This was my way of holding on to the hope that Sunny would come back to me. I didn’t keep hope alive. Having hope kept me alive. The only other person I wanted back in my life was my first true love, Anthony James. At twenty-one he owned his house and had lots of money. He told me that his parents died unexpectedly and I felt sorry for him because my mother and father were alive and I couldn’t imagine life without them.
Anthony was an entrepreneur. Drove a Benz. He spoiled me with clothes and my first diamonds. And oh my, could he kiss! His lips all over my body made me feel womanly. Anthony would pick me up around the corner from our home and take me to Foothill High School for my classes, and then he’d pick me up afterward. That was the only time I’d hid my relationship from my family, ’cause Anthony told me not to tell them.
He’d said, “Your parents don’t know you like I do. You’re becoming your own woman. They won’t be happy for us. They’ll try to break us up.”
He was right. I wish I would never have told my parents the truth.
Back then Anthony was twenty-one and I was sixteen, but he made me feel all grown up inside, especially the way he was so patient and excited when he found out I was a virgin. The first time Anthony came inside me, I got pregnant. I was so scared until Anthony said he’d marry me and take care of us. When I told my parents, Daddy flipped out.
Now that I was almost twenty-one, hopefully I could find Anthony and maybe this time Daddy wouldn’t run him away. If I ever saw Anthony again, I’d tell him my daddy was a Christian man and he didn’t make me have an abortion. Our baby, Anthony James Day, was now four years old.
I wondered if someone had gotten my sister pregnant and that’s why she’d left home. Did Sunny have a husband? Or if a man was loving my sister, did he make her feel the way Anthony did me? I wanted Sunny to be happy wherever she was, but I sensed she wasn’t. Whoever she was with, he’d better treat her right or he’d have to deal with me.
Knock, knock. “Summer, you okay in there, baby?” Mama asked, slightly opening the door.
“Yeah, Mama. I’m all right. AJ asleep?”
“Yes, Nana’s baby is sound asleep.”
“Thanks, I miss my sister so much. I know she’ll be home soon.”
Grasping my hand, Mama sat me on the bed, then sat beside me. “Baby, you are identical but your twin sister is not like you. Sunny has always been independent. She’s always done things her way. But the one thing both of you have in common is you’re smart girls and you’re good girls. When Sunny is ready, she’ll come back home. And when she does, we’ll shower her with love and take her to church every Sunday until she leaves again.”
Why couldn’t I have had the courage to go live with Anthony like he wanted me to?
“Mama. Do you think Daddy would let me see Anthony again? He is the father of my son. I mean, I am almost grown and I can’t find any boy or young man to treat me the way Anthony did, not even the boys at church.”
“Sshh. Hush, Summer. Now, you know that man was too old for you then and he’s much older now. Besides, something wasn’t right about his ways. He was impolite. Never came and introduced himself to your father even after you got pregnant. Always stayed outside in that there fancy automobile tootin’ his horn for you. Nobody even knows what he looks like. The Lord will send you somebody. You just gotta be patient, baby.”
Patience didn’t have an expiration date, a due date, or an estimate.
“Mama, I could be old and gray and never have another baby or ever have a husband. Sunny seen him once. He’s nice. She can vouch for me. Mama, please.”
Mama stood smoothing out her robe. “I done spoke my peace, Summer. Don’t wanna hear no more mention of Anthony James less you talkin’ ’bout my grandbaby.”
CHAPTER 4
Lace
Last in. First out. I waited until my twelve escorts were comfortably inside the twenty-four-passenger white limousine. I nodded at my bodyguards, then watched the three men routinely secure black leather blindfolds over each of my bitches’ eyes, except Sunny.
“You sure you know what you’re doing?” Reynolds asked. “If Valentino finds out any of the girls know his location, we’re all dead.”
“I guess you’re right. Do your job. Blindfold her too. But starting today,” I announced to the others, “Sunny is promoted to wifee. Whatever Sunny demands of any of you girls, do not question her or you’ll have to answer to me.”
Listening to the girls continue their conversations until we reached Valentino’s mansion, I had to give myself credit for hiring the baddest bitches in Nevada. Women from all around the world traveled to Las Vegas. Some for fun. Some to get married. Others looking for love or the love of money.
When Valentino hired me, I fired all of his escorts and hired my own. Girl number one was five feet two inches and barely one hundred pounds. Chinadoll had long dark hair, slanted dark eyes, a tiny waist, shapely thighs, a cute butt, and the seven-foot basketball players loved her.
Girl two, Crème-d-licious, was of African descent, grew up in London, and was five foot ten with a body like Tyra Banks’s. Big titties, juicy lips, curvaceous hips, and an English accent that made johns weak every time she spoke. Creamy, as I called her for short, was my squirter.
Girl three was my White Russian dominatrix and didn’t hesitate to beat a man’s ass. Four was my chameleon. Misty could be any nationality a man wanted and could imitate any woman from Condeleeza to Alicia to Omarosa to Little Bo Peep, but girl five was my biggest freak. I nicknamed her Bootylicious ’cause her ass made every man scream, “Damn!” A guy could lose his entire head with one booty clap.
Onyx, Starlet, and Sunny were the last hired because each of them exuded sex without trying. Onyx had raw beauty, black radiant skin, high butt cheeks and cheekbones. Her body was strong, solid, yet feminine. Starlet had mesmerizing eyes, short hair, gorgeous legs, and incredibly huge breasts. Out of all the girls, Sunny was my favorite because in addition to being beautiful with long natural blond hair that all the johns loved, she was what I wanted to be, a free spirit.
Sunny’s mouth hung open the entire trip, still in shock, I supposed, from her unexpected promotion. When I nodded again, then stepped out of the limousine, my bodyguards escorted the girls inside to their dressing room, removed the blindfolds, and then waited at their assigned stations outside the door.
As I tilted my head up, down, then up again, my girls removed their clothes, showered, and promptly returned for their inspection. They all stood naked beside their vanities. “Sunny, you check ’em.”
“But, Madam?”
“But what? Don’t think small. Think big.”
If Sunny was serious about being on the streets, I had to prepare her to become a real Madam, not a ho on the stroll begging to suck a dick for twenty dollars. Silently I stood next to Sunny waiting for her to get started.
Beginning with girl number one, Sunny spread her eyelids and checked for white crisp clarity. When Sunny nodded upward, girl number one opened her mouth wide. Leaning in close, Sunny did what I’d normally do. She probed with a wooden stick, checking for chipped teeth, canker sores, fever blisters, halitosis, and anything else out of the ordinary. Then she swiped the girl’s mouth with an oral HIV test strip before placing it inside the sterile container.
“Excellent,” I said.
Sunny circled her finger in the air and girl number one turned around, then bent over, touching the floor. Easing on a pair of rubber gloves, Sunny spread girl number one’s cheeks and her lips, then sniffed, checking for any signs of malodor that would indicate the girl hadn’t washed thoroughly. Slipping