She was dumbstruck! Now she knew why Faye was winking. Now she knew why Faye assumed such nonsense. If he was single, and he certainly carried himself as if he was, he was going to be the catch of the century in Apple Valley. She could only imagine the women who were coming for him!
She wasn’t the only one taken aback. The women in the room were smiling and elbowing each other and behaving as if a rock star had just walked in. It was a shock to the system all around.
But even in Kari’s shock, she could see that the city leaders were surprised by his sudden appearance, too. They had probably planned to discuss the matter with the locals first, to try to get them onboard, and then invite him in to seal the deal. But he came on in anyway. Either he was a ruthless businessman, Kari thought as she watched the big man continue to make his way down the aisle, or he was just ruthless.
Lucinda leaned over to Kari. “Now that’s what I’m talking about,” she said as she looked down the length of the muscular man, and raked her fingers through her long, blonde hair, jerking it back. “If he ain’t gorgeous,” she added, “there exists no such word.”
“Even I have to agree with you this time, Lou,” Faye said, watching Alex too. “Damn, he’s fine! For a white man.”
Lucinda, who was white, rolled her eyes. She and Faye were always baiting each other with that racial stuff. It was a game to them. It was annoying to everybody else.
Faye then leaned against her husband. “What you think, honey? Isn’t he nice looking for a white man?”
Benny grinned. He was a bald, good-looking black man. “He’ll pass,” he said. “He’s not my type though,” he added, and Faye playfully hit him.
But Kari was even less impressed than Benny. Mainly because great looks never impressed her. Vito was a good-looking man, too, and he was rotten to the core. Her father was a good-looking man, and he wasn’t much better than Vito. She soured on great-looking men a long time ago.
What impressed her about Alex was his elegance and dignity. And the fact that he was genuinely a nice guy. Who else would have done what he did for her last night? She saw it at the diner. She saw it at the house. He was no showboat or big mouth or general asshole like most rich, good-looking men were. Although he walked in with an entourage behind him, and walked in as if he owned the joint, he didn’t go up on the dais to impose his will on the room. He didn’t go up at all. He sat on the front row, in the seats reserved for his party, and crossed his legs.
He remained quiet as the mayor called the meeting to order, silenced the crowd, and explained the referendum. Then the mayor told why he was supporting the measure, and allowed each and every one of the city leaders to tell why they, too, were yes votes. It was a variation on the same theme: a world-class hotel and casino in Apple Valley would be great for tourism, for business, for everything. “Soon you’ll be saying, recession, what recession, because of the money that will pour in,” the mayor said.
It wasn’t until they opened the floor up for questioning, however, did they introduce their guest.
“I would like Mr. Alexander Drakos to rise and answer any questions the audience may have,” the mayor said. “If that’s alright with you, sir,” he added, addressing Alex personally.
So that was his name, Kari thought. Alexander Drakos. What kind of name, she wondered, was that?
Alex rose from his seat, buttoned his designer suit, and stood in front of the crowd. Although he looked like a man who lived for moments like this, the truth was he was growing weary of these moments. Every business deal he made required arm-twisting and all kinds of shenanigans that he wasn’t particularly proud of, but that he knew he had to do to make the deal happen. He always made the deal happen. Given the skepticism of the audience, a skepticism he could feel, he knew he would have to do more of the same here.
To Kari, looking at Alex dead-on made for an impressive sight. Even more impressive than he looked at the house. He had thick black hair, with a healthy, waviness to its texture, as it was neatly groomed into a conservative cut. He was so big and muscular that one of his biceps seemed as big as both of Kari’s thighs. And that thickness between his own thighs was undeniable too. He had the bundle to end all bundles, it seemed to her. And, after how she clumsily fell against him at the house, she had a little experience. He was so big, in fact, that she figured sex with that man had to either be the most gratifying experience a woman could ever hope to have, or very, very painful.
But she wasn’t alone in her notice of his endowment. She saw many eyes on the faces of many females focus like laser beams between those thighs of his. But for Kari, his face, with his striking blue eyes and full, kissable lips, gave that bundle between his legs a run for its money, attention-wise. Especially when Kari noticed how there appeared to be such a sadness in his beautiful eyes.
But at the end of the day, and despite that sadness she saw, even she couldn’t stop her own eyes from constantly moving downward, toward that bundle, over and over again.
Alex stood in front of the crowd as a woman handed the microphone from citizen to citizen. It would have been more efficient, Alex thought, to just position the microphone up front and let the citizens ask their questions there, but he knew how to hide his take-charge nature. He wasn’t there to take-charge. He was there to listen. And he did, even as the first question was a damning indictment.
“You’re supposedly a successful businessman,” the citizen said. “Why would somebody like you want to come to little ol’ Apple Valley? Is it because they’ll be no competition? Is it because your hotel and casino will be the only show in town and you know it? With all the towns we surround, and the big cities not that far away, you’ll make a killing. And yes, I heard the mayor-and-them sit up there and talk about how great it’ll be for us. I heard all that. But I figure it’s bullshit.”
The audience broke out into laughter and applause, as if they were at a sporting event than a very serious town meeting.
“I figure it’ll be better for you,” the questioner continued, “than it’ll ever be for us. Isn’t that the real reason why you picked us?”
The audience erupted in cheers and applause again. They couldn’t agree more. What stumped them, was when Alex couldn’t agree more, too.
He didn’t skip a beat. As soon as the whoops and hollers ended, he responded. “Why yes,” he said to the man’s questions.
The townspeople were astonished. An audible gasp could be heard. Even Faye and Lucinda looked at each other with disdain for such an answer.
But Kari was grinning. Because it was nothing but the truth. And he didn’t lie about it! That was why her fellow townspeople were upset. They weren’t accustomed to a truthteller who also wanted their votes.
“Yes?” the mayor asked, on the verge of panicking. “Did you say yes?”
“Yes, I did,” Alex responded. And then he looked at the man who asked the question. “Your town will do well. I agree with your leaders. But I’ll do better. No question about it. I agree with you.”
“Then, I mean,” the man stumbled, “why should we support the referendum if you’ll do better than us?”
“Because you’ll do better than you’re doing right now,” Alex said. “Thirty-five percent of your businesses have closed. The projection is forty-five percent by the end of the year. I will not guarantee much, but I can guarantee a boom to your economy.”
“By bringing godless gamblers to our town?” A woman in the crowd yelled out.
The microphone lady gave the mic to the woman. She grabbed it and stood to her feet. “Money ain’t everything,” the woman said, to great applause. “What about our peace? What about the moral fiber we have inside of us?”
“If all goes right,” Alex said, “your peace and morality will not be altered.”
“But what if all goes wrong?” the woman asked. “What if we lose our shirts, our peace, and our morality in the bargain? What if we become gamblers and such, and lose it all? Then what?”
“Then it’ll be my
kingdom for a horse time and I’ll get on that horse and ride up out of here.”
Silence befell the crowd. “Your kingdom for a what?” somebody asked, in the silence. Nobody got it. Except for Kari, who was grinning. Even Faye and Lucinda looked at her as if she had lost her mind. What was so funny?
But it was that grin that caught Alex’s attention. It was that grin that, for the first time in a long time, that caught Alex’s eye. It was no surprise to him that it would be Kari. For some strange reason, he knew it was going to be her before he saw her. He smiled back at her when he saw her.
She wore on what appeared to be prescription reading glasses that made her look more studious than beautiful, which Alex also oddly found attractive. She sat midway from where he stood, right in the middle of the crowd, and he could see her perfectly. The fact that she had deep dimples on either side of her cheeks, and a bright white smile that put all other smiles to shame, helped her to stand out too.
“In any event,” the mayor decided to say, “what Mr. Drakos has said is the truth. The bottom line is more revenue for our community. He has guaranteed more revenue. More money. That’s what this community needs, and that’s why every citizen should back this referendum. Because the alternative is clear: if we don’t get the money, some other small town will. Let’s not be foolish, people.”
But the mayor’s comments only provoked the crowd to anger. “What’s foolish about morality and family values and not wanting a town overrun with gangsters and gamblers?” one man summed up. And the back and forth, not between Alex and the townspeople, but between the mayor and the townspeople, ramped up in a major way. It became so heated, and so contentious, that the mayor had no choice but to adjourn the meeting for tonight, and hope, as he said, that he could discuss concerns more individually than in a group setting.
“Let’s meet up at the meet-and-greet and we’ll talk then,” he said to the citizens.
He failed to mention, however, that almost none of those complaining citizens were invited to the meet-and-greet. It was by invitation only, and they didn’t get one.
But Faye and Benny, did, and had managed to wrangle one for Kari, and Lucinda had gotten one as well. All of the business owners were invited. It was not by accident, Kari figured, that most of those business owners supported the measure overwhelmingly. These people, she decided, wanted to lock down yes votes. They knew what they were doing.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The meet-and-greet was held in the hosting room next door to City Hall. It wasn’t a big place, but it was roomier than the meeting room, and this crowd was far friendlier than the previous audience. Alex and his team fanned out and moved around, from one group to the other group, from one clique to the other clique, making sure they could count on this person or that person, this group or that group, to cast a yes vote.
Kari moved around too, not because she was avoiding Alex and his people, but because she worked so hard that she rarely got the chance to hobnob with her neighbors. She knew many of the people in that room and, to varying degrees, respected all of them. Apple Valley was a small town, and she and the Churches were three of only a handful of African-Americans in that town. But she never felt alienated. They did business with her, and she did business with them. It was not an issue.
She also knew she would probably vote yes on the referendum, just as they also would probably vote yes as well. But, for Kari, it wasn’t because she felt a yes vote would be good for Apple Valley. It probably wouldn’t be good for Apple Valley in the long run. But her business was on life support. She couldn’t worry about long runs right now. She needed to play the short game. And taking the short view, it was going to be better for her business to vote yes. No boom, no business for her. She needed that economic boom.
By the time Alex made his way to Faye and Benny and Lucinda, Kari had made it back to her group as well. And Lucinda was preparing the group. “He’s coming our way next, people,” she said. “Chop, chop, people! He’s coming our way next!”
“He doesn’t want you, Lucinda,” Faye said. “You’re nothing more than white trash to a man like him, and you know it.”
“Then what are you to him? Black trash?” Lucinda asked. “At least I’m not married. At least I stand a chance.”
Kari ignored both of them. They were always brutally racial with each other in the silliest of ways, and everybody who knew the two of them were used to it. Because at the end of the day, Faye and Lucinda were always going to remain close friends. Why they were friends at all was a mystery to Kari. But they were.
What was also a mystery to Kari was the fact that Alex had been eyeing her all night, and had been anxious to get to her group. When she finally stopped moving from place to place so rapidly, and made her way back to her original group, he made it his business to get over there before she was off to the races again.
“Good evening,” he said as he arrived.
Lucinda took charge. She was a hot mama always on the prowl for a new bed partner. And this one was a billionaire? She all but knocked Kari aside. “Hello, Mr. Drakos,” she said, stepping forward. “Or may we call you Alexander?”
“Alex will work,” he said.
Lucinda smiled even greater. “Alex, it is,” she said.
“Perhaps each of you can introduce yourselves?” Alex asked.
“Yes, of course,” Faye said, taking charge this time. “I’m Faye Church. And this is my husband Benjamin.”
“Benny,” Faye’s husband said as he shook Alex’s hand. “Nice to meet you, sir.”
“Nice to meet you as well,” Alex said. “What business, if I may?”
“I’m an attorney in private practice here in town,” Benny said, “and my wife is a real estate broker.”
“Ah. Okay. Real estate and law. Got it.”
“I’m the broker your office phoned when they needed to rent a house for you,” Faye said. “I’m the one who found the house on Whimble, which is in our most exclusive neighborhood. I think you are going to really enjoy it there.”
“It’s still a shack compared to what you’re used to, I’m sure,” Lucinda said. “I mean, let’s be honest. But it’s the best Apple Valley can do.”
“It’ll be fine,” Alex said.
“I’m Lucinda Mayes, by the by,” Lucinda said, holding her hand out limply, as if she expected him to kiss it. “I own Lucinda’s Diner, the most popular eatery in town.”
Alex shook her hand while cutting a smile at Kari, who smiled too. “I remember the place,” he said. “The most popular, is it?”
Faye and Benny exchanged glances. Most popular their foot! But they held their peace.
Then Alex turned toward the woman he particularly wanted to meet and greet. The woman whose name he kept forgetting to get. “And you are?” he asked Kari.
“I’m Kari Grant,” she said, as she and Alex shook hands. For some reason, they both preferred not to share the fact that they’d had contact before. Serious contact last night. Interesting contact today. “I run a maid service in town,” she added.
Alex smiled. This kept getting better and better. “Cary Grant, hun? Named after the actor, were you?”
Kari smiled. “I don’t think so,” she said. “Especially since my full name is Karena Grant. Everybody just calls me Kari.”
“It’s not C-A-R-Y anyway,” Lucinda said. “It’s K-A-R-I. You know how our black brothers and sisters like to create these incredibly odd new names.”
Faye looked at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked.
“What do you mean what it’s supposed to mean?”
“Just what I said, Lou. What do you mean that we create these odd new names?”
“Because you do!”
Benny ignored the two of them, he was so used to them, and watched Alex, instead. Alex wasn’t watching Faye and Lucinda go back and forth at all, but his eyes were trained on Kari. Benny also noticed the fact that Alex still held Kari’s hand.
“But what are you trying
to say, Lou?” Faye asked.
“I’m trying to say what I said,” Lucinda responded. “Odd names. Like ShaQuanna and JaWanna and all those made-up names you people enjoy creating. They aren’t exactly American names. I mean, honestly.”
“Oh, and I guess the names you people make up are American?” Faye asked. “Names like Brook and Ridge and Amber and Stone and Branch and Leaf aren’t made-up names too?”
“Those names are actual names,” Lucinda proclaimed.
“Of brooks and ridges and branches and stones!” Faye shot back. “They aren’t people’s names! You turned those names into people’s names, and you have the nerve to criticize our names? At least we’re creative with ours! At least we aren’t borrowing names from the river banks or trees or mountains to name our babies!”
Kari grinned again. She couldn’t believe this conversation. But she was well accustomed to Faye and Lucinda at each other’s throat over nonsense. But when she smiled that wonderful smile again, Alex found himself smiling too. Up close, she had a beautiful face, he thought. Very serious but with a whimsical side too. And through those glasses she still wore he could see those very big, very pretty, very intelligent eyes.
But like her eyes that couldn’t stop glancing down at that thickness between his legs, his eyes kept looking downward too, at her big breasts. He was a big sucker when it came to big breasts (and he inwardly intended the pun), and couldn’t wait to get his mouth on hers. Why he suddenly felt a need to have and hold her breasts when he hadn’t felt any need to suck on anybody else’s in months, was a mystery to him. And why, on earth, was he still holding her hand?
He slowly released it, and let her go.
Kari suddenly felt bare, and alone again, when he released her hand.
But the need for that contact was still there, for both of them, and it was undeniable.
“So please don’t call our names odd, and we won’t call y’all names odd,” Faye said.
“Whatever,” Lucinda finally said, as if that word alone would end her spat with Faye. She had been so caught up in the rift, Benny noticed, that she was totally unaware of Alex’s obvious attraction to Kari.
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