Dirty (7 page)

He explored the seam of her cunt sucking her puffy lips together before attacking them with rapid lick
s
.
Burying
his face deeper into her pussy, he shoved his tongue inside her tight channel and commenced to fuck her,
moving
his head back and forth. He didn’t stop until he felt her thighs tremble and he knew she was very close to her peak.

Abruptly
,
he pulled back. “Do you want to come?”

“Yes, please don’t stop.” She attempted to guide his hand back to her honey spot
but
he resisted. “Tell me again who you belong to.”

“You Paul. Please stop playing games. I need to come!”

“This is no game. You don’t get to come until I tell you to because you’re mine. Tell me what you’re going to do the next time you have an itch you need to scratch.”

“I’ll call you. Only you! Please Paul.”

He chuckled in triumph knowing he had her just where he wanted her. Paul returned to her pussy and began to work her with his mouth again until she screamed her release. Her juices flooded his mouth and he lapped the sticky sweetness, savoring every drop. After several more laps
,
he released the grip he had on her thighs and stood up.

Simone now lay on her desk open and ready for him, silently begging for more, but he wouldn’t give it to her. Not yet anyway.

When he didn’t move to take her, she seemed genuinely disappointed. “Don’t you want…”

“This was just a preview of what’s to come Simone. The first time I take you will be in a bed, where I can have you at my leisure. And from there, anywhere we please because you like the excitement of a back alley fuck
,
don’t you? Or how about on top of a car or maybe a public park where any second we could be caught
?
You see
,
Simone, I have you figured out. You’re a dirty girl and I’m the guy who’s going to fulfill all your naughty little fantasies. You might think I’m a nice guy but I’d like to introduce you to the real me and I’m going to make sure you never forget exactly who that is.” He bent over the desk and placed a kiss on her neck.

Simone gave him a wide eyed stare.

Paul didn’t wait for her to respond before he turned to leave. She would never call him nice again and that was just fine with him.

Chapter Seven

“Earth to Simone.” Tanisha waved her hand in Simone’s face to get her attention.

“Huh?” Simone had been so deep in thought she didn’t catch what her friend had said.

“I’ve been trying to get your attention for the past couple minutes. Where were you just now?”

Simone shook her head to make herself more alert. No matter how much work she had in front of her, she couldn’t stop thinking about her last encounter with Paul. He’d made her feel things she hadn’t experienced with another person. It concerned her more than she cared to admit because their arrangement, or whatever it was they had
,
wasn’t about feelings. She had a need and
,
apparently, so did he. It shouldn’t bother her that he only seemed interested in sex from her. It was
,
after all
,
what she’d wanted. Simone just couldn’t understand how she’d read him wrong.

When she first met Paul, he appeared to be
the kind of man
most women would be crazy to turn down, good looking,
with a
good job,
and he
owned
his
own home
. Most of all
,
he seemed like
the
epitome of a gentleman. Noelle had gone on
about
how sweet
he was
and what a good friend he was. Paul was the noble type who would treat a woman like gold. Simone had made up her mind that he wasn’t for her. A guy like Paul could never be for someone like her. But after their encounter at Noelle’s house, she’d seen a side of him that not only surprised her but
had
deep down kind of disappointed her.

Even if she’d decided that Paul
had no future
, she couldn’t help but feel let down by the fact that his carnal needs were what seemed to be what mattered to him most. And despite all this, she wanted him
,
too. At least now
,
however, she knew the kind of person he really was and there was no chance
for
any complications. He could have her body and she’d give it to him. They would use each other to their mutual benefits. Maybe then, she wouldn’t have to resort to—

“Simone!”

“I’m sorry? What did you say?”

Tanisha narrowed her hazel eyes and gave Simone a discerning look. “You did it again! It’s not like you to zone out like this. What’s going on with you?”

“Nothing. I just have a lot on my mind. The boutique is growing faster than I can handle and I think I’ll need to hire
more
help but it’s a matter of finding the time to do it.”

Her friend and manager rolled her eyes. “Well
,
I’ve been telling you that for the past several months. But your problem is that you’re too much of a micro-manager. You brought me on to run the shop
,
but you basically do everything yourself anyway. You’re here from open to close. You have orders coming in for more of your exclusive designs and you haven’t replaced the assistant who used to help you with them. On top of that, you’re still working on the online store and
you’re
design
ing
an exclusive line for next season. How the hell do you think you’re going to pull that all off by yourself? You’re only one woman. You’re going to work yourself into an early grave
,
if you don’t watch yourself.”

Simone released a sigh. Her friend was right. Ever since she’d realized her dream of opening up her boutique
Ragz
which catered to people of all sizes and style choices from the very edgy to the more classic and sometimes a little bit of both. Fashion had always been one of her passions from an early age, mainly because
she had an
eye for what worked for her
and what
didn’t and the skill to create clothes out of scraps was born out of necessity. Simone’s mother never took her shopping at any department stores or even any of the major discount retail stores except for Easter.

Frieda claimed buying new clothes for a growing girl was a waste of money even though her sons had all the latest name brand clothing and sneakers that cost an obscene amount of money. The majority of Simone’s wardrobe had consisted of hand me downs from the charity bin at church or thrift store items. Around the fourth grade
,
the
other kids seemed to be aware of what was fashionable and what wasn’t and Simone had been teased mercilessly for it. What she wore had become a source of despair
for
her. She obsessively looked through fashion magazines whenever she could get her hands on them and imagine
d
herself in the pretty clothing her classmates wore. She found ways to make each outfit look new by mixing and matching so the teasing wasn’t as bad. It was
in
seventh grade Home Economics class where she learned to sew and she was good at it. She borrowed books from the library on designing and fashion
and there
grew a better understanding of
how to make
vintage clothing look great. Simone
began
to sew accessories on to her clothing.

What took her love for fashion to the next level was when she became the companion for a member at her church. Mrs. Hargrove had made it known around church that she was looking for someone to keep her company and run errands around the house. None of the kids wanted to work for Old Lady Hargrove because of the perpetual scowl on her face and blunt way she addressed people. Frieda had volunteered Simone saying it was the Christian thing to do. Simone suspected her mother wanted her to spend time with Mrs. Hargrove because the
Hargrove’s
had a great deal of money and the church counted on their tithes.

It turned out that being Mrs. Hargrove’s companion was the luckiest thing that had happened to her. The older woman actually turned out to be the mother figure Simone had always hoped for. The best part was learning that Mrs. Hargrove had once been a costume designer on the black vaudeville circuit, before meeting her husband. When Simone expressed her
interest in
clothing and fashion, Mrs. Hargrove had taught Simone everything she knew.

By the time she was fourteen
,
Simone was making her own clothes. By then she could purchase a few outfits here and there with the money she earned from being Mrs. Hargrove’s companion. While she enjoyed shopping
,
she preferred making her own items. She had soon become the envy of her classmates with some of the things she was able to come up with. Even Frieda who didn’t bother to offer a bit of praise for Simone’s talent, demanded a new dress. Her mother
,
of course
,
would never give her credit, instead saying that it was from an expensive designer. Simone didn’t mind, she enjoyed the process.

It didn’t take long for her to realize she wanted to work with clothing in some capacity. And now that she was finally living her dreams, she felt she owed it to herself to put her all into it.

Besides, every time she allowed herself to relax even a little bit, she found herself spiraling into a dark place that had her waking up in a cold sweat and her throat hoarse from screaming. Her work was what kept her sane and from doing bad things. And in the last three days
,
she was hyper-focused so that she wouldn’t obsess over why she hadn’t heard from Paul since their last encounter.

“Tanisha, I appreciate that you’re worried about me but there are certain aspects of the business that I’d rather handle myself. But I promise once we get the online store up and running, I will slow down and get some extra help.”

Tanisha raised a brow as if she didn’t believe her. “Didn’t you tell me that a couple months ago? And now here you are busier than ever. You even look like you’ve lost weight. What’s going on with you? You can tell me anything you know. We’re friends.”

Simone doubted Tanisha would understand. She wasn’t sure if anyone would but she realized if she wanted this topic to end, she’d have to make some concessions. “You know what? You’re absolutely right. I do need more help around here. Why don’t you send a notice to the local newspaper and the online job hunting sites that we’re hiring and what we’re looking for
?
I’m putting you in charge of that.”

Tanisha pursed her lips, not seeming so easily swayed. “Just like that?”

“What? Isn’t that what you wanted?”

The other woman sighed. “Yes. But I suspect you’re only doing this to placate me so I don’t keep asking questions. It’s obvious you don’t want to talk about whatever is going on with you but it doesn’t change the fact that you’ve changed.”

Simone stiffed. Her friend was never one to pull punches but was her internal struggle so obvious to others? “In what way?”

“You’ve changed. I understand how important this boutique is to you, truly I do. But it seems like it’s the only thing that’s important to you anymore. I know for a fact that you don’t hang around your cousin as much as you used to. She had to come to the shop and practically beg you to have dinner at her place.”

“In case you’ve forgotten, my cousin is a married woman. It’s not appropriate to expect her to hang out with me the way we used to.”

“That’s just an excuse and you know it. What about me? We’ve been friends for years and we only seem to talk when we’re in the shop together. You used to hang out with me and have fun. And don’t give me the excuse about it being this business. There’s something off about you.”

“I’m off because I take pride in my work?”

“That wasn’t what I meant and—”

“But it’s what you said. Maybe I
wouldn’t
have to work so hard if you actually did the job I hired you to do.”

Tanisha put her hands on her hips. “Now
,
wait a minute—”

“No
,
you wait a minute. I hired you because you had managerial experience and because you got fired from your last job for cussing out your boss. But since you’ve been here, you’re always on the phone and you call out an awful lot for someone who doesn’t have kids or other responsibilities outside of this job. What other boss do you think would put up with your
lackluster work
performance
?
Your last one certainly didn’t. This brings me to another top
ic
I haven’t had a chance to bring up yet because I’ve been busy: you gave my private number to my mother. If I wanted her to have it, she wouldn’t have had to get it from someone else instead of her own daughter. It wasn’t your place. That’s
your
problem. You don’t know how to stay in your lane. As you’ve already pointed out, you’re
the manager but I’m the boss
. How about you do your job and allow me to get back to mine?”

If Simone would
had
slapped Tanisha, she didn’t think her friend could have looked any more stricken. Tanisha, who possessed a light complexion was now beet red. Her fists were clenched at her side and for a second Simone thought she would actually hit her. It wasn’t that unreasonable of an assumption for her friend who had a notorious temper. Tanisha flared her nostrils and clenched her lip
s
, seeming to shake with anger.

Neither one of them spoke
instead they
stared at each other. Simone wasn’t sure what was going through her friend’s mind, but she was mortified by what she’d just said. Sure
,
her friend took some liberties at the job that she probably wouldn’t with anyone else but she did do what she was told, especially when it was crunch time and Simone really needed her. It was on the tip of her tongue to apologize but Tanisha spoke before she had a chance.

“Well
,
excuse me for showing any concern
Ms
. Carter. You can be certain I will never, as you put it
,
get out of my lane again. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go look through the inventory that just arrived.”

“Tanisha—”

Tanisha twirled around and marched out the room without waiting for Simone to finish, her back ramrod straight.

When she was alone in her office, Simone sank into her chair. Maybe there was something wrong with her. But she didn’t know how to fix it.

<><><>

“Tell me exactly what he said.” Paul tried to speak as calmly as he possibly could
,
trying to keep his anger at bay so as not to scare his sister. Paul had been coming out of
a
meeting with one of his distributors when he checked his text messages. He had several from his sister, each one more urgent than the last. When he arrived at her house
,
it was to learn that she’d found out the secret he’d been hiding from her for the past several months.

Alyssa dabbed the corners of her eyes with her tissue. “He said he wants to see me again. I don’t even know how he got my number or how he found me. I never contacted him when he was in prison and I certainly wasn’t aware that he’d gotten out. But you knew
,
didn’t you? Why didn’t you tell me?” Alyssa shot an accusatory stare in his direction.

Paul had been dreading this day since he’d received
the
letter from the parole board that his piece of shit father was up for parole. He’d even gone to the hearing to testify to make sure that fucker never saw the light of day but apparently that cocksucker still had enough ‘upstanding friends’ to testify on his behalf. He’d been granted parole and now he was on the loose again probably to terrify someone else. Paul had taken it upon himself to hire a detective to find out exactly what the old man was up to. Apparently, he’d met some schmuck through the pen pal system whom he’d ended marrying while in prison. Paul had learned his father had been released into the new wife’s custody and he now lived a few towns over.

He’d known this for months but didn’t tell Alyssa about it because he didn’t want her to worry. The last thing he wanted was to worry her when she was already under a tremendous amount of stress. Alyssa had only been married for a couple years but she and her husband
,
Craig
,
had gone through a lot together with Alyssa miscarrying a child around the time of their father’s release. And
,
Craig was still recovering from a car accident that had left him incapacitated for several months and resulted in the loss of his job. It was only
recently
that Craig had finally gotten back on his feet. It was fortunate that Paul had enough business connections that he was able to help his brother-in-law
get
a new job.

With what Alyssa had gone through this past year, the last thing Paul wanted to do was burden her with the news of their maniac father’s prison release. Just the very mention of their father’s name often sent his kid sister into a panic attack. Alyssa was so much more sensitive about things than he was. From the time she was born, Paul had made it his mission to protect his little sister and he’d always done that. By omitting this information about their father, he thought that’s what he was doing. Now
,
he wasn’t sure if he’d made the right decision from the way she
shot
blue fire from her angry gaze.

Paul
raked
his fingers through his hair in frustration. “Yes. I knew.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because you were already going through enough. I didn’t want to worry you about this. Besides, I didn’t think he would be in touch.”

“Well
,
obviously
,
you were wrong. Imagine my surprise
,
when I get a call
on
my job from a man claiming to be my father. At first
,
I thought
it
had to be some kind of joke because my father isn’t supposed to see the light of day for another ten years, or at least
,
that’s what I thought. But nope. It was definitely him.”

“I’m sorry Lis. I just wanted to save you from the additional stress.”

“I understand that you kept the truth from me because you’ve been looking out for me since we
were
kids, but I’m twenty-four now and I deserved the truth. In fact, I resent that you never told me about any of the parole meetings. You went there on our behalf by yourself but I should have been involved, maybe if I had
been
he’d still be behind bars.”

“Or maybe not. I did all that I could, wrote letters to the parole board members, to the district attorney, even the warden but it didn’t do any good. He still has a few connections.”

“How? How is it possible after what he did? Do you know what it’s like to….” Alyssa turned her back to him and Paul knew then that he’d well and truly fucked up. He’s been her protector for so long, he wasn’t sure how to turn it off. It was sometimes difficult for
him
to reconcile his baby sister to the capable young woman she’d turned out to be.

“Alyssa, I don’t know why he was granted parole. It could be that
he
still has connections with the police force. I believe his
new
wife may have ties to some important people and was able to pull some strings for his release.”

“He’s remarried
?!
Someone actually married that maniac? Seems to me you know a great deal more about our father than you’ve been letting on.”

“I’ve been keeping tabs on him but only as much to make sure he stays away. Look, Lis, I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am for not being more honest with you. I thought by keeping you out of the loop
,
I was protecting you but instead I was doing you a disservice. Yes, he’s out and has been out for some months and like I said before, I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think he’d have the gall to contact you.”

Alyssa turned her back on Paul and didn’t speak. His sister was usually slow to anger but when she was upset
,
it took a while for her to get out of her funk. Though he couldn’t stand his sister being mad at him
,
he understood why she was. He closed the gap between them and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Alyssa, please say something.”

She remained quiet for several more moments before speaking. “What do you want me to say, Paul? That I forgive you? You know that I will…eventually but right now
,
I’m trying to wrap my head around the fact that you didn’t have enough respect for me to tell me about something that could affect me. Since he contacted me, I’ve literally had nightmares. Do you know what it’s like to see pieces of your mother’s brain on the wall and then to have the man who did it put that gun to your head
?
And then there are times
,
I wish that he
had shot
me too
so I wouldn’t have to relive this over and over again. I was doing okay but then just hearing his voice.”

Paul turned her around to face him and pulled her trembling body against his. “I’ll make sure he never hurts you again. I promise.”

Alyssa sniffed. “Paul, I don’t need you to rescue me at every opportunity. I just would have appreciated a heads up so I wouldn’t be such a basket case right now.”

“I understand and I promise I’ll never keep something like this from you
,
again.”

Alyssa raised her head to meet his gaze. “You’d better not
!
And I don’t want you doing anything foolish.”

“What makes you think I would?”

“That bruise that’s fading on the side of your face tells me you might be into something you shouldn’t be.”

Paul released his hold on Alyssa and backed away. ‘It’s nothing. Just a sparring accident at the gym. I’ve started boxing again.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. He did spar at the gym occasionally.

Alyssa frowned. “I hope you don’t get as heavily involved like you did when you were in college. You were always battered and bruised. You had me worried for a while.”

“I’ll be careful. Lis, need to head out but I’ll call you tomorrow okay?”

She frowned. “I thought you were staying for dinner. Craig is bring home Chinese take-out and I made sure he ordered your favorites.”

“I’ll have to take a raincheck.”

“You’ve been doing that quite a lot lately.”

“Unavoidable. Things have been hectic at the bakery and with the expansion, I’ve been spread a bit thin.”

“Okay but don’t work too hard.”

After exchanging their goodbyes
,
he rushed home to get ready for his fight later that night. If his sister or anyone knew about the street fighting
,
they would tell him to get his head examined, but now more than ever he needed the fights to serve as a reminder that if he let his guard down, that’s when danger came
to
call. Now that the man who had terrorized him, his sister and mother was out, he needed to be on high alert.