Budgets on one page. Expenses on the other. If Anika had told this to Cookie once, she'd told her a thousand times. That was how it had been for as long as Anika worked at Empire. Cookie however, always did the paperwork in a linear fashion, placing both sets of numbers on the same page. She didn't even bother to do them in different colors, making it impossible to figure out which pieces of information were which at first glance.
Worse, Cookie wrote nearly everything by hand because she had no concept of how to work a spreadsheet program. That meant that if there was an error made, Cookie had to pull her original papers back out and do them all over again. Why Cookie insisted on doing it this way, nobody knew, but Anika had a feeling that it was for no other reason than to piss her off.
"Anika?" Chip, the new guy from accounting, knocked on Anika's door. "Hey, I hate to bother you, but there's a mistake on page 14…should I go tell Cookie?"
"No, hand them here." Anika snatched the paperwork from Chip's hand. "Some things, I have to do myself." She fumed on the elevator the entire 13 flights up, and was still heated when she flung the door of Cookie's office open, not bothering to knock. "How many times do I have to tell you not to combine the budget report and the expense report, Cookie?" she nearly shouted.
"Leave it on my desk. I'll do it again. And don't come into my office again without knocking." Cookie warned, then turned her attention back to her work. Even though she had a laptop, she still wrote her notes out by hand. It was the stupidest thing Anika had ever seen.
"Cookie, has it ever dawned on you that you would save a great deal of time if you just learned how to use Excel like everybody else? Ask Andre to teach it to you. There are tutorials on YouTube. Hell, I'll even teach you if you need me to."
Anika had struck a nerve. She had no way of knowing how many times Cookie had tried to work Excel. The numbers just worked better in her head was all. "There is nothing on this earth your young, dumb ass could ever teach me, Boo Boo Kitty. So get the hell out of my office."
Something in Anika snapped. "Anika, dammit."
Cookie looked up from her notes. "What?"
"My name. It's Anika." Anika would be damned if she, the head of A&R, was going to take this disrespect from Lucious's charity case. Not anymore.
Cookie shrugged. "I don't care." She was highly amused at Anika's little temper tantrum.
"I mean it, Cookie! You are to call me Miss Calhoun or Anika. I'll even accept Nikki. But my name is not bitch or heffa or fake-ass anything. And it sure as hell isn't Boo Boo Kitty!"
"Excuse me, ladies." Malcolm DeVeaux, Empire's new head of security, made an exaggerated gesture of closing Cookie's office door, rolling his eyes on the way out. Malcolm might have been a war hero and a Navy SEAL, but he also had three older sisters. He knew that stepping into a fight between two women was only a good idea when whipped cream was involved.
Anika was so angry that she was shaking. But Cookie was calm, so damned calm. She had no intentions of learning Excel or calling Anika by her name, and she wanted Anika to know that. "Let me tell you something else, Ms. Lyon," she added, trembling with rage at Cookie's lack of respect for her position. "The accounting department is sick and tired of your sloppy-ass handwritten reports. Every time you make a mistake, you have to do it all over again. It's a waste of time!"
Cookie raised an eyebrow at Anika, but said nothing. In the amount of time it took for Cookie to type in all those numbers, she'd figured it out mentally. And the accounting apartment wasn't sick of a damn thing. This was probably only the third time Anika had ever had to tell her that she made a mistake. "Close the door on your way out."
God damn this old hag! Anika had reached her boiling point. "Cookie, I don't care if you're you stupid to figure this out, or too lazy, or too old." Anika relished the look on Cookie's face just then. She wasn't shouting anymore. Now her voice was calm and arrogant and full of Empire power and Ivy League pride. "Get your raggedy shit together. The next time I have to come up and tell you this, there's going to be a problem." She threw the papers in Cookie's face and spun on her heel to leave.
Had Anika grown up in a typical black household, she would've seen it coming. She would have known better than to turn her back to a woman like Cookie. She would've heard Cookie's chair roll back. She would've felt the shift in the air. She wouldn't have dreamed of slamming Cookie's door behind her. As it was, she never got the chance to. Like the proverbial white on rice, Cookie was behind Anika in a heartbeat and snatched by the back of her blouse.
Cookie spun Anika around and slung her across the front of her desk. Anika's arms shot out on instinct, saving her from a busted lip, if not worse. Even with the thick, plush carpet covering Cookie's office from wall to wall, Anika heard Cookie's desk decorations, pictures and laptop hit the floor. "What the hell are you doing!?" Anika screamed, struggling to stand. It was no use. A bougie debutante just wasn't going to compete against the strength of a mad, black mama.
Cookie jerked Anika's skirt up to her waist, exposing a sky blue thong and pinned her knee between Anika's legs. "Don't you ever!"
Whap.
It didn't hit Anika until it actually hit Anika. The blow came across Anika's backside so hard that she saw stars. She didn't have time to ponder the issue before another blow came.
"Talk!"
Whap.
"To me!"
Whap.
"Like that!"
Whap.
"Again!"
Whap.
Anika had only been spanked once in her life. She couldn't remember what for, but she remembered her mother holding her close when it was over, crying on her shoulder and promising to never to do it again. She might not have remembered why she was spanked as child, but she knew why this was happening. She'd pushed Cookie too far this time.
Whap.
Anika was Boo Boo Kitty or high yellow heffa or fake ass Sondra Huxtable or whatever Cookie wanted to call her. That's just the way it was. After all, Anika had taken Lucious from Cookie while Cookie was in prison. Come to think of it, she was lucky that Cookie hadn't shattered her teeth the first time they met. Sure enough, Cookie was making that point clear from above. "I will call you-" Whap. "Whatever-" Whap. "The fuck-" Whap. "I want!" Whap.
Oh, and Anika had hired a detective to spy on her. Couldn't forget that. Cookie hadn't.
Whap.
Cookie leaned down over Anika, her breasts pressing into Anika's back. "Do you understand?" Cookie asked sweetly, her lips brushing across Anika's ear. It was so quiet that Anika could heart her heart racing. It was official. Cookie Lyon was a goddamn psychopath. "Go to hell," Anika whispered through tears.
"Aww, Kitten." Anika felt Cookie chuckling. "Wrong answer."
Whap.
Since day one, Anika and Cookie had always torn each other down. The shade, the outright barbs, the angry looks...all that sexual tension between them had been there from the start. And while half of Anika wanted to rip Cookie Lyon's eyes out, the other half wanted to fall to her knees and eat Cookie's pussy until her tongue cramped up.
Whap.
It wasn't just pride that made Anika refuse to apologize. Every time Cookie would lean forward or backward, her thigh would rub against Anika's clit. Anika's hips grinded against Cookie's leg between slaps, and they could both hear how wet she was. Anika's juices were coating Cookie's thigh. If Cookie reached up to squeeze the inside of Anika's leg, she probably would've creamed all over her fingers.
Whap.
For some reason, Cookie allowed Anika to pleasure herself this way. She was having way too much fun treating Anika's butt like a bongo drum. "You better speak up, baby." Whap. "I can hold you here all day." Whap. She could, too. Cookie's hold on her was nice and strong. "Such a nice view, too."
Whap. Anika began to whimper and flinch. "Don't do that," Cookie warned teasingly. "Or you'll get some more." Whap.
"Oh...ohhhh..." Saliva began to dribble from the side of Anika's mouth, forming a small pool on Cookie's desk. If Cookie had started this from the sofa, Anika would at least had the dignity of burying her head in a pillow to somewhat bury her screams. But because she was bent over a desk, there was nothing for Anika to hold on to, and nothing to muffle her cries.
Whap.
Before long, the sting of being spanked was becoming more than just a sting. "I'm sorry!" Anika finally gasped when it was too much to take.
"Sorry for what?" Whap.
"Sorry for calling you stupid!" Whap. "And old!" Whap. "And lazy!"
"Are you kidding me, Kitten?" Cookie laughed. "You are much sorrier than that." Whap.
"Damn it, Cookie!" Anika screamed between Cookie's smacks. "What else do you want!?"
Cookie clucked her tongue. "My, my, my, Miss Calhoun. That's profanity." Whap.
"Okay, okay! Okay!" Anika wondered if they could be heard down the hall, and wondered even more why Cookie didn't care if they could. "I'm sorry about the detective! I'm sorry about Lucious! I'm sorry about everything!" She would've apologized for the sky being blue if she needed to.
Finally, the spanking stopped. Anika's legs were shaking, but Cookie had no intentions of letting her Anika down. A cool liquid touched Anika's skin, contrasting the burning on her tomato-red ass. Compared to the discomfort she was experiencing just seconds ago, Cookie's touch was so gentle that it made Anika hot all over again. "Thank you," she said quietly, her voice cracking. Anika should have been outraged at this kind of treatment, but she wasn't. As Cookie allowed her to prop herself up on her elbows, Anika shivered with anticipation at what Cookie was going to do next.
"Let's have a woman-to-kitty chat." Cookie's hands, still covered with lotion, moved down to Anika's calves and back up to her butt. "You're not here because of my budget reports. So let's just be real with each other for a change. Okay?"
Cookie was waiting for a response. "Okay," Anika whispered, surprised at how submissive she sounded.
Cookie bent over again and kissed the nape of her neck. Her hands moved up to push Anika's blouse and bra up over her breasts. How the hell could a woman as hard as Cookie have such a soft touch? "Why don't you stop wasting my time…" She kissed Anika on her neck again, stroking her nipples until they became so sensitive that Anika began to moan again. "And your time…" Soft kisses trailed down Anika's spine. "And just tell me…" Cookie kissed the small of her back. "What do you want?"
Cookie was eye level with Anika's ass now, encased in that lovely little thong. She kissed one cheek, then the other. Wild laughter bubbled up in Anika's throat and she fought to keep it down. How many times had she told Cookie to kiss her ass? And here she was, doing it.
Still kneeling, Cookie firmly took Anika by the waist and pulled sideways, wordlessly telling Anika to turn around. The wood and metal pressed against Anika's butt hurt a little, but Cookie with eye level with Anika's pussy. Now the possibilities were endless.
For Cookie to pull her thong down to her ankles, Anika would have to raise her hips slightly. That was exactly what she did. The complete lack of hair seemed to intrigue the older woman. "Mmm. What a pretty kitty you have." Cookie's finger drew a half-circle from Anika's navel to between her thighs. When her fingernail grazed across Anika's clit, Anika clenched her teeth to keep from screaming.
Cookie looked up at Anika and smiled, kissing her well-toned stomach, then her navel, then the sensitive skin down below. She stopped at Anika's mound, just an inch or so away from Anika's soaking wet slit. Her tongue was close…so fucking close. All Cookie had to do was stick her tongue out. "Please, Cookie," Anika begged softly. She couldn't take it anymore. "Please."
"Please what?" Cookie asked innocently, kissing Anika again. "Please stop?" Another kiss, slower this time, making a slight suction between Anika's skin and those deliciously soft lips. "Or please keep going?"
Damn you, Cookie..."Please...please keep going. God, please let me come."
There. It was out there at last. Anika was dizzy and quivering, but she'd finally gotten it out. Nearly three months since Cookie had gotten out of prison and strolled into Anika's life, Anika could finally be honest with herself and admit that she'd wanted Cookie Lyon since the first time they met.
Cookie came back eye level with Anika, then leaned in for their first kiss, except Cookie ducked her head to whisper in Anika's ear. "Go tell your daddy to do that."
With that, Cookie walked away, leaving Anika half-naked and weak with lust. God, she hated Cookie. Hated her. "Cookie, if you ever touch me like that again-"
"You'll do what? Tell Lucious?" Cookie put her feet up on her desk, crossing one Givenchy heel over the other. "He's coming to get me for lunch. Be sure to show him my hand prints all over dat ass. Let him see how wet you get after a good spanking."
Mortified, Anika could only watch as Cookie dragged a finger over the thigh that Anika had ground herself against. The only sound in the office was the ceiling fan and Cookie's lips as she sucked Anika's juices off her fingertips with great relish. "You should get dressed," she teased. "Lucious should be here any minute. You want to come?" She smirked. "That's right. You do want to come."
Anika was still naked from the waist down. "I hate you, Cookie," she muttered.
"Awww, don't be like that, Boo Boo!" Cookie laughed and laughed as Anika scrambled about, looking for her clothes. Her hands were trembling as she buttoned her blouse up fast as she could, beating Lucious by just seconds. There was no telling where her underwear was, and all she could do was pray that it wasn't in a place where Lucious would see it.
"Hey, Cook. You ready to…" Lucious looked around. "What happened to your office?" he asked, looking at Cookie's laptop on the floor, then over to his fiancée's flushed face. "Y'all been fighting or something?"
"Just a little catfight," Cookie said smoothly. "And does anybody knock around here?"
Lucious grinned. "Damn, I hate I missed that. Anyway, Anika. Cookie and I are going to check out this little spot that claims that it makes Philly cheesesteaks as good as back home. You wanna come?"
Lucious didn't catch Cookie's snickering, but Anika did. "No, honey. I have to redo this paperwork because somebody refuses to learn Excel instead." She shot daggers in Cookie's direction.
"We're almost finished here, Lucious," Cookie finished. "I'll meet you downstairs in a few minutes. And please close my door."
"Yes, m'aam." Lucious kissed Anika on the cheek, then stopped. "Is that a new perfume you have on? You smell great." He slapped her butt playfully, emitting a small shriek from Anika. Cookie turned around in her chair to keep from laughing.
"Thank you, honey. And bring me something back if the food is good, okay?" Anika flashed her sweetest smile at Lucious's confused face. Then he shrugged. "Bye, baby." The sad part, Anika thought as Lucious shut Cookie's office door, was that Anika had no idea who Lucious had just spoken to.
"Catch."
Anika turned around just in time to catch the small bottle of lotion Cookie tossed her. "I guess it's yours now. Fair exchange." She took out Anika's thong, which she had hidden underneath her desk earlier, and began to twirl it around her index finger. "It's not like I can walk around wearing it. So every time you wear it, I'll think of us. Now get out."
Anika kept her eyes on the fabric spinning around Cookie's middle finger. "You are sick, Cookie Lyon. You're crazy!" Cookie just smiled serenely, waiting for Anika to leave. "You're insane!" Anika spat out the last accusation. "And you hit like a bitch."
She knew that she was going to pay dearly for that remark, but it stopped the twirling. The look on Cookie's face was worth every lick Anika just took and every one she knew she was going to take in the future. No debutante could have walked out of Cookie's office with more poise and grace than Anika Calhoun at that moment, leaving the door just as wide open as it was when she walked in.
When Empire was expanded, the executives got showers in their offices. Anika thought it had been a waste of money, but she did find herself staying in the office later and later, or sometimes using the gym on the basement floor. Right now, with the door locked and pulsating water shooting from the handheld shower head, Anika was thankful for the showers. Her screams were drowned out by the pouring water.
There were no showers at the top of the Empire building. But locked in the bathroom with a pillow in her mouth and a dinner date just minutes from now, Cookie had never been more grateful to be on the 13th floor.
"22-23-24-25…"
Four days. That's how long it had been since their encounter. If Cookie had been turned on by the whole incident in her office, it didn't show. The two of them sat through meetings together, with Cookie asking questions and making requests without as much as a glance in Anika's direction. Anika had even made it a point to go up to Cookie's office last night. "Don't tell me the budgets are screwed up again," Cookie said, her face devoid of any desire or attraction.
"No, they're fine. I just…I'm in the wrong office." Anika darted out the door and headed for the shower again. Why is she doing this to me?
"48-49-50!"
"Yes! Whoooo!" Lucious spiked the paddle on the table and started doing the George Jefferson dance. Last night, Lucious commented on how eager Anika had been for sex the past few days. What would he think if he knew that Anika was getting off on fantasies about being bent over while his ex-wife fucked her with a strap-on?
"You only won because you cheated," Cookie grumbled.
"I did not cheat!" Lucious insisted. "It's not my fault you hit the table."
"Yeah, I hit it because you pushed me up against it!"
"Andre!" Lucious turned to his oldest son and smiled charmingly. "Did I bump your mama?"
"I didn't see anything like that, Dad." Andre laughed.
"Hakeem?"
"Well…I did see a little nudge-"
"See!?" Cookie jumped up. I get a do-over!
"What's going on in here?" Anika asked, walking into the conference room and observing the Lyons laughing and joking. Lucious and Cookie. What an attractive pair they made. What beautiful sons they'd produced.
"Baby!" Lucious was indignant. "Can you believe that Cookie had the nerve to challenge me to a paddleball contest? Me, the paddleball champion of west Philly?"
"You know good and hell well you cheated, Lucious. Malcolm!" Cookie yelled as Malcolm strolled by. "Get in here!"
Malcolm entered the room. "Yes?"
"Go look at the security footage and tell them that Lucious pushed me while it was my turn."
Malcolm shrugged. "I don't know why either one of you are bragging, since the Jersey boy hasn't had a turn yet."
"Is that a challenge?" Lucious asked.
"Not a challenge, sir," Malcolm said calmly. "More like a warning."
The room was full of catcalls and trash talking now. The Lyon family name was at stake. "Bring it on, then! First one to 50 wins."
"50?" Malcolm took off his suit coat and rolled up his sleeves. "I thought I was playing with men, not boys."
Everyone in the room was laughing and throwing out playful insults. Cookie's laughter was the loudest of all. The trash talking between Lucious and Malcolm was hilarious, engaging, and more than Anika could stand. "Aren't you a little old to be playing with toys, Cookie?" she blurted.
The volume of her voice embarrassed Anika. So did the silence and the confused looks between the men. They were used to the barbs between Anika and Cookie. But Cookie wasn't even holding the paddleball - Malcolm was. Besides, Lucious was two years older than Cookie. Malcolm, despite his baby face, wasn't much younger. The silence was deafening.
"Boo Boo Kitty has a point, I guess." Cookie said. "Time to get back to work. Gimme my toy, punk ass." Cookie snatched the paddleball from Malcolm while a triumphant Lucious shook his head and smiled. Then, in a gesture that meant something to only two people in the room, Cookie subtly flipped the paddle over and quietly slapped it against the palm of her hand.
Whap.
Anika felt her nipples harden and her clit began to throb. Payback time had arrived.
20 minutes into the A&R meeting, Anika knew she wasn't going to be able to concentrate. Cookie hadn't returned with Lucious from lunch; she got off early on Fridays. She was probably sitting at home doing God knows what. There was no reason to stay, because Anika wasn't listening to a thing anybody was saying. "Can you take over for me, Lucious?" she asked. "I don't feel very good. I'm going home early. She never said whose home she was going to.
Anika was so hot that she played herself with one hand while driving with another. By the time she'd reached Cookie's apartment, Anika had come twice. But it wasn't enough. "You told me to tell you want I want," she said when Cookie finally came to the door after Anika rang the bell four times. Cookie sported green yoga pants, a Philadelphia Eagles t-shirt and - as always - a bad attitude. "I want you to make me come, Cookie. You win. I..." Anika took a deep breath. "I give up."
"I told you," Cookie said irritably. "Go tell your daddy to do that." She moved to close the front door.
"No!" Anika blocked the doorway, wincing as her arm was wedged between the door and the doorjamb. She was so aggravated by this woman that she could scream. She wanted to scream. She wanted Cookie to make her scream. She wanted to make Cookie scream. Four days of riding Lucious Lyon just to burn off sexual energy, and Cookie was looking at Anika with a stranger's disinterest. "I want to make you come, too, Cookie...I'm not some pillow princess who's just going to get up and go home. I want to taste you. I think I want that more than anything."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why me? Why do I get the honor of Boo Boo's kitty?"
"I don't know, Cookie," Anika snapped. She had thought about that the whole way here, and she couldn't come up with an answer, then or now. She was tired of thinking about it. "You're my fiancée's ex-wife, you're an ex-con, and you're old enough to be my mother."
"See?" Cookie pointed at Anika. "That's why you got your little ass tore up. That mouth. You better be glad I didn't have my belt. But I guess you would like that, huh?" she added, noting the look on Anika's face at the suggestion.
"Yeah," Anika confessed quietly. "I would."
What Anika really wanted was to make love to Cookie, then curl up in her arms and go to sleep. Fighting with Cookie was so draining. So was this hard-to-get act Cookie was putting on. Anika had felt Cookie's kisses all over her body. They were too soft and too lingering to mean nothing. And that delicate touch as Cookie spread lotion all over her tender skin? She didn't have to do that. "I've always wanted you, Cookie. Stop asking me why. I don't know why! I just do! Spank me, fuck me, make me your prison bitch – I don't care, but stop ignoring me!"
"You know why you want this so bad, Boo Boo Kitty? So you can hold it over Lucious's head." Cookie was speaking through clenched teeth. "You want to be able to say that you tamed the shrew? Maybe you want to eat me out so you can kiss him and remind him what I taste like?"
"Why do you want me so bad, Cookie?" Anika countered. "And why can't you just admit it? That's why you spanked me loud enough for the whole world to hear!" Malcolm had spotted Anika walking to the elevator, no longer a picture-perfect debutante but a butt-blistered child. She'd lied and told him that she was sore because she had worked out too long at the gym. Malcolm placidly gave her advice about drinking water and loading up on potassium to prevent muscle cramping, but the last thing Anika saw before the elevator doors closing was Malcolm trying not to laugh. "Did you do that so your little boy toy could have something to jack off to?"
"Ooh, jealous?" Cookie mocked. "I don't have anything going on with Malcolm. You sound stupid. Like I said," she added, "I spanked you because you were being a brat. And you're still being a brat. Go home, little girl."
Anika didn't move. "What will you do if I don't?"
"Good Lord..." Cookie sighed loudly. She turned her back to Anika, leaving the front door open. Anika followed Cookie inside and watched her rummaging through a lamp stand in her living room, doing exactly what Anika demanded that she not do. Cookie was ignoring her. If she wasn't being abusive and mean, Cookie always ignored her.
Had Anika misread Cookie all along? Did Cookie really just want to do nothing but hurt and humiliate her? "Damn it, Cookie!" Hot, frustrated tears streamed down her cheeks. "Why do you treat me like this?" Still nothing. "Say something, goddamn it!" Anika screamed, finally breaking down. She couldn't take this anymore from Cookie...Anika could put up with anything except Cookie ignoring her...
Cookie turned around, her head slightly cocked. In one hand, Cookie held the paddleball from work, minus the ball. In the other hand was a pink sex toy with a long strap – one that was definitely meant to go around Cookie's waist.
"Close the door, Kitten," Cookie ordered Anika for the second time this week. She was smiling now.
Anika did what she was told. This time, she locked it.
END