Sweet Like Chocolate

Four

"Here you go,"

I looked over my shoulder and Aubrey had been coming my way with two glasses. He took a seat beside me and I gently took the glass from his hand. While taking a sip, he said, "so, Miss Cherry. Does everyone call you that?"

"My friends call me Nicole. My baby girl calls me Mommy."

His eyes grew wide at the word mommy. "What's her name?" He asked, instead of 'you have a daughter?'

"Her name Layla."

"Cute name. I bet she look just as beautiful as you."

"Yeah,"

Aubrey took another sip of his glass, and added, "I love kids. I don't have my own yet, though."

"Why not?"

He snickered and sat his glass on the coffee table in front of us. "I'm twenty-seven. I feel as though I need to," He put two quoting gestures up with his fingers, "'live it up', first."

"Shit, ain't nothin' wrong with that," I took a gulp from my glass. He was a little older than me, but shit, I was with him on that. We shared some shit about our interests, and had a second glass each.

I had began to cut down to business no sooner than ten minutes into our conversation about family. "So, this video? When and where can I start?"

Honestly y'all, I just wanted this money. I dealt with producers, promoters, and rappers who came through Georgia plenty of times. They see this ass first before they see Nicole. I knew they wasn't interested in what my hopes and dreams were. They ain't even care about the fact that I had Lay. They just wanted me for the night. I had learned from that in the last too many times. This man wasn't no different, I assumed.

"We can start now."

For a second, I thought I was trippin' when I seen him nearing my face with his lips. I pressed my palm to his chest and pushed. "Uh, what is you doin'?"

Aubrey looked me in my eyes. "Cherry, Nicole, I find you so attractive. You are a beautiful woman and I,"

My eyes got bigger than before.

"I want you." He nibbled at his bottom lip softly as he watched mine.

"Aubrey, I'm sorry but," I shook my head and began to stand up. "I'm just with the business. I'm not interested in you that way," I stood to my feet, my mind scattering everywhere now.

He had watched me stand, and suddenly threw his head in both his palms. "You right. You right. I'm sorry," He stood to his feet. "I'm sorry about that. This champagne got me trippin'..." He rubbed his forehead and suddenly had a look of shame across his face. "Look, Nicole, if we can pretend this part never happened... and still do this videoshoot, I'd love to-"

"How much you payin'? " I said upfront, now. I didn't want him wasting my time if it was some pocket-"

"Six thousand." I heard almost instantly. "We put you in the finest, most expensive clothes. You do different scenes, photoshoots on the beach, you name it. I want to send some of the work to magazine companies like GQ, Vibe, Ebony... It'll last for two months tops," He grinned at my surprised reaction. "Are you interested?" He asked, knowing damned well what my answer was now. Despite his little coming on to me, I still needed this money. Let's just hope that don't happen again.

"When can I start, Aubrey?"

***

The   following  week...

I was scheduled to be there at eight-thirty, but I was walkin' in the front door at eight sharp. I had to drop Lay of at her Nana's at six. That girl was not ready. I had to push her to do everything - get dressed, brush her teeth, eat her breakfast...