Howl at the Moon by LeTeisha Newton Read Free Book Online

sometimes. For some it has a sick aftertaste for others it’s a high they never quite come down from. I want you to be the latter. So try to do what I said.”
    “Yes, mother.”
    “Bitch.”
    “Heifer.”
    “That’s my girl. Now go on to work. I have a store to get to. Come by after work and tell me how it went. If you don’t, I’ll be at your front door, you hear me?” Aaron said, heading toward the front door. Tatiana followed quickly behind him, catching a glimpse of the clock. She was not going to be late. Not today of all days.
    “Yes sir.” She laughed, tossing a mock salute and climbed into her car.
    The sleek CLS500 purred when she started it. Thanks to a healthy bonus one year with Clyde she’d finally decided to reward herself for all her good work. Diamond, she called her desert-silver metallic car, was that gift. She loved the feel of it. The power as she soared through traffic, feeling freer than she had in days. Yes, she was worried about seeing Clyde again. So worried her tummy wasn’t feeling the best, but she had weapons now. She had a new style, a new look, and a new outlook. Aaron had done that for her. She realized, as she dealt with him over the weekend, that he and Coco were most definitely the same person. Some differences in voice and temperament, but the mind was the same. Two friends for the price of one, what girl wouldn’t want that?
    She pulled off Interstate 59, weaving through typical traffic. She thought when she’d first come out here that she was going to kill herself driving. She had never seen more drivers boguard and push their way to their destinations outside of New York. A semester up in Ithaca had taught her she really wasn’t an upstate girl. She needed the South. The good old hospitality and warmth one usually found there. Plus, she wasn’t too fond of the snow. It was pretty to look at it, but the cold, fluffy stuff was not all it cracked up to be. Not by a long shot.
    Mansil Enterprise rose in front of her like a sterling reflection of the clouds, coated in silver. Architecturally, it was perfect in so many ways. Tatiana enjoyed seeing the sky move from the window across from her desk. She’d always loved that the office Clyde had put her in shared his view. One that looked over downtown and would come to life in the late-night hours she worked. She loved what she did, and, if Aaron’s advice worked, she would also be getting back love of who she did. Chuckling to herself, she got out the car and walked to the building and into the closing elevator.
    She should have waited for the next one.
    Her assistant, Sharice, was bouncing inside, her own dose of chipper filtering out in her rosy cheeks and brilliant smile. At twenty-four, she was only two years younger than Tatiana. Blonde, blue-eyed, and chic at all times, many didn’t immediately give her credit for having a crack mind. Their loss. The girl was going to be a CEO one day, Tatiana just knew it. With all that, as much as she enjoyed the girl, she was not the one she wanted to see right now. She couldn’t be lucky enough to avoid seeing the same freaking person she’d seen on the way out of Clyde’s office on Friday afternoon. After sleeping with him.
    “Hey, Sharice,” she said brightly, trying not to give her anything to start a conversation with. When Sharice’s smiled turned knowingly, she figured she didn’t succeed.
    “Don’t ‘Hey, Sharice’ me. First of all it sounds too much like Hannibal in Silence of the Lambs . Second I heard you.”
    “Heard me?”
    “Do I need to tell you which part?”
    “Damn. Sharice, look,” Tatiana started. She swore. Tatiana had never been able to see one of her blushes before, but she was sure that it could be seen today.
    “Hey, I’m jealous. I’ve been trying to get that man for months. I didn’t even think you did the whole bwwm thing.”
    “Bwwm? Ah, black woman, white male. Did you really just use that?”
    “Well, it fits.”
    “If I didn’t