2. Morgan
morgan
. . .
I posed for a few pictures as I touched the door handle of the laundromat. Even with me all smiles and waving to the cameras, I still didn’t see the need for me to be here. My team had set this little photo op up, because they claimed I needed to be shown supporting small Black owned businesses. Especially since my whole campaign I had been passionate about shedding more light on them.
So, instead of sending out my suit for the mayor’s gala to my usual dry cleaner, Aimee had found a laundromat that offered dry cleaning to make it look like I was bridging the gap and wanted all of our people to win.
Bullshit.
I didn’t want to come in here and shake hands while pretending like I would continue to bring my clothes here.
“Baby, I promise I am going to talk to you when I get home. Look, Ry asked for that scooter… it’s alright. Okay…no, we can keep it because she wanted it. Yes, anything for her,” Martin, my campaign manager spoke to who I assumed was his wife.
He always seemed like he was going through it with that woman. I never gave a fuck about his personal life, but from the conversations I had overheard, she was always hollering and complaining about him not being home because I kept him so busy with my campaign.
I felt sorry for Martin. He was overweight and not the best looking in the bunch, however, the man was nice. Too nice to be in some damn politics, but he was a genius at knowing what people wanted. Twice I took him to a Case House event, and the man kept his hands to his side, and didn’t fuck not one piece of pussy that walked past him.
He was devoted to his wife, just too damn busy to be a husband. Not until after the election, then he could fix whatever with his big mouth bitch.
Martin shoved his phone into his blazer and then turned his attention to me. “Sorry about that… so, shake hands, do a little tour and take some pictures,” Martin gave me a quick pep talk. “The owner opened this laundromat when she moved here from Belize… her name is Joy.”
As I turned around, I watched a thicker Muslim woman with a hijab on come from behind the counter. I paused, ‘cause she was fucking stunning with her thick pink lips, beauty marks on opposite ends of her cheek, and beautiful doe shaped brown eyes.
Although she wore a simple pair of wide leg-trousers with a blouse and was fully covered up. I could see that ass from the front as she walked over toward me, standing a few inches shorter than me.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Morgan. I’m so happy to have you… welcome to Joy’s Laundromat. My name is Joy Gunn.”
She smelled sweet, like salted caramel and oud. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Gunn… thank you for allowing me to take some of your time with all the media and cameras.”
I watched as her lips turned up. “You don’t need to worry about a thing. The goal is to get you to be our mayor, so you can take up as much time as you need to. I don’t have a cap on my time.” She winked, exposing her deep dimples. I was smitten with her.
Martin bumped me. “Stop sexualizing her… Vincent, pull it together. Anybody with eyes can see that you are staring at her ass… she’s covered from head to toe for crying out loud,” he scolded me, clearly disgusted that I would have my way with Ms. Joy Gunn.
I looked at my phone. “Give me a minute to make a quick call.”
“Be quick.”
I could tell from the way Martin dealt with me that he wasn’t that fond of me. The amount of money I was paying him was worth the headache and disgust I probably caused him. He wanted my position so bad, and I could tell he didn’t think I was the right man for the job of mayor.
It didn’t matter what the fuck he thought. He was being paid to help me get that position and run a campaign so damn good that they would have students’ years from now studying it.
“Alright Jesse, I’ve been calling you for a damn week now and you still haven’t gotten back to me. You harass my staff for a meeting with me about something important and then you disappear,” I whispered into the phone, becoming pissed all over again.
Jesse had been trying to get a meeting with me for a whole damn week, and I had been busy. Not as busy as I told her, but I didn’t feel like sitting and hearing whatever she needed to talk about. According to the staff, they said it was very important that she meet with me, and I allowed them to schedule a quick lunch with her.
Imagine my surprise when she didn’t show up and hadn’t answered her damn phone for me. I could see where she would be pissed with someone not answering the phone for her, because she turned around and did the same shit right to me.
“Mr. Morgan, we’re ready for you,” another intern quietly walked up on me, throwing me off. I looked at her and rolled my eyes because she wasn’t Aimee.
Aimee would have known not to come up on me like a damn secret fucking squirrel. I couldn’t wait until she was back in the office. She told me she needed some time off because she was in a car accident.
I walked over as soon as the news cameras turned on and extended my hand to Ms. Gunn like I hadn’t met her a few seconds ago. “You guys have saved me in time for the mayor’s gala… do you know how much you have done here?” I smiled, shaking Joy’s hand as she smiled at me.
There was something sinister in her eyes, or maybe I was flipping out because of all the shit I had going on. Not everyone has a motive, Morgan. It was something I had to keep saying as this woman shook my hand.
“You are thanking us when we should be thanking you. The future mayor’s business is always welcomed here. We appreciate you and love to see what you are doing and will do for our city… the violence in the city is something to be worried about.”
“Absolutely. We will work to make sure the men responsible are arrested and given their day in court.” Joy squeezed my hand, and then quickly bowed her head like she was praying.
Wasn’t she supposed to pray on a mat?
“Allah will make sure that the people responsible will pay for their crimes in the way he sees it.” She looked me in the eyes, giving me fucking chills as I slipped my hand out of hers and accepted the dry cleaning.
We snapped a few pictures while she gave us a quick tour of the small laundromat. I watched as she spoke, while looking back at me to make sure I was understanding everything she said. “Wow. Look at this machine.”
“It’s our biggest machine… big enough to fit a whole human inside,” she giggled, but her words made me uneasy.
Soon as Joy was finished with the tour, she shook my hand again and went to help a customer. I said my goodbyes and spoke to the cameras before being whisked back into my car.
“Jesus, that woman was strange.”
“She was nice and welcoming… felt a beautiful feeling about her spirit,” Martin replied, never looking up from his phone. “You have dinner plans with Tasha tonight… keep or cancel?”
I sighed, not wanting to see Tasha. Since she had gone to dinner at Jesse’s house, she could give me a clue where my daughter was and why she wasn’t answering the damn phone for me. Then again, I didn’t care that much.
“Cancel.”