DANIEL'S GIRL: ROMANCING AN OLDER MAN (37 page)

“I asked him why he fired her.
 
Was it because she wouldn’t give it up to
him?”

Val shook his head.
 
“You will never change.
 
You will never give a man the benefit of the
doubt.
 
He’s got to be perfect or he
can’t be with Nikki.
 
That’s why I think
you chose to be with Daniel in the first place.
 
He was as close to perfection as you was ever gonna get.
 
And the things that man has sacrificed for
you.”

Nikki looked at Val.
 
“What are you talking about?
 
What sacrifice?”

“Nikki, think about it.
 
Daniel knew that he was in line to be
CEO.
 
He probably wanted it worse than
anything he ever wanted.
 
I mean, what
man in his business wouldn’t want the top job?
 
He knew what was at stake for him when he went downtown to bail you out
of jail.
 
He could have laid low.
 
He could have sent lawyers down there to take
care of that and stayed out of the way.
 
But that didn’t even cross his mind and you know it.
 
He’ll do anything for you, Nikki.
 
Anything!
 
And as soon as somebody comes to you talking about how terrible Daniel
is, some woman who probably wants him herself, you treat the man like dirt and
kick him to the curb.”

“I didn’t kick him to any curb.”

“This time you didn’t.
 
Because you need him now.
 
You’re clinging to him now like you’re a
bitch going overboard and he’s the last hand grabbing your ass.
 
And what does he do?
 
He only hires one of the most expensive
lawyers in the country to represent you and a team of some of the most
expensive investigators.
 
But that don’t
even faze you.
 
Because that’s Nikki.”

Nikki didn’t know what to say.
 
Daniel did a lot for her, she’d be the first
to admit it.
 

“You know what I’ve learned, Nikki?” Val
asked, and Nikki looked at him.
 
“I’ve
learned that sometimes things aren’t what they seem.
 
We’re young still.
 
And I know we believe in facts and truth and all
that, and I know you’re Miss Crusader from way back.
 
But Daniel deserves the benefit of the doubt,
Nikki.
 
He’s earned it.
 
You need to treat the man better.”

“
Me
?”

“Yes, you!
 
Like tonight.
 
You hear the news
about that CEO thing and it hasn’t even occurred to you yet that he may be off
somewhere hurting inside.
 
All you can
think about is how you might have lost the job for him.
 
It’s all about you.
 
But nobody thinks about Daniel. He’s so
strong.
 
He can handle it.
 
It’s nothing to him.
 
But I’ve been around him earlier today, and
I’m telling you the man is in pain.
 
He’s
so worried about your crazy butt that he can hardly function.
 
And you don’t even bother to give him a
call.”

“I used to call him every day, Val,
remember?
 
Four or five times every
day.
 
And half the time he wouldn’t even
take my calls.”

“Because, once again, you were over-doing
it.
 
You’re an extremist to your
heart.
 
You go all out in one direction
or the other.
 
Never a middle ground with
Nikki.”

There was a long pause.
 
Then Nikki exhaled.
 
“I know,” she said.

“Am I right?”

“You’re right.”

“You just need to check yourself, girl,
that’s all I’m saying.”
  

Nikki leaned her head back just as the
doorbell rang.
 
Val went to the window
and looked out.
 
He saw Daniel’s Jaguar
parked on the drive.

“It’s just Daniel,” he said.

Nikki’s entire face lit up.
 
It felt like a second chance.
 
“For real, Val?”

Val looked at her.
 
“Yeah.
 
What’s so surprising about that?”

Nikki tossed her crossword puzzle book and
her reading glasses aside, jumped from the bed, ran down the stairs, and flew
open her front door.
 
As soon as she saw
Daniel, who had taken a last puff on a cigarette and was tossing it in the
bushes by the door, she jumped into his arms.
 
She wrapped her legs around him and held him tightly.
 
He entered the house and closed the door
behind him, and then fell back against that door.
 
He had been craving her for so long, craving
this very moment.
 
And now that it was
here, he was desperate.
 

“I love you so much, Daniel,” she said the
way she used to say it, and his heart raced with excitement.

“I love you too, Nikki,” he said.
 
“I love you too.”

She kissed him.
 
She pressed into him as if she couldn’t
breathe without his breath in her.
 
He
placed his tongue in her mouth and held the back of her head.
 
They kissed, undaunted, for nearly a
minute.
 
Then he began carrying her,
kissing her still as he walked, up the stairs and into her bedroom.
 
They stopped kissing only when Val came out
of the adjacent bathroom.

“Val?” Daniel said.
 
And then he smiled and sat Nikki on the bed.

Val wanted to smile, but held it in.
 
“Hello, Daniel.
 
You appear to be in good spirits this
evening.”

“I guess I am.
 
How are you?”

“Good.
 
And you?”

“Val?” Nikki asked.

Val rolled his eyes.
 
“I’m talking to Daniel.”

“Val?” Nikki said again.

“Yes, Nikki?”

“Get lost.”

Both Val and Daniel smiled.
 

“I will, but only for Daniel,” Val said and
then walked briskly out of the room.
 

He closed the door behind him and walked
downstairs, smiling as he went.
 
Nikki
was off again, he thought.
 
To yet
another extreme.
 
Now she was going to
smother the man to death.
 
All because
Val had told her that she didn’t treat Daniel right.
 
Now she had to prove him wrong.
 
She was going to treat that man and treat
that man until the last thing he needed was treatment.
 
Val shook his head.
 
That’s Nikki, he thought.

He sat on the sofa and phoned Bruce in
Detroit.
 
He looked at his nails as he
talked.
 
He was amazed, absolutely
stunned, to catch Bruce at home.

“You aren’t doing the town yet?” he asked
him.

“Not yet.”

“I’m flabbergasted.”

“Don’t be.
 
I’m not as untrustworthy as you think I am.”

“Is that right?
 
Well excuse me for misjudging you.”

“You’re excused.”

“So now that the bullshit’s out of the way,”
Val said with a laugh.
 
“But seriously,
why haven’t you hit the road yet?
 
I’m
sure the boys are waiting on you.”

“I figure I’ll wait on your ass.”

Val smiled.
 
“Really?”

“Yeah.
 
Why not?”

“You make me want to come home tonight.”

“Can you?”

Val sighed.
 
“Unfortunately no.
 
I’m still not
ready to leave Nikki yet.
 
Although she’s
beginning to come around.”

“It’s about time.”

“I know.”

“And I’m glad she is.
 
For your sake.
 
Because I can’t stand her, know what I’m
saying? She never liked me and I never liked her.”

“I know it, Bruce.
 
But what can you do?”

“Gary called.”

“That queen knows I’m still in Indiana.
 
What did he want?”

“He said he was just calling to say hey to
me, thank-you very much.
 
He also said
your precious art gallery was doing just fine without you.”

Val laughed.
 
“Yep.
 
That’s Gary for you.”
 

What sounded at first like a little
bed-shaking, lovemaking activity upstairs, a minor noise Val chose to ignore,
became a furious round of bounces, as if the bed was lifting up and plopping
down, over and over, and then faster and faster.
 
“Damn!” Val said and looked up at the
ceiling.

“What is it?” Bruce asked.

“Some serious banging going on up in this
mother.”

“Daniel and Nikki?”

“Who else?”

Nikki started screaming, as the banging
sounds intensified, and Val couldn’t hold in the laughter.
 

“Man, what’s so funny?”

“Nikki, child.
 
She got the
do-me
holler going like a song, Bruce.
 
You oughta hear her.
 
Ah! Ah!
Ah
!
 
And it’s so high-pitched it
sounds operatic.
 
Daniel bangs, she
hollers.
 
A bang, a holler.
 
Like a damn song!”

Bruce laughed.
 
“You shouldn’t be listening to that shit,
man.”

“And how do you suggest I not listen?
 
I’m down here minding my own business.
 
They bringing it to me. They’re the ones
trying to break through the ceiling, not me.”

“I thought she was crazy, but give me a
break.
 
How can she think about fucking
at a time like this?”

“I’m glad she can think about it.
 
She need to think about it.
 
She hasn’t been thinking at all, and that’s
been her problem.
 
This is exactly what
that heifer needs.”

“She needs an attitude adjustment, that’s
what she needs.”

“Don’t even try that, B.
 
She has good cause not to care for your
behind and you know it.
 
You did, after
all, steal from me.
 
You did, after all,
try to beat my ass.
 
Remember all of
that?
 
So don’t act like she’s just being
crazy.”

“Man please.
 
Let me get off this phone.”

“Asshole,” Val said, and hung up the
phone.
 

Upstairs, where the noise originated, Daniel
was on top of Nikki pumping his ass off.
 
Nikki was underneath holding on, as he rammed into her repeatedly.
 
They were both naked, both holding onto each
other, and were too far gone to care that the bed was creaking so loudly that
it would have been impossible for Val not to hear them.
 
But Daniel kept on thrashing.
 
Even after he began releasing, and the white
milky substance began to pour out, he couldn’t stop thrashing.
 
Even after Nikki had cum with a trembling,
energetic cum, he couldn’t stop thrashing.
 
He poured and thrashed until every ounce was out and every pulsation,
every throb, had ceased.
 

Then he lay still for a few moments longer,
and then slid off of Nikki and onto his bare back.
 
The sweat was all over his chiseled body and
his breathing was so heavy, with his muscular chest heaving up and down, that
even Nikki got concerned.
 
She turned
sideways and looked at him.

“You okay?” she asked.

He smiled.
 
“I’m fine,” he said and took his arm and pulled her against him.

“Yes, you are fine,” she said with a smile,
as she laid her head onto his chest and pressed her fingers into the ridges of
his stomach abs.
 
“That was incredible,
Daniel,” she said.

Daniel began stroking her hair.
 
“Think so?”

“I know so.
 
I thought I was going to pass out about ten different times.
 
I mean damn.”

Daniel laughed.
 
“We did get a little carried away.”