I stared out over the club and saw it was packed as hell. I wondered if it was always like this, or if it was just because people knew we were gonna be here; probably a combination of both.
About an hour or so passed of us eating and drinking, before the DJ had my brothers and I speak over the microphone to the club to get everybody riled up. I must say, this club was new and well on its way to making a name for itself. The liquor was all top of the line, the food was good as fuck, the hostesses were attentive and sexy, and the music was right.
“Mr. Kordell, I’m sorry I have to bother you, but I have a young lady wanting to come in the section. She says she’s your girlfriend.”
“What?” Ishmael, Chaz, and I said in unison as Mischief laughed at my expense while blowing out smoke.
“I ain’t got no damn girlfriend!”
“I know, I know your wife, but the young lady wants to—”
“Hi, Kordell.” Butter face ass Farrah appeared out of nowhere, standing behind the bucket head ass nigga who was bumping his punk ass gums.
“Awww, hell nah!” Ishmael, Mischief, and Chaz said in unison before roaring with laughter.
“Man, get this bitch up outta here!” I hissed.
“For real, Kordell? I missed you while I was in jail.” Farrah smirked as the club employee turned her to face the other way so he could help her down the stairs.
“I can’t believe I stuck my dick in her ugly ass mouth.” I dropped my head into my hands and massaged my eyes. That bitch had gotten uglier while in jail. Her body was still looking hella right though.
“Bitch is ugly as fuck. How you even get hard?” Chaz frowned like he’d tasted something nasty.
“Ass is fat. Just bend it over and think about another bitch,” Mischief’s high ass added, staring off like he’d really sat and thought of that bullshit. I just ignored him because I never even fucked her.
“Nigga, she gon’ get you,” Ishmael laughed.
Lord please let this hating ass nigga be wrong. I prayed.
I didn’t need any of them ugly ass problems Farrah was trying to bring my way.
Laine
Today I had a really important meeting and I was beyond excited. Adidas reached out to my manager Mara to let her know they were interested in making me a brand ambassador. When she told me I almost didn’t believe it because I didn’t understand why such a big company would want me as their BA. But I had to remember that I’d come a long way from being the girl from South Side, borrowing money and hoping I could pay it back. I was a for real model, and the name Laine Loren actually meant something these days.
“Are you nervous?” Mara quizzed, smiling at me as we got onto the elevator.
“I am a little bit. I’m hoping that they decide to make me the brand ambassador. I don’t want to say anything that will cause them to change their minds.”
“They won’t, Laine. Remember they reached out to you, so obviously, they saw something they wanted. And think positively because this is gonna be big for you.”
“And should I mention the baby?”
“You’re not too far along so you don’t have to, but if you did, I can’t see why it would make a difference. If you were coming up on full term then yes, but you’re barely even two months. Your body looks good and like you said, you’re not as sick as you were the last time you got pregnant.”
“True,” I sighed as we stepped off the elevator.
Mara pulled open the glass door for me, and then we both entered to see a young white girl with deep brown hair and glasses, typing away on her computer.
“Hi, I’m Mara Henson, and this is my client, Laine Loren—”
“Oh yes, Miss Loren and Mrs. Henson. Sorry, I wasn’t focusing. I’m Marigold. Please, have a seat.” Marigold frantically shot up. “Again, I apologize I didn’t see you come in.”
“It’s fine honey,” Mara chuckled awkwardly. This girl needed to chill out on the Red Bulls or whatever pipe she was smoking on.
“Can I get you guys anything; water, tea, coffee? I can even go to the Starbucks downstairs if you have a preference for something more personal like a latte,” she ran off.
“No, I’m fine.” I nodded, picking my phone up out of my purse since it had buzzed.
When I looked closely I saw I had a Direct Message on Instagram from Tarik’s ass. We hadn’t seen one another since Mischief punched him in the clinic, and we hadn’t talked since I threatened to send Mischief back up there to finish what he’d started. That was over two years ago, so I wasn’t sure why he was messaging me. He and I had nothing to talk about.
Going into the app to block him, I clicked the message.
TarikBeThatNigga: I know I haven’t spoken to you in a long ass time, but I have thought about you. I see you’re doing well and shit. I saw your picture in the window of a clothing store all the way up here in Illinois. Anyway, my baby mama and I are having a bit of a hard time with the baby and shit, so I was wondering if I could hold something.
I burst into laughter, but quickly covered my mouth when Mara and Marigold looked my way. Did this nigga seriously just hit me up to ask for some money? Like honestly. I wasn’t even gonna dignify his pitiful ass message with a response.
Without even saying another word, I blocked him and put my phone back up. I snacked on some of my Teddy Grahams and water for a moment, and finally Marigold let us know that it was time for us to head on back.
The room we entered was big and spacious. There was a window overlooking the city, and a big glass table sitting in the middle. Adidas posters were on every wall, and there were different types of shoes hanging around, along with some Adidas gift bags. Seeing it all, and actually being in the midst of it had me even more nervous than before. This was really happening, and to me.
“Have a seat, Miss Loren.”
“Mrs. Benjamin is fine.” I half smiled at Marigold.
“Oh yes, how could I forget?”
“No worries.” I took a seat next to Mara.
I didn’t mind people in business calling me by my maiden, especially because I still used it for work, but Mischief didn’t play that shit with certain people. So just in case he ran into Marigold, I wanted her to have it right. Now these Adidas executives he wouldn’t trip on, but some regular like Marigold, yes.
“Mr. Wilbur and Mrs. Oliver will be in, in a moment, okay?” Marigold assured us before prancing out of the room.
Mara and I waited for about five minutes before we heard voices from afar. I rubbed my hands together to hopefully dissolve some of the sweat, and just as I took a deep breath I heard the two executives enter the room.
“Miss Loren, nice to meet you. I’m Carter Wilbur and this is my partner Irene Oliver.” He shook my hand once Mara and I stood up.
“Nice to meet you, and this is my manager, Mara Henson, the one you contacted.”
“Yes, of course; nice to meet you in person. So, let’s have a seat so we can chat a little bit, shall we?” Mrs. Oliver smiled.
We sat down at the big glass table, and it was quiet as Mr. Wilbur and Mrs. Oliver flipped through a few documents, while discussing something amongst themselves.
“Okay so as you know, we want you to be our brand ambassador. I’m not sure if you’ve been a brand ambassador before, have you?” Mr. Wilbur quizzed.
“Nope, never.”
“Great so we’re your first. I kind of like the sound of that,” Mrs. Oliver chuckled along with the rest of us.
“So basically, what you will be doing is promoting our brand but in a natural way so that your fans won’t necessarily feel like you’re just trying to sell them something. Do you wear anything from us?” Mr. Wilbur questioned further as Mara took notes of this whole meeting. I loved how on her job she was.
“Yes, I do. My husband just bought me some sneakers from you guys recently.”
“Nice, so you do like our product which is great. As I was saying, you will basically wear our tracksuits, our shoes, our backpacks, socks, our a
ctive wear, and accessories. But like I said, naturally, so of course you won’t constantly be wearing an Adidas track suit, but maybe when you run errands you’ll wear it, or when you work out you’ll go for our active wear,” he explained.
“I understand. Well I’m all for it. Like you said, I love your product and would be happy to be the BA for you guys.”
“Now what would the figures be like?” Mara held the tip of her pen to the pad, eyebrow raised as she waited for an answer.
“Right to it I see,” Mrs. Oliver joked as she pulled out some more papers.
“There will be a signing bonus of $100,000 and the brand ambassador deal in total will be for 1.5 million.”
“Oh my gosh!” I screeched out of shock, making every one chuckle.
“Thank you. And will this be paid in installments?” Mara quizzed as she jotted down the money amount.
“It will not be. The only thing that will be paid in installments will be the cut Miss Loren receives from the sales we get through her,” Mr. Wilbur answered and Mara nodded while writing.
“And how will you know if the item sold was because of me?”
“So, that’s the other part. We want to create a whole Laine Loren line, where you would get 60% of the sales from that. As far as other merchandise, we will track it by what item was posted or promoted by you. That you will get 30% of.”
“This deal is exclusive to my client, correct? She won’t be sharing the spotlight?”
“Of course not. No. Laine will be the only BA, and she will be the only one with a line through us at this time.”
“Wow,” I nodded. “I’m just curious, why did you guys choose me?”
“Well our goal as of late is to reach the 18-30 age group. Right now, that demographic hasn’t been very easy to reach out to. A lot of your fans are in that age bracket so seeing you as the face will definitely boost sales among them. Your image is that perfect balance. You’re married with a beautiful daughter so the wholesome more rigid people will like you. But, you’re young, hip, beautiful, influential, and feisty. Not to mention you’re married to the music business’ favorite bad boy,” Mrs. Oliver explained to me.
“Yes, you’re perfect,” Mr. Wilbur added.
I nodded with a smile and glanced at Mara who was smiling as well.
“So, what do you say, Miss Loren? Or Mrs. Mischief,” Mrs. Oliver and Mr. Wilbur chuckled, and Mara and I fake laughed with them.
Mrs. Mischief? Corny!
“We’re gonna have Laine’s lawyer look over the contract if you have it on you. Can we get back to you in about forty-eight hours?” Mara folded her arms.
Mara was like an older more sophisticated version of me. She was like a mother, and sometimes I wondered what it would have been like to be raised by someone like her. I would probably be away at Harvard like both of her daughters.
“Sure, that’s fine. Then once we have the contracts signed, we will cut you the check for the one hundred grand. After the photo shoot and the posters, we will give you the amount for the deal. Then we would get started on some ideas that you want for the Laine Loren inspired line,” Mr. Wilbur went over everything.
“Great, sounds good.”
We rose from our seats and all shook hands again. Before leaving, they gave me one of the huge gift bags sitting in the corner of the room. There were socks, sweatbands, two track suits, tights, socks, a back pack, and two pairs of tennis shoes inside.
“I hope it’s the right size. If not, we can switch it out really quickly.” Mr. Wilbur smiled at me as I sifted through the bag.
“No, it’s perfect. Thank you.”
As Mara and I walked to the car, I saw I had a text message from Erynne and a tagged picture that Mischief posted. Going into the Instagram app, I looked at the picture Mischief posted and laughed before showing Mara as we stepped off the elevator.
This nigga had posted a photo of me that he’d taken during my night time photo shoot and captioned it, ‘Pull out for what?’.
“He is wild,” Mara laughed along with me. “I just got the email from them with the contract so I’m gonna forward it to Peter, and he’s gonna CC you when he sends it back with his thoughts okay?”
“Great. See you soon, Mara.”
“Yes, don’t forget about your 4 a.m. call time tomorrow.”
“I won’t.”
Mara and I embraced and then started towards our cars. On my way to mine, I checked my text from Erynne and saw it was an article posted on an Instagram gossip blog. My heart dropped as I read the headline, “‘Ex-boyfriend of Model Laine Loren Says She Gave Him Chlamydia When They Dated’.”
Seriously? This is what this nigga does because I blocked him?
Me: I’m gonna kill him!
Erynne: Why would he lie like that? And why did he wait until now to tell?
Me: Probably because I ignored his request for money and blocked him.
Before I could even finish hitting send to Erynne, I got a text from Mischief.
Daddy: I’m killing that nigga
Chaz
Mischief finished this new single that Kordell and I were gonna release, so at the moment I was in the studio room inside of the Static building listening. Mischief wasn’t here today, and neither was Kordell, so it was just me in my zone.
For some reason, I was a bit afraid of what people would think, but this shit always happened. When our first album did as well as it did, I was nervous about the second album not being able to live up to the hype. I felt the same way about the lead single from the second album not being as good as ‘Good Girl’. However, that album and single did three times as well, so I was hoping our third album and lead single followed suit. If that shit moved less than the last album, I would for sure be feeling some type of fucking way.
As soon as the song went off, I started it right back over. I wanted to make sure that it was just as perfect as it sounded. Leaning back into the swivel chair, I laced my fingers together and closed my eyes. As my verse ended and the hook came in, I heard the door open. My eyelids flew up, and I saw my beautiful wife standing there with my baby. She had her hair hanging down messily, but it didn’t take away from her beauty at all.
A sweet smile covered her face as she lifted Cevynne’s carrier with a plastic bag sitting in it
“What’s that?”
“I made you something to eat,” she replied as she kissed Cevynne’s plump cheek.
“Thank you. Come here, pretty.” I reached out for my daughter and Erynne handed her to me as she began pulling the containers from the bag and placing them on the counter like bar that sat in between the studio mixer and the couch in the back.
“I like that song. What’s the name of it again?”
“Bad One.”
“That must be about me,” she grinned.
“Nah, you’re bad as fuck, but this song is definitely not about you.” I laughed along with her.
“Better not be. I heard some of the lyrics, so I know it’s about them trifling hoes.”
“Yep, but the good-looking ones.”
We both snickered as I got up to sit at the bar. She’d made me a panini which I loved, homemade chips, and then she bought my favorite drink, pineapple soda. After handing my baby back to her mama, I washed my hands in the bathroom located to the left side of the room, and then came back to eat.
“So, when is the tour?”
“Couple months. We’re aiming for the summer crowd. You coming with me ain’t you?” I bit the bomb ass sandwich. Shit had just the right amount of crispiness to it.
“Yeah I can I just… yeah I’m coming.”
“What’s on ya mind?” I palmed her hip and brought her into me so that she was positioned between my legs. She laid Cevynne in her carrier, which was on top of the bar, and then looked at me as I chewed my food.
“The girl that was gonna run the shop for me is kind of… I just don’t think she’ll be able to handle it.”
“Helene? I thought you said she was hell
a responsible.”
“She is but, some stuff is going on in her life right now. I guess I should start looking for someone else to run the shop.”
“Probably so. Let that bitch handle her shit and move on.”
Erynne just shook her head at me.
We talked for a little longer after I demolished my food, and then she left. I wanted to stay for about an hour longer, but I would be leaving soon because I was dead tired and I needed my ears to be fresh.
As I rose to my feet to start the music back up, the door opened again, but this time it was my old wife. Sucking my teeth, I plopped back down in the chair as the music played. I wasn’t stopping my shit for her.
I watched Jade as she pushed her stroller further in, and then sat down in the swivel chair next to me. She was smiling way too hard, while moving her body a little bit to the song.
Once it went off she said, “I love this one!”
“It’s about you,” I smiled, half lying. And I guess her ass didn’t listen to the words too closely because she grinned harder when I said that. “Why you here, Jade?”
“Well I’d like to think that we could still be friends. You know we were good friends before you decided to take things further.”
“Before I decided?” I pointed into my chest.
“Yes. I was fine being your little fuck buddy, but you asked me to be your girlfriend. And since I wasn’t ready to give up that good dick and conversation, I agreed.”
“And then went on to marry me.”
“Pretty much.”
Laughing and shaking my head at her ass, I said, “Wow. So again, why you here?”
“I need some advice. Now you know I’m pretty tough so I don’t want you to hold back from anything, okay?”
“You know you just missed Erynne, right? You can’t be popping up on me.”
“Oh, I know. We got here around the same time, so I waited until I saw her leave before I came inside.”
“And how you get pass security?”
“I don’t know. I told him my name was Jade Benjamin and he let me through. Maybe he still thinks I’m your wife.”
My Baby Is A West Coast King 4 Page 14