Saint And Sinners (14 page)

“Is it zoned to be made into a single family? I would want the
entire
thing…”

Xenia shot him a look, knowing her man well. She knew he was the one now jonesing,
hard as a rock for the fucking place as if it had a pussy, breasts and ass.

“Yes it is. You would of course have to receive the proper permits, but you are allowed
to knock down specific walls, make renovations as you see fit, and so on and so forth.
You could pretty much do as you like.”

“Five bedrooms, four full bathrooms, three half baths…” Saint continued to look around
and down at the sheet Anne gave him, listing the details. “And this open area could
be turned into a sixth bedroom… We’d want that…” He sucked his bottom lip as he tossed
his plans around in his mind. The shit was fucking fantastic. He prized the possible
grand play area already. He could envision his children playing, laughing and carrying
on all around the place. He could clearly imagine himself and Xenia having a romantic
glass of wine together, all alone in the dining room, a perfect evening set for two.
He knew where their rooms would be, how they’d look…almost like déjà vu.

“Do you like it, baby?” he whispered in her direction, pulling himself back from his
wet dream. What if she hated it? What if she wanted to look at something else instead?
He had to prepare himself for that, too. He couldn’t have the woman being unhappy,
stuck in a place that made her even more homesick than she possibly already was.

“I love it,” she mouthed, sealing it with a wink and blown kiss. A light laugh escaped
his lips as he nodded to her. His heart beat a bit slower from her confirmation. He
swallowed, then had a notion to turn around, face the front of the place. There it
was…a humongous bay window practically the size of the entire front wall. Xenia would
get what she wanted…

They went up the first flight of steps and discovered two large bedrooms with picturesque
French doors.

“Oh my goodness, Saint… Isis would
love
this, I just know she would.” She entered the hexagon shaped room at the corner of
the house. “We could make it look just like a doll house! Put a canopy bed there,”
she pointed across the room. “That big, pink rug with the cream fringe she loves…”
Xenia placed her hands over her mouth, covering her buoyant grin.

“She wouldn’t be on the same floor as us anymore, though.” Saint hated to dash Xenia’s
plans, but he didn’t care for that notion. “Anne, on the top floor,” he said, pointing
towards the ceiling, “there are two bedrooms, correct?”

“Yes. The largest bedroom is on the third floor; it takes up practically half of the
square footage of that floor. There is a half bath, a full hallway bathroom and a
bathroom inside the master suite. All of the bathrooms are updated, really beautiful
actually. The other bedroom is also very nice, if you were concerned about having
your daughter on another level of the house.”

“Can we take a look?” Xenia asked, pointing to the staircase with urgency, as if itching
to find out if it was just as fabulous as the one she’d fallen in love with.

“Of course!” Anne said cheerfully as she led them away.

“Oh…my…God!” Xenia clasped her hands over her mouth. “Saint!” she said between excited
gasps. “Look at this bedroom! Look at this closet!” She moved around the area, and
he was certain she was going to pass out from excitement. “This thing is two times
larger than the one we have even now in L.A.!”

“Yeah.” Saint smirked as he pushed his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his
heels. “Now
this
is what I call a damn bedroom. It looks like a huge dance studio…so many possibilities.”
They walked into the double ‘His and Hers’ closet, which was almost the same size
as their entire bedroom in L.A, all by itself.

I can turn half of this into our new red room… Yeah, me and the Missus need a place
to play. This one will be bigger and better.

The thoughts steeped inside of him like marinating tea leaves, and he couldn’t help
but grin at the naughty notion as they brewed.

“How many square feet is this house?” Osaze asked. Saint had almost forgotten his
father was with him; he’d remained so quiet.

“Sir, it is almost 5,836 sq.ft.”

“Oh yeah!” Saint laughed. “You can’t get shit like this easily in Manhattan. Land
here is at a premium. They don’t make houses this big here anymore. I notice there
is no price on this sheet, Anne.” Saint’s brow shot up as he held up the piece of
paper. The woman turned to him and grinned sheepishly.

“We only show it to serious buyers, and it hasn’t been available long but the asking
price is, $6,102,500.00”

“That’s better than I thought it would be actually…I am assuming because it needs
a bit of work but I still wish to negotiate.”

“Why, of course.” She nodded and turned away. “The previous owner was a surgeon. The
house had been in her family for five generations. It was well maintained for the
most part, and had been rented out as apartments. It originally was a single-family
mansion and it would be nice to see it returned as such, I’m sure. Another great feature
is the backyard. It’s not particularly large, but there is plenty of room for children
to play, even for a small pool. It is also fenced.”

“Oh good,” Xenia blurted. “I thought with us moving to the city versus the outskirts,
we’d not have one at all.”

“Now, backyards are rare over here, that is true, but some of them do exist, and this
property has one. Would you like to take a look?”

“Yes, definitely.”

“You two go on, I want to look at the other bedrooms,” Saint stated, encouraging Xenia
to leave. She paused, seemingly trying to read his mind. Then, her face cracked with
an all-knowing smile as she and Anne went back down the steps.

His father was immediately at his side, waiting…

“Well?”

“This is it…”

“I figured you’d say that. Saint, the house is spectacular.” The man looked up at
the ceiling and all around. “Seems a bit overpriced, but…” He shrugged. “For Manhattan,
this size, and your champagne taste, yeah…I could see you here.”

“Look how big this damn bedroom is, Dad. Do you know how much sex I can have in here?
All over this damn room!” He waved his hand around as if it were a magic wand. “The
possibilities are endless!” He burst out laughing before he could even complete the
sentence.

“Saint!”

Saint slid his hand over his stomach as his laughter increased tenfold. He’d done
it simply to mess with the man, and Osaze seemed to realize that as he glared back
at him.

“I will need to get it sound-proofed, though… Xenia is a screamer.”

“Saint! Please!”

This only made him laugh even harder. He had to laugh, because inside he was falling
the fuck apart. Something was going on. He couldn’t stop his racing heart, and now
that the coast was clear, the damn lavender smoke from the side of his mouth roamed
freely.

“You hear that? Is there music playing below us? It’s real faint.”

His father gave him a puzzled look.

“Never mind. Okay now, there is one additional bedroom up here, so I’m thinking I
can keep Isis there and then Dakarai and Hassani can be right down this short staircase.”
Saint looked at the floor plan in his hand, then all around the place, taking in inventory,
planning it out in his mind. “There is this huge seating area right outside of their
bedrooms that can be turned into a children’s library, and the boys have a bathroom
they can share, just a few feet away. It’s big too, plenty enough room for the both
of them. It has a long vanity, but I can have it turned into double sinks easily for
them.

“Then, down on the first floor,” he said, pointing in that direction, “there is that
massive family room with the big fireplace…the den has a fireplace too. Then the nice
big office, another bedroom, that can be a guest bedroom and a huge, unfinished basement,
too. The basement is old and rough according to this photo here, but it is a worthwhile
investment to get renovated. It runs the entire length of the house. I will get the
basement partitioned off. One half can be my man-cave and I can probably put an indoor
pool down there, too…one of those skinny ones, what are they called?”

“Lap pool…”

“Yeah, a lap pool.” Saint was running off at the mouth, talking incessantly. He had
to, in order to ignore the inexplicable things going on in his brain. He continued
to hear music, the vibrations moving under his feet, yet he knew it was all in his
outrageous, tormented mind.

“Have you done what I asked, son?”

“And then I can change the fence, too. I could even probably enlarge the dining room
by taking away that one wall, or part of it. I can have a New Year’s Eve party there.
It would be a blast! I’ll get the best certified contractors I can find.”

“Saint…”

“You think that would work? Huh?” More sweat ran down the side of his face as he continued
his rant, his heart racing so fast, it seemed to be made of cheetah blood. He suddenly
felt light headed, as if a mere small gust of wind could knock him right off his feet.

“We can’t fit the basketball stuff in that backyard according to these dimensions.
Well, we could, but it would be cramped. We might have to—”

“Saint!”

“Yes, goddamn it! I took in the area, I feel it!” Saint screamed at the top of his
lungs, his voice carrying and echoing in the huge, empty place. “Something is going
on right below my damn feet, like the fucking earth is alive! Like the shit is breathing!
Like we are one and the same! It’s like a warning, an omen, a sign, I have no idea
what the fuck it is!” Saliva sprayed out of his mouth during his damn fit. He’d lost
complete control.

“Why are you angry?” his father asked calmly, slowly walking towards him. He placed
his hand on his shoulder, showing comfort instead of judgment.

Saint swallowed and took a deep breath as he gripped the white banister, trying to
govern himself. He felt as if he may melt, slide right down the damn steps and form
a puddle.

“I’m going to have to do some things I don’t like, Dad. The city is calling me, I’m
here, and now, it’s trying to make me do things…things that many would consider wrong.”
He slumped down on the step; his father joined him, sitting directly beside him. Their
knees touched as they shared a moment of silence.

“Look son,
whatever
it is, you will be prepared for it.” He placed his hand on his leg. “Try not to worry.”

“…I’m about to find out some shit I wish I never fucking knew about, Dad. I can just
feel it.”

“Well, that happens sometimes…”

“But that won’t be enough. Once I find out about it…” He looked earnestly at his father,
his skin clammy and his stomach agitating as if he’d eaten rotten food and needed
his guts pumped. “I won’t be able to just acknowledge it, I’ll have to
do
something about it…and when I do something about it…” He turned away, looked down
between his feet as his back slumped even further and his hands hung loosely in front
of his knees. “…Once I find out about it, and when I do something about it, it won’t…be
pretty. This is going to be bad, Dad,
very
bad.” He ran his hand roughly through his hair. “It’s going to hurt, real fucking
bad. Something evil is around here, not the house, just this whole fucking place.
Something I either overlooked before, kinda like being in a trashy place and getting
accustomed to it, or it’s new. I just wish I knew so I could gear up for the shit
because
whatever
it is, it isn’t going to take ‘No’ for an answer…”

*

“I like this
fuckin’ song, this is some good shit.” Jai Paul’s, ‘Crush’ blasted through the wall-to-wall
nightclub speakers. Koki laughed lightly, a cigarette dangled out the side of his
mouth, as he sat at the bar, drinking a Sidecar. He sucked his teeth and sneered,
lust crawling up his body like fingers trying to gently wake him from a deep slumber
as two women forced their tongues down each other’s throats. He stood to his feet,
wide legged with his white leather jacket zipped up part of the way. The other night
had been epic. He’d walked through the fucking door and caused a beautiful disaster,
and it only had only taken a moment or two. He was on the road to a magnificent advancement,
and the world seemed to be at his beck and call.

He sat in the bar, his friends all around him as drinks poured, secrets were told,
and acts of debauchery unrolled like a blood-soaked red carpet. Making his way up
to the two women, he playfully pulled them apart before shoving his tongue down the
pretty blonde’s throat. He kissed her deep and hard, winding her hair around his fist,
tugging gently then a bit harder as his hand circled her tit, making the nipple stand
erect.

“How about you two come home with me?” he asked, snaking his arms around their shoulders.
The other woman, dressed in a form fitting red shirt and Boho black pants, curved
her lips in a frown as she twirled a dark brown clump of her hair around her fingers.