Reno and Son: Don't Mess with Jim (The Mob Boss Series) by Mallory Monroe

  I simply want him to be himself.   That’s exactly why I’m here.”
    Jimmy glanced at Val.   It was out of character for Mr. Wellstone to
inject himself into their relationship, and they both knew it.   Now, all of a sudden, he was not only in
their relationship, but demanding to meet his father?   “I don’t understand,” Jimmy said.
    “You don’t understand what?” Buddy asked.
    “What changed?   Why the need to suddenly have to meet my
father?”
    “You were arrested last night.”
    Jimmy swallowed hard.   “Look, sir, that was a big mistake.”
    “Perhaps it was, but it happened.”
    “Jimmy was protecting my honor,” Val
said.   “He didn’t get into trouble for no
reason.”
    “Understood.   But it happened.   I have to make sure this is a good idea.”
    Jimmy frowned.   “You have to make sure what’s a good idea?”
    Buddy didn’t back down.   “You with my daughter,” he said.
    “And you expect my father to be able to
tell you that?”
    “Or show me,” Buddy said.   “That’s right.”
    Jimmy knew this would be a net zero in the
end, but Val always said her father was a very stubborn man.   He made up his mind and that was that.   “But what do you expect to accomplish,
sir?   Whether Val decides to be with me
is up to me and Val, not anybody else.”
    “I understand that too.   But I’m her father, and I want to meet
yours.”
    That stubbornness, Jimmy thought, on full
display.   But if he thought he was
stubborn, wait until he got a load of Reno.
    “Right this way,” Jimmy said, and he
escorted them across the casino, toward the elevators.
    They rode the elevator to the thirtieth
floor in complete silence.   Jimmy still
felt embarrassed about his arrest, and the fact that Mr. Wellstone had to learn
about it didn’t help either.   And
Val.   Jimmy looked at her as the elevator
buckled along in starts and fits and continued to lift higher.   She looked even more worried than he
did.   She’d already said Reno was rude to
her last night, what would she think if he was disrespectful to her
father?   Last night, Jimmy realized anew
just how much he loved Val, and wanted to be with her.   He could only hope that this meeting, this ambush
of a meeting if you asked him, didn’t derail all of that.
    They stepped off of the elevator and headed
for his father’s suite of offices.   As
soon as they walked in, the secretary smiled at Jimmy.
    “Is he in?” Jimmy asked her.
    “He’s in.”   She looked at the others with Jimmy.   Jimmy, keeping his promise, decided not to let her notify Reno that he
had guests.   He decided to go on in.
    They walked up to the office door, opened
it, and entered the circus of people that filled Reno’s office.
    Reno was standing behind his desk, his suit
coat off, his sleeves rolled up, talking angrily to two of his managers.   “I don’t give a rat’s ass if she won fifty
Grammys,” he was blaring.   “I don’t give
a fuck if she won Emmys and Oscars too!   She will not pull that bullshit in my hotel!”
    Val’s heart sank as soon as they
entered.   She looked at her father, but
he was staring at the animated Reno.   Then she looked at Jimmy.
    “Pop!” Jimmy yelled quickly, to interrupt
the tirade.
    Reno frowned as he and his managers looked
toward the door.   And Reno wasn’t pleased
by the interruption at all.   “What?   What is it?”
    Jimmy looked at the Wellstones.   “Here goes,” he said to them and began
walking toward Reno’s desk.   Buddy and
Val followed him.
    “Somebody’s here to meet you,” Jimmy said.
    Reno glanced at Val and the gentleman with
her, but he mainly kept his eyes on Jimmy.   “Meet me?   What are you
talking?   Don’t you see I’m busy here,
James?”
    “It’s Val’s father,” Jimmy said, praying
that such a statement would ease Reno’s aggressiveness.  
    And it did.   At least for the time being.
    “All right, guys,” Reno said to his
managers.