The Graffiti Effect

by Forrest, Perri

  Not only was foreplay out of the way when we got to the bedroom, I had already cum once on his fingers, and again with him inside of me. Having gone months without a man’s touch, it was no surprise that I came so quickly. All I knew was that before he left my bed and went back to his life, I wanted more. For all I knew what happened could’ve been another one-night stand and I wanted to be well-stocked.

  I looked over at him, still sleeping peacefully, and noticed the scar below his shoulder blade. The one that I assumed was from his attack. It was embossed, and crimson colored against the olive-toned hue of his skin. Instinctively, I reached out to touch it to see what it felt like. My fingers brushed across it a few times while we were having sex, but I always managed to move it for fear that I was hurting him. Feeling it now it felt like a thick welt with a smooth surface. But it was long! Almost as though they’d put the knife in and dragged it in either direction. It made me shiver at the thought. Sadness crept over me at the thought that somebody could be that heartless, so cruel.

  Suddenly, he stirred causing me to yank my hand back quickly. For some reason, I was consumed with a feeling of embarrassment. I didn’t want him thinking that I was touching on him in admiration. Like I’d fallen in love overnight or anything like that. Curious was all I was, and now it might have him looking at me with a watchful eye.

  Oh God. That would be all I needed.

  He stirred again and rolled over to face my direction. Fuck! I frantically searched my brain for an idea of how to play it off. To act like I wasn’t just mesmerized by his scar. But I had nothing. I just had to fess up and hope he didn’t think I was lying. That I was some kind of stalker obsessing over him while he slept, and shit. Like, I was the person that stabbed him! Oh my God!

  His eyes opened and landed right on mine. I wondered if he saw my heart thumping through my chest. I was naked! He could very well see that! Our eyes remained locked for a few seconds before he started laughing. It started out as a low chuckle at first, and then he just let the laugh come all the way out. I was confused, and at the same time felt kind of stupid.

  “What’s funny?” I asked defensively, and semi-nervous about what his response would be.

  He took his forefinger and lightly tapped my chin. “You. You’re funny.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Bashfulness sent a warm rush from my neck to my face.

  “What were you doing before I woke up?” he asked me.

  “Nothing,” I said, attempting to climb out of the bed. He grabbed my wrist before I could get anywhere. “I wasn’t doing anything,” I lied. “I mean, if you mean . . . I-I . . . was—”

  “You’re stuttering and you don’t need to.” He propped up on his elbow, never taking his eyes off of me. “You’re an overthinker, Kassidi. I was laughing because I knew what you were doing inside of your head.”

  I was shocked, and busted, and waiting to hear if he really knew, what he thought he knew.

  “What was I doing?”

  “Over . . . thinking,” he repeated. This time with some emphasis.

  Shit. He did know! Kill me now!

  “Okay . . .” I managed to say, confirming his thoughts.

  “But you didn’t have to think about it too much. I’m not gonna think that you’re doing anything other than being curious about the scar on my back. The same one that you were too scared to touch when . . .” He stopped to smile at me, causing me to lower my gaze away from his. “. . . we were otherwise engaged.”

  “Okay, okay!” I blurted out, feeling shy about everything all of a sudden. “So, you figured me out. I’m transparent. Gotta work on that.”

  “You don’t have to. It’s cute. You’re cute. And your touch is nice. And you’re hospitable. You fed me, you fu—”

  I threw my hands to my ears and shook my head side to side, animatedly, like a kid.

  “Dooon’t say it!”

  “Okay. I won’t.”

  “Thank you,” I sighed.

  A part of me wanted him to go, so that I could live in my embarrassment alone. But the other part wanted him to stay a while—a long while.

  “No, thank you,” he said, grinning slyly, running his palm up and down my thigh. He had to know that he was stirring desire up all over again. “You know . . . I guess we kinda got history now.”

  “You know. I guess we kinda do,” I said, blushing.

  “So, you game to add some more layers before I have to go?”

  A simple nod was my response.

  -64-

  MARCO

  Monday morning

  It felt good being back at work. I missed it. Handling business from a hospital bed just wasn’t the same as being there, in the physical. More than anything, the pride I felt driving into my “Reserved” parking space was something I couldn’t explain. It brought about a sense of pride that I hadn’t felt any other time in life. I started moving people when I was in high school. By the time I got to college, with all the students moving in and out of the dorms, it just kind of fell in my lap.

  Seeing that a lot of students were driving across the country to campus, with their parents assisting with the offloading, it struck me that I could do the moving and the offloading. It wasn’t until my sophomore year that I really put things in motion. Of course, at that time, because of my academic demands, I couldn’t do anything but local moves. However, doing local moves proved to be profitable all on their own.

  Multiple notifications chirped on my phone when I was getting out of the car. I already knew it to be emails. Thing is, I had already sifted through my emails before I left home. You would’ve thought I hadn’t been working behind the scenes, the way my inbox flowed over. No complaints from me, though. If nothing else, moving was a lucrative business. And the corporate moves were even bigger. The more they outgrew their space, the more they had to find larger commercial property, and the more they had to shift their manpower to these new areas. It was never-ending; so was the amount of people moving into Vegas! Especially, with the Raiders on their way. Any and everybody wanted to move here.

  I walked through the glass doors and was immediately greeted. “Hey Mr. Graf!” It was Danny, our security, at the front of the building. And security was exactly where he belonged because nobody would ever be stupid enough to bogart their way past the man. He was somewhere around six-four and a solid two-eighty. He was friendly enough, but he played no games. He came with a reputation, which was how I ended up hiring him.

  “Hey, Big Guy!” I shouted, returning his greeting and heading over to shake his hand.

  “It’s good to see you back. My wife prayed for you every night. So, she’ll be glad to hear you’re back, and whole.”

  “Aww man, that means a lot. Please tell the Misses that I appreciate it.”

  “I’ll definitely do that. You have a good one.”

  “Thanks, Danny. You do the same, man.”

  I made my way to the elevators hoping to get inside and jumpstart things before the office filled up and I started being pulled every which way.

  I knew of at least three meetings that I had to take. I was sure that would more than likely triple before the end of the day. Luckily, I was up for it. My energy level was way up. This morning, I was able to do my run and that made me feel like I was one step closer to getting back to The Graffiti Effect. I missed my show like crazy.

  Where most people dealt with going into jobs they hated, I was fortunate enough to have two that I fucking loved to death. If I couldn’t dance, I would go crazy. That artistic side dominated in a major way. It was in that role that I got to zone out when I heard the cheers and the music. But then, if I couldn’t have Black Ice, I’d go crazy. They both fulfilled me in different ways.

  And speaking of being fulfilled in different ways, somewhere during the time I got off the elevator, and behind my desk, Kassidi crept into my thoughts. I had her pegged all wrong, so I was glad that we got the chance to connect. She was a sweet girl. She was attentive and caring.<
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  I chuckled out loud at just showing up at her doorstep after my welcome back party. I honestly didn’t think she’d open the door. Not only did she open the door, she fed me! After the tense moment we had hours before that, she still offered me food and her company. I could tell how uneasy she was at the club when she tried apologizing. I could also tell that apologizing wasn’t something that she did often. That’s why I felt the need to go see her. I didn’t want her thinking that her effort went unrecognized. Besides that, she looked sexy as hell in her outfit. And her eyes. I was attracted to her eyes.

  Her conversation was good, her food—or should I say her potatoes—tasty as hell. And the sex . . . she was hungry for passion. Her pussy was tight as hell too, so I knew it had been a while for her. The way her walls held onto my dick, said they didn’t want to let go. A part of me thought that after we fucked the first time, she’d become all subdued and plagued with guilt, then ask me to leave. But it didn’t go that way. I was surprised. Even more surprised that I’d not only kissed her, but that I woke up in her bed.

  I didn’t know where things were going with her, but for now I was hoping that we’d be occasional lovers if she was down with that. I wasn’t in any hurry to rush into a relationship. I had too much going on, and the verdict on all women being emotional wrecks, was still out.

  After my computer loaded, and I listened to a few voicemails, I realized that my own phone was in the car. How could I have heard the notifications and still manage to leave the phone? I made my way back down, and as soon as Danny saw me, he yelled out, “Decided it was too soon to come back, huh?!”

  I laughed and responded, “That’ll never happen.”

  “I kid, I kid,” he said, releasing a laugh.

  I got to the glass doors, and as I did a man that I’d never seen before, approached. “Marco?”

  I looked him up and down and then behind him, my eyes meeting with a buff dude, sporting dark sunglasses, and wearing all-black.

  “Who’s asking?” I asked him. My defenses were up. Way up. Especially, after what I’d gone through, recently.

  He stuck his hand out in front of him and toward me. “I’m Adonis Anastas. I was wondering if we could speak for a few minutes?”

  -65-

  MARCO

  Adonis Anastas sat in my office. He was laid back, calm. I couldn’t help but size the man up. He seemed bigger than life. Like he traveled in large, important circles. He was loaded, I could tell. It wasn’t just the designer suit he was wearing, the leather Oxfords, or even the designer eyewear he removed when he introduced himself. It was that he was traveling with a damn bodyguard. Not just some security guy like the one Cyn tried to talk me into keeping, but a real damn bodyguard. Reminded me of some secret service shit. I mean, the dude didn’t crack so much as a smile. And the Adonis Anastas person didn’t bother to introduce him. Not that I cared to meet him. Shit, I didn’t even know what this dude wanted with me.

  “You want something to drink, Mr. Anastas?”

  “Oh, no thank you. But don’t let me stop you.”

  “Would your . . . friend like—”

  “No, he doesn’t drink on the job. But thank you for the offer.”

  I nodded, then hunched my shoulders wanting whatever this was, to usher along so I could get on with what I was sure was going to be a very busy day.

  “Okay, so what can I do to help you, Mr. Anastas?”

  He stared at me for a few seconds, and in turn, I returned the favor. Several seconds later, he smiled and nodded his head.

  “You’ve got heart. I like that,” he said out of nowhere. He turned around and looked at his bodyguard and repeated his statement. “You see that, Vido? He’s got heart.”

  “Yeah, boss. I see.”

  Shit, I didn’t even know that Vido’s burly-ass spoke until that very second. But this man-on-man admiration was making me uncomfortable. More than that, I was growing impatient.

  “Am I supposed to not have heart?” I asked, sarcastically. “What am I missing?”

  “Oh, nothing. You’re not missing anything,” Anastas said. “Strictly observation, on my part.”

  “Observation. Okay. Did you come here to observe? Or to conduct business? Because I gotta tell ya, I’m confused as hell. I just got back to work after a brief absence and have a very full day ahead of me. So, state your intentions, or I’m going to have to end this where it’s at.”

  “A good businessman too. Impressive. Straight to the point. Taking no bullshit.”

  Did this motherfucka think I needed his goddamn approval or some shit?! Literally everything I did his ass had commentary for. The fuck?!

  I leaned forward in my chair and placed both of my hands on my desk.

  “Okay . . .” I said, addressing them both. “What’s going on? What can I do for you?”

  “Well, I’m here to discuss something business, something personal. A little bit of both.”

  “Personal? How can personal come into the equation when we don’t know each other?”

  “I’ll get to that. You had an encounter recently, right? A situation where someone tried to hurt you.”

  “What the fuck is this?!” I shot. I was beginning to think this was some kind of set up or something. I pushed my chair back from my desk and stood, watching as bulky Vido took a few steps forward.

  “Vido. It’s cool,” he told him, holding up his hand to stop him.

  He didn’t need to instruct Vido in any way. Vido could’ve taken as many steps as he wanted to, before he was greeted by the business end of the revolver, I kept in my desk drawer.

  “Why don’t you and Vido get the fuck outta here,” I ordered. I kept my voice low so that nobody outside my office became alarmed.

  “Just calm down for a minute. Let me say what I came to say and then I’m on my way. I’m here on behalf of family. Not to hurt you in any way. Vido’s presence probably won’t allow you to relax. But I promise you that you can do just that.”

  “Vido doesn’t intimidate me at all. The bigger they are the harder they fall.”

  “It doesn’t need to come to anything like that,” Anastas remarked. “Vido operates off of body language, and tone. So—”

  “What did you need?” I asked, cutting into his spiel that I wasn’t interested in. “Because I stopped having time for this more than a few minutes ago.”

  “Again, your encounter. I’m here about that.” He must’ve read my mind because then he said, “No, I’m not the person that did it.”

  I slowly opened my desk drawer and my eyes went right to my piece. I wanted to know that it was right where it needed to be in case I had to handle my business with these assholes. It was a very real possibility that something could go down, since I honestly felt like this asshole was trying to bait me. I was dying to find out what the fuck his angle was. One thing I had been waiting for was the chance to get ahold of the person who violated me. If he knew who that was, or if it really was him, God help us all.

  “So, wait. Are you telling me that you know who did do it?” I asked, sternly, my blood starting to boil.

  “Yes. I do know.”

  What did he just say?! Did I hear him right?!

  My posture straightened, the hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention. He had my full attention. But my heart was also racing at the thought of what might come next. I massaged my temples trying to maintain my calm. I wanted to blow up.

  “What do you mean you know?” This time I did reach in my drawer and placed my hand on the cold steel, tightly gripping the stock.

  “It was your sister, Marco. Your sister tried to kill you.”

  -66-

  KASSIDI

  I had just looked up and spotted Kandice rounding the atrium and making her way into the kitchen area, where I was. I halted pouring milk into my Honey Nut Cheerios because I had a few minutes of teasing to inflict on her ass! So, I was going to hold off on the milk because Lord knows that soggy cereal is nobody’s friend. I took a few
steps over to the counter and tore two paper towels from the rack and then laid them over my bowl.

  “Oh, my goodness,” was the first thing Kandice mumbled when she made her way in and we locked eyes.

  “Oh, your goodness, what?” I asked when she reached me.

  She laughed, then turned her attention away from me, making her way over to the fridge.

  “We’re reading lips now?”

  “Oh, yeah, Miss Kandice. We’re reading lips. We’re reading body language too.”

  “I’m not doing this with you, woman.”

  “Why not?” When others began piling into the area to prep their breakfast, or grab a mug of coffee, Kandice took the opportunity to escape. But I was right on her heel with my milk-less bowl of cereal. “Girl, you need to know that I don’t give up.”

  Kandice stopped near the elevators and turned to me, her pretty face lit up into a bashful smile.

  “I can’t believe you,” she said, shaking her head. “Relentless.”

  “Right, so follow me,” I said to her, smiling wide. I didn’t even get my office door closed good before I went in. “Ummm, I didn’t hear from you all weekend. You dropped me off and disappeared into the night. I’m just tryin’ to hear what went on between you and Mr. Alonzo the Attorney.”

  I sat my bowl of cereal down on the credenza right inside my office, then we walked over to the far end of the room where the window was, and took seats at the round table. Kandice folded her arms across her chest and tilted her head at me, a funny-looking grin on her face.

  “What?”