Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 109178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 546(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 546(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
“Yeah, I found that out after the fact. What type of business does your grandfather run?”
“It’s a, shall I say, arduous industry. Most people know that it’s not exactly G-rated, so to speak. Some of it is legal, some not so much, and I’m not admitting to anything that the police and Feds don’t already know. It is what it is.”
“He makes pornos or something?” Lennox burst out laughing and shook his head. She looked so serious. “What?” She laughed lightly. “I do OnlyFans. I keep it on the low from people I know though. Shiiiiit, there’ a lot worse things in this world.”
“Nah, he doesn’t make pornos. He deals with loans, you could say. Rentals…” He winked at her. Her lips curled in a smile.
“Okay. So big poppa is a land shark.”
“That and many other things…” Bookie shit, arms sales, extortion, online gambling enterprises, strong arming, middleman for feuding companies that owe money… the shit Grandpa is involved in and running would make your head spin. Satan in the flesh.
“You didn’t flinch when I mentioned OnlyFans.”
“Why should I?”
“You pulled a stunt tonight and not only watched me dance, but tossed money at me. So you’re okay with all of this, huh?”
“Sex sells. You’re a beautiful woman. You use your feminine wiles to stack a bank roll. This isn’t anything new.” He shrugged, not certain what she was getting at.
Her brow rose in suspicion. “Why would someone like you be interested in a woman who does that?” Her voice was velvet, though bordered with sharpened blades. Through darkened eyes, she peered at him. Waiting.
“That doesn’t have shit to do with me. And what is all this about, a man like me? I’m not better than you, and you’re not better than me.”
“I know you’re not better than me. That’s not what I’m saying. Women are superior to men, actually, but that’s another topic for another day.” They both laughed at that. “You seem more traditional is what I’m getting at.”
“You think I’m a square?”
“No, not at all. But you always came across as having a certain, I don’t know, expectation of the roles women and men play in relationships.”
“Hmmm.” He thought about that for a few seconds. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean it turned me off or swayed me in any way. I mean, I haven’t deviated from when I told you that you’re mine, even with what I know now regarding how you make your cash.”
“You think if I give you a chance, you can change me, don’t you?” She smirked.
He shrugged. “I don’t give a shit about tryna change you, Nadia. You’d change for yourself.”
“Oh, so you’re just hopin’ and wishin’, huh? A change is going to come, like the gospel song says, right? Born by a river… praying to God, and wishing on stars. Thinking you can influence me in some way, maybe like a YouTuber lyin’ about how good some product is that don’t nobody else give a fuck about until they say it’s incredible, and then they go cash a check off of folks’ gullibility. Be slick with it, why don’t you?” She sucked her teeth.
“You sound bitter and defensive.”
“I am, Lennox. But I also can see a plot a mile away. My mother raised hell and bail, but she ain’t raise no dummy.”
“Good, because I don’t want a dummy. Stupid people are time consuming and energy draining. Raise? I don’t raise women or try to. Women aren’t children and I don’t treat them as such. I’m the top dog, but I never try to boss my woman around.”
“Nobody has ever been able to boss me around since I was a child, and you of all people should know that. That’s the least of my concerns.” She reached for another tissue. Perhaps she had allergies. Allergic to her own bullshit.
“Like I said, Nadia, you’d want to change your occupation on your own because this isn’t what you really want. I don’t have to do shit for you to come to that conclusion. But in the interim, it’s your life, and I’m not really concerned about that. I’ve read a lot in the last few years about women. Relationships. Love. I had a lot to learn. I was wrong about a lot of things. You ever heard of Dr. Saint Aknaten?”
“Ache-gnat-tan who?!”
“No,” he laughed. “Dr. Saint Aknaten. He’s a sex therapist out of New York. I had an online consultation with him sometime back. I was goin’ through something. Anyway, he wrote all of these books about how women think, how men should treat women and stuff like that. A friend of mine told me about him. He’s brilliant. Some have said he’s psychic, but in the interviews I’ve seen of him on YouTube, he dances around that question or acts like that’s silly.”
“Do you think it’s silly?”