All I Want... Is You (26 page)

leaps and bounds better on so many levels I don’t know where to begin.

Even Mr. Richton warmed up to the relationship; being a widower, he had no interests in getting married again. Being in a “friends with benefits” situation with Cheryl and a few other women around the city tends to keep someone from being critical of others’ relationships.

Tina finally got her cherry popped and by the most unlikely of sources: one of my interns. Even wilder than that, he was just as into her as she was into him. It might have had something to do with the fact that she was the owner’s daughter, too, but who am I to criticize?

All in all, life couldn’t be much better than what it is right now.

But I know what you must be thinking, though.

What happened to Stacy?

Well, that situation was a train wreck waiting to happen. As I understand it from the nurses at the hospital when the baby was born (it was a boy, in case you wondered), Mrs. Peyton brought a lawyer into the hospital room and tried to force Stacy to sign over her parental rights.

Only thing was, Stacy didn’t have to be convinced or forced since the baby wasn’t mine. She signed on the dotted line quicker than a lightning strike and didn’t have a second thought about it.

All I could do when I got the news was shake my head and wonder when karma was going to really put her under the bus.

I snapped out of the thoughts in my head as my ladies found me at the bar. The conspiratorial grins on their faces tipped me off to something that I was afraid to ask about.

“Hi, baby, are you enjoying the party?” Cori asked, although the party was for her and the group.

“Why wouldn’t I enjoy the party? Cazhe is a hit, and you’re on the way to being a superstar. I’m enjoying all of it because I get to see it up close and personal.” I replied, kissing her on the cheek.

“Good, because this has all felt like a dream come true for me, and it’s only fair that we return the favor.” Cori smiled brightly, giving a knowing wink to her girlfriend.

Before I could ask what the hell they meant by that, Mr. Richton and Mr. Parker walked up on us with their own smiles. “D, we figured we’d find you with your girls.”

“Okay, just let me in on whatever the hell you all have going on so we can finish enjoying the party, please?” I got up the nerve to say because my bosses were present.

“Yeah, there’s no need to put this off any further.” Mr. Parker announced. “Thanks to your girls, and some help from us on the location, you currently are the owner of your photography and graphic design studio.”

My world stopped moving immediately.

“You wanna run that by me again?” I asked, not realizing that my voice was trembling the entire time. “My own studio?”

“Yes, baby, your own studio, and the flexibility to do what you want and continue doing business with RP.” Toni grinned as she snuggled closer to me.

“I still don’t know what to say.”

“Just say thank you so we can go back to enjoying the party, baby.” Cori told me as kissed me. “We can find ways that you can personally thank your girls later tonight, alright?”

“Anything for you, baby.” I replied, looking at her and then toward Toni. “Anything for you… both of you.”

Acknowledgements

28 June 2011

2245hrs

Whew… was that fun or what?

Well, in case you hadn’t figured it out by now, it’s your boy, Shakir; I’m just in my “alter-ego” persona, trying to get into a different headspace when I planned on doing this particular book.

Why the added pseudonym?

Well, to keep it 100 with you, the things I write as Shakir are just a little rougher around the edges than what you just finished reading, even though there was some heat in this particular book, if you’ve followed my books, then you know that this one is definitely softer than what I’ve written before.

I hope you liked this piece, though; this was something that I dug out of my old manuscripts from back in the day when I was writing just for the hell of it. I kept the time frame about the same because trying to translate it for today’s day and time was just too much work. I think it turned out pretty good, and I wanted to stretch out and do something a little different before I got to the next book, which is the second installment of my
Deviant Intent
series. I’m hoping to have that one ready to go by December.

Yeah, an author’s work is never done.

Derrick is probably different from any other male character that I’ve written to date. He has swagger and arrogance mixed in with humility and vulnerability. He was a character that mirrored my own mindset when I was in my mid-20s. I thought it would be fun to drudge up the Golden Age in the A when it came to music and the clubs, and have a little fun with some new age concepts also (the whole triad relationship thing, yanno?)

Anyway, he’s probably going to rub some folks the wrong way, and that’s fine, too, because that’s what I did when I was younger, and like Derrick, I made no apologies for the way I was.

Anyway, that’s how he was born, and who knows, maybe you might see him later on down the road. That’s how my universe works!

So, without further ado, the usual shout outs and recognitions and such like that there. LOL 

To my Beloved, for getting the ball rolling and watching the avalanche that has ensued, thank you for pushing me over the cliff. I think I’m getting better at this now, and I owe it all to you. I love you, baby.

To my mother and father, for the support that you’ve always given me, no matter what the endeavor, I love you both with every fiber of my being.

To my sister, the sounding board that you have become whenever I put pen to paper, and the sounding board that I have been for you when you’ve done the same, thank you for helping me weed through the muck of this crazy ass manuscript and helping me turn it into hopefully another page turner that the fans will want to tell their friends about. I love you, girlie.

I’m going to end this in the usual fashion because it’s time to take care of the final lists before this thing goes to print, and I know I’m missing a whole gang of folks, so just do me a favor and insert your name in this next statement:

I’d like to thank ____________________ for the support and love. I hope to continue to put books out that you will want to tell your friends and family about.

Thank you for reading, and God Bless you.

Curtis Alexander Hamilton