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Authors: Jackie Chanel

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Love and War 2 (8 page)

BOOK: Love and War 2
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“Nico,” Caprice said slowly. “I’ve told you million times that you are not going to shoot my boyfriend.”

Nico returned her same condescending tone. “Caprice, I will and you’ll get over it.”

“What right do you have to tell me who I can and cannot date? I am an adult. I know who to trust and who not to trust. You gotta give me some breathing room. If you’d just come to dinner…”

Her request was answered by three beeps in her ear indicating that Nico had hung up on her.

Oh well, she thought as she sat her iPhone on the glass table. The last time she and Nico had the same conversation, she’d hung up on him.

She wasn’t in fear of Diesel’s life. Her brother’s threats didn’t bother her. Nico loved her too much to take away something she loved. He would have already gone to Domani if he was serious, but her new CIA phone hadn’t rang in weeks.

She just wanted Diesel and Nico to have one conversation. That was all they they needed in order to squash their beef. Tonight would have been the perfect opportunity. Mahogany was flying in from Miami for a short visit. Plus, Diesel was finally ready to bring his family from New York and move them into their new house.

While Caprice was busy with The Capri, Diesel spent his days furnishing his mother’s new house. Caprice had done more than keep her word. By putting the house in his mother’s name, she had ensured that no matter what happened between them, his family would always have a place to call home.

It was a beautiful house too. It was the type of house his mom always dreamed of owning; the type of house they would have had if his father hadn’t bounced and his mother hadn’t gotten sick. Once she’s been diagnosed with lupus, it became very difficult for her to keep a steady job. She was a talented beautician, but there were too many days when she wasn’t able to use her hands. She depended on food stamps, Section 8, and her disability checks to keep the family afloat. Diesel did what he could, but his family’s needs and expenses hit his pockets hard.

Today was the start of a new day for Diesel and his family. He was excited to see the reactions of his mother, his sister Brianna, and his brother Allen when he took them to their new home. As he walked into the living room where Caprice was lying on the couch watching TV, he was anxious for his mother to meet his lady.

“Nico still want to kill me?” Diesel said as he moved Caprice’s long legs out of the way and sat down on the couch.

“He’s stubborn,” Caprice replied.

She twisted around on the sofa until her head was lying in Diesel’s lap. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come to New York with you?”

Diesel laughed. “And do what? You ain’t liftin’ no boxes. You might break a nail.”

“Yeah, but I could hire movers and you can spend the morning in bed with me.”

She ran her perfectly manicured fingers over the ribbed cotton of Diesel’s black wife beater. There was nothing she enjoyed more than sharing her bed with him. She’d ignored all the warnings to think with her head and not her heart. Diesel owned her heart and body, and they both knew it. They made each other happy, but if she was having a hard time convincing Nico to back off, she could only imagine how her father was going to react. She was in no hurry to cross that bridge.

Diesel slid his hand up Caprice’s tank and placed it on her flat belly. Her skin warmed beneath his fingers. He loved how her body involuntarily reacted to his simple touches.

“If I needed movers, I would have hired them myself. You’ve done enough. You have to get your mom from the airport anyway. Are you going to take her to lunch with Pamela?”

Caprice burst out laughing. “Hell no! You haven’t met my mother. She would know exactly what was going on as soon as she met Pamela. The longer that Mahogany believes that we’re running a smooth and totally legal operation here, the better off I am.”

“You’re more scared of your mother than your father, aren’t you?”

Caprice nodded. “My father can’t enter the United States without the risk of being thrown in jail for the rest of his life. He’s not coming back any time soon. My mother, however, is a two hour plane ride away with a worse temper than Domani. I will always be scared of my mother.”

“I get it,” Diesel laughed.

“But you don’t have anything to worry about. She’s gonna love you.”

Diesel wasn’t so sure he could say the same about his mother. Caprice was everything that he wanted in a woman. She was loyal, caring, confident, educated, and beautiful. She was also opinionated, stubborn, a little stuck up, and spoiled. Those were the personality traits that he was sure his mother would hate.

“Get up, babe,” he said and nudged her off his lap. “I gotta go.”

Caprice turned up her nose.

“No whining,” he said before she could get started. “I’ll call you when we get to the house.”

Diesel left Caprice alone to relax while she waited for her mother’s flight to come in, but relaxing was furthest from her mind. She had work to do.

She texted Mateo and a few minutes later, he was walking through the condo door. Mateo, by far, was her favorite out of the twins. He was a little friendlier than his brother and more willing to perfect his English so they could communicate better. He also didn’t have a problem with Diesel.

Caprice threw together a quick breakfast for the two of them and they sat at the breakfast counter eating and going over the day’s plans.

“Can you get word to Leo that we’re meeting tomorrow at nine?”

“At the steakhouse?” Mateo asked.

“Yeah. And Sabrina at the liquor licensing board is being a bitch. It’s going to take another ten to push our paperwork through.”

“Want us to take care of her?”

“Noooo!” Caprice laughed. “We’re just going to pay her. What’s the word on Keisha?”

“She’s still in Providence,” Mateo informed her. “Is it time?”

Caprice shook her head and sipped her espresso. “Not yet. It hasn’t been that long since her cousin’s funeral. Let’s give her a few more months. Just make sure you always know where she is. Cool?”

“Cool. Do you want a ride to the airport?”

“No. I’m sending a car for Mom.”

“We have the day off?”

Caprice laughed at the way Mateo asked. She knew what having a day off meant for the twins. Lots of alcohol, loud music and as many women as they could handle. Their heavy Italian accents and dark Italian features were a magnet for the loose women in Atlantic City. And the Caldarone twins couldn’t get enough of American women.

“Sure,” Caprice agreed. Everyone needed a break every once in awhile.

 

****

Caprice had abandoned her power suit and opted for the kind of flowy and light dress her mother was used to seeing her wear when she opened the door of her condo for Mahogany.

As usual, Mahogany looked absolutely stunning. Caprice was tired of hearing about how beautiful Cynthia from
The Real Housewives of Atlanta
was, especially when Mahogany looked ten times better and was still a working model.

Dressed in a pair of Dolce & Gabbana black leggings, a Catherine Malandrino top and a pair Balenciaga wedge sandals that hadn’t even been released yet, Mahogany made her own daughter jealous.

“Are those the Balenciaga wedges? How Mom? How did you get those?”

“I walked in their show last week.”

“Did you get me a pair?”

“He only had one this size. I put in the request.”

Mahogany stepped aside and allowed the doorman to bring her bag into the condo. She instructed Greg to take the bag to the guestroom and handed him a twenty before he left.

“He’s a sweet guy,” Mahogany commented after Greg had left. “He was so helpful when I was here last time.”

“I like him.”

Caprice walked over to the sofa and sat back down. Mahogany came up behind the couch and ruffled Caprice’s perfectly coiffed hair.

“Mom!”

Mahogany grinned. “Stop pouting. You know your hair is fine. And you know you miss me.”

“Of course I do. This is hard work.”

“It’s experience, though,” Mahogany stated as she sat down. “You wouldn’t get this type of experience if you were sitting in a classroom at Stanford.”

“I could be in Paris with Janelle, eating cheese and bread, and not worrying about getting fat.”

“The last place you need to be is in Paris. You have no restraint. You’d be three hundred pounds and have three French men following you home.”

“I have a boyfriend,” Caprice reminded her mother.

“Yeah, I’ve heard,” Mahogany said. “So where is this guy I’m supposed to be meeting?”

“They’re meeting us at Dock’s Oyster House.”

Mahogany groaned. “The Boardwalk, Caprice? In the middle of tourist season? And who are they?”

“They are Diesel, his mother, his little sister, and his brother,” Caprice answered. “And they’ve never been to Atlantic City, so yes, we’re eating on The Boardwalk in the middle of tourist season. It’ll be fun.”

“What time?”

“I’m ready,” Caprice stated. “We can head over to the restaurant now and have a drink or two while we wait. Or we can go shopping!”

“Let me freshen my makeup. I’ll meet you downstairs at the car.”

Caprice watched her mother walk down the hall to the guest bedroom and was happy that her appearance passed Mahogany’s scrutiny. They would have been super late if her mom had made her change.

****

When Diesel and his family walked into Dock’s Oyster House, Caprice and her mother were on their second blood orange martinis and Mahogany was talking about her latest trip to Paris. The smile on Caprice’s face stretched all the way to her ears. Her eyes were sparkling. She hopped up from the table and stood in front of Diesel. She was extremely excited to for everyone to meet. Unlike Diesel, she wasn’t nervous about him meeting her mother. She wasn’t nervous about meeting his mother either.

“Mom, this is Diesel.”

Caprice introduced her man proudly, like she was introducing the President of the United States. She wrapped her arm around Diesel’s waist and waited for Mahogany’s reaction. Mahogany was a woman of poise and etiquette. She stood up and to shake Diesel’s hand.

Diesel reached out his hand to shake Mahogany’s. He had to admit, he was kind of star struck. He and his friends used to collect Mahogany’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit covers just like Tyra Banks. He wouldn’t have been more excited about meeting Naomi Campbell or Iman, and there she was standing in front of him.

“Pleased to meet you, Diesel. My daughter hasn’t told me a lot about you, but I can see you’re taking very good care of her.”

Diesel grinned and squeezed Caprice’s hand. “I’m trying.”

Mahogany’s heart warmed when Diesel kissed the top of her daughter’s head. She recognized the love they had for each other as soon as Diesel walked into the restaurant. There was only one man in her lifetime who made Mahogany’s eyes sparkle like her daughter’s, and that was Caprice’s father.

Diesel turned his attention to family standing behind him and introduced Mahogany and Caprice.

Gloria Harris was much shorter than Mahogany and Caprice, but she made up for her lack of height with a wicked tongue and strength for days. She was a very pretty woman, but Caprice instinctively knew that Gloria didn’t take anyone’s shit. She just had that look about her.

Caprice thought she and Gloria would get along perfectly.

Before they’d even finished appetizers, Caprice found out that getting along with Diesel’s girlfriend was not on Gloria’s agenda. She fired questions at Caprice to the point that the family dinner had started to feel like an interrogation.

Caprice reached her breaking point when Gloria demanded to know why she wasn’t going to school for her MBA.

“Are you crazy or stupid?” were Gloria’s exact words.

Caprice casually let the napkin she was holding fall to the table. For a minute, she couldn’t believe that she’d just been asked that question.

“Umm, excuse me?” she said, looking directly at Gloria. “I don’t think I heard you correctly. Did you just call me stupid?”

“Or crazy,” Gloria replied. “Which one is it?”

Diesel squeezed Caprice’s knee under the table. She ignored it.

“Neither.”

“In this economy-”

“I’m getting by just fine with my dual degree in Marketing and Finance. In case your son hasn’t told you, I was running my own business before I had a high school diploma. I am neither crazy nor stupid. I am very intelligent; intelligent enough to not waste my time and money on another degree just for the sake of having it. That would not be in the best interest of my business.”

Gloria rolled her eyes and took a bite of her calamari. “There’s something wrong with you.”

“The only thing that’s wrong with me is that I have to pee. Excuse me.”

Caprice pushed her chair back from the table and walked away before her temper flared. She bypassed the ladies’ room and went outside. She breathed in deep gulps of air and stared at the pretty lights up and down The Boardwalk.

“Baby,” Diesel said as he wrapped his arms around his woman’s waist. “You okay?”

BOOK: Love and War 2
5.64Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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