Just Too Good to Be True by E. Lynn Harris Read Free Book Online

like fresh flowers.
    “Can you talk?” she asked.
    “I wanted…I mean to apologize for my friend,” I finally stuttered. “Sometimes he’s just a little less than a gentleman. Please accept his and my sincerest apologies.”
    “Yeah, whatever,” she said. She got in her car, slammed the door, and drove off.
    I stood in the parking lot dumbfounded, not knowing if I had just met the meanest or the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen.
    Maybe she was a little bit of both.

CHAPTER
5
    Barrett Is a Bad Muther . . . Shut Your Mouth
    H ey, beauty, I’m going to need to see some ID,” the overweight bartender with an unruly beard said as she walked into the dimly lit bar.
    “Will this do?” she asked as she handed him a piece of identification.
    “Barrett Elizabeth Manning, twenty-two years old,” he said as he studied the ID, then looked her up and down to make sure they matched.
    “Are you finished staring at my tits so I can get to my business?” Barrett quizzed.
    “You sure got a smart mouth on you.”
    “Fuck you and give me back my ID,” Barrett said as she snatched the driver’s license from the stunned bartender.
    She turned, quickly spotted someone in a corner booth, and walked over. Nico Benson was well dressed and wearing dark shades. He was a peanut butter brown man with a smooth face, who measured over 6'6" and looked like he could still fit into his Duke University basketball uniform. He smiled at Barrett and nodded toward the empty seat next to him. Barrett smiled back as she slid onto the cool wooden bench and placed her hands on top of the table. He placed his large hands over hers, and Barrett’s eyes met his penetrating gaze.
    “How you doing, Barrett?”
    “I’m okay, but I miss you,” Barrett said.
    “That’s why I’m here.”
    “I’m glad.” Barrett smiled.
    “So you met him? That was quick.”
    “Yes, and it was easier than I thought,” Barrett said.
    “How did you meet him?”
    “I overheard him telling some of his teammates how he washed his new car every day after practice. So I had to spend a couple of hours at that filthy car wash pretending to do something my man should be doing for me,” Barrett said.
    “Do you think he’s interested in you?”
    “Are you kidding? This is going to be easier than getting a Bengal tiger to eat raw meat,” Barrett said, and laughed.
    “You’re so confident, Barrett. That’s what I like about you. But I got a white girl and a dude on reserve, just in case that’s what he’s into.”
    “I know there are a lot of things you like about me, and you know very well that you won’t need anyone but
me
to close this deal and get what we want.” Barrett smiled as she increased her grip on his hands. They held hands for a few minutes in silence, smiling at each other like they were teenagers on a first date.
    “Not only are you beautiful, but you’re clever as well.”
    “And that’s why you’ll never be able to do without me,” Barrett said confidently.
    “You think so, huh?”
    “I know so. So tell me, have you decided how we’re going to get him to sign with your agency? What about the technique we used on the guy from USC when we drugged him, put him in bed with the gay dude, and took pictures. Black guys always do what you want after that. They don’t mind being called thugs, but no one wants to be called a fag.”
    “That’s not going to work this time. You read the information on this kid. He doesn’t drink and probably has never been naked in front of a camera. The dude is so lame he probably takes a shower in his underwear,” said Nico in his deep voice.
    “Then why do you want him so bad?”
    “Because if Brady Bledsoe has a season like he had last year, he’ll get a Reggie Bush–type signing bonus and we’ll get paid. Besides, that bitch of a mother of his turned me in to the NCAA last year.”
    “But nothing happened,” Barrett said.
    “I got a slap on the hand, but she doesn’t know who she’s fucking