i b9efbdf1c066cc69 (2 page)

“Because I want to make sure I’m clear and you follow directions,” he grinned.

Zoe flipped off her boss. “You’re lucky I’m not your wife.”

“
I’m
lucky you’re
not my wife!” He laughed. “Speaking of wedding bells, I thought you were dating, anyway.”

“I have a date tonight,” Zoe yawned.

“Let’s not get excited.”

“I just…” Zoe briefly glanced out the office window. “…I’m happy being single. I’m

happy being in L.A. I’m only going out with him because my mother is making me.”

“Your mother is still setting you up on blind dates, huh?” Kieran smiled.

“She’s still upset nothing happened between us, by the way.” Zoe mentioned. Zoe’s

mother took her to Fits and Giggles on a recommendation from another friend to check out the

‘hot and sexy’ owner for a job. Zoe was hired as Kieran’s assistant but that was it, much to the disappointment of her mother.

“I follow the Three C’s,” Kieran reminded his assistant, “I don’t date…”

“…Colleagues, clients, and co-workers,” Zoe stuck out her tongue, “and yeah, that didn’t work too well for you, did it?”

Kieran smiled as he looked at a picture of his recent maternity photo shoot with Tiana.

They were out in the fields and both were wearing white. There was a slight breeze that day and Kieran remembered how the sunlight would seem to follow them where ever they went, as if their union and subsequent pregnancy was shined upon from the heavens. “Tiana was the exception and not the rule,” he smiled.

“When you are you going to hook me up with your brother?” Zoe asked.

“One’s married, one has a girlfriend, and the other two,” Kieran raised an eyebrow as he thought about Joey and Tony, “the other two need to get checked by the CDC.”

“CDC?”

“Centers for Disease Control,” Kieran mentioned. The sad part was he wasn’t sure if he what he said was a joke or not.

“I’m sure they’re not that bad, Kieran.”

“Ummm….” Kieran smiled at Zoe’s naïveté. “There’s a contest between them to see who

can bang the most females in New York so that should tell you everything you need to know.”

“Young, dumb, and full of…”

“…exactly,” Kieran interrupted her. His cell phone rang and saw it was Tiana calling him.

“I need to take this. Yeah,
bella
? You need what? When? Um…” Kieran glanced at his watch.

“I’ll see if I can do it. Okay, you’re going to what? Um, all right if you insist. Okay, I won’t. I love you, too.” He hung up.

“What was that about?” Zoe asked.

Kieran watched his phone ring again with Tiana calling him. “My wife wants me to pick up some food on the way back home but I have to go out of my way for a specific restaurant she had requested. However, she’s afraid I’m going to forget the order so she’s calling me back right now and leaving me a detailed message on what she wants.” Kieran looked back at his assistant.

“You women are such strange creatures.”

Two

Joey D’Amato rubbed his forehead and let out a long yawn. It was a long day at Madre’s.

He had to oversee the construction on the new Madre’s location on Long Island. Then he had to meet with another vendor interested in their services and negotiate reasonable prices. Finally, he had to meet with the Chief Financial Officer and talk financials.

He loved every moment of it.

It was a title he took seriously – President and Chief Operating Officer of Madre’s, Inc.

His mother was the face of the brand she built, some ten years earlier, with some of her lottery winnings. All of the sons pitched in and helped build Madre’s from the ground up and as a result, all owned equity in the company.

Joey was the brains behind it all. His mother’s lottery win happened to occur in the middle of him going to college and majoring in business, and eventually getting his MBA. He convinced his mother to hold off starting Madre’s for a couple of years so he could research more about the floral business and what it all entailed. He worked at other floral shops and studied their techniques. He looked up who grew the best flowers. Most importantly, Joey learned how to run a business. Most businesses failed within five years of starting up. He was determined to make Madre’s not be a part of that statistic.

He wanted Madre’s to be different from the many other floral shops out there but he

couldn’t figure out what was the magic touch. It had to have been different. It had to be something that wasn’t done before. Madre’s needed a secret weapon that no one else had.

I’m only doing this for a few months and that’s it.

Joey could recall his younger brother’s words when he recruited him to design Madre’s website. Joey made sure his mother’s face was the centerpiece of the website, and that it didn’t look like anything that came off Broke Websites R Us. Pictures of centerpieces and bouquets were featured on different pages. Contact information was linked to their respective photos for easier accessibility. Every year, the website was updated to be fresher and smarter than the one before, featuring Madre’s employees from the cashiers to the delivery guys with little tidbits about them so customers would know who was assisting them.

The papers called Madre’s an overnight success, though Joey begged to differ. By the time the media had discovered them, Madre’s had been in business for five years – the magic number Joey needed to confirm the business to be a success. The media attention caused their business to triple seemingly overnight and they grew from a little store in the strip mall with five employees to renovated brick building in Manhattan with thirty employees. Nicola no longer had to work long hours in her business and delegated the tasks to Joey and Eli, who was named Executive Creative Director. They just recently opened up another location in NYC not too long ago.

Still, Joey’s hard work came at a price. His personal life suffered greatly because of it and he preferred the company of countless and forgettable women as opposed to settling down and finding a good woman.
A nice Italian woman like your mother
, Nicola reminded often.

Joey preferred Italian women. Well, no. Joey preferred
any
woman as long as she was clean, had somewhat of a brain, and didn’t talk very much. He could admit that many of the women he had dated, didn’t have much of a brain. That was fine by him. It was easier to get them in bed.

Not many women could understand what Joey was about, what his life comprised of. They saw his ‘work vehicle’ of an Escalade he drove to the shop. They saw his ‘play vehicle’ of a BMW 750Li he drove around town. They saw him walking around wearing a business suit with open collar, looking like he just stepped out of a photo shoot. They were enchanted with his intelligence and swagger, not dumbing down a conversation and preferred those who listened to him to simply keep up. They bragged about his bedroom skills, bringing them to multiple orgasms and for a lucky few, a lesson in squirting.

But they couldn’t understand why he had to work every weekend. They couldn’t

understand he didn’t have a choice on whether he wanted to do an event. Madre’s was simply the focal point of the family. All of the other businesses – Tony’s barber shop and Faith’s salon, two businesses Joey had a hand in running – were also connected to Madre’s. It was Joey’s goal to make the D’Amato family to be that of the Rockefellers, the Rothschilds, and eventually, the Kennedys. His brothers and cousins thought he was crazy as hell for his ambitions, but Joey was serious.
If they can do it, why can’t we?
Joey retorted.

Wealth ambitions aside, Joey had serious concerns at the moment. He glanced at his

Panerai watch and knew it was time to leave work. He had a busy night ahead of him.

He made his way downstairs to the warehouse where Eli was finishing up a bouquet for him. Though Eli would’ve made the bouquets free of charge, he always insisted Joey pay for them. “If I’m doing this for your hoes, I’m getting something out of this,” Eli once told him.

“How’s it going, bro?” Joey greeted his brother.

“Shh…” Eli held up a finger and studied the last bouquet in front of him. It was missing something, but he couldn’t figure out what. There were plenty of lavender roses. They were quite a few fuchsia carnations. He strategically placed the double purple lisianthus in the bouquet to give an extra splash of color. Yet, there was something missing. After a few seconds, Eli finally realized what it was. “Maria, can you get me the white Asiatic lilies?” He called out to his assistant.

“Got it, boss!” Maria replied back as she went to retrieve the lilies.

Employing Eli to be the floral designer was one of the smarter decisions Joey had made.

His charismatic brother had a natural talent and the same drive for perfection. Eli was known to spend an entire day going over a design and starting all over from scratch if he didn’t feel comfortable with it. His anal-retentiveness paid off. Eli’s designs were featured in many celebrity weddings and celebrations, boosting Madre’s to the top.

“Perfect!” Eli took the Asiatic lilies away from Maria and placed them in the bouquet. He stood back and smiled at his creation. “Done!”

“It looks amazing as usual,” Joey smiled. “Now you need to let me know what goes

where.”

Eli started with the bouquet he had just finished. “This one is for Alondra because you mentioned her favorite color was purple.” Eli moved to the next bouquet full of pale pink roses and matching calla lilies. “This one is for Coco because you said she liked pink.” He moved down to the next bouquet, full of oranges and deep red roses and carnations. “This one is for Delilah because you mentioned she’s hot like the sun so I made it fiery.” They walked down to the next bouquet, filled with lush greens and blues. “This one is for Nevaeh, since you mentioned she’s into the sea and water coloring.”

“She’s an artist,” Joey corrected, “she takes her work seriously.”

“Whatever, bro. I’d seen her stuff and it’s no different from the artwork Nate brings home from daycare.” Eli shrugged as they walked to the final bouquet. “Finally, this is for…what is her name?”

“Everleigh, she’s a ballet dancer.” Joey nodded. “Her parents were hippies.”

“Clearly they were on that shit to give her that name,” Eli shook his head, “this is for Ms.

Everleigh
. For her
artistic
talent, she has a bouquet filled with bright colors like they just popped off the canvas.” He presented the last bouquet that had every color of the rainbow and boasted of colorful roses and pink stargazer lilies.

“Bro, you’re amazing.” Joey took out a few hundreds and handed them to his brother. “I owe you.”

“I got your back, playa.” Eli smiled as he and Maria each carried a couple of bouquets to Joey’s waiting truck. “You know one of these days, you’ll find yourself a nice, sweet girl and settle down.”

“Ehh,” Joey loaded up his truck with the bouquets. “I like my options.”

“Your options keep changing.” Eli mentioned. “A lot.”

“31 flavors, bro,” Joey mentioned, “Baskin-Robbins knew what they were doing when

they came up with that concept.”

“Thanks for your help, Maria. Have a good night.” Eli sent his assistant home. When

Maria was out of earshot, he turned back to his brother. “I’m pretty sure they weren’t referring to you dipping your dick in thirty-one different women.”

“You’re just mad that my partner count is higher than yours,” Joey smirked.

“I want you to repeat what you just said and tell me what’s wrong with that statement.” Eli replied.

Joey pressed a button to close the trunk and made his way to the driver’s side. “I’m not the marrying kind, bro. I respect you and K for finding that right woman and settling down to put a ring on it. Even Nicky is entertaining the idea of marrying Zerrin. That just ain’t me. I have way too much to do than just to get down on a knee and give up everything for a woman.”

“When you get married, you’re not giving up anything.” Eli argued. “You’re gaining a whole lot.”

“When’s the last time Faith gave you a blow job just because?” Joey asked his brother to resounding silence. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

“Marriage is more than sex,” Eli replied. What he said was true. The current drought Eli was in with his wife was making him wonder otherwise. It was six weeks and counting.

“Says the bro that’s not getting that much play like he used to,” Joey started his truck and smiled, “see you in the morning, bro.”

Joey turned on his satellite radio and navigated down the streets. It was going to be a busy night with spending some time with each woman. One hour was all he promised them. What they did during that hour was up to the woman. Sometimes it was mind-blowing sex. Sometimes it was just conversation, though Joey did most of the talking. Sometimes it was just keeping each other company. He only had one job – making sure the lady was comfortable and felt safe when she was with him. What she did before or after he left was none of his concern.

She only had that one hour. Sometimes an hour three times a week if she was really good.

The first stop was the local liquor store owned by one of their cousins. Joey grabbed a couple of red bulls and some chips. He also picked up a stack of condoms just in case. He was going to need all the energy he could get.

Three

“I have big dreams, you know? Owning my own business, generating a lot of wealth,

being set for life….” Jose Gonzales went on during the dinner. “…I just don’t want to be poor.”

Zoe hoped the contempt she was feeling didn’t show on her face or worse, in her eyes. She knew not every man in Los Angeles was money-hungry. Not every man was trying to be rich, to be an actor, rapper, or whatever. She knew that. Yet, it seemed like each time she went on a date, it was with that type. And all he ever talked about was money.

Money, money, money.

Zoe came from a wealthy family – both of her parents were doctors and activists in their community. Her younger sister was a model, and married to an NBA player. Growing up, Zoe lived in a mansion, her parents drove nice cars, and her mom’s jewelry collection boasted of names Zoe wanted to use for her future daughters – Chanel and Tiffany.