by Abbi Hemp
“Yeah?”
“Who are these women?”
“It’s a long story.”
“You better start talking.”
“He ain’t done nothing with us,” the African-American woman said.
“Rayleen?” Heidi asked, her head tilted to the left.
“Dee?” The women stood up and walked over while the other two stayed on the couch whispering to each other. “I haven’t seen you since…”
“Since I left the club. Are you still working for Ugly Stan?”
Rayleen stopped in front of Heidi and frowned.
“Yeah. Why?”
“What are you doing here?”
“Your boyfriend here is helping us out.”
Heidi squinted her eyes and stared at the woman.
“Explain?”
“He’s hiding us for a bit while Harris talks to Ugly Stan.”
I stepped over and put my hand on Heidi’s back.
She shook her head then looked me in the eyes.
“Why are they here, Tony? Did you fuck them?”
“Hold on a minute,” Rayleen said. “Your man is a true gentleman. We tried to fuck him because we didn’t know you were still with him, but he fought us off. All of us.”
The other two women approached.
“Ugly Stan told us you died in a nasty car accident,” Rayleen said. “I can’t believe it’s you.”
“I’m not dead,” Heidi said.
I heard another knock at the door.
“That better be Harris,” I muttered as I walked over.
He stood on the other side, dressed in a wrinkled, white tee-shirt and jeans.
“Are they here?” he asked, looking past me.
“Yeah, they’re here,” I said. “Where have you been?”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve taken care of it.”
“What the hell is going on, Harris. Is this going to affect the team?”
“No, no, not at all, bro.”
I stared into his eyes. He glanced to the left and right, avoiding eye contact.
“Just let them go,” Heidi said, walking over.
After Harris and the women left, Heidi turned to me.
“I have an idea,” I said.
“Yeah? I hope it’s a good one. Today has been crazy.”
“Follow me.”
THIRTY
Tony
I sat across from Heidi in the hot tub behind my house on the patio.
“This was a good idea,” she said, giggling.
“A soak in the hot tub is always a great idea.” I smiled, enjoying the feeling of her body brushing up against mine. “Thanks for not freaking out at the women.”
“I trust you, Tony. You’re not the type of guy who cheats. At least I don’t think so.”
She stared into my eyes. I moved toward her.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Sit up on the edge.”
I watched as she stood on the seat and sat on the edge of the hot tub. She kept her eyes on me as I ran my hands up her thighs, loving the feeling of her wet skin.
Neither of us had any clothes on. I bent forward and kissed one of her thighs then the other. She ran her fingers through my wet hair, messing it up. I didn’t care.
My only thought was making her feel as good as she had made me feel the night before when she sucked my cock until I popped. She deserved everything.
She moaned as I made my way closer to her pink slit, that perfect part of her body I loved. As my tongue touched her delicate skin, she pulled my head closer.
I opened my mouth and went to town, nibbling, kissing and licking every inch of her exposed flesh. When I thought she was feeling too good, I pulled back.
“Quit teasing me,” she begged, laughing and full of joy.
“Now who’s in control?” I teased.
“Tony…”
At the sound of my name, I resumed making love to her pussy with my mouth. The wetter she got, the more excited I became under the water.
I pushed my pleasure aside and concentrated on pleasing her. She inhaled sharply when I stuck a finger in her, plunging it deep, way past the first knuckle.
“Yes,” she begged as I slipped it in and out faster while moving it back and forth. “That’s so good.”
Hell yeah, it is, I thought with a self-satisfied smile.
The taste of her juices on my lips drove me wild. It took everything I had to not jump up and take her there in the hot tub. This is about her, I reminded myself.
Hearing her moans and feeling her wet body squirming made me so happy. She cried out as she came with my fingers buried deep inside her.
I pulled them out and stared up at her face wrapped in joyful exuberance. She caught my eyes. Her smile widened. I found myself at a crossroads.
Unable to fight the feeling of wanting to spend the rest of my life with her, the words came tumbling out of my mouth, more a command than a question.
“Marry me.”
Her eyes opened wider.
“What?”
“You heard me. I’m on my knees.”
“This isn’t…”
“Isn’t what?” I interrupted. “Romantic enough?”
“No, it’s just…”
She put her hands over her mouth as her eyes watered up.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, concerned. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she said from behind her hands. “Yes.”
She leaned down and kissed me on the mouth while wrapping her arms around me. Our bodies pressed together, I felt happier than I had after cashing my first pro football check.
“Take me,” she said.
“Now?”
“Yes. Now.”
I kneeled on the seat in front of her. She grabbed a nearby condom as if she’d been planning it all along. After sliding it over my throbbing cock, I rubbed the tip over her pussy.
Her eyes squinted as I pushed it inside. So tight. Wet. Bliss fell over me, my body half in water and half out. She wrapped her arms around me for balance as I penetrated her all the way.
“Tony…”
“Anyone home?” Jamie called out from inside the house.
“Hold on,” Heidi yelled. “Give us a minute.”
She turned to me with eyes wide open.
I smiled, loving her even more.
A moment later, we were both dressed in a robe. Jamie emerged from the sliding glass door in the back of the house. She tilted her head to the side as she walked over.
“Um, I didn’t interrupt anything, did I? Do I even want to know?”
“You do not,” I said, my arm around Heidi as we stood side by side.
“Well, kinda,” Heidi added. “We’re getting married.”
Jamie rushed over and threw her arms around Heidi. I stood next to them, feeling like I’d made the right decision at the crossroads.
Announcing the marriage during the upcoming season would also help give the team some positive media attention. Everything helped.
Beyond football, I knew I’d found the woman I would spend the rest of my life with. Heidi meant everything to me. The thought of children made me smile.
“You’re not saying anything,” Jamie said, breaking me out of my thoughts.
“I’m just happy.”
“We need to celebrate the news,” Jamie said. “Do you have champagne?”
“No,” I said. “We had plans already.”
Heidi turned to study my face.
“Yeah, we’re going out for dinner.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Jessica said.
Heidi grinned and put her arm around my waist.
“I’ll call you later, Heidi. We need to find you a great dress.”
“This is going to be the wedding of my dreams, even if I have to pay for it myself.”
Jamie squealed in delight one more time before waving and disappearing into the house.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have given her a key to the house,” Heidi said.
“You did?”
She nodded.
“You can trust her. She might steal some wine.”
“Screw the wine, I want you.”
As I glanced down and into her eyes, she stepped in front of me and wrapped both arms around my waist. Our eyes met, matched, and made love.
“Were you serious about dinner? You’ve already had desert.”
“Yeah, I think we should go out.” I grinned. “And I can have a second helping later, right?”
She kissed me. I
* * *
I had to pay extra to fit us in so quickly, but I got us a table at the new Brown Derby downtown. The fancy restaurant was all over social media as the place to be seen.
Sitting in middle of the dining room with her, I found it hard to keep my eyes off her body. Everything about her drove me wild. She took a drink of wine then set the glass down.
“I’ve been thinking,” she said.
Uh oh.
“Yeah? Good thinking or bad thinking?”
“About a club or business of my own. It doesn’t make sense to start my own business if we’re getting married, especially not a club.”
I nodded, not interrupting.
“What do you feel about starting a business together?”
“As long as it’s not a DVD rental store or something.”
“No, silly.” She smiled. “I talked to Basil the other day, and he said he had some ideas.”
“We should go talk to him tomorrow. If we’re doing something, I want to get it done before the season starts. I’ve got to concentrate on my job.”
“I’m sure he’ll find a smart way to invest our money. We have to start thinking about college funds now.”
“Plural?”
I grinned.
“How many children do you want?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Seven or eight.”
Her eyes widened.
“No way!”
“I’m kidding.” I smiled and reached across the table, placing my hand over hers. “Two or three would be nice, but I’m willing to discuss it with you. All I care about is waking up next to you every morning and never going to bed angry with each other.”
“Amen to that.”
The longer I stared into her eyes, the more I loved the beautiful green and her soul, who she was as a person. It helped that we were so damn compatible in the bedroom.
“You finished your steak already?” she asked with fake astonishment.
“I’ve worked up an appetite today.”
“You better have saved room for desert.”
I smiled and gave her “the look” we’d perfected over the last few weeks.
She knew what I craved, what I wanted, what I absolutely fucking needed – her mind, body and soul. I raised my hand for the waiter to bring the check and prepared myself for the rest of the evening.
The sexual contact would grow old eventually, but I loved almost everything about her. We hadn’t argued in a while. Both of us were working toward making the other happy, the definition of love.
We made love for over an hour after bursting through the door of her house later that evening.
THIRTY-ONE
Heidi
All the thoughts about my wedding after Tony’s proposal had distracted me from the other big decision in our life – allowing Mr. Nowski to invest our money together.
Tony had scheduled us an appointment with him. When Mr. Nowski’s assistant said he wasn’t available, my husband-to-be assured me everything would work out fine.
Sitting in a waiting room on the third floor of the Trust Funds Financial Group building downtown, I wasn’t so sure about signing over so much of my wealth.
“Did I tell you about that one American Greed episode where…”
“Yes,” he interrupted with an annoyed tone. “A couple times.”
He turned in his seat and put his palm on my cheek, staring into my eyes.
“You need to trust me. This company has done me right my whole career. I don’t think they’re going to mess it up for you and me, okay? You’ve just got paranoid watching those shows.”
I frowned, hoping he was right.
A man in an ill-fitting suit came into the lobby and smiled in our direction. Tony and I stood as he approached with his hand held out.
“Tony Cassano?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Tony said, shaking his hand.
Nice way to ignore me, I thought, not impressed by the man.
“My name is Mr. Thompson. I’m sorry Mr. Nowski wasn’t able to talk with you today.”
“Where is he?” I asked.
The man flinched at the sound of my voice.
“He’s in Europe on vacation.”
“Uh huh…”
Tony nudged me with his elbow.
“If you’ll come back to my office with me, Mr. Cassano.”
“Hold on. What about me?”
“She’s investing too,” Tony said.
“Oh,” Mr. Thompson said. “You’re not signing up for an initial investment package?”
“I’ve been with this firm over two years now,” Tony said.
“Oh, that’s right. I’m mistaken. My case load is crazy these days.”
He smiled as if nothing were wrong which made me think him even less trustworthy.
“Can I talk to you a minute?” I asked Tony.
Mr. Thompson continued smiling.
“What?” Tony asked.
“Never mind.”
We followed the man down a hall to an office. He took a seat behind a shiny, black desk. Tony and I sat in expensive leather chairs across from him. He turned to me.
“Would they be able to afford such nice furniture if they were having money problems?”
“I guess not,” I mumbled.
“What’s that?” Mr. Thompson asked, looking up from his computer screen.
“Nothing,” I said.
“She’s nervous because it’s her first large investment with you guys.”
“You already have most of my money, but this is the last of it. I’m trusting your company to take care of my money.”
I stared into Mr. Thompson’s eyes, but I didn’t see anything in them common to most of the criminals and conmen I’d seen on American Greed.
“You have my solemn guarantee your money will be safe with us,” the man said.
I had no reason to think he was lying. Tony trusted them, and I trusted him. That should have been the last of the conversation, but something in the back of my mind kept tingling.
“Anyway,” Mr. Thompson said as he picked up a stack of papers. “We have your contract ready. All we need is your signature, and we’ll make the necessary adjustments to increase the return on your investments.”
“That’s great,” Tony said, leaning forward.
He grabbed the papers and flipped through them to the last page.
“Shouldn’t we read it first?” I asked.
“This is the same as the last one, right?”
He looked up at Mr. Thompson, who nodded his head. “
“We’ll be fine,” Tony continued. “You’ve not had a lot of money before, right? This is the way it works at this level.”
I took a deep breath to control my anger. He drove me crazy when he tried to treat me like some poor woman who had no mind of her own.
“There,” he said, handing the papers to me. “Just sign on the bottom.”
“I’m not an idiot,” I snapped.
He pulled back, staring at me.
“Forget it.”
I grabbed the papers and signed on the dotted line. Mr. Thompson snatched them across the desk.
“That’s great. You two are in for a hell of a run. Mr. Nowski is really on fire this quarter.”
“Sweet,” Tony said, standing up. “You’ll call us if there are any problems, right?”
“Of course, of course,” the man said as he got to his feet.
I took another deep breath then stood.
Mr. Thompson shook Tony’s hand, totally ignoring me again. Was I making the right decision trusting Tony with all my money?
He had a lot more experience than me. That had to count for something. I followed my future husband out of the office and down the hallway, still wondering about him.
“You’re not still worried, are you?” he asked when we reached his Mercedes in the parking garage.
“A little,” I said truthfully, studying his reaction.
“We’ll be fine.”
He opened the driver’s side door and climbed into the car. After he unlocked my side, I did the same. We were both quiet on the drive back to my house.
“Are you coming inside?” I asked after he parked in the driveway.
“I need to sleep in my own bed tonight. You don’t mind, do you?”
“No, I have plenty to do with the house anyway.”
I leaned over and kissed him.
“Call me tomorrow,” he said.
“I will. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
I got out of the car and watched as he backed out of the driveway.
That’s the man I’m going to spend the rest of my life with.
How could things get any better?
THIRTY-TWO
Heidi
One Week Later
The news hit me like a hurricane, rocking my world with chaos and destruction. When I saw the Trust Funds Financial Group was under investigation for running a Ponzi scheme, my stomach churned.
“Tony,” I called out.
He appeared from the kitchen holding a giant Tupperware bowl filled with popcorn.
“What’s wrong?”
“Look at the television.”
I pointed.
“Son of a bitch…”
“You don’t think they lost our money, do you?” I asked while turning up the volume.
He stared at the television screen in a daze, not saying a word.
“What are we going to do?”
“I’ll call some people I know,” he said.
“Who?”
“The FBI. If they’re busting him, they probably already have victims calling in.”
“I can’t believe this is happening.”
“We’ll figure it out.”
He set the tub of popcorn down on the coffee table and pulled out his phone.