by Nako
“Last night was different...” she finally addressed it.
His hand lingered on her waist. “Why? Because you thought I was going to fuck you.”
He didn’t want nothing from her and he planned on showing her that through his actions. Words were unnecessary. That’s how most females ended up disappointed. Niggas and their empty ass promises.
She nodded her head.
“I knew that eventually you were going to be pulling my panties to the side.”
“Not my style.”
Of course, he wanted to fuck her pretty ass, but he trusted the timing of everything. She acted tough but was really timid when it all boiled down.
The mug on her face was a façade. The woman behind the mask was who he was trying to get to know better.
“We’ll see.” She was trying to keep things kosher.
“We shall. I have your number, so I’m going to call you when my day winds down. No more strip club,” he reiterated.
“Alright, have an umm…productive day.”
This was a boss ass nigga, she had to get used to this…if they started talking or whatever.
She batted her eyelashes without even trying. He couldn’t wait to feel her lips.
“You too.”
They hugged once more, and he left a kiss on her forehead before leaving the room.
“How are you going to get home?” he filed back in and asked.
“Uber.”
Porter remembered that she didn’t have a car.
“We gon’ handle that today.”
Juice hopped up to his feet once the door opened. “Let’s roll.”
In the truck, Porter was on his phone, as usual.
“You want to know how Jillian got to where she was that others may call overnight”?”
“How?”
He put his cell in the cup holder and looked at him.
“She did what I told her to do, she went overboard to make sure everything I needed was done before I could think about it, and most importantly, she minded her business and didn’t discuss me when I wasn’t in the room.”
He continued, “In return, I taught her everything I knew and when the time came she was appointed the Vice President of my company. That could be you.”
Juice was thankful for the opportunity.
“Pay attention. Don’t be late. Don’t make excuses, mind your business when it comes to mine and I’ll keep you around. I don’t have a lot of patience and nor do I believe in second chances when it comes to doing what you’re supposed to do.”
“I’m on it.”
“Cool. Tomorrow, you’ll have an off day. I want you to go see my tailor. I can’t take another day with seeing you in the sneakers and ripped jeans. I’ve got billion-dollar deals on the table, man.” He offered him a smile and a handshake.
He then called Jillian, “Found someone yet?”
“Yeah, uh four people… When can you meet with them?”
“I’ll have Juice get with you. He needs the assistant, not me.”
Juice’s eyes sparked again. His life had changed in less than forty-eight hours.
“New mentee?” she almost sounded a lil’ hurt.
“Yep.”
“Hmmm, I’ll have Casey send him an NDA.”
“Sounds good to me.”
After they hung up, he shot her a text that read: I need two extensive background checks. Juice is from California. And the other name is Mahogany Sinclair, supposedly from Florida.
He went through her purse this morning in search of her last name. Simply because any personal questions that he tried to ask her, she shied away from.
He was feeling her, yet he still felt the need to protect himself at all costs.
Porter had a good judge of character, but even Lucifer was once an angel.
η
He really bought her a car. Pink slipped her ass. She couldn’t stop smiling and crying. This man was phenomenal. She pulled her shirt down, knowing that the tramp stamp was on full display as she jumped up and down. He did not have to do this, but he did. Minus her not being a prostitute, she was really on some Pretty Woman shit.
“I really don’t have a car note?” she asked him for like the millionth time.
He smiled warmly. “No, the insurance is paid up for the first six months, but if you can’t handle it after that don’t hesitate to let me know.”
She shook her head. “Nah, I can do that. Thank you so much, P. I can never repay you for doing this for me.” She was elated.
Mahogany took a look at the black, fully-loaded, fresh off the lot with zero miles, 2019 Range Rover.
“I had a Range a while back, never thought I’d have another one,” She told him.
He was shocked to hear that. “Really?”
She slowly nodded her head. “Yeah, they took it. The people.”
He didn’t know who “the people” were nor did he ask. She was a mystery and he was itching for the background check to come back that he ordered earlier that morning.
“You wanna take it for a spin?” He tossed her the keys.
“Juice, we’ll meet at eight at Treesound Studios. Got a session with J. Cole. Bring your camera, I’m sure you can get some dope footage for your site.”
This man kept leaving him speechless. First of all, how did he know he had a music blog and secondly, he was meeting fucking J. Cole? Was this real? Somebody needed to pinch him.
“I’m on it.”
Porter opened the door for Mahogany to hop in her driver’s seat. As he went to close the door, she grabbed his arm and pulled him into her.
“Thank you, seriously. You didn’t have to do this, but you did and I’m seriously…” she struggled with being so transparent with men because they were so quick to take advantage of a woman’s weakness and their shortcomings.
“I promised myself that I’ll never let another person take care of me and it’s really important that I keep my independency.” She had to let him know that up front. If the truck came with strings attached, he could have it back.
He understood completely. “It’s yours. Long as it keeps you off the pole, I’m good.”
“I never danced on the stage,” she clarified.
He cocked his head to the side. “Stage, floor, laps…whatever. None of it is acceptable.” That was the end of that.
He closed her door and went around to the other side. She revved up the engine and her pussy jumped at how good her new baby sounded.
“Oh yeahhhh!” She was lit as fuck right now.
“Where we going?”
She told him as she put her seatbelt on, “I’m treating you to lunch. You deserve it.” She had a few hundred dollars left after she handled all her business today since it was the first and she was going to buy this generous fella a steak.
“Do you mind if I run in my house and change real quick?” she asked him as they hoped on the expressway. The place she wanted to take them was a nice lil’ spot and hopefully, he had never been before. She could tell that he was an exquisite man, but she wanted to show him some things too.
“That’s cool. My day is free, the night is busy.”
She connected her phone to the Bluetooth and headed towards her house. Porter didn’t expect her to live in a condo or nothing, but damn, baby girl really lived smack dab in the hood. Harlem that is.
“I keep forgetting my pistol,” he said more so to himself than her, but she heard him.
“Oh, you good. I got mine. Come on...or you wanna wait in the car?” She wasn’t ashamed of her place and it was actually decorated nice. She still had her furniture from her old house that she once shared with Raheem.
“I’ll come up.”
They took the steps since the elevator was still broke. Porter hadn’t always lived as good as he did now, so his nose wasn’t turned up or anything. He was heavily considering upgrading her residence as well.
“Mi casa su casa,” she said, happily as she opened the door.
He br
eathed a sigh of relief. It smelled divine in her place.
“What’s the name of the candle you’re burning or whatever it is? I need it.”
“Ha, ha, ha! Uhh, Faboloso on the stove. My brother probably did that before he left out.”
P swore he was from the hood but was he really because she couldn’t tell.
“Your brother lives here?”
She dropped her purse on the couch and opened the blinds.
“Yeah, me, him and my son.”
“That’s not really your child…” He was trying to follow her, but she made it difficult because she didn’t give him much to work with. She was closed off.
“He is mine. Don’t let him hear you say that…he doesn’t know,” she told him quickly.
“Does your brother know?”
She said, “Mmm hmm. Be right back.”
Porter locked the door and took a seat on the couch.
She had a red leather sectional and a black rimmed glass table that seemed nice on top of a white rug. The kitchen was small, she had pots and pans everywhere. She told him the night before that she cooked every day no matter how tired she was. It was important to her that she gave her family a sense of normalcy and tradition; something that she didn’t have.
Under where the flat screen hung were several photo frames and because he was interested in who she was as a person outside of what she could possibly be portraying to him, he was curious to see her friends or family. He felt an undeniable attraction to her.
Porter bent down and picked up the frames. She was at a jail visiting some man that had a mouth full of golds. He looked like her type. Porter was out of her league. It was several pictures of him and her, he flipped them all over. There were none with the child or them together. Something was off about this. After he was done snooping, he sat down on the couch and checked his email while waiting on her to dress.
“I’m ready,” she said as she came into the living room dressed as sophisticated as she could. She wore high-waist bell-bottom flared jeans and a pink wrap blouse and a pair of Gucci mules with the matching bag. Porter had never seen her dressed in regular clothes, ever.
“Whoa.”
She blushed.
“No makeup, no apron, or bikini. How do I look?” she said as she spun around.
He wanted to push her thick ass up against the wall and show her how good she fucking looked and how appreciative he was of the switch-up. This woman standing before him was more of his speed.
“Is this you on the regular?” he had to ask her.
She shrugged her shoulders. “I work so much, I barely get to put clothes on.”
Mahogany had an amazing sense of style.
“Beautiful.” He nodded his head, taking her in from her head to her toes all over again. She didn’t ever need to add that caked up shit to her face again.
“I used to have diamonds and shit, but times get hard. I’m going to get it all back though.” She wasn’t telling him that for him to go get it. Mahogany felt as if he looked at her like some bum bitch that he had to fix up. She wanted him to know that she once had all of that.
“Before we go, who is this?” he wanted to know.
She rolled her eyes. “You got comfortable real fast I see.”
“It’s a lot I don’t know about you.”
“Porter, it’s still new. I’m not pillow talking on the first night and you weren’t exactly motor mouth last night either.” She still had that sass. It clearly would never go away, no matter what she had on and where they were.
“Touché, but answer my question.” He wasn’t letting her off the hook.
“My ex.”
“The one who I’m assuming got you the Range and the diamonds?”
She nodded her head. “Yeah, you ready? I’m hungry.”
They made it down the steps and back into the truck.
Porter turned the music down minutes later. She was driving and singing, happy as shit.
“Are you waiting on him to come home?”
She took a deep breath before speaking, “No, I am not. Any more questions?”
“Yes. Actually, I have several.”
“I have an idea. How about we go with the flow?” She wasn’t into spilling all her tea so soon. She had to trust him to even go there.
“How about you?”
He needed to chill and the look she gave him said, “not today.”
This was the first time in a while that she was in a good mood.
“Okay.” He reached over and squeezed her thigh. Every time he touched her, she struggled to maintain her composure.
“We’ll get there. I promise,” she reassured him.
Mahogany wanted him to chill out. They were going to enjoy their day together and let things happen as they were supposed to. Porter had a guard up and it was obvious she did too, but still, shit, life was short. YOLO.
The night before was like some shit in a book and the fact that he didn’t even try her made her like him so much more, but she knew how to play things cool. Clearly, he didn’t. He was used to getting what he wanted but he had another thing coming with Mahogany Sinclair.
η
He refused to let her pick up the tab and she had the nerve to have an attitude about it.
“You can pay for my haircut tomorrow. How does that sound?”
Mahogany told him, “How about lunch on me tomorrow? Porter, I don’t want you paying for everything.”
“Take me to get a haircut then.” He chuckled.
“You knew you were going to pay before we even got here.” She had peeped his move.
He didn’t clear that up. “Did I tell you how good you look today?” He couldn’t take his eyes off her.
She had smiled non-stop since she left with him last night and wondered if it was too soon to talk about happiness feeling good.
“I gotta watch you.” She wagged her finger at him before picking up her spoon and eating more of the lobster chowder that she ordered because she was cold.
“Watch me for what?”
His phones never stopped ringing, but he hadn’t picked up not once.
“They’re calling for a reason, P.”
She wasn’t one of those chicks where it had to be all about her all the time.
He gave her a look of compassion, before conceding, “Okay.”
He answered, “Yeah?”
That gave her a small window to text her brother, “I don’t care where you at, but you better be back home to get my baby off the bus. I’ll be home later. Left some money on the counter, order pizza.”
He wrapped the call up, asking her, “What you gotta do today?”
“Nothing. I don’t have work tonight,” she reminded him.
“I need to stop by this session real quick and then we can eat something on that side of town.” They had only had soup and salad so far.
Before she could say ok, he was throwing some money on the counter.
“Come on, I’ll drive. It’s a low-key emergency.”
“Ain’t no emergency low-key...” She had never heard that before.
“Industry term, baby.”
Baby…
Mahogany didn’t do the insta-love thing. She wasn’t easily impressed, and a nigga couldn’t fill her head up with the bullshit for her to drop her drawers. She wasn’t fazed, but Porter was inching his way past those steel walls and he wasn’t even trying hard. She could tell that this was him. He was a boss. What he wanted, he got. It was in the way he moved and how the people closest to him looked at him. Everyone respected him, and it was because he was a real nigga. One thing that she learned from her ex, was that every nigga claiming to be so authentic, really wasn’t. Character spoke volumes and Porter’s screamed loudly at her.
The night that she left Shakers with him was so smooth and not calculated. They got a room, but he didn’t get it with the intention of doing anything. He rubbed her feet during the drive as they sat in silence and their minds all over the place. When t
hey checked-in, he told her to get comfortable and then he asked her could he give her a massage. They made small talk and before she knew it, she had fallen asleep. No kissing. No rubbing. No gyrating. A peaceful slumber. He was gracious, kind, slow, and steady, which was the complete opposite of every man she had ever dealt with.
Mahogany asked him as they headed to the studio, “What exactly do you do?” She had been wanting to ask him that for a while.
“You didn’t Google me?” he wasn’t being sarcastic, he honestly wanted to know why hadn’t she. It would’ve answered a lot of questions that he didn’t want to. Like, for instance she asked him if he had kids and he told her no.
“I don’t have time to do shit like that, plus I’d rather hear it from your mouth.”
“You know how to roll?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Handle this for me.”
Another brownie point for her. Kim didn’t smoke, and she hated to even smell it.
Mahogany got to work and told him, “I’m listening. Are you a lawyer or producer? We’re going to a studio.” She was trying to figure him out.
“Hell no. My friend Casey, the one that calls you Pitbull, he’s a lawyer.”
“Oh yeah, wow. That’s dope a black lawyer.” She wished her brother could meet these guys. She wanted him to know that it was a whole world full of opportunities out there waiting on him to tap into.
“I own my own business,” he was being humble in his response.
“So why are we going to the studio then?”
She wanted to tell him about her dream but felt like if she told him now it’ll be so cliché.
“I dabble in music, it’s like my passion. I love it, but it’s not my bread and butter if that makes any sense.”
“It does.”
The blunt was rolled in no time.
“Damn, you did that fast.” He fished out a lighter from his pocket and gave it to her.
She concealed the blunt and lit it to make sure it was hardened before lighting and pulling on it. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye and loved the way her pouty lips wrapped around the tip of the blunt.
“Good shit.” She coughed as she headed it to him.
“Yeah, my dude got that pack.” He took a few pulls and then gave it back to her.