Star Struck

by Goss, Shelia

  “To think I was about to marry the woman.” Trevon shook his head back in forth in disbelief.

  “Truth be told, you don’t truly love Shareeka either.”

  “How you going to tell me how I feel?” Trevon was slumped over in his chair.

  Garrett felt sorry for him. “Then again, maybe you did. She was your problem, but now that I see she’s been harassing Hailey, she’s mine.”

  “I don’t care what happens to the trick. Like I said call the police because she’s going to pay one way or another for what she did.”

  Garrett stood up from behind the desk and walked to look out his window. “Maybe we should both calm down so we can handle this the best way possible. For now, I need to get back to the studio.”

  “I’m calm.” Trevon held out his hand. He tried his best to steady it, but Garrett noticed it shaking.

  “Take the rest of the day off. We have enough people here to take care of stuff.”

  Trevon looked like a man defeated. Garrett didn’t know what else to say to his friend at this point. Yes, he was wrong for continuing his affair with Shareeka once he realized she was involved with Trevon. Could he change the past? No, but he sure wished he could.

  ~ 31 ~

  “Where is Garrett?” Hailey asked out loud. She had been at the studio all day and hadn’t seen him since he dropped her off. She wanted to speak with him, but refused to call him. She wanted to be sure he wanted her as much as she wanted him. She would not be the aggressor in the relationship. Hailey reminisced about their love making sessions. She smiled as she recalled how close she now felt to Garrett. He professed his love to her and showed her in so many ways. The smile faded however when she thought about the rock and note. Her nerves were frazzled. She slid into Mo’s chair with a heavy load.

  “Diva, you look a hot mess. You would think with a fine man like that Garrett Morgan protecting you, you would be all smiles.”

  “Mo, there’s more going on than you know about.” Hailey couldn’t hide her feelings even if she wanted to from Mo. He always seemed to know when something was wrong with her.

  Mo twirled her chair around. “Now you know there’s not much that goes on here that I don’t know about.”

  Hailey couldn’t help but laugh. Mo was always a filter for information—whether he was on the giving in or receiving in of it. “What I’m about to tell you must stay between us?”

  “Scout’s honor,” Mo said, as he crossed his heart.

  “Uncross your fingers,” Hailey joked.

  “Okay. Pinky swear.” Mo held out his pinky to Hailey’s.

  “Garrett and I are officially a couple.” Hailey decided to concentrate on the positive news.

  “It’s about time you forgot about that zero Troy.”

  “You mean Trevon.”

  “Whatever. I’m just glad you no longer tripping over him. It took you long enough.”

  “Tre’s a thing of the past.” The sparkle in Hailey’s eyes disappeared.

  While doing her hair, Mo asked, “What’s with the sour face if things are so great with you then?”

  “Whoever this fan is has gotten on my nerves. I’m used to the hate mail but Mo the stuff they’ve said in those letters. I don’t have a good feeling about any of it.”

  “I’m sure Garrett won’t let anything happen to you,” he assured her.

  “He can’t be around twenty-four seven,” Hailey said, although she wished he could be. Hailey had her eyes closed as she waited for Mo to finish.

  “Speak of the devil,” Mo whispered in her ear.

  “No need to mess with perfection,” Garrett said, as he stood near the doorway watching Mo put the finishing touches on Hailey’s hair.

  “Flattery will keep you in my good graces,” Hailey flirted.

  “I just wanted to let you know I was back on site. I’ll be backstage scanning the audience while you tape.”

  “What did you find out about the stationery?” Mo asked.

  Garrett hesitated responding, so Hailey said, “Mo’s cool. You can talk in front of him.”

  “I’ll prefer to wait until we can go somewhere and talk privately.” Garrett placed his hands in his pockets as he waited on Mo to finish with Hailey.

  Mo said, “Don’t mind me. I’m almost through with her and you can have her all to yourself.”

  Hailey laughed because as strong of a man as Garrett was he seemed to be uncomfortable with some of the comments Mo made. She was confident that once Garrett got to know Mo, he would love him just like she did. He could be a little over dramatic, but underneath the drama, he was a good friend.

  After Mo finished, she and Garrett walked down the hallway to the stage entrance. Garrett said, “You’re well loved. You should be proud of yourself.”

  Hailey scanned the audience and said, “I’m blessed. I thank God for this every day. Sometimes it’s hard to believe a little old girl from Shreveport, Louisiana could have all of this.”

  “You deserve this and so much more,” Garrett responded.

  She was so caught up in talking to Garrett, she didn’t pay attention to her intro music. John yelled into her earpiece, “You’re due on stage.”

  Hailey kissed Garrett and rushed out on the walkway. She waved at her audience as they cheered her name, “Hailey, Hailey.”

  “Good day America. Today it’s my pleasure to bring you one of my favorite comedians Ms. Sherri Shepherd.”

  The crowd cheered as Sherri walked out on the stage. Hailey enjoyed interviewing Sherri as they talked about her sitcom and her day gig as also a talk show host. By the time her interview with Sherri was over, Hailey felt as if they were old friends. “Sherri, I want to thank you again for coming on the show. I hope this won’t be your last time.”

  Sherri assured her she would be back on. Hailey addressed the audience, “Our time together has come to an end. Until next time, do something nice for yourself.”

  Hailey and Sherri both signed some of the audience autographs. Hailey made sure her assistant Jackie presented Sherri and the rest of her guests with a gift bag before going to her office. Garrett was right behind her. “You move a mile a minute,” he said.

  Now that the show was over, Hailey could now concentrate on her problems. Once she was seated, she said, “Okay, give it to me straight. What did you find out about the pad?”

  “You don’t waste time do you?” Garrett sat on top of her desk near her.

  She was extremely hot and it wasn’t because of the temperature in the room. In fact, the air conditioner was on full blast. Having Garrett in such close proximity reminded her how he felt inside of her when they made love over the weekend. She picked up a tissue out of the box on her desk and wiped the sweat from her forehead. “Was it your trifling friend Trevon playing a practical joke?”

  “I wish it was that simple. Promise me you won’t go off.” Garrett stared her straight in the eyes.

  Hailey didn’t flinch. “I don’t make promises I might not be able to keep.”

  Garrett reached for her hand and caressed it. “I found some incriminating evidence at Shareeka’s. I think she’s the one behind the hate mail.”

  Hailey was livid. She jerked her hand away. “That skank. Oh she wants to play dirty. I can play dirty. Wait until I get my hands on her.”

  “Hold on. If she is the one behind it.”

  “If, you just said, you found some evidence proving she is.”

  “I have to make sure before I go accusing her. Otherwise, she’ll bulk and we’ll never find out if it was her.” Garrett didn’t sound too convincing.

  “What did you do with the stuff you found?” Hailey asked.

  “It’s in a safe place for now.”

  Hailey’s desk phone rang. She saw Jackie’s number displayed across the screen so she answered. “I thought I told you I didn’t want to be disturbed,” Hailey snapped.

  Jackie responded, “Trevon is on the line. He says it’s urgent.”

  “Okay, put him through.
” She looked at Garrett. “That’s your partner.” She hit the speaker button. “What’s up Tre?”

  “Hailey I’m sorry.”

  Hailey looked at Garrett and then back at the phone. “Okay. I knew that, but why are you calling?”

  “I just called to apologize on how I treated you. I should have let you go years ago. Don’t tell Garrett I admitted this but he was right. You and I were never meant to be. You deserve better than me.”

  “The first thing you’ve said that I can agree with.” By now Hailey was leaning back in her chair.

  “When you see Garrett tell him I want to talk with him.”

  “You can tell him yourself.”

  Garrett spoke up for the first time. “What do you want Tre?”

  “I don’t think Shareeka is behind it. As much as I can’t stand her guts right now, I did some cross checking and some of the times that Hailey was threatened, I know for a fact Shareeka was out of town.”

  Garrett forehead tensed. “That can’t be. All evidence points to her.”

  “Well, I’ll be seeing her tonight so I’ll let you know what happens.”

  “Are you going to confront her?” Garrett asked.

  Trevon responded, “Yes, about everything.”

  “Maybe you should do it over the phone. You don’t need an assault charge.”

  “Oh, I’m calm. She’s not worth me going to jail for. Believe that.”

  “I’ll meet you there.” Garrett stood up.

  “No man, I got this.”

  “Call me if things get out of hand.”

  Hailey watched in amazement. Only two men could get along after finding out that the other had been messing around with their mate. Let that be one of her female friends and World War III would have broken out. There would be no making up. The friendship would be over.

  ~ 32 ~

  As Hailey’s new body guard, Garrett insisted that he be the one to take her home. After protesting for the sake of protesting, Hailey got in his car. She said, “I knew there was something not right about Shareeka. What did y’all ever see in her?”

  Garrett refused to get into that with her. He attempted to change the subject, but Hailey wasn’t having it. She went on and on about paying Shareeka back for the heartache she had caused her. Hailey seemed to have finally calmed down when they reached her house. Garrett wished he had kept the information about Shareeka to himself but he didn’t want Hailey to think he was hiding anything. He wanted to keep her informed because if Shareeka was guilty, this knowledge could possibly save Hailey’s life if she got cornered by Shareeka.

  “What do you want to eat?” Hailey asked after getting situated at home.

  “Anything you fix. All I need is your desk and DSL connection,” Garrett said, as he removed his laptop from the black case and followed Hailey to her home office.

  She moved items from her desk to make room for his laptop. After getting set up, Garrett logged on. “If you need anything else, just let me know,” Hailey said.

  “Will do,” Garrett responded, as he concentrated on the information on his screen. Garrett had assigned one of his employees the task of monitoring Shareeka’s comings and goings. He took on the job of checking Shareeka’s phone and email records himself. Now he wished he would have stayed at his house tonight instead of agreeing to stay at Hailey’s. Hailey’s DSL connection was not as fast as his for some reason.

  Hailey tried to distract him a few times by prancing around in front of him but he would not be dissuaded from his task. So far, all the numbers Shareeka had called could be accounted for and none were Hailey’s. He did notice a few back to back calls to Trevon’s number; times where he probably was creeping with Hailey or some other woman.

  “Someone’s at the gate,” Hailey yelled.

  “Were you expecting anyone?” he asked.

  “No and I don’t recognize the car.”

  Garrett went up to the monitor. “That’s Shareeka’s car.” He pressed the button to open the gate.

  Hailey yelled, “Are you crazy? Why did you let her in here?”

  “That’s Tre driving.”

  Hailey followed behind him as he went to the front door to let Trevon inside. “You almost didn’t get in,” Hailey said, as he walked past them into the entranceway.

  Garrett noticed Trevon’s disheaveled appearance. “What happened to you?”

  “I confronted Shareeka. Let’s just say it didn’t go well.”

  “How did you end up in her car?”

  “After we wrestled, she ended up throwing my keys in the garbage disposal. So I wouldn’t choke her, I grabbed her keys and sped away.”

  Garrett couldn’t believe Trevon had let stuff get out of hand. “You know she probably called the police.”

  “I doubt it. I let it slip we think she’s behind Hailey’s fan mail.”

  “Tre, I told you to let me go with you.” Garrett was pissed.

  “Man, she was lying to my face. When she realized I knew about you two. She spouted off at the mouth about how the other men were better than me, I just lost it. I didn’t hit her but I pushed her.”

  “Pushing is the same as hitting in my book.” Hailey popped him upside the head.

  “Ouch,” Trevon said, as he rubbed the back of his head.

  “This makes our job harder. I’m sure she’s going to do everything to cover her tracks now.”

  “I come baring gifts. Before I let on that I knew about her affairs, I downloaded her hard drive.” Trevon pulled out a small device.

  “Follow me,” Garrett said, as Hailey and Trevon followed him into Hailey’s home office.

  Hailey fixed them a plate of chicken breasts and penne pasta and brought them drinks. Garrett and Trevon continued to pour over the information on the screen. Trevon was getting hotter and hotter as he saw traces of emails that Shareeka had been sending to other men. After hours of looking, there was no other evidence showing she was the mystery fan.

  Garrett rubbed his temple. “Something is just not adding up. This is still not enough evidence to convince the authorities to arrest her.”

  “But it is enough for them to bring her in for questioning,” Trevon said.

  Garrett picked up the cordless phone and handed it to Trevon. “I think you deserve the honor.”

  Trevon took the phone and called the police. While Trevon was on the line, Hailey asked Garrett, “So what’s going to happen now?”

  “Usually you would have to be the one to make the report, but because you hired us, we can act on your behalf.”

  Hailey said, “Good because I really don’t need for this to get out to the media.”

  “I’ll do my best but as you know there’s no guarantee. Reporters have ears all over the place.”

  “Let’s hope they don’t.”

  Garrett pulled out his cell phone. “I need to let Caroline know what’s going on because I have a feeling neither I nor Trevon will be available tomorrow.”

  “Okay, well I’ll go make us some more snacks while we wait.”

  Garrett admired how calm Hailey was. Before she was ready to scratch Shareeka’s eyes out, but now she was cool as a cucumber. In fact, she was too cool. It was taking her a long time to make the snacks. He went to the kitchen in search of Hailey. He got there just in time to see the headlights to Hailey’s car. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Hailey’s number.

  “Hailey, answer your phone,” he yelled. His calls kept going to voice mail. He went back into the room where he left Trevon. “Come on. I have a feeling Hailey’s on her way to Shareeka’s.”

  “I’ll drive,” Trevon said.

  “Give me the keys,” Garrett said. “I’ll drive.”

  Garrett had to drive way above the speed limit, but still couldn’t catch up to Hailey. He wondered how Hailey knew where Shareeka stayed, but shrugged that thought out of his mind. He knew from experience that women made the best investigators because of their natural skills. He lost Hailey, but sped up and dodged in and o
ut of traffic.

  Shareeka’s door was opening before Garrett could pull up into the driveway. He saw Hailey push Shareeka. He ran up to the house with Trevon on his heels. Hailey had Shareeka by the hair. “I’m going to teach you who to mess with. You want to hide behind some letters and emails. Take this.” Hailey had a hand full of Shareeka’s hair and looked like she was trying to break her neck. Shareeka tried to hit Hailey but Hailey blocked her shots.

  As much as Garrett enjoyed a good fight, he didn’t want Hailey to do more harm than she may have already done. “I’m going to sue you,” Shareeka yelled.

  “It’ll be a cold day in hell before you see one red cent of my money,” Hailey spouted back at her.

  “Well bring your coat.” Shareeka started swinging.

  It was hard getting the two apart, but Garrett and Trevon finally did. Garrett said, “Ladies, enough!”

  Trevon said, “Looks like we have company.”

  Garrett saw a police car pull up and two uniformed officers exited the vehicle. The front door was still open so when they made themselves known they all turned in their direction. “Is this the residence of Shareeka Johnson?”

  Hailey pointed in Shareeka’s direction. “There she is officer.”

  Garrett could feel the tension in the room between Hailey and Shareeka. Garrett went and stood near Hailey. “Officer, our company, GT Securities reported the issue.”

  The officer took off his handcuffs. He walked over to Shareeka. Shareeka’s hair was a wild mess all over her head. “We need for you to come with us.”

  Shareeka yelled, “I didn’t do anything.”

  “We’ll decide that at the station, but for now,” the taller officer said, “Please come with us. I’m sure one of your friends will lock up for you.”

  “I don’t have any friends here. I want my lawyer.”

  “You can call one when we get you down to the station.”

  “You’ll pay for this,” Shareeka yelled, looking in Hailey’s direction.

  “Officer, I hope you write that down. That’s another threat,” Hailey said.

  “Sheeee attacked me,” Shareeka stuttered.

  “Is that true?” the officer asked all in attendance.