Free Tommy Gabrini: The Grace Factor by Mallory Monroe

not!” Ed fired
back.   “You can’t go around discouraging
people from endorsing me, are you out of your mind?   I need that money!   My campaign can’t survive without big donor
money! You don’t have shit.   I don’t have
shit!   My practice is barely turning a
profit and your company is barely staying afloat.   All you have to give me is a good piece of
ass, and it’s not all that good!”
    Grace couldn’t believe he had just
spoken to her that way.   “A piece of
ass?” she asked.
    Ed was immediately in the land of
regret, and exposure.   “I didn’t mean it,
sweetheart,” he said quickly.   But Grace
was already attempting to get out of bed, to get away from him.   “Sweetheart, I didn’t mean it,” Ed said
again, reaching for her.   “I swear I
didn’t!”
    But Grace had already pulled away
from him, got up, and began putting on her bathrobe.
    “Babe, I’m sorry, okay?   You know I didn’t mean it!”
    But Grace wasn’t thinking about
him.   She went into the bathroom and
slammed the door.    See if he ever got
another piece of her ass again!
    Ed fell onto his back, angry and
frustrated.   He didn’t regret what he
said, but he regret that he had said it.   Now he had to win her back into his corner.   More work for him to do!   But she had angered him so completely.   When she told Tommy not to endorse him, he
wanted to slap the shit out of her plain-Jane ass.   Why the fuck did she think he married
her?   She was supposed to be his come up.   She was supposed to take him to that next
level, not keep him where he already was.   He was a doctor, for goodness sake.   He already had clout and pull.   Having Tommy Gabrini’s child as his stepchild, having Tommy Gabrini’s
ex-wife as his current wife, was supposed to be his springboard.   Now her stupidity had stopped him
mid-jump.   He wanted to beat the shit out
of her.   And he would have.   He declare he would have.   But he thought about Tommy and the amount of
shit he would beat out of him if he laid so much as a hand on Grace.    She was the man’s ex-wife, yet he still kept
her on a pedestal.   That was why Ed was
keeping his hands to himself.   He still
had to learn how to keep his words to himself too.
    He got out of bed, put on his pants
and shirt.   He wanted to get away from
there.   He wanted to go see one of his
other ladies, and forget Grace existed.   But he knew he couldn’t leave the house like this.   He needed to keep her on his side until he
got what he wanted.   And now that the GOP
wasn’t backing him; now that Gabrini wasn’t going to endorse him, his need to
have Grace in his corner was more urgent than ever.   He couldn’t lose Grace.   Not until Gabrini was dealt with, and
Gabrini’s fortune was in his care and control.
    He walked over to the bathroom door
and knocked.   “Grace,” he said in his
best apologetic voice.   “Come on,
Grace.   You know I was just running my
mouth, sugar.   You’re my world.   You know that.”
    He turned the knob to open the
door.   But when he realized it was
locked, his anger returned tenfold.   And
he began banging on the door.   “What the
fuck are you locking the door for?” he asked.   “Open this door, Grace.   Open this got damn door!”
    Grace was in the bathroom, washing
her hands at the dual sink, when the banging started.   She grabbed the towel to dry her hand,
anxious to sling open that door and give that fool a piece of her mind, but he
beat her to the punch.   He rammed the
door open with his shoulder, causing his compact body to nearly fall in,
stunning Grace.
    “What are you doing?” she asked
incredulously.
    “You’re locking me out?” Ed asked,
coming toward her.   He didn’t give a damn
in that moment about keeping her in his corner.   “And you’re asking me what I’m doing?   What the fuck are you doing?”
    “Man, get out of my face,” Grace
said, tossing the towel and moving past