Mahogany: The Love Drought Series

by Nako

  “Cool, me neither. I got bills to pay. You think you’re attracted to me. Get my number, call and text me. Ask me on a date.”

  “I’m not interested in dating right now.”

  That tickled her. “Of course not.” She was done with him. He was attracted to her, but didn’t wanna date her? It was because she was a stripper. He had proved her point.

  “Goodnight.” This time he didn’t bother holding onto her.

  η

  It was Monday morning and he was back at the office. Mind on the money and sweet Mahogany. He let her be that night but didn’t stop his fun. He left some money with Noble who told Casey the next morning that she declined it. That didn’t sit well with him and he thought about popping up to the club this week. Depending on what his schedule looked like would determine if he would.

  “I need an assistant like yesterday.” He looked at his calendar and decided that someone needed to organize his time.

  “That’s why I’m here.”

  Jillian was at the doorway of his office. Porter didn’t greet her with a smile.

  “Shouldn’t you be home.”

  “I should, but I’m not. I have interviews for the next two days to hire you some help.” Jillian was always a step ahead of him.

  “Cool, starting salary is fifty. Experience is needed, I’m not in the mood to be repeating myself on the regular and must be able to travel. I have a lot of trips lined up.” He kept it corporate with her, the way her husband attempted to check her hadn’t really sat well with him.

  “P, I wanted to apologize.”

  “It’s cool. Got a meeting in five and need to make a coffee before that. You need to use my office for the interviews or?” He didn’t make eye contact with her either, which instantly told her he was feeling some type of way. He had always told her that direct eye contact went a long way in business and in friendships, along with a firm handshake, man or woman.

  “When are we going to talk?” she pressed him to open up to her.

  “Nothing to talk about. I transferred the money from my kids’ college funds to an account for the twins too. It’ll grow interest over the years.”

  She shook her head as she stepped into the office completely and slammed the door behind her.

  “Do I look like some tramp to you? You can’t buy your way back into my good graces. I’m coming to you as an adult and you gon’ throw some fuckin college fund in my face? Don’t you dare insult me, Porter! I don’t deserve it.”

  Oh yeah, Jilly from the block had grown up.

  She continued, “Now, like I was saying. I apologize for the way Brandon put you out of my home. It was wrong, and you know I chewed his ass out. I don’t know what you said to him when y’all went outside.”

  “The truth.”

  She was lost, so he told her, “I told him the truth.”

  “And what’s that Porter?” She rubbed her belly. The twins were kicking like starting players on a soccer team.

  “Nothing important. Let me know the top five people from the interviews. I’ll interview them after you weed out the others.” He grabbed his things and left her standing alone.

  Porter pulled out a black marker and drew a circle on the white board in the conference room.

  “Everybody see this circle? This is the inner circle in the industry that we are in, this is where the clients that we target are…Now, do you know where we currently are?” he questioned as he drew a line from the circle to the edge of the board.

  “HERE.”

  They were far removed from where they should be. It was his goal to get them back to the centerfold.

  “I’m putting everyone who didn’t get fired…y’all can thank Casey for that. You have twenty-one days to get my clients back. You also have twenty-one days to re-market our strategies. Get the numbers back. Get us back popping and buzzing in the streets, the clubs, online and most importantly, in the studios. Any new hot artists or models should be signing contracts in the next twenty-one days.

  “To make y’all move a lil’ faster, although I shouldn’t be doing this, but I like games… Whoever can find the next new thing will receive a bonus. Second prize is for the person who can sign five clients or more in the next twenty-one days. You’re dismissed.”

  “What will you be doing?” someone who clearly had big balls asked from the back of the room.

  Casey snickered, “Yeah, boss, what will you be busying yourself with over the next twenty-one days?”

  He eyed him and then said, “I got some business to handle.”

  “Whoever Juice is…. let’s roll,” he spoke to one of the interns who was unaware that Mr. Bavay knew his name.

  “Me…me?” he pointed to his chest.

  Porter turned around and found the voice that had said, “Me.”

  “Jamari…known as Juice? You went to CAU, right? My wife was your mom’s roommate in college, correct?”

  He stood up. “Yes sir.”

  “Okay. Let’s get going.”

  He was scrolling through some messages in his iPad this morning. It was connected to his iCloud and he remembered that Kim had been blowing him up about getting her line sister’s son a job.

  K - Porter have you gotten a chance to read over his resume yet?

  P – who?

  K – Are you serious right now? My line sister’s son. I’ve asked you like twenty times.

  P – why are you asking me and not Jill? She handles those things, love.

  K – because I told her that you’d take him under your wing. He’s really talented.

  P – why would you tell her that? They’re all “really” talented. I don’t have the time to mentor anyone right now.

  K – make the time. I’m about to call her and tell her that he’s good to go. Can you send the jet for him?

  P – you gotta be kidding me. Lol. Have a good night and kiss the kids for me.

  Juice looked at the other interns hating that they were now enlightened on how he got the job.

  “Kid, sometimes it’s not about what you know, but you who know. Consider it a blessing,” Taurus, one of the lead directors, told him after seeing how down he appeared.

  “Facts,” another one of the old heads chimed in.

  “You get to ride with the boss, get ready cus the nigga don’t sleep,” Casey warned him.

  Juice figured that’s what people always said about the boss…

  “Yeah right,” he thought to himself.

  Hours later, Porter nudged him. “Are you sleep?” He seemed disappointed.

  Juice straightened up in the back seat of the Escalade.

  “Nah, I was resting my eyes.”

  “What was your degree in?”

  “Marketing.” That was the first thing he had said to him all day. From the time they left the office, Porter had meetings back to back. His phone rang all day, yet Juice only saw him answer maybe two or three of the calls. They stopped for food that he barely saw him eat because he was emailing the whole time.

  After the sun fell, he thought they were done until they stopped in a studio and that’s where they had been for hours.

  As soon as they got back in the truck, Juice closed his eyes but didn’t know he had fallen asleep. While Porter heard the tracks and offered his expertise, he had Juice doing a to-do list of shit. He sat in the corner getting it done and didn’t complain not once.

  “You’re from down south as well?”

  He shook his head as he silenced his cell phone. It was his girlfriend wondering why he had been texting her slow as fuck all day nor had she heard his voice. He couldn’t wait to tell her about his day…whenever it wrapped up.

  “Ohio, my mom moved after college.”

  “Are you liking the job so far?” Porter was firing off the questions left and right as he texted rapidly on his phone.

  “Yeah, I do this and promote for this club.”

  “You can handle two jobs?” he stopped and asked him, looking him in his eyes and searching f
or the truth.

  Juice kept it real with him, “Don’t have a choice. Rent in New York is crazy. I got four roommates and we all paying…” Before he stared to complain he paused.

  “I can handle two jobs.”

  Porter went back to texting on his phone, thankful that the boy didn’t give him a sob story. He was a man and men had to do what they had to do. Excuses were tools of incompetence.

  “Where to sir?” the driver needed to know because they were holding up traffic.

  “You still with me Juice?”

  He was tired as fuck, but told his boss, “Of course.”

  “We’ll head to the strip club,” he instructed and then his phone rang.

  “QB. My man. What it do?”

  Juice didn’t hear any exhaustion in his voice nor did he appear to be tired. How did he do it? Juice would never know.

  They arrived at the club and P hopped out first followed by his intern.

  “You ever been here before?” he asked, after they made it inside.

  He didn’t really care if he had or hadn’t, was trying to make conversation while searching for Mahogany.

  “Nope, but the vibe seems cool. They got food?” he asked, his stomach was rumbling.

  “I believe so. Check it, I saw who I came for. Do you have my number?”

  Juice eyes almost bucked, but he kept it cool. “No sir.”

  Porter fired off his digits and walked off. Over his shoulder, he said, “If you head out before I’m ready to dip that’s cool. Be at the office at eight thirty.”

  He looked at the time on his phone. It was three forty-five in the morning. He wanted to see him in four hours? Juice waited until he could no longer see him in the crowd before grabbing an Uber. He was going straight home to crash so he could be on time for his second day hanging with the head honcho.

  Impatiently, he waited for Mahogany to enter the private section that he requested after running into Noble. Twenty minutes was too long for him to be sitting idly. The door opened, and he quickly told himself after seeing that it wasn’t her, “I can’t keep forgetting my heat.” He hadn’t carried a gun since he returned to New York and it was only because he didn’t have a need for it in France. He needed to break that habit and quick.

  “Who are you?”

  The stripper walked towards him, trying her hardest to be sexy.

  “Noble sent me in here. Nene is busy.”

  He chewed his tongue out of irritation.

  “Okay, you go tell Maho-”

  He figured they didn’t know her real name, so he stopped short. “Tell Nene that P said come here right fucking now.”

  “I went to her after Noble told me to come in here to make sure it was what she wanted, and she told me-”

  He stood up and buttoned his suit jacket.

  “Take me to her.”

  Porter wasn’t doing this with her, he had no problem showing her who he was.

  She hesitated until he gave her a hundred bucks. She wasn’t getting nothing more than that. His money was reserved for Mahogany.

  “I can do more than she was going to do for you.” She licked her lips.

  “Not interested. Where is she?”

  The stripper rolled her eyes and tapped the door for security to let them out.

  Porter followed her closely. “There she goes.”

  Mahogany was bent the fuck over, exposing her goods to some old white man who probably had no business being in the club afterhours.

  He stood back and watched her degrade herself. She had no idea he was staring until she looked up and her heart stopped.

  Porter shook his head, asking himself why he was even here. She wasn’t his bitch and dancing naked? Nah. Not his style or his type. He walked off and headed towards the exit.

  She hissed, “Shit.”

  The man asked her, “Why you stop, mami?”

  Mahogany ignored him and grabbed the money and her bag before running the best she could in the heels that she wore out of the club.

  She covered her titties as she walked down the sidewalk, calling his name, “P.”

  He kept it moving.

  “Really? You gon’ have me out here like this!” she shouted to his back which made him spin around and he looked even more disgusted that she was naked, and it was niggas standing around.

  He took off his suit jacket and walked up on her. “Are you serious right now?”

  “You left, what did you expect me to do?” she said in her defense.

  “Where are your things?”

  “In the club, duh!” Was he drunk again?

  He opened the door to the truck that he was in and told her, “Get in.”

  Before she could protest, he gave her a look that shut her ass up the fast way. He slammed the door, leaving her in the car with the driver that she recognized from the last time. She gave him a sheepish, “Hey.”

  He nodded his head and returned his eyes to the front of the club.

  Porter returned minutes later with all her shit and the knot from the last time he had seen her. He tossed her belongings in her lap.

  “Thanks.”

  “Noble said you’re fired.”

  Mahogany sat up in the seat. “What? Why?” She was enraged.

  “I told him to fire you,” he said it casually.

  “You can’t do that because you got mad at me dancing. What do you think a strip club is?”

  This man was crazy. The real question was who was he?

  “Exactly, so no more dancing for you. I told you that I didn’t like this shit.”

  She wasn’t okay with this at all. “And who the fuck told you that is your way or the highway?” She had bills and shit.

  “I got stuff to take care of. I’m saving for a car.” He didn’t have a clue on the life she was living or the things that she was facing right now. Why did he want her so bad?

  “We’ll get you one in the morning. What else?” Her problems were minor to him.

  She shook her head. “I don’t need saving.”

  C H A P T E R 6

  And you showing off but it’s alright. It’s your life – Drake

  When she woke up, she couldn’t remember where she was until it dawned on her that she left with P after work. She then recalled that he had gotten her fired.

  “Fuck.” Today was the first. Everything was due today.

  “I think you’re too pretty to have such a foul mouth.”

  She rolled her eyes and pulled the comforter over her entire body.

  “Get up. I don’t sleep in this late and I got a lot to do today.” He snatched the duvet off of her.

  Mahogany groaned, “I need to check on my son.”

  “You call him your son, although he’s not yours?” He was itching to get to the bottom of this story.

  “The only mother he knows. I’ve had him since he was born.” She wasn’t talking about that shit right now. It was too early, and she had enough on her mind.

  “Where is his mother?”

  “Prison and I’m done talking about it,” she told him as she sat up in the bed and patted her head.

  He cringed at the act. “You don’t want to take that out?”

  She saw the look on his face and busted out laughing. “I’m too hood for you, huh?”

  He opened the blinds by pressing a button near the television.

  “I think you want to be ghetto and you’re not.” He shrugged his shoulders.

  “Breakfast?”

  She stretched her arms above her head and moved her neck around.

  “I slept good as hell. Thanks for that massage…you’re bomb.”

  Mahogany was comfortable in her skin, so she wasn’t tripping on being naked. She had to pee and that’s what she went and did.

  “Damn, are the floors heated?” she whispered as she washed her hands then started the shower. There were a few toiletries that the hotel supplied, thank God. She was able to scrub her face, brush her teeth and wash her ass.

  Twent
y minutes or so later, she emerged with one of the robes on and found him in the front part of the suite.

  He was on the phone with his back towards her as he looked out the window, wondering if this hotel had any residential spaces on the top floor available.

  “Oh, hello.” She didn’t know he had company, so she backed up into the bedroom and shut the door.

  Porter turned around and shook his head. She was a nervous being.

  “Juice eat breakfast. We got a busy day. You grabbed what I told you to get from the office?” he asked him, with his phone away from his mouth.

  “Yes sir.”

  He looked at the door and back at Porter who was silently threatening him to get into something that wasn’t his business.

  “We’ll be leaving soon.” Porter turned the television on, the room was too silent, and he was too grown to be whispering.

  When he stepped into the room, he locked the door.

  “Good Morning Mahogany.” Every time he said her name her pussy pulsated.

  “I didn’t know you had company.” She pulled the belt on the robe tighter.

  “New intern that I’m training, nothing to be nervous about. Come give me a hug.”

  “You come give me a hug. What you think this is?” she tilted her head at him.

  “We gon’ work on that mouth.” He still came to her though.

  She smiled as he pulled her up and wrapped his arms around her waist.

  “Thank you,” she whispered in his ear as she stood on her tippy toes.

  “I haven’t slept that good in a very long time. Even the shower was amazing.” She knew she sounded like a bitch that ain’t have shit, but it had been awhile since she enjoyed the finer things. She was used to em’ so this wasn’t new to her, but still…Raheem had been away for five years.

  “No worries. What are your plans for today?”

  “Work at two.”

  He looked down at her and she quickly told him, “The diner, P.”

  “Oh okay.”

  “No more strip club. I’m not playing with you.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I hear you.”

  For now, she’ll try and make it work. However, if her lights or some shit got cut off, she was going back to work or at least another club.