CHAPTER 3
HOWIE
Fuck. When have I been so affected by a piece of ass? Well, that’s just the thing about Lacy. She’s way more than a piece of ass. After our first day together, I can say with 100% clarity that I am a new man. She woke something in me that has been slumbering since Afghanistan. There is something about the little heart that beats behind her heavy tits that has me totally surrendering.
I wake in the morning and walk to my kitchen. After breakfast I’ll be heading to Lacy’s aunt’s place to pick her up and take her down Fifth Avenue for a new wardrobe. I don’t want my princess wearing anything unworthy of her beautiful skin. I can just see it. A couple slinky red dresses, some tight white jeans, and designer metallic heels. She’ll look like the most beautiful women at the SoHo parties but she’ll be so above all of them. Why? Because she’s beautiful and sweet, with a heart filled with goodness.
“Sir,” says Edwin hesitantly. I look up at him. “You’re absolutely wolfing down your fruit platter.” He is right. I’ve been slurping up these watermelon slices and orange slices like a madman. Man, being with Lacy took all my energy, and it’s important to replenish.
But Edwin doesn’t know, and he looks at me worriedly.
“You’re going to drip the juice onto your shirt. We’ve just taken it to the cleaner you know.”
“Oh Edwin, you know there are a hundred more shirts where this one came from.”
“Yet. But- it’s just, I’ve never seen you so ravenous before Mr. Bates. What’s gotten into you?”
Edwin has been with me since I got out of the service and back into the civilian world. He’s been my right hand man ever since the day my company went public. Edwin has seen me through it all. He knows me in and out, the good and the bad. Hopefully there’s more good than bad these days because I’m no longer in a combat zone.
“I dare say, it’s a woman, isn’t it?” he surmises.
God. How do you see right through me Edwin?
“Yeah. It’s a woman,” I say. There is no reason to hide anything from my assistant. He always finds out my secrets anyway.
“My gosh! And you like her too! I can see it!”
“Well, as a matter of fact, I think I do.”
“Then this is a cause for champagne! How many years has it been since Mr. Howard Bates actually had feelings for somebody? I’ll get to the cellar.”
But I stop the elderly man.
“There’s no need Edwin. All the champagne’s gone. Let’s just say the other night, well, we got a little thirsty.”
And with a smile, I get up and begin striding to my private elevator. I’m all suited up in navy blue pinstripes. My dark brown hair is slicked back with pomade. If I saw me on the street back when I was a kid, before the military, I would have thought I was a chump. Look at that suit, he doesn’t know the first thing about a hard life. But I do. Before the war I took care of my mother, who was sick with cancer. On the night before my eighteenth birthday, she died in her sleep. I was the only one home, and it was devastating. I took her to the hospital in my arms. Carried her a mile across town to the emergency room. I was only a boy then, yet the weight of the world pressed down on my shoulders like a man of many years.
But that wasn’t the last time I carried a dead body. Life has been dark and full of troubles. Yet I still remember the beauty of my mother’s brown eyes. Her smile in the kitchen doing dishes. I would be telling a goddamn lie if I said Lacy didn’t have the same perfect smile and brown eyes. Maybe this is some crazy mother/son thing because the blonde reminds me of the last woman that really cared about me.
I tell the driver where to steer the limo. Before I know it, we arrive at a decrepit tenement building on the Lower East Side. I haven’t done anything like this in a long time. I haven’t picked up a woman since I picked up my dead mother in the kitchen. I almost forget how to go about courting a beautiful lady. And that’s when I see the flower shop.
It’s a little corner place bursting with roses and sunflowers. I go up to the little old man and give him a crisp twenty dollar bill. He passes me a beautiful bouquet for Lacy. What the heck. I give him an extra $20.
“For your family,” I say. The old man looks like he’s going to cry. I nod and get a little teary eyed myself. This is it. This is the effect of Lacy. She’s burst open my heart and now I’m giving giant tips to strangers, which is totally out of character.
I ring the door buzzer while my chauffeur searches for a place to park the limo. My body totally relaxes in the foyer of the crumbled building. Why? Two reasons. First, Lacy is going to be in front of me any second. I feel my cock rising in my pants. Second, the drab surroundings remind me of where I’ve been, and of how far I’ve come to become a multi billionaire with a five story penthouse. It’s a lesson in gratitude and a reminder of the appreciation that I need to practice on a daily basis. Holy hell, Lacy’s done this to me?
But then the door opens and I see her. My little fox. She wears a tattered red kimono and little kitten heels. Her hair falls around her gorgeous brown eyes like a beautiful oil painting. I make a mental note to get her portrait commissioned. I want all the damn paintings in my hall to be of Lacy. I can’t help myself, she’s such an image of perfection. I see the tips of her hard nipples bulging through the kimono fabric.
“Mr. Bates,” she says, leaning on the doorjamb. I need to take a bite. I almost squish the flowers between us while I lean forward to nuzzle her neck. She smells like delicious perfume. I slip my arm around her back and feel my cock rising as I push up against her hips. We kiss. Her mouth tastes warm and wet. God she’s so good, I could take her right here in the hall, but, no, she’s my princess. Little ladies need to be treated with respect, and not like some party girl from the city. After all, she’s all I ever wanted. The blonde smiles and I see that sparkle.
“Lacy Brewster,” I pass the bouquet her way. Goddam if she doesn’t look marvelous holding those petals next to her heart. I know that her tits are throbbing under her kimono with desire. And I’m throbbing beneath my pants.
“I’m gonna take you for the biggest shopping spree of your life.”
“I can’t believe I ever met you, Howie Bates.” She smiles and goes in to kiss the stubble on my cheek. When her lips graze my skin, I start to salivate. “Well, I have to put a real outfit on, why don’t you come upstairs and meet my Aunt?”
I would like nothing more than to meet anybody associated with Lacy. She is so beautiful that everyone around her must get in on that glow. She’s walking up the stairs and I see her ass sashaying back and forth under that kimono. God she’s so juicy. Her tiny waist is synched perfectly with the tasseled red ribbon. She looks back over her shoulder. The flowers are visible next to her seductive mouth.
“Howie,” she murmurs, “I’ve been so hungry for you I just can’t help it. I mean, I can’t help myself.” Oh she’s teasing me. I can smell her. At least I think I can. I have to take a whiff.
“Lacy,” I say. “I’ve been eating grapefruit and watermelon slices like a maniac just imagining it’s you between my lips.”
She climbs higher and higher up the stairs, laughing to herself all the while.
“Really, you’ve been slurping fruit imagining it’s my-“
“Perfect little slit,” I growl. I step up fast and reach my hand up her kimono. Perfect. She’s wearing nothing below. I wiggle my fingers up her thigh and she moans.
“Howie, ohh.”
I’m touching her. The wet folds of her perfect pussy are drenched. I slip a finger inside and she almost collapses on the staircase. I hold her up with my arm by the waist.
“Baby, take it easy. We’ve got a long day ahead of us,” I say. She looks over her shoulder and I stick my fingers in my mouth, wet with her cum. I slurp up her juices and she begs me with her eyes. “My princess is just going to have to wait.”
I help pull her back up as we arrive at her aunt’s apartment. She pats her hair, taking a couple deep breaths to make sure she’s presentable.
“I’m so excited for you to meet Aunt Margaret. You’ll see why I love her so much,” says Lacy. She smiles at me and I see again just how young she is. She looks almost as though she could still be in high school. Nothing about her shows any age. She’s ripe and perfect as a melon. I just want to pop her with my hard shaft, but no. It’s time to meet Aunt Margaret. I settle my cock down and we enter the apartment.
Lacy blends in easy with the surroundings of the place. The furniture is made of velvet and house plants drip from the windows. There are bowls of beads all over the tables.
“My aunt is a jewelry designer,” says Lacy, looking cute, pouring tea from a pot into mismatched mugs.
“Yes, I am,” a voice comes from the other side of the apartment. I barely noticed the woman standing amongst the armoire and the fireplace. She looked like she was a part of the surroundings too, like a sculpture that blended into the walls.
It is clear that Margaret is the aunt of my Lacy. Margaret is older than Lacy by many years, but she has the same friendliness and open smile. She walks right up to me and kisses me on the cheek.
“And you must be Howie,” she says, holding my hand. Her tenderness is enough to drive me crazy. No one has been so kind to me for years. Everyone is either looking to get money from me some way or another. Sometimes I just feel like a source of cash.
And yet, I can tell that Lacy and by extension, her Aunt Margaret, don’t feel that way at all. Both women beam.
“Please have a seat,” Margaret says, gesturing to the shabby furniture. I’m happy because honestly, feel like I’m going to faint. Something tells me that I can trust these people. They’re not ashamed of where they live, or that I obviously have more what with my perfectly cut suit and immaculately styled hair. Instead, these folks are the salt of the earth with solid values and loving hearts. Lacy has been raised by good people.
Speaking of which, I look over and see the curve of her waist. I see the ampleness of her tight ass, I see the flash of her thigh coming out of the kimono slit as she heads towards me with a cup of tea. These are my people. Anywhere Lacy is, I want to be too.
I settle into the old chair. The stuffing is coming out of the side and the wood of the arm rest is worn, but still, I am more comfortable in it than in my own house. I sip the tea as the two women sit before me. One, a beautiful vixen who I want cherish while exploring those creamy curves. The other, her aunt, so sweet and aged. Even with her wrinkles she’s beautiful. The caretaker of my Lacy. If only she will pass the little princess to me for safe keeping.
“Margaret, Lacy has told me so much about you. Thank you for everything you do for her.”
“Well, really, she does a lot for me too. When she got the job with you, I was so happy because rent has gotten too much for me to afford on my own these days. My fingers aren’t what they used to be. It’s hard to put beads on string these days, and that’s critical for a jewelry-maker.”
I nod.
“Lacy is a great worker. That’s why she stood out to me,” I say. I look over at my angel. She is a great worker, it’s true. But she is so much more. Lacy relaxes and opens her knees a little wider. She doesn’t even know it, but I can see all the way up her legs to the creamy slit of her pussy. My cock starts to throb again. Down boy. God, doesn’t she realize what she’s showing me? But then she closes her legs back up, crossing one knee over the other. Of course, she has no idea what she’s doing to me. She’s as innocent as an angel.
I clear my throat.
“Lacy’s such a good worker that I wanted to give her extra special treatment,” I rumble. I clear my throat. No need to make my talk sexy. We have all afternoon and night to say nasty things to each other. “What I mean is, I want to take her on a shopping spree. I want to be there for you, sweetheart.” My princess lays her head on her Aunt’s shoulder. She looks absolutely love struck. She looks deep into my eyes from across the coffee table, loaded with art books and beads, and I am lost in that gaze. The same deep brown as the desert at night. In her eyes, I see war and I also see peace.
“Lacy baby, why don’t you go get ready for our big day?” I ask her.
Lacy jumps up.
“Yes of course,” she murmurs. “Sorry, just let me get changed.”
The girl disappears into a bedroom, shutting the door softly behind her. That leaves just me and Aunt Margaret in the sitting room. But suddenly, everything turns on a dime. I’d thought Margaret was an elderly pussycat, but suddenly she’s a fierce bulldog with light flashing from her eyes.
“Howie,” says Margaret as Lacy closes the door to the bedroom to change. “I want to thank you for taking a chance on Lacy. But you listen to me, Mister. If you do anything that would break her heart, anything that would hurt her, I have a lot of friends that will …”
I interrupt her threats.
“Margaret,” I lean forward towards my princess’s aunt. “Margaret, listen to me. I’m not going to let anything happen to your niece. I know how this may look to you, like I am taking control of your little angel after only knowing her for one day, but I assure you, I have never felt this way about another human being in my life. I swear on my mother’s tomb.”
She looks at me for a long time before exhaling.
“Look, I believe you. And I see that Lacy is happier than she’s ever been after she met you the other day. I saw her with that old boyfriend of hers- Charlie? She wasn’t happy then. He didn’t please her. In many ways, he was absolutely the wrong fit.”
I feel a pang of jealousy move through my body at the sound of Charlie’s name. That fucking prick. How could he hurt Lacy? How could he be so stupid? I vow to make him pay somehow, sometime in the future. But for right now, it’s about soothing Aunt Margaret.
“I don’t want Lacy to be hurt by another man again,” continues the elderly woman before I can speak. “That’s very important to me. In many ways, I am her protector,” she says, taking a sip of tea. “But in one other way, she is my protector. You see, Lacy’s salary from you is the only reason I’m getting by.”
Margaret shuffles under her art books and finds a piece of white paper with big block letters in red across the top. Oh shit. An eviction notice.
I sigh.
“So even though you say you’re going to take care of her, please understand that we have to be careful, Mr. Bates. There are many men who never follow up on their promises, and unfortunately, I haven’t been well in years now.”
Usually sob stories do nothing for me. After all, I manage a giant multinational corporation, and there are always problems with this person’s childcare or another person’s medical visits. But something about what Margaret is saying strikes my heart, and there are tears in my eyes. I haven’t cried in front of another human being for a decade. Something about Margaret breaks down my walls. The whole Brewster family must be magical.
“Margaret. How much do you need?”
“What?”
“How much would it be to buy this apartment?”
“What?” the elderly woman repeats again, flabbergasted.
“So you never have to worry about rent again,” I say slowly. “How much?”
“Mr. Bates I-”
“Margaret, anything you need now, anything that Lacy needs, that’s my responsibility. I am here to keep you safe. I see how much Lacy loves you and I want you both to be comfortable and to thrive. So yes. I’m buying this building and putting it in your name. You’ll never have to worry about rent again. I’ll get my accountants on it,”
“Mr. Bates, no. I couldn’t accept such an offer,”
“Margaret. This is not up for argument. Lacy isn’t working as a maid for me anymore, so I owe it to her family to make up for that salary. Plus, I want to keep her safe and out of harm’s way. Do you understand me? I want you to do your beadwork in peace. That’s all that matters to me. That Lacy and her family are happy.”
Margaret looks at me and I see it then. Not just the mirrored beauty of my girl, but the spark behind her eyes that reminds me of my dead mother. If she’d lived, I could have brought her out of her split level in Detroit. I could have given her the life she needed. She always wanted a Steinway piano, and with my fortune, she could have had ten of them. But unfortunately, my mom’s long gone, so I give Margaret and Lacy what I couldn’t give my mother.
We look at each other once more. Margaret is on the brink of crying and so am I. There is nothing but trust between us. I reach out and shake her tired, wrinkled hand. Suddenly, the bedroom door opens and Lacy walks into the living room. She is wearing a little pink blouse, tight fitting and cheap. She wears skinny jeans and tennis shoes. I wish I was the seam of her pants, going right into her crotch. What I wouldn’t give to breathe her in, to taste her on my lips. She lets her hair down and shakes her head back and forth as the long blonde locks fall over her soft shoulders. I swallow heavily, while standing to greet my girl.
“You look beautiful,” I murmur in her ear. “You ready to get some new outfits?” I ask her. “Anything your heart desires.” I trace the pink lace on her bosom.
“I’m ready Mr. Bates,” she says. “Did you and Aunt Margaret have a nice chat?” she asks.
Aunt Margaret turns around, wiping her eyes discreetly.
“We sure did honey, we sure did.”