Authors: Vera Roberts
The actor drops down to his knees and spreads the woman’s legs apart. “Mmm…my favorite.”
“Quality entertainment,” Sarah rolled her eyes.
“Oscar-winning performance,” Mariana gulped down her daiquiri.
Mariana and Sarah looked at each other. “Bitch is faking it.” They said in unison and laughed.
A soft smile crept on Sarah’s face thinking about it.
But her thoughts turned to Scott and the way he dominated Mariana both in and out of the bedroom. He was rich, powerful, calculating, sexy, and brash. He was
everything
Sarah knew she wanted. Though her action cost her a friendship, Sarah didn’t regret spying on the pair as they made love. Scott’s cock was thick and perfect and Sarah imagined riding him many times over. She really wanted to suck it and have Scott force his cock in her willing mouth. Sarah’s mouth was starting to water just thinking about it.
But the fantasies didn’t stop there. She wanted Scott to put a leash on her and parade her around. She wanted Scott to tie her up and spank her ass until she was raw. No, she didn’t want Him to spank her; she wanted Him to
cane
her. She wanted to wear a chastity belt and call him
Master.
She had been a very bad girl and needed punishment.
“Earth to Sarah? Earth to Sarah? Hello, Sarah?” Eric Whitmore snapped his fingers in front of his girlfriend.
Sarah shook her head of the memories and turned towards her boyfriend. “Hey, baby, what’s up?”
“I should be asking you that. My aunt was asking when we were going to get married, and I told her it depended on you, and I kept nudging you.”
“I rather wait until you’re in the league.” Sarah knew she had more to gain by being a NBA wife than a would-be NBA wife.
“So you can get a bigger ring?” Eric surmised.
“So…” Sarah interrupted. “You will already have a stable career.”
Eric kissed Sarah’s cheek. “See, auntie? I told you I got me a smart one!”
“A bigger ring wouldn’t hurt, either, you know?” Sarah grinned.
“Yeah, maybe she’s
too
smart,” Eric chided.
“So, the next question is,” Eric’s aunt, Mabel, asked. “When is this wedding?”
“I guess within the next year or so?” Eric turned to Sarah. “What do you think, boo?”
Sarah thought about her plot to get Scott. She didn’t want him forever, per se, but she did want a taste. And with the help from Caprina, it was going to be sooner than later. A year was more than plenty of time to get Scott in her bed. “I say that sounds about right.”
S
ANORA
It was like watching a real-life chess game with multiple players. They all played different roles, and they all thought they were more powerful than what they really were. Well, one of them was quite powerful; the king, obviously. And another player didn’t know her strength but she too, was also quite powerful.
But the other remaining players, well, they were quite interesting.
The Great Disaster thought she was the queen. She was the queen of something, all right. Queen of Bullshit and Believing Her Own Hype. She was the rook. She spent much time, energy, and money trying to go after the king, coming pretty close at one particular moment. But she would soon fall.
The Jesus freak also thought she was the queen. Queen of Greed. She was about to lose her good basketball star if she didn’t watch herself. She was a pawn. She was lucky the unfortunate incident occurred when it did, or her life would’ve been much more miserable than she thought it was. She should’ve thanked her lucky stars she wasn’t a victim.
And there was the unsuspecting final piece, Mariana. She was stronger than she thought she was and capable of much more than she expected. If tested, she was quite dangerous. She was the real Queen.
Sanora lay out in the sun at her villa as Jay gave her
foot worship
and thought about the upcoming drama. She’d intervene when the time was right, but for now She was going to relax and wait for the phone call. All it ever took was one phone call for everything to go into motion.
After a short while, the call came. And all Sanora did was smile.
The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming. —Psalm 37-12:13
B
OOK
I
—
M
ARIANA
“I do not want to be the leader. I refuse to be the leader. I want to live darkly and richly in my femaleness. I want a man lying over me, always over me. His will, his pleasure, his desire, his life, his work, his sexuality the touchstone, the command, my pivot. I don’t mind working, holding my ground intellectually, artistically; but as a woman, oh, God, as a woman, I want to be dominated. I don’t mind being told to stand on my own feet, not to cling, be all that I am capable of doing, but I am going to be pursued, fucked, possessed by the will of a male at his time, his bidding.”— Anaïs Nin
O
NE
The Thanksgiving air was warm in Highland Hills, a nice 80 degrees. The children were outside playing while the men were inside watching football. The ladies were gossiping or talking about the latest in pop culture.
Mariana Harlow wondered what acting school her family went to, because they all were giving Oscar-worthy performances.
She stood at a distance and watched Scott partake in a game of dominoes with her uncles and cousins. He was getting along with everyone, occasionally sipping on Cognac and smoking a cigar. The men talked about old-school soul music, politics, dress clothes, and everything else under the sun. Scott fit right in. He was a vanilla dot in a sea of chocolate.
“So that’s the infamous Scott, huh?” Linda stood next to Mariana as the ladies watched the men play. “He seems like a nice guy.”
“He is,” Mariana nodded.
“He’s a bit old for you, Mari,” Linda mentioned.
“It’s only ten years, Mama,” Mariana justified. She barely noticed the age difference, and it clearly didn’t bother Scott.
Linda wasn’t convinced. Scott had age, wisdom, and maturity against her daughter’s youthfulness. “This might be cute at first, but I’m afraid you both are going to get annoyed with each other. Are you sure this is what you want?”
“You act like we’re about to get married and start popping out babies, Mama.” Mariana was hoping what she said was going to have some truth to it. She had never heard the thundering noise of her clock ticking, but since a physical a few days ago, she had a sudden urge to get pregnant within the next year. She wondered if getting on the Pill was a smart idea, after all. She had yet to reveal her true feelings to her boyfriend.
“Well, it’s not true? When’s the last time you brought home one of your boyfriends during the holiday? That has never happened, Mari. I saw the way the two of you were looking at each other at dinner. He really loves you, Mari.” Linda commented.
Mariana caught eyes with Scott, who winked at her. “I love him, too.”
“Lollipop, look at me.” It was Mariana’s nickname from her fascination with lollipops when she was younger. She was known to stick two or three of them in her mouth. Little did Mariana know at the time her oral fixation would come in handy later when she began to date. “I want you to listen to me carefully. Marriage isn’t a game and it sure isn’t for everyone. It’s easier to stop an engagement than to start a divorce. Please remember that.”
Here we go.
“Mama, we’re not even engaged yet!”
“You will be,” Linda nodded. “You will be within the year.”
Mariana wasn’t holding her breath. Scott just asked her to move in with him. Although she was adamant about not being a permanent girlfriend, she wasn’t sure if he felt the same way. After all, she was moving into
his
home. It was a thought that was tattooed on her brain. “Maybe.”
“You don’t sound confident about your relationship.”
“No, it’s not that,” Mariana wished her mother would drop it finally, “it’s just too soon to discuss my future with Scott. We’ve only been together six months.”
“How serious is this relationship?” Linda asked.
Mariana bit her lip. Her conservative parents were not going to agree with her next move. “We’re moving in together.”
Linda silently nodded. “And when is this wedding?”
Mariana became silent. It was probable that she and Scott would be engaged soon, but she didn’t want to start picking out china patterns quite yet. “We’re on that again?”
“Lollipop, I want the best for you and you know this. But I don’t want you to get lost and wrapped up with a guy because you’re enchanted with the lifestyle or the pretty expensive toys he buys. Don’t lose yourself in this relationship, please?”
“What are you talking about?” Mariana scoffed. She realized why she never talked about her past relationships with her parents. “You make it sound like I’m about to lose my identity.”
“You won’t lose your identity,” Linda nodded, “but I’m pretty sure you’ll eventually figure out if Scott is what you really want.”
“He is what I want.” Mariana was sure of it.
Linda wasn’t too convinced. “We’ll see.” She looked down at Mariana’s legs and saw there was a bruise forming. “Mari, what’s that?”
“What’s what?”
“Your leg,” Linda bent down and took a closer look at Mariana’s thigh. It was a bright pink mark about three inches long. “Where did you get that from?”
Mariana remembered the night before when Scott took her on the sofa. They were watching a movie and began fooling around on the couch, sneaking in kisses during boring scenes. One thing led to another and Mariana climbed on top of Scott and bounced softly on his cock, increasingly her tempo to a riding motion. She kept scraping her thigh against the sofa cushion. It was rug burn. “Um, I must’ve scraped myself! You know how clumsy I am!”
****
Scott took a breather from the dominoes game and went to the front porch. It had been years since he’d been around extended family, and he had forgotten how much he enjoyed it. Mariana’s family treated him as if he were one of their own, and he never felt out of place. Linda showed him love, and Jerome kept bugging him for tips on how to score with women, proving he also accepted Scott.
He sat down in one of the rocking chairs and gently rocked it. He still had a bit of whiskey in his cup and gently nursed it as he stared out into space. Things were going well in his life. Things were going
too
well in his life.
He was waiting for the drama to commence.
Scott had never believed in coincidences. When things happened, he always chalked it up to a higher authority or something in the universe that caused it to take place. Events, collisions, episodes never
just
happened. Everything led up to something, whether we believed it or not.
Mariana was going to move in with him that weekend. He was going to take her to meet his family in a few weeks. With her strong performance at McCormick and Sheppard, she was more than likely going to be hired. Probably within the next year, they would be married.
A few years after that, they’d start having kids. And then Mariana could make the choice of staying at home or being a working mother. Scott already knew her decision before he asked it: she was going to be a working mother. She had too much ambition to stay home.
Still, there was something amiss, and Scott couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He knew there was going to be drama when he brought Mariana home to his family and he was prepared for it. But that wasn’t bugging him. He felt something looming, and it made him uneasy. He just wished he could figure out exactly what it was.
“I was looking for you,” Oliver stepped out onto the porch. He had a pipe in his mouth and carefully lit it with a match. He took a couple puffs on it and sat down beside Scott in another chair. “I was hoping to have a word with you.”
“Sure thing, Oliver…”
“Mr. Harlow, son,” Oliver corrected, “You don’t know me that well, boy.”
Scott carefully took a sip of his whiskey. He should’ve predicted Oliver’s reaction. The older Black gentleman had been silently eyeballing Scott from the moment the Southerner stepped foot into his house. Scott didn’t put on his best behavior because it didn’t matter; Oliver was going to have a problem with him, regardless.
There are many horror stories in history about the showdown between a woman’s boyfriend and her father. From polite threats to gunshots in the air to belt beatings, the stories always seemed to get more dramatic with time. Scott wondered what story he was going to tell his future son about the first meeting with his grandfather.
“All right, Scott. Let’s cut the bullshit.” Oliver began. “What are your intentions with my daughter?”
Scott didn’t even bother looking over at Oliver. He kept his focus on the street ahead of him. “I’m going to marry her.”
“Mm-hmm…” Oliver nodded as he rocked in his chair. He said it in a way it wasn’t clear if he approved or not. “And what do you expect her to do when she does marry you?”
“She can do whatever she wants. She’s her own woman.” Scott felt like he was in the middle of an interrogation.
“I see you got a fancy car and my daughter’s carrying a fancy purse.” Oliver nodded. “She’s not for sale.”
It was definitely an interrogation. “I never said she was.” Scott replied.
“You sure acted like she is.” Oliver chewed on his pipe.
Scott felt his anger began to quiver. He took another sip of whiskey to quiet it. Oliver was interrogating him like he had done many times in the past with criminals. It was time to play hard ball. “Anyone can be bought.”
Oliver slowly turned his head towards Scott. “Is that so?”
“You act like you never used some sort of bribing technique against a criminal or a potential witness. You never promised a lighter sentence or protection in exchange for information?” Scott didn’t look at Oliver.
“Go on.”
“Money may not have exchanged hands, but you did use the good old fashioned barter system. If you do this for me, I’ll do this for you. Simple mathematics.” Scott said. “The same applies to relationships. She treats me right; she can have whatever she wants and vice-versa.”