Be Bad For Me(42)

"Uh-huh. Besides, I saw you when you walked up here. I just wanted to  see how you would handle that." He was still placing small kisses at the  nape of her neck.

Shocked, she turned around and smacked him playfully on the chest, "You're bad."

He caught her hand and kissed the back of it.

"And how did I handle it, huh?" she asked.

"Like the pro that I know you are … "

Everybody else started to gather around and someone had even rolled the  coolers a lot closer than where the girls had left it so that they could  have access at an arm's length. Annette noticed that Troy was still  talking to the same girl, but her friend was gone. That's good that she  had gotten the message. She didn't mean to run the girl off, but Jordan  was one Heat Ryder that she certainly wasn't going to have.         

     



 

"Annette, I can't believe I missed it the other night when you and Tara  shared that kiss," Troy said, turning his attention from the girl to  Annette and Jordan.

"I didn't know that it was that worthy of being seen," Annette replied.

"Are you kidding me?" Troy said, "That's some bold shit that you and Tara did and that deserves lots of attention."

"Troy, I want you to tell Annette about our business and what we do," Jordan said, taking another swig of his beer.

"What? You mean at the shop or the dealership?" Troy asked, drawing his legs up and propping his elbows up on his knees.

"All of it. I held back all that information from Annette when I met her and I want her to know."

"Well, we got pretty lucky after winning some money out in Vegas years  ago. Thanks to Jordan, most of that money was invested. With another  portion of it, we purchased a used luxury dealership that was not doing  so well. The owner was pretty old and didn't have the stamina to keep up  with times, you know. And actually Jordan was working as a mechanic at  the time at another dealership, so he knows all about cars and  motorcycles, so it wasn't rocket science to us to start up our own car  repair shop as well as the auto parts store across the street from it.  The auto parts store is actually a franchise, so we don't own it  outright. The dealership and the repair shop, we do own."

Troy was doing a pretty good job of telling the story. He seemed like a  very intelligent individual. No one would guess in a million years by  the type of fun that these brothers liked to have and the crowd they  kept, that they were rich men, as well. She kind of understood why they  kept such a low-key lifestyle.

"Jordan and I like to have a lot of money, but we still like to live  within reasonable means, you know. We don't have super rich friends. We  didn't purchase a mansion and all that good stuff. We just like to be  normal people and have normal friends. Not that we don't want that type  of life for the future, but right now our motto is to live the good life  now and later. If we spend it all up now, there won't be any left for  the future. I don't know about you, Jordan, but I'm gonna live to be one  hundred."

Everybody laughed, as they imagined Troy living to be one hundred years old.

"I could identify with that." Annette nodded. Now she knew why Jordan  didn't make a big deal of telling her about his money. Annette didn't  tell Anthony, Bianca, and Denise for the same reasons. Who cared about  money when you had all the loyal friends in the world? Well, that's what  she thought until Anthony got caught cheating. But now she understood.  She was hesitant to tell her friends because she didn't want them to  feel that she was better than they were, because she wasn't, or feel  embarrassed because while they were struggling to pay rent and find  suitable jobs out of college, she was sitting on a nest egg that she  didn't earn. The only difference between Annette and the regular rich  kid … well, the minority of them … is that she wanted to earn her bread and  that is why she believed in working like the average Joe.

"What do you mean? You can relate? Can you possibly imagine what it  feels like to have money that you don't know what to do with? Or so much  money that your friends think that you're the bank? I'm not trying to  start something here, but that's why we don't tell females shit about  what we have because most of them are gold diggers or will become gold  diggers. It's very seldom that we come across some, like you, that don't  give a shit about our money. You know what I'm saying? If we were dead  broke, I want her to think of me in the same way," Troy went on.

"And you might think we're just making this stuff up to boost our egos  or something, but we're not. If you were in our shoes, you would know  what it's like to get burned and feel like a complete dummy in the end."

"I don't know what it's like to get burned, but I know what it's like to  hide the fact that you don't come from money," Annette said. She felt  that it was okay to tell Troy and Jordan about her secret. The secret  that none of her friends knew.

"What do you mean? You got rich parents or something," Troy asked, reaching out to grab another beer from the cooler.

"Yes. I've already told Jordan that both of my parents are deceased … died  in a car accident when I was just four years old. Like you two, my  parents were self-made millionaires. On their death, the entire estate  was handed down to me. I wasn't rich on the spot because the will  required that the majority of the money be reinvested on the regular by  their financial advisor. My aunt, who raised me, got a sizable chunk of  that fortune. She always wanted to send me off to the finest private  schools and colleges with that money, but I refused. I wanted to go to a  normal school and live a normal life. I felt abnormal already as it  was, seeing other kids bring two parents to all the dance rehearsals,  and choir practices, and what not. I just wanted to be seen as normal,  so I went to a regular old college and got a regular old business  degree. On my college graduation day, I inherited everything."         

     



 

"Word?" Troy said, looking at her like she just told him that she was an alien from outer space.

"Really? Why didn't you tell me that?" Jordan asked, looking confused.

"It wouldn't have made a difference, one way or the other."

"And you were beating up on me for not telling you … ?"

"I'm still not believing this. Sorry for asking, but are you bluffing?"

"No, it's true. I have four different checking accounts and two  investment accounts, some of which is managed by my investment broker, I  pay for everything in cash, except for when I just feel like pulling  out my AmEx card, that's why I have always been hesitate when accepting a  job position, because I want to do what I want to do. When I finally  accept a position, I want it to be because I enjoy doing that job."

"That makes sense now," Jordan nodded.

"Don't get me wrong, though, I think I share your values of living  responsibly now to live just as freely when you're old. That's why I  believe that finding my own career is crucial to my future."

"You're a smart girl, Annette," Troy said. "It's always a good thing to  have a back up plan, a career to fall back on." Troy grabbed two more  bottles of beer out of the cooler. "Well, I'll be back in a few. Ramona  and I have some getting to know each other to do." Troy turned to look  at the girl sitting beside him, who had been waiting so patiently. They  both got up and starting walking away from the beach.

"Now, we understand each other, Annette. Can we promise each other something?"

"What kind of promise?"

"That we never keep secrets from each other anymore, no matter what?"

"I promise," Annette whispered, leaning back on the beach sand.

"So do I," Jordan said.

"Can I ask you something, Jordan, and you not get upset?" Annette turned towards Jordan, running her fingers through her hair.

Jordan reached up and ran his fingers through the same strands of hair  that she had just touched. "Anything. I will never get upset with you  for asking me anything. That's part of getting to know each other." His  hands moved down to her waist.

"Have you initiated any females into this group?"

"I have. As a matter of fact, I am a considered a senior member of this  group now, so it's expected of me to recruit new members. I initiated  Alex, the guy you met the first day we went riding and Justin, but I  don't think you've met him. There's also Phillip, who lives in Florida  now. A couple other fellas who hang out with the mature members, I also  initiated. Those guys were long time friends of mine, when I invited  them into the group. The last time I initiated a female was a year ago."

"Where is she now? Is she here?"

"No, she's not with the group anymore. We weren't in a relationship if  that's what you think. That was purely sex and convenience."

"I see." Annette wondered if Jordan considered her only sex and  convenience. After what she blurted out in the room upstairs this  morning, he had every right to.