Exclusive Sneak-Peek of 'The Billionaire Next Door'

Lucky

With the call with Roddy over, I continued watching Nick’s interview. Honestly speaking, I could see why the polls said most Americans loved the guy. As Ray would say, ‘he was smooth as butter’. Nick had that quality that anyone who interacted with him couldn’t help but like.

As a Republican, he was currently even winning over the Black vote because his policies and track history showed that, despite his party, he was determined to look out for Black men and women. If I was someone who believed in playing politics, he would probably get my vote. But I’d seen too much shit go down behind the scenes.

In fact, just like in this case, I was apart of the shit that went down behind the scenes. I knew firsthand that all politicians truly cared about was power and money. Like most people I’d met, every decision in their life was based on greed. Few people cared about more than themselves.

Just as Nick was explaining, his focus if elected as senator once again, there was a knock at the door.

“Yes, I’m a Republican but I’m also a lover of life,” he was saying. “There is no way I would ever support anyone trying to tell a woman what to do with her body. I love my party for many reasons, but this is definitely something we’ve got wrong. We need less laws about a woman’s personal choices and more laws about guns and how they are being used in our communities.”

As I stood to check the door, I had to laugh at the irony. Picture this nigga on national television talking about a woman’s right to choose while knowing he’d hired someone to kill his wife. He wasn’t giving her the right to choose shit.

He was the most convincing liar to anyone not close enough to smell his stench. After less than a month of being in his circle, I’d already picked up on the scent. He was a pretender. The perfect candidate for President because he could be cool as a fan regardless of what was really going on behind the scenes.

But maybe, in some way, I was just like him. I talked to people all the time and most of them had no idea what was really going on in my head.

Especially Cherish… who also happened to be standing on the other side of my door.

The fuck is she doing here? I thought as I squinted at the door cam.

I took a moment to try to catch her vibe. If she were anyone else, I would have just left her hanging. When I was on the job, I only spoke to people when it was absolutely necessary, and usually on my terms. But Cherish wasn’t her usual put together self. She was barely dressed, only wearing shorts and a half-shirt. Sexy as hell, but still not quite her.

I really should leave her ass standing there.

But I already knew I wasn’t going to do that. There was no need to play with it.

Frowning, I opened the door while doing a quick check behind her.

She was the wife of the man on the screen behind me, the current state senator who was talking about his possible run for president. The last thing I wanted was to get caught up in some drama. I didn’t need any unnecessary attention drawn to me. I was already breaking my rules by even talking to her consistently. I needed to maintain a professional level of distance.

“What’s up?”

She wrapped her arms around her body, a worried look on her face.

“Can I—can I just come in?”

No fucking way.

Ray had warned me against doing shit like this. This was the kind of thing that got you caught up. Like Alfred.

I shook my head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Her bottom lip trembled as if she were about to cry.

“I understand, but… I don’t have anyone else to talk to.”

Inwardly, I groaned. This was a fucking trap if I’d ever seen one coming. Not that Cherish was doing it purposely, but she had to know damn well that nothing good was going to come of this. She wasn’t that damn naive.

At the same time, I wasn’t about to tell her no again.

Moving back, I gave her space to walk inside with Roddy’s voice banging through my skull.

You fucking up, nigga.

I knew it was true, but knowing it don’t mean shit when your body ain’t cooperating.

She walked by me and I caught the scent permeating off her skin. It was an earthy fragrance. Something that reminded me of a place I couldn’t quite bring to mind.

Keep ya head up, nigga.

Roddy’s voice was in my head once again, this time trying to urge me not to take a peak at her ass when she walked by. I did it anyways. It was instinct; I couldn’t stop myself.

Damn.

I could tell that she was definitely not wearing panties. Shorty came prepped and ready to fuck shit up and I wasn’t prepared.

“Give me a minute,” I said before grabbing Clover by his leash. His tail was wagging, practically begging for her attention, but I could tell she wasn’t feeling it at the moment.

“You don’t wash ya ass so stay off the bed,” I ordered before leaving. His ears lifted for a second before he sulked his way to the space between the bed and the wall and collapsed there. I couldn’t tell for sure but I could swear he understood me.

“Anyways, what’s going on?” I asked as I made my way back to join Cherish in the living room. She didn’t answer right away and that’s when I walked in and noticed that she was staring hard at the TV.

“You were watching this?” She pointed to the TV with a frown. “I thought you said you weren’t into politics.”

Shit!

It wasn’t until then that I was reminded of the fact that her husband was still there yapping away on the screen. This was the reason I always stuck to my rules and kept my distance.

I ran a hand over the top of my head, trying to play it off. I was mad as hell at myself for this slip up, but I couldn’t let her know it. I hated to let anything push me off my square.

“Yeah, I’m not, but…” I paused for a moment, not knowing what to say to make it make sense.

Fuck it.

In the end, I decided to just go with the truth.

“After all that you’ve said about him, I got curious. Wanted to see what you were dealing with.”

I crossed my arms in front of my chest and sat on the edge of the chair across from her. I could feel her eyes burning into my skin.

“And what do you think?”

I shrugged. “I mean, he got his shit together. I can see why people like him. He knows how to say all the right things.”

Wasn’t much more that I could say than that.

“But do you believe me?” she said, her tone pressing. “Do you believe me when I say that he’s cheating on me?”

“Hell yeah. Why would you lie about that shit? I mean, people cheat all the time. Especially ones in his position.”

“But would you believe that…” She looked down, her eyelashes fluttering as she fought back fresh tears. She took a deep breath. “Would you believe that he hit me?”

I bit down on the inside on my cheek, slightly put off by the automatic reaction in my body. I’d already suspected this but hearing her admit the shit? It made it real in a way I didn’t expect.

Instant adrenaline began to make my heart race. I was ready to fuck shit up on the spot, but I was trained to mask my emotions.

But even if I could hide what I was thinking from Cherish, I couldn’t hide it from myself. My natural instinct was to protect her. And that opened up a brand new box of complications.

“Tell me what happened,” I said simply, making sure not to give anything away.

She sniffed to compose herself before speaking. “I talked to him… told him that I knew all about what was going on between him and Amber. I thought he would…”

She tried to hold it back but the dam collapsed and the tears she was holding back broke through. She began crying so hard, she had to gasp for breath between sobs. I rubbed at my chin, feeling uncomfortable as hell. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I had to get her ass up out of here.

“I don’t know what I thought he would do! At least deny it or apologize…something! But he didn’t do either one. He twisted my finger until I thought it would break and then shoved me on the floor. After that, he started kicking me.”

That shit made my chest burn. I cut my eyes up, glancing at the tv screen where Nick was laughing as he spoke to the woman interviewing him, acting like shit was sweet. I was seething, but I stayed firmly planted in place and stayed quiet as she continued.

“I thought that once I told him, he would at least show me that he cared enough to attempt to make things right with me. I knew it would never be the same again, but I thought he loved me enough to try.”

Shorty had shit twisted. And she was a smart girl, so I couldn’t really understand how she had fallen for the okey-doke.

“You need to hang that shit up. The only person that nigga loves is his fucking self.”

She nodded her head. “I know that now. I just feel so stupid for believing otherwise.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, love. He’s not just fooling you, he’s fooling half of the fuckin’ country.”

I motioned over at the screen where they were currently showing the percentage of voters who said they would vote for Nick if he ran for President.

She folded her arms in front of her chest, glaring at his face on the screen.

“Yeah, but those people aren’t living with him.”

She had a point. She should have known better. Should have known the man she was marrying. But women rarely do. All caught up in the fact that they got chosen without realizing the nigga they chose is the fuckin’ devil.

“The better topic in all of this is, what are you going to do now?”

She turned to me. “You mean, now that I know he’s a narcissist?”

“I guess that’s what they call him where you’re from. Where I’m from, we just call them ‘fake ass niggas’.”

When her face lit up and she began to laugh, something inside of me felt like a child on Christmas.

“You always know how to change my mood.”

She turned to look at me with dreamy eyes, like she was seeing me in a new light. The moment stalled with us both battling our thoughts. I didn’t know what hers were, but mine were all bad. As soon as I realized that, I knew it was time to cut the shit.

“Keep looking at me like that and you’re about to get fucked,” I said being totally honest. “And I don’t want to fuck you.”

She frowned. “Why?”

“Because you would just be doing it to get back at your husband.  And I’m not trying to be your ‘revenge dick’.”

She frowned harder, clearly taken off guard by my comment. “What makes you think I want to fuck you?”

The answer was obvious.

“Because you wouldn’t come over here like that if you didn’t.” I let my eyes graze over her barely clothed body. “Not at this time of night.” I motioned with my head over to the tv screen. “With your husband so far from home.”

Her mouth clamped shut as she processed the fact that I was calling her out. Women were so used to men letting them get away with everything. They couldn’t process it when a man actually called them on their shit.

“You’re smarter than that, mama,” I told her with a lighthearted chuckle. “We both know what it was. Same way we both know that you only want to do it to get back at your husband. He hurt your feelings so now you wanna fuck the neighbor.”

Her anger flared up quickly.

“Excuse me?” She stood up, snatching at the edges of her long, knit sweater to cover up. “The only reason I came over here is because you’ve been presenting yourself as someone I could talk to. You keep shoving your nose in my business, but now that I want to share, you have a problem with it?”

“I just don’t want no drama coming to me,” I said simply, giving her the best explanation that I could. “I hope you can understand that.”

“Fine!”

She began to march angrily to the door to let herself out. She tried to slam it closed when she walked through, but I put my hand out to stop it.

“Hold up.”

Sucking her teeth, she turned to me, her arms folded tightly over her chest.

“What?”

“Trust me on this.” I looked her straight in her eyes with all serious. Unblinking, so she could really feel me. “You don’t have to worry about that nigga putting his hands on you anymore. That’s a promise.”

Before she could even wipe the confusion from her face, I closed the door.

📅 The Billionaire Next Door drops January 20, 2025.

Mark Your Calendars!