by Nako
“I saw the folder in your office.” She downed the wine and left the glass on the counter top. “I’ll be on the deck.”
Mahogany was far from dumb.
Porter didn’t follow her immediately. He finished the email he was working on and then he went to check on her.
She had her knees to her chest, staring out at the view.
“How didn’t I notice your lingerie before?”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s not really lingerie.”
Porter was one complimenting ass nigga, “I like it.”
Mahogany remained silent. He sat beside her and then clasped his hands together.
“In the industry that I’m in, I have to always make sure that I’m being cautious.”
She didn’t need an explanation. “I’m not tripping. If I was I would’ve said something when I saw it.”
He also wanted to know if she was snooping and if she was, when did she manage to do so.
“When you had me bent over your desk…I saw it,” she said, as if she read his mind.
They had a quickie the other day and it was magnificent.
“Mahogany…”
“Porter, I’m not into mind games. You’re rich, I get it. You had to make sure that you didn’t meet a stripper in the club and I was looking for a meal ticket, right?”
He couldn’t get a word out, she cut him off every time.
“Look, let me fuckin’ talk. Damn.”
She shouted, “Don’t curse at me.”
He wasn’t hearing that shit. “You’re not giving me a chance to even speak.”
She tried to get up and he pulled her back down.
“We gon’ work on that walking off shit ‘cus I’m sick of it already,” he let her know.
She wanted to go home. Fuck this nigga.
“Nah, sit back and chill.” He held her tighter.
“I was digging you too fast and I had to make sure everything was everything. You don’t tell me shit. What did you expect me to do? Clearly, I’m still fuckin with you. You’re in my house.”
She looked at him and asked, “Now what? You know all of that about me, so how do you feel?” she was quite curious.
“I don’t feel no different than I did when I first met you. It’s a few things I wish to know, but that’s here nor there. If you’re wondering if I trust you, I do. Your past is your past. You’re not doing that shit no more, are you?”
She shook her head.
“When was the last time?”
Was this a trick question?
Mahogany took a deep breath, “Two months ago…I needed some money to move. My apartment had mold in it.” She was embarrassed.
He didn’t react.
“Look, don’t do that shit no more. I’m not playing. I will stop dealing with you. People work hard for their money, you don’t get to take it because you’re in need. And you could’ve asked me. If you didn’t want me to help you, I would’ve given you a loan,” he went in on her ass.
She felt like a child. “Okay.” She hated being called out on her shit.
“I’m serious.” He had done some bad things in the past, but now he was completely legit and expected her to be the same.
They had gotten that out of the way.
“Now, tell me about your previous deal and what happened with that?”
C H A P T E R 12
I’m just trying to see if I belong – 6lack
It was an hour after she was scheduled to be in the studio and she wasn’t there, nor had she called or texted to let him know that she would be late. Porter was in San Fran handling some business, but Juice had been keeping him in the loop.
“Yo, they’re about to leave. We can reschedule for next week or sumn,” was the last text that he sent.
Porter couldn’t even stop what he was doing and phone her. He felt like he shouldn’t have had too.
This was something that she swore she wanted more than anything else. Her actions weren’t reflecting her words. They spent hours the other night talking about her goals. Mahogany wanted to win a Grammy, or at least be nominated for one. She envisioned herself performing at the Super Bowl during half-time. She wanted a song with the famous rapper, Nash, who was an associate of Porter’s. Her dreams were massive, but they were possible. He honestly hadn’t had the time to check out their older videos on YouTube, he was a busy guy. So, he wasn’t necessarily sure if she had the uh…talent, but one thing that would always work for her was that she was fine as hell. Ghostwriters and choreography would do the trick to win the fans over. This is what Porter did for a living, he made miracles happen. She was his shorty, so why would he not help her get to the top if that’s where she wanted to be? He smoked a Cuban while she enjoyed countless glasses of Gen and he saw her in a different light. He could tell that it was a burden lifted from her shoulders now that she didn’t have to hide that she rapped or sung, whatever she did it was out in the open now.
He asked her the next morning had she been in the studio lately and she told him not as much as she wanted because she couldn’t afford it. He promised to get her some studio time soon and she hopped in his arms, kissed his face all over and gave him some of the nastiest, sloppiest head he ever had. It was so disgusting that he couldn’t even look himself in the mirror once she was done. He had moaned and groaned like a lil’ bitch. Her tongue needed to be in the Guinness Book of World Records, it was long, and fat and it had no problem exploring his entire body. She was a freak, certified, and he loved it.
Mahogany was so thankful for the opportunity and had pulled out her old notebooks, only wanting to give her best in the booth for whoever Porter would have her working with.
“Tell him thanks, let’s handle that invoice ASAP.”
He slid his phone back into his pocket and asked his dinner guest, “My apologies. What was I saying?”
η
Genesis didn’t get home until 3:27 in the morning and as soon as he walked his narrow, high ass in the apartment she pounced on him. Mahogany threw blows and every single one of them landed on his face. She wanted to fuck him up and that’s what she did. He thought that he was tough, but she was tougher. She was a real big dawg and would drag a nigga or a bitch. It didn’t even matter. She feared no one. He tried to block the blows but was unsuccessful.
“Man, get off of me.”
She didn’t even give him no lip, she knocked his ass out.
His eye was busted, and his mouth was leaking. Her chest was heaving up and down and she was tired as hell, but she had to let him know.
“I treat you too good for you to keep chumping me off. When I call you on the phone that I pay the bill on, you fucking pick up. If I tell you that you need to watch Kareem, I don’t care that you had plans. Your plans don’t make no money. You bring your ass home and watch him. I’m not going to say that shit no more. If you do this to me again you gotta go.” She meant every single word that she said, and he had to know it because he didn’t even refute it.
He went to his bedroom and slammed the door.
She yelled, “And you better not wake up my son!”
She was too good to him for him to be disrespectful. Whatever the hell he was doing in the streets wasn’t making him no money, so she really didn’t know what he was up to. Every other day, he was asking her to Cash App him twenty or forty dollars. She didn’t understand how he kept a girlfriend because he had no money. Those lil’ girls were caught up in his looks, it could never be her. She wasn’t dating nobody that didn’t even have a hundred dollars in his pocket. But, Mahogany was also a grown ass woman.
She promised her mama that she would look out after him, but she was getting fed up. Her mother was serving out a life-sentence for a double homicide.
Mahogany never had shit and her family didn’t either. She was determined to give Kareem and Genesis the world, but her brother had to start meeting her half-way.
She missed her first studio session tonight and she was pissed. Porter hadn’t called or
texted, which let her know that he was most likely disappointed in her. She was so mad at herself for letting Genesis ruin this for her that she didn’t even have the decency to let P’s assistant know that she would be late or not make it at all. The right thing for her to do was to inform him because they waited around on her for hours. It wasn’t a good way to do business and ultimately would leave a bad taste in people’s mouth about the type of artist that she was.
She was fuming and knew that she wouldn’t be able to sleep, so she cleaned up the kitchen and purged her closet. She checked her phone every few minutes, still no contact from P.
Mahogany had to stop being so stubborn. She could’ve easily explained the situation to him. The sun came up sooner than later and she woke Kareem up to get ready for school.
“Guess who made your favorite breakfast?” was how she greeted him. He was a hard sleeper and hated to get up in the morning.
At the mentioning of his food, his little greedy butt hopped up.
“Mommy, you made pancakes?” he sounded, delighted.
“How about you brush your teeth and make your bed then you’ll find out!” She tickled his belly.
He fell out laughing and shaking, “Aah, aah, okay, okay, okay!” he surrendered.
Kareem was her heartbeat.
Over breakfast, he shared with her that he was learning Spanish at school and a host of other things that he would probably tell her again once she picked him from school.
Mahogany dropped him off at the bus stop, not in the mood to walk today.
“Love you.” She bent down on her knees and gave him a hug and a kiss.
“Don’t kiss me in front of my girlfriend.” He wiped it off and ran onto the bus.
She was in complete shock.
“Girlfriend?” she repeated the word. Her baby was only five years old, what the hell did he know about having a significant other?
That damn Genesis, she thought to herself.
She went back home, showered, cleaned the kitchen and left her brother a plate in the microwave. She wasn’t mad at him anymore. It was time for her to put her foot down and that’s what she did. Unfortunately, she had to beat him up to do that. Different strokes for different folks.
As soon as she pulled up to work, she saw that familiar truck.
“It’s too early...”
Damn, P could’ve at least called her first to let him know that he was back in the city. She swore that he told her he would be gone for a week.
She pulled her truck to the rear parking lot and entered the diner through the side door for employees only.
“Girl that man gon’ marry you,” one of the other waitresses told her.
Mahogany didn’t offer a response. She put on her apron and grabbed her notepad.
“It’s dead in here today. Where everybody at?”
The woman shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe ‘cus it’s spring break...”
She forgot that today was the last day of school.
Porter must’ve been on the phone because he didn’t enter the diner until about forty minutes after she had clocked in.
She pointed to her section so that he could know where to plant himself and he took a seat in one of the available booths. Simply based on how he walked in, let her know that he was in a bad mood. Mahogany brought him a water and sat down since the diner was empty and the boss wasn’t in.
“Porter-”
“I work really hard. Do you think that I play tennis all day?”
She took a deep breath.
Yeah...he was mad.
“Yo, Mahogany, nobody ever gave me shit. Everything I’ve got, it’s from the mud. My mother passed, and I got a hundred-thou from her insurance policy. Do you know what I did with the money? I blew it. I was poor. I was homeless and I ain’t have shit… So, from that day forward I worked harder than anyone around me. I’m the richest nigga in my circle and that’s facts,” he spewed.
When he got like this, whether he was chewing her head off or mad at someone that worked for him, she was incredibly turned on. She was so wet that she wanted to tell him to follow her back to his whip, so she could apologize the right way.
“I couldn’t find a babysitter, Genesis wasn’t answering the phone.”
He wasn’t trying to hear that shit. “Excuses.”
Somebody that wanted to make their dream come true would’ve brought their son to the studio.
“You have to do better. I don’t waste my money nor people’s time and you did both last night.”
She felt horrible. Not only because she failed to communicate properly with him or his assistant, but because he truly looked disappointed in her.
“Do you really want to do this Mahogany?”
“YES!” She was serious about this.
“Alright. Well, I hope so because I’m not too lenient in situations such as these. People only get one time to show me who they are and what their work ethic looks like,” Porter kept it corporate with her.
“Okay and thank you again.” She could still feel and see the agitation on his face and in his energy.
“I gotta go to Paris for a few days, I stopped here to see you.”
This was the real deal boss nigga and he was hers, or at least he had her thinking that he belonged to her.
“Wow, so dope. I always wanted to go there. Be safe. Facetime me if you go to the Eiffel Tower.” She smiled, genuinely.
He asked her on the whim, “Come with me.”
She shook her head, if only her life was that easy, where she could say fuck everything and hop on a private jet. She had come a long way from fucking with a nigga who scammed flights to dealing with a grown man who owned his own plane. Thank You God for the upgrade.
“I wish… Kareem is on spring break starting tomorrow and I need to-”
“Y’all both come then. You want your brother to come too?” He was with whatever.
Her mouth dropped. “Get the hell out of here, Porter! Are you being for real right now?”
“Yeah. I’m leaving tonight. Let me know.” He had a few more errands to run and needed to get going.
Whether it was major or minor, he was always so laid back.
“Uh, okay, I will. You sure?”
He stood up and she did the same.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
They walked outside, and she was seriously considering going with him. Kareem would love that.
“I’m going to see, and I’ll text you in a few hours.”
He nodded his head. “Alright. Give me a kiss. I gotta go.”
She wanted him to loosen up. She could tell that he was still kinda upset with her. Mahogany reached on her tippy toes and he bent down a little bit. They smooched and then she wrapped her arms around his waist. “I apologize again, and I’ll let Juice know that I’m sorry as well.”
“No need, we’ll get you rescheduled for next week. Hit me about the trip, so I can make arrangements.”
“Wait, I don’t have a passport and he doesn’t either.”
He wasn’t worried about that. “I’ll make sure y’all good.”
As he always did. He was beginning to say that more often and she prayed that he didn’t get tired of her.
η
“The only person I know that gets more facials than me,” Nia Hudson teased.
P didn’t even see her coming out of the Women’s locker room.
“What up girl? I came in here to see what’s going on with this model chick that work here. Have you seen her?”
The young lady was only nineteen, dark-skinned and ice blue eyes. She had a one-of-a-kind look and since he was in the area, he decided to stop by her job to see if he could change her life. She was nervous and had a lot of questions, so he suggested having one of his reps take her to lunch or dinner this week to see if there was anything that Beauty By Bavay could do for her.
“That girl is not trying to make no money.” She tried a few times to sign her.
Porter shook her head. �
��It’s all in the approach and presentation.” He had been doing this for years. Nia didn’t have the patience to secure the deal.
“Yeah, well if you get her, let me know. I would love to see her on some of my campaigns.”
He asked her, “How have you been doing? Been to church lately? The next weekend that I’m here, I’m going to catch a service.”
It had been on his mind, constantly and was something that he wanted to add to his life.
“Good, no complaints. The grind don’t stop. I’m sure you know all about that.” They were one in the same when it came to working like slaves. Nia had slowed down over the years, but every now and then she got a new idea and it permeated her completely.
“Certainly.”
“I try not to miss church, so I’m still there. Sure, I’ll be in attendance when you come again. I know you’ll love it. Every Word is on-time for me.”
He understood that. “Yeah, I’ve been catching up on the past ones online. He’s a good teacher too. Dude should consider doing a TED Talk.”
Nia laughed, “Right? I can listen to him for hours.” She agreed with P.
“Yeah, I’m digging it. But it was good seeing you, lady.” He hugged her once more and then headed towards the exit. Since he was kind of waiting around on Mahogany to let him know if she was going to come to Paris with him, he was knocking out a few things on his to-do list that had been constantly pushed aside. Porter was all about remaining productive. An idle mind was the devil’s workshop.
Once he got back into his truck, the pilot texted and asked if they could leave tomorrow. It was his daughter’s recital and his wife would have his ass if he missed it.
He knew how that could be. “Of course, man. Take pictures. Resend updated flight itinerary.”
That worked better for him. Now, he could see if shorty was serious about her craft.
P shot her a text, “Change of plans, we’ll leave tomorrow. Studio tonight at seven thirty. Same location.”
She was relieved that she didn’t have to rush anymore. Mahogany sent him back the thumbs up text. She clocked out since the diner was slow anyway. She went to get Kareem out of school so that she could take him to get a haircut and pack for the trip. He didn’t know where they were going, and she wanted it to remain a surprise until they landed.