Sweeter Than Honey Read online

  “You’ve been reserved again tonight by one of your regulars. But, Sunny, sweetheart, I want to know, what do you want out of life?”

  Sunny’s mesmerizing large brown eyes traveled to the corners, then back at me as she replied, “Madam, I don’t know. When I started in this business I wanted to work a few months, make some fast money, get out, and go to college. But now I’m not so sure. Why waste four years getting a degree only to make less money?”

  “You can’t do this forever, sweetheart, so tell me what you don’t want,” I said.

  Crossing her giraffe-long legs, then folding her arms on the table, Sunny answered, “Madam, I don’t want rich men treating me as though I don’t have a brain, like I’m some inanimate sex object. You know, like a blowup doll.”

  Oh, how well did I know?

  Briefly I digressed to the blowup doll I’d left on my ex-husband’s bed. I should’ve known when he insisted on getting married at Graceland on Las Vegas Boulevard six hours after we’d met, I should’ve literally run for the hills yelling, “You ain’t nothing but a hound dog!” Anybody who dressed like Elvis, acted like Elvis, and honestly believed that Elvis was still alive obviously didn’t live in the real world. What I was sure of was any man constantly beating my ass was a reality I’d never repeat.

  “And, Madam, I’d like to have a steady boyfriend, but what man is going to respect me being in this business?”

  “Sunny, don’t worry. I’ll help you. All I ask is that you be patient in the process and trust me.”

  Gazing into my eyes as though she saw through me, Sunny asked, “Why should I put all my trust in you or anyone else in this business?”

  That fucked me up. She was right. “One day soon, I promise you I’ll explain. Now, you’ve told me before that you have family and you love them. If you don’t want to trust me, then go home to the family you do trust. Sounds to me like your parents and sister would love to have you back in their lives.”

  Looking toward the ceiling, Sunny smiled. “Madam, this is a glamorous business. I feel like a big-time movie star like a Marilyn or Halle, but what sense does it make for me to pleasure these johns, then give my money to you and Valentino? I’m not thinking about going home. I’m thinking about going out on my own.”

  This girl was blinded by the bright lights of Las Vegas, but she wasn’t the only one. There were lots of runaways, strays, and wannabe madams that didn’t understand street prostitution, and drugs were territorial and addictive.

  “You can’t do that! Sunny, look at me!” Lowering my voice, I explained, “You’re an escort, not a hooker, and certainly not a madam. You don’t have a clue what happens to prostitutes on the street, especially the ones who have no pimp. And no street prostitute is going to let your pretty ass pimp them. Even with pimps whores get trains run on them, they get beat up. Sunny, what you’re considering is dangerous. You could end up dead.”

  “Well, Madam. If anything happens to me, please contact my parents.”

  Once this young lady set her mind to doing something, it was virtually impossible for me to make her see things my way.

  In order to gain Sunny’s trust, I did what I’d never done before. I removed a business card from my purse, then wrote on the back If you ever need me, call me, along with my cell number and home number, and gave the card to her.

  I was more convinced than ever I’d made the right decision to free this beautiful and innocent young lady, but I couldn’t sever her from the venomous emotional attachment to prostitution. Only Sunny could free herself.

  Looping Sunny’s friendship present over her fingers, I released the Rolex bag. Sunny was mastering what it meant to become a woman. Knowing how to manipulate men and not relinquish pussy power separated the women from the girls. Women were confident and secure. Girls, some thirty, forty, and fifty-plus, played childish games like seeking passwords to check their lovers’ voice mail messages.

  Standing, I said, “Let’s go. Nothing bad is going to happen to you, if you listen to me. And I’ll pay all of your college tuition. Accept it. You are getting out of this business.”

  CHAPTER 3

  Summer

  Kneeling beside my sister’s bed, I prayed, “Dear Lord, please bring my sister home soon. She’s been gone too long and I miss her terribly. If Sunny does not find her way home tonight, then, Lord, I ask that you keep her safe from harm. Amen.”

  Every night I asked God to bring my sister home. Sunny had been gone for a year, but it felt like a lifetime. Standing by the window, I pulled the trigger on my lighter, setting ablaze the white eucalyptus candlewick.

  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 expi
ration 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 her finger inside the girl’s pussy, Sunny scooped deep inside for any discolored discharge signaling a possible yeast infection or blood to see if the girl was beginning or ending her menstrual cycle.

  Damn! I was impressed. Sunny really had this shit down.

  Scanning the rest of the girls’ bodies, from their hair follicles for lice to their fingernails for dirt to their toes for calluses, Sunny said, “Get dressed.”

  All except one of the girls got clearance from Sunny. I was seriously considering replacing this girl because she repeatedly cost us money. This time, she had a tiny puss-filled pimple on her ass and Sunny caught that shit, understanding that our clients paid megadollars for spotless girls.

  This trick was testing my patience and trying to ruin my reputation for having the best escorts in Las Vegas, but I remained silent. Sunny looked at me. I hunched my shoulders.

  “Girl six, you’re dismissed. Go home,” Sunny firmly said.

  Oh, hell no! I intervened, “Girl six, what’s up with your weekly breakouts?”

  “Madam, I don’t know why I—”

  Before she finished, I backhand slapped her in the mouth. “You are costing us fifty thousand dollars a night every time I have to send your ass home. You’ve got one more time to have a rash, a cold sore, or a pimple, and I will beat your ass into the ground, then fire you. You make me sick! Get out of my face.”

  Raising my hand to strike girl six again, I glanced at Sunny. Our eyes met. Sunny shook her head. Sunny knew how to get her point across without disrespecting me or challenging my authority, but if Sunny was serious about doing this on her own, I wasn’t sparing her.

  Bam!

  “Madam! Please stop! Don’t! I’m sorry! I won’t let this happen again,” girl six cried. “Pleeeaasseeee, Madam, stop!”

  Wham! Bam! Stomp! Kick!

  Girl six balled into the fetal position, holding what I hoped was a few broken ribs. I looked at Sunny and whispered in her ear, “Is this what you want? No pimp or ho on the street is gonna call you an ambulance when some lunatic john kicks your ass. Step outside that door.” I pointed, then continued. “And instruct security to take girl six back to the casino.”

  When Sunny left I said to girl six, “Put your clothes on and get the hell out. All you have to do is take care of yourself. If you’re taking garlic tablets and papaya to keep your weight down, leave that shit alone. Garlic ain’t for everybody and that shit will put pimples on the back of your thighs and your ass. Why do you keep disappointing me? Don’t I pay you well?”

  Girl six nodded.

  “You’ve got exactly thirty minutes to get home and if you don’t answer your home phone when I call you, you’re gonna make Madam angrier.”

  Girl number ten, Onyx, rolled her eyes at me. She thought I didn’t see her. The only reason I let her get away with so much was that she was my second highest producer next to Sunny and Sunny’s friend, but Onyx wasn’t above getting her ass kicked like girl six.

  Nodding again, I gave the remaining girls permission to do their makeup, hair, and select their attire for the night. “Onyx, I want you to split girl six’s johns with girl number two.”

  I felt the daggers shooting in my back. It was best I left without looking at Onyx, because if I had to walk over to her vanity, I’d smash her entire cosmetic tray in her face so hard she’d have instant foundation on her chin, eye shadow on her cheeks, and lipstick on her forehead.

  Exiting the dressing room, I shut the door behind me and walked over to my boss’s private study located on the opposite side of the mansion from the dressing room.

  Valentino was layered in an all-white tailored suit, smoking a cigar, with his black hair slicked back underneath a matching fedora.

  “This is a change,” I said, sl
anting Valentino’s hat. “So, where are we going?”

  Blowing smoke in my face, Valentino said, “Bitch, don’t question me. I got shit to do. Keep your ass here. Watch, but don’t touch, my money. I’ll be back when I get back.”

  Valentino’s hard-core attitude was a front for an empire that I’d taken over from day one, but I liked his arrogance. Waiting twenty minutes to make sure he was gone, I removed my audio recording from inside a book I’d placed on his shelf. I had to know everything that happened in Valentino’s study while I was away in case his ass was planning to double-cross me.

  While listening to the tape, I observed the girls getting dressed via the monitors in Valentino’s study. Stiffening into a trance, I couldn’t believe what I’d heard.

  “Yeah, man. Straight. She’s gotten too big too quick. It’s barely been a year.”

  “For real, G. Fire her, dude.”

  Was that the voice of my security guard, Reynolds, suggesting my boss fire somebody?

  “Straight, but I have to find another bitch to replace her first.”

  “What about me? I mean, I’m no female but I could be on your team. I protect your shit every night.”

  I stuck my finger in my ear and replayed the tape in disbelief.

  Valentino replied, “I’ll tell you what, kill her and job is yours.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Sunny

  Words were empty unless people gave them meaning.

  Deep inside I believed most people wanted and some needed to feel appreciated. When Lace placed her business card in my hand, I felt an unspoken connection. And although I didn’t need her approval to validate my work ethics, her small gesture made me feel important. But watching Lace beat girl number six scared me ’cause I’d never seen that side of my madam. Sure, she’d slapped all of us a time or two, but kicking and stomping? That was new.