by King, Deja
“It’s simple. I have something I want to give you.”
“Damn, we on that dumb shit again. Didn’t I tell you I ain’t interested in whatever little money you throwing around?”
“It ain’t about money.”
“Then what? And please hurry up before Sway sends one of his workers over here to see what is taking me so long.”
“I want you to come tomorrow so you can be the lead in Phenomenon’s new video.”
“Phenomenon…how you know him?” I knew she couldn’t have been paying attention last night when I came over to sit at Phenomenon’s booth but that was cool.
“Don’t worry ‘bout all that. I know with a swiftness you was raising your hand to take over the open role so now I’m here to let you know it’s available if you want it.”
“Damn right I want it but since you know so much about what went down, then you’re well aware Sway made it clear that shit wasn’t happening.”
“I thought you were a girl that made your own rules. You did turn me down because you felt Sway was the one that would bring you fame. Well the way that shit went down earlier today, it ain’t gon’ never happen up under his thumb.”
“So you want me to believe that you have enough clout to get me the lead on the video although Sway made it clear to the director he wasn’t going for it.”
“Now you’re following me.”
“I don’t know, Sway is totally against that shit. Then I would have to figure out how to be away from him all day tomorrow.”
“Either you want fame or you don’t. You and I both know that if you’re cast as the leading lady in this video the doors will open up for that to happen.”
“Still, we both know videos don’t pay shit and it’s hardly going to be a vehicle to make me financially independent. I’ll be taking the chance of Sway cutting me off permanently.”
“It’s up to you. Last night you were hoopin’ and hollerin’ that money wasn’t what you were after but instead you wanted fame. I’m giving you a chance to make that a reality.”
“I understand all that but this shit is much more complicated than that.”
“Well you figure it out but here take this,” I said handing her one of my business cards. “There are very few liable prospects in life. When one comes banging at your front door you best take it because it may never come again.”
The expression on Dior’s face said everything—she desperately wanted the fame but she didn’t want to lose her mill ticket Sway to get there.
“I’ll think about it but what are you getting out of this?”
“I do some business with Phenomenon and he wants you in the video so I’m trying to make it happen.”
“I find it hard to believe that is the sole reason you’re doing this.”
“Maybe I’m also out to prove that if you fuck wit’ me I can truly give you what you want. Unlike some people I have no desire to block your dreams if anything I want to make them a reality. So like I said, think about it. But remember you would need to be on set tomorrow morning. The choice is yours. Now go enjoy your meal because we don’t want you to keep Sway waiting.”
I wasn’t sure if I got through to Dior or not. But whatever her decision was I got into her head and made her think about some shit. So whether she showed up tomorrow or not I knew we would eventually meet again.
Dior
It Was Worth It
Flashing Lights by Kanye West was blasting through the speakers in Sway’s NYC penthouse and I found myself mouthing every word as if he wrote the song personally for me. It didn’t help that I was on my fourth glass of champagne and had done a few lines and it was only the middle of the afternoon. I needed something to get me through the freaking day and night though. Two cunts that I absolutely detested were in my presence and they weren’t leaving anytime soon. It was bad enough that happy ho Lori was here but so was this chick Tracy. Tracy rubbed me the wrong way but for a different reason than Lori.
See Tracy started fucking around with Sway a few months before me. He never made her his main girl but clearly he liked the pussy enough that he kept her on a bi-monthly rotation. Most of the females he dealt with were lucky to get a follow-up after the first night but Tracy managed to put herself in the jump-off category, which made her irritating ass think she was somewhat special. No she wasn’t getting the red carpet treatment, endless access to designer clothes or jet setting around the world but she was getting some semi consistent dick from Sway which in her mind put her in an elite club. But for me she was just another ho working my nerves.
“Sway said get dressed because you all have someplace to be in an hour,” I heard a female voice scream out. Clearly she was trying to be heard over the loud ass music but she kept on repeating herself. I guess because I kept my eyes closed the entire time and she was waiting for me to acknowledge her ass. Finally I complied because as high as I was, I couldn’t take her screeching voice any longer.
“I heard you,” I said, slightly opening my eyes. But the female kept standing right in front of me practically begging for my undivided attention. “I said I heard you, now move!”
“Don’t yell at me. I’m only doing what Sway told me to do.” I had to completely open my eyes to see which dumbass female was fucking up my high. Of course it had to be Tracy. She was feeling all sorts of bold leaning forward topless with nothing but some leopard print boy shorts on. She had both hands on her hips as if advertising to say, I have a body shaped like a coke bottle.
“I see you and I hear you, Tracy. Now run off like a good ho and tell Sway you’ve fulfilled his request.”
“You think you such hot shit. I can’t wait for Sway to kick yo’ uppity ass to the curb.”
“Well until he does get the hell out of my face before you completely destroy what’s left of my high,” I said, swatting my hand, letting Tracy know I needed her gone like ten minutes ago.
As I was about to finish drinking the rest of my champagne I noticed I had ten missed calls and seven text messages on my iPhone. The music had been so loud I figured I didn’t hear it ringing.
I didn’t even bother to check the voice messages. I just checked out the text and one really caught my interest.
Bitch u rock! U said u’d be a star…u on the way. U on all the blogs!
At first I didn’t know what this text was all about. I put my champagne down, realizing if I wanted to get my thoughts together I didn’t need to add anymore liquor to my system. Then it all started coming to me quickly. Oh shit, the video must’ve dropped! Nobody even gave me a heads up. But the director did say they were keeping it under-wraps until it officially dropped. But that dude Lorenzo promised he would call and let me know. It has been
almost a month since I did it so yeah, I should’ve known it was coming out soon. Fuck! I never got around to telling Sway. That nigga gon’ spazz out. I’ll work it out. As all these thoughts started swarming my head, they completely came to a halt when I heard this thunderous crash. It was so fucking loud that it made the music playing sound low.
“Turn that music the fuck off!” I saw Sway standing pointing his finger with big chunks of broken glass surrounding him.
Oh shit, he knows!
“You disobedient hard-headed bitch!”
“Sway, I can explain.”
“When the fuck did you do it?” I debated for a quick sec did I tell him the truth or lie.
“When we were in Miami but baby you need to calm down. You don’t need to get upset.”
“That baby shit ain’t gon’ work this time, Dior. We were together every fuckin’ minute of every fuckin’ day, so you couldn’t have done it while we were there, yo’ lying ass. Unless…” I could tell his mind was backtracking. “Unless, when early that next morning you said you had to catch the first flight out to Philly because you had just got word your mother was mad sick was some bullshit? Did yo’ scheming ass make that shit up?”
It had been so long that I had forgotten that was the story I used t
o get the fuck away from Sway and get my ass on the video set. At the time it was the best excuse I could come up with, now it had me looking all sorts of trifling. I swallowed hard before answering. “Baby, calm down.” I stood up and walked over to Sway and stroked the side of his face like I had done on so many other instances but my luck had ran out because I didn’t get the usual response.
“Bitch, don’t touch me,” Sway barked, knocking me down on the cold marble floor. “I told you I didn’t want you doing that fuckin’ video. Not only did you disobey me but you got me lookin’ like a punk ‘cause you went behind my back after I told everybody on set you belonged to me and you wasn’t doin’ that shit.”
“Sway, you blowing this outta proportion. Ain’t nobody thinking that shit! It’s a fuckin’ music video.”
“Yeah, that yo’ thirsty ass had to be in. I hope it was worth it ‘cause I’m done wit’ yo’ no good ass. Get yo’ shit and get the fuck out my crib.”
“Baby, you don’t mean that. You can’t be done wit’ me over a video!”
“Do you know who the fuck I am! Don’t nobody disrespect me especially not some ho that I put on the map! Now get yo’ shit and get the fuck outta here. Fuck that! You ain’t walking outta here wit’ none of that shit I bought you. If you not on my arm you ain’t even worthy. Tracy, give Dior the clothes you came in.”
I watched as Tracy hurried off to retrieve her clothes. She quickly returned and tossed them at me, thrilled to give me her hand me downs. She and Lori both stared at me with glowing smirks on their faces. They had been waiting for me to fall and felt no need to hide their enthusiasm of witnessing it firsthand. The same bodyguards that use to sniff after me like I was Queen of the world were now standing over me waiting for me to put on the clothes Tracy threw in my direction so they could escort me out.
With the glare of disdain coming from Sway I didn’t bother to further try and plea my case. He had a point to make and unfortunately it was at my expense. So instead of fighting against it I took what little I had and left.
** *
When I got to my apartment, I flopped down on the couch and ripped off the clothes I had no choice but to put on unless I wanted to walk down the street naked. Knowing I had been force to wear Tracy’s clothes made me feel disgusting and cheap. I tossed them in the trashcan feeling slightly vindicated. As I walked back over to the couch it felt somewhat good to be back home in my own crib. It definitely wasn’t close to being in Sway’s penthouse or his condo or his mansion but at least it was my shit that nobody could throw me out of and truth be told it was actually cute.
It was a one bedroom on the upper west side and when I first got it you couldn’t tell me shit. But when you start getting accustomed to living Sway’s lifestyle a place like this makes you feel like you’re two steps away from being in the poorhouse. Not wanting to focus on my misery I picked up the remote control and there was Phenomenon on 106 and Park about to debut his new video. I sat up and for the first time within the last couple of hours I was excited.
“Wow, I look fuckin’ amazing!” I said out loud as the video played. They had my makeup, hair and clothes all on point. The quality of the video was top notch too, no low budget shit going on. Then the scene came where I was wearing the gray lace bra and panty set. They had a shot of me standing, capturing a side angle but my face was looking directly into the camera. It was right before I walked over to the bed Phenomenon was waiting for me in. The way I straddled the nigga you would’ve thought we really fucked and I was sure Sway was thinking the exact thing. The very idea of that made me smile. He tossed me out in the street like I was yesterday’s trash. He needed to think that maybe I was somebody else’s treasure. Seeing myself up there on the television screen killing it made me decide that I had made the right decision doing the video. Yeah I had lost Sway but if I worked my shit right it would gain me so much more.
Lorenzo
Whatever You Want
“Yo, the streets is going wild over your new video.”
“I know it’s crazy. I had no idea that niggas and bitches love to see you get lovey dovey wit’ a fly ass chick. If I knew I would get this kinda love, I woulda came wit’ this from the jump!”
“Nah, you did the right thing going hard on your first joint. You need to always get them with that grimy shit off the cuff, that’s the only way you’ll get that respect from the hood. Then when you come back with that mellow shit everybody else gon’ jump on board.”
“Yo, Lorenzo, I think you right. If I had done this joint first they would see me strictly as a soft nigga, now I got them across the board.”
“Now you get my point,” I said, nodding my head as I sat in my car talking to Phenomenon on the phone.
“No doubt. And that was a damn good look you getting me that chick Dior. I don’t know how you pulled that shit off. You know Sway dumped her behind that shit,” Phenomenon chuckled.
“Get the fuck outta here!”
“I’m serious!”
“How you know?”
“The nigga called me the same day the video dropped. First he was like, how you gon’ disrespect me like that using my girl in the video when you knew I wasn’t down for the shit. I explained it was a business move and that was all. We was pressed for time and thought she was a fit for the job.”
“What did he say when you told him that?”
“That nigga wasn’t tryna here that shit. He was acting like what he say go and that I fucked up our relationship by disrespecting him the way I did. But our so called relationship was already dead when his punk ass bolted from my video set without even doing his guest spot.”
“But you still didn’t tell me how you know he not wit’ Dior no more.”
“Oh, ‘cause before he hung up the phone, he said some slick shit like, I know you fucked her and you can have her cause I don’t want her tainted pussy no more.”
“Word, that nigga said that.”
“Sure did…that nigga crazy! Of course I didn’t let his stupid ass know otherwise but I was thinking if you let that bad bitch go ‘cause you thought I got the pussy then you a fool.” I listened as Phenomenon laughed, getting a kick at Sway’s reaction to the situation. My thoughts instantly went to how Dior was coping with it. On one hand she was on the tip of everybody’s tongue ‘cause there was no denying homegirl was looking like the only thing smoking right now but on the flipside she lost what she considered her biggest asset—Sway. I figured it was the perfect time to make another move. I knew she was probably feeling anxious to make sure she stayed in the spotlight. If she hadn’t already, soon she would be scheming to find her next victim to stay relevant.
“That Sway cat is a piece of work. I guess everything they say about that nigga is true.”
“Yeah, and then some. I hope I don’t ever start feeling myself to that point. He probably got a kiss my ass at all time contract you must sign before being a part of his inner circle.” We were both laughing after Phenomenon said that shit because it was highly likely there was some truth to it.
“You ain’t got to worry, I won’t let you.”
“I know that’s right!”
“So where you at now?”
“In Atl. I’m performing at some club tonight. You know they got me doing mad club dates and shit before my album drop.”
“Yeah, I know. That road shit is draining but it’s gon’ pay off, watch when them first week numbers come in.”
“True, but yo, whatever I gotta do. I’ve been wantin’ this shit for so long that if I have to live on the road for the next two years to blow up and get this fame shit then that’s what I’ll do. Ain’t no turning back now.”
When Phenomenon said that, my mind again went back to Dior because she too craved that exact same fame. I wanted to call her as soon as I got off the phone with Phenomenon but I had been parked outside Lala’s crib for awhile and I saw her peeping out her window a few times. It would be rude to keep having long ass conversations when she knew I was basica
lly right at her front door.
“I know you gon’ handle yo’ shit tonight so I’ll hit you up tomorrow.”
“That works, man.” When I hung up with Phenomenon I went straight to Lala’s door. She had it open before I even made it to the top stair.
“I was starting to wonder if you were ever coming in,” Lala smiled.
“Sorry ‘bout that. I was handling some business.”
“Aren’t you always? With all the work you do I hope you make some time for fun. That was something Darnell rarely did. You seem to be just like him in that way and now he’s gone. You can’t make up for lost time Lorenzo.”
“Don’t compare me to Darnell.”
“I wasn’t doing that.” I could see the startled reaction on Lala’s face because of what I said. “But would it be so bad if I was? Darnell was your friend.”
“I just don’t like to be compared to other people, friend or no friend. So where is Tania?” I asked trying to skip over this topic. Hearing that nigga’s name still put me in a bad mood and that was no fault of Lala.
“My mom took her to a birthday party.”
“The last few times I’ve been here she’s always gone, Tania’s schedule busier than mine.” I was able to put a smile on Lala’s face with my comment which I was happy about. I tried to avoid any sort of conversation about Darnell because I loathed him but that was something Lala could never know. No matter what she always managed to make him a part of our discussion. It concerned me that soon there would come a point that I wouldn’t be able to conceal my contempt for him.
“Maybe you should consider calling ahead of time so we can plan for your arrival instead of just popping up,” Lala suggested.
“I never thought about it but you might be right.”
“I am. I’m sure Tania would love if you came over and had dinner with us and so would I. You’ve done so much for us I want to do something for you.”