by V Vee
Fucking animal, Joi thought nastily.
“So, what’s the price going to be for you, Joi?” he asked.
Joi shook her head. “There is no price you could offer me that would make me sell out my employees. My friends. My family.”
Angelo chuckled darkly. “We’ll see.” He paused for a moment. “Fifty million?” Joi didn’t respond. “One hundred million?” Still Joi didn’t respond. “One hundred fifty million?” No response on her part.
“One billion dollars?” he offered.
Joi gasped, and her mouth fell open. That was the moment that she could almost hear her sister, her best friend, her parents telling her to “take the money and run.” And yet…
“Why would you offer me such a moment amount when my business is only valued at thirty-five million right now?” she asked.
She watched as Angelo’s shoulders rose and fell in what he tried to pass off as an apathetic shrug but what she knew was one filled with meaning. Some emotion, some nuance and reason that she didn’t understand, and one the affluent, corporate genius wasn’t liable to share with her. Not yet at least. She would get the reasoning out of him. One way or another.
“You intrigue me, Miss Young. Joi,” he corrected, and Joi tried not to shiver at the way her name sounded on his lips. He said her name like a prayer, with an intimacy, as if they were lovers. His lips pursing on the o as if he were preparing to kiss her… but no… no, she could not think that way. She had to keep her mind on the conversation and her focus on business and off the fantasy of what he would feel like pressing against her body, his cock slamming deep inside of her. His deep voice grunting her name, commanding her to come, to call him “daddy”—a term she had never called any man, and had no plans to start for that matter, thank you very much—his massive hands clenching the globes of her ample bottom, his teeth biting her nipples, his tongue licking the folds of her pussy, his lips sucking her clit, his cock slamming into her over…
And over.
And over.
And over.
Until she grew hoarse from screaming out his name in ecstasy.
“Joi?” Angelo’s voice called to her, a note of concern and amusement permeating question and she blinked at him.
“I’m sorry, what did you say? My mind seems to have wandered,” she responded, her voice husky. She cleared her throat and placed a hand against the base of her throat wanting to fan her flushed face. She wondered at the smirk and all-knowing glance Angelo gave her before he simply nodded at her.
“Would you like a glass of water? I know I offered you a drink before, but you grew… upset since my initial offer, perhaps you would care for one now?” he stated, and again Joi was slightly taken aback at the way he seemed to speak as if he were aware of her current state of arousal.
Shaking her head mentally at the absurdity of such a thing, she merely nodded. “Yes, thank you,” she said. She turned her head away when Angelo stood and walked over to the sideboard to get her a glass and pour her a drink from a bottle of distilled water. However, when he walked back towards her, she couldn’t help but allow her eyes to caress the hard planes of his body which pressed against the fabric of his suit. While he was extremely attractive in his suit, Joi would bet dollars to donuts that Angelo was even better looking out of it. Right now, he seemed as if he were a caged, or trapped animal. Restrained by his clothing. Biding his time until he could shed the fabric that made him respectable and become the dominating, feral, powerful beast that he really was.
She blinked in surprise at the direction her thoughts had taken her. She needed this meeting to end, and quickly, she felt entirely too out of control while in Angelo’s presence. She accepted the glass of cool liquid as he handed it to her, doing her best to avoid touching his fingers, a task that was extremely difficult. So she shouldn’t have been surprised at all when their hands touched when he passed the glass to her. The slight spark of electricity that zinged through her digits and fired her blood, before settling low in her pussy, did cause her to gasp, however. She’d never experienced such a thing before. Not even with her boyfriend… dammit, what was his name again?
And the sound of a deep growl, coming from Angelo’s direction had her head snapping up in his direction. If she hadn’t been so certain that she was wrong, she would have sworn that his eyes changed, shifting into the eyes of a canine, those of a wolf’s. In the blink of an eye, they returned to normal, and she knew she’d imagined the whole thing. Which was good, since she was starting to think that being in Angelo’s presence was making her crazy. First with lust, and then simply crazy in general.
She took a long sip of her drink and twisted the glass back and forth between her hands as she apprised Angelo.
“So you were saying?” she encouraged him.
He nodded. “Yes, I’m willing to offer you one billion dollars for your company, regardless of its value because you intrigue me, Joi, and your company intrigues me. With the popularity of Fenty Beauty ™ other companies are following suit with making cosmetics that are more inclusive of women of color and take those women who have darker skin tones and various shades into account, however, as you stated, not all of them take into account the women who are of lower income brackets. That you want to market your products, not only cosmetics, but hair and clothing for women of all sizes, colors, and incomes is something that is not only extremely altruistic, but something that is marketable and very profitable. I see a very big ability to turn your thirty-five-million-dollar empire, into a three-hundred-billion-dollar empire, if not more.” Angelo stood and walked over to his desk, and Joi watched him, her heart pounding in her chest at the amount of money he’d quoted to her, not to mention the words he’d delivered like promised water to her thirsty ears. He spoke with confidence, with determination, almost with an arrogance, and while such a display would have normally turned Joi off, in this instance, she found herself even more turned on than she had been before.
And she’d been really, really, really turned on before.
Now she felt like she was going to explode with it.
Or as if she was going to drown in her own wetness.
“So, while I understand your reticence to sell to WPI due to your employees, I just want you to think about what you have to gain. Not only the money, but you will have made a name for yourself. You will have created history. You will have created the mold upon which all other companies, brands, and creators try to build upon. We here at WPI can help you do that. We have the resources and the ability to do that. And we can offer you everything you need in this buyout to do that,” Angelo finished.
Oh. Right. He wanted to buy her out.
And just like that Joi’s panties dried up like the Sahara.
Okay. That was a lie. But the haze of desire that had clouded her gaze lifted dramatically.
She shook her head. “Mr. Marconi,” she held up her hand to prevent him from reminding her to call him Angelo. She couldn’t. It made things between them too personal. Too… intimate. It blurred the lines between what she’d come here to do, and what she wanted him to do to her. “I am sorry that you have had so many experiences over the years with people who are disloyal. With people who would sell out their family members, their trusted friends, their colleagues, all for money. No matter the amount, a person of integrity cannot, I repeat, Can. Not be bought. And my parents Kevin and Jackie Young raised my siblings and I to be people of integrity, especially in a world where so many people lack morals, character, and values.” She rose from her chair and faced him across his desk. She shook inside, unable to believe that she was about to turn down an offer for a billion dollars but knowing that it was the right decision to make.
“Thank you for your offer, but I must decline. Have a great day.”
Chapter 4
“You are so stupid,” Jackie Young told her youngest daughter.
Joi’s mouth dropped open as she stared at her mother. “Mommy!”
“What?” Jackie shrugged a
nd turned back to the pot of stew that simmered on the stove. “You are. Your sister and your best friends could live off their share of that money for years. Y’all are smart. All of y’all could have started up another business. Could have gone traveling the world. Decided to sleep your way around Europe. The way I never got a chance to before I met your daddy. Hell, y’all could have bought husbands and finally given me more grandbabies to spoil. But nooooo you decided that you wanted to turn down one fucking billion dollars for what? So you can stand on your morals? Chile, morals ain’t gonna pay them damn bills.”
“Mommy, I’m making millions of dollars a year, remember?” Joi pointed out as she reached out a hand to sneak a taste of the hot stew. She let out a yelp and yanked back her hand when her mom smacked her hand with the wooden spoon. “Ow!”
“Keep your damn dirty hands out my pot. Go wash your hands and cut up that lettuce for the salad,” her mom told her, her lips twitching as she reprimanded her baby daughter.
“Kay,” Joi responded as she turned away and headed to the kitchen sink to wash her hands.
“And it don’t matter if you are making millions of dollars a year, you also have millions of dollars in bills a year. Between all them damn houses and condos you got, them damn dogs, and that evil cat you got, all them credit cards, all that shopping, and that fucking man who expects you to take care of his dumb ass, you needed that billion dollars your damn self just to keep your head above water,” Jackie continued her rant as she returned to adding spices to the stew.
Joi sighed and shook her head. “Mommy, me and Perry broke up two days ago,” she finally confessed. Maybe if she told someone else, someone other than Perry and her dogs and her cat, then it would make it real.
Joi heard her mother coming towards her before she felt the smaller woman wrap her arms around her waist. Joi and her sister Kim both had their mother’s darker complexion, while their father had a lighter skin tone, one that their mother affectionately called: “butterscotch”, they took on their mother’s Ghanian-by way of Alabama-darker hued skin. Though that was the only thing Joi and her sister shared. Joi was her mother through and through. With her voluptuous curves, and thicker frame, and even her height, there was only one inch that separated Joi and her mother Jackie, whereas Kim had their father’s slender frame, slim nose, wide eyes, and bone straight hair that wouldn’t curl no matter how hard she tried. Kim had medium-sized breasts but a “phat” ass, something that was always knocking things over, much to her older sister’s embarrassment. Kim had been Joi’s first guinea pig when she’d started out creating cosmetics and hair products, something that had frightened and angered their parents. More than once Kim had broken out in a rash, hives, or gotten bald patches on her head from her hair falling out. But Kim never stopped allowing her younger sister to experiment on her. Because she believed in her. And for that Joi would always love and support her sister.
It was why she’d bought her older sister a home. And why she’d paid Kim’s ex-husband to disappear when she’d discovered he’d been beating up and raping Kim for years. He’d forced three children on her, not allowing her to get an abortion, and beating her mercilessly for every miscarriage and stillborn child she’d had. When Joi had discovered what was going on, she’d been two steps away from killing the man herself, but her sister’s calm voice to not ruin her life was all that had pulled her back from the brink. So she’d given him enough money to disappear.
Then she’d paid someone else to make sure that he stayed gone.
She knew that she should feel guilty for essentially putting out a hit on her former brother-in-law but…
Well, fuck it…
She didn’t.
“You and your sister don’t know how to pick a good man from a piece of shit smeared on the sidewalk,” her mother murmured before kissing her cheek and stepping back over to the stove.
Joi gasped before letting out a burst of laughter.
“Damn, Mommy, let me know how you really feel,” she said.
“Really feel about what?” her father’s voice, so deep it was almost booming sounded from behind her, and Joi turned and rushed into the large man’s open arms.
“Hey Daddy!”
“Hello, babygirl,” Kevin Young said with a hearty chuckle as he wrapped his arms around his youngest daughter. He placed a kiss on the top of her head then leaned back from her just a bit, Joi rolled her eyes, knowing what he was about to say. “Let me take a look at you… hmmm… two eyes, one nose, one mouth, two ears. Still got that wig on your head, but it looks new. Probably expensive. Looks like that Asian woman took good care of her hair, so that’s good. Still got all your teeth? Open up, let me see.”
Joi giggled and smiled at her father, shaking her head at his time-worn shenanigans.
“Good, good, still got all your teeth. Now, are you pregnant yet?”
Joi laughed. “No, Daddy.”
Kevin Young grunted. “Good. Got enough grandkids as it is. You ain’t get married yet, did you?”
Joi laughed harder. “No, Daddy.”
“You betta not have. Ain’t no man come over here and ask me for my permission to date you, much less marry you.” He narrowed his eyes, a twinkle shining in the green orbs and a slight smile appearing on his lips. “You still making all that money and pissing off all those racist white people?”
Joi nodded emphatically. “Yes, Daddy.”
Kevin let out a whoop of laughter and slapped his thigh, before patting Joi on the head. “That’s my girl. Now, who’s telling who how they really feel about what?” he asked as he gave Joi a final hug before walking over to his wife and placing a deep kiss on her lips. He then headed over to cabinet, opened it and placed his empty lunch bag inside. He walked over to the refrigerator, opened that, and took out a beer, and twisted off the cap, all without pausing.
“Well, Joi was telling me that she finally broke up with that idiot Perry. You know the moocher that was just using her for her money. And I told her that her and her sister wouldn’t be able to pick a good man from shit,” Jackie stated as she lifted the wooden spoon to her lips to taste the stew.
Joi shook her head. “No ma’am, you said that we wouldn’t be able to pick a good man from a piece of shit smeared on the sidewalk,” she pointed out.
“Mm, I stand corrected,” Jackie responded sarcastically.
“See?” Joi pointed a thumb at her mother, looking at her dad.
Kevin shrugged. “Did she lie? Because I can’t see where she did.”
“Daddy!”
“What? You and your sister have got a bowel taste,” Kevin said, taking a deep sip of his beer.
“It’s abysmal, Daddy.”
“No, it’s a bowel. As in, it’s a shitty,” Kevin joked, smiling at Joi.
Joi groaned while her parents laughed at her father’s joke. The front door opened then and the sound of women talking and children chattering let Joi know that her sister, Kim, had arrived with her children, Kianna, Katrina, and Kalen. The other women were no doubt Elisabeth, her sister Lizzie, their other friend Talia, and Jackie’s sister, Cammy. Everyone had been invited over to talk about Joi’s meeting with Angelo Marconi.
She’d originally been proud of her decision to turn down his offer of a billion dollars, sure that this dinner would be filled with her family and friends congratulating her on making the right decision. But after having talked with her mother, she wasn’t so sure. And now, she was a little nervous that everyone would think that she’d made the wrong decision.
I sort of wish I could talk with Angelo again and take back my rejection of his offer, she thought to herself.
Just as her sisters, friends, nieces, nephew, and aunt stepped into the kitchen, all with smiles covering their faces, the doorbell rang.
“Who could that be?” Jackie asked.
“Did you invite someone else to be here, Joi? Since you invited all of us over here to talk about your meeting with “The Growling Wolf”?” Kim asked with amusement.
“No, everyone I invited is here,” Joi denied. “But I’ll go and get the door. Hold on.”
Joi stepped away from the counter and headed to the front door, tugging her cellphone from the pocket of the dress she’d changed into before coming over to her parents’ home. She woke up the phone, pressing her thumbprint to home button and opened the screen, scrolling to number for Angelo Marconi’s office, just as she opened the front door to find…
Angelo Marconi.
Chapter 5
Angelo was sure that Joi thought he was a stalker. And by humanity’s standards he guessed he was. When she’d left his office—after rejecting his offer of one billion dollars for her company, and really, who did that?—he’d wanted to use her scent and follow her directly to her home, but he’d had a slew of meetings and teleconferences he’d had to attend. And while he would have normally rescheduled them, these were not the normal type of meetings. These were Ex Contione Alphas, or The Meeting of Alphas. Alphas from every region, from all over the nation, and all over the world met via teleconference to discuss issues, laws, pack mergers, pack disputes, pack losses, pack births, human interferences, and the like so that no Alpha could ever say he was ignorant of the happenings of other packs, new laws, or the goings on of the supernatural world.
For the first time since becoming Alpha of the Woodland Pack, Angelo wished he could have skipped the damn thing.
He’d spent the entire three-hour meeting tuning in and out of the various conversations, discussions, new laws, announcements, etc. thinking about Joi. Had he not wisely set up protocol for all Ex Contione Alphas to be recorded, he would be hard-pressed to give a detailed accounting of what had been discussed with his pack when they had their own meeting later on that week. But when the meeting was over, he’d immediately pulled up Joi’s contract, found her mailing address, social security number, full name, birth date, social media information, and everything and anything else he could find out about her, then he’d set about locating her. When her GPS location had placed her in her parents’ home, Angelo had gone to his own home on pack lands, changed into a pair of relaxed fit jeans, a grey Henley, a pair of black boots, he’d pulled his hair back into a ponytail, then climbed onto his motorcycle and had ridden over, uninvited, for dinner.