Guilty Gucci

by Ashley Antoinette

  “I will destroy your entire existence if you ever disrespect me again. You want to embarrass me and betray me, you bastard? You have messed with the wrong one, dear love. A woman scorned is nothing compared to what this scorned bitch will do,” Lidia warned before stalking up the stairs and out of sight. Faugner was stuck in the nightmare that had become his reality. He had jeopardized so much over Chanel and even in the aftermath of being caught up he still couldn’t harbor his feelings for her. He didn’t regret his affair with her, but he was not foolish enough to think that Lidia was making idle threats.

  Chanel’s entire world changed drastically from that moment forth. She was all mixed up in the head because her young emotions were running rampant. It was like she could see her heart broken into little pieces before her, but she couldn’t quite put it back together. Chanel had no friends so she couldn’t bum even one night’s sleep on anyone’s couch cushions. She was on her own at a tender age and as she walked away from the plush estate that she called home, she felt lost. Day turned to afternoon, which eventually gave way to nightfall and Chanel found herself in a city diner eating a meal she couldn’t afford. Her tear-streaked face was set in anguish as she allowed her heart to bleed from its very first heartbreak.

  “He didn’t even stand up for me. He just stood there,” she sobbed to herself as the salt from her tears seasoned her plate. As she leaned her head against the diner window she wished that her head was as clear as the night sky. She could see straight to the full moon that illuminated above her head. It was full and bright, enticing her to leave her problems on this sinful earth and take it straight to the stars. She wanted nothing more than to just be free of the mess that her life had suddenly become. Chanel had never felt so lonely. Loving a man was like giving him all the power and until that very moment Faugner had cuffed her nicely, making the creases of her mouth turn upward simply by being around her. But now she was experiencing the flip side. Their underground love affair had been exposed and she was tasting the bitter flavor that the whirlwind romance had left behind. I have to talk to him, she thought. He can’t just leave me. We were supposed to be together. He doesn’t love her! The frantic thoughts raced through her mind one after another as she silently waged a verbal war against her mother. Chanel didn’t care that it was she who had done the betraying. In her eyes her man had been stolen. Fuck the logistics.

  In the haste of the madness, she had been unable to grab her belongings. She closed her eyes and shook her head in deep regret, knowing that her cell phone had been left on the bureau beside her bed. She couldn’t recall his number by heart. I know I know his number. Why can’t I remember it? she asked herself, stressing to the point of insanity. Knowing that Faugner’s contact information was unlisted, the only thing she could do was call his office to leave a message. She knew that he would get it the next morning, she just had to bide her time and pray that he reciprocated her need for communication. She used her shirt to wipe the snot from her nose and clear the streams of wetness that had run down both sides of her face. Although no one was worried about Chanel, it felt like the entire restaurant was staring ... as if they knew the predicament she was in. She felt judgment as she rose from her seat and walked swiftly to the back of the restaurant where the payphones were located. Her mouth twisted in a grimace as her privileged ear touched the grimy plastic of the telephone receiver. She pressed zero and waited for the operator to greet her.

  “Faugner Scott’s office ... I need to be connected to attorney Faugner Scott,” Chanel blubbered into the phone. She couldn’t even control her voice long enough to speak clearly, but somehow the operator connected the call. This would probably be the only chance for her to reach out to Faugner so she pleaded with the machine shamelessly for him to come to her rescue.

  “Faugner, it’s me. I need you right now. I have nowhere to go. Why are you doing this to me? I love you. You didn’t even take my side? Please come and get me ... I need somebody. I don’t have anyone but you. I thought you loved me,” she ranted repeatedly, while sobbing. The voice mail system cut her off right after she left the details of her location.

  She returned to her table and sat all night, hoping with all of her might that Faugner would come for her. Hours passed and the diner began to fill with the club hoppers who were looking to parlay the after party into the small establishment. There wasn’t an available table in the spot, which only brought attention to the fact that she had loitered for too long.

  “Look, honey, you’ve been here all night. This ain’t no shelter, sweetheart. You can’t sleep here. We have too many people and not enough tables to let you just linger around like this a motel,” the waitress said as she tapped a long red fingernail against the steel tabletop, waking Chanel up from the brief nod she had fallen into.

  Chanel opened her eyes and immediately protested because she really had nowhere to go. “Look can’t I just stay for a little while? I’m waiting on someone. He’s meeting me here soon,” she said in a low tone so that the group of people standing behind her wouldn’t overhear. “He’ll be here any minute.”

  “Listen, honey, you’ve been singing that same song all night—”

  Before the lady could continue a dark-skinned guy stepped out of the crowd and said, “Don’t worry about it ... she can keep the table. I see some of my peoples across the room. We’ll gang up with them.”

  The waitress looked skeptically at Chanel as if to say, he just saved your ass. “Yeah, okay, but if someone else comes in you will have to give them your table. And I need to take your bill up now,” she said rudely. The implication that Chanel was going to stiff her was evident in her tone of voice.

  Chanel wanted to snap back from embarrassment. How dare this broad try to play me? Putting me on the spot, you funky, diner-working bitch, she thought, ready to go in.

  The guy frowned slightly in curiosity but from the deer-in-headlights expression on Chanel’s face he knew that she didn’t have the money. He pulled out a fifty-dollar bill and handed it to the waitress.

  “This should cover her food and the rest is for you. Just let her keep the table,” he said sympathetically.

  Chanel smiled graciously. “Thank you,” she said.

  One of the girls from the group popped her gum loudly and stepped in front of the guy. “Are we going to eat or what?”

  “Y’all go ahead. I’ll be over there in a minute,” the guy said, without ever taking his eyes off of Chanel.

  He sat down across from her. “You a’ight? Looks like you’re having a rough night,” he said.

  “I’m fine. I’m waiting for my ... my ...”

  “Pimp?” he asked.

  “Excuse me?” she shot back, highly offended.

  The guy held his hands up in his own defense, hearing the anger in her voice as she explained. “Whoa ... I did not mean to offend you, baby. You just look ...”

  Chanel covered her face with her hands as she remembered her appearance. “Like shit,” she finished. She tried to tame her hair and wipe the runny mascara from her cheeks, but it was use. The usual teenage beauty queen was out in the most popular after-hours spot in the city looking like a bum broad. She hadn’t realized how foolish she looked until the guy had sat across from her.

  “I’m waiting for my boyfriend,” she corrected. “We had a fight. I needed to clear my head... .”

  “You’re good. I didn’t mean nothing by it. You just look like you could use some help. I just assumed ...” the guy offered.

  “Well you know what they say about making assumptions!” she shot back. “And even if I needed help, I don’t even know you and you don’t know one thing about me,” she said.

  “You’re right ... I’m Corey Banker ... My friends call me Banks,” he introduced.

  “So we’re friends?” she asked with a slight smirk.

  “Not yet, but I’m hoping we could be. Even with your eyes all puffy and your makeup a mess you still kinda fly,” he admitted with a laugh.

  She had
to laugh too and as she exhaled she had to admit that the laughter felt good. He had definitely lifted her spirits even if it was only for a fleeting moment.

  “So what’s up ... you got a number where I can reach you?” he asked.

  “Not really. My situation is complicated right now. I’m with somebody and besides I don’t mess with dope boys,” she said. “I’m a lady. I’m not impressed by your chain and your flashy old-school whip. I prefer my men more seasoned.” She was teasing lightly but behind the fun and games she was serious. Faugner had spoiled her and she was used to living the champagne life. There was nothing that this young boy could do for her with his beer money.

  “Oh now who is the one making assumptions? Huh? What, you like old men or something?” he asked. He knew plenty of chicks who played in the league of sugar daddies. The nasty old-head niggas was making it hard on young’uns like himself who were hoping to score a date with one of the city’s pretty young things. These new-school divas didn’t respect anything but money and that was something that Banks didn’t have at the moment. A young man on a football scholarship at Morgan State, he only had ambition to offer. He wanted a chick who could jump on board and help him bring his dream into reality, not one who wanted to benefit off of his hard work after every brick was laid and cemented. Banks wanted a Bonnie to his Clyde, a woman who could see that it got greater later and one who was willing to put in some work to help build a lucrative future.

  “No, not old men, just old money,” Chanel said, confirming his suspicions.

  At that moment Faugner walked up to the table and cleared his throat, interrupting their conversation. His appearance was scruffy as if he had gone through hell just to get there and there were red scratch marks on his face and neck.

  “You came?” she said in shock as Faugner eyed the young man before him.

  “Of course I came.”

  “Umm ... Faugner, this is ... Banks. He paid the bill for me. He was just leaving,” she explained.

  Banks stood up and reached out his hand but Faugner simply looked at it.

  “Let’s go, Chanel,” he said sternly as he walked toward the exit. Chanel hesitated.

  “So that’s your name,” Banks said.

  “Yeah,” she answered with a smile. For some reason she didn’t want to leave because she knew that their paths wouldn’t cross anytime soon. “Hey, thanks for everything.”

  “Yeah, I’ll be seeing you around. My money won’t be young forever. It’ll grow up one day,” he said with a wink.

  She smiled and left him standing where he stood, intrigued by her essence.

  “Who is he?” Faugner asked.

  “Oh? You can speak now? But earlier when my mother was dragging me out of her house you didn’t have anything to say? How could you?” she asked as she turned toward him entering the front seat of his luxury car.

  “She’s threatening to kill my career, Chanel. You wouldn’t understand,” he shouted. He had never raised his voice at her or spoken down to her before. The fact that he felt that she couldn’t relate stung.

  “Why? I’m young not dumb!” she argued. “You hung me out to dry! I’ve been out here all day and all night without a dime. I have nowhere to go!” Her anger dissipated into sadness as the weight of her dilemma caused her shoulders to sag forward. Wrecked with sobs she poured out her soul to him. “I can’t do this anymore, Faugner. You have to leave her. I love you and I want you to choose.”

  Faugner sighed. He had forgotten how fragile a young girl’s heart could be. He had enjoyed the immaturity of her body. With Chanel he was the best lover she knew because she hadn’t experienced many before him. That was to his advantage and now as he sat listening to the rawness of her pain he realized that his was the disadvantage of it all. The young girl had invested everything into him. In him she saw her hopes and dreams, her future ... but in her Faugner only saw the present. Their affection for one another was unbalanced. She loved him more and everybody knows that the one who loves the most always loses. It was true that Faugner did care for Chanel. He would even go so far as to say that he loved her, but he was a realist, also. Their relationship could never become public knowledge. There would be no long strolls through the park or movie dates after dark. They would always be confined within the four walls of some hotel room and no matter how expensive the sheets were, it would never be what Chanel deserved. He couldn’t love her openly or freely because his colleagues would never understand. Unbeknownst to everyone else, his firm was slowly drowning in debt. He was wealthy but not even he was immune to a sick economic system. His firm was seeing the effects of a bad recession and just like any other businessman he had to be careful how he handled this financial downturn. He couldn’t afford to go out on that love-struck limb with Chanel, especially when he knew that it was bound to break.

  “I do love you, Chanel. I do,” he replied.

  “Then leave her!” Chanel cried. “Just leave her.”

  “I can’t do that, sweetheart,” he whispered. Chanel leaned her head against the passenger side window and cried as Faugner drove her to the Four Seasons. He went inside and purchased the penthouse suite for two weeks. He would never see Chanel out on the street and figured that it would be enough time for things to cool off at home. He retrieved her from the car and wrapped his long tan raincoat around her shoulders, pulling up the collar to shield her face as he escorted her up to the room. She was distraught ... shattered by the thought of being without him. Her young heart was in such tangles that she didn’t even look at the situation through her mother’s eyes. She hated her. Secretly she felt that they had always hated each other.

  She wrapped her arms around herself and sat on the edge of the bed. Faugner wiped his beard and sighed, then sat beside her, placing one hand on her knee. The last thing he had ever meant to do was mislead her to this point. If life were a fairy tale she would be his happy ending. She made him feel things that he never had before but life wasn’t an illusion, but yet an ugly reality full of responsibilities and expectations. Life was full of disappointment. A foolish man would love her despite the age difference, despite the taboo surrounding their illicit affair, but he had never been a risk taker. He had gone with the odds his entire life and with his financial stability on the rocks he could not afford to be with her. Choosing Chanel over Lidia would bankrupt him and possibly imprison him.

  “You know we have to end this,” he whispered.

  Chanel looked up at him, eyes cloudy, chest pounding. “No ... no! I can’t let you go,” she pleaded shamelessly as she tried to crawl onto his lap. “Please, daddy, I don’t want to let you go,” she whispered, tearing at his clothes as he turned his head to avoid her kisses.

  “We have to, Chanel. I could get into a lot of trouble. Your mother will never let this happen,” he said sternly. “Even if I leave her I can’t be with you. She knows too much. She will use it against me. You won’t want me when I can’t take care of you ... buy you the things you like.”

  “Daddy, no. Don’t, baby. Don’t say that. I love you. I’ll do anything for you. You don’t need her,” she whispered as she struggled against him, finally pushing her tongue down his throat. The warm wetness of her mouth caused him to groan as she used her body weight to push him backward on the bed. His hands roamed her body, his touch electric as she mashed her body against his.

  “I love you,” she whispered. “I thought you loved me.”

  Faugner didn’t know what it was about this young girl but she drove him insane. “I love you too,” he replied as he grabbed the back of her neck while passionately savoring the juices on her tongue. “I won’t let you go. You’re mine. Please tell me you won’t let her take you away from me. Make love to me, Faugner. Put your mouth on me,” she whined. His touch had lit her fuse and she was ready to explode.

  Caught up in the lust the bulge in his pants was doing the thinking for him as he pulled Chanel’s shirt over her head and released her beautiful, perky breasts. He suckled them, licking
her nipples into erection, making her lips part as gasps of air came out. Sheer pleasure was what she felt. Faugner was always so gentle, so patient, so skilled with her. The cream coating the walls of her pussy and wetting her inner thighs was proof that he was doing something right. Using his strength he lifted her until she sat on his face and he was parting her southern lips with his tongue. She melted like a Popsicle on a hot summer day as she rotated her hips until she came, long and hard. Faugner fucked Chanel like it was the very last time and brought her to an orgasmic high so many times that she lost count.

  “I want this forever,” Chanel whispered as she lay under him, a sheen of perspiration cooling her down after the heated session they had just had. “I don’t want you to be with her.”

  “Even if I left your mother it wouldn’t be enough. She would still be a thorn in my side. Nothing less than death will stop her from outing us,” Faugner explained as he stroked her head.

  That was the only seed needed to grow the idea of murder in Chanel’s head.

  “So why don’t we make that happen?” Chanel asked.

  Silence filled the room as Faugner lifted his head to look at Chanel. “What are you talking about? Don’t say things like that,” he said.

  “I don’t want you with her. I don’t care what it takes,” she admitted. “If she’s out of the picture you wouldn’t have to worry about her destroying your career or stopping us from seeing one another. I know we couldn’t just come out as a couple, but at least we could still see one another.”

  Chanel was desperate and she was ranting like a madwoman as she sat up, trying to convince Faugner to see things her way. Yes, she was plotting on her own mother, but they had never been a team. Chanel was more an inconvenient accessory ... her mother’s biggest regret. Chanel wasn’t crazy ... she was crazy in love. As insane as it sounded Faugner couldn’t help but to bounce the idea around in his head. Chanel’s motivation was love, but Faugner was straight thinking about the money. Tossing the numbers around in his head he knew that he had two insurance policies of $1 million each taken out on his wife. Her untimely death was just what he needed to make him financially stable again. His money problems were an issue that he kept a secret. Neither Lidia nor Chanel knew of the sensitive matter, but each time they went on an elaborate shopping spree, he dreaded the total outcome. This sounded the like the perfect out. He could kill two birds with one stone.