DANIEL'S GIRL: ROMANCING AN OLDER MAN Read online

  It sounded wonderful, and it was exactly what he wanted, but Daniel wasn’t laying bets on any of it. Not yet.

  “Mr. Crane?” Whitney said, and Daniel pressed the button of his desk intercom.

  “Yes, Whitney?”

  “Excuse me for disturbing you, sir, but the chairman is on line one.”

  Daniel looked at Phillip. Phillip leaned forward in his seat. “Thank-you, Whitney,” Daniel said, and picked up the phone.

  Phillip listened too carefully, waiting to hear something that would once and for all change that stoic expression on Daniel Crane’s face. But nothing changed. Daniel spoke and listened, and spoke again, and then hung up the phone.

  “Well?” Phillip asked as soon as he did. “What did he say?”

  “He said there’s going to be a reorganization.”

  “But what did he say about Murdock? Murdock’s out?”

  “Murdock’s out.”

  Phillip fell back in his chair. “Yes!” Then he leaned forward again. “And?” he asked.

  “And he’s called an emergency board meeting.”

  “Ah, man. That’s beautiful. That’s perfect. For when?”

  “This afternoon.”

  “Yes!” Phillip said again, and then he braced himself. “Did he say what specifically this emergency meeting would be about?”

  Daniel’s expression went unchanged, although his heart was inwardly soaring. “Me,” he said.

  Just as Nikki was about to take her lunch break, Luke called her into his office. He had an assignment for her.

  “Springfield Avenue?” she asked when he told her where.

  “That’s the place.”

  “What’s going on over there?”

  “Apparently there’s a friendly, neighborhood riot going on.”

  Nikki was surprised. “A riot?”

  “That’s the info we’re getting. You remember that story you reported on last week about the store owner who beat that kid with a pipe?

  “Just for stealing a bag of chips? Of course I remember it. The Gazette was the only paper to even mention it.”

  “Right. Well that’s the reason for the season, babe. So go check it out. And take a click man with you.”

  Click man. Luke’s term for a photographer. Which meant it was a major story and Nikki, ready for a little action herself, began to get excited.

  They could hear the noise a mile away. Even the police had constructed a barricade, although the barricade was on Rutherford and nearly half a city block away. Avery, the photographer, was driving the car and Nikki was on the passenger seat. When she saw the barricade, she shook her head.

  “They have got to be kidding,” she said as she watched cops stand around and drink coffee, and appearing to laugh at each other’s jokes.

  But Avery understood. “It must be serious, Nikki.”

  “Serious my eye. They just don’t care. What’s the purpose of a barricade this far away?”

  “What do you think? They want to prevent spillover into our more respectable Westside communities,” Avery said with a grin on his fat, cherubim face.

  “Exactly,” Nikki agreed. “Forget all of those poor folks here on the east end. They could kill themselves for all they care. Containment is what this is about. Let me out.”

  Avery looked at Nikki. “Let you out? For what? They aren’t gonna let you through that barricade.”

  “We can cut through that alleyway by the pool hall near that metal shop. That’ll get us close to the action. But we’ve got to walk.”

  “Now you’re the one who’s kidding, right?”

  “Pull over, Avery.”

  “You think I’m going up in there when the police scared to go? And they got guns?”

  Nikki shook her head. “Just let me out.”

  “No, Nikki! Luke will take my head off. Everybody knows how he feels about you.”

  Nikki looked at him with a frown on her face. “How he feels about me?”

  “Yeah. I’m sorry, but hell yeah. You’re his favorite. You’re his little princess. And he’s my boss. I’m not getting on that man’s bad side for nobody. So let’s just back off, all right? Maybe get some comments from the cops, and we can let the police copter get some aerial photographs. This shit could get out of hand.”

  Nikki was upset. “Just stop the car.”

  “Ah, come on, Nikki! There’s nothing we can do here.”

  “Stop the car, Avery, I mean it.”

  “Nikki!”

  “Stop the car, dammit! You don’t wanna go, don’t. But let me out.”

  Avery shook his head. He knew there would be hell to pay with Luke, but he wasn’t about to mix it up with her either. He stopped the car.

  The outer sanctum of the senior vice president’s suite of offices was abuzz. Whitney and a group of her fellow office workers were standing in front of a flat screen TV, watching the action unfold. The east end of Springfield Avenue was in chaos, as people were running and flailing fists in the air and trashing the entire street. The office workers, some of whom had grown up in that very area, were shocked and saddened. A riot in Wakefield? They couldn’t recall anything like that ever happening before.

  Daniel had been in meetings all morning and arrived back inside his suite of offices and was, at first, surprised that a crowd had gathered. Whitney, upon seeing him, quickly and nervously reached for the remote.

  “You don’t have to do that,” Daniel said, and Whitney and the other workers were relieved. He looked at Whitney. “What’s going on?”

  “They’re rioting on Springfield.”

  Daniel frowned. “A riot?”

  “On Springfield, yes, sir. They’re protesting what happened to that little boy.”

  Daniel had no idea what little boy she was talking about, but he knew he’d find out eventually. He looked at the television instead. The scene was filled with aerial video of East Springfield and what appeared to be hundreds of young people running and breaking store windows and even setting parked cars ablaze. The police were no-where to be seen, which astounded Daniel, given the horrific scene. He considered calling the police chief to find out why law enforcement had not taken charge of the chaos as even he could see that those people meant business. Some of the workers even commented how the local television station had interrupted The Young and the Restless for this. Which meant, apparently, that this had to therefore be a big damn deal.

  But then, as if he should have thought about her sooner, Daniel suddenly thought about Nikki.

  He turned to his secretary. “Whitney?”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “Get Miss Graham on the phone.”

  “I already tried, sir.”

  Daniel looked at her. “You already tried?”

  “Yes, sir. I knew you would be wondering if she was caught up in that mess.”

  Daniel’s heart knotted up. “Is she?”

  “I asked where she was, but they wouldn’t say. The only thing they would confirm was that she was out on assignment.”

  Daniel remained cool, but his heart was about to pound through his chest. “Thank-you, Whitney,” he said, and went into his office.

  Everything was crazy. Nikki had taken out her reporter’s notebook but she was too caught up in the amazement of the scene to write a word. Hundreds of people had gone mad, she thought, as they tossed bricks through everything glass and torched cars, while still others robbed and looted the store owners blind. And then there were the sound of police helicopters, buzzing like war zone spy planes all across the sky. No cops on the ground, but plenty safely up and away.

  Most of the rioters were young blacks and Latinos, all running so fast from one hot spot to the next that Nikki could barely get a single one to answer her questions. So she started running too, right along with the crowd, in her stilettos and flare-legged pants, and she kept asking them why, over and over.

  “We’re tired, that’s why,” one young Latino answered as if offended by the question.

 
“Tired of what?”

  “Everything, though. They treat us like we’re animals. Like we don’t matter. That boy in a coma now. Over some damn potato chips!”

  “The boy who stole the potato chips?”

  “Right. He’s in a coma. And for what? ‘Cause he’s poor, that’s what. ‘Cause he’s one of us, that’s what. We ain’t taking the shit no more, that’s why we’re here, though!”

  And another view, from an older participant, this one walking but moving fast, with his long, thick black dreads pounding lightly against his neck as he moved. “He had no business stealing, okay? We understand the little brother was wrong, we understand that. But it was just some chips. That’s nothing to nearly kill somebody over.”

  “And that’s why you’re here?”

  “That’s exactly why. There comes a time when you’ve got to run through the fire or start your own. They’ll never hear anything we say until we start our own.”

  His walking pace overtook Nikki’s slower stride and she had to let him go. She was about to join another group of riot runners but her cell phone started ringing. She was amazed she even heard it.

  “Yes, hello?” she said loudly and pressed a finger to her ear. It was Daniel.

  “You better not be anywhere near Springfield Avenue, Nikki.”

  “Daniel, you should see this.”

  “Gotdammit, Nikki! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!”

  “No. Of course not! But you should see this. It’s incredible. These people are fed up. That’s what this is about. They’re tired of being treated like animals.”

  “So they behave as animals, is that how it goes?”

  “It’s not even like that. You just don’t understand. A little boy was nearly killed over a bag of potato chips. Potato chips, Daniel. That store owner beat that poor boy down with an iron pipe over a bag of lousy potato chips. These people have had it.”

  “Maybe that store owner was fed up too, Nikki. Maybe that poor little boy you’re so in sympathy with was the last straw for him too.”

  “How can you take his side?”

  “I’m not taking anybody’s side. I want you out of there. Just get out of there and get out of there now.”

  “I’m doing my job. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Daniel sighed. When Nikki was passionate like this he knew his influence over her was nil. “Where are the police?”

  “Far away from here, that’s for sure. They’ve set up parameters to keep it contained in this community - which is a pathetic response.”

  Daniel agreed with that.

  “They need to put on some riot gear and get in here before somebody gets hurt,” Nikki went on. “I mean it’s crazy up in here, Daniel. It’s like...”

  A gunshot was heard. “Jesus!” Nikki yelled as she turned toward the sound. A crowd, who heard the gunshot too were running toward her, running as if they would not be stopped. Nikki turned to run herself, but the push of the crowd caused her to drop her phone. She wanted to pick it up but it was kicked away by the stampede of feet. So she just ran. Daniel’s voice, growing louder and graver, was yelling one word, over and over.

  “Nikki?”

  “Nikki?”

  “Nikki!”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  The aftermath stunned even Nikki. It looked like L.A. after the Rodney King verdict, or even Beirut. Trash-like confetti littered the streets, buildings once on fire were still smoldering, broken glass, torn down fences, cars torched to rubble. It was all over now, the damage was done, and the cops and paramedics were everywhere. They finally came, finally moved in after the crowd, terrified of the gunshots, had moved out. Three people died, one from a gunshot wound, two others trampled to death.

  Nikki could have easily been in that number and she knew it. That was why she was stunned. She sat on the sidewalk near a burned out liquor store, waiting for the paramedic to take a look at her. She had no cuts, no bruises, just fear. Just memories forever etched in her brain. The seriously and critically wounded were long since carted away. Now the walking wounded, and the stunned, were getting a look over. Nikki wanted to leave an hour ago, but they wouldn’t let her. She just didn’t look right to them.

  The last thing she remembered was a young man grabbing her hand and pulling her into a building. She thought he was her guardian angel because, at that point, the crowd was just pulling her along - a sure prescription for a stumble, fall, and trampling. But then the building the young man had pulled her into was torched too, and before she knew it they were running out again, and the crowd was pushing her along again, until they ran one way and she ran another, and what she just knew was the grace of God Almighty forced her to give up and fall back against a crevice in a wall.

  The paramedic was just about to come to her next, and she was about to let him take that good look at her they insisted on, but she saw Daniel. He was cleared in by a police sergeant and began walking into the war zone, his brown suit coat flapping wildly though he moved cautiously. He was looking at all of the destruction, amazed by what he was witnessing.

  Nikki saw him before he saw her. She left the medic’s side immediately and began, as if she was on autopilot, to walk toward Daniel. When he saw her, he stood there and finally was able to breathe again.

  And she ran to him. Ran with energy she thought she no longer had. Ran with determination she thought had died in the crowd. Ran until she jumped into his arms, knowing that he ordered her to get away from there, certain that he wouldn’t hold it against her now.

  Daniel unlocked the front door of Nikki’s townhome and then followed her upstairs. She was so emotionally exhausted that she stumbled back, causing Daniel to clutch her around her waist and pull her forward. He kept asking if she was okay, but she kept insisting that she was just fine.

  “You don’t look fine, Nikki,” he said as they entered her bedroom.

  “But I am,” she said. “I just need to take a shower.”

  “I want Doctor Lowden to have a look at you.”

  “I told you I don’t need a doctor.”

  “I know what you told me. But he’s going to take a look at you.”

  Nikki rolled her eyes as she took off her earrings and bracelet and tossed them on her dresser. She looked through the dresser mirror and saw Daniel picking up her telephone and then lying on top of her bed. “I need to be doing that,” she said.

  “You need to take a bath,” Daniel said, and Nikki managed to smile, although the memories of the day were still haunting her. She remembered all of those people running. She remembered some being trampled.

  Daniel, stretched out on Nikki’s bed, dialed the number to his office and then placed his hand inside his coat lapel. Nikki stood at the mirror looking at herself, lifting up her hair and dropping it down, rubbing her hands across her cheeks as if she, too, could see the look of terror that still had not left her gaze.

  For Daniel it was a different feeling. He was grateful that she was okay, but he still felt queasy because he knew her. Because he knew as long as there was some perceived injustice somewhere, Nikki would find a way to forget about the danger and run to the cause. It was a similar risk he took when he fell for a woman her age. Twenty-four year olds still think they can change the world. Twenty-four year olds still think they’re indestructible. He loved that about her. He loved her spirit, and her exuberance, but living out loud like that came with a price. And he was bound and determined to quietly keep her safe, despite her seemingly boundless determination to keep seeking out the danger.

  “Dreeson Corporation,” the voice on the other end of the phone proclaimed. “This is the office of the Vice President. How may I direct your call?”

  “Hey, Madge, it’s Daniel Crane. Put Whitney on the phone.”

  “Mr. Crane, yes sir. One moment, please, sir.”

  Nikki began undressing slowly, removing her shoes, blouse, and bra, and then she was shimmying out of her pants. Daniel watched her. He watched her brown, juicy breasts and black
nipples. He watched her soft, flat stomach. And as she slid out of her panties and turned away from him, her ass a perfectly rounded ball of tight plumpness, he crossed his legs to lessen the impact of his reaction. But it was already too late. His pants had tented.

  She went into the bathroom just as Whitney’s voice came onto the phone and quickly informed him that Phillip Grayson had been calling all afternoon.

  “Phillip?” Daniel asked.

  “Yes sir. All afternoon.”

  “Get him on the line.”

  “I’ll connect you, sir.”

  And she did. Daniel had a good idea what the problem was, but he didn’t realize the gravity until Phillip’s high pitched voice came onto the line.

  “I can’t believe you, Daniel! Where were you?”

  “Just slow down. Tell me what happened.”

  “What do you think happened? It was a done deal. All you had to do was show up and accept your coronation. But not Daniel Crane. That would be too simplistic for him. He’s got to make me look like a pure fool in front of the entire board of directors!”

  “You aren’t even on the board, what are you talking about?”

  “The meeting, Daniel! The meeting!”

  “I missed a damn meeting. I had Whitney inform them that I wouldn’t be able to attend.”

  “But why the hell not? This was vital.”

  Daniel hesitated. He wasn’t about to tell Phillip anything, especially something as implausible as the truth. He wasn’t going to tell him that he couldn’t make perhaps the biggest meeting of his career because he had to pick up his girlfriend from a riot. “Just tell me what happened,” he ordered.