9781452034553

The super stretch limo rolled to a stop in front of the old building. A solid metal gate opened and a hidden alley way entrance appeared. The limo navigated its way through the narrow passage as the gate closed behind it. A luxury that was very uncommon To The ghetto of Harlem. The back driveway housed a courtyard and a five car parking garage. The limousine stopped at the back entrance. The driver jumped out to open the door for his boss but the man did not wait and was already entering the building. The six story brownstone which was built in the late nineteenth century had been completely gutted out and remodeled. The first floor was broken into three parts. There was a lovely marble vestibule that doubled as a waiting parlor. To the right of the vestibule was a gym complete with indoor swimming pool and racket ball court. The opposite side of the building held office space and this is where the man now headed. d1love was the biggest selling rap star ever. d1love Records Inc. was headquartered here as well as Love Productions Inc. And his line of clothing called "DWear" the clothing company, which grossed two hundred and fifty million dollars last year was on point to surpass that this year. They manufactured urban wear for men, women, and children. d1love just recently finished his second movie and was well on his way up the charts of Forbes five hundred richest men in America list. He was also New York City's most eligible bachelor. Yet there was this emptiness in him. There was always this nagging feeling of aloneness, In spite of the huge entourage that accompanied him everywhere. His real name was Dwight Michaels. Only his mother Lois Nelson called him Dwight. His friends called him D, and To The rest of the world he was d1love. D was a handsome man with strong features and light skin. He was thirty four years old, five feet ten and one half inches tall and a solid one hundred seventy two pounds. Women throw themselves at him by the hundreds but that was getting old for him and it just didn't do much anymore. Entering his office brought him back To The here and now and he was at once comfortable and ready to do business. This is where he thrived. Here, there were no inadequate feelings of loneliness or the gut wrenching emptiness of an unknown void. He was the d1love his fans And The world loved or loved to hate as some critics liked to say. The receptionist Angie was a beautiful twenty year old Peruvian girl who thought she had the greatest job in the world. She was always happy and cheerful and never without a smile on her face. "Good morning Mr. Love" she said as he entered. "Hi Ang, how are you?" "Oh just fantastic Mr. Love, and you?" she replied with much enthusiasm. "Angie, let me ask you something," said D, pausing at Angie's desk "do you ever have a bad day?" "No, why should I?" she answered, a little puzzled. D laughed at her sincerity. "I believe you Angie, I really do" he said as he walked to his office. Mary Rickerson, his personal secretary was a total contradiction to Angie. She was a big, old, ugly woman. No children, never married, she was entirely devoted to D. As always, she was waiting for him when he arrived. She handed him his itinerary For The day and started explaining everything on the schedule. His coffee was waiting for him at his desk and as he sat in the high back Chippendale leather chair he acknowledged not For The first time the contradiction between his personal secretary And The receptionist. Holding up a hand, D said "Wait a second Mary, hold on. How about good morning D, how are you. You know a little pleasantry to start the day." "Good morning D, how are you? Did you sleep well and with whom this time? Now that we got that out of the way, can we take care of business?" "That's what I love about you Mary. You're so much fun to be around." "You have plenty of people around you that make fun a living. I'm not one of those. You don't pay me for that." He smiled and nodded his consent. There's was a relationship of business and D was sure thankful for having Mary around. His mother really got her the job but it was the best thing for him and he was well aware of that. D was sure that was mom's way of controlling him, having her friend Mary as his personal secretary. He did not know what he would do without her. As invaluable as she was he just wished she would lighten up a little. "Okay, what's important and what's bullshit today?" "Today, like most days is full of bullshit, but some is important bullshit. Mark Johnson is hoping for a ten thousand dollar donation for his mayor's race. Said to tell you he really needs your support to win this. Which means he's looking for more then just money he wants exposure with you." "What do you think?" "Well, The mayor also called hoping For The same thing." "I Can't back both of them." "Financially you can, but it's probably best to not support either in the way they would like. You can just reply with the standard `you don't get involved with politics' answer. "You mean the standard bullshit answer." "Bullshit, cow shit, monkey shit, whatever you want to call it. You love the word bullshit don't you?" "Okay, what else?" he said ignoring her sarcasm. "Studio called, they want you to do the Leno show, followed with Lettermen, and so on and so forth, The usual talk shows to promote the new movie. We can start with Regis if you like. You know he loves you and he's always on your side. Regis brings out the best in you. You always shine when you do his show. " Ten minutes later Mary left his office closing the door behind her. She knew he liked a little quiet time after their morning meetings. He was not to be disturbed until he opened the door again. D went To The far corner of his office and pushed the button for his private elevator. He rode the elevator To The top floor. Floors five and six of the six story building housed D's apartment. The main elevator in the lobby would only go up To The fourth floor without a special card being inserted. The second floor had more office space and two huge boardrooms. it also held a mini museum of all D's memorabilia and special collections of other artist, actors, and world wide famous people. it was quite an elaborate exhibit. The third floor was pure entertainment. There was a forty seat movie theater, a two lane bowling alley, a bar and dance floor which easily held one hundred people. The game room was loaded with all the latest video games and even though D wasn't really into those games that room got lots of attention from the endless procession of the children of friends. Of course there was a pool table room which had a sixty thousand dollar marble pool table. The fourth floor was a recording studio and guest bedrooms on the other side. The recording studio was state of the art and many other artists besides D used it to do their CD's. The elevator opened into the kitchen area. This was a kitchen to be proud of. it held everything any great chef would want. Cooking was a passion of D's. He was actually an excellent cook. He opened the refrigerator and looked inside. it wasn't that he was hungry. He just stared at the contents not sure if he wanted anything at all. He wasn't sure what he wanted, In fact he didn't even know why he opened the refrigerator to begin with. He smiled because he heard a psychiatrist on television one time remarking on people who opened the refrigerator and just stared into it. He went on to say that those people weren't hungry for food, they were hungry for love. His smile changed to a frown because he now knew the Dr. was on to something deeper then D could figure out. He grabbed an apple. Closing the door he went back into the elevator and down to his office. He opened the outer door and was now ready For The day ahead. He had thirty minutes of taking and returning calls before the daily boardroom meeting of department heads. "Mary, would you get my cousin Dawn on the phone for me please." Dawn Rollings was D's favorite cousin and one of his closest friends. They shared everything growing up together and D loved her dearly. She worked as a nurse in a doctor's office and no matter how he tried he could never persuade her to work with him. "Dawn is on line two" Mary said. "Hello Sweetness," said D "how are you?" "I'm fine, but I have to get moving for work. What's up?" "I've been thinking about your friend Shirley" "You mean Shelly." "Yeah, Shelly anyway, how's she doing with that guy she met online?" "Oh D, they're so in love it's sickening. He gave her a ring Friday night and she said yes. Isn't that fantastic?" "Wow, when are they getting married?" "Valentines Day!" "How original. What was the name of the site they met on?" "I think its AOL.com. No, that's not it. Do you want me to find out?" "Yeah, do that for me would you." Dawn laughed, "Are you thinking of trying it out? That's the funniest thing I ever heard. The great d1love can't get a date." She said having a good laugh for herself. "Come on, do you think it's a bad idea?" "What's different about online? They'll still be lining up for a date with you And The media will tear you apart." "Not if they don't know it's me. The difference my sweetness is I can be someone else online and no one will know." "Ooooh, how deceitful, I love it. I'll get you the web site. Gotta run. Loveya." "Okay, have a good one." He hung up smiling. The more he thought about it, The more he liked the idea. D made his way To The boardroom on the second floor, smiling all the way. ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Victoria booted up her computer and waited. She loved the solitude of cyberspace. Though a likeable person, she really had only two friends. Janice, who was a wild free spirited person. She would act on a whim, which has caused some unpleasant adventures in her life. Janice was attracted To The fast men, The gangster type. Janice was the complete opposite of Victoria. And then there was Venus, who was a good mixture of Victoria and Janice. Venus was the type of woman who fell in love at least once a week, or so the other two had always teased her of that. The three women have been friends most of their lives. All three were twenty seven years old, they were single and beautiful. Victoria was the tallest of the three at five feet eight inches. She weighed one hundred and twenty pounds all in the right places. Her figure was well proportioned. She had beautiful almond shaped eyes of hazel, her skin complexion was olive and any guy that saw her instantly thought she was beautiful. When the three women went out they had everyone's attention and they were usually the focus of concentration. The computer lit up And The "you have mail" message blinked. She clicked on the e-mail. One hundred and seven unread messages awaited her. it was unbelievable how many people were responding to her personal ad. She just posted it three days ago and already had close to five hundred responses. She started with the first message and began to read. it was obvious by the tenth e-mail that they were all about the same. She deleted them all. She decided to remove her picture and redo her ad. She needed a catchy title but this time she would not put her picture up. The hard part now was to come up with a catchy title. As she sat there thinking the phone rang. "Hello." "Let me guess" Janice said "you're on the computer looking for a boyfriend Right?" "I prefer to call it auditioning perspective life candidates." "Well, anything good?" Victoria laughed and said "Let's see, I got twelve offers to enlarge my penis today." "Oh my I happen to know twelve men you should forward those e-mails to." They both laughed over that. "Janice help me think of a catchy headline for my new ad." "How bout `DESPERATE BUT DELIGHTFUL' in big bold italic writing?" "No that might scare the healthy ones away." "You think? Anyway healthy is boring my dear. What you need is a good old fashioned selfish man. That will give you something to work on." "Janice, screw yourself, I'll talk with you later." Victoria said light-heartedly. "Ahh, but I don't have to screw myself because I'm not so picky, like you are." "Love you too" replied Victoria hanging up with a smile. She could always count on Janice to make her smile. That was a hidden beauty of Janice's, The ability to speak her mind but have you love her in spite of it all. "That's it!" she said out loud To The empty room. She had her title. Back at the key board with a serious intent she began to type, HIDDEN BEAUTY...

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