* * *
We went to lunch the next day with Tay’s friend and fellow tour mate. He had called the house and had told Tay that he had some good news, so we had all decided to make an outing of it. Before lunch I was running late, as always, so I had told Tay to go ahead and that I would meet him at the restaurant.
A half an hour later, I showed up at La’ Tre. I walked in the place as if I owned it, and all eyes were on me. I was shown to the table where Tay; his friend Black Dialect, as he was known in the rap world; and Black Dialect’s girlfriend, Shamika, were sitting.
Black was the first one to stand up, and his girlfriend noticed. He had a smile on his face that told me that he was stunned yet pleased, and so was I. I had seen him in his videos and knew that he was fine, but I had always thought that he was too short for me. He stood at a tall six feet and was the spitting image of the rapper Common. Just as light, just as bald, and just as sexy. I wondered if I would ever get a chance to ride what I knew was his well-hung dick. I caught the look on his girlfriend’s face, which lasted only a few seconds. She hated me already.
“Well, this is Tangie. She’s fashionably late, as always,” Tay said as he stood up and pulled out my chair.
“I’m sure that she always has a good reason, unless she wakes up looking this good,” Black gleefully said with a friendly smile on his face.
“Yeah, well, she’s here now, so let’s order,” Shamika spit out, with her attitude showing through the fake smile that was splattered across her face.
I really wanted to tell that hood rat that I could speak for myself, but I let her slide. She was just trying to take all the attention off me, and I wasn’t going to let that happen.
“This is Shamika,” Black said, introducing his trash box to me, and I wasn’t impressed.
I held my hand out to shake hers, but she just looked at it. She was just used to saying, “What’s up?” to everyone she met, without shaking their hand. I left my hand out, refusing to be ignored, and she finally took it and shook it hard. I took my time to look her over and had to stop myself from laughing. That day I had on Louis Vuitton— all black, with diamonds to shine—but that bitch had gone overboard. She had on every designer in the world. I could tell right away that she was a total label ho. Her hair was a bright red, and she had on way too much makeup. When it came to her bling, or the lack thereof, she had on gold, silver, and even a wooden anklet. The only thing good that I could say about her was that she looked like she might have a cute face under all that makeup and that her bright weave was glued in right. I couldn’t look at her anymore, so I turned my attention back to the men.
“So did I miss the big news, or did you all wait for me?” I asked.
“They waited,” Shamika said while rolling her eyes.
I reached over and put my hand on Black’s arm. “Well, I’m ready to hear the good news if you’re ready to tell me,” I said as I slid my hand off his arm slowly. I winked at Tay, letting him know that I was just doing this to piss Shamika off. He smiled, and I assumed it was because he had noticed the change in Shamika’s attitude after I walked in. She deserved everything that was coming to her, and he knew it.
“I wanted to tell Tay that I just got picked up to do All Bases of Hip-Hop full-time. I will no longer be a guest star who just shows up at certain cities, but a headliner, just like him.” Black beamed.
“Get the fuck out of here. That’s some real good news, man,” Tay said as he stood up and gave his friend a man hug.
“Ever since my single hit number four on the hip-hop charts and the album hit number two, it has been on and poppin’.”
“I think that is wonderful,” I said as I reached over and touched Black’s arm again.
Tay ordered champagne and then told everyone that I would be joining him out on tour. Shamika had always gone on the road with Black, so my news was nothing new to her.
“Girl, being on tour ain’t shit. Most of the time you’re by yourself, and the other half you have to put up with them hoes and niggas that just want to hang around a rapper,” she informed me.
The table got quiet. A minute later Tay and Black got up to go to the bathroom, leaving Shamika and me at the table. I picked up my glass and sipped my drink. I hoped she would keep her mouth shut until they came back, but I should have known that I was asking for too much.
“So you really want to go on tour with us, huh?” she asked.
“Yeah, that is what you just heard, right?” I answered in the same tone she had asked me her question in—sarcastic as hell.
“Look, Angie, Tangie, or whatever your name is, I just want to let you know that it takes a special kind of girl to go the road with these rap niggas. Just know that who they are at home is not who they are when they are on the road.”
“You may be right, Jameeka, or whatever your name is. Not just any kind of girl can hang. I am a woman who is well aware of what goes on while the men are on tour. It wasn’t so long ago that I was one of them girls who were out to land a rap star, so I’ll be okay.”
Shamika just laughed. She looked me up and down, then continued to give me her unrequested opinion. “Look at you, Tangie. You’re not hood enough to handle them bitches. I bet if it wasn’t for you hanging out with Tay and them, you wouldn’t even know what a rap song was. Come on, how many of them hoes do you think is going to know where to put the napkin at dinner or which fork to use for a salad? As soon as you walked in, I knew that you were a stuck-up, wannabe high-class ho.”
I looked at her as if she had lost her mind. “So are you saying that I have to act like a ghetto, hood-rat chick in order to go on the road with Tay?”
“No, I’m not saying all of that, but we will see how long you’re going to be acting all ladylike when some half-dressed, ready-to-fuck ho is at your man’s dressing-room door.”
“We will see, Shamika. We will see,” was all that I said. That low-class hooker just didn’t know that I was twice as good, if not three times better, at the game we were all playing.
A year later, Tay would recount the talk the two men had shared in the bathroom that day.
“Man, your girl is something else. How is she just going to come out and say some shit like that?” Tay asked as he shook his head.
“Don’t pay her any mind. That’s just how she is. She’s been holding me down since back in the day. She even used to do my runs with me, so you know how that is. You just can’t leave them behind, just ’cause you make it big.”
Tay’von could understand. That was how things were with him and his last and somewhat current girlfriend, Connie. Tay let his thoughts linger on her for a second. She had always been a good woman. She had even fronted him the money to make a demo when his first record deal went bad. Things had been good until she went out on tour with him and he chose fame over her. It took a long time to patch things up with her after that, but he made sure she forgave him. Even though he was knee-deep in his act of betrayal, he knew that she had a heart of gold.
“My question to you is, where did you find Tangie? She’s fine as hell.”
Tay smiled proudly at his friend. “Man, if I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”
“Try me.”
Tay went over every detail of our first days together. By the time he was done, Black was standing there with his mouth open. He was amazed and wanted to know even more.
“So you’ve been kicking it with her ever since?”
“Yeah, after having to kind of push Connie aside. I really wasn’t looking for a girlfriend, but Tangie just kind of fell in my lap. And I have to say that I am cool with having one. She’s not a ghetto chick, and she’s fine as hell. Plus, she’s a real freak, and I love me a girl that’s classy but knows how to get down in the bed, ya feel me?”
Black nodded. “Yeah, I hear that. Well, if you don’t change your mind about her going on tour with us, how about you ask her to help Shamika out? I love her and all, but I just want her to be a little more refined. The ghetto shit was all right for th
e hood, but you can’t act or look like that everywhere you go. Just see if Tangie can help her out with her attitude, but mostly with her style.”
They shared a laugh. Tay was happy that his friend could see that his girl needed some help, because he was thinking the same thing. He promised Black that he would ask me for my help, and then they left the bathroom.
About an hour later we finished our lunch and said our goodbyes in the parking lot. I headed to my car, and as I leaned over to put the rest of my lunch on the backseat, Black could no longer control himself. He just had to sneak a look at my ass. Tay saw him, and so did Shamika. She seemed pissed off, while Tay’von loved the attention I got. Having both his friends and strangers gawk at me meant that he had a five-star chick on his hands, which made him proud. As Black looked as if he was thinking about what I might look like naked, I thought about the road ahead and what or whom it would bring my way.
Chapter 6
Winner Takes All, And
I Was Born A Winner
“So where are we headed?” Carl asks as we enter the car. He has been so cold these days. I wonder if he’s finally fed up with the head games that I have been playing all these years or if the wound goes deeper. I have in my possession the only two other things besides myself that Carl would kill for. I do not keep them away from him out of spite or hate. I keep them from him because that is how it has to be. Besides, I’m not even sure if they really belong to him. So, why wake the sleeping monster when life is peaceful while he hibernates?
“Well, since I just got my hair done, maybe you should take me out to lunch.”
He just nods his head and says okay. Days change, but some things will always stay the same.
“So what was that all about?” Tay asked as we headed back home from the restaurant. He had left his car at the restaurant so he could ride with me. His bodyguards would retrieve it later.
“That bitch Shamika had it coming. You saw how she was looking at me. She hated me from the minute I walked into La’ Tre’s. I can’t help that she came in there looking a hot mess.”
Tay’von laughed as if his sides hurt.
I went on. “What in the hell is he doing with her, anyways? Did you see all the things she had on at one time? I hope he knows that he can’t take her anywhere serious.”
As the words came out of my mouth, I started to really think about it. There Black was, a man who could be Common’s twin, and he was with a low-class Keyshia Cole–looking chick.
“I asked him the same thing in the bathroom, and he told me that she has been with him since back in the day. You know, on some street shit,” Tay’von replied.
“Have you ever seen her before?”
“Yeah, but it’s always been in passing,” Tay answered.
“Well, I don’t give a fuck that she was down with him or for how long. That bitch needs a stylist.”
That one sent Tay into a deeper laughing fit. But I wasn’t joking. What was she thinking when she left the house, looking like that?
“Aw, come on, Tangie. Play nice. She didn’t look that bad. Her clothes are crazy, but she has a cute face and a nice body. She just needs help with her presentation. Oh, and by the way, Black asked me to ask you to help her out with that.”
“Help her out with what? That bitch is rude as hell! Plus, she’s a grown-ass woman and should be able to help herself.”
“Come on, baby. Just do it for me. You do know that since you’re going to be out on tour with us, she will be everywhere you are. Do you really want to be seen with her if she’s dressed like that?”
Tay thought that he was so slick, but what he said did have some truth to it.
“Fine. I’ll help her out, but if that bitch says anything nasty to me, I am going to fuck her up.”
Tay’von knew that I meant what I said, so he then said he prayed that Shamika stayed cool. He didn’t want me to put my foot up her ass, which would create tension on an easygoing tour.
* * *
After Tay and I got home, Carl and Tony went back to the restaurant for Tay’s car. I took a nap before the maid came up and helped me pack. By eight the next morning, we were dressed and ready to go out on tour together.
The first stop was Maryland. That was one of my favorite states. It had a vibe to it like no other. I could never get enough of that place. Once in Silver Spring, we checked into the best hotel the city had to offer. As soon as we got settled, the tour manager called the suite and reminded Tay that he had a sound check at six that evening. I sure as hell was not going to any sound check, so I told Tay that I would meet him at the concert. Plus, I had to get my shit together. There were always major players at those things, and you never knew. Maybe I could trade in a used man for a new and better one.
It was around eleven o’clock in the morning, so I called the front desk and asked an attendant to set up an appointment for me at the best spa in town. About five minutes later the attendant called back and told me that the spa that I wanted was booked solid. I asked her for the spa’s number and called it myself. It was the only spa in town that really knew how to take care of black people, and I wasn’t taking no for an answer.
“Hello. Body and Soul. How may I help you?”
I told the woman about the hotel calling for me, said that I needed an appointment for that day, and explained that I just couldn’t wait for them to fit me in.
“Well, we’re sorry, miss. We cannot fit anyone else in today. How about Monday?” Monday? Monday is two days away. That just won’t do.
“Well, how about I let you speak with my boyfriend? I’m sure you will have some room then.”
I took the phone over to Tay, and he knew what was up. I had used him before to get what I wanted. That was the upside of fame. People would kick their own parents out of anywhere just to get you in. All I had to do was put him on the phone. He gave the woman his name and told her to call the hotel back to verify that he was telling her the truth. Once people in service realized that it was really Mr. Too Fine, they always changed their tone. And if they didn’t, he would threaten to tell his celebrity friends how unaccommodating they were. This always worked, as it did that day. By the time he hung up, I had an appointment for a full treatment that day at no cost.
I decided to take a nap before my appointment, so that I would feel my best later on. An hour later, as Tony shook me awake, I heard Tay whisper to him to tell me that he was going out with Carl. By the way Tay said this and then ran out the door, I knew that something was up. But I wasn’t going to say anything. A promise was a promise, so I had to keep my mouth shut. I got up to go to the bathroom and get ready for the spa, but before I took a step, Tony grabbed my arm gently and turned me around.
“Tangie, there’s something that I need to talk to you about.”
Okay, I had to think for a minute. There I was, just waking up, and Tony wanted to talk to me? He hardly ever spoke to me. I wanted to hear this, so I sat down on the bed, with no expression on my face.
“So talk,” I told him, halfway annoyed.
“Nah, you go ahead and get ready. Tay would kill me if you were late tonight just because I wanted to talk to you.”
I didn’t even look at him. I just got up and got ready. I wasn’t going to rush him.
By two o’clock, we were in the car, heading to the spa, and since I didn’t want to seem like I was pressing him, we just drove quietly for ten minutes. It seemed like he was having trouble saying what he wanted to say, so I waited some more.
Finally, he spoke. “Look, I’m not trying to get all up in your business, but are you with Tay ’cause you really like him, or are you just along for the ride?”
“Now, why would you ask me that, Tony?” I asked. I had got caught off guard by his question.
“Well, let me ask you what I really want to ask. Now, just sit back and don’t get mad. Just tell me straight up.”
I kept quiet and smoked my weed, waiting for his question.
“What is going on between yo
u and Carl?”
We were at a stop sign, and I could see him looking at me through the rearview mirror. Tony trying to catch my reaction made me not give him one.
“Carl just watches over me while Tay is gone, and that’s all. Why are you asking me this?”
“Well, that’s the question of the day, isn’t it? Why do I ask? Well, maybe it’s because of that night in Vegas. I saw you mouthing words to Carl—”
I cut him off. “No, you saw me mouthing words to Tay. I was talking shit to my man while fucking him, that’s it. You do remember who my man is, right? You know, the one who pays you?”
I was trying the same shit that I had always used on Carl, but Tony just laughed.
“Damn, baby girl, relax. I’m just telling you what I saw. I have been working with Carl ever since Tay blew up, so I know him as well as I know the back of my hand. I know when something is up.”
“Well, if you really do know him that well, then you wouldn’t be sitting in this car, asking me these questions. You would already know the answers.”
“Well, how do you know that I didn’t ask Carl and that he didn’t tell me the truth about you two? Maybe I am just asking you as the icing on the cake.”
“Look, Tony, I am with Tay, not with you or Carl. So let me just make it clear. My pussy belongs to me, and I can give it to whomever I please. So don’t ever ask me about who I am fucking again. If it’s not you, then it’s none of your business.”
“Did you ever stop to think that maybe that house has cameras? How do you know that everything you have done in that house isn’t on a tape somewhere?”
My heart skipped a beat, but I didn’t show it. “If there was a tape, then you wouldn’t be asking me this, because you would already know that there is nothing between Carl and me. So just shut the fuck up and drive.”
Tony just kept on laughing, and that was making my stomach do flips. I was going to end up feeling sick for the rest of the day. What would I do if there really were cameras in the house? Tay would leave me for sure. I would have to come up with a plan to find out the truth so I could take the right course of action to get rid of any evidence.
The Art of Deceit Page 6