, for nearly half an hour longer. No words were spoken. No further explanations were needed. They just enjoyed the peace and the quiet and the beautifulness of being together again.
Until knocks were heard on the door. Reno’s jaw tightened. “It’s not a good time to disturb me!” he yelled out.
“Like I give a fuck,” the voice on the other side of the door yelled back.
Reno and Trina looked at each other. Sal? They both knew it had to be big news if Sal was delivering it. “What’s up?” This time there was more caution in Reno’s voice than anger.
There was a pause from Sal. He undoubtedly didn’t appreciate talking through a closed door like he was the help. But he did it anyway. “We got her,” he said.
And when he said those words, Reno and Trina looked at each other again. A sense that they were finally getting somewhere overtook them both. And they hurriedly got out of bed and scrambled to put their clothes back on.