by Bailey West
“I can take care of that.”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, “Okay.”
She got out of the bed and walked to the bathroom. I watched the nice jiggle of her butt as she walked past me, closing the bathroom door behind her.
I sat down in one of the wingback chairs in my room and stared at the door to the bathroom, much like a puppy stares at the door waiting for their owner to return. I listened to the shower run and then turn off. My heartbeat sped up a little when I saw the handle on the door turn.
She walked out of the bathroom with a make-up free face, wearing my top. I smiled as she approached. I stood to meet her halfway. I pulled her into me and kissed her.
“Are you hungry? Would you like breakfast?”
As if answering for her, her stomach growled.
“Well, I guess that answers that!” She laughed.
I took her hand.
“Come on, let’s get that taken care of.”
I led her from the room and back down the stairs to the kitchen. I stepped in with Averie behind me.
“Good morning, Lita,” I said to my house manager.
Averie grabbed my hand tighter and stepped back out of the kitchen.
“I didn’t know someone else was here,” she said while hiding behind me.
“It’s okay,” I laughed. “This is Lita, my house manager. She and her husband take care of the house while I am in the city. Lita, this is Ms. Patterson.”
Lita smiled and stepped around me to greet Averie.
“Nice to finally meet you, Ms. Patterson.”
Averie extended her hand. “Nice to meet you too, Lita.”
“Please, if I had legs like those, I would never cover them up,” Lita laughed at Averie still trying to hide.
“Lita, can we have breakfast on my balcony?”
“Of course. Ms. Patterson, do you have any food allergies?”
“No, and I will eat a pig from the rooter to the tooter so whatever you make will be fine with me.”
“Great, I will prepare something and bring it up. Are you going back to your room now? I would like to send Marshall up to straighten up your room.”
“Ms. Patterson is hungry now, so…”
“No, I can wait. I will be okay.”
“Are you sure?” I raised one eyebrow. “Your stomach seemed to disagree when we were upstairs,” I chuckled.
She playfully hit my arm, “I’m okay, Lita. I can wait. Thank you,” she graciously smiled.
“Alright, I will give Averie a tour of the house while he takes care of the room.”
“Wonderful,” she turned back into the kitchen. “Again, it was nice to meet you, Ms. Patterson.”
“The pleasure was mine, Lita.”
“Oh, and Lita, Ms. Patterson will be my guest for the weekend. Can you call and have a couple of casual outfits sent here for her? We will need them by this afternoon.”
“Of course, I will call Emily at her boutique and have them send something right over. Ms. Patterson, can you write down your sizes?”
Lita’s daughter owned a boutique that I put up the initial investment for. She has since paid me back, but I try to send business her way as much as possible.
Averie looked at me seeming unsure. I motioned for her to take the pad and pen Lita was offering. She accepted them and wrote down a few numbers before giving the pen and paperback.
“I will show her around the property, then we will be ready for breakfast.”
“Okay, Mr. Valentine.”
I held Averie’s hand and led her out of the kitchen.
“You didn’t have to do that. I could have easily gone back home to pick up a couple of things. Let me know how much the items are so I can pay for them.”
I side eyed her and kept walking.
“No,” she gripped my hand tighter and stopped walking. “I can take care of that. I don’t mind.”
“Averie, why would I expect you to pay for something I suggested? Consider it a gift,” I turned to continue down the hall.
She continued to hold my hand but didn’t move from her spot.
“I’m serious, El. I don’t need that from you. I’m not a chick who is looking for some man wielding a sword to ride in on a noble steed and save her. I have my own horse and my own sword. I can take care of myself.”
I pulled her to me, wrapping my arms around her waist.
“That, Ms. Patterson, is sexy as hell. One of the things that attracted me to you is the fact that you are a boss but, I can spend my money the way I see fit. You can’t stop me, so you might as well get used to it.” I smiled and kissed her.
“Get used to it?”
“Yes, after last night, I know I’m not sharing you. So, like I said, get used to it.”
We stood in the middle of the hallway kissing like no one else was in the house.
“I don’t want to share you either,” she purred.
“You haven’t had to share me since the moment you walked into my office.”
Averie
“If you look out past those trees, you can see two houses.”
Samuel and I were standing on a balcony in one of the five guest bedrooms in his home. He was taking me on a tour of the house and so far, I’d seen four other guest bedrooms all with bathrooms, his office is the size of my partner’s offices and mine combined. I saw his bowling alley, movie theater, indoor swimming pool and his vintage car collection which was housed in a pristinely clean garage with polished white floors.
“Yes, I can see them.”
There were two houses in the distance. One larger than the other but both built on the colonial style.
“Torrey lives in one, and my mother lives in the other.”
“Wow. So, this is like a compound.”
“Yes. When I was released from prison, the state awarded me a nice settlement. I had a full ride scholarship to law school so, we used the money to purchase the house my mother lives in. Louis taught me how to invest and eventually, we built Torrey’s house. The land this house sits on was not ours originally. It eventually went up for sale, and I purchased it and built this house with the intention of moving mom and Torrey in here, but they like having their own so, they stayed there. Since I’m only out here a couple of weekends out the month, it would have actually been their own, but I understand.”
“I want to build my parents a house eventually. They still live in my childhood home in North County. They are content there, but I know my dad wants farm animals, and mom wants a garden, so I have been shopping around for some land.”
“I know an excellent broker. I can give you his information.”
“That would be great.”
He took my hand and led me to another room. He pushed the double doors open.
“This is my most favorite room in the house. This is my library.”
The walls were lined with floor to ceiling bookcases. Each bookcase was full of books.
“Wow, have you read a lot of these?”
“I’ve read all of them.”
I turned around to face him.
“Really?”
“Yeah, my dad encouraged me to read while I was locked up. I used reading as an escape.”
“I love reading too. When I have time, I like to read independent Authors.”
“I have a whole section dedicated to Independent and small press authors.”
I walked to one of the bookshelves and examined the titles. I had read some of these but not nearly all of them. There were books inside a glass case.
“What are these?”
“These are my first edition signed copies. I find them at auctions, or I’ve received a couple as gifts. Two of them I received from the Authors.”
“Have you ever thought about writing a book about your life?”
“No, I don’t need people all in my head and my business. It may scare them.”
“Yeah, I agree. I don’t know how people put all their business in a book. It never goes away. D
on’t get me wrong, I like reading it, but I don’t think I would ever want to do it.”
I continued looking through the books. Samuel came behind me and started kissing my neck.
“Mmmm,” I tilted my head, encouraging him to continue. “Which book is your favorite?”
He kissed me a few more times before he reached around me and pulled a book from the shelf.
“The Boxcar Children?”
He chuckled, “Yes. My third-grade teacher would read this book to the class when we followed directions and had a good day. I tried my best to do right because I wanted to hear about the children’s adventures. She could go for days without reading the book because the class wouldn’t cooperate. Eventually, I asked my mother to take me to the library, and I was able to check it out and read it myself. It was the first book I read because I wanted to. When I was locked up, I came across it again. I thought there was no way reading about these homeless white kids would still be good, but it was. It transported me outside of those walls and made me feel free when I read it.”
“I read this too. I used to wish I could live in a boxcar.”
We both chuckled.
He went back to kissing my neck. I put the book back in its place on the shelf.
He reached his hand under the pajama top I was wearing and caressed my breast. I leaned into his hard body and enjoyed his hands roaming my body. I reached behind me and rubbed my hand along his full erection. He turned us toward the desk in the center of the room and bent me over. I heard him ripping open a condom package.
Where did a condom come from?
He placed his hands on my hips and slowly entered me.
“El…” This full feeling, I experienced having him inside of me is something I’ve never had with anyone before him. He slowly moved in and out of me, filling me to the hilt, pulling almost all the way out then entering me again.
I planted my hands on the desk and pushed back into him. The sound of our moans and our bodies coming together filled the library.
My grip tightened on the desk at the same time his grip tightened on my hips.
I came, trying hard to stay upright until he got his. I didn’t have to wait long. He came right after I did.
He leaned over me with his palms on each side of me flat on the desk. We both were quiet until our breathing leveled out.
“El,” I said still trying to calm down.
“Yes?”
“Where did you get a condom from?”
He chuckled, “I was intending on using it in my bedroom, but then your stomach made that aggressive, hungry sound, so I put it in my pocket.”
“You should keep them around just in case.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
Samuel
After taking Averie in the library, we walked back to my room to find our breakfast on the balcony.
Lita had prepared a small sampling of several different breakfast foods to include sausage and bacon.
“These are for you.” I passed the sausage and pork bacon to Averie.
“You don’t want any?”
“This turkey bacon is for me.”
“Turkey bacon? More like plastic in my opinion. I tried to switch to turkey bacon, but it was disgusting to me.”
“Here, taste this brand.”
I broke off and piece and offered it to her. She plopped it in her mouth.
“There is no way this is turkey,” she said while covering her mouth with her hand.
“Yes, it is. I don’t know the brand, but Lita keeps it stocked for me.”
“You eat turkey because you don’t eat pork?”
“I cut pork out of my diet while I was incarcerated. I haven’t picked it up since.”
“Why pork?”
“At Pineville, the pork meal they would feed us made me sick, so I stopped eating it and haven’t tried again. It could have been something wrong with that particular meat but getting sick after eating that meal, ruined all pork for me.”
“That’s understandable. When my grandpa died, I remember my time reference changed to either before grandpa died or after grandpa died. Is that how it was for you after being released?”
That’s a great question no one has ever asked before.
“I guess it did. That one incident changed the whole trajectory of my life. I don’t know if I would have made it to where I am if it hadn’t happened.”
“You don’t think so?”
“I can’t say for sure, but before going away, I didn’t have any plans to do anything other than what I was doing which was working at Foot Locker and chasing tail. That’s what my mother used to call it; chasing tail,” I chuckled.
“The drive you have comes from being incarcerated?”
“No, the drive I have now comes from the need to maintain what I have. The drive I had came from trying to prove everyone that called me a murderer wrong. I wanted to rub my success in their faces. Once I became successful, I needed another reason to keep going.”
After breakfast, Averie changed into the clothes that were sent over from the boutique, and I took her on a tour of my property. We climbed into one of my golf carts and started driving. We crested the hill and saw my mother getting out of her car.
“Is that your mother?”
“It is,” I said as I pulled to a stop behind my mother’s car in her driveway.
“Mom,” I said as I climbed out of the cart to give her a hug.
Even though we lived on the same property, I didn’t see her as often as I would like. I only came out to the house on some weekends, and she never came downtown unless she absolutely had too.
“Hey, Baby. I didn’t know you would be out here this weekend.” She was speaking to me but looking around me at Averie.
“Change of plans,” I said while taking her hand and leading her to the cart. “Mom, this is Averie Patterson. Averie, this is my mother, Vivian Valentine.”
Averie smiled as she climbed out the cart with her hand extended toward my mother.
“Ms. Valentine, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“You’re the lawyer my daughter told me about that runs the charity program?” Mom asked as she shook Averie’s hand.
“Yes ma’am, this is who Torrey was talking about.”
Mom’s smile widened as she moved closer to Averie to hug her. Averie didn’t jump or stiffen up she hugged her back.
“You should have dinner with us tomorrow, Averie,” Mom said after releasing her from the hug.
“Um…” Averie looked at me.
“It’s up to you. I would like for you to have dinner with us.”
“Okay,” she smiled.
“Great!” I don’t know why my mother was acting so happy all of a sudden, but I went with it. “Let’s say around three tomorrow?”
She looked at both of us for confirmation.
“That will work,” I confirmed.
“Alright, I will see you both tomorrow,” Mom smiled again as she started backing up towards her front door.
“Do you have any bags or anything that needs to be carried in, Mom?”
“No, no. Go ahead and enjoy your day. I will see you tomorrow. Nice to meet you Averie.”
“Nice to meet you too, Ms. Valentine.”
I took Averie by the hand and led her back to the cart. I helped her in and then rounded the cart to get in and continue our tour of my property.
“Damn, I must have put it on you last night. I’m already meeting your Mom and getting invited to dinner.”
“Facts,” I said as I pulled from the driveway.
Averie
The weekend with Samuel was incredible. Dinner with his mother and sister was delicious and enjoyable. Both women are entertaining and smart. His mother told me Torrey had talked about me to her after we met at my charity event. She also told me Torrey was going to try to get Samuel and me out on a date. We haven’t actually been on a date, so she could still make that happen.
He drove me home after di
nner and decided to stay the night with me. Ray brought him clothes over the next morning to change into for work.
“Will I see you this week?”
“This will be my first full week back at the firm so, I am going to be swamped trying to catch up on everything that has happened while I was away. I would like to see you, so I will try.”
He put his arms around me and pulled me close. He hadn’t put on his tie or his suit jacket, but he already looked delicious in his royal blue slacks and white shirt. His cologne had me wishing we had more time to climb back in bed but we both had places we had to be.
“We both will try, okay?”
“Okay,” I smiled as he leaned down to kiss me.
We kissed until Ray called to tell him it was time for them to leave.
“Have a great day,” he said as he stepped into the hallway.
“You too.”
He leaned in and quickly kissed me again before walking down the hall to the elevator. I watched him until he stepped on then I closed the door, so I could finish getting dressed.
Walking into my office after being away for so long felt good. I smiled when I stepped off the elevator and saw my name on the wall. I smiled when Liddy met me with a large cup of freshly brewed coffee, no sugar and double cream. I smiled when I walked past all the other employees and addressed them by name. My smile faltered when I walked in my office and saw stacks of paper waiting for me to review. My smile was replaced with a frown when I opened my email and saw three hundred “important” messages for me to read.
It’s going to be a long week.
Liddy came in once I settled into my chair behind my desk. She pulled up a chair facing me and began running down my schedule.
I was listening but flashing back to my weekend with Samuel. I thought about each time we had sex. He was rough sometimes and gentle other times. He pinched and bit while other times he rubbed and caressed. It didn’t feel like the first time we’d ever been together. It felt like lovers reconnecting after a long break. Both of us worked hard at pleasing the other. He was successful in all his pursuits. I hope he felt the same about me.
“Vee.”
“Huh?”
“Are you listening to me?”