15
“Hey, Denise, this is Hasaan from Elite Ink. Just calling to let you know you’re the winner of a free tattoo. I know you’re scared and everything, but if you ever want me to hook you up, give me a call. My personal cell number is 214-555-8867. And hey, you never got around to telling me what you’ve been up to that’s keeping you so busy. Hit me up.”
I played the message six times, just so I could hear his voice, his nice, rich, sexy-as-hell voice. I sighed, looked at the pile of papers on my coffee table, and told myself to get back to work. I already had two clients looking for business financial advice, and I hadn’t even secured an office space yet. I was meeting people at coffee shops, but I needed to sign a lease somewhere and buy some office furniture ASAP.
My cell phone began to ring, and I hoped it was Hasaan, but instead, it was Trevia. “Hey, crazy!” I said as I put the phone on speaker.
“Hey, nut! What’s up with you?”
“Working on this business. You in town or on the road?”
“It’s Saturday, so we’re in Houston. Nyles is performing at my sister’s club tonight.”
“Oh, right. I think you told me that. How are Jayla and the baby?”
“Good! Little Amir, Jr. Is getting so big. I just love kissing his chunky cheeks!”
“And how are she and Amir doing? Things okay with them?”
“Oh, I didn’t tell you? Girl, she put his ass out a few weeks back. Filed for divorce and everything.”
I sat there with my mouth in an “o” for a solid minute before saying, “What happened? Did he steal more of her money, because you know I know what that feels like!”
“No...uh, she caught him in a compromising position with the jazz singer that performs there from time to time.”
“The one from opening night?”
“Yep.”
“Girl, your sister looks way better than her!”
“I know!”
“So, you know you gotta give me the details...”
“Well, you know Jayla’s been spending less time at the club since she had the baby.”
“Yeah...”
“So…she decided to go check on things one day, because I don’t think she ever really trusted him with the business after he lost their money in that deal that time.”
“I don’t blame her. A thief is always a thief in my experience.”
“Come on, I think Kevin has redeemed himself now.”
“I guess...”
“Anyway, she took the baby with her and went to check on things, got there and saw Amir’s car and another car she didn’t recognize, but she said she thought he had a meeting he’d forgotten to tell her about. When she didn’t find him in the office, she went searching. Found them in one of those tiny-ass dressing rooms. Amir was sitting in a chair with the jazz singer’s head in his lap.”
“What?! Did she kick his ass?”
“She couldn’t. She had the baby on her hip. But she did curse him out, and I think she threw something at both of them.”
“Giiiiirl, see that’s why I don’t have kids, because I would need my hands to be free in a situation like that. I would’ve put my foot all the way in both their asses!”
“Shit, the way Jayla made it sound, the baby is the only thing that kept her from doing just that.”
“Damn...so it’s really over between them? I mean, she was really crazy about him.”
“Evidently, my baby sister has way more sense than I do. She doesn’t require extended bad treatment to know when to let go.”
“Well, one thing is for sure, as bad as Pissy Wesley was, Nyles is ten times better.”
“Girl, a million times better! And you’re crazy for still calling him pissy.”
“I will never get over that!”
She laughed into the phone. “Me, either. So look, I was calling to see if you wanted to come to Nyles’ show tonight. You could crash with us afterwards.”
“Where? Y’all ain’t got but one bedroom in that townhouse.”
“Heifer, you know we moved. We have a house in Houston now, too.”
“Damn, that’s right. I’ve had so much on my mind, I forgot. But look, I’ma pass. I’m really not in the mood to be a third wheel to you and Nyles or a fifth wheel to you, Nyles, Greer, and Derek. I’m over going to clubs manless. And please don’t bring Christian up. That’s over, and you know it.”
“I wasn’t going to bring him up. I was going to bring up that tattoo guy. Girl, he was hot!”
Before I could reply, I heard Nyles shout, “What?! Who’s hot?”
“You, baby!” Trevia shouted back, and then, lowering her voice, she added, “Shit, I better get off this phone. Nyles is crazy as hell.”
I giggled. “He ain’t gonna do nothing to you but screw the hell outta you.”
“True, true, but look, you should call the tattoo guy. I know you like him, because he’s your type.”
“What’s my type?”
“Fine,” she whispered.
“Yes, fine is definitely my type.”
Her voice was normal as she interjected, “And he definitely likes you, the way he was staring at your ass when we first got there, lying about recognizing your hair.”
I smiled. “Was he really staring at my ass?”
“Girl, yeah! You should invite him to Plush sometimes.”
I stared across my living room at nothing in particular. “Hmm, maybe I will.”
Silence from Trevia.
“Trevia?” I said. “You still there?”
“Mm…ooooh, shit! Wait…Nyles…girl...I’ll...shit, I gotta go...”
Evidently, she and Nyles were into something, so I said, “Okay, bye, nasty ass.”
*****
I ended up signing a lease for an office space in a building directly across the street from my mom’s restaurant and Hasaan’s place. I had wanted something as far away from my mom’s place as possible, because I knew she’d think me being that close all the time meant I would be good, free, extra help whenever she needed it, but it seemed all I could find were spaces that were either run-down or too expensive. Sure, I had a lot of money, but I was trying to add to it, not blow it on some over-priced lease. So, there I was, standing in the new home of my financial consultation company. It was empty and dark since I decided to wait until the middle of the night to check it out. I’d had the keys for a couple of days, and it had taken that long for me to fully grasp the idea that I was now a business owner. Me. Denise Buhari. I was standing in the middle of something that belonged solely to me. After seven years of working for someone else, I would be working for myself. I was my own boss. Shit, if I decided to take a vacation and shut the place down for a whole month, I could, and no one could do a damn thing about it.
That was so powerful to me. I was the boss, my boss.
I smiled as I turned and left for the night, excited about what the future held for me.
16
I was sitting in my chair, laughing at something crazy-ass Lola had said while I waited for my next client to arrive. Since opening Elite Ink, I had been booked up nearly every day. So had Lola and Quan, the other tattoo artist who was renting space in my place. That left a semi-vacant station that a guy named Tomas rented from me on the weekends. My brother was supposed to occupy that station eventually if I could get him properly trained, but his attention span was short as hell. If something didn’t involve a fat ass and some titties, I swear he didn’t want anything to do with it.
I eyed him standing at the window staring outside like a boy the teacher made stay in for recess. “What you looking at, Rafiq?” I asked.
“Something that makes my mouth water. Shit, that motherfucker is fine!”
I shook my head and checked my watch. My client was late.
Lola joined him at the window, and said, “Hey, H. Isn’t that your friend?”
I frowned. “What friend?”
“Miss Off Limits,” Rafiq said, his attention still outside the window.
I hopped up and headed to the door.
“H, where you going?” Lola asked. “I think your client just pulled up.”
“Tell her I’ll be right back,” I said, as I trotted outside, making my way across the street. She was wearing jeans and a tank top, and she was making my mouth water, too. Damn, Denise was fine as hell! She didn’t hear me approaching her from behind as she carried a box into a vacant office.
“Is this why you never returned my call?”
His deep voice enveloped me, and I almost dropped the box I was carrying. I turned around and actually did drop the box when I got an eyeful of him. Somehow, he looked finer than usual in a black t-shirt and gray jogging pants. That neck tattoo teased me, whispered, “Come lick me.” Instead, I licked my lips as he bent over to pick up the box I’d dropped. I could see the circular wave pattern on the top of his head. I wanted to touch his hair and see if it was as soft as it looked. And I could smell this man’s cologne in the open air. What was he doing to me?
“Uh...you were taking this inside?” he said, as if it wasn’t his first time saying it. My daydreaming ass didn’t hear him.
“I was! Shit, I’m sorry to have you standing there like that. Come in. You can just set that on the floor.”
He did, and when he stood back up, he towered over me with a grin on his face. “So, did you get my message about your prize?”
I nodded. “I did, and thank you, but you already know...”
“Still allergic to pain, huh?”
“Very.”
He chuckled. “Okay, I got you, but if you ever change your mind, you know where to find me.” He nodded toward his shop across the street.
“I probably won’t keep that in mind.”
He shook his head and glanced around my office space. “So, is this what you were planning to tell me about? What’s this place going to be?”
“My consulting company. I took your advice. I’m going to be helping people with things like establishing or reestablishing their credit, securing loans, starting crowdfunding accounts. Stuff like that. I’m calling it DB Financial Consulting.”
“Wow! That’s great, Denise!”
“Well, it feels great to be doing something that has a real purpose. Thanks for giving me the idea.”
“No problem. I owed you. Hey, I’ve got a client waiting on me, so I need to get back, but we should catch lunch together sometimes since we’re right across the street from each other.”
“Maybe we will.”
He shot me a grin before leaving me with the lingering scent of his cologne.
17
I had my computer tuned to The Weeknd’s Pandora station and was humming along to Wicked Games while looking over the information a potential client had submitted on my website. This man actually had a decent credit score, lots of revolving credit, made his payments on time, and held a good job, yet my former employers still denied him the loan he needed to build the prototype of a very innovative wheelchair ramp design he’d patented. My eyes were being opened to the banking game more and more as nearly a month of running my business crept by. The banking game was screwing people of color left and right, screwing us raw, without even a hint of Vaseline.
I released a breath as I began compiling a list of crowdfunding sites for my client, and if need be, I would sit down with him and help him set up an account on whatever site he chose. After all, that was what he was paying me for. When I heard pecking on the glass of the front door of my office, I tore my eyes away from the computer and rubbed them with my hands before getting up to see who it was. I smiled at the sight of Hasaan holding up a plastic sack with the words “Thank you” splashed across it in red letters. I turned the lock and opened the door, stepping aside so he could enter, and all at the same time, trying not to notice the wife beater he was wearing that showed off his muscular arms and gave me not only a full view of his sexy neck tattoo, but also gave me a peek of one on his chest.
“Damn, you locked up in here, huh?” he said in lieu of a greeting.
I shrugged as I gave him my best, lustless smile. “I see clients by appointment only. No walk-ins, so I keep the door locked until I’m expecting someone. I wasn’t expecting you. What are you doing here?”
He raised the sack. “Bringing you lunch. I bought a plate from your mom, and she told me to bring you one. She said, and these are her words, not mine, that your stupid ass probably would work right through lunch if I didn’t bring this to you.”
I shook my head. “Yeah, that sounds like Jenny Owens.”
“She’s a trip.”
“No, she’s just mean as hell, but she’s right, I hadn’t thought about eating anything. I was wrapped up in my work.”
He smiled. “Well, you’re lucky you got me to deliver to you.”
“I appreciate it. You can just put my tray on my desk.”
“Um, I was hoping we could eat together...”
“Oh...I’m sorry. Yeah, that’d be great. We can eat in the breakroom,” I said, leading him to the back of my office space.
“You have a breakroom? Aren’t you the only one working here?”
“Yeah, but I hope to be able to hire a staff eventually, so I laid out the office like I already have one.”
He nodded as he took a seat at the table in my self-assigned breakroom. “That’s actually really smart. You’ve taken visualizing what you want to a new level. I like that.”
“Thanks.”
We had been eating in silence for a few minutes before he said, “Damn, this pork roast is good! Your mama can cook her ass off!”
“She really can,” I agreed. “Why you think my ass is so big?” I added with a chuckle.
“I don’t see a damn thing wrong with your ass.”
I looked up at him. He was wearing this smoldering look that turned my insides to slush. I had to get the spotlight off of me. “Is that why you were looking at my ass at your grand opening?”
Surprise registered on his face. “You think I was looking at your ass?”
“Well, I know you didn’t recognize me from my hair, because that was a brand new wig I was wearing. I’d never worn that style before.”
He gave me a smile and shrugged. “Okay, guilty. I was looking at your ass, but who can blame me? You got a nice ass. I actually think it’s the nicest ass I’ve ever seen.”
Shit! “Really, now? My ass is all that?”
He set his fork down and leaned back in his chair. “Your ass is a damn work of art. I am very attracted to your ass, Denise. Very.”
“Just my ass?”
“Shit, no! I’m rather fond of the total package—beautiful face and a body that won’t quit. Do you have any idea how fine you are?”
Not half as fine as your ass! “You got all those muscles, so I know you work out...”
“Every day.”
“So, if you’re into fitness, how you gonna be attracted to my fluffy-ass body?”
“Shit, I’m not tryna rub up against something hard like me. I like my women to feel like women—soft, smooth...I bet you would feel so good in my arms.”
I took a sip of water. It was getting hot as hell in there. Maybe I need to turn the AC up. “Uh...are you coming on to me?”
“Do you want me to?”
“Honestly? Hell, yeah.”
“Good, then I’m coming on to you like a motherfucker.”
I stared at his chest and flapped my legs open and closed under the table, because my coochie was about to overheat. “Hasaan—”
“Everyone calls me H.”
“H, what are we doing? Sitting up in my place of business flirting? I didn’t even know you cursed like that until today. Seems like something shifted really fast up in here, and I don’t know how I feel about it.” Well, that was a lie. I felt horny about it, very horny.
“Well, when we first met, we met at your job. What was I supposed to do? Come up in there and yell, ‘What’s up? I’m up in this bitch!’ And when I changed your tire, I wa
s on my job, so what was I supposed to say then, ‘Let me change this muh-fuckin’ tire’?”
I giggled. “No.”
“Look, I’m comfortable with you. When I’m comfortable, I curse. You got a problem with me cursing?”
“No, I was raised by a champion curser, and she passed her skills down to me. I have no room to judge.”
“Okay, good. Then what’s the real issue here, because you can’t deny that there’s chemistry between us.”
“I know…”
“Okay, Denise, we’re friends, right?”
“Yeah...”
“Well, I’d like to be more than friends. I have to admit, I was attracted to you the second I saw you in that office wearing that damn suit. You had those big legs out. I damn near lost it.”
I gave him a smirk. “My big legs didn’t stop you from going off on me.”
A sheepish expression overtook his handsome face. “I already apologized for that. I was frustrated.”
“Yeah, and seeing what my clients have been going through, I understand why. The system is definitely rigged against us for the most part.”
“Mm-hmm, I tried to tell you.”
“Maybe you did.”
A silence fell between us and hung there for several minutes before I said, “I like you, Hasaan.”
“But?”
“I just got out of something with someone, and I’m really trying to focus on my business right now. I really feel like I’m serving a purpose and I like the way that feels.”
“You think I’ll get in the way of that? Shit, I’m your biggest cheerleader.”
Real Love Page 6