Black Lace (19 page)

It was now the second week in May, and a week had passed since Benny Madison’s last phone call to Lacy’s office. The police still hadn’t caught him, and Walter McGhee was still joined to Lacy’s hip. The newspapers were filled with stories about Parker’s upcoming trial, and he’d become the whipping boy for every urban dumping crime that had ever taken place. BAD members were holding large demonstrations at Parker’s construction sites to protest his poisoning of urban neighborhoods, and the police had to be called in on the picketers marching in front of Parker’s upscale home. The schools began assigning projects on urban pollution to their students, and the hospitals were giving free lead poisoning tests to children under five.

All in all, Lacy saw some positives come out of the circus now swirling around Parker’s arrest; the schools were involved, as were the churches. She and Ida thought it might be a good idea to bring their office’s version of the Good News to as many congregations as they could get signed up. Today, she and Drake were on their way to St. Matthew’s and St. Joseph’s, and they were late.

“Your mother is going to think this is my fault,” she said from the passenger seat of the Mustang.

“No, she’s not.”

“Are you going to tell her you got a ticket?”

He looked at her like she was crazy. “No.”

A tight-lipped Drake took the ticket from the smiling policewoman, who said, “Slow down, Mr. Mayor. God wants you in the pew, not in a casket.” She nodded at Lacy then went back to her unit.

Drake pulled away from the curb and continued the drive to church.

They slid into the Randolph pew while the choir was still singing the processional, and Lacy met the surprised and smiling eyes of the women she assumed were his sisters. His mother—Lacy supposed it was his mother—was decked out in a stunning beige suit and a hat that Lacy could only describe as gorgeous. Seeing Lacy made her eyes widen with delight, and she immediately made the family members move over so she could work her way down to where Drake and Lacy stood on the end. With her hymn book in hand, and while still singing, she grabbed Lacy’s hand and gave it a welcome squeeze. Lacy squeezed back. When she looked up at Drake, he was singing and smiling too.

After church, Lacy laid out her information and brochures on one of the tables and waited for people to drift her way while they enjoyed the fellowship of coffee hour. Many of the mostly elderly congregation stopped by to hear what she had to say and look over the literature, but mostly they were there to check her out: one, because they’d never seen her before, and two, she’d come to church with the mayor. They wanted to know her name, where she was from, if she
was married, and if she had a home church. Lacy answered the questions as honestly and as politely as she’d been raised to do and smiled the entire time.

Mavis and Drake stood across the room and watched her dealing with their church family, and Mavis said, “Drake, she is a doll, but you need to go and rescue her from nosey old Mrs. Satterwhite. The only thing that old biddy hasn’t done is check her teeth.”

“I tried a few minutes ago but Lacy said she was okay.”

“She’s a better Christian than I am, then.”

“Me too.”

By the time Lacy began packing up her stuff, the only thing she hadn’t been asked by a member of the congregation was the color of her underwear—which was black, by the way, black lace, as always. But not one of the questions had been asked in a negative way; folks were just trying to get to know her, and Lacy had no problem with that.

The family usually got together on the third Sunday of the month, but because of Lacy, they met that afternoon instead. Being the only child of two only children, she wasn’t accustomed to so many folks together in one house: the noise, the laughter, the signifying, the babies, the food; the swirl of love that was the Randolph family picked her up and left her breathless.

Eventually Lacy found herself out on the back porch, sitting with Drake’s sisters Madelyn and Denise. They were enjoying the lemonade and keep
ing an eye on their baby sister’s babies playing with Mavis’s new twin puppies.

Lacy asked, “What was Drake like as a kid?”

“Spoiled,” Madie said succinctly.

“Rotten,” Denise said right behind her, and all three women laughed.

Angie, the baker, stepped out onto the porch. “What are you all laughing about?”

Madelyn said, “How rotten Dray was when he was little.”

Angie took up a position by the porch’s post. “Boy was rotten as a bunch of bananas left in the sun. We tried to get the garbage men to take him but they kept bringing him back.”

Drake stepped out onto the porch. When he saw his sisters sitting with Lacy, he said, “Oh no. What kind of lies are you telling her?”

Denise waved him off. “You go on back in the house. Only grown folks are out here.”

Drake said to Lacy, “See? See how they treat me?”

Lacy laughed softly. “I see.”

Madelyn said, “Now beat it, brat. We’ll let you know when we’re done.”

Drake dropped his head and stomped back into the house, promising, “I’m telling mama on y’all!”

The women howled.

On the drive home, Lacy was filled with the joy of the day. “I had such a good time.”

Drake grinned. “I’m glad. You were a hit.”

“No, it was your family. Even if I had been dirty and smelled bad, I think they still would have been kind.”

“I don’t know,” he responded skeptically. “I had a few girlfriends who stepped out onto the back porch with my sisters and never returned. We’re still looking for the bodies to this day.”

Lacy shook her head. “Then I’m glad they liked me.”

“And they did.”

Lacy leaned against his strong shoulder, placed her hands around his arm, and with his cologne drifting faintly to her nose, said, “Good.”

“What do you want to do with the rest of the day?”

“How about we go back to my place? I’m sure we could come up with something.”

He looked over into her mischief-filled eyes and grinned. “What lesson are we on?”

“Four.”

“You remember,” he said approvingly.

“Lessons with Dr. Lovemaster are hard to forget.” She reached over and slowly ran her hand over his thigh. “Speaking of hard…”

Drake’s eyes widened and he threw her hand off. “Woman! You’re going to make me have an accident!”

Lacy laughed.

“You’re laughing now. Wait until I get you back to your place. We’ll see who’s laughing then.”

She dissolved into a fit of giggling, and all Drake could do was smile and thank the Lord for his many blessings.

Leon Tasker was a playa, or at least he used to be until his mama said get a job or get out, and since he was a nineteen-year-old high school dropout and didn’t
know the first thing about living on his own, he found a job subbing as a gate guard at an apartment complex on Jefferson. He hated it. His duties were to stop each car at the entrance, take down the plate number and the apartment number of the person the visitor was going to see, then raise the gate’s red arm so the car could pass.

Leon thought that was way too much work for the peanuts he was being paid, so he found it more efficient to plug in his headphones, listen to some rap, raise the gate to anybody who came calling and wave them on in.

Leon had never sent flowers to anyone; not to his mama, gramma, or baby mama, so when the floral delivery truck pulled up, he didn’t know that legitimate florists were usually closed on Sunday evenings, nor did he care. The man behind the wheel was light-skinned and wearing shades. He told Leon he couldn’t read the address on some flowers going to a Lacy Green and asked if Leon had the correct address. Leon took out his logbook, looked her up, and gave the man the number. After the truck drove through, Leon put his phones back on and went back to his music.

Fish smiled and headed the van to the back of the lot. It was hard to get employees who gave a shit these days. He laughed. He now had her address. He already knew she lived in this complex somewhere because he’d followed her home a few times. He didn’t like the fact that he hadn’t been able to get close enough to her to introduce her to Mary, but that
would come soon enough. Right now he had a package to leave for her. He’d taken his time picking out the items he’d placed inside because he wanted to make sure she liked them.

Still basking in the good time they’d had with Drake’s family, he and Lacy drove up to the entrance of her apartment complex. Drake leaned on the horn to get the attention of the kid in the guard hut. He could see the phones in the kids ears which was probably why he wasn’t aware that Drake and Lacy were trying to come in. Drake got out, but just as he did, the guard turned, saw Drake and raised the gate. Muttering, Drake got back in under the wheel and drove through.

“So much for security,” Drake drawled. If it was this lax, anybody could enter the complex, including Madison. Drake shook off that disturbing thought and looked for someplace to park.

Walter had taken the night off to attend the anniversary events at his wife’s church, so Drake was her body guard tonight. Though they hadn’t talked about it, they knew they were going to make love. They hadn’t been intimate since the weekend in Holland, and the memories of that blissful encounter added to Lacy’s burgeoning anticipation.

Once inside, she tossed her purse on the kitchen counter and looked across the room at him, standing there so magnificently in his tailored gray suit, pure white shirt and gray African motif tie. Her mother was going to eat him up when she met him and Lacy wouldn’t blame her a bit. Drake Randolph was a sexy,
silly, focused, Christian Black man who opened Lacy’s heart first to the possibility and then the wonders of love. And Lacy did love him. She loved him like Ruby loved Ossie; like Jada loved Will. If she could sing, she’d sing about mountaintops and feelings deeper than the ocean.

When he opened his arms and whispered, “Come here,” she didn’t hesitate. He folded her against his heart then rewarded her with the slow sweet kiss she’d been craving all day. As always, his kisses were magic; it didn’t take long for desire to bloom or for Lacy’s lips to part passionately. His hands began their sensual explorations and she crooned and preened in response. Her nipples beneath her good silk blouse were treated to his special brand of welcome and then her buttons were opened one by one.

The look in his eyes as he freed them was hot; hot as she felt, making her reach out and run her hand possessively over the firm hard length of his arousal.

Drake’s eyes closed in response to the warm hand fondling him so erotically. When she slid down the zipper then slipped inside and found him, he groaned with pleasure. Then she whispered, “You’re not the only one who passed human anatomy, Mr. Mayor…”

Before Drake, Lacy had never touched a man this way, at least not willingly. She instantly wiped out all thoughts of Wilton and concentrated on the matter at
hand
, as it were.

And it
was good
, Drake thought to himself as the sensual trembles ran through him. For a novice she
was damn good. She’d learned her lessons well up in Holland, so well in fact, he had to back away or risk the danger of coming right here, right now.

Lacy smiled at him with glittering eyes. She crooked a finger for him to follow her into the bedroom. Drake didn’t have to be asked twice.

Drake made love to Lacy that night like a man making love to his wife. He teased her, pleased her and then filled her until she gasped.

Lacy knew she was going to die from all the pleasure, the feel of him so hot and throbbing inside made her hips instinctively rise and fall. His hands were keeping her nipples tight, and his worshipping caresses added to her inner fire. His sultry stroking became her whole world.

Drake didn’t want to leave the heated shelter of her body, ever. He wanted to do her just this way until the sun became the moon and fell from the sky. Everything about her drove him to kiss her, taste her, need her. The thoughts added to his desire and each thrust took them higher. They both came quickly the first time, and once they were sated from that initial coupling, Drake took her on a scandalous journey through the world of pleasure that made her blush, croon and scream.

When they were done, the lighted dial on the clock on Lacy’s bedside table read 1:00
A.M
. and neither of them could move. Drake cracked, “Girl, you could kill a man.”

“I was hoping for one more round.”

He groaned pleasurably. “You just stay over there.”

There wasn’t an inch of Lacy’s body that hadn’t felt his loving. She was sore but felt glorious. “How in the world am I going to get up and go to work? This is all your fault, you know.”

The phone rang. Loud. Insistent. Drake sat up and picked it up. “Yeah?” Then he covered the phone with his hand and said to her, “Wanda has a package downstairs for you. Were you expecting something?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Well, she wants to know if she can bring it up?”

Lacy shrugged. “Sure.”

He went back to the phone. “Come on up.”

Lacy threw on a robe and Drake put on his pants and shirt. When the knock sounded he answered the door.

The big box was silver and had a beautiful blue bow on top. Wanda left with a wave and Drake handed the box to Lacy.

She asked him, “Did you send this, Your Honor? There’s no tag, that I can see.”

“Nope. Must be from your other man,” he teased.

They both went still.

Drake told her firmly. “Don’t open it. Let me make a call.”

Ten minutes later, Cruise and Lane were at Lacy’s door. Accompanying them was another officer named Mack and his bomb sniffing canine, Daisy.

Mack placed the package on the floor and Daisy spent a few moments sniffing the perimeter, then she sat down.

“Good girl,” Mack said and rubbed her neck. He
gave her a doggie treat before turning to Drake and the others. “It isn’t a bomb.”

Lacy felt relieved. “Then I can open it?” she asked Drake.

“I suppose so.”

It took her a few moments to peel back the paper to get to the box inside.