- & -
“Bro, Erin is like...the freak of freaks. I’m surprised she’s just now pulling that shit. How do you think she got her daughter signed in the first place?”
Dawson and I were out having a celebratory drink after getting confirmation that the Zalayah launch was a go. I was curious to hear his take on Erin’s antics, not that I was interested in her, but more so interested in the way she presented that I should ask him about her.
“Makes sense. She told me you would have some wonderful stories to share.”
“Hey, what can I say? I would’ve been a fool to turn that down. Did she show you her piercings?” I couldn’t believe he was so eager to have this conversation that he was actually leaning forward in his seat.
“Unfortunately.”
“Those things are like magic man. One little tweak and she’s squirtin’ all…”
I cut him off before he could finish, “I think I get it Dawson.”
“What...I’m just sayin’, and she’s a screamer too. Boy does she make some pretty…”
“Dawson! I get it, alright?” He laughed in response, taking a deep swig of his drink.
“I don’t know how you let her go without at least getting a little taste. You should’ve sent her my way.”
“I did.”
“Aww damn. Must’ve been when I was getting ready for the meeting. You know she calls me White Chocolate.” I had already heard enough, now the shit was overflowing.
“Bruh...come on now. You think I really wanna know what our client’s mom calls you in bed?”
“My bad Jamison, I guess I got a little carried away. It’s just the way she does this thing with her tongue....” I could only roll my eyes and settle in for story time as he clearly had too much to share to let it go unsaid.
ariel.
“Girl if I were you, I’d ride that fine specimen of a man, age be damned, then keep ‘em on my leash getting raise after raise. He may see it as the pleasure more than the business, but honey I see the business aspect clear as day.” Jasmine was the queen of ho ass advice. Of course she would go the screw-your-boss route considering she had pretty much already accomplished that at her job in California, getting her a promotion quicker than any of her colleagues.
“I’m not you Jaz. I can’t just...fuck somebody - fuck my boss - for the fuck of it.”
“I’m glad you corrected yourself cause you sure didn’t mind fuckin’ Jamison for the fuck of it.” I blushed and Jasmine picked up on it through the FaceTime screen on her phone. “Oh my gosh, you really like him don’t you?” Like wasn’t a strong enough word to describe how I felt about Jamison. It was unexpected but the feelings I had for him were unworldly, earnest, and downright sensuous.
“I do. We’re both just so busy with work that we really don’t have a ton of time to explore what’s happening between us. I mean we talk a lot, but actual time spent together is extremely limited.”
“Girl, ya’ll better make time. After hours, during work, you do what you gotta do just like every other working human being on this planet.” It made sense even though I was sure every other working human being didn’t have the crazy work schedule the music industry called for.
“You’re right. Matter of fact, I’m gonna text him right now.” I pressed pause on the screen of the Facetime call to go to my messages.
Ariel: What’s your schedule like tonight, Hot Shot?”
His response seemed to come immediately.
Jamison: Lol, I swear to God I had my phone in my hand just getting ready to text you. I’m free. You?
Ariel: Great minds think alike and I’m free too. Wanna come over?
Jamison: You don’t have to ask twice. See you around 8. ;)
- & -
“I’m sorry baby. It’s umm...been a little while.” I grinned to myself at the way Jamison tried to cover for his...quickness. It was actually a little flattering that I had so much sexual pull over him that he couldn’t help himself.
“You couldn’t handle it. I get it. I mean if I was you, I probably would’ve came…” He didn’t even let me finish teasing him as he flipped me on my back enveloping me with his slightly-sheened body.
“Ariel, don’t play. Now that the first one is out of the way, I can guarantee you won’t be talking anymore shit for the rest of the night.” He was already snaking his way down my body with kisses.
“You talk a good game Hot Shot, but I...shitttt.” He lifted his head away from my body just enough for me to see his eyes and a little smirk that was already coated with my juices.
“What was that? You were saying something?”
“Ummmm, no I wasn’t. Please proceed.” My head flew back the instant I felt his warm tongue on me. And just as I was getting settled in for the ride, it came to a stop.
“Nah, maybe I should stop since you wanna talk so damn much.”
“Me? Talk? I don’t even know how to do that. Now back to what you were doing.” Jamison laughed and I swear I could feel the vibrations of his timbre on my clit before he went back to the job he took extremely personal. It was like record time how fast I was screaming his name, allowing my body to provide its natural sexual celebration in response to his handiwork. As I dealt with the aftershocks, he made his way back up my body so that we were face-to-face.
“Now technically speaking, you came a hell of a lot faster than I did so now we’re even.”
Instead of settling for equality, I decided to up the ante. “I’ll admit that I lost if you do it again.” His brazen grin, still decorated with hints of my arousal, was enough for me to figure out that the challenge had been accepted.
jamison.
I could smell bacon and eggs in the distance as I rolled over and checked the clock on Ariel’s nightstand. Since it was Sunday and I had nothing work-related going on for a change, I considered going back to sleep but my stomach clearly thought otherwise as it growled an unruly grumble. I got out of bed, slipped on my boxer briefs that surprisingly hadn’t gotten lost in yesterday’s action and headed to the kitchen.
“Something smells good in here.”
Ariel turned around to give me the girliest of grins before she turned back around to whatever she was working on at the stove.
“Have a seat. Breakfast will be ready in five.”
“Is there something I can do? Maybe get the juice? Set the table? Grab your ass?”
She laughed so sweetly before she responded, “I’m down for all of the above.”
I walked over to her, wrapping my arms around her waist and giving her neck a nuzzle before speaking low into her ear. “I could get use to this. Wild sex sessions until the wee hours of the morning then waking up to breakfast being cooked by a sexy ass woman like you. Pretty much a man’s dream.”
She didn’t stop scrambling the eggs to respond, “You should probably dream bigger babe.”
“Ohhh...so now I’m babe huh?” I couldn’t help teasing her about it the same way she had teased me before.
“For the extra credit you put in last night, you are definitely babe. Babe, baby, boo, bae, alllll of that.”
“How about boyfriend? Can we add that to the list?” I felt childish as hell using the term boyfriend like a damn high schooler but there was really nothing else to call it. She moved the eggs away from the eye it was originally cooking on before she turned around still in my hold.
“That’s up to you Hot Shot. I mean, you do know what you’re getting yourself into right?” The fact that I didn’t get to see much of Ariel actually allowed me the opportunity to get to know her for who she was without the physical, although the physical was one hell of a bonus.
“Yeah, a relationship with your fine, smart, hardworking, ass throwin’ ass.” She laughed giving me a playful shove before I continued on. “No but for real, I’d like nothing more than to have the honor of being your man.” She bit her bottom lip, trying to stifle the grin that was developing regardless.
“Boyfriend it is.”
; ariel.
For the first time in ages, I was actually chipper on a Monday morning. Jamison and I were for real official, like Facebook relationship status change official. It didn’t take long for the phone calls and inbox messages to start coming in inquiring about the update which was one reason I hated social media; people you hadn’t talked to in forever were still in the know without you having to say a word to them. As I replied to the important ones, there was a knock on my office door before Valerie slid in, quickly closing it behind her.
“Hey Val, what’s up?” The look on her face told me whatever her visit was about was serious. At least serious enough for her to close the door.
“They know.” She spoke so low I could barely hear her.
“What?”
“The bosses. They know about your boyfriend over at Intergalactic. And they are not happy about it.” It was right around the twenty-four hour mark of the relationship’s existence but just like with everyone else, they were already in my business.
I should’ve never changed my Facebook settings back to normal.
“Why does it matter who I date?”
“You know Intergalactic is the enemy Ariel. I guess they think you may be double-crossing them.” My nostrils flared at their apparent revelation.
“That’s absurd. If anything, me being in good with someone from their camp should be an asset, not a liability. I mean do they really wanna make the hate so obvious?”
“Well you be sure to tell them that when they call you in, in about…” She peeked at the clock on my desk, “five minutes. I like you Ariel and you do good work here which is why I wanted to warn you about this. Well, warn you as much as I could.”
“I appreciate that Valerie.” She gave me a half-hearted smile before she walked out. Like clockwork, exactly five minutes later Valerie buzzed my phone saying J&J wanted to see me. I was grateful to at least be meeting with both of them instead of just AJ who would’ve surely made things weirder. I took a deep breath before I knocked on the door of one of the conference rooms my bosses shared.
“Come on in Ariel,” Mr. Johnson said in a surprisingly pleasant voice. I looked between the two who shared equally mischievous grins before I sat down.
“Valerie said you wanted to see me.”
“Yes. We’ve noticed some...conflicting extracurriculars as far as the label is concerned.” Mr. Johnson was doing the talking while AJ just sat nearby ogling as always.
“Conflicting in what manner?”
“Don’t play dumb Ariel. You’re dating a dude from Intergalactic Records,” AJ said with a smirk before he continued on, “Which actually works for us. We need the scoop. We know they’re working with that Queen Z girl but we’re not exactly sure what route they’re taking. That’s where you come in.”
“Me?”
“Yes. I’m sure you could get quite the spill during a little pillow talk. Maybe after you put that golden pussy on ‘em. At least that’s how I always dreamed of it. Pure gold.” I instantly threw up a little in my mouth.
Fuckin’ pervert.
“AJ chill out. On a serious note, we need you to find out what’s going on at Intergalactic; if you wanna keep your job that is.” He said it so unbothered that I almost didn’t believe he meant it.
“You’re kidding me right? That is not in the job description.”
“You do what you’re asked to do. Period. Now we expect a full report in two weeks. And if not, consider yourself gone.” The two men stood up so I did the same. I was almost out of the door when I felt a tug on my wrist and heard a voice way too close for comfort.
“You brought this on yourself Ariel. We could’ve done this the easy way. Hell, we still can. There’s a hotel about two blocks away…”
“AJ, if you don’t get your damn hands off of me I swear to God I will twist your nuts until they snap off in my hand.”
“That actually sounds delightful. I can do a little kink if that’s what you’re into.” I wanted to spit in his face, give him my best right jab, at least a knee to the nuts but all I could offer was my disgust.
“You’re pathetic.”
“Good thing I’m the boss then huh?”
Instead of basking in his nasty ass aura, I ripped my wrist out of his hold and stormed back to my office. I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. I liked Jamison. Hell, if I was being honest with myself, I was borderline in love with Jamison. So how could I possibly betray someone I cared about so much? Then it hit me, this wasn’t about the relationship between Jamison and I. This was about me doing my job and since this was the task at hand, I had to suck it up and handle it. I could only hope Jamison would understand my decision.
jamison.
“Damnit girl. If it was up to me, I’d ditch work to do this more often.” Ariel was fuckin’ me like a woman on a mission over my now extended lunch break and all I could do was sit back and enjoy the ride. After what I assumed to be a final round of lovemaking, I held her snug against my chest, her now wild hair grazing my chin.
“Speaking of work, I thought you said the Zalayah campaign was getting ready to launch?”
“We had a little delay. The mastered version of her first single got lost so we’re in the middle of redoing it.” I still couldn’t believe that shit but luckily things were already in motion to get it replaced.
“Oh yeah? Is it hot?”
“Come on now. We wouldn’t put it out if it wasn’t. It’s a game-changer.”
“A game-changer huh? What’s it called?”
“Puppy Love. Some straight teenager shit. The kids will love it for sure. Nice beat, sing-along lyrics, the whole nine. The production team killed it.” Zalayah’s first real single was gonna be at least a hundred notches above that Queen Z bullshit she started off with. And the song fit perfect with the teenybopper image we had created for her.
“Ohh puppy love. How cute. I can definitely remember those days.”
“Me too. Writing corny love notes in class and grabbing booty. Hell, even getting to see a titty here and there when the girl was trying to impress me.”
She shrugged herself out of our cuddle so that she could look at me when she replied, “Impress you with a titty? Just what kind of girls did you attract?”
“The easy ones for sure. But that’s the past. I have my future in my arms right now; no need to go there.”
She seemed to tense up a little, looking down before she pushed out, “Yeah. Your future.”
“What about you? What’s new over at J&J?” She wrapped herself in the sheet, deciding to sit up instead of return to her rightful place on my chest.
“Umm…nothing. Nothing at all.”
“Nothing? Come on now Ariel, there’s always something going on. Or is it just top secret,” I questioned teasingly even though she didn’t seem to react with any ounce of humor.
“I guess it’s considered top secret. You’ll learn about it all soon enough though.”
- & -
“I don’t understand. I mean, those files were sealed tight. How would J&J get their hands on Zalayah’s first single so easily?” Dawson was beet red, pacing back and forth in front of my desk as we both tried to figure out how the rug had been pulled out from under us. We were just getting ready to release the track as the beginning of Zalayah’s music campaign and BAM… J&J’s corny ass girl group released a track so similar that there was no way we could drop ours without looking like a copycat.
“I wouldn’t put anything past them. The file did mysteriously get lost in the first place; it probably happened then.”
“This is bullshit man. We were this close to a smash and now it’s gone.”
“Calm down Dawson. We have more in the tank. Her YouTube subscribers have damn-near tripled since she started doing those dance tutorial videos and she has a few movie auditions coming up too. Maybe the music part will just have to be put on the backburner until we can come up with something new.” Although the song was very important, it definitely wasn’t the only thing
we had going for us.
“Yeah I guess you’re right but still, how crooked can they be? It’s not like they don’t have people to write songs for them, so why would they need ours?” Even though Dawson had been in the industry a little longer than me, he was still a little naïve on how things went.
“It’s not about needing ours; it’s simply about taking it away from us. That’s how this industry works. People steal tracks all the time. We just have to play this smarter so it doesn’t happen again.”
Dawson continued pacing his anxiety away as he said, “I wish I could be as cool about this as you.”
“I’m not happy about it, but I also know it’s not the end of the world. The hard part will be breaking it to Z. You know she’s been looking forward to shooting a video for the song.”
Dawson finally stopped his pacing to say, “I’ll send a memo to her manager and make her do it.”
“You mean her ‘mom-ager’?”
“Yeah, Freaky Ass Erin,” Dawson said with a grin, his first since he had entered my office with the news.
“Well, you go handle that and I’m gonna go see what I can find out about this whole song fiasco.”
Once Dawson went on his way, I closed up shop in my office and headed for J&J Records. As I started the short walk, I sent Ariel a text.
Jamison: You at the office?
Ariel: Aren’t I always ;)? What’s up?
I had no intentions of replying; just wanted to make sure my visit would be justified. Going on J&J turf may not have been the brightest idea, but I at least had a reasonable excuse to be there thanks to my girlfriend. Once I made it inside of their building, I was stopped by a perky receptionist.
“You must be Jamison. I’ve heard so much about you. Okay, not really. I just stalked your Facebook page once I found out you were the one Ariel was seeing. Your profile picture surely doesn’t do you justice.”
“Umm...thanks. I’m actually here to surprise her. Can you show me where her office is?”
Getting The Edge Page 6