C H A P T E R | S E V E N
LOST & FOUND
𝚂 𝚃 𝙾 𝙽 𝙸 𝙵 𝙻 𝙾 𝚁 𝙴 𝚂
SHE couldn't believe it when Ty told her to hog tail her ass into the dressing room and change into something more revealing and then haul her ass into the red room - - a special V.I.P. room for the biggest spenders at El Tigre's. The red room was where Ty had gotten Carter all situated for his private dance with the lady of his choice who so happened to be the newest addition to the growing El Tigre family. Ty was praying like hell that Stoni heeded his warning and didn't go in there fucking things up as he watched her walk away from him after his quick little reminder of what all was riding on her pleasing him.
He didn't have faith in her at all - - Allison he would have had faith in because she had been working there for him for close to four years, but he'd seen Stoni's work and he didn't know how reliable she was. At any moment she could bust into tears, weird Carter out, and ruin the entire evening just like she almost had when she was dancing on stage earlier.
He didn't have confidence in the product that he was presenting Carter with, he could only pray that she'd pull it off and impress Carter on a wing and a prayer. Ty wanted to propose that Carter front him the money for another club - - another strip joint but this time he wanted to go bigger - - he wanted it to be in Manhattan and he wanted to get a bigger piece of land than what he had now - - the only problem was he wouldn't be able to obtain the permits like he knew Carter could and he needed more money because it would be a bigger venue.
In short, Ty wanted to have two at once and reap in more money behind having two operations open at the same time all he needed was Carter's push and he'd be well on his way.
Stoni took deep breaths the whole way through; she had only seen glimpses of Carter when he came in, never really him as a whole so she only had bits and pieces of him in her mind. She told herself she couldn't focus on that - - she needed to focus on not losing her confidence like she had up there on the stage.
Allison gave her some pointers to remember and all she had to do was keep them in mind. Ty said there'd be no pressure but she knew that's all it was - - pressure on top of pressure. Anytime a person says no pressure, they usually mean all the pressure in the entire world and this time was no different - - the whole pitch Ty had planned was riding on her right now and how well she loosened Carter up.
She stood at the door and took another deep breath, wiping her palms onto her thighs and telling herself that she had the power just like Allison told her - - all she had to do was make Carter recognize that and she'd be fine. "Just relax, Stoni," she said to herself, everything's gonna be alright. Allison stood by Ty who was watching Carter at the door and using his hands to signal that she had kept him waiting long enough and that she needed to go inside.
She looked back at the door and placed her hand on one of the long silk curtains and sunk her teeth into her bottom lip. "You can do this," she said to herself again, "He's just a man like any other man and you've been around plenty - - they all want to see the same thing."
She separated the curtain with her fingers and slowly walked inside wearing her orange ensemble - - her favorite color. It was a sheer tangerine colored nighty that tied in the front where her breasts were situated underneath and it fell to just above her behind where she wore the matching tangerine panties, bejeweled at the sides where the strings were. Her heels were gold to accent the golden jewels on the nighty and her hair was pinned up into a tight bun, exposing her baby face that Carter had seen and been attracted to from a mile away.
When she came in he was sitting in a leather chair with his drink in his hand and the darkness of the room completely covering his facial features. All she could see were his long legs in the expensive Armani cloth and his big hands, one finger donning a silver wedding band and the other hand holding the glass with his vodka and ice in it. She could even smell his cologne in the air as she slowly walked past him, playing with her fingers nervously.
He seemed so well put together and though he wasn't wearing a suit, he was dressed a little more casually, he wore the hell out of his attire and his scent was damn near intoxicating. She couldn't even see his face right now and he had already lived up to all the things the girls and people around New York, said about him - - and he was slowly making her more self-conscious to boot.
As she went to walk past him she felt his hand grab her wrist and slowly saw him lean up in the chair. Stoni looked as he leaned forward and the darkness slowly faded from his face and what she saw was the face of what had to be the most confident, flawless, sexiest man she had ever laid eyes on. On top of his head sat the most gorgeous bed of curly mane she had seen, his skin was flawless and a deep butterscotch color, his face was perfectly chiseled and looked as if God himself came down from the heavens and carved in his unique features.
Lastly, his touch - - it was firm yet still gentle enough for a lady and his eyes - - goodness his eyes were like emeralds, deep dark green - - dark jade like the kind printed on bills and they were interrogating. His eyes alone were enough to melt the panties right off of her as she stood there in the crossfire of his greenish golden stare and didn't know how to formulate a sentence. She had never seen a man so adamantly gifted as this one before her and was convinced that Carter had to be the end all be all - - there wasn't a flaw about him and if there was it surely wasn't a flaw at all because it was Carter.
"Ain't you gonna tell me your name first, babydoll," Carter smirked at Stoni like she was the belle of his ball and she watched as his long, thick, pink hued tongue took a journey cross country from one corner of his lips to the next. His eyes were drilling into hers with a kind of desire that was different from most men and she didn't know why; he was man just like any other man, right?
She looked down at his hand against her wrist and he slowly pulled her hand forward and kissed the flesh of her forehand softly with his impeccably soft lips, "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," he chuckled and said mischievously, "I'm Carter," he said as she slightly grew more nervous by his glistening eyes.
"Nice to meet you Mr. Mekhi," she said and took another low breath, "I'm - - I'm - -," oh my God, how did I forget my own name, thought Stoni, "I'm - - I'm," she took another breath, "Sinnamin," so that was it, he thought as he laughed a little and watched her trying to recover from her little mishap, "Yeah, Sinnamin - - with an S not a C," she cleared her throat when she realized she was rambling.
He laughed and licked his lips, looking her up and down, "Mmmhm," he said and ran his hand across his neck, "Well," Carter curved his eyebrow upward and let her have her hand back, "I won't hold you up, Sinnamin with an S not a C," Carter said jokingly as he leaned back in the chair, "I'll let you do what you came to do."
"Yes, sir," she said, "Mr. Mekhi," he laughed again and watched as she slowly backed away from him and stood by the golden pole in the room as the music cued up. Playing through the speakers was the intro to a TLC song that they both knew, Red Light Special. She didn't have any time for deep breaths because the cue had already been dropped - - this was it.
Stoni waited until she heard him start the first verse before she coaxed her fingers into moving around the pole - - circling around it slowly and holding on with one hand. She was slowly trying to get the rhythm and get herself into what she was doing so that it seemed like it came naturally as he sat back nonchalant in the cut and drank his vodka. Her hand grabbed the pole and then her other hand and she slid her leg around it loosely before letting it go again and letting it land on the floor.
With the beat she slowly stalked in front of the pole and then pressed her back to it and reached behind her, grabbing the pin that secured her bun and slowly taking it out as she slid her back down the pole with no hands and slowly spread her legs open. Her long black hair came falling past her shoulders down her back and she dropped the clip on the floor.
With her legs gaped open like that she closed her eyes and tried to remember what Allison said and slid her hand slowly down her collarbone, past her breasts where the tie was in the front and pulled the tie a loose. The sheer material exposed a little of what was underneath but to truly see, Carter needed her to take it off completely. Her hand continued to travel down her chest and to her navel and then right to the meeting of her thighs where she felt the heat of her womanhood.
She kept her eyes closed and kept with the beat, trying not to be the shy person she normally was and allowed her fingers to massage her love through her orange panties. As soon as she started doing that, Carter slowly but surely leaned up out of the darkness again where she could fully see his face and became more interested in what she was doing.
He took a casual sip from his drink and licked his lips while she sucked in her bottom lip and rubbed her pussy through her panties to the music with her eyes closed. Carter could easily tell she was shy but she was definitely coming out of her shell the more she pleased herself in front of him and the longer she kept her eyes closed. It had to be hard to do shit like this in front of a stranger every night, he knew that shit, so he had to give her props where they were due.
A slight moan escaped her lips when she started to make her clit a little more sensitive by how she touched it and she slowly came back up to a stance and tossed her hair behind her back. Carter watched as her hair went like waterfalls down her back and she slowly turned to him as she lifted the tangerine nighty off her body and dropped it to the floor. There she stood with her hands over her breasts, slightly turned from him and her hair free to fall and he would have been a liar if he said she didn't look good.
Carter cleared his throat and smirked a little, "You think you can come closer to me," he said, "So I can really see you," he fingered her over with his index finger and she slowly sunk to her knees and crawled over to Carter like a cat crawling to its master. She tried to ignore the fact that she was topless in just her panties and heels and she crawled over to him until she got to his feet. She looked up at him, biting her lip and becoming a little intimidated again - - anytime she got close to him where she could see his eyes that's how she felt, intimidated.
Still, she slowly climbed upward, using his long legs for support and then straddled his lap putting her legs on either side of his hips and placing her hand on his shoulder. He smirked at her and she grinded slowly in his lap trying not to lose composure, "Tell me your name again," he said.
"Sinn - -"
"No," he said as she road his lap, "Your real name, babydoll," she looked down and away from his eyes, feeling self conscious and slowly began to lose her confidence, "Hmm?" He grabbed her chin in his hands and looked her in the eyes, "What is it?"
"I'm," she swallowed, "Mr. Mekhi I'm not allowed to tell - -"
"Please," he said, "Call me Carti."
"I'm not supposed to call you that either," said Stoni, "Ty's orders."
"You know who gives Ty his orders," Carter chuckled and she looked back down again, "Me. So - - I think you can uh," he said, "Break a rule or two, ma. What's your name?"
"Stoni," she whispered meekly and looked back down, "Flores."
"How old are you," Carter grabbed her face again, "Babydoll I can't see that pretty face if you don't look at me when I talk to you," he laughed a little again, "Don't eva' not look in someone's eyes when they talk to you - - a person who can't look another person in the eyes is a person who ain't confident and lack of confidence is what makes people do silly things," he spoke, "Do I make you nervous?"
"A little," Stoni nodded and tried to look into his eyes, "Okay, yeah - - a lot," he intimidated her and intrigued her at the same time.
"You look young as fuck, ma," he said, tilting his head and looking Stoni over who had put on more make-up to make herself look older to the men, "But you pretty as shit."
"Th- - thanks," she said, "I'm - - I'm eighteen," he reached up and caressed her face, looking deep into her eyes as she was still grinding on him, "You're um - - married?" She wondered how his wife felt about him being at a place like this with a girl like her, "I saw your ring - - I just - - yeah," she swallowed again.
"Hmmm," he laughed, "Since when did this become about me," said Carter, "I'm askin' you about you," she looked down again and he cupped her chin in his hand, sensing how uncomfortable she was, "You ain't got no business here you know that," Carter said, "You too pretty to be showing off your ass and titties for niggas you don't even know," she didn't understand what was happening, "And I bet you smarter than this shit too," he grabbed her hips to stop her from dancing, "Aye look, go put your clothes back on."
"But we still have," she looked up at the clock, "Twenty more minutes," she really didn't want to get in trouble with Ty, "Ty'll be pissed."
"Fuck Ty - - I'll deal with Ty," Carter said, "But you, you just a baby," he licked his lips and nodded toward her clothes, "And I can tell you don't wanna do this no more than I'on wantin' you doin' it, ma," he pointed over to her clothes, "I got daughta's and I'd kill them and the nigga they was up in a room grindin' on if they was ya' age doin' whatchu doin'," he added.
"I ain't knockin' ya' hustle at all - - get it how you live but - - me, I can't be a part of fuckin' up a pretty girl like you in a fucked up ass place like this," he could just tell that Stoni was one of those rare few good girls - - she had this vibe about her, "So, ga'head - - get ya' clothes."
Stoni didn't know what the hell was going on - - no man had ever done what Carter had just done and in so many ways she felt that he had taken up for her in a manor that no one had ever. He had actually looked out for her and he didn't even know her. As attracted as he was to her he just didn't like the situation that she was in - - she reminded him of his daughters. He stood up to his feet as she gathered her clothes and put them back on at the speed of light like he was her father telling her what to do - - a kind of parental guidance that she had been missing and longing for all her life.
She walked back over to him and he sat down his drink and looked down at her - - he knew girls just like Stoni - - she reminded him of a struggle he knew, "You ain't always gotta come from nowhere all high and mighty to be somethin'," she looked down again and sighed, "I may not know you but I know you ain't no dummy and you can figure some shit out better than this - - you still mad young - - you could go to college, get a decent job, yo whateva - -" he said knowing she wasn't like some of the ignorant bitches in there that he had encountered, only after a dollar.
He saw right through those money hungry chickens, "Don't forget - - " he made her look him in the eyes again, "What I said, aight, shorty? I don't wanna see you back up in here."
"I won't," Stoni said, "I won't forget."
● ● ●
"Ty's so happy about how it went tonight," Allison said as she was putting her things in her bag as Stoni was packing up as well, "He was in his office pratically singing when he came out of the V.I.P. with Carter and his people," Allison shook her head, "I guess all that hard work paid off, huh?"
"Yeah," Stoni was more quiet than usual - - Carter's words had been soaking in her mind, "I guess so."
"So what happened in there?" She laughed and put her bag on her shoulder, "Cause whatever you did had Carti giving Ty money like it wasn't nothing," she said, "Girl that check he wrote Ty had more zero's on it than Paris Hilton's inheritance," they both laughed together as they walked out of the dressing room, "He wasn't playing."
"I didn't do anything really," Stoni said, "Honestly we just talked - - he stopped me from dancing and we talked. It was - - different - - he's so - -," she sighed and bit her bottom lip, "He's amazing."
"Oh lord," Allison opened the front door for Stoni as they walked out into the night about to catch the subway home, "Look at you," she nudged her, "Don't tell me you got yourself a little crush too."
"It's not - - it's not a crush," she said, "It's - - I don't know he's intriguing to me."
"Sounds like a crush to me," she curved her brow, "But trust me you don't want to go fuckin' around with that - - no ma'am - - that's a married man and I know a thing or two about married men - - they never leave the - -"
"Aye," Allison and Stoni turned around seeing Carter's eyes as he rolled down the window of his Bentley and called out to them, "Babydoll," he saw them about to go down the stairs to the subway, "Where you headed?"
"34th," she said softly and looked at Allison, "I'm - - I'm we're both headed there," she wanted to kick herself for all the stuttering.
He chuckled at her thinking it was cute, "Get in," said Carter, "You and ma," he pointed to Allison, "It's late."
"Oh no - - it's fine."
"Nah," he had the chauffer open the door for them, "I insist," he said, "It's New York city at four in the mornin'," Carter added, "Plus I owe her one," he winked at Stoni, "I wanna make sure ya'll get home safe, feel me?"
Stoni simply nodded her head as she and Allison walked over to the car and got inside. Things would never be the same again in her little world. As much as he said he didn't want to corrupt a sweet innocent girl like her, just being around her was a corruption. Still, Stoni was curious about this man - - far from a boy - - and in her curiosity, his marital commitments were at the furthermost of her mind; she was intrigued beyond the point of return.
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