“I can't wait to see her,” Candy said as Rich steered down I-85 on their way to Queens Incorporated.
“You'll get your chance soon.”
“We can finally get things back the way they were.” Candy talked about them relocating to Atlanta. It was something they had once contemplated after Candy’s kidnapping. The city was perfect for Candy and her business, because the hair care industry thrived in Atlanta. The leading hair show, sponsored by Bronner Brothers, was hosted each year in the city. There was also a thriving black community in Atlanta from which Candy could find plenty of consumers if she decided to open another salon. And the fact that Rich was on the cusp of sealing a business deal with King, having access to King would be easiest for Rich if he lived in Atlanta.
Minutes later, Rich pulled up in front of Queens Incorporated. “I'll be back in a minute.”
“I wanna come in and see what your future business partner has going for himself.”
“I'm only gonna be a minute.”
“So for a minute, I'll get to see the business my man will be affiliated with.”
“You know Zora got an order of protection against you.”
Candy was silent.
“Baby, you ain't been out of jail a hot week.”
“And I'm not trying to go back, so go 'head upstairs.”
Rich kissed Candy. “Don't worry. One minute.” He put up his index finger, then exited his Audi R8.
Stepping through the glass double doors, he chatted with the receptionist before making his way to the fourth floor.
“Hey, Rich,” one of King's employees called out.
“How are you?” Rich greeted the short white man with a firm handshake.
“Good so far.”
“Catch up with you later.” Rich smiled and stepped toward King. The two men gave each other dap and hugged.
“My office,” King said, leading Rich through a corridor and into a large room backed by floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the streets below. African paintings plastered the wall to his left.
Rich sat in the leather chair in front of King's glass desk.
King sat behind the desk and handed Rich a folder. “That's the revised business plan for the L.A. branch.”
Rich opened the folder and scanned the Executive Summary at the beginning of the business plan. “I see some good changes from the last one already.”
“You negotiate hard like we back on the block,” King said with a smile, referring to the debate Rich had with him over some issues in the first business plan King gave him.
“Give me a couple of days with this.”
“Time is ticking, brah,” King said.
“I know.”
“Okay.”
“Now tell me something about Zora,” Rich said.
King sighed.
“Not good, I guess.”
“A woman scorned.”
“She said she was with the open relationship.” Rich shook his head.
“You know women are naturally more emotional than men, right?”
“Tell me something I don't know.”
“Well, Zora takes the concept of feeling to another level.”
“As my comrade, future business partner and her boss, I'm sure you can make her drop it a notch.”
“The only thing that can calm her is time.”
Rich huffed. “Even if you can't put a muzzle on her, you can definitely give her a pinkslip.”
King frowned. “Fire the person that helped me make millions because she got beat up by your woman?”
“Fire the woman that's trying to make my life so miserable that I can't get the time to put some money up for the LA branch.”
“My word is my bond and bond is life. When I was in the VIP at Magic City and Sue's Rendezvous scouting for strippers to manage, Zora was there with me. I gave her my word that when I blow, she'll always be there. She's an assistant making a manager's salary for a reason.”
Rich wasn't sure if he could accept King's loyalty to a woman who had helped him make legal money over his disloyalty to a man who knew him before her and helped King rake in blood money. But Rich thought deep as King elaborated on his position. After King's five-minute speech, Rich was seeing things different.
“So, what's the science?” King asked.
“I ain't gonna let no skirt come between us.”
King stood and walked around his desk, then leaned on it. “Listen, Rich. I'm gonna talk to Zora. And she's gonna have to understand that you're not the Rich that she was between the sheets with no more. You the Rich that was a boss on the streets and is about to be a boss within this corporation.” He gave Rich a pound. “But you gotta understand that Zora is a valued employee at this company.”
“I respect that.” Rich rose to his feet.
King smiled and walked out of the office with Rich.
As they made their way through the corridor, Rich noticed Katiya talking to a model. He made eye contact with Katiya and she winked. Rich cracked a sly smile, his eyes transfixed on the silk Vera Wang gown that clung to her curves like the label on a classic Coca Cola bottle.
“She's something special,” King said as he adjusted his tie.
Rich had been thinking about her since they parted at the hotel after their flight. But he had not had any contact with her. Not a call, not a text message. Definitely no sex. He was confident in his sexual skills and he knew Katiya's reaction to him was genuine, so she would eventually contact him. But under no circumstances did he plan to contact her. She would have to disregard her extreme arrogance and sense of entitlement to have the itch between her legs scratched by Rich. He was planning to eventually become faithful to Candy and Vanessa, but that would be after he was done with Katiya.
As Rich and King approached Katiya, the model walked off. “I guess power is intimidating to some women,” said Katiya, watching the woman depart.
“The truth is power and they say the truth hurts,” King stated.
“Truth is, account numbers and credit lines are power. And therein lies my strength and your weakness, King.” Katiya flashed a shrewd smile and turned to Rich. “You, my friend, may have the name, but your riches are untold thus far, even in the information age.”
“Where I come from, you keep your mouth closed and your mind open.”
Katiya grinned. “That's cute.” She walked away, then turned back. “Excuse me, Rich. It'll only take a second.”
There was no way Rich would submit to her order. She had just stepped away from him, so it was clear to him that she was trying to test her power of persuasion. “King was just leaving,” Rich said. King looked at him and then walked off. Rich laughed to himself as Katiya returned to him after he refused to move. You want me, you chase me.
She reached inside of his Tom Ford blazer, put her hand around his waistline and removed his phone. She typed in her phone number.
Rich liked her confidence. This chick is different.
“Anytime after seven, P.M., that is.”
Before Rich could respond, Katiya was walking off.
“I got her,” Rich mumbled to himself.
* * *
Rich stepped out of Queens Incorporated and into his Audi. He found Candy singing along with “Down on Me” by Jeremih and 50 Cent.
“You sure got in and out quick,” she said sarcastically, since Rich had been gone so long.
“It takes time when you're trying to get the person your girl assaulted to drop the charges and not act up in the future.”
Candy turned to Rich. “What did she say?”
“Probably a bunch of bullshit if I would've saw her.”
“So you never talked to her inside?”
“King. I spoke to him about her.”
“And?”
“You should get around the court case, but please don't say nothing to Zora if you see her.”
“Don't worry. I'm a quick learner and jail is a good teacher.”
Rich turned on the ignition and pulled
off. His mind was everywhere. Candy and her friction with Zora, Vanessa and whatever problem she had with him, what awaited him when he got with Katiya the next time. Katiya seemed to be the only woman that came with no drama. But relationships always seemed good at the beginning. It was when he got to know women that Rich had problems with them. When the flaws they concealed at the outset became visible through intimacy and time.
“Vanessa called when you were gone.”
“Lay it on me.”
“She's in the air and her flight is scheduled to land in an hour.”
Rich set his navigational system for Hartsfield Airport and stepped on the gas. They arrived shortly before Vanessa's plane was scheduled to land.
Rich and Candy sat in the terminal beside each other on a row of chairs. “I wonder where Vanessa went when she checked out of the telly?” Rich thought out loud.
“Me too. She said she's been staying with some friends.”
“Friends? I didn't get that shit the first time you said it after she called.”
“I told you.”
Rich was baffled. Vanessa was a loner. The only friends she had became her enemies when they violated Candy.
“Whoever they supposed to be, they live on Long Island somewhere.”
“At least she was all right all this time we was looking for her,” Rich said.
“She's a trooper. Definitely not that soft chick who came into my shop a few years back.”
“A lot of shit done changed since then.”
“I think ATL is really the change we need. Judging from how fast Vanessa made a move to come out here, I'm sure she'll like it too.”
Rich and Candy continued chatting for a while. They debated whether to take Vanessa out to eat or to the hotel they were staying at. Whatever their destination, they planned to put all of their issues on the table in an effort to heal the wounds suffered in their relationship and to move on. Rich knew that with Candy and Vanessa by his side, he would be able to take on the legal world he had been trying so hard to conquer.
The Miguel ringtone on Candy's iPhone sounded. “What's up, Vanessa?”
Rich watched as Candy paused.
“Okay.” Candy turned to Rich. “Her flight just landed.”
Rich and Candy sat patiently for a few minutes. Then passengers started piling into the terminal. Rich and Candy stood and watched intently as children, senior citizens and a group of soldiers headed their way.
“I think that's her,” said Candy.
Rich spotted Vanessa's afro puffs and smiled. “It is her.” She was wearing a patched denim dress and sneakers, walking among a crowd of people.
“Come on,” Candy said.
Rich walked beside Candy, both of them smiling when Vanessa noticed them. As they got closer, the crowd around Vanessa disbursed. There were only two people beside her.
Candy hugged Vanessa and kissed her on the cheek. “I'm so glad to see you.”
Rich stepped over and kissed and hugged her also, but he didn't feel her reciprocate the hug authentically. “I missed the shit outta you,” he said.
Vanessa smiled. “I missed y'all too.”
Candy or me? Rich didn't know how to read Vanessa.
She turned to the two white women beside her. “This is Peg and Heather,” Vanessa said. The women smiled and exchanged greetings with Rich and Candy.
Rich eyed Heather. This a thick-ass white girl. She got the crazy fatty. He noticed her sizing him up also.
“So you two met Vanessa on the flight?” Candy asked.
“No,” Vanessa answered for them. “This is who I've been living with on Long Island.”
Rich and Candy locked eyes. Then Rich looked at Vanessa. His mind wandered: What the fuck is Vanessa doing living with two white girls? And why the hell did she bring them all the way down to the A?
Vanessa looked at Candy and Rich. “I wanted y'all to meet Peg and Heather, because I'm thinking about moving in with them.”
“Moving in?” Candy blurted. Her face screwed up like she had just received news of a death in the family.
Rich shook his head. These white broads must got they lickin’ license and they done fucked Vanessa's head up. So much for all the plans me and Candy had for the three of us.
CHAPTER TWENTY
DOMINGO
Domingo grunted as he slammed into Chanel's pussy. Her legs were pressed against his shoulders, inching forward as the bed squeaked and the headboard slammed against the wall. “You killin' this pussy,” Chanel cried.
Domingo let her legs fall to the bed. He turned her onto her side in the fetal position. He stared at the fat lips of her pussy, then grabbed his dick and rubbed it over her lips, teasing her.
Chanel reached back anxiously. “Put it in me.”
Domingo wedged the head of his dick into her tight pussy. “Damn,” he whispered. He closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. He palmed her ass with his free hand and guided himself inside with the other.
“Ahh. Yes, Domingo,” Chanel screamed.
With his knees spread apart on the bed, his hands on her side and the front of her thigh, he began stroking—deliberate, short, powerful strokes.
“Yeah,” Chanel whispered as her fleshy tightness engulfed his dick.
Domingo could feel her pussy becoming more wet, allowing him deeper penetration.
“Take this pussy,” Chanel begged.
Domingo pressed her cheeks down, sandwiching her pussy tighter around his dick. The feeling of her insides magnified. Her hot juices leaked to his pubic hairs as he sped up his stroking.
“Yeah, faster,” Chanel cried. “Hit it faster. Beat the pussy up.”
Domingo entered deeper and faster. His neck stretched out as he was about to cum. He pulled out and spurted his white cream all over her large chocolate ass and thighs. Stroking his dick, he exhaled in quick, short gasps. He watched Chanel stand and head to the bathroom. Domingo snatched his sheets from the bed and walked into the bathroom. After placing them in a hamper, he and Chanel showered together.
Afterwards, they dressed and ate before relaxing. Domingo was lying on his couch with Chanel in his arms as they watched Alicia Keys and Bruno Mars perform on the BET Awards. When a commercial came on, Chanel asked, “How much do you think Rich is worth?”
“The question is, how much money he keep laying around?”
“He don't look like the shoebox stash type, so you got two problems.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yup. Getting him to withdraw from his accounts, 'cause I assume he got more than one.”
“What's the other problem?”
“The Twins. You can't have them regulatin' what you get.”
Domingo had long since known Chanel was a paper chaser. But he was just getting used to her straight talk about her interest in the plot. He didn't know whether to interpret Chanel’s input as genuine insight into a critical plan or her seeking to exert control over him.
“Don't trust the Twins,” she continued.
“Only dude I trust in the streets is Domingo, ya heard?”
“That's right,” Chanel replied.
The truth was Domingo had a lot of lust for, but little trust in Chanel. Like him, her loyalty could be compromised if she was confronted by the right number of dead presidents. But Domingo's attraction to her was growing as what had been mere sexual relations between them morphed into personal times spent outside the bedroom. The shift in their interaction changed drastically after Domingo convinced Chanel she was one step away from death and he was essentially her bodyguard. Domingo also knew that her ability to separate her attraction to good sex from the person giving it to her also was working in his favor.
* * *
Most people went to McDonald's to eat. But Domingo had used the fast food restaurant as a place to plot crimes. He remembered the meeting he and Candy had years earlier in the eatery to plot on burglarizing Vera's apartment. It was the sex tape they had stolen from Vera's apartment that was integral to Dom
ingo now waiting in the same McDonalds to plot with Vera's brothers on killing the only two people that Candy loved.
Lickin' License Part 2: More Sex, More Saga Page 16