ROMANCING THE MOB BOSS by Mallory Monroe Read Free Book Online Page B

There was a time she
    actual y loved his smile, though he had a
    kindness, a sweetness about him, thought he
    wouldn’t be as hard, as rough as her ex-
    boyfriend sometimes could be. She was wrong
    on al counts. “You know why I’m looking for
    you.”
    “If I knew, Scotty, I wouldn’t be asking
    you. Why were you looking for me?”
    you. Why were you looking for me?”
    Again, he smiled. “I want you back.
    There ain’t no two ways about this, sister. I want
    you back in my life, in my bed, as my woman.
    You the only one knows how to do me, and I
    want that back. How’s that for bluntness?”
    Trina could not believe the nerve of him.
    After how he treated her, he wanted her back?
    He couldn’t be that far gone. “And how’s this for
    bluntness,” she said: “You must be out of your
    gotdamn mind.”
    His smile left then. And the true Scotty
    was revealed, every inch of his anger, his
    bitterness, his out of control violent streak. “You
    left me in the middle of the night, like I was
    some monster you was sneaking away from,
    and I don’t appreciate that.”
    She lowered her voice, leaned over to
    him, both of her hands on the table. “I didn’t
    appreciate your body blows, either. I didn’t
    appreciate that black eye, either. I didn’t
    appreciate that I had hooked up, not with a man,
    but with a pimp who thought he was going to
    prostitute me for income, either. There’s a lot of
    things we don’t appreciate. But appreciate this:
    I don’t give a good gotdamn what you don’t
    appreciate.”
    It came so quickly, Trina could barely
    react. Scotty took his glass of wine and threw
    the liquid contents into her face. Then he stood
    and slapped her hard across the face. Although
    the wine had her dazed, the slap reinvigorated
    her. And she slapped him back even harder
    than he had slapped her. He was about to
    come at her again, he was that kind of bul y, but
    two waiters pul ed him back.
    “Are you crazy?” she could hear Boyzie,
    the owner, running toward Scotty. “Get the fuck
    out of my establishment!”
    “You messed up now, chick,” Scotty was
    saying as the two waiters drug him out. “You
    messed up now!”
    Jazz had run over to Trina’s side as she
    wiped her face with a napkin. “Are you al right,
    girl?”
    Trina couldn’t speak. Her anger was stil
    too raw. She began to head in the back, in the
    kitchen.
    Jazz fol owed her. “I didn’t see when he
    threw the wine on you, but I saw when he
    slapped you.” She grinned. “I said, oh, boy, he
    fooling with the wrong one this time. ‘Cause
    every fool from around here knows you don’t
    play.”
    “He’s not from around here,” Trina said,
    sitting in a chair to calm her nerves, stil wiping
    off the wine.
    “What happened to you?” Louie the
    cook wanted to know.
    “None of your business,” Jazz said,
    sitting beside Trina. “Just cook, cook.” Then
    Jazz looked at Trina. “What you mean he’s not
    from around here? You know him?”
    Trina nodded. “That’s Scotty Labaray.”
    “Get out ! He’s the dude from Reno?
    The pimp?”
    Trina nodded.
    “Wow,” Jazz said. “I don’t know why I
    just assumed this Scotty person was a black
    dude. But he white too, hun?”
    Trina looked at Jazz. “Why you say it
    like that?”
    “I’m just sayin’. Dang, girl. You got
    these white men fal ing out of trees wanting
    you.” Then she paused, leaned back in the
    chair. “And speaking of white men, are you
    going to tel Mr. Hot Temper Gabrini about this
    little incident?”
    “I am not.”
    “And why the hel not?”
    “Because of exactly what you just cal ed
    him. His hot temper. You saw what Reno did to
    that acne-faced kid. He broke that kid’s nose
    for just pinching me, something that happens to
    us every day of the week in a joint like this. You
    think I’m gonna tel him about this incident,
    which means I’l have to tel him about my
    relationship with Scotty? That I’m gonna say,
    oh, by the way, this guy here also