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All I Want... Is You

Page 20

by Shakir Rashaan

“This no good son of a gun, as you put it, didn’t even know that the woman that you tried to protect that’s carrying your grandchild, was sleeping with my so-called best friend behind my fucking back; a man that forced another woman into a miscarriage the year before because he didn’t want her baby.” I continued to let fly all of the secrets that I swore I would go to the grave protecting because Omar didn’t want his mother to get upset about his misdeeds.

  Fuck that, he beat me to the grave and left me with a mess of epic proportions to clean up.

  Those days were over.

  I looked at the shocked expression on Mrs. Peyton’s face, and for a second, it appeared that she was putting some of the puzzle pieces together to get the whole picture. Her expression changed to sadness as she tried to find a way to get in the middle of my rant.

  “Derrick—“

  “I’m not done, dammit!” I felt the rage beginning to seep from my pores I was so irate. “I have never… and I repeat, never… touched a drug of any kind in my life, and I even tried to help him get clean after he got kicked off the team… with money that I didn’t even have at the time because I was still in school… only for him to lie to me and everyone else around him that he was getting sober. Meanwhile, he wasn’t just lying, he was upgrading to drugs that I never would have guessed he would be into because he was still trying to compete with some unrealistic image of me that I never placed in his head… you did!”

  I saw the tears flow from her eyes. She looked at me, completely dejected, finally realizing that whatever she tried to do to “motivate” her son by using me this whole time might have finally been too much for him to bear.

  If I wasn’t so heated, I might have felt it in my heart to feel sorry for her. But she brought all of this on herself.

  “Derrick… I’m… I’m so sorry.” Mrs. Peyton finally whispered, exhausted from hearing the words that I spat with a ferocity that I didn’t think she was prepared for.

  “Apology not accepted.” I stared angrily at her. “I hope to God you meant what you said about helping her take care of that child, because that might be the only thing that you have left on this planet that’s left of a son that only lived to try to make you proud of him. Too bad he’ll never know if you ever were.”

  Kelli patted me on the back as we got ready to leave and continued to shake her head at the madness that was occurring. “I feel sorry for that baby. That’s one fucked up family that he – or she – is being born into.”

  I couldn’t have agreed more, but thankfully it wasn’t my problem anymore.

  I needed away from all of this, and with my new-found wealth, I knew just where I wanted to go.

  Monaco.

  Nothing like some time in the sun and away from anything and everything that could have possibly reminded me of Stacy – or Omar – or anything bad that had happened since all of these new revelations came to light.

  “Derrick! Derrick!”

  I heard my name being called, but I ignored the cries. I could have cared less who it was, unless they called out my name formally, I wasn’t turning around for anything.

  Tammy caught up with me as I made my way to the front of the building, calling my name the whole time.

  What the fuck did she want, after everything that just went down in the courtroom?

  “Okay, so you got my attention, Tammy, what do you plan to do with it?” I asked flatly.

  “Look, D, I know the last time we saw each other, I said some things that, looking back on it now, I shouldn’t have said.” she tried to catch her breath as she spoke. “I shouldn’t have lied to you about my separation from my husband—“

  “You said you were married, not separated, Tammy. Get it together, which one is it?”

  Tammy brushed my comment off, trying to get whatever she wanted off her chest. “Okay, but the point is, I’m divorced now, and despite the looks that I gave you in the courtroom, the truth is, I want some more of you.”

  You have got to be kidding me today! I took my hands to check my forehead to see if it had the word “Gigolo” written on it or something, because I knew that I really wasn’t GQ at all after the day that I just had.

  “Look, Tammy, I’m gonna say it again like I said that night; you were damn good that night, but there are two things that I couldn’t do then, and I can’t do now, and that’s help a woman commit adultery, which I helped you do that night, and have a side piece when I’m in a relationship.”

  Tammy’s eyes began to mist, and her body language drastically changed. “I’m sorry, I promise I’m divorced. Here, you can view the decree for yourself,” she frantically sifted through her case to give me the divorce decree.

  Sure enough, she got divorced back in March.

  Like that was going to change my mind. I have two women that keep my attention and I’m more than happy with.

  “I’m sorry that you’re divorced now, Tammy, and I hope you find someone that makes you happy.” I said as I pushed the door open to head out. “Do me a favor and lose my number, because I won’t be answering.”

  I blew air as I felt the sunshine on my face.

  Too much has happened today… too much.

  I really needed to hear my girls’ voices. Maybe they would help balance the rage and anger that was inside of me, because Lord knows I was in a dark place, and I didn’t want to be anymore.

  As I left the courthouse, I called Toni and Cori and put them on a three way conference as I headed for the truck to head home.

  “Hey you two, I left the courthouse, and—“

  “D, don’t put us in suspense any longer, please. Just tell us if we have to help worry about a baby and a crazy ass baby mama or not?” Cori tried to say as quickly as possible in between photo ops with fans that were snatching up the CDs as quickly as they could.

  “Yeah, baby, can we get on with our lives without that bitch being in the picture?” Toni chimed

  in right behind Cori, giving me no room to say anything edgewise.

  Hearing them scream and squeal at the same time as I told them that Stacy was out of our lives forever was the cherry on my day.

  I also told them about what went down with Brian, which caught Cori’s attention enough to give Tracie the head’s up. To a degree, they understood why I did it, but I know they felt that I should have let him sweat it out in jail.

  Some things women will never understand.

  By the time I got around to explaining what Omar had done and that the baby belonged to him, Toni was fit to be tied and Cori was ready to spit nails.

  “I should be home after this crazy ass PR thing is done around 9, baby.” Cori told me as I turned on to Peachtree Street to ride in traffic to the condo. “After that, I’m all yours.”

  “Just make sure you save some for me, baby.” Toni said towards Cori, which cracked me up for a moment. “I might need to release some frustration from being such a good girl while I’m up here in NYC with all these fine ass men and women on this shoot. All I want is both of you when I get home.”

  I let them chatter back and forth to do their girl talk thang as I sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic, looking forward to whatever the future held for us.

  ~Epilogue~

  Derrick

  Club Kaya.

  What better place to celebrate the success of the now Platinum-selling group, Cazhe?

  The videos of congratulations from all the heavy-hitters were nice to watch; it was almost as nice as when I had to fly around to the different locales to do the actual videotaping.

  Destiny’s Child.

  TLC.

  Aaliyah.

  Mary J. Blige.

  The list went on and on.

  Even the fellas got in on the videos, although those weren’t as fun to do because they tended to be a bit more flirtatious with their congratulations to the group, doing special shouts to the girls individually. I wasn’t particularly fond of Sisqo and D’Angelo when they singled Cori out, but I knew I needed to keep my own jealousy in c
heck.

  After all, it’s a part of the industry, and it comes with the territory, so I had to get used to it.

  It was amazing to me to see how much the music community tends to be so tight-knit and positive for one another’s successes.

  Maybe this music thing wasn’t so bad after all.

  Naw, I’ll stick to my photography, especially when the digital age was just beginning. I’ll always love film, but this was way easier, that much I knew.

  Considering it was the beginning of the summer, I was ready to enjoy the hot weather, and the hotter women, particularly my women, as the clothing became less and less necessary because the heat dictated the skin being shown.

  I was also ready to put some distance between now and what had occurred nearly three months ago.

  There was some good news that came out of all of that mess, though.

  Brian did have to serve some time for the assault charges, but thanks to the talk that I had with the assistant D.A. and the charges being his first offense, the judge agreed to lessen the charges down to time served and dropped a year off his probation, provided that he doesn’t do anything else to end up in her court again.

  It caused him some problems with his DJ gigs for a minute, and the entertainment outlets in Atlanta were a little harsh on him, but I guess that’s the nature of the beast.

  Seeing him in the DJ booth for this special occasion did my heart good because I knew this would be just what he needed to get his name back on the map. He even got a chance to patch things up with Tracie; that surprised us all because she was so eager to let him rot in jail when everything went down.

  I guess I’ll never understand women completely.

  Things with me, Cori, and Toni couldn’t have been better. It was interesting to see the glances any time that we went out to a restaurant or to the clubs, but interestingly enough, all we received were champagne or wine gifts from the people who saw us overseas.

  Funny how that works out, huh?

  Of course, being out with women that had more star-power than you did was an adjustment at first, but I enjoy the spotlight just as much as they do, and it got us tickets to all of the A-list events in the music and fashion industries. Going as a guest and not as a photographer was

  leaps and bounds better on so many levels I don’t know where to begin.

  Even Mr. Richton warmed up to the relationship; being a widower, he had no interests in getting married again. Being in a “friends with benefits” situation with Cheryl and a few other women around the city tends to keep someone from being critical of others’ relationships.

  Tina finally got her cherry popped and by the most unlikely of sources: one of my interns. Even wilder than that, he was just as into her as she was into him. It might have had something to do with the fact that she was the owner’s daughter, too, but who am I to criticize?

  All in all, life couldn’t be much better than what it is right now.

  But I know what you must be thinking, though.

  What happened to Stacy?

  Well, that situation was a train wreck waiting to happen. As I understand it from the nurses at the hospital when the baby was born (it was a boy, in case you wondered), Mrs. Peyton brought a lawyer into the hospital room and tried to force Stacy to sign over her parental rights.

  Only thing was, Stacy didn’t have to be convinced or forced since the baby wasn’t mine. She signed on the dotted line quicker than a lightning strike and didn’t have a second thought about it.

  All I could do when I got the news was shake my head and wonder when karma was going to really put her under the bus.

  I snapped out of the thoughts in my head as my ladies found me at the bar. The conspiratorial grins on their faces tipped me off to something that I was afraid to ask about.

  “Hi, baby, are you enjoying the party?” Cori asked, although the party was for her and the group.

  “Why wouldn’t I enjoy the party? Cazhe is a hit, and you’re on the way to being a superstar. I’m enjoying all of it because I get to see it up close and personal.” I replied, kissing her on the cheek.

  “Good, because this has all felt like a dream come true for me, and it’s only fair that we return the favor.” Cori smiled brightly, giving a knowing wink to her girlfriend.

  Before I could ask what the hell they meant by that, Mr. Richton and Mr. Parker walked up on us with their own smiles. “D, we figured we’d find you with your girls.”

  “Okay, just let me in on whatever the hell you all have going on so we can finish enjoying the party, please?” I got up the nerve to say because my bosses were present.

  “Yeah, there’s no need to put this off any further.” Mr. Parker announced. “Thanks to your girls, and some help from us on the location, you currently are the owner of your photography and graphic design studio.”

  My world stopped moving immediately.

  “You wanna run that by me again?” I asked, not realizing that my voice was trembling the entire time. “My own studio?”

  “Yes, baby, your own studio, and the flexibility to do what you want and continue doing business with RP.” Toni grinned as she snuggled closer to me.

  “I still don’t know what to say.”

  “Just say thank you so we can go back to enjoying the party, baby.” Cori told me as kissed me. “We can find ways that you can personally thank your girls later tonight, alright?”

  “Anything for you, baby.” I replied, looking at her and then toward Toni. “Anything for you… both of you.”

  Acknowledgements

  28 June 2011

  2245hrs

  Whew… was that fun or what?

  Well, in case you hadn’t figured it out by now, it’s your boy, Shakir; I’m just in my “alter-ego” persona, trying to get into a different headspace when I planned on doing this particular book.

  Why the added pseudonym?

  Well, to keep it 100 with you, the things I write as Shakir are just a little rougher around the edges than what you just finished reading, even though there was some heat in this particular book, if you’ve followed my books, then you know that this one is definitely softer than what I’ve written before.

  I hope you liked this piece, though; this was something that I dug out of my old manuscripts from back in the day when I was writing just for the hell of it. I kept the time frame about the same because trying to translate it for today’s day and time was just too much work. I think it turned out pretty good, and I wanted to stretch out and do something a little different before I got to the next book, which is the second installment of my Deviant Intent series. I’m hoping to have that one ready to go by December.

  Yeah, an author’s work is never done.

  Derrick is probably different from any other male character that I’ve written to date. He has swagger and arrogance mixed in with humility and vulnerability. He was a character that mirrored my own mindset when I was in my mid-20s. I thought it would be fun to drudge up the Golden Age in the A when it came to music and the clubs, and have a little fun with some new age concepts also (the whole triad relationship thing, yanno?)

  Anyway, he’s probably going to rub some folks the wrong way, and that’s fine, too, because that’s what I did when I was younger, and like Derrick, I made no apologies for the way I was.

  Anyway, that’s how he was born, and who knows, maybe you might see him later on down the road. That’s how my universe works!

  So, without further ado, the usual shout outs and recognitions and such like that there. LOL 

  To my Beloved, for getting the ball rolling and watching the avalanche that has ensued, thank you for pushing me over the cliff. I think I’m getting better at this now, and I owe it all to you. I love you, baby.

  To my mother and father, for the support that you’ve always given me, no matter what the endeavor, I love you both with every fiber of my being.

  To my sister, the sounding board that you have become whenever I put pen to paper, and the soundin
g board that I have been for you when you’ve done the same, thank you for helping me weed through the muck of this crazy ass manuscript and helping me turn it into hopefully another page turner that the fans will want to tell their friends about. I love you, girlie.

  I’m going to end this in the usual fashion because it’s time to take care of the final lists before this thing goes to print, and I know I’m missing a whole gang of folks, so just do me a favor and insert your name in this next statement:

  I’d like to thank ____________________ for the support and love. I hope to continue to put books out that you will want to tell your friends and family about.

  Thank you for reading, and God Bless you.

  Curtis Alexander Hamilton

 

 

 


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