Diamond Playgirls

by Daaimah S. Poole; Miasha; King Deja; T. Styles

  Tamara walked into the small dark comedy club. There were little circle tables with black tablecloths and red candles flickering on each table. There was a small stage where a comedian was telling jokes with props, throwing them everywhere. People were clapping and stomping their feet at his jokes. Tamara saw a man wearing a WKAZ T-shirt. He was six feet, and he was very handsome with jet-black naturally wavy short hair and a rich peanut butter complexion. She walked up to him. “Hi, excuse me, I’m looking for Shaunell.”

  “She’s over there at the bar. She’ll be right back,” he said.

  “Okay, thank you,” Tamara said as she took a seat at the bar.

  “Is there anything I can help you with?” the man asked.

  “No, that’s okay. I’ll wait for her.” The man was attractive and being sweet, but she didn’t have time to be nice. She was there on a mission. A few moments later Tamara spotted someone who looked like she could be Shaunell walking toward the bar. She had tanned brown skin, a long auburn weave, and fake eyelashes. Tamara walked over to her and said, “Shaunell?” The woman turned around and said “Hello” like Tamara was her fan and kept walking.

  Tamara followed her and said, “Shaunell, I’m Tamara. Nicole’s friend. You told me to meet you here.”

  The woman’s attitude did a complete 180. “Hey, girl, sorry, I thought you were a listener. Give me two seconds. I’ll be right back.”

  Tamara took a seat at a table and a bartender came over and asked if she needed anything to drink. She ordered a cosmo as Shaunell told the audience to give it up for the last comedienne who left the stage. Shaunell then ran back over to the table and thanked Tamara for waiting. As soon as she was seated Tamara began telling her about the club.

  “I wanted to meet with you, to see if you would be interested in hosting an event at Onyx Lounge, a new club. It is a mostly VIP club opening next month on the thirteenth. You will receive complimentary tickets for three guests, a bottle of champagne, a table, and a hosting fee.” Tamara told her about the invited guests and a little history on the Harold brothers.

  “Oh, so this is major, huh? I’m so glad you thought of me. I’m there. What’s the dress code?” Shaunell asked.

  “It’s an all-black affair.”

  “I have a nice black dress already. Maybe I might meet me a Valentine’s Day date,” Shaunell said, laughing between sips of her drink.

  “Yeah, there will be plenty of men. I’m working on ways now to let everyone know about it.”

  “Well, I’ll do my part. I’ll tell everyone I know. You should probably speak with my promotion director. He can definitely help you. He’s right over there,” she said as she pointed to the man who had been trying to make conversation with Tamara earlier.

  “I’ll have him come over to meet you,” Shaunell said as she waved for the man to join them at their table.

  “Hey, Aaron, I want you to meet Tamara. She’s a friend of my soror Nicole.”

  “Nice to meet you,” he said like he had forgotten Tamara was rude to him less than a half hour ago. Although Tamara was embarrassed she was not going to suddenly get nice and change her position. Shaunell began to speak again and said, “Aaron, she and the Harold brothers are opening a new club, Onyx Lounge, in a few weeks. She needs some help getting exposure, so take care of her. I’m hosting. So see what you can do.”

  “I’ll take care of her.”

  Shaunell walked back to the stage to introduce the next comedian.

  Tamara asked for Aaron’s business card and she stood up to leave. Aaron reached in his pocket and handed her his card and suggested that she stay for a while. Tamara took him up on his offer and stayed for the rest of the show. They made small talk between the comics’ jokes.

  “I heard about the Onyx Lounge. Do your need our station to broadcast live?” Aaron asked after the show was over.

  “No, we just want to do some promotional stuff and give away some tickets.”

  “I’ll try to help you out as much as I can. But I do have to discuss it with my sales manager. We’ll see what we can come up with. I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”

  “That would be great,” Tamara said as she left and told the man it was nice meeting him.

  The sun was beaming into Tamara’s room. It was morning again. She looked over at her alarm clock. It read seven. She decided to get an early start on her day. Tamara began her morning routine. She started a pot of coffee and showered. She then put on her clothes, poured her coffee, and sat on the sofa to begin checking her e-mail. There were six more responses for her assistant position. She knew it was too early to contact them, but she printed them out and looked over the resumes. One woman was too experienced, the other not enough. Out of the six she was only interested in meeting three. She circled their strengths and weaknesses and placed notes on their resumes. She then e-mailed the candidates her cell phone number and told them she would like to meet up with them as soon as possible. Tamara had decided hopefully they would check their e-mail and get back to her. After that she continued to go over her agenda for the day. She had to meet with two caterers and call a few more publicists. So far she had Amerie, Mya, and Gabrielle Union as yeses. She was still working on a rapper named Calcutta and an R&B singer, Debonair. Tamara heard her phone rang and hoped it was good news at the other end.

  “Hello.”

  “Are you busy? What is your schedule looking like today?” Maurice asked.

  “I’m a little busy. Why?” Tamara said.

  “Can you squeeze in a lunch meeting? My brother’s in town and I would like for you to meet him.”

  “Um, let me call you back,” Tamara said. She was getting more than a little irritated the way he kept calling and pretty much demanding she drop whatever she was doing so she could meet with him.

  “Tamara.”

  “Yes.”

  “Make it happen. This is important,” Maurice said in an authoritative voice that did something to Tamara.

  Right after he hung up, another call came in. Tamara answered and a woman’s voice said, “Hi, yes, I need to speak to Ms. Murphy.”

  “This is she.”

  “Hello, this is Kyra Daniels. I’m responding to your ad for the assistant position.”

  “May I place you on hold?” Tamara said as she got her thoughts together. She then grabbed the resumes on her sofa and came back to the phone and said, “Hi, Miss Daniels. I was looking over your resume and I was interested in setting up an interview with you. Can you meet me this morning?”

  “Yes.”

  Tamara was going to meet Kyra Daniels at ten at a restaurant a few blocks away. She had just enough time to interview her, then go straight to lunch with Maurice. Tamara showered, dressed, and went to the interview. She was rushing and still a little behind. Kyra had already called to let Tamara know she was there waiting for her. She told her to grab a table and she would be right there. Kyra was a young woman, about twenty, with long braids gathered up into a ponytail. She was dressed appropriately, in a burgundy pantsuit. Tamara was impressed. She walked over to Kyra and shook her hand. She pulled out Kyra’s resume and began quizzing her about her work history. Tamara was satisfied with all her answers. She wanted to hire her on the spot until she mentioned her child. Tamara knew she was wrong and out of line, but she began to ask her questions about her baby. She wanted to know if she would be able to make it to work if she hired her. Tamara liked her but could not have someone calling out because her baby was sick.

  “You have a child? Who watches your baby?” Tamara asked.

  “My husband does. He works at night and I’m working in the daytime so we won’t have to pay for day care.”

  “Wow, you married young,” Tamara said, surprised.

  “Yes, right out of high school.”

  “If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?” Tamara felt uncomfortable asking the questions, but Kyra continued to answer.

  “I’ll be twenty-one next week. My baby is six months. I’m going to sta
rt back to school as soon as he is one and I save some money.”

  Tamara was impressed; Kyra was young, polished, professional, and determined. Tamara scanned her resume to see if there was anything she had missed. There wasn’t. She was confident that she could work with Kyra and offered her the job and told her she needed her immediately. Kyra accepted and thanked her.

  Tamara had just enough time to meet Maurice and Kendall for lunch. When she arrived Maurice complimented her as soon as she entered the restaurant. His brother, Kendall, got up and shook her hand. He was very handsome, but didn’t look anything like Maurice. They were polar opposites. Kendall was standing a few inches shorter than his brother and he had a golden brown complexion with no facial hair. He looked fifteen years younger than his actual age.

  “I wanted you to get a chance to meet my brother and he had questions and things he wanted to go over with you,” Maurice said as Tamara sat down. “Would you like to order lunch before we begin?”

  “No, I’ll just take a coffee.”

  Maurice waved down their waiter and ordered Tamara’s coffee. Kendall coughed and cleared his throat and said, “Tamara, I wanted to meet you because my brother said you are doing a great job. However, I have some concerns.”

  “What concerns do you have?”

  He looked at his brother, then back at Tamara and said, “Tamara, let me be honest with you. I have spoken to several people and they have not heard of my club yet. This is very disappointing to me.”

  “Really? You must be talking to the wrong people, because there is a buzz about Onyx Lounge,” Tamara said.

  “Are you sure? Because my club needs to be the most talked about, sexiest club ever. How are you going to make that happen? I want sexy women, I want a sexy wait staff. I want everything that will attract men. What is your plan to have the sexiest women in New York at our club?”

  Tamara thought about her answer before she answered the two men staring at her. “Well, I was going to bring in dancers and have cigar girls,” she said as the waiter placed her coffee and cream in front of her.

  “Cigar girls? I like that, but every club has those. How do you feel about caged dancers with body paint?”

  Tamara wanted to say the right thing. But the right thing didn’t come out of her mouth.

  “I don’t like the idea,” she said as she took a sip of her coffee. “I think there are better ways to show off beautiful women without demeaning them.”

  “Like what?” Kendall demanded.

  “I’m sure I can come up with a number of ideas,” Tamara said. She wanted to slap him. The idiot. She was kind of dumbfounded she couldn’t think of any ideas, but she didn’t like body paint. She didn’t like the idea of women walking around with their asses and breasts exposed.

  “Kendall, I trust Tamara’s decision-making skills,” Maurice interrupted the interrogation. “She has media coverage lined up and she’s been keeping me updated with her progress.”

  “Getting us coverage in a local newspaper and morning show is not real exposure. I mean, our name is on the line if she messes up. It is not just on you. It is on me, too! And I don’t feel like she is capable,” Kendall said as his voice began to elevate and he looked his brother directly in the eye.

  Tamara felt like she had to defend herself. He was questioning her capability. “Kendall, I have been working very hard. Under the circumstances I think I have been doing a great job. I’ve only been on the job two weeks and I have Shaunell from WKAZ to host the event, and that in itself is going to bring in a bunch of the type of people we want. I also have been speaking with the promotions department and they are going to do giveaways. Plus, I have calls in to almost every celebrity in the city. I had to actually hire an assistant because I have been so busy. And I have two major sponsors and am working on getting more.”

  “Well, I don’t think you’re busy enough. Because right now I’m not impressed. I didn’t want to hire you, my brother did. I’m not really sure you are cut out for the job.”

  Tamara’s mouth dropped open, and she knew what was getting ready to come out of her mouth wasn’t going to be pretty, but before she could say anything Maurice practically jumped up from the table.

  “Excuse me, Tamara. I’ll be right back,” he said before pulling Kendall over to the back of the restaurant. Tamara didn’t know what to think. She didn’t like Kendall. She sat and waited for them to come back, trying to figure out how to turn this meeting so she didn’t get fired. But she also knew that if Kendall came back with that same attitude she’d probably throw her coffee in his face and tell him to kiss her ass. She thought her best bet would be to leave, so she got up and walked out. On the way home she questioned her future with the Harold brothers. She wanted to cry, but refused.

  Maurice started blowing up her cell phone before she even walked in her door. “Listen, I have to apologize for my brother. He was totally out of line.”

  “Please, don’t worry about it,” she said, trying to play it off.

  “I think it’s important we talk, okay? I can meet wherever you want.”

  Tamara hesitated, wondering if he wanted to meet simply because he wanted to fire her. “Well, I really have a lot of things I need to get done by this evening, and I—”

  He cut her off. “Tamara,” he said in a pleading tone. “Please?”

  Tamara was taken by surprise. She was much more used to his demands, though she wasn’t necessarily sure she liked them, than to this new subdued Maurice.

  She agreed to meet him at Sushi Bar that evening, and she arrived not knowing what to expect.

  “First of all, let me apologize again for Kendall’s behavior. He tends to fly off the handle and speak without thinking,” Maurice said after she was seated in the booth with him and he’d ordered her a drink. “And second, I want you to know that I’m extremely pleased with your progress. I know we didn’t give you much notice, but you came into town and took off immediately, and I appreciate that. In fact, I’d like to offer you a bonus.”

  Tamara let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Maurice. It’s good to know that my work is being recognized.” She was so relieved she wasn’t getting fired that she began to giggle as she took a sip of her drink.

  “What are you laughing at?” Maurice asked with a smile.

  “Nothing,” she said. “I’m just enjoying my drink. I’m glad you convinced me to come out, after all. I needed a little unwinding.”

  He reached over and put his hand over hers. “I’m glad to help you unwind.” Maybe it was the drink, which was kind of strong, but she didn’t pull her hand back, even though she knew she should. They ordered sushi and more cocktails.

  As the night went on they kept laughing at each other’s jokes. Maurice was rubbing Tamara’s arm. Was it appropriate? No. But his hands felt so good, so she didn’t make him stop. Then they began holding hands. Then there was a simple hand rub that led to Maurice’s fingers tapping and scratching her palm. His touch shot pulses of waves into her feminine V. Then his hands moved from hers to gently massaging her shoulders. Maurice then whispered in her ear how good she looked in her dress. She was turned on. Before Tamara knew it they were kissing and hugging and cuddling up in the booth.

  “Is something wrong?” he whispered as his hand slid from her shoulder to her hip.

  “I’m not sure yet,” she said breathlessly. She was a professional and she had to tell him to stop rubbing her leg under the table. She was going to tell him right after he stopped massaging her ass.

  When the server came to the table with the final bill, Maurice pulled out several twenties and placed them in the server’s book. Tamara slid out of the booth and he helped her put her coat on. She was full of giggles. Maurice then grabbed her hand and said, “Come with me.” They never addressed exactly what they were doing; they both were just going with the moment. He walked a few buildings down to a hotel.

  “Who are you meeting in here?” Tamara asked

  “You.”

  �
�Me?” Tamara said, as he led her into the hotel and she tried to understand why he already had a room. He walked past the front desk and onto the elevator. They stopped on the sixth floor. He slid in a room key and opened the door. He wasted no time, and pushed Tamara onto the floral comforter on the bed. She didn’t know what to do or how to feel. She knew getting personal with her employer was a sure way to either be part owner of the company or get fired and have a one-way ticket home. But she was so light-headed, and he felt so good.

  “Hold up, let me get up for a minute. I have to go to the restroom,” Tamara said as she stumbled to the bathroom. He kissed her and walked her to the door. She looked at herself in the mirror and then sat on the closed toilet seat. What was she doing? What was going on? First she thought she was meeting Maurice to get fired, and now she was about to sleep with him in a hotel room.

  A hotel room. It hit her. Why did he have a hotel room? Did he plan on coming here already? Was he tired? When did he get the room? She knew Maurice was used to getting what he wanted and it suddenly became obvious that he thought because he wanted her she was just going to go along with it. But she wasn’t going to give in to him. She stood up and turned the water on and splashed some on her face just as he knocked on the door and asked if she was okay.

  “Yes, I’m fine.” She opened the bathroom door, prepared to tell him that she had to go, but before she could say a word he grabbed her in his arms and suckled on her neck. Her whole body went limp.

  “Maurice, please stop!” she said faintly as he stuck his tongue in her mouth, wildly licking sideways. He noticed her weak protest and began trying to calm her down by whispering, “Listen, nobody has to know we are seeing each other” in her ear.

  “But I work for you,” she mumbled.

  “It doesn’t matter. You know you want this just as much as I do,” he said while licking her earlobe. And he was right. Tamara did want Maurice. She wanted his body close to hers. So she allowed him to kiss on her neck and take her panties down. She let him hold her tightly and kiss her all over her body. She was in a daze until Maurice pulled out a condom and began tearing the wrapper. That’s when Tamara snapped out of it. She couldn’t sleep with her boss. How would she be able to work with him after they had sex?