Trife Life To Lavish (A King Production Presents...) (27 page)

"You are staying with me tonight, right?"

Tierra wanted to smack the back of Nichelle's
head for having that nigga make her sound so pitiful.

"If I wasn't gonna stay wit' you, I would'a
left you back in Jersey. I'll be back in a few
hours to pick you guys up." He reached in a side
compartment and pulled out a stack of bills. "Here,
do some shopping, get something to eat, but stay
in the vicinity ... you understand?"

"Yes."

"Come on, Nichelle, let's go," Tierra said,
getting out of the car, tired of witnessing the whole
pathetic scene.

"You go `head. I wanna talk to Renny for a
second. I'll meet you upstairs in the room." Tierra
rolled her eyes and shut the car door.

"I gotta go," Renny said, brushing Nichelle off.

"Renny, please don't be mad at me anymore.
You're right, I should'a never questioned you.
It should'a been my suggestion to get rid of the
car from jump. It wasn't right for me to be drivin' another man's car, livin' in your crib. That was stupid
on my part. It was me being stunned that the car
was gone and not knowing what happened, that
made me react like that. I'll never do that again.
But I can't take you being mad at me like this. It's
driving me crazy!"

"Come here," Renny said, grabbing the back
of Nichelle's neck and pulling her toward his
mouth. He put his tongue deep down her throat,
before gently kissing the top then her bottom lip.
"You my baby, you know that."

"Forever. It can't be any other way."

"It won't. Now, go have some fun with Tierra.
I'll see you in a few hours."

Nichelle reached over and kissed Renny one
more time before getting out the car. The sick feeling
that was consuming the pit of her stomach had now
vanished since they had kissed and made up.

Nichelle smiled all the way through the lobby
to the elevators, imagining the dick-down Renny
would give her when they were alone in their hotel
room tonight. Her mind had traveled to such an
obscene place, that she didn't even notice when a
man walked up to her and had been staring at her
intently for a few minutes.

"Don't I know you?"

The gentleman's question snapped Nichelle out
her daydreaming and caused her to observe the man
invading her space. "No, you don't," she cracked, hitting the "up" button on the elevator again.

"Isn't your name Nichelle?"

This time, Nichelle did a long double take,
studying the man's face, body and clothes. "How do
you know my name?" she asked, being inquisitive
and put off at the same time.

"I thought that was you. I never forget an
intriguing face."

"Did Tierra put you up to this bullshit?"

"I don't know who Tierra is, but I remember
you from the VIP lounge at the bowling alley in
Harlem. I gave you my business card."

"Oh yeah, now I remember you. You were tryna
sell me dreams of being a model to get in my panties."

"I don't sell dreams, I make them happen. I'm
Akil Walker." He extended his hand, but Nichelle
gave him no love. "I'm the owner of Pristine Records,
and I've branched out with my own men's clothing
line. You may or may not have heard of it," he said,
knowing if she hadn't, she had been living under
a rock.

"You look awfully young to be doing so
much." He had a baby face, with a grown man's
suit that seemed to have been tailored specifically
for his slender build.

"Yep, and I'm about to do a lot more. Starting
with introducing my women's line, and I've been
looking for a spokes model. The line is cuttingedge-street, with a touch of sexy glamour. And like I told you a few months ago when I first saw you,
I believe you'd be perfect."

"So after all this time you ain't found your
model? So what, you left New York to patrol the
streets of Philly? Interesting," Nichelle smacked.

"Something like that. We've been going to
all the major cities, holding open auditions. I don't
want a common face that everybody has seen in
videos on BET, or their ass has been plastered in
King or XXL magazine. I want a fresh, young but
sexy ass woman to rep for my line."

"And you think that's me?"

"I know it is. All I need to do is see if your appeal
carries over when you're in front of the camera."

"This sounds somewhat interesting, but I'm
here wit' my man for the weekend."

"That's cool, he can come too. Maybe you're
not understanding, but this is about business."

"Business, huh?" Nichelle wasn't quite sold
on the vision he was selling.

"Here's my business card, again. This time,
you should use it. I really can change your life."

Nichelle took the card and put it in her back
pocket. The more she listened, something about
the dude's swagger made him appear like the real
deal. She wasn't hundred percent convinced, but it
was worth looking into.

Chanel poured herself a drink, trying to relax
since Arnez would be entertaining tonight. She
wasn't big on company, preferring to spend her
time alone with him, but he was looking forward
to having his cousin over. For Chanel, Renny wasn't
even the problem. She dug him. But from what
she heard, he was bringing his girlfriend and her
friend. That was too many females in one room
for her liking. She was more of a testosterone type
chick than estrogen.

"You look stunning," Arnez complimented
Chanel on her black, strapless leather jumpsuit,
which accentuated her ample ass to perfection.

"Thank you." Chanel was surprised by Arnez's
compliment, since he rarely did so. "How much
longer until the guests arrive? Because the sooner
they arrive, the sooner they can leave."

"Now, Chanel, I want you on your best behavior.
You know how important my cousin is to me."

"Of course. I don't even have a weapon on
me. I left it in the bedroom," she winked. Just then,
they both heard the knock at the door.

"Right on time," Arnez said, eyeing his watch.
"I'm glad you could make it," he smiled, opening the
door and letting Renny, Nichelle and Tierra inside.

"I told you I would. You think I'ma be in Philly and not see my people? This is my baby,
Nichelle, and her friend, Tierra."

They smiled at Arnez, while Tierra, without
so much as pausing, started sizing up his crib and
the chick she eyed by the bar.

"Renny's cousin is cute. I guess fineness runs
in the family," Tierra whispered to Nichelle.

"Watch yourself. His woman looks like she
could take this whole room out with just her stare,"
Nichelle commented, getting a chill from the ice
cold demeanor of Chanel.

"Chanel, don't be rude, come speak to our
guests."

Chanel put her drink down and took her time
strutting across the floor as if she was doing them
a favor by even being in their presence. "It's good
to see you again, Renny."

"Likewise. This is my woman, Nichelle, and
her friend Tierra."

"Your woman! Is she even legal?" Chanel sulked.

"You ain't fuckin' her, so why you care?"
Tierra popped, to one ballsy bitch to another.

Right before Chanel was about to strike,
Arnez shut it down. "You have to excuse Chanel.
I rarely let her out her cage, and sometimes she
doesn't know how to act."

"Well maybe you need to throw her a bone,"
Tierra mumbled under her breath, but Chanel
caught every word.

"That's all good, but Chanel, I do need you
to apologize to my woman, because that's what
she is. Her age is none of your business."

"Baby, I'm fine. She doesn't have to apologize."

"I'm sorry, Nichelle. That was inappropriate."

"Wonderful. We've all made nice, so let's
move on and have dinner." Arnez led everyone
to the dinning room, and on there way, Nichelle
caught a glimpse of a picture that held her attention
and wouldn't let go.

"What a beautiful woman. Who is she?"
Nichelle asked, picking up the sterling silver frame
from a glass table by the couch."

Chanel wanted to smack Nichelle and the
picture out her hand. It infuriated her that Arnez
kept that picture out for all to see.

"Her name is Talisa."

"It's amazing how much she looks like my
mother when she was younger."

Tierra walked over and took a look. "Damn
sure do. They look like they could be sisters."

"What's your mother's name?" Arnez questioned.

For a brief second, Nichelle was about to
say "Teresa", but caught herself.

"You do know your mother's name?" Arnez joked.

"Yes, it's Sheila," she answered, putting the
picture down.

"Are you okay, baby?" Renny put his arm around Nichelle's waist.

"When you're with me, I'm always okay," she
said, sneaking a kiss before they sat down at the
dinner table.

After everybody sat down, three servers came
out and placed multiple dishes on the table. You
had a choice of straight up American cuisine, to
French, Italian, sushi, seafood, to good old soul
food. Neither Nichelle nor Tierra had ever seen a
layout like that before. It was better than being
at their favorite all you can eat, ten-dollar buffet
in the `hood, and they never thought it could get
better than that.

After a while, everyone was enjoying their
meal, music was playing, and the original dark
mood had softened. After a couple of more drinks,
even Chanel thawed out her icy behavior a tad.

"Where are you going?" Arnez wanted to know
when he saw Renny getting up from his chair.

"Over to the bar. You know I'm not a drinker,
but I'm in the mood for a little cognac."

"I can have one of the waiters get it for you."

"Man, I know how to pour my own drink."

"Then I'll join you. We can have a drink
together."

The two men headed to the bar, and Arnez
poured them both a drink while Renny admired
the stunning penthouse view.

"Life is truly good. We've been blessed, Arnez."

"Yes, we have," he said, handing Renny his
drink. "Sometimes I wake up and can't believe this
is my life. I have more money than I can ever spend,
and access to the most beautiful women, except the
one I want... speaking of beautiful women, Nichelle
is breathtaking. You didn't exaggerate one bit. But I
have to agree with Chanel, she's extremely young.
Do you think she's ready to enter our world and
deal with the type of life you live?"

"I've been working on her for months now.
It's taken some time, but she's getting there. The
fact that she is so young is a plus. I can still mold
and train her to be the woman I want."

"I understand you perfectly. If only I had
gotten a hold of Talisa at Nichelle's age, how
different things would be right now. We would be
married with a house full of kids. It might be too
late for me, but it's not for you."

"Yeah, but Nichelle's not ready yet. I need
some more time to fully break her in. But it'll
happen, there's no doubt in my mind.

"Baby, I had so much fun tonight. I've
never been to a dinner party like that before. It
was all so glamorous and stuff, like how you see
on T.V.," Nichelle beamed when they got back to their hotel room.

"Yeah, baby, but this is real life. You haven't
even seen a glimpse of how me and my people
really ball. I'm talking about mansions, private
planes, trips to exotic locations where you and
your crew are the only ones on the entire island.
There is a lot of heat in the streets right now, so
we tryna keep shit low-key. But, wait until shit is
sweet again. . .you'll see."

"You call how you livin' now low-key? Damn,
and I thought you had me living like a princess!"

"Baby, I'ma have you living like a queen. I
gotta get your mind right first."

"My mind is right. I'm totally in love wit' you.
What else do you need from me?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll let you know when
you're ready."

"I wanna make you happy, baby." Nichelle
kissed Renny's chest as he sat on the bed, taking
off his pants. Then she worked her kisses down
to his dick, and as she held it, massaged it and
worshipped every inch of it. "I love this dick, baby,
almost as much as I love you."