“A man is full of shit is what he is,” I laughed.
Just then one of Michael’s phones rang. He straightened instantly and pulled his business cell out of his pocket.
“This is Michael—She’s mine. Back off.” I glared at him and kept moving down the line. “Richard, hi. Sorry. My girlfriend and I are picking up a dog.” I looked back trying to figure out which Richard he was talking to. He did business with like five. Michael nodded toward the exit then headed outside to take his call.
Like the woman said, there was a mutt puppy that must have been part Newfoundland. It looked more bear cub than dog. It was so cute, but I could just imagine all that fur everywhere. Holger would kill us. There was also some Cujo looking creature that lunged at the fence, barking it’s fucking face off as soon as I walked by. I screamed and jumped out of the way like I was at a damn haunted house.
As soon as my brain reminded me of the fence between me and the monster, I moved on to the last stall. My heart still beating in my throat and shoes nearly filled with fear pee, I found another shorthaired puppy, silver with black and white spots and solid black ears and feet. He was a baby, but he had the big clumsy puppy paws that just told you one day you'd be able to throw a saddle on him and rent him out to kiddie parties. The name Patch was on his cage.
He came over to the gate and jumped, trying to lick my hand. He'd make a lousy guard dog, but at least I wouldn't be alone. Michael still wasn't back so I walked back up front.
“I think we’re going to take Penny and Patch,” I told the woman behind the desk.
“Great!”
Michael came back as they were getting the paperwork ready. I didn’t like the frown on his face. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing. That was Richard Sands. I might have to go to New York. We’ll talk about it in the car.”
“’Kay,” I said, letting it go. We didn’t need to talk shop at the animal shelter counter, but I grabbed his hand anyway.
Penny was good to go, shots and all, but we had to make an appointment to get Patch fixed in the next few months. And then we had two extremely rambunctious puppies on our hands.
“Holger is gonna kill us,” I said after we walked them around the block and got them settled on the blanket we’d put down in the backseat of Michael’s G-Class. I climbed back up front and fastened my seatbelt. “So what’s going on?”
The frown came back to his face. “They want me to purchase Miami.”
“Really? That’s great, right? This is what you wanted.”
“I wanted to purchase an L.A. team. Miami is a different situation. And the L.A. deal was simple. This is a fucking PR disaster.” Michael handled press just fine under pressure, but the kind of press he did was interviews with tech magazines and the occasional rich people publications. He’d never been involved in a legit scandal. Still, I wanted to encourage him to go for it.
One, Michael was actually a good man and with his calm, caring personality and his freakish ability to focus on the right thing, I thought he would be the perfect person to bring the team back together after John Taylor Wayne had his day in court. But this was his call and all I could do was support his choice. That’s how we did things on Team Bradbury-Davis. Mutual support. It felt so good.
He was quiet for a while as we made our way back to the PCH, but suddenly he pulled out his phone. Ruben’s name flashed across the dashboard.
"Yes, sir." The voice of Michael’s assistant and my good friend chimed through the speakers.
"Hey, sorry to bother you. I have to fly to New York tonight. I need you to come. Am I fucking up your plans?”
"Tonight?" I said a little too loud, my stomach dropping. I instantly wanted to take back my whining, but the puppies!
"Is that my Kay-Kay?"
"Hey Ruben."
"Did you get the puppy?"
"Puppies. Michael cracked and got one for himself."
"Oh yay! Take pictures. I’ll come over and play with them when we get back."
"You'll see Penny tonight,” Michael added. “Let the crew know we'll be plus one dog."
"What?" Ruben and I said at the same time.
"She's not a Pomeranian, babe. She's a pit bull,” I reminded him. Penny was plenty small to carry, but...
"You got a pit bull puppy?" Ruben asked, his shock justified. Pits had a bad rep for sure, but even I didn’t have to struggle to imagine just how much more intimidating people would find Michael with a pit bull in his board meetings.
"The sign said she was pit bull/lab mix, but yeah, and another mutt. PJ and I'll pick you up at seven."
“Great. See you then.”
The call ended and Michael wasted no time reaching over and rubbing the back of my neck. “I’m sorry. I have to do this. Richard wants me to meet with the commissioner, just to talk. I think this gambling ring, the conspiracy, everything might be bigger than Wayne.”
“Like within the NBA?”
“Yes. They want to get the process of replacing him started immediately.”
“Yeah, okay. You should definitely go.” I looked back at the puppies, kissing Michael’s wrist as I turned my head. Patch was relaxed, looking up at me with his big green eyes, ignoring Penny while she sniffed and batted at his ear. “I’ll see if Daniella wants to come over.”
“Sounds like a good idea. Are her and Duke still—”
“I don’t know.” My best friend and Michael’s good friend were sort of an item. Problem was, Duke Stone, international pop star and mega producer had a crazier schedule than Michael’s. Combine that with Daniella’s fear of getting her heart broken and you had the perfect recipe for a will they, won't they. I pulled out my phone and sent her a text.
Busy tonight?
Nope. Watching movies with sister. Duke's on timeout.
You and sister want to come over tonight? You can tell me what he did and meet my new puppy.
Hell yes. I could use some puppy time.
Michael would be leaving around six so I told them to come around five thirty so they could catch Penny before Michael took her on her first airplane ride. With my evening resolved, I sent Holger a text.
Coming home with two puppies. I’m sorry.
He sent a series of emoticons that made how he felt about our impulse grab perfectly clear.
Two
We’d had one small tinkle accident but in hour eight of his new life, Patch was doing just fine, snuggled between Daniella and I on one of the bed-like couches in Michael’s screening room. Our screening room. A thousand movies to choose from and we’d settled on reruns of Say Yes To The Dress. Daniella had shown up with her sister Lili, our social media manager at K&D. I’d tried to get our other friend Gordo to leave the HR department at Telett to come work with us, but he had just gotten promoted and wanted to see the new position through. Lili was young and smart, very social media savvy and sick of working at Popeye’s so we gave her the gig. It was a perfect fit.
They arrived just before Michael’s driver came to take him to the airport. We played with the dogs, had the delicious dinner Holger prepared for us by the pool, then settled in with our reality TV, and Daniella still hadn't spilled what was going on with Duke.
I looked over as she checked her phone. I'd checked mine too, for the hundredth time, looking at the pictures Michael had sent me of Ruben holding Penny on the jet. I knew they were busy. Ruben might have been Michael’s personal assistant, but he was also his sounding board. Ruben was a great listener and gave extremely sensible business advice. And even if Michael just needed to talk his strategy through out loud, Ruben was the one man you wanted in the room to do a little eavesdropping.
I fought the urge to text Michael again and turned to my friend.
“Okay, you gotta dish. What's going on with Duke?” They'd been seeing each other on and off for as long as Michael and I had been an item. They were definitely sleeping together, but for a whole bunch of reasons they couldn't seem to move from fuck buddies to going steady for goo
d.
“He told her he loved her,” Lili said.
“Via text,” Daniella added. “Via text.”
I bit the inside of my lip as Lili rolled her eyes. I had thoughts and feelings, but I didn't want to give them up and make Daniella feel worse.
“I know it's not the same as a handwritten note but maybe—”
“No. I don't care if snapchat love is a way of life for some people. If you're going to tell me you love me, you tell me to my fucking face.”
“So, well, wait. What exactly happened?”
“He's in Miami right now working on De’Bonay’s new album, which yay holy shit. I can't wait until she goes on tour again, but he wanted me to come with him.”
“Is that bad?” I asked carefully.
“No, I just—I don't want to just kick it in the studio. I love what we have going on at K&D. I actually like going to work in the morning now. And now we have an office dog?”
“You want me to bring Patch to the office?”
“Yes,” Lili said without hesitation.
“Uh yeah. Of course,” Daniella went on. “The perks of owning your own business. You make the rules. But that's not the point. I just wish he were more like Michael. Michael has this wild, exciting life. He's on his private jet as we speak, but he keeps everything so normal for you. Well as normal as things can be with Holger in the house.”
A chuckle slipped out as I nodded in agreement but I kept my mouth shut again because any comment I could add, even to refute Daniella’s opinion of our relationship was too fucking cheesy for words. With Michael it was effortless. Yes, there was a lot of traveling, and meetings, and weird twenty minute pop-ins at charity events when Michael would have rather just sent a check but, even with the spur of the moment-ness, I got to be with him and I got to see him do things that made him happy. Michael loved to work.
And then, even when he was up to his eyeballs in contracts and app redesigns, and ad approval, he went out of his way to make me happy. I didn't have to work, and I knew it from day one per the terms of our initial Sugar baby/Sugar Daddy arrangement, but when my designs started catching a little traction online I knew I had more than a hobby on my hands. He didn't just sign a check and wish me the best of luck.
Michael was with us every step of the way, helping us find the perfect office space between our house and Daniella’s apartment. Suggesting that we needed a social media manager to start, helping us find the right people to build our website and teach us about stuff like mailing lists, and click through and conversion rates. He'd even helped us set up stuff like company health insurance so Daniella could get her HRT and other needs covered. Lili also wanted a vision and dental plan. And even though he was our financial backer, the company was ours, smooth and legal, and Michael had done all that to make me happy.
Was I bummed that he was gone for a few days? Shit yeah, but I knew he’d back soon. We’d kiss and hug, and I'd try to suck his soul out through his penis and after he did his best to dislocate my hip, we’d cuddle with our new puppies and things would be back to normal. I liked Duke a lot, but between recording, performing, and producing for other artists, I had no freaking clue what normal meant to him.
“What do you want to do?”
“I don't know,” Daniella said with a miserable sigh. “He sent the text and I was so...bothered by it I called him right back.”
“And?”
“And he was drunk. They'd been recording for thirteen hours, but they'd finally nailed the song so they were celebrating.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. So I don't even know if he meant it or if he was in some weird drunken sleep deprivation zone. Or feeling lonely because De’b is doing a lot of love songs on this one or what.”
“That dress is fucking hideous,” Lili blurted out.
Daniella and I both looked up at the mermaid-flared monstrosity. “I'm way too fat for that cut. You'd rock it though.”
“I would, wouldn’t I?” Daniella said flashing me a big grin.
“You and Michael headed to the altar any time soon?” Lili asked.
“Ho no, I don't know.”
“He not the marrying type?”
“Actually I'm not sure he is. I can see him being completely fine just being my boyfriend forever.”
“You two should totally get married and have all the babies. You already got dogs, which people say is like baby practice. Why not take it all the way?” Daniella said. She liked Michael for me so much she’d been teasing me about marrying him from the moment we started dating.
I gave Patch’s side an affectionate rub, tilting my head as the next bride-to-be stepped up on the riser in a champagne colored ball gown. “I could see myself marrying him though, I guess.”
“First step, puppies. Next step, marriage license,” Lili teased.
“Yeah,” I said with my own laugh. “We’ll see about that.”
“Anyway I told Duke we’d talk when he was done recording.”
“Yes, sorry. Back to you. When will that be?”
“De’bonay’s last album took eighteen months and they've been at it for exactly three weeks.”
“Dude!”
She shrugged, rolling her phone between her palms. I realized then how glossy her big brown eyes were getting.
I took her hand and pulled her closer, careful not to squish the puppy. “I'm sorry.” She let me cuddle her for a few seconds before she pulled away, wiping her face.
“It's so stupid. We have no future together. I mean I like him a lot, but I don't want be with a literal rock star. It's just too much.” I didn't know what part of it was too much, maybe all of it, but I saw where she was coming from. Michael was rich, but he wasn’t famous. Duke was a star and sometimes you could get burned standing too close to that much light.
My phone vibrated in my hand as a bride tearfully said yes to this dress that did nothing for her cleavage.
It was a text from Ruben, a picture of Michael stretched out with Penny asleep on his chest.
How fucking cute is this shit?
I smiled to myself, my chest hurting a little as I texted back.
Cute as so much fucking shit.
I couldn't wait for Michael to come home.
A few days turned into a week and a half. It was looking like Michael was going to buy the team, but a lot had to be discussed in New York at the NBA headquarters and then they wanted Michael to go to Miami to meet with Rick Chase, the team’s GM. Meanwhile, even though he was out on bail, John Taylor Wayne was refusing to give up the team, saying once he'd proved his innocence he'd “be back for another great season.” I mean okay, I guess, but allegations of murder for hire were pretty hard to come back from. If the commissioner’s office got their way, then Wayne would be forced out and Michael would become the team’s new owner.
Holger and I had made a ton of progress in our puppy training with Patch, who had settled in nicely to his role as office pup as well as guard dog. Our mail lady loved him, but while my dog and our large German friend were great company, and work kept Daniella, Lili and I plenty busy, I was starting to go through Michael withdrawal. We talked all the time and texted constantly. And there was phone sex and video chat sex, but boy did I want my man to come home.
He crushed me when he called that following Tuesday night on video chat to give me a status report, telling me he had two more days on the road.
“Can you tell how hard I'm trying not to bitch and moan right now?” I said looking at his slightly pixelated, but still hot as hell face on my laptop screen. I was sitting on the floor beside the bed with my computer on top of our messy sheets. The TV was providing the white noise and companionship a dog couldn’t.
“I miss you too, baby,” Michael said. “But I'll be back before you know it. You want to go to Half Moon Bay this weekend?”
“Oh is that all? Just a quick jaunt to Half Moon Bay?” I’d been wanting to go to NorCal resort town for months now, but we couldn’t find the time.
&
nbsp; “Somewhere in the Europe more your speed?”
“No, crazy. Half Moon Bay with you would be perfect. I'd love to go.”
“Good. I’ll have Ruben call ahead and tell them we’re bringing the dogs. I picked the right pooch. Penny travels like a champ.” I looked over my laptop screen at my own puppy who was snoozing at the foot of the bed, where he’d been sleeping every night that week, crate be damned.
“Hopefully Patch can handle the plane.”
“I'm meeting Duke at the studio for a bit tomorrow and then I have a few more meetings. Then I fly back to New York to meet with Steven so we can talk about shifting some of my responsibilities.”
“So you’re doing this. You’re buying a professional basketball team.”
“Yes, I believe I am.” Michael glanced down. He was twirling one of his cell phones on the edge of the hotel desk. He was thinking of something. Something that was bothering him. “I need you to tell me if you’re not okay with this. There will be a few changes for us. Nothing bad, but different.” He looked up at the screen again.
“Of course I’m okay with this. Babe, this is like your dream, even if it’s a little different from the original plan. Craziest thing happens, we move to Miami or at least get a place there and I can work remotely with Daniella, but that’s not a big deal or a bad thing. I’m excited for you.”
Another pause on his end. God, this whole situation must have been hitting him harder than I realized. It was a big deal, a huge decision, but Michael had gone from two bucks away from welfare to one of the richest men in the country. He could do this.
“Babe,” I said quietly. “I’m with you.”
He sucked in a deep breath and sunk back in his chair. “Thank you.”
“Tell Duke I say hi. And Steven.” Michael’s business partner was the sweetest.
“I will. Stand up. I want to see what you're wearing.” Apparently his mood had changed.
“Do you, now?” I said as I stood up anyway, tilting the screen back. I wasn't wearing anything particularly sexy, just a pair of pajama shorts and a cami with one of those faux bras that didn't actually support my huge boobs. Michael was still in his dress shirt and, I assumed, his slacks.
SO RIGHT: A Sugar Baby Novella Page 2