Chapter 2
“Stop. Stop… Just stop.”
Aisley’s head continued to bob up and down as she slobbered all over my dick.
“Aisley,” I spoke her name firmly but was only met with her messy head of blonde curls trying to take my dick to the back of her throat. Too bad it didn’t feel as good as it looked. Gripping a handful of her hair, I snatched her head up. “I said stop.”
She looked so silly with spit dripping down the sides of her mouth. Her caramel-colored face was flushed red from the energy she exerted to piss me off instead of pleasing me.
“What? Why?”
“All I feel is your fucking teeth. You about to skin my shit.” I was disgusted and borderline angry.
She wanted to do this, and now, it was a waste of time. I had plenty of other shit I could be doing.
“I know you offered to eat my dick up, but I didn’t realize you meant literally. Never offer to do that shit again.”
She grimaced from my critique and her chest caved.
“I-I’m s-sorry,” she stuttered with a quivering bottom lip.
I grabbed her chin and titled her head upward.
“It’s all good. Just stick to your job before you lose that the way you’ve lost access to my dick ever again.”
She gulped loudly. Tears filled her waterline, and I knew it was time to fucking go. I hated women tears and wasn’t in the mood for them today.
“Aye, stop that. It’s not worth crying over. You tried. I didn’t like it, and that’s that. Clean yourself up and meet me inside. We have work to do.”
While I talked, I tucked my dick back in my boxers and readjusted my trousers. I didn’t wait for her to respond as I knocked twice on the window. My door came open almost instantaneously. I stepped out with my briefcase handle secured in my left hand. I nodded to my driver Austin as I buttoned my suit jacket. I looked fresh as hell in my black tailored suit. I wore a black pea coat on top because the wind was beating bitches up today.
I loved the way I looked in business attire. It made me feel like that nigga. Even before I was closing deals that afforded me the luxury of expensive custom suits, I wasn’t too good for the cheap shit. I knew it was all about appearance. I learned a long time ago that people took you more seriously when you took care of yourself. I didn’t give a damn who tried to argue otherwise but looks matter. People were way more shallow than they cared to admit aloud, and I was not a delusional nigga. One thing a person could never say was they saw me looking busted or dusty. Now that I had money, I prided myself on looking and smelling the part every day.
I admired the warmth of the sun despite the slightly cold breeze that whipped between the tall buildings surrounding us in Downtown Rosewind. I loved my office space on the thirteenth floor of the Motley. The views inspired me to work my ass off. It felt like I was on top of the world, a foreign feeling for a little Black boy from the slums of this city. I had come a long way, and nothing or no one would stop me from having my way.
The walk inside was quick because I didn’t stop to chat or even glance at another soul. I was a man on a mission. This shit got me out of bed every morning before my alarm could even go off. I was single-handedly carrying the city on my back with my mission to buy back the block.
I watched the way the government removed more and more funding from the public every day to fund their personal endeavors. Children were suffering so badly that all they could think of was survival. Who could care about education if your biggest concern was worrying about where your next meal would come from? I had a soft spot for children, especially the ones being raised by their environment. So, I did whatever I could to change the narrative and offer something most weren’t getting these days—a chance to be better.
Not only was I buying real estate, but I was filling those buildings with people who cared about the work they were doing. So far, I was able to open a women’s shelter, a reentry home for men being released from prison, and a food bank. I also had two foster homes with a potential third deal on the table. It wasn’t much, but it was something, and I was proud as hell to have my name out front.
The moment I plopped down in my seat a call came through my desk phone.
“Rogue Realty. This is Romani speaking.”
There was a slight titter of static before a voice came through the line. It was one of my favorite voices to hear.
“Good morning, Romani. I had a feeling you would already be in your office.” Shelia, the realtor I worked with, spoke cheerily into the phone. No matter what time of day I talked to this woman, she was always upbeat and full of energy.
“You know I don’t play around. If there’s work to be done, I’m here,” I replied while sorting through the paperwork scattered across my desk.
This was what Aisley should’ve been attending to first thing this morning instead of trying to offer up that whack-ass head. I clenched my fists, becoming pissed just thinking about it. She had better never waste my time like that ever again.
“And that’s exactly why I’m calling. A property has become available that I think you will be very interested in. The bonus is that Turner Properties has an interest in it.”
That name always sparked my interest. Let’s just say I didn’t fuck with anyone associated with Turner Properties, and anytime I could fuck them over, I did so with joy.
“You have my attention. Tell me more.”
* * *
“Now, I know what you like in your investment properties, and I think you will love what this space has to offer,” Shelby shared with a bright smile.
I trailed closely behind her as we walked up the sidewalk leading to the community center that was on the chopping block simply because someone didn’t value what community centers offered to the youth. My eyes took an inventory of the street and the condition it was in. I noticed some of the equipment on the playground was outdated and broken down. It was only noon, but I had a feeling that the busted glass underneath one of the streetlights I spotted was an indication that it likely wouldn’t turn on when the sun set later that evening.
It looked like there was an abandoned greenhouse or garden in the distance. Along the front sidewalk were some beautiful baby blue flowers. I pointed to them, feeling as if they were out of place for the rundown condition of the community center.
“What are these?”
Shelby was too busy yapping to realize I’d stopped admiring the flowers.
“Um, I’m not sure.”
“They’re Carolina Wild Petunias. My daughter planted them,” someone answered as they approached.
I glanced up to find an older man dressed in khakis and a button up shirt. His head was so bald the sun reflected off it like a mirror. His only facial hair was a neatly trimmed goatee. He sported a friendly smile as he came to a stop in front of us. He extended his hand. 1
“Hi. I’m Damon Lucas. Welcome to the Caldwell Community Center.”
Shelby stepped up first to shake his hand. I followed suit as she made introductions. 1
“I’m Shelby Anthony, and this is my client Romani Rogue. We were just hoping to look around.”
Damon nodded while taking a step back to let us walk ahead of him.
“Of course. I’d be happy to give you a tour. I know it’s not much to look at, but wait until you see what we offer the community.”
From the way he spoke, I could tell Damon had a personal attachment to this place. I could only imagine how he felt knowing it was going to be turned into condos or something even more asinine if Turner Properties got ahold of it. Anything they built wouldn’t be affordable to the current residents of the neighborhood.
I took up the rear with Damon leading the tour and Shelby following closely behind. He gave us a tour of the outside first from the fields to the abandoned greenhouse I’d seen. Apparently, the state stopped providing the money to fund it, and they hadn’t successfully qualified for any grants. Damon had hoped to bring it back to life if the sale didn’t take place. I wasn’t sure how to break the news that this sale was happening regardless of what his hopes and dreams were.
“Are the streetlights out?” I asked, thinking back to what I’d seen earlier.
He nodded. “Yes. Unfortunately, only one is working properly.”
I nodded to Shelby to write it down for me to remember later. I liked knowing exactly what I was working with when it came to a property. It decreased the possibility of surprises once I acquired the property. We continued the tour by moving inside.
I noted that it smelled fresh and looked really clean from first glance. The walls were decorated with fliers about upcoming events or ones that’d recently happened. They offered tutoring, after school programs, sports teams, and even some odd clubs like sewing, anime, and reading.
Damon said sometimes they offered a cooking class in the little kitchen that adjoined two of the meeting rooms. He said the appliances had been out for a while, so there weren’t any recently. As we continued deeper into the center, we came across a room blasting upbeat music.
He turned to us and said, “That’s the Zumba class to get the elderly active.”
I thought it was a sweet sentiment. We rounded a corner leading to the gym. The moment we stepped inside, the sounds of voices caught my attention. A woman was ranting to someone who was lying on their back staring up at the ceiling. From a distance, I couldn’t tell much about the woman except she had big hair, and you wouldn’t expect someone so petite to have such a strong voice. It carried over to where we were standing in the doorway, even though she was all the way on the opposite side of the room.
“Oh, there’s my daughter. She manages the place,” Damon informed us.
“Lovie!” he yelled out to get her attention. She glanced up as he began waving her over and folded her arms over her chest, pacing back and forth in place.
My eyes drifted off to the peeling paint on the walls, but I found interest in the championship signs hanging over the walls. It seemed for a few years in a row this neighborhood had the best football and baseball team. I chewed on my bottom lip wondering what could’ve happened to cause a decline until an angry little woman pulled me from my thoughts.
“Are you the guy that’s trying to ruin everything good about this neighborhood?” she asked with a roll of her neck.
A tiny vein ran up the middle of her forehead creating the cutest river in her deep brown skin.
“What the fuck is so funny?” She snapped when I could only smile in response.
Something about the fire burning beneath her skin made her glow. I’d never seen anything like it.
“Lovie, watch your mouth. These are our guests,” her father chastised her in a low, stern voice.
She palmed her forehead. “Daddy, I love you, but I can’t be a sweetheart right now. No one is taking away this community center. I refuse to let it happen, and if this is the person responsible, I’m going to give him a piece of my mind.”
She turned her wrath to me as she looked me up and down like the scum of the earth. I was thoroughly impressed with her boldness. It made everything happening much more interesting to me.
“I know your type!”
I chuckled loudly. “What’s my type?”
Straightening my posture, I widened my stance and folded my hands in front of my body. I just had to know what she thought of me in the span of thirty seconds when I hadn’t done anything but looked around the room.
Her face lost all expression for a split second before all her facial features scrunched together in the most adorable mug I’d ever seen. I found my posture relaxing the more worked up she became. The passion burning through her was a beacon of her beauty. I’d never been in the room with a woman who made my heart race while cursing me the fuck out.
Lovie, as her father called her, was curvy in all the right places with childbearing hips, succulent breasts that were perky as fuck, and a little gap between her thighs that I wanted to widen with my body. Her full lips were outlined with brown liner and covered in clear gloss. She wore an oversized, black jersey looking shirt that had the words ‘bitches wish they could’ painted across the front. Her jeans were fitted with a million pockets. My eyes dropped to her sneakers seeing she wore a pair of panda dunks. The best part of her outfit was her gold jewelry. It brought everything together.
“You think you can just throw your money wherever you want and have your way. Every time we build something worthy; they come and take it. And here I thought my enemy was going to look like a blue-eyed devil, but instead, it’s one of mine. A man birthed from the womb of a Black woman, coming in and tearing apart something beautiful all for a quick buck. It’s disgusting and I won’t allow it to happen. Not here. Not ever.”
While I was initially astonished by her beauty and spunk, the more she talked her words ripped me apart. How could she think I would ever stand for that? I took pride in the work I did for my people. I could never be against them no matter what I had in my bank account.
“You’re wrong,” I told her in a gentle and calm voice.
Despite the storm her words unleashed within me, I knew her rage was misdirected. Sure, there were plenty of people who fit her description, but I wasn’t one of them. My values were the core of my being.
“And if you’d do some research before creating assumptions, you’d know this.”
She scoffed and tossed her head back as if my words were a lash across the cheek.
“You think I didn’t research the person responsible for crushing the hearts of over a hundred children?” She began to laugh, but it was very sinister and maniacal for a little person. She really couldn’t be taller than five foot three. “Like I said, I know your type.”
Before I could respond, Shelby stepped in between us. “Um, maybe we should continue this conversation another time.”
Her suggestion was lighthearted and probably best for the time being.
“Yeah, someone needs time to get their facts straight.” I smiled to myself thinking of how good it was going to feel the next time I saw her little ass and she was flushed with embarrassment for showing her ass. “That apology is going to be sweeter than you smell.”
Now that the world around me was moving again, I was noticing other things like her vanilla scent and fiery red hair. It matched her perfectly. She was fire. No—She was trouble.
“Oh, please. The only thing I’ll have for you is a middle finger with a sign that says kiss my fat ass.”
I pulled at the hairs on my chin, allowing my eyes to drop down to the fat ass she spoke of. Sure enough, it sat there looking juicy and succulent in the jeans she wore, but I couldn’t let her know that.
“I need it a little juicier if I’ma kiss it. You could add another set of squats per workout. Maybe it’ll even start to jiggle when you walk,” I teased.
She shuffled uncomfortably under my scrutiny before turning to her friend.
“Girl did he just call my ass flat?” She sounded shocked, but I was sure that was because she knew her shit was on swole. “And why does he keep looking at me like that?”
I could still hear just fine. I could damn near see the curves her mouth formed hidden beneath.
“I don’t know, but I kinda think he wants you to ride his face.”
She squealed and dropped her eyes to the ground. The tension surrounding us was palpable and warmer than a summer day in Carolina. This was the most exciting shit to happen in a good little minute, and I liked it. Everything about my life before this moment could only be described as colorless.
“Uh, well, we will be in touch,” Shelby stated quickly as she broke the silence.
Damon stepped forward with a flushed expression. “I am so sorry about this. Please let me know any questions you have to make this transition easier.”
“Of course,” Shelby replied at the same time little Miss Lovie graced us with her strong voice again.
“Transition? There will be no transitions. He’s not shutting us down and not before Wanderlust.”
I chuckled. “It’s okay, Trouble. I’ll make sure the transition happens after Wanderlust, so can you just relax now?”
Teasing her was too much fun. I could tell immediately that my words affected her. She never should’ve let me know that, because now, I wouldn’t be able to stop egging her on and seeing how far I could push her buttons before she detonated.
She thrust her chest out as her nostrils flared. If her glare could kill, I’d already be on my way to meet my maker.
“Don’t call me that,” she spat with her chin lifted.
I raised an eyebrow and tilted my head to the side. “Don’t call you what? Trouble? Aww, did I strike a nerve?” I tapped my chin thoughtfully. “I can only imagine the trouble that mouth of yours has gotten you into.”
Her pretty lips flattened for a brief second. Big, brown irises narrowed at me. I could only smile watching all the ways her body came alive for me.
She pushed her hair back then said, “You don’t know shit about me. I’m fighting for what matters, and I don’t care what label comes with it or how it makes people feel about me.”
Something about her words made my smile soften. Understanding flushed through my being. Behind her eyes, I had a feeling there was a deeper meaning behind her dislike of the name.
“Okay, okay, Trouble. No need to get your big panties in a bunch.”
Her eyes flickered with intrigue even though her next words came out gravelly.
“Make that your last time calling me that, or we’re going to have a problem.”
Shelby suddenly grabbed a hold of my arm, leading me away from the girl who woke up something deep inside of me with her big hair and slick mouth. I could hear debating with her father as we walked away. I wanted nothing more than to remain planted right there teasing that little terrorizer. I’d have dreams about her fiery red hair, juicy ass cheeks, and chocolate skin.
“Well, that was interesting,” Shelia said once we were outside tossing her thumb toward the center behind us.
My lungs couldn’t function to their full capacity until we were outside, heading toward our cars. Suddenly, everything about the air dulled in comparison to the sweet bubble surrounding Lovie. I glanced at the building still processing everything that unfolded in detail.
“Yeah, that’s one word you could use to describe it.” I couldn’t stop a smile from spreading across my face. “Do me a favor and find out everything you can about this place, including the mouthy midget in there. It appears the value on this place just went up.”