Читать книгу Provocative Territory - AlTonya Washington - Страница 11

Chapter 3

“How do you know about her?” Santigo blurted, his easy persona completely vanished. “Why do you get the best part of the deal?”

Elias pushed away from his desk, saying, “Because my name’s on the door.”

“And wouldn’t Mr. Evan be rollin’ in his grave if he knew that was only because you had a lucky night at cards?” Linus accused, his slanting amber eyes appearing thin as slits as they narrowed.

The partners had gone back and forth for weeks about changing the company name. They then went back and forth about what to change the name to. Elias apparently had no allegiance to keeping his family name prominently displayed on the building’s masthead. Linus and Tigo were no strangers to the tense relationship Elias shared with his father. Nevertheless, it didn’t sit altogether right with them to completely strip away every trace of Evan Joss’s existence.

When Eli suggested they settle the matter by a game of poker, Linus and Tigo figured it’d be the only resolution that would be agreed upon. Linus and Santigo often wondered who had been more perturbed when Elias won—them or Elias.

“Clarissa David lives in California, you know?” Linus folded his arms over his chest and moved closer to the desk. “She only comes back here a few times a year to check in on her aunt’s East Coast clients. She’s not even heavily involved in the construction end...”

“Yet you two have met with her, or am I mistaken?” Eli focused on the bridge he made with his fingers. He knew both men well. They’d have certainly made a point of meeting with Clarissa David during one of the few times a year that she visited Philadelphia.

“Is this about business or somethin’ more personal?” Tigo challenged, leaning against the desk.

“What difference does it make?” Eli countered.

Playful accusation brought a sparkle to Linus’s exotic stare. “You met her, didn’t you? ’Course you have.” He rolled his eyes.

“When?” Tigo finally moved off the desk.

“How?” Linus tacked on.

By then, Eli was rolling up his sleeves in an attempt to ignore the gradual mounting of his frustration. “When and how I met her is my business.” His tone was soft, yet cold.

Linus was undaunted. “It’s our business, El. We can’t afford for you to let a personal...”

“Ancient,” Tigo interrupted.

“...beef with the woman’s aunt to cause us to miss out on this deal,” Linus preached.

“I take offense to that.” Elias’s voice remained low but not quite as chilly. “I already okayed the project. Last thing I’d try to do is sabotage it.”

Linus and Santigo couldn’t argue the truth of Elias’s words. Despite the dramatics that made up their partner’s relationship with his father, they knew Eli was of a mind to see the business remain among the top construction companies in the country.

“At least tell us why you want her all to yourself.”

Tigo groaned over Linus’s question. “Idiot—he just told you that he met her. That’s all it’d take.”

Elias lost his battle against smiling and shook his head. “I met her while Stan was fitting me for a new suit.”

“Humph,” Tigo grunted.

Linus nodded and eased his hands into his trouser pockets. “She’s a real sweetheart, El—nothin’ like what we’ve heard and what you know about her aunt.”

“Apple doesn’t always fall far,” Eli muttered.

“Well, in this case, it fell and rolled right out of the yard,” Tigo championed.

“But don’t take our words for it.” Linus waved his hands. “Could you at least tell us what your plan is?”

Elias laughed. “What the hell, fellas? You think I’d hurt her?”

“I just don’t think it’d be good for anyone involved for you to hold Clarissa David responsible for what went down back in the day between your dad and her aunt.”

“That’s what I’m trying to prevent.” Eli’s words were genuine. “You guys went behind my back to put this deal together and had the chance to get to know her in the process.” He gave a one-shoulder shrug. “I only want the same chance.”

Linus and Tigo didn’t appear totally convinced. At any rate, they eventually gave their consent with a round of slow nods.

“You wanna keep that?” Linus looked toward the Jazzy B’s folder.

“Leave it with Des.” Eli massaged the side of his nose. “He’ll tell me if there’s anything I need to know, and I’ll sign whatever crosses my desk.”

Left with nothing further to argue, Tigo and Linus slowly retreated from the office. Alone, Elias’s relaxed expression was replaced by pensiveness.

* * *

“Do you really need to be doing this now? Mr. Cole already told us what happened.” Rayelle Keats’s round café-au-lait-toned face was a portrait of bewilderment.

Clarissa set aside another one of the folders that was in the tall stack of folders she’d been reviewing, to acquaint herself with the club’s most pressing local business concerns. “They should hear this from me.” Her manner was a smidge absent.

Rayelle took a deep breath, hoping her “soft touch” didn’t fail her then. “I understand what you’re saying, Clay,” she began, using her pet name for Clarissa. “But nobody expects you to jump mountains today, this week or this month if truth be told.” When Clarissa continued to shuffle through the files, Rayelle came over to put her hand over the folders.

“Jaz was like your mother and you just lost her yesterday.”

The reminder caused Clarissa’s lip to tremble and the folder’s contents to cascade to the floor.

“Honey.” Rayelle pulled Clarissa up from the desk and into a squeeze.

“I have to be involved in something, working on something. If I don’t—” she inhaled sharply “—I’ll lose my mind. I know I will, Ray.”

“I know, honey.”

Clarissa pulled back from the embrace. “No, you don’t.”

Rayelle, a former dancer and choreographer, currently served as manager for the Jazzy B’s clubs in the northeast. She was used to dealing with servers and dancers and the stressful situations they often encountered in the profession. Therefore, it was easy for her to detect the chord in Clarissa’s voice that had little to do with grief.

“You wanna talk about it, hon?”

Clarissa stooped to collect the papers that had fallen. If there was anyone she could or would talk to, it would have been Rayelle Keats. The woman had started working for Jazmina when she was eighteen. Something had always told Clarissa that Ray’s introduction into the world of adult entertainment had come much sooner than that, but Clarissa had never asked. Rayelle always said that her life began when she met Jaz.

Clarissa and her aunt accepted Ray and the circumstances of her life without question. Clarissa had taken an instant liking to the Miami-bred Rayelle, having met her during summer visits. They had been friends for almost twenty years.

“We’ll talk.” Clarissa nodded when Ray looked over at her from helping with the papers. Clarissa glanced at the silver watch adorning her wrist. “Later though, after we’re done with the girls, okay?”

“You only get to brush me off once,” Rayelle warned and then hugged Clarissa over the stack of papers.

Clarissa was slipping on a pair of clogs in time to meet the dancers. Jazmina Beaumont had established her first club in the late sixties. The seedy (or less nurturing) side of Philadelphia in those days was where Jaz was born. Who raised her had always been something of a mystery for Clarissa. All she had ever known of her aunt’s childhood was that when the Beaumonts picked up their roots and decided to start over out west, young Jazmina had refused to leave.

Clarissa knew that the woman had been on her own since the age of fourteen. How she’d survived was a tale Jaz had never shared with her niece.

Clarissa had a fine idea. Looking into the faces of the young, lovely women who made their living at Jazzy B’s Gentlemen’s Club, Clarissa guessed a lot of her aunt’s history ran parallel to theirs. Clarissa, whose job was akin to recruitment, saw those same hopeful yet guarded women when they were at their most frightened and defeated.

The stories of their upbringings were far removed from fairy tales and romance. Clarissa learned a lot about her aunt through the very girls she gave purpose. In them, she saw her aunt’s fears and shame but also the woman’s strength and intelligence.

The dancers walked into the expansive room. It had served as Jazmina’s office, lounge and private dance studio. The girls arrived in a silent, somber stream. They all charted a path right to Clarissa for warm hugs and cheek kisses. Once each girl had found a spot to sit in the vibrantly decorated room, Clarissa moved to stand in the clearing.

“By now you’ve all heard about Jaz’s passing. Yes, Meri?” Clarissa pointed to the young woman whose hand was raised.

“Um...we didn’t even know she was sick.” The petite girl’s tone was whisper soft.

A murmur of voices filled the room for a short while before Clarissa raised her hand for silence.

“I talked with her doctor. She’d been taking heart medication for a while and um...” Clarissa cleared her throat when emotion suddenly crowded it. “She didn’t want anybody to know, not even me.”

Rayelle came over to grip Clarissa’s hand. Clarissa welcomed the contact, which gave her the power to keep talking.

“I wanted to meet with you guys to assure everyone that jobs are secure. I’ve got no intentions of closing down or selling off the clubs.” Clarissa gave the news a few seconds to settle.

“I’ll never be able to replace my aunt in your eyes and I don’t want to. I will strive to give you the same sense of contentment and security you’ve always felt as employees of Jazmina Beaumont.” She managed to laugh although it was clearly shaky.

“I’m, uh, not one for speeches so I’ll just end it there. Either Rayelle or I will be in touch with the details about—” Clearing her throat that time did no good. The ball of emotion was wedged deep. She waved off Rayelle, who was moving close to offer more comfort.

“We’ll let you know about the funeral service,” Clarissa got the words out.

“All right, ladies, that’s it for now.” Rayelle gave a clap to rouse the young women from their spots on the sofas and settees. “You can head on to rehearsal, makeup or anything else on schedule. We open in three hours.”

The girls took time to kiss and embrace Clarissa again on their way out of the office. Rayelle watched until the last dancer had gone.

“You’re right,” Rayelle said, pulling her hands through her shoulder-length hair and clasped them behind her neck. “I think they were better off hearing that from you.”

“Hell, Ray.” Clarissa leaned against a corner of the white oak desk. “I don’t know a damn thing about running a business let alone a strip club.”

“Gentlemen’s oasis,” Rayelle corrected, using Jaz’s preferred description.

The words brought a smile and then laughter. The desire to laugh held on to Clarissa far longer than the actual humor the comment merited. It just felt so good to give into the urge.

“You know you’re wrong about that,” Ray said once they had sobered from the laugh attack. “What do you think you’ve been doing for Miss J all these years? I can’t think of a better person to handle this place.”

“I can.” Clarissa cast a pointed look toward Ray, who again laughed.

“Oh, no, Miss Clay. I am not the one for schmoozing and hobnobbing and grammatically correct speech.”

Clarissa’s brow rose. “Could’ve fooled me.” She shrugged when Rayelle waved her off.

“I don’t know half of what it takes to operate this place.” Clarissa glanced at the folders she’d been browsing before the meeting with the dancers. “I don’t even know the ins and outs of who might’ve been giving her problems...nothing....” She knocked a fist against a jean-clad thigh.

Ray laughed one more time. “What are you talkin’ about? This place runs like a lean machine. I never heard Miss J complain about any problems.”

“Yeah, remember this is the same woman who didn’t tell us she had heart disease and bypass surgery, either.”

Ray folded her arms at her waist. “What are you getting at, Clay?”

Clarissa spent the next few minutes talking of “the day” when she spoke to Jaz over the phone and how insistent the woman was about talking to her in person.

“That is weird, even for Miss J.”

“So, in other words you and the girls haven’t noticed anything strange. She wasn’t acting funny...before?”

“Nothing I can put my finger on.” Rayelle’s fair features appeared shadowed by worry. “I’ll keep an ear open around the girls anyway.”

“I don’t even know what appointments she needed to keep.” Clarissa was staring at the files again. “Only thing I was kept in the loop on was the new construction project. Jaz wanted me on hand to take any necessary trips.”

“Guess that’s where it pays not to be a control freak.” Rayelle referenced Jaz’s penchant for organizing all aspects of her business calendar. Working for Jazmina Beaumont, a secretary or assistant was left with little to do.

“Know what?” Ray began to leer indulgently. “That’s the perfect excuse for dinner out on the town.”

Clarissa frowned. “What is?”

“Miss J’s appointments. We can go through her planner and get a better idea of her upcoming commitments. I’m pretty sure you won’t want to be hanging around here when this place opens in a few hours.”

“Mmm...” Clarissa leaned her head back as though she were envisioning the meal. “Add drinks to that offer and you’ve got a deal.”

“Now we’re speakin’ the same language.” Rayelle hurried over to Clarissa. They exchanged kisses and hugs over the stack of folders.

* * *

“You threw us for a loop here, sir. We weren’t expecting that,” Elias told Cleveland Echols when they spoke by phone later that afternoon. Eli had wasted no time asking the man about his decision to back out on the construction of the new bank.

“I am sorry about it, boy, but it’s like I told Tigo and Linus. A sudden loss of investors.” The man sighed. “Can’t say I’m all that surprised given the shaky state of the economy.”

“Right,” Eli agreed then massaged his eyes. “So that was the logic behind their decision to pull the plug.”

There was silence from Cleve Echols’s end of the line.

“Mr. Cleve?”

“It’s a complex matter, son.”

Eli bowed his head then, regretting the strain that came through in the man’s voice.

“How long have we known each other, Mr. Cleve?”

Cleveland Echols’s soft chuckling came through the line. “Since your mama brought you to the bank to deposit your first twenty dollars.” Cleve’s laughter continued as he recalled a then seven-year-old Elias Evan Joss refusing to leave his money until Cleve had come out from his office to personally assure him that he’d have access to his funds at all times.

“You should know that I only want to help, sir,” Eli cautioned once the laughter had settled. “It should go without saying that you can trust me.”

“That’s really all I have to tell you, Elias. The investors pulled out and went in with Waymon Cole.”

“Cole...how do I know that name?” Eli murmured.

“He’s made money for a lot of folks in this town. These days a quality investment banker is a godsend.”

“Investment banker—that must be it.” Elias didn’t sound totally convinced.

“Cole’s probably best known though as Jaz Beaumont’s business manager,” Cleve added after a few more seconds of silence had held the line.

“Right.” Elias realized that was the connection he sought.

* * *

Rayelle decided that her friend could use dinner, drinks and a little dress up to brighten the evening. They wangled a last minute reservation to Via!, a restaurant that specialized in hearty grilled foods served in an upscale atmosphere. Jackets were required of all male patrons while female diners frequented the establishment in their sexiest attire.

“Did I do good?” Ray asked as she and Clarissa stood just inside the dining room near the host’s stand.

Clarissa smiled brightly and nudged Ray’s arm. “Better than good,” she said.

The maître d’ greeted the women by letting them know how “delicious” they looked. Offering an arm to each, he escorted the ladies into the spacious dining room that blazed golden from the electric candles that were spaced across the area.

Most women who visited the restaurant visited on the arm of a male patron. When two women arrived together as dining partners, the overwhelming population of male customers couldn’t help but take notice. This was amplified with respect to Rayelle and Clarissa, who took sexy-chic to another level. The stunning duo drew more than their fair share of attention. Rayelle showed off her dancer’s legs in a strapless lavender number. Clarissa’s breathtaking curves were gloved in an asymmetrical peach frock that blurred the lines between elegant and erotic.

“Now, how the hell do they expect us to focus on a thing when they dress like that?” Santigo queried, making no effort to mask his delight.

“Guess it depends on what we’re supposed to be focusing on,” Elias noted, his vivid blue-green gaze locked on Clarissa.

“Who’s that with her?” Linus asked.

Tigo shrugged and tossed his napkin to the table. “Guess that means we should go over and introduce ourselves.”

“Show some restraint.” Elias’s advisement was soft. “The woman just lost her aunt.”

Santigo stood and dropped several bills to the table as payment for the dinner he had promised his friends. “In that case we should go and pay our respects.” His demeanor was serious now.

Eli and Linus rose together and the three made their way across the plush dining area. The partners captured interest in much the same manner that Clarissa and Rayelle had upon their arrival. The male trio had always snagged feminine appreciation quickly and with full awareness. While Tigo and Linus made great use of their attributes, Elias proved to be the more selective member of the group. It was difficult, if it was even possible, for him to put into words what truly intrigued him enough about a woman to pursue her.

Whatever it was, Clarissa David possessed it in droves, and that disturbed him. Elias Joss was not a man who liked to be disturbed.

* * *

Rayelle let loose a low wolf whistle when she spotted the sexy threesome heading in their direction. When Clarissa glanced up from her menu, Ray cast a pointed nod in the direction she looked.

Clarissa did a double take when she saw that Elias Joss was part of the group that had garnered such praise. It was unnecessary to say that he had her interested. Whether that was because he was so scrumptious to look at or because he’d reserved a distinctly chilly look for her, she couldn’t say.

Nevertheless, a smile did curve her mouth when she saw Santigo Rodriguez and Linus Brooks on either side of Elias. Clarissa pushed her chair away from the table and went to greet them.

Linus was first to take Clarissa’s hand and pull her into a hug. “So sorry to hear about Miss Jaz.”

“Thanks, Linus.” Clarissa patted his jaw when he kissed her cheek.

Tigo moved in next to offer condolences, when he noticed Eli’s expression. The look was an effective warning to keep the contact brief. Clearing his throat, Tigo stepped back but kept hold of Clarissa’s hand.

“We were very sorry to hear about this. We’d just spoken to her a few days ago.” Tigo nodded toward Linus. “She looked like a picture of health.”

Clarissa could feel her throat tightening on the now-familiar sensation of emotion crowding it. “She, um... I know she enjoyed working with you both. I hope you won’t mind working with me for the duration?”

“Oh, no,” Linus said while Tigo shook his head. “That won’t be a problem for us, um...Mr. Joss—” he tilted his head in Eli’s direction “—has requested to be your go-to person.”

Clarissa pivoted on the seductive transparent pumps she wore. “Why the hell would Mr. Joss do that?” she blurted, having forgotten all sense of decorum and politeness.

Santigo bowed his head to hide the grin he feared was about to emerge. Linus covered his mouth and Rayelle hid her face partly behind a menu.

Elias studied Clarissa with a cool look. But for the narrowing of his electric gaze that just hinted at the stirring of his temper, he seemed unfazed. “Will that be a problem for you?” he asked.

“Could be,” Clarissa threw back.

Elias allowed more temper to filter his stare. “Then maybe we should discuss it.” The words weren’t phrased as a request, and he extended a hand which curved around Clarissa’s elbow before she could move past him.

“Great,” Linus muttered, watching as the tense couple walked away.