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PART I
SPEAKING IN TONGUES

27

“WELL?” GIO ASKED as soon as Trey walked into the bathroom that evening.

“That was a whole helluva lot better’n I expected,” he crowed as he bent to run a bath. “Easier, too. You saw?”

“A second, out of the corner of my eye,” he muttered as he pulled at his neck and carefully scraped the blade down it. “Just in time, before Dot saw. How’d you get her to do it?”

“I dunno, man.” Trey dodged out of Alice’s way. She plopped down on the toilet with a relieved sigh. “Just one big happy family, ain’t we?” he said dryly.

“You fuck her?” Alice asked with anticipation.

“Sure did,” Trey said proudly. “Girl’s a natural.”

“You can’t get it up for a nice girl. What happened?”

“Not sure, but it’s been a while, so maybe … ” He shrugged helplessly.

Alice and Gio exchanged knowing looks. “He’s in luuuuuuv,” Alice drawled.

“Neh,” Trey said as he shucked the last of his clothes and climbed into the hot water with a hiss and a sigh. He lay back and closed his eyes, thinking about how perfect Marina had been, there in the grass under a tree, in a cemetery, in broad daylight. He couldn’t have planned it better if he’d tried. “I don’t believe in all that love business. There’s girls you fuck and girls who make your life easier for what’s left of it.”

“Except she’s not either one,” Gio pointed out.

Trey’s lip curled. “Don’t remind me.”

“No, spill it. What’d you do to get under her skirt?”

“I told you. I don’t know. She was breezy all day long. You saw her. Like she was at the concert, practically walking on air.”

“Dot was getting worried.”

“About what? Me?”

“For once, no. She was happy Marina was so light, but then she said something wasn’t right with her. Not like at the concert; this was different. She wanted to go home and we were looking for you when I saw you two going to town.”

“Dot’s jealous, is what.”

“Fuck you. She is not.”

“Your little Mormon jane?” Alice asked.

“Yeah,” Gio said, now working on the other side of his throat.

“Way you two talk about her, I’d say she’s more like a mama bear.”

“Yeh,” Gio returned.

“Alice get off the pot!” Ethel yelled from somewhere down the hallway.

“Go upstairs!” Alice yelled back.

“Somebody’s using it!”

“Well, three people are using this one,” Trey called, seeing only the humor in it because he was basking in the afterglow of good sex with a woman he really really liked and it hadn’t been as much of a chore as he’d thought it would be.

“Trey!” Ethel whined.

“Daddy,” Gio mocked.

“Mm hmm,” Trey hummed, settling deeper into the water. “Children, behave.”

“Our luck, first time won’t be the charm,” Alice said as she finished her business and vacated the throne for Ethel, who gasped. “You did it?”

“I did. Gio, you think maybe Dot likes girls? And she’s got a crush on Marina?”

“That is not who she’s got a crush on,” Alice said, then warbled at Gio, “‘Sweetie pie … ’”

Gio grinned while he whirled his soap brush in his soap cup and applied more to his face. “She’s irked because Marina’s folks won’t let her go to her church activities, not even counting Sunday services. She’s starting to take it out on Marina. And now you. She’s still suspicious of you, but she thought if you could persuade Scarritt to let you walk out alone, you should be able to get her to at least one of their vaudeville nights, not even dancing. The fact that she got to go to a jazz concert but not to one of Dot’s things really has her back up.”

“She tell you that?”

“Not in so many words.”

“Reel her back.”

“That will be a lot harder after you two disappeared for forty-five minutes. She was furious.”

“I was looking for Marina and she hid well,” Trey said testily.

“That’s convincing,” Alice drawled.

“Yeah, she didn’t buy it.”

Oh. “How come she ain’t made you yet?” Trey demanded.

“I’m not a boy,” Gio said simply. “I’m not constantly telling her how pretty she is and treating her like a trophy. I listen to her. I also don’t make fun of her church. I tell her Catholicism has its own nutty ideas.”

“That is true.”

“And her father doesn’t intimidate me.”

“What’s he like?”

“Not a preacher. He’s one of us.”

“I got that impression, Boss Tom tellin’ me not to piss him off. How come he ain’t made you?”

“He doesn’t expect a Mafioso with an English name to show up on his doorstep—”

“You still got an accent.”

“—and he’s distracted. He works like a dog, between his vet practice and his congregation.”

“Her mama?”

“Just had a baby, sixth one. And she’s busy doing what every preacher’s wife does around her congregation. Nobody brings her any supper or helps clean her house when she has a baby.” Gio sounded offended on Dot’s mother’s behalf. “You know what they call her? Sister Bishop.” Trey laughed and Gio shot him a glare.

“Like they don’t even know her name,” Sally harrumphed. “My mother was just ‘Reverend Missus.’”

“Then why’s Dot out playin’ around not helpin’?” Trey asked.

“She stays up with the babies and cleans the house after everyone’s gone to bed. Or she goes out on night calls with Albright. The girl works as hard as her parents do.”

“And plays that hard?” Brody asked. “She’s taking something.”

“Nope. Her mother told me she was born chattering and bouncing around at all hours and never stopped, so instead of making her stay in bed at night, she put her to work just to try to wear her out.”

“Now I’m jealous,” Trey muttered, suddenly feeling his fatigue. “Why’s she so dead-set on Marina comin’ to her church?”

“She has no friends at church. The other girls shun her.”

“Mmm, like Marina at hers, only she don’t notice.”

“Nobody wants to run with preachers’ girls who aren’t mean or up to no good,” Sally muttered bitterly.

“That’s what Dot said.”

“Lord, you should have seen how delighted my daddy’s congregation was when I started showing.”

Gio nodded. “Not just that, but she’s a looker and smart. Everything she does to earn their approval just pushes them away because she’s so much better at it than they are. Dumb blonde is one thing. Smart bug-eyed Betty is also jake. Air-tight and smart … I finally suggested maybe she should save her theatrics for the stage and dance floor, but that’s just part of the same problem. She thought my being her beau would get the wrinkles out, but it’s even worse now. Catty little bitches. At school, too.”

“God, I hate female politics,” Trey muttered.

“We know,” Ethel drawled.

Indeed, he didn’t tolerate it. He’d fired more than a few who couldn’t play nice, and he went out of his way to hire people who could get along. He had developed a sixth sense about it, but that was from necessity. He wasn’t about to referee female politics, and silent wars were more damaging than loud and violent ones. His employees didn’t have to be friends, but they did need to keep their claws sheathed.

“So now you have to do it until you’ve got Junior all sewn up in there, the locks on the front doors changed, and the keys in your hand.”

Trey grunted. That was the trick, wasn’t it? “How did getting Junior in suddenly get harder than getting him out?”

“You tell us,” Ethel said. “You’re the only one here who’s pulled Junior out.”

Trey held up two fingers.

“You should go to medical school. You’re smarter than my daddy and he is a doctor.”

“That is a correct read on the situation,” Trey drawled. “Somebody get me a cigar and a glass.”

Ethel, leaning against the bathroom doorjamb, yelled at one of the boys. “All right, daddy-o, now spill it.”

“Ain’t nothin’ to spill,” Trey objected good-naturedly. “She was havin’ fun, let me kiss her, and it was Easy Street from there. Not lookin’ a gift horse in the mouth, ’specially after she damn near tore her hand off gettin’ it outta mine last night.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound right,” Sally mused. “She acted like you bit her last night, but half a day later she’s spreading her legs?”

Trey’s whisky and cigar came, so now he was thoroughly relaxed, soaking in a tub of hot water with cigar and whisky, making plans with people who were allied behind him, which he had never had. He liked it, the feeling that they were all united in a goal. He couldn’t allow himself to get used to it because they weren’t friends. They weren’t even yes-men. They and Trey’s grandparents had their own reasons for wanting Trey to win the speak and would help him as much as possible, even though it was barely more than moral support. After that, Trey would be on his own again.

“Well, she didn’t grow a twin,” Trey said around his cigar. “Now, you watch. Tomorrow she’ll be all flustered, not wanna talk about it, make me wait a few days. Gio, you gotta keep Dot away from me and Marina.”

“Look, Dunham. You have Friday and Saturday nights alone now. I’m not going to spend my time with Dot trying to keep her from seeing you get under Marina’s skirt. Do it on your own time.”

“Hrmph.”

The chatter went on around him while Trey soaked, sipping his good whisky and smoking his fine cigar, his head back, eyes closed. One by one, three more of his girls and two of his gigs crowded into the bathroom discussing the bet, Trey’s chances of getting Marina pregnant now that he’d gotten access, and what would happen to Trey and the rest of them if he lost—or won.

All he could think about was how perfectly he’d been able to seduce Marina. It had been so easy. Shockingly so, especially since he hadn’t been trying; he was still in first gear, taking her to picnics and ballgames, miniature golf and croquet, almost always with Dot and Gio, and starting to panic as his deadline closed in. Hide-and-go-seek for a whole fucking afternoon, for God’s sake. He hadn’t seen it coming. He’d found her, kissed her, things progressed as they usually did. The skirt went up, the loose drawers came off, as did her blouse and the little slip that covered her torso. All Trey had to do was open his fly and make sure his body hid hers from any ol’ passerby.

Her breasts were damn near perfect and her belly was soft. He drove himself crazy sucking on her nipples, making her writhe and whine for something she didn’t have words for. He had kissed her when he entered her, not knowing what resistance he’d find. She was wet but tight, and he’d hurt her. She’d tensed and whimpered when he entered her, slowly, carefully. She’d made him stop for a few seconds until she relaxed again with a sigh and an arch of her back.

She came. He came. She was still tense. He’d used his hand while teasing her nipples until she came a second time. She could’ve gone for number three, but he couldn’t.

Then she’d dozed for about twenty minutes, half on top of him, still in her skirt although he’d pulled it down and draped her blouse over her naked torso. Trey was fully clothed. Her breathing was shallow and even, though he felt her sighs against his shoulder while he stroked her hair. He’d kissed her to consciousness and she’d smiled against his mouth. I love kissing you, Trey …

Mmm hm. I love kissing you, too, Sugar.

I feel all tingly in my between.

In your between?

Yes, between my legs. My between.

Oh, that. Yes, your between. How about you let me take care of those tingles in your between?

Yes, thank you.

Perfect. So perfectly wet. Soft pants of yes yes yes, her whimpers of Trey, more, and her deep growls at climax number three. After that, he’d put her back together, smoothed her dark hair and picked the grass out of it, and made sure that no one would suspect anything was different about her. He had her home by six, a respectable hour by any standard. She’d given him a soft smile that went all the way to her brown eyes and said, “See you tomorrow at church?” as if nothing had happened.

Now, lying in the tub listening to the chatter of his makeshift family, smoking a good cigar, and sipping his fine whisky, he had a chance to think.

Marina’s mother wanted her to stay and take care of her until she died. Her father wanted her out. That could be the only explanation for a man allowing—encouraging, even—his sixteen-year-old daughter to walk out with a twenty-four-year-old man.

Trey would have questioned her sudden change of behavior if he hadn’t noticed how happy she was with the Gershwin and then how grateful she’d been for her father’s approval. The only explanation Trey could come up with was that she’d taken his approval for permission to be less proper. Or else Marina was as driven by her libido as her father was and had only needed the right man to push the right buttons.

Trey scowled a little.

It didn’t sit well, the idea Marina might be driven by her libido. Trey wasn’t, and he wasn’t an innocent virgin. As he went over the afternoon’s romp, he got more and more unsettled.

“What’s wrong now?” Ethel asked impatiently.

“I dunno,” he muttered. “She … ”

They waited.

He shrugged helplessly. “She wasn’t what I imagined,” he finally said.

“You said she was good.”

“Yeah, she was,” he agreed fervently. “Just … not … I don’t know.”

“Take it and be grateful,” Alice snapped. “We’re depending on you.”

27

If you don’t want to wait 2 years to get to the end, you can buy it here.

Speakeasy staff.