ROMANCING THE MOB BOSS by Mallory Monroe

beat the crap
    out of me one night to where I was throwing up
    blood. And he beat me because I told him I’d
    rather eat nails than prostitute my body for
    money. I got away from him that same night, but
    you think Reno gonna just say good, great job
    getting away, kid, and forget about it? Come
    on, Jazz. Even your old man Nathan, who
    on, Jazz. Even your old man Nathan, who
    idolizes you, would say you’re nuts if you think
    that.”
    Jazz exhaled. “I get your point,” she
    said.
    “Reno would probably be locked up for
    murder before the night is out,” Trina added.
    “Okay, I get it.” Then she looked at
    Trina. “You can pick’em, can’t you?”
    Trina looked at her friend. She didn’t
    know if she was talking about Scotty only, or
    both Scotty and Reno. “What’s that supposed
    to mean?” she asked.
    “You can pick’em. I mean, Reno with his
    temper is bad enough. But at least he owns a
    hotel and gave you a job and is helping you out.”
    This bothered Trina. Ever since she told
    Jazz about Reno, and how they’d been
    spending time together, there had been a kind
    of snide attitude in Jazz, a kind of bitterness
    there. “You think I’m seeing Reno because he
    owns the PaLargio?” she asked her friend.
    Jazz frowned, as if nothing could be
    further from the truth. “Why would you say
    something like that?”
    “The same reason you implied it.”
    “That not what I mean. But it is a fact
    that he gave you a job, a job you start next
    week. He’s your friend and friends look out for
    each other like that. They get ahead, they pul
    their friends along with them.”
    So that was it. Jazz figured that Trina
    should be, in her words, pul ing her along, too. “I
    am gonna help you out, Jazz,” Trina said. “But
    my feet ain’t even in the door yet. You saw how
    Reno wouldn’t even let me be a manager there.
    He’s creating some apprentice job for me, so I
    can shadow seasoned managers and learn the
    tricks of the trade. I can’t hire nobody, I’m not
    even in the door myself yet.”
    “But your boyfriend is. He owns the joint,
    Tree, come on. Al you got to do is say the word
    and he’l hire me as an apprentice, too.”
    Trina shook her head. “It doesn’t work
    that way.”
    “Oh, I see. You can ask him to take you on,
    but you can’t ask him about me.”
    “I didn’t ask him to take me on, Jazz,
    what are you talking about? I didn’t know that
    man existed when I applied to work at the
    PaLargio, something, by the way, that you said I
    was crazy to even attempt.”
    “Okay, okay,” Jazz said, smiling now, “I
    didn’t mean to make a federal case out of it.
    Get a grip, girl.”
    “You get a grip,” Trina said, smiling too,
    although her heart was hammering. Scotty was
    back. And although she was only with him for
    less than a month, and was on the rebound from
    her ruined relationship with her ex from Dale
    even then, she knew him wel enough to know
    that he wasn’t searching high and low for her as
    he claimed, just for the hel of it. Maybe tonight
    spooked him enough to keep going. Maybe
    after tonight he’d go on about his business, or at
    least leave her out of it. But if she saw hide or
    hair of him again, she was tel ing Reno. She
    didn’t want to, because she knew Reno would
    be almost irrational with anger, but Scotty could
    be a very vile and violent person. And if he
    showed up again, she’d know he meant
    business. And the only person she knew who
    could handle a dude like that, was Reno.
    +++
    To her amazement, however, word had
    reached Reno that same night, and by the time
    she and Jazz were walking out of Boyzie’s and
    saying their goodbyes, he was leaned against
    his Bentley, his arms folded, a look of
    disappointment al over his face.
    “I thought you would be in meetings al
    night?” Trina said as she approached him. She
    was usual y thril ed to see him, but that scowling
    look on his face made her apprehensive.
    “Where’s the cab?” he asked. “I