The Family Business

by Pete, Eric

  “I’ll toast to that.”

  “Good. Maybe we can share a bottle or two of some of my best tequila. If I can get you back out here to L.A., mi amigo, maybe I’ll arrange for some sexy ladies, like we used to do. I remember that time with me and you and those four señoritas from Cozumel. Those were the days, huh?” He laughed loudly.

  I glanced at Chippy, happy that I didn’t have this on speakerphone. “I’ve gotten a little too old for that, Alejandro, but thank you for the offer. These days, I’m just a ‘community’ sort of guy who enjoys time with his family. I don’t really travel much anymore outside of New York. Like how you don’t leave the West Coast, eh?”

  “You got me there. I guess at the end of the day, we’re both just kings captive in our own little castles.”

  “Good way of putting it,” I commented, thinking of the world beyond my castle walls that awaited me and Chippy down in Florida. “We’ll talk further once we take delivery from your men.”

  “We most certainly will. Best wishes to your family, my friend,” Alejandro stated, presumably with other thoughts kept to himself for another time.

  “Yours also,” I replied, then disconnected the call.

  “Do you trust Alejandro?” Chippy asked.

  “Have I ever, sweetheart?” I answered. “You know how it is. Same as it’s always been. Every man for himself, or in this case, every family.”

  “Except the competition has never been this fierce. There’s no loyalty in business, and you’re not the sexy young man I fell in love with.”

  I chuckled at her latter comment. “There was somebody before me, and there will be somebody after me. Alejandro can say whatever he wants. He has plans to take over our territory. He’s just using this as a way to get his foot in the door. That’s why I’ve been readying Orlando.”

  “But Orlando’s not you. He’s his own man. He’s going to want to do things his own way.”

  “And he’ll have that freedom. But if he plans on making wholesale changes ... too much, too soon, he’ll have to answer to me. A lot of people, beyond our immediate family, depend on what we’ve established here, sweetheart. This isn’t just a business.”

  “I know, baby,” Chippy stated as I stood up to give her a hug. “But to say I would mind having you all to myself would be a lie.”

  Our embrace was cut short by Paris, coming to inform me of a call from Harris.

  “Sorry to bother you, LC,” Harris said when I answered. “But did you take care of London’s problem?”

  “No. I never heard from her,” I replied. “But I’ve been on the phone with Alejandro in L.A. Maybe she spoke with Junior.”

  “No, I called him first. He never heard from her either. Shit.”

  “Is something wrong? What was she supposed to talk to me about?”

  “Oh ... nothing major. She had a flat tire and I had a meeting, so I couldn’t get to her in time. I told her to call for someone over there to come out.”

  Just as I became concerned, I heard the familiar laughter of my granddaughter coming from the showroom floor.

  “Was Mariah with her, Harris?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “They’re here. No need to worry anymore,” I assured him.

  “Good,” he said with a deep sigh over the phone. “Just have her call me later.”

  London came down the hall, walking past the window to my office. She looked unfazed to my eye, which made me feel better. As the door cracked open, Mariah stormed in ahead of her.

  “I see you, Grandpa!” Mariah shrieked, full of youthful innocence and glee. She ran behind my desk and jumped into my outstretched arms. As I hugged her, I reflected on how grateful I was that London had provided me with such a lovely and caring grandchild, my only one. In stepping down from her responsibilities around here and marrying Harris, London had given me an even greater gift than her mere talents.

  “Is everything okay? I just got off the phone with Harris,” I said to London.

  “Oh. Yeah. Everything’s fine. I had a flat—my front tire. I have the spare on now. One of your men is going to put on a new tire,” my daughter answered as she embraced her mother.

  “Mommy had two guys help her. But the stinky, dirty one left,” Mariah said, smiling at me with a fresh missing baby tooth evident.

  “Is that so?” I looked to London to elaborate.

  “Uh-huh,” my granddaughter continued, volunteering what she knew in her own unique way. “He hurt his mouth and went home. And the nice one that Mommy likes stayed and put on the good wheel for us.”

  “Oh, really?” Chippy asked this time, with a sly grin on her lips.

  “Just somebody who helped, that’s all,” London replied with an equally sly look adorning her face. This wasn’t like London. Paris, maybe, but definitely not London.

  Orlando

  21

  I left the dealership and dropped Miguel off at his hotel. He was going to catch a flight back to California right after Junior got confirmation that the truck with the Roadster was securely in our people’s hands. I was looking forward to a little peace and quiet now that things were starting to look up. With his beloved car on the way back to him, my father was content, and I was feeling like I finally deserved a little time to myself. I loved my family, but with all the stress lately, living and working with them 24/7 was really starting to grate on my nerves. I’d never been more convinced than right now that buying a private condo was a good move on my part. Even more than the privacy it afforded me, my place allowed me to indulge in something else that I needed—something that was waiting for me on the other side of the door to my condo.

  I entered the condo and before I could stop myself, I shouted, “You’re here!” I tried to play it off once those words escaped my mouth, but there was no hiding my excitement. I was breaking my own rule about never seeing the same girl twice, so no doubt Ruby was already feeling pretty full of herself. I didn’t really want to add fuel to that fire, but just seeing her again, I couldn’t help myself. For a while I’d worried that Remy wouldn’t be able to find her and I might never see her again.

  “Were you not expecting me?” Ruby rose up off the couch. Her voice was like music to my ears.

  “Oh, uh, yeah, I guess I was.” I looked everywhere but at her eyes, as though I had a million things on my mind—and that she wasn’t one of them. She was, though. She had been on my mind plenty since our first encounter. Damn, it was proving to be hard work to maintain my cool around this woman.

  “You don’t sound so sure about that.” She began to undo her blouse. With any other escort I would have appreciated that she was ready to get right down to business, but there was something about Ruby’s eyes. They looked empty, like she wasn’t even really in there, and it was almost painful for me to see. Clearly, she had left Remy’s service for a reason. This was not the type of work she wanted to be doing.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Remy and Maria said that you’re paying twice the usual amount and you don’t want me to cook. So, I am preparing myself for what I know you want. Why you asked to see me again. My body.” The melody was gone from her voice, and it kind of scared me how much I missed it.

  “I don’t want that, either. At least not that way or right now. Can you put your clothes back on, please?” Anything to bring back the Ruby I’d been thinking about ever since our first meeting.

  She shook her head and clutched her unbuttoned blouse to cover her breasts. “I don’t understand.” She sounded agitated, maybe even embarrassed. This was not turning out at all the way I’d hoped.

  “You don’t understand what?”

  “Why I’m here. Remy and Maria, as well as yourself, made it very clear that you never see the same girl twice.” She quickly buttoned up her blouse. “So why am I here?”

  “Well—” The chirping of my cell phone interrupted me. It was probably a good thing, because it gave me a minute to collect my thoughts, so I didn’t slip up and admit to this
woman how much I’d been thinking about her.

  “Hold on. Let me check this.” She waited patiently while I read the text from Junior: On my way to the rendezvous spot.

  This made me happy. Soon LC would have his Roadster, and all would be right with the Duncans’ world—and I could celebrate with Ruby all night. I texted back: Cool. We exchanged a few more quick texts before we were done, and I turned my attention back to Ruby.

  “Where were we?”

  “I was asking you why I’m here.”

  Because I’ve been thinking about you, every inch of you. Because there’s no one else Remy could have sent who holds a candle to you.

  Those were the things I wanted to tell her but never would. Instead, I said nonchalantly, “Guess I made an exception,” as if breaking my own rule wasn’t the monumental thing that it really was.

  Her confusion seemed to be giving way to a little bit of an attitude, complete with hands on her hips and the hint of a sour frown, which she was trying hard to conceal. Either she just didn’t like being confused, or she could see right through me and knew I was full of shit. Maybe she knew just what her beauty was doing to me. The growing excitement in my boxers sure wasn’t helping to disprove that theory.

  “Here. This is for you,” I said, holding out the garment bag I’d been carrying, in the hope that I could distract her before she noticed she was making me hard.

  “What’s this?” she asked, though her bright eyes and quick smile made me think she already had some idea.

  “Open it.”

  Her smile grew even wider when she opened the bag and took out the silk halter dress I’d bought for her. When I spotted it in Bloomingdale’s, I’d instantly envisioned her gorgeous mahogany skin against the white silk.

  Her eyes met mine, and for the first time that night, I heard that sweet island music again. Now, that was more like it.

  “Put it on,” I said.

  She turned to head to the bedroom to change.

  “No, here. I want to watch you put it on.”

  She stopped in her tracks and turned to face me. This time when she began unbuttoning her blouse, she kept her eyes on me, and that vacant look from before was replaced with ... Was that admiration? Desire? Either way, I liked the way she was gazing into my eyes as she undressed for me. I guess a three-thousand-dollar dress can turn a bad situation good, just that fast.

  By the time she was down to her bra and panties, she had me rethinking the plans I’d made. Maybe we’d have to order takeout, because I didn’t know if I’d be able to wait until after dinner to bury myself deep inside her warmth.

  Just as I was about to tell her to take off the rest, my phone rang. I looked down and saw my father’s number on the screen. As much as I hated to tear my eyes off Ruby’s body, I’d already learned my lesson about ignoring calls from my family, so I turned away and answered the call. Behind me, I heard Ruby sigh. Guess she didn’t like being interrupted while she was seducing a man.

  “Junior’s on his way to the rendezvous spot,” my father said when I answered.

  “I know. He texted me already.” I hoped the annoyance wasn’t evident in my voice. It wasn’t so much my father that was annoying me, just the fact that I had much better things to attend to at the moment. Work could wait.

  My father must have sensed something, because he kept the call mercifully brief. It wasn’t long before he said, “All right, son. I’ll talk to you tomorrow at the office.”

  I hung up and turned around. I didn’t know what was more gorgeous, Ruby in her bra and panties, or in the dress she was now wearing. The rhinestones sparkling along the neckline drew my eyes to her succulent cleavage.

  “You look ... beautiful,” I said, at a loss for words to truly describe her.

  “Thank you. This is very generous of you.”

  I didn’t answer. She was so stunning, I felt like I could barely form a thought in my head.

  “So,” she asked coyly, “do you do things like this for the other girls too?”

  That was enough to snap me out of my stupor. Ruby was fishing for some kind of confirmation that she meant more to me than all the other girls, and it was way too soon for that. While she might very well be more special, I still didn’t know where this was going. Shit, it had been a big step for me to break my rule, so I was not about to take it a step further and profess feelings for this woman.

  “Nah, never have, but it’s no big deal,” I said coolly, then changed the subject quick. “You hungry?”

  She looked disappointed by my less than enthusiastic response, but knew enough not to complain like she was my woman or something. “Sure. Did you change your mind? Should I cook for you?”

  “No. You’re wearing the hell out of that dress. I thought I’d take you out to a restaurant. No doubt you’ll be the most beautiful woman there.”

  I was right. There was not a woman in the place whose looks came anywhere close to Ruby’s. One woman actually had to smack her husband to make him stop staring. I knew how dude felt, though. Halfway through the appetizers I thought I was going to lose my mind watching the way she ate her shrimp cocktail. She dipped a fat, juicy shrimp into the cocktail sauce, brought it up to her mouth ever so slowly, rested the tip on her tongue, then wrapped her full, sexy lips around it, sucking off the sauce before she bit into it. I don’t have to tell you what she had me thinking about. I was so into this sexy show that a moan almost escaped my lips right there at the table.

  “So, you broke your rule for me, Mr. Orlando,” she said with a flirtatious smile. “And not only have I been invited back for a second time, but you’re taking me out in public—and to such a fancy place.”

  Again, she was fishing for compliments or commitment or something, but I wasn’t going there. “You know, I was a little worried that Remy wouldn’t be able to find you. He tells me you’re no longer working for him.”

  She lowered her eyes. I’d hit a sore spot. “Yes,” she said with a sad little sigh. “After my night with you I told him I didn’t think I was cut out for this line of work. I was not raised this way. My parents would die if they knew what I was doing here in the States.”

  “They’re still in Jamaica?” I asked.

  “Yes. My family is the only reason I agreed to come back when Remy called. I had no other way to earn money to send back to them.”

  Now, I understood family loyalty, but damn, this was taking it to another level. “You’re saying you can’t find any other line of work? Something that will make you happier?”

  The way she appeared to withdraw into herself, I realized maybe my question hadn’t been very sensitive. After a long moment of silence, she practically whispered, “I don’t have a work visa.”

  I nodded. “Say no more. Forgive me for prying.”

  She seemed to relax a little, I guess since she saw that I wasn’t going to report her to the INS or something. “I only plan on doing this for a while. Once I’ve earned enough, I will go home to my parents and my daughter.”

  “You have a child?”

  She nodded, then looked away quickly. “You must think less of me now, no? What type of woman leaves her child behind and goes to another country to sell herself to strangers?”

  Rules be damned, this woman was arousing feelings of tenderness in me I thought I might never allow myself to feel again. I reached across and put my hand under her chin to make her turn and look at me. Her eyes were glistening with tears. “Hey, you’re doing what you have to do to take care of your child. I don’t judge you for that, and you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.”

  “Thank you,” she said and wiped her eyes.

  To lighten the mood a bit, I asked, “So, since your papers are a little funny, does that mean that anytime you won’t do what I say, I can just threaten to call immigration on you?”

  Luckily, she understood I was joking, and she joined right in. “Mr. Orlando, I’m not afraid of you. Besides, you never have to worry about me refusing to do whatever you want m
e to do for—or with—you.” With that, she picked up another shrimp and did that thing with her tongue again.

  For the rest of the meal, we kept the conversation pretty light. Any time a subject seemed to make her uncomfortable, I changed it in a hurry. Ruby gave off this air of vulnerability that just made me want to protect her. At the same time, she exuded a sexuality and a confidence about herself that just made me want to peel off her dress and make love to her right on the table in the restaurant. This woman had me going in so many different directions at once that I didn’t even notice my brother walk into the restaurant until he was standing directly in front of me, looking ready to punch somebody.

  “Yo, uh, Junior ...” I glanced at Ruby, who was looking nervously up at Junior’s hulking presence. “What are you doing here, man?” This was not exactly the kind of restaurant my brother frequented, especially since it was way the hell out on Long Island, where my family rarely went.

  He shot a disdainful glance at Ruby and shook his head. “I shoulda known you was with a b—”

  “Junior!” I stopped him before he could call Ruby a bitch. “I said, what are you doing here? And what is your problem, man?”

  “What I’m doing here is trying to find you, fool. Good thing I put that damn GPS tracker on your car last time it was in the shop. Why the hell aren’t you answering your phone?”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked. I addressed the phone first; the idea that he was tracking me would be dealt with later. “My damn phone ain’t rung once since I’ve been here.” I looked to Ruby. “Isn’t that right, Ruby?”

  She didn’t answer, and the strange look on her face told me I was about to find out something I wouldn’t like.

  “Ruby?” I said again.

  “I’m sorry,” she admitted. “When you went to the men’s room, your phone kept ringing and then a few texts came in. We were ...” She glanced quickly at Junior, maybe to be sure he wasn’t ready to hit her. “We were having such a nice conversation. I didn’t want it to be disturbed by phone calls. I didn’t think you’d mind if I turned off your phone.”