White Lines (29 page)

Olivia was telling Sunny something about a music video shoot, and Sunny’s ears perked up at the idea of lights, cameras, and attention. Sunny had always loved the spotlight, and craved it, but she had never pursued a career in entertainment. Her looks were exotic enough to model or act, but Sunny had never tried to do either of those things. Her mother was Puerto Rican and her father was black. And unlike most of her peers, Sunny’s parents were still happily married and living a cozy working, middle-class lifestyle. Sunny was the baby of the family, and the only girl. She had two older brothers who had hovered over her until Dorian came through and shut them down.

Dorian was five years older than her, and a hustler through and through. When she met him, she was seventeen years old and stunning. He met her one day when he was shopping in Brooklyn’s Kings Plaza mall. She was at the jewelry counter looking at a bracelet, and he came up from behind and swept her off her feet. Dorian was tall and had a very commanding presence. His walk was heavy, his voice almost hypnotic. Dorian impressed Sunny and her family with his wealth and his status. Knowing that she was so much younger, and that her family was overprotective, Dorian wined and dined Sunny. He lavished her with
gifts and lavished her family as well. And he courted her with respect. On her eighteenth birthday, he slept with her for the first time. She had been with him ever since, by his side through thick and thin. The elder of her brothers worked for Dorian now, and it was a family affair. She was happy with him, but always wondered what she could do to get her own money, her own acclaim. So as Olivia filled her in on the details of the upcoming video shoot, Sunny hung on her every word. That is, until she saw Raquel heading toward Dorian.

Born and Jada entered the room just as Raquel approached Dorian’s side. The deejay switched to reggae, and the crowd began to couple off. Born pulled Jada close and danced with her. Sunny looked over Olivia’s shoulder and saw Raquel standing in front of Dorian, grinding her ass on him. Sunny calmly excused herself from Olivia and walked across the room. Jada was still tipsy, and loving the feeling of swaying to the music with Born. She was oblivious. But Born saw what was about to go down, and he watched it all unfold.

Raquel was obviously drunk, and Dorian stood still as she gyrated in front of him. He had a smile on his face, and his boys standing close by had smirks on their faces at this display. Raquel was tossing that ass at Dorian, making him stand back and take notice. Everybody was watching. But then they saw Sunny approach. Everyone knew that Sunny was Dorian’s lady. And everyone knew that Sunny was no joke. Sunny was glamorous and sexy, but no one should be fooled. She would pull out her earrings and bust somebody’s ass in a heartbeat. Raquel continued grinding on Dorian, until Sunny came and stood right in Raquel’s face. The two women stood eye to eye, and everybody waited to see what would happen.

Raquel stood and looked at Sunny. She stopped dancing and smiled at her, innocently. “What’s the matter, Sunny? It’s only a dance.”

“Step aside.” Sunny said it calmly. “Before you get embarrassed in here.”

Raquel’s friends walked over and waited to see what would happen next. They stood with their arms folded across their chests, as if they were ready to defend their girl at the drop of a dime. Sunny’s friend
Olivia walked over and stood behind her with an expression on her face that showed she wasn’t playing. Olivia was no joke either, and Sunny knew she was always strapped and would have her back. Sunny stood with her hands on her hips, and Raquel laughed.

“Sunny, you can’t tell me who I can dance with. This is my son’s father, sweetheart. If I want to dance with him, I’m gonna do that. You shouldn’t be so insecure.” Raquel laughed again, and continued winding her hips seductively in front of Dorian.

Seeing that this was about to escalate, Dorian slipped away from her and stood close to Sunny. He kissed her on the cheek, trying to diffuse the situation. He saw everyone looking at the three of them, and he didn’t want there to be a big scene. Sunny didn’t flip. She took Dorian’s hand and began to wind in front of him with so much seduction that he was visibly shocked. Sunny had his undivided attention as she slowly twisted and wound her hips erotically. And her body looked way better than Raquel’s as she moved in slow motion. Her movements were so seductive that she looked like a professional exotic dancer as she moved. Every single eye in the room was on Sunny, as she danced for her man. It seemed like this was a private moment, and she was performing for his sole pleasure. Dorian smiled, with a woody in his pants. Sunny smiled back, with her hands in the air and her hips moving like a belly dancer, while Raquel boiled on the sidelines.

Jada grinned, as she watched Sunny’s performance and the look on Raquel’s face. Everyone had expected Sunny to hit the woman, but instead she was making her look stupid. The grin on Dorian’s face said it all, as he watched his princess dance for him. Raquel’s friends came close and whispered to her with their eyes glued on Sunny. Sunny took note of all of it, and continued to hold Dorian’s gaze. He came closer to her and put his hands on her big ass as they danced. It appeared that there was no other woman in the room but Sunny, as Dorian danced with her. Raquel fumed in silence until the deejay finally switched back to rap music. Sunny kissed Dorian deeply and he held her close. She looked at Raquel, who was still standing nearby scowling, and she walked over to her.

“Raquel, you don’t need to remind me that he’s your son’s father. I
know that. In fact, little Dorian, Jr., is like my own child. When he’s over our house, I treat him like the little prince that he is. And he loves me.” Sunny’s smile was antagonistic, and she could tell that she was getting to Raquel. Raquel’s own cynical smile had long ago faded from her face and had been replaced by an angry scowl, her lips set in a firm line. Sunny knew she had her furious. “So this ain’t about little D.J. This is about you coming in here laying your ass on my man. Don’t get fucked up.”

Raquel twisted her neck in typical black girl fashion. “Bitch, who’s gonna fuck me up?” Raquel was drunk, and it showed in her delivery. She was loud, and all heads turned to them once more. Her words were slurred, and she was leaning a little past six. “Sunny, ain’t nobody scared of you!”

Without any further warning, Sunny backslapped Raquel so hard that she fell backward, and stumbled over a stool behind her. She tumbled onto the floor with so much force that her dress tore. Raquel heard all the laughter and gasping from the crowd around her, and she quickly sprang to her feet. Her girlfriends rushed in to help her get up. Dorian grabbed Raquel by the arm and blocked Sunny from going after her again. But Sunny was finished. She hadn’t even broken a sweat, and she stood there smiling at Raquel. “You don’t have to be scared in order to get hurt. Remember that.” Sunny ignored Raquel’s cussing and yelling, and she looked at Dorian and said, “Send her home now.”

Sunny turned around and started to walk away. But then she turned back to Raquel, who was still cussing at her, and said, “Oh, and one more thing, bitch. You’re not woman enough to make me feel insecure. You’re a ho. You fucked around on Dorian. That’s why he left you. That’s why he fucked your girl CeCe over there while you were pregnant.” Sunny nodded toward one of Raquel’s friends behind her.

The look on Raquel’s face was priceless, as her drunken gaze fell from her friend to Dorian and back again. It was obvious that this information was new to Raquel, and she looked betrayed. Everyone wondered if Sunny was making it up. Would Sunny stay with Dorian knowing that he had not only fucked around on her with Raquel, but also with Raquel’s friend? Everybody wondered. But the look on Dorian’s face
suggested it was factual. Raquel looked like she wanted to be sick. Sunny walked away with Olivia, and found Jada and Born along the way. They all laughed together, as Dorian escorted drunken Raquel outside.

Born shook his head and laughed as Sunny and Jada cackled over the episode that had just unfolded. “Yo, you played her,” Born said, as Sunny shook with laughter. “She was heated.”

Sunny shrugged her shoulders. “She shouldn’t fuck with me, then.”

Dorian put Raquel and her crew in a car with one of his boys and sent her home. She was furious, and he knew she would be a headache later on. But right now he was focused on Sunny. He loved her style, loved the fact that she wouldn’t hesitate to pimp slap a bitch even in a dress as sexy as the one she was wearing. He considered himself lucky to have Sunny, and he was grateful that she had stuck around even after he got Raquel pregnant. Sunny owned his heart, regardless of the other women he may have spent time with. When Sunny found out that he had cheated on her with Raquel, she was devastated. Money or no money, she had been prepared to leave him.

When she was pregnant, Raquel had made a point of showing up on Dorian’s doorstep with her belly bulging, demanding that Sunny hear her out. Sunny was distraught, and she left Dorian’s house and moved back in with her parents. But Dorian went over there every day and begged her to hear him out. When she finally agreed, he sat her down and told her the complete truth. He admitted cheating on Sunny, just for the thrill of new pussy. He told her that during the time he was sleeping with her, Raquel was secretly messing around with someone else. So when she popped up pregnant, he was skeptical at first. He told Sunny that he wasn’t even sure it was his baby. He would wait, he said, until the child was born, and have a blood test done. If it was his child, he would care for him or her. But it was over with Raquel. He swore to Sunny. She wasn’t trying to hear Dorian, though. Sunny refused to take him back.

Dorian was so upset with Raquel for blowing up his spot that he seduced her gullible friend for the fun of it. He had even been so disrespectful as to hold phone conversations with Raquel while her friend CeCe was giving him head. CeCe had no problem playing her so-called
friend by fucking her baby’s daddy behind her back. She was happy to be the object of Dorian’s desire for once. For him, it was his payback. Raquel had cost him the love of his life. When Dorian, Jr., was born, Dorian got a blood test to prove paternity. But none was needed. D.J. was a darker-skinned version of his father. It was no question.

To win Sunny back, Dorian came clean and told Sunny all about his escapades. He even told her about CeCe to illustrate just how little respect he had for Raquel, let alone love. Eventually his persistence paid off, and Sunny took him back. Dorian considered himself blessed. She was the type of woman that you only come across once in life, if you’re lucky enough. Never had he met a woman who he could be completely real with. Sunny, in turn, respected Dorian’s honesty and how he took care of her. She wasn’t about to let another bitch have her spot, even if it meant that she had to accept Dorian’s philandering ways.

He walked over to Sunny and looked at her with a big smile plastered on his face, as Born and Jada looked on. “Why you had to send that girl sailing across the floor like that?” Everyone erupted in laughter at Raquel’s expense, and Sunny shrugged her shoulders.

“Tell her to stop trying me. You would think she’d have learned her lesson by now.” This was certainly not the first confrontation between Sunny and Raquel. It would likely not be their last, either.

Dorian held Sunny’s waist, and shook his head. “Listen, I got some friends of mine who just got here, and I want to introduce Born to them. You stay out of trouble.” He looked at Sunny and Jada and back again. Both women smiled innocently, and nodded. Dorian and Born both laughed as they walked away. Jada and Sunny talked over drinks and recounted what had just happened. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

The party went on without further incident. Everyone danced and drank and enjoyed themselves until the wee hours of the morning. It had been a good night for business, and Born had been introduced to quite a lot of valuable connections thanks to Dorian. All night, Born drank his usual Hennessy, and by 3:00
A.M.
, he was twisted. But true to form he maintained his composure enough to stand straight and walk right. Jada
took the keys, grateful for the chance to drive Born’s precious Benz. The two of them walked hand-in-hand toward the door, where Sunny stood beside Dorian saying good night to all their guests. Not many were left. It was late, and few remained, as the deejay packed up and prepared to leave. They bid the guest of honor farewell, wishing Dorian a happy birthday.

Sunny walked Jada to the end of the walkway, promising to call her later in the week. Sunny looked at Born, who was evidently tipsy, and smiled. “I’m glad y’all had a good time.” Jada laughed, and they turned to leave.

As they made it to Born’s car, parked across the street from the brown-stone, Jada noticed a black Lexus pull up slowly in front of the house. Sunny’s back was turned as she sauntered slowly back toward the house, where Dorian stood in the doorway. It seemed like Sunny’s feet were hurting after a long night, judging from how she was walking. Suddenly, the Lexus screeched to a halt and gunfire rang out through the passenger side window. The silence of the prestigious upper-crust neighborhood was shattered by the sound of bullets being fired.

Strangely, Sunny seemed to be the target, and she took off running like a trained sprinter—heels and all. She ran toward the house, as the shooter fired more rounds into the night sky. The person shooting was yelling, and Jada only half heard what they said, as she watched Dorian run toward Sunny to shield her.

“You fuckin’
bitchl
You thought that shit was over? You ain’t gotta be
scared to
get hurt, right?” The shooter let off two more shots. The sound of tires screeching filled the night.

Raquel? Jada was in shock, and Born was instantly sober. Born jumped out of the car and pulled his gun, just as the Lexus sped away.

Sunny had managed to make it to the front door and into Dorian’s arms. Jada and Born ran back toward the browns tone to see if she had been hit, and as they reached the doorway they saw Dorian’s men finally coming to shut shit down. Their guns were drawn as they ushered Born and Jada back inside.