by Ebony Garris
She decided to just let things play out. “Look Sean what happened last night was amazing but it was just that. There is no you and me anymore, Miles is my man now and we have to respect that. I love you and I always will but I’m not in love with you, I’m in love with Miles and that’s where my heart lies.” Paris said giving Sean a hug goodbye. Sean pushed her away. “Paris you mean to tell me after all these years you just want to give up on me like that? Give up on us after all these years we’ve been through stuff, think about this Paris I know I can’t give you the glamorous life you are now accustomed to but in due time baby I will give you all that and more, follow your heart.” Sean said pressing his hand in hers and putting it up to her racing heart.
“Sean all I ask is that you don’t ruin this for me, for us. We’re living our dreams; please let’s just keep this to us, if you have as much love for me as you say you do please just keep this between me and you.” Paris said looking Sean in the eyes and then walking off. Sean was floored and enraged. Miles really had her sprung. Sean didn’t know what to do. The woman of his dreams just turned her back on him and left him in the dust once again.
Chapter 11
All Falls Down
Fiji Island was something that Tammy never seen before. St. Tropez was amazing but compared to Fiji it felt like a tourist site. Fiji was like an exotic oasis filled with crystal blue waters, white sands and serenity. Not to mention secluded as hell. It seemed like her and Jihan had the whole island to themselves. As they made their way to the Tokoriki Island Resort, Jihan could see the joy in his baby’s eyes. She was on cloud nine and he could tell he had really out done himself this time. He was lucky enough to reserve them a sunset pool villa that overlooked the beach with their own private plunge pool. Yet with all that he still felt horrible on the inside for lying to Tammy about Miles being the one who wanted to kill her. He went back and forth in his mind so many times about how he would tell her, when he would tell her, and still he drew nothing. His biggest fear was that Tammy would feel she could never trust him again. But for the sake of his own life he couldn’t tell her. He was broken out of his train of thought. “Hey babe are you going to open the door so we can check out our room?” Tammy said sarcastically as she waited for him to open the door to their exotic love nest. Tammy was so excited. This trip was just what they needed after all the bullshit that went down in her life. I mean she beat some serious odds considering she was shacking up with the man who was hired to kill her. It really weighed heavy on her mind that she didn’t know who hired him, or why someone would even want to kill her in the first place. Aside from the jealous insider industry chicks who hated on her long time relationship with Miles she didn’t know who could have wanted her dead. One thing she did know for sure was that her and Jihan were going to have a happy family with a quiet life and no more industry spotlight. Hell that’s what got her in this mess. After she left Miles she was convinced that he would come after her, wanting to be a family and make things right between them, but she guessed that was just wishful thinking. But like your elders always say God has a reason for everything in your life and it all has a purpose. That purpose being, clearing the way for a good HONEST man to come into her life. She just couldn’t help but wish that she was carrying his child instead of Miles. It was a good thing Jihan didn’t know Miles. She was glad that Jihan was a different type of man than the others she’d messed with in the past. He was attentive to her needs, and accepted her flaws and all whether she was rocking a six inch stiletto or household flats. That’s what she loved most about him. As the two entered the room and got comfortable Jihan’s IPhone buzzed on his hip. It was their house sitter. Jihan didn’t even know they existed but Tam insisted that they get one to look after the house while they were gone for God knows how long. He picked up to see what was going on. “Hey Mr. Bloom you haven’t burned my house down yet have you?” Jihan asked with his sarcastic voice. “Hmm… I don’t know a Mr. Bloom but I do know a man by the name of Mr. Crawford who’s been looking for your ass nigga, where the fuck are you?” Miles yelled through the phone on the other end. Jihan was speechless he though for sure Miles wouldn’t find him. He knew Tammy contacting him was going to be their downfall. He couldn’t tell her though, not now anyway he didn’t want to upset her. Instead he just opted to see what Miles wanted. He excused himself from Tamyra. “Hey babe I’m going to take this outside poolside it’s business, but you relax and get settled we’ll catch lunch in a few.” He said kissing her forehead then rubbing her belly. Jihan walked out the French doors and onto their private pool area. “Miles look I have no reason to avoid you nigga, I’ve been handling business, what the fuck do you want, I’m a busy dude and I don’t…” Miles abruptly cut Jihan off “Look Jihan, I don’t know who the hell you think you’re talking to but we have some unfinished business and until that business is finished in the form of 500,000 dollars, I’ll see to it that you, Tamyra and MY baby girl inside her don’t see the light of day.” Miles said hanging up the phone before Jihan could respond. He left out the front door leaving Mr. Bloom tied and duct taped in the closet! He contemplated merking his old ass but opted against it, shit he had bigger fish to fry. Jihan was left there with a loud dial tone blazing in his ear. He couldn’t believe this was happening! It wasn’t supposed to go this way. He needed to think fast and in a hurry. But all he could do was think about how he let Tammy down and what he would do after she found out the truth about him knowing Miles.
Paris was a nervous wreck. Not only was she worried about performing her music to a T, she was also nervous about the type of feedback she would receive from everyone. Getting respect in New York was one thing, but people down South liked different music and she wanted to be accepted well. As she finished getting touched up her glam squad gave her a minute to herself. She looked around at all the good luck cards she received and felt good positive energy. Her cell phone buzzed breaking her out of her trance. She picked up her blackberry and began to read the text.
“Paris I can’t wait to see you tonight, I’ll be right in the front row to give you the support you need unlike that old ass nigga you wit;-)
-Sean
This was great now along with her nerves she also had to worry about Sean stalking her and popping up all over the place! What was a girl to do? Knock, Knock “Paris you’ve got five”. The production assistant yelled from the other side of the door! Without hesitation Paris got herself together and made her way towards the door, and right as she opened it Sean stood there with flowers in hand. “Sean this is getting ridiculous, I told you that we couldn’t work things out, I’m with Miles now and I really love him, whatever little feelings we thought we felt back in Chicago a couple months ago are null and void, I’m engaged.” Paris said standing firm in her tone. Paris made her way from in front of Sean and as she walked backstage and got ready to hit the stage Sean yelled out “Well then Paris in your case I hope you love him to death.” Sean said making his way out the venue totally enraged. He only had one thing on his mind and that was making Miles’ and Paris’ life a living hell. Kim loved the life of being a stylist the only thing she absolutely hated was being a stylist to Paris. As she packed Paris’ rack of clothes together as the show was underway she thought about how much she missed working with Tammy. They used to have the best of times on Miles’ dime as they traveled the world and shopped till they dropped. It seemed so weird to her that Tammy just up and disappeared and then turned up dead. She knew that something was up between her and Miles she just thought it had to do with Miles’ excessive cheating. The media said it was a suicide but Kim knew better. More than ever she regretted the fact that her and Miles were sleeping together behind Tammy’s back. Right about now all Kim wanted to know was why she wasn’t next in line. Hell her and Miles had started kicking it behind Tammy’s back months before Paris came into the picture so naturally she thought once Tammy and Miles called it quits she would be next in line but that wasn’t the case. So far she just heard that Miles
and Tammy had a huge falling out over Paris which made Tammy leave and vacate to St. Barts. Just the thoughts of it all frustrated and enraged her. She took out the frustration on Paris clothes as she repacked. Kim rummaged through the clothes, shifting jeans and tops. As she moved out the jeans to fold she came across a bag of coke that feel from a pair of undergarments sitting within the duffel bag. Kim was floored, Did it belong to Paris’? Was she set up? Better yet was she hooked? She had a dozen questions to ask, but she decided to keep this little secret to herself and use it for a later time. She kept the room as it was and took out her bold pink cybershot digital cam and took pictures, along with proof that it was Paris’ dressing room. She fixed everything as it was and wrapped the bag of coke in the undergarments placing it back where she found it. As she finished up Paris came rushing through the door sweating worse than a NYC marathon runner who just won. She handed Paris a towel. “Girl you tore it up out there, Kim said with a fake smile plastered across her face. “Aww thanks girl I looked good too all thanks to my bomb ass stylist. “ Paris said genuinely as she gave Kim a huge hug. Kim gave her a tight hug back. If there was anything that Kim wanted more it was to bring Paris down for taking her man. It wasn’t until now that she had something to use against her, although the little drug debacle wasn’t enough to bring her down it was a start. “So girl lets get you into your post party outfit and get out of here, I’m ready, it’s a celebration!” Kim said beaming. “Oh yea what are we celebrating for?” Paris asked dumfounded. “You girl.” Kim said with the thought of revenge well and alive!
Chapter 12
I Used to Love H.E.R
The sun was setting as Tammy and Jihan looked towards the beach from their private cabana while they relaxed in the huge hammock. As close and tightly as they hugged each other Tammy still felt distance between her and Jihan. It seemed as if his mind wasn’t into her at all, as if his thoughts were bogging his mind down like a ton of bricks. She didn’t want to ruin the mood by asking him what was wrong so she opted to just kiss him instead and smother her head in his sculpted chest. She could understand his frustration, hell he was in love with a chick that was carrying another man’s baby that he didn’t even know. And yet he loved her and her unborn daughter unconditionally. There was nothing Tammy could do to express how grateful she was to have him in her life, or how much she loved him, all she could do was love him as hard or harder to ensure he knew he had her heart. So many times Tammy thought about how anyone would be able to trust a man who was sent to assassinate him or her, and how odd it was for a person to fall in love with that person. But then she realized how God sent this special person into her life for a reason and it reminded her of all the hurt Miles put her through in order to allow her to love this man. She wished that she was carrying Jihan’s child instead of Miles, but in her mind her child was Jihan’s. Miles made it clear he wanted Tammy to abort their child, and wanted nothing to do with her. She just went the extra mile for Gabby so that she would know her mother tried to involve her father in every single way. Tammy never had the love of a father in her life, which is why she felt she never could have a good relationship. She always allowed men to make excuses. Not anymore, ever since Jihan exposed her to the true meaning of love she understood that, she was a rare jewel that any man should be privileged to have. They were so honest with one another when it came to everything. Well almost everything. They never did go into depth about the assassination plot. Jihan always emphasized how that was in the past and talking about it would only put a strain on their relationship. Instead he would counteract the strange subject by talking about how thankful they should be to have found one another, and how much of a blessing it was for Tammy to be alive. He would say things like this don’t just happen, they’re destined and designed. With all that said Tammy still did have a void to know who hired Jihan and who really wanted her dead. There was one time when Jihan did explain that his assignments came from an undisclosed source who then assigned the job to his boss which was the head of the company. Tammy never knew killing people was so organized, but as Jihan explained he would never know who asked for the job to be done, he just knew he had a job to do. Upon him saving her life Tammy and Jihan went into secret hiding, they even went as far to change their names in public records. Jihan’s name changed to James while Tammy’s name changed to Robin. Under their new names they moved to Atlanta and had a life of their own. Tammy couldn’t be happier. She still stayed in contact with Miles via letters that she had courier to him using an unknown address. She couldn’t let Jihan know that he would have a heart attack instead she just told him one of her girlfriends from ATL who frequently visited NYC dropped the notes off for her. She didn’t want to lie to him yet she still wanted to keep Miles involved in their child’s life, even if he didn’t care. At times she thought Jihan yelling about keeping in touch with Miles was just his jealousy, and outright rage towards Miles being a deadbeat dad. She was just grateful to have found a man who wanted to be involved and that she had help in raising her child. She looked into Jihan’s eyes “I love you so much, you’re my everything baby.” She said her heart nearly dropping as she thought about how much he meant to her. Jihan said nothing and just held her tightly hoping his grip would tell her how much he loved her back. He just couldn’t bring himself to say anything to her. Especially knowing the mess he had gotten them into. He had been thinking, instead of revealing everything to her now they would just continue to travel for a couple more weeks to let things die down. They had been in Fiji for three weeks already and were due to go back tomorrow night. With Tam being close to twenty weeks pregnant they really shouldn’t be traveling too far out the state, but she was safer out here than anywhere else. He was thinking of moving them somewhere like Italy or way out the states where they could really just live and forget everything. They had their passports under their new names, which they had for months now so no one would suspect anything. He decided to run everything by Tam over dinner. It was their last night here and he had to make it special yet keep in mind that Miles’ was hot on their trail and he had to protect his family. The sense of urgency was there meeting Jihan square in the face. He would have to make a decision of where they were going before the night’s end. Jihan put his game face on and sat Tammy up. “Babe we should be getting ready for dinner, and I’ve got a surprise so we better get going.” Jihan said as he got up to go. Surprise? What else could this boy have up his sleeve? Tammy thought to herself as she wobbled behind Jihan making her way to their resort room.
The whole Golden Boy crew was in full effect at Compund Nightclub as they begin popping bottles in celebration of Paris and her early success. Paris walked in the club with Miles on her arm in a deep purple Herve Leger dress and her favorite shoes of choice a snakeskin pair of Christian Louboutins on her feet. Her hair remained bone straight and her face was beat! In other words she looked stunning. It was a shame she wouldn’t remember any of it. Her and Miles decided to start the night off right by smoking some weed, which Paris now noticed, was laced with cocaine. Miles thought he was slick but little did he know Paris was already a pro at containing her high. Hell it would take more than that to get her off which is why she snorted a bit from her stash to keep her feeling easier and breezier than her favorite cover girl lipstick. Unascertained to Miles, Paris’ little frequent use with drugs had now become a habit. Seeing as he never saw her snort coke he just thought she only did it when he laced it with weed, rationalizing that she didn’t even know coke was laced within the joint. Paris was playing the game just right and her fame was right in her palms.
As she ambled into her first industry party with Miles as her man and dispatched of the “just a manager” title all eyes were on them. It was like their coming out party and they were eating up the attention. They couldn’t be happier. As the DJ announced their arrival everyone cheered for Paris as the jock spinned her new single “I Used to Love Him” which was now number one according to soundscan! As Miles walked his girl into VI
P there were pink bottles of NUVO (Paris’ favorite sparkling liquor) resting in buckets of ice. Everything was perfect, Miles even arranged for her favorite vanilla buttercream frosted cupcakes from Magnolia’s to be delivered from NYC. Paris was speechless. Miles really went out his way to make sure that this night was inordinate for her and it reiterated why she wanted to be with him that much more. What happened between her and Sean never should have happened and she was just glad it was behind her. She really hoped that Miles would never find out and promised herself that she would never tell a soul. Too bad Sean wasn’t on the same page. He was so controlling and selfish. He always wanted what he wanted and would do anything to get it. So with that being said Paris had to watch her back ten times more than usual and retract all her steps dotting every I and crossing every T. Shit everyone has a weak point she had hers and now it was over. As the drugs took over Paris she grabbed Miles hand and led them to their private VIP section away from the industry cats. Inside the room Paris grinded on Miles as if they were back in Chicago at the Cat Box instead of a secluded VIP room in a popular club. Miles savored every minute of it directing Paris’ hips trying not to get too excited. Judging from the tightness of her dress he realized a long time ago that she had no underwear on and that mere thought alone had him standing at attention. Paris was on ten and wanted to sex her man down right there, until she felt a vibration from Miles pants. Not the type of vibration she was hoping for… it was his blackberry going off. Miles halted his private dance for a second as he took the call. “Hey this is Miles”. It was Miles hit man who he hired to go after that bitch ass nigga Jihan. The dude told him that Jihan and Tammy would be leaving Fiji Island tomorrow but it didn’t seem as if they were headed back towards Atlanta. Miles new hitman had been disguised as a bellhop at their Fiji resort and was assigned to Tammy and Jihan’s room. According to the hitman Jihan was on a suspiciously long phone call with American Airlines getting first class tickets to some location that he failed to say loud enough for him to hear. Miles was told that the hitman would be following the two to the airport tomorrow night and would get a flight to wherever they were going. For once Miles felt at ease. Finally his problems would be taken care of and all before Paris would have a chance to figure out anything! He hurried the conversation to an end before Paris could suspect anything and got back to his lap dance. As he sat there with the woman of his dreams a trace of Tammy ran across his mind… he couldn’t believe he even used to love her!