by Joy King
Shari was ecstatic to carry his seed, since at the time he was the new up and coming hot young actor. She couldn't get pregnant fast enough. But soon she realized the once hot actor's career was colder than a tray of ice cubes and by then it was too late. Shari was eight months pregnant, and she also found out that not only did he already have two crumb snatchers by two different women, but that another girl who lived down the street from her was also pregnant with his child.
The stress hit Shari so hard that her doctor had to put her on bed rest for the duration of her pregnancy. Needless to say, her baby daddy didn't even stick around for the delivery of their son, and since his career was over before it started, it wasn't even worth taking him to court for child support. Like Chantal told her, you can't get water from a dry well. That was a hard knock lesson Shari had to learn and she planned on never making that mistake again.
But lately, an optimistic cloud was floating above her head. She couldn't help but think of what Chantal said about her spaceship maybe finally coming in. Could Jalen be the millionaire husband she'd been praying for? Would a man finally step in her life and hold it down for her and her son? These were all questions Shari had, and hoped they'd be answered soon.
As she made the final touches to her deliciously cooked meal, she reasoned that once Jalen got a taste of her food and a taste of what was between her legs, the deal would be sealed and she'd be taking "Griffin" on as her last name.
"Coming," Shari whistled as she heard Jalen knocking on her front door. And so the games begin, she thought to herself.
Tyler woke up early the next morning still wearing the same clothes she had on yesterday. She remembered her mother and William staying by her side until she cried herself to sleep. It still didn't seem real to her that Chrissie was gone and never coming back.
On her way up the stairs to take a shower and put on some clean clothes the doorbell rang. She wasn't in the mood to see anybody, but with so much going on something told her to answer. When she opened the door two men were standing outside. "Can I help you?"
"Yes, Ms. Blake, I'm Detective Reilly and this is my partner, Detective Richards," he said as they both flashed their badges. "We're sorry to bother you, but we wanted to ask you a few questions."
"Do I need to have my attorney present?"
"Of course you can if you would like, but we don't think it's necessary."
"What are the questions pertaining to?"
"Chrissie Nichols."
"Oh, please come in."
"Thank you, Ms. Blake."
"I apologize if I came off a bit unreceptive. With Chrissie's accident and so many other things going on I'm not myself."
"No need to apologize. I know there must be a lot of pressure being a big movie star and all. We'll try not to take up too much of your time."
"No, please, whatever you need. Chrissie was like a sister to me."
"Ms. Blake, I'm sorry you had to get the door. I was in the middle of doing some cleaning," the maid explained
"Don't worry about it, Deanna. These detectives wanted to speak with me about Chrissie's accident."
"That's so sad. I'm still in shock. Chrissie was a very nice woman. Can I get you gentleman anything?"
"We're fine."
"How about you, Ms. Blake?"
"A glass of orange juice would be great."
Deanna went to the kitchen while Tyler led the detectives to the living room.
"Please have a seat."
The officers sat down on the pristine white mohair velvet couch across from Tyler. "Ms. Blake-"
"Call me Tyler."
Detective Reilly began talking as his partner took out his pen and pad to take notes. "Tyler, we have reason to believe that your friend Chrissie's accident was actually murder."
"What, who would want to kill Chrissie?"
"Do you know a man by the name of Evan McNeil?"
Hearing that name made Tyler feel that they were resurrecting the devil.
"Yes, that's my stepbrother. But what does Evan have to do with this?"
"Here you go, Ms. Blake," Deanna said, leaning down to place the glass on the high-gloss custom white coffee table.
"Evan McNeil was discovered last night dead in a black Yukon Denali with what seems to be a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The front of the truck was damaged, and we believe it was the vehicle used to drive your friend off the road.
We won't know for sure until we run tests to match the paint. Apparently he also left a suicide note and forensics is checking to see if the signature is a match."
"Oh, Ms. Blake, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to spill the juice," Deanna said with her hands shaking.
The detectives both reached in their pockets and pulled out their handkerchiefs, cleaning up the small mess. "I'll bring you another glass."
"That's okay." Tyler stood up, clutching her arms and feeling as if the walls were caving in on her. "In the letter, did he say why he killed Chrissie?"
"Supposedly she found out he was out to get you and trashed your trailer. Did that happen?"
"Yes, somebody wrote in blood that I was a dead bitch. That was Evan?"
"We believe so. He probably got scared that she would blow the whistle on him and decided to kill her. But it seems his conscience kicked in and the guilt was eating him up, so he also ended up killing himself."
"It's all my fault."
"No, Ms. Blake, you can't blame yourself. Evan McNeil was evidently a very disturbed man," Detective Reilly said. "But it would be helpful if you could explain what Mr. McNeil had against you."
"When I was a little girl, Evan tried to molest me. His father caught him and threw him out of the house. They never reconciled and Evan always blamed me. About ten years ago he showed up at our house and he threatened me and my mother, but I never believed he would follow through on it. Now my best friend is dead because of that monster. I wonder if he's responsible for digging up that information on Andre and leaking it to the press." Tyler wondered out loud.
"Excuse me?"
"Sorry, I'm thinking out loud. Chrissie was on her way to see me before the accident. There was an article in the paper yesterday about my fiance, Andre Jackson, and Chrissie told me she knew who leaked the story. But of course she never had a chance to tell me. I can't help but wonder if it was Evan."
"We'll check into that. It would make sense."
"I'm glad this madness is making sense to one of us because it's totally sending my life into a tailspin. Detectives, if you don't have anymore questions, I really need some time alone."
"Of course, but we will keep you posted on any new developments."
"Thank you. Deanna, can you please show the detectives to the door?"
Deanna obliged and Tyler immediately headed to the kitchen and opened up a new bottle of champagne. After her third glass, she felt that champagne was no longer enough and desperately wanted something stronger to numb her pain.
When Chantal woke up in the morning she decided that it was time for her to go home to Chicago. She was beginning to wear her welcome out in the city of stars and yearned for a break.
She pulled out her Louis Vuitton Damier Azur luggage collection and began packing. After finishing, she slipped on a pair of shapely fitting Genetic jeans with a cream colored cropped cape and Devi Kroell python boots. She pulled her honey blond locks back loosely in a pony tail, dabbed on some lip gloss, put on her gold sculptured, hand-polished acetate frame shades and headed to the LAX airport.
"Shari, I'm in the car headed towards the airport and I need you to pick me up when I arrive in Chicago."
"Of course. But girl, what made you decide to finally come home?"
"For one, I miss Melanie, and pretty soon my parents are going to think she's their daughter if I don't go get her. And two, this Hollywood lifestyle isn't for me. It's been nothing but drama since my arrival. Girl, even a scheming ass bitch like me needs to fall back and take a break every now and then."
"I heard
that. I can't wait to see you. Call me and let me know what time you'll be landing and I'll be there."
Chantal was looking forward to going back to a place that everybody loved her despite her flaws.
T -Roc had just finished up his one hour morning ritual on the Vision Fitness X6600 HRT, when a call came in. He gulped down half of his vitamin water and used the towel to wipe away the sweat from his face before answering the phone. "Hello," he answered, not exhibiting any indication that he had just put in a strenuous workout.
"Hi, T-Roc, this is William."
"William, how are you?"
"Not good. I don't know if you heard, but Chrissie Nichols was in a fatal car accident yesterday."
"Dear God, are you serious?"
"Yes. We're having her funeral Monday. Of course you're more than welcome to come. So instead of leaving Monday to go to New York to finish filming, we're leaving Wednesday."
"I understand. How's Tyler holding up?"
"Not good. She's taking it very hard."
"I can imagine. Chrissie was such a lovely woman. I can't believe a tragedy like this happened to her. You truly have to be grateful for each day."
"You're so right, T-Roc. I was saying the same thing myself. I have a few other calls to make, but if you'll like to attend the funeral I'll have my assistant call you later on with the details."
"I'd appreciate that, William, and thanks for calling."
T-Roc walked in the bathroom, turned on the faucet and splashed water across his face. He then stared at his reflection in the mirror. He had surprised himself with the lengths he was going through to have Tyler. He felt he had done her and the world a favor by getting rid of Evan, but having Chrissie killed left him with remorse. If only she would have stayed silent and not threatened to expose everything to Tyler, T-Roc kept saying to himself. But it was too late. Chrissie was dead and there was no bringing her back. He knew he couldn't dwell on it any further because all it would do was drive him mad. What you won't do, do for love But what type of love is this?
"Ms. Blake, there is someone here to see you," Deanna said outside of Tyler's bedroom door. Tyler was starting to wake up from her champagne induced sleep and wasn't quite alert.
"Send them away," she said with her voice slurring.
"The gentleman said it's very important. He needs to see you."
"Who is it?"
"A Mr. Ian Addison."
"Damn, I don't feel like seeing him." But knowing Ian, if I don't hear what he has to say then he'll keep coming back until we talk, Tyler said to herself. "Deanna, tell him to wait and I'll be down in fifteen minutes."
"No problem."
Tyler dragged herself out of bed and took a couple of migraine Excedrin before getting in the steam shower. By the time she let the hot water drench her body, put on a pair of sweats and tank top, her headache was beginning to subside. When she got downstairs Ian was staring out the vast windows watching the waves. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"Tyler, I didn't hear you come down. But yeah, you're right, this view is incredible. I need me a place like this to get away and unwind. It's so peaceful."
"Tell me about it. Now if I can only get my front gates fixed then maybe I can have some real peace, since my home has become a revolving door."
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have popped up like this."
"It's okay. I'll admit at first I didn't want to see you, but now that I have, it's nice."
"I guess that's a good thing."
"I would say so. How did you find out where I live anyway?"
"Tyler, this is my town. What can't I find out?"
"Too bad you couldn't have found out that someone was going to kill Chrissie."
"Kill? I thought Chrissie died in a car accident."
"That's what it seemed like at first, but early this morning a couple of detectives came to see me, and it wasn't an accident. My stepbrother, Evan purposely ran Chrissie off the road."
"What?"
"Yeah. I don't feel like rehashing everything, but basically he was seeking revenge against me, and Chrissie found out about it. He killed her to shut her up, and now both of them are dead."
"Tyler, I'm so sorry. I know how much you loved Chrissie, but please don't blame yourself."
Ian wrapped his long muscular arms around Tyler, making her feel secure. In her heart she wished it was Andre that was doing so, but he still hadn't reached out to her or returned any of her calls.
"I also wanted to apologize for happened with Chantal at the charity event," he added, stepping back and releasing Tyler from his embrace.
"You're not responsible for Chantal's actions."
"I know, but I should've never told her about our past."
"Why did you anyway?"
"There were so many feelings I had built up and I wanted to get them off my chest. Chantal was there to listen."
"Out of all the women, you would confide in the one who hates me the most."
"Hated by few, but loved by so many."
"So you think."
"Look at you. Tyler Blake, this huge superstar."
"You're one to talk. You're like, what, one of the biggest basketball players in the world. You're on every freaking billboard in LA."
"Maybe so, but you're a movie star. When we first met, you always told me you wanted to be a star."
"I remember. You made me feel like my dream was a bad joke."
"It wasn't that I thought your dream was a joke, I was j ealous."
"Jealous of what?"
"That if you stepped out there and pursued stardom that you would make it and I would lose you. That was my biggest fear, but I ended up losing you anyway. What happened with us Tyler? Why couldn't we make it work?"
"We were both so young and caused each other too much pain. We weren't good for one another. Our relationship was so volatile. And after all these years, I still can't seem to get it right."
"Neither can I. Any day now I'll be signing my divorce papers, and I don't know what I'll do next."
"I'm sorry your marriage didn't work, especially since you all have a child together."
"I heard that you have a little one too."
"My son, Christian. I miss him so much. I'm excited because we're going to spend a couple of weeks together while I'm filming in New York."
"That's great. When are you leaving?"
"We were supposed to leave Monday, but we're having Chrissie's funeral, so Wednesday."
"We have a game against the Knicks on Friday. I would love if you and your little man would come and cheer me on."
"I think he would like that, and so would I."
"I hope you don't mind me asking, but what is going on between you and Andre?"
Tyler put her head down. She realized that she somewhat opened the door for this line of questioning, but it was still hard to talk about. "Andre said he needed space, which technically means we broke up. But I'm hoping he'll come to his senses and realize we belong together, because I love him so much."
"I can see it in your eyes. He'll be back. He'd be crazy not to.
"I pray that you're right, because my heart can't take another blow."
Shari was right on time picking Chantal up from the airport. After Chantal tipped the skycap for putting her luggage in the back of Shari's classic silver metallic Lexus LX, she sat in the passenger seat. "Girl, it's so good to see you," Chantal smiled.
"It's good to see you too. You looking all Hollywood with those bad ass shades on. Are those Louis Vuitton?"
"You know it, sweetie. But don't stress, I picked you up a pair too because they don't sell them at all the stores, only a selected few."
"You my bitch, that's what's up," Shari said as the two ladies gave each other their signature pinky shake. "So what you trying to do? You hungry? You want to stop at Charlie Trotter's?"
"Let's go tomorrow. Right now I want to go straight to my parents' house. I miss Melanie like crazy. I have to see my baby girl."
"I hear tha
t. So what's been going on with you? Did you ever speak to Ian?"
"Girl, yes. That motherfucker called me on some bullshit."
"What you mean?'
"Well you know he didn't bail me out when I got locked up over that Tyler drama, and then when he did call, he had the nerve to say it was my own damn fault for playing myself. Shit, I didn't need him to tell me that. If that was his only words of encouragement he should've never dialed my number."
"I feel you, but I thought you were digging him."
"I was-I mean I am-but I'm tired of catching feelings for these dudes that's still chasing after fucking Tyler Blake. These cats acting like she the only bad bitch in this entire worldenough already."
"Oka-a-a-ay. I mean she cute, but it ain't that deep. So what you going to do?"
"Put him on pause until he snap out of his hallucination. See, I know Andre has put it on Tyler right and she isn't leaving him no time soon. That bitch would walk through fire first. You see how he sent me postal. When Ian become conscious and grasp that Tyler now belongs to Andre, he'll be back. And as fine as he is, I'll be more than willing to give him another chance to make it right. Enough about me, what about you? Any fresh meat in your life?"
"Actually, I'm still tenderizing that meat from Jalen," Shari said, winking her eye.
"I knew that relationship had a lot of potential to it. So you still going strong with the eighty-million-dollar rookie. That's a good look."
"I think so. You know after dealing with that closet homo, Chris Duncan episode I was looking at all men sideways."
"Shit, me too. It took me a minute to get over that fine ass football player being a switch hitter. But fuck him, because that Jalen is a cutie."
"Yeah, but he live in LA, and unless two people are really devoted it's hard to make a long distance relationship work. So, girl, I'm chilling, taking it day by day. I'm not going to start picking out a wedding dress just yet. When the time is right, if it's meant to be then I'll get that sign."