The Art of Deceit

by Fabiola Joseph

  Shamika and I had lunch before heading over to Carmello’s. She was dressed in some trashy outfit, as always. She had been saying all morning that she was down to do whatever Carmello wanted her to do. She kept saying it like she was trying to make herself believe it more than me. Although I wished that she would just shut the hell up, she did have some ways about her that reminded me of myself. Her fucking Carl was a classic me move.

  We walked into Carmello’s building after lunch and were taken to his office right away. He had cleared two hours on his schedule just in case Shamika needed convincing. We sat down at his desk as his secretary closed the office door.

  “Aren’t you that guy Tay’von had some words with?” Shamika asked.

  I shifted in my seat. Carmello had said that she would call him out on this, but I just hoped that it didn’t blow things. I recited what we had planned, and prayed that it worked.

  I looked over at Shamika. “Yeah, that is him, and you know what? I think that I’m having second thoughts. Maybe we should get out of here. Now that I think about it, Tay would flip if he knew I was here.”

  I stood up and looked down at Shamika. “Come on, Mika. We have got to go. I’m sorry for wasting your time, but we can’t stay.”

  Shamika wasn’t about to leave without getting the deal she had come to get.

  “What? Nah, come on, Tangie. We’re already here. I gotta talk to him.”

  Carmello had hit it on the head when he said that he knew that she wouldn’t leave, no matter what I said.

  I picked up my purse and turned to leave. “Look, Shamika, I’m leaving. You can stay if you want, but I can’t be here.”

  I walked out of the office, and I could hear Shamika walking out after me. When she caught up with me, she said, “You can go, but I have to stay to see what I can get out of this. This is a big chance for me and Black, so I can’t just walk out. It’s not like Tay got to know that you’re here.” She was trying to get me to stay, but that was not in the plan.

  “Nah, I’m good. Like I said before, I should have never come here. But, hey, do you. Don’t let me stop you. Go ahead and talk to him. I’ll see you at home. Just tell him that you’ll need a ride.”

  She didn’t even think twice about going back into Carmello’s office. All I saw was her back as she walked into his office. I went home, as planned, and waited for what would be good news for me and me only. I wanted to call Carmello to find out what was said, but she would tell me as soon as she got home.

  * * *

  Shamika came walking in about an hour and a half after me. She came right to my bedroom and sat on my bed. I turned off the TV and waited for her to talk, but for the first time ever, she was speechless. I decided that I would just sit there until she told me everything, and she tried.

  “Tangie, now, you know that I’m a whatever-type bitch, but that nigga has asked me to do something that I just don’t think I can do. He asked me to do some crazy shit.”

  I still didn’t talk. I wanted her to feel that she could talk to me without interruption. I needed her to tell me how she felt about what he had asked without feeling judged.

  She went on. “I know that if Black gets dropped from the label that he’s on now, we’ll be shit out of luck, but there’s just something about this dude that has got me thinking twice about this. I just don’t know if I should trust him. If it ever got out that I was behind what Carmello asked for, Black would kill me, because I would be the cause of his rap dreams dying.”

  I wasn’t giving her any input on the issue at hand, because I wanted her to think that she was sealing her fate all on her own. I said, “Well, you know this is your choice. He can’t force you to do it. Just take your time and think about it.”

  “You got to hear what he wants me to do. He asked me to—”

  I cut her off. “You know what? Don’t even tell me. If it’s that crazy, then I don’t want to know. If I know what it is, I’m sure I’ll want to tell you what to do. I don’t want to tell you not to do it. and I fuck shit up. Nor do I want to tell you to do it, and it gets you in trouble. This one is all up to you, Shamika.”

  I didn’t want her to blame me when everything blew up in her face. She left my bedroom and went into hers. I was shocked. I had thought that she would be ready to do this. She seemed like the type of female who would set up her own mom to get ahead. Now she was acting brand new on me. I knew that I was going to help her make up her mind without leaving my scent on the situation; she just didn’t know it yet.

  * * *

  There was a knock on my door, and I knew that it wasn’t Shamika. She would have just walked in.

  “Come in, Carl.”

  Since the night I found out their secret, I had been waiting for him to come and explain to me why he was sleeping with Shamika.

  He walked in, closed the door behind him, and strode over to the foot of the bed. “I just wanted to talk to you about the other night.”

  “You don’t have to talk to me about that, Carl. I have eyes. I saw everything for myself,” I said as I sat up in the bed.

  “Look, Tangie, I know that you saw me fucking her, but it just kind of happened. She just came into the room and got on top of me—”

  “Oh, come on, Carl. Man up. Grow some balls. Don’t walk in here, trying to play the shit down. You fucked her, and it’s too late to try to act like it didn’t happen.”

  “You don’t ever give people the time to talk. I’m not trying to downplay anything. I just want you to know that it was just sex.”

  “I know your story, Carl. I bet you’re going to tell me that she just came into your room and raped you, right? But, hey, that’s what I always do to you, right? And just like a little bitch, you just couldn’t stop her.”

  I got on my knees on the bed and crawled over to where he was standing. I got close to him and spit my toxin at him as I tried to kill him with my words.

  “You will never be a man, Carl. Every time I turn around, you’re bitching about something. This is why you will never be my man. Hell, maybe I should start fucking her too. She’s more of a man than you are.”

  He grabbed me by my throat and squeezed. “Bitch, I should kill you for trying to test my manhood. Do you really want to go there, Tangie?”

  His grip was getting tighter. I tried to push his hand away from my neck, but I couldn’t. He pushed me down and walked around to the side of the bed. He held me down with one hand and ripped my panties off with the other.

  “I don’t ever hear you calling me a bitch, nigga, when I got my dick up in your ass,” he growled.

  “Fuck you, Carl. I’m going to call Tay’von on you. How dare you put your hands on me!”

  “Call Tay’von, bitch. Fuck you, fuck him, and fuck this job. Call him and put it on speakerphone. We both can do some talking.”

  As I lay on the bed, I was thinking that maybe he had lost his mind.

  “What, you think you’re scaring me? You’re just proving my point. Real men don’t snitch. You can choke me or do whatever you want to do. It won’t change that you’re a punk-ass nigga.” By now I was almost screaming. I felt so violated. I was so mad at myself for ever sleeping with him. Things always changed either for better or worse when you slept with someone.

  He got into my bed and got on top of me. I tried to push him off, but he had all his weight on me.

  “If there’s anything that I can say, it’s that you got some good-ass pussy. Now let’s see if your sick ass is going to get wet for me,” Carl said as he spread my legs and looked down at me.

  I wanted to scream for help, but if I did, that meant Shamika was going to walk in there and see Carl on top of me. That also meant that she would have something on me, and she could hold it over my head in the near future. I wasn’t letting that happen. So all I did was take it. I looked down at him as he played with my pussy, and he was serious about what he was doing. He was really trying to see if I was going to get wet.

  “You’re the sick fuck, Carl. I wo
uld have never thought that you would rape a woman in your boss’s bed.”

  He laughed at my statement. “How am I the sick one when you’re getting wet?”

  I didn’t say anything. Maybe I was a sick fuck. It was starting to feel good. I hated him, but I loved what he was doing to me. I tried to close my legs, but he pushed them open again.

  “Don’t try to act like you don’t want it. You may try to lie, but your body won’t. Look at your legs, Tangie. You can’t even stop them from shaking. Yeah, you’re a nasty, sick little freak.”

  He worked his fingers faster, just like he knew I liked it. He was right. My body wouldn’t lie to anyone, not even myself. My eyes wanted to close, and my hips wanted to move to the flow of his fingers. There was nothing that I could do. My body wouldn’t let me, so I just stopped trying. I opened my legs wider as I pushed his head down to my pussy. He fell right in line and fucked me with his tongue. My hate and lust for Carl merged and became one. The power of them together ran through me and made me cum fast. I let it all go in his mouth, and after I was done, I flipped him over and sat on his lips. I made sure to rub myself all over his face this time. And I stayed there until he made me cum again.

  Chapter 14

  Girl, I’m About To Pop Some Shit Off

  Two days went by fast. I couldn’t wait for Tay to come home today. Carl had been walking around the house with a big, arrogant chip on his shoulder ever since he had got me to want him even when I shouldn’t have. What could I say? I was a slave for sex, among other things. I thought that maybe when Tay got home, Carl would step back into his place. I had been counting the minutes until he got home, not only because of Carl, but also because I wanted Shamika to do what she had to do.

  Early that morning, I went up to her bedroom to see if she was still in bed. To my surprise, she was up, dressed, and sitting in the chair by the dresser.

  “Damn, girl, you’re up early. I guess you can’t wait for Black to get here, huh?” I said.

  She took a puff off her blunt and blew out the smoke. “Shit, I wish I had another week or two before they got home. I don’t know if I can do this.”

  “Girl, don’t even think about that. Just spend some time with him and feel things out. If you still feel like you can’t do it, well, don’t.”

  I knew that she would have to do it. I had spoken to Carmello yesterday and found out that Black had had a meeting with his label and that they had told him that they were thinking about selling his contract to a smaller label. In the music world, that was the nicest way of telling you that you would be dropped soon. I was sure Carmello had told her all of this, because that would be the only way to help her make up her mind.

  I left her bedroom and went into my own. The hours ticked by, and around 3:30 p.m., Tay’von, Black, and Tony got home. I went down the stairs two at a time and jumped into Tay’s arms. I could see Carl’s jaw clench up, but I didn’t care. As much as he was trying to stop loving me, he couldn’t, and we both knew it.

  “Damn, baby, let me see you.” Tay put me down, and I turned around for him. “Your ass looks just as good as I remember it,” Tay said as he grabbed my butt. “Looks like Carl’s been taking good care of you.”

  I smiled. That was it; that was all. “Oh yeah, baby, he’s been taking good care of both of us.”

  Tay’von may not have known what I meant, but Carl’s eyes stayed on the floor. I knew that all it would take was my man coming home and Carl would lose that chip. Shamika still had not come downstairs, and we all wondered what was keeping her. When Black called out for her, she slowly came walking down the stairs. Once she was in view, Black gasped for air. She wasn’t the same ghetto girl he had left behind.

  “Damn, Tangie. I can see why she wanted to tell people you two are sisters,” Tay joked.

  “Hey, Black. I didn’t know y’all were here already,” Shamika said as she gave him an empty hug.

  I was sure Black felt like he wasn’t getting any love. The hug she gave him was as cold as an ice cube. Black later shared with me that he had wanted her to be excited and jump into his arms like I had with Tay, but he knew that it would never happen. They didn’t have that type of relationship. And every time he thought of leaving her for that very same reason, he always remembered the time they had between them and the freak that she was in the bedroom. At times the outlandish costumes that she would wear as she swung around the stripper pole he had in his basement and her expertise in the act of fucking filled the void Black felt, but it was times like this that the lack of intimacy smacked him in the face. I could tell Tay felt sorry for Black. He led the way to the bar, where we all sat and talked about our time spent apart.

  The two men filled us in about the tour and how well it was going. I was sure they left out the stories about hoes they had spent their time with to spare Shamika and me from going crazy. The time was passing by quickly, and Shamika said that she wanted to go out. But Tay and Black were too tired from traveling, so we stayed in for the night. And instead of going out to dinner, we had Tony and Carl go out and pick up the food.

  “I’m really feeling that new look, Shamika. It looks really good on you,” Tay said as he got up to refill his glass.

  “Yeah, it’s about time you got rid of all that ugly ghetto shit you’ve been rocking,” Black commented. He was not in a good mood, but after what he had learned about his contract, I wouldn’t expect him to be.

  “Well, it is a very good choice, Shamika,” Tay’von said to her.

  Hell, someone had to make her feel better.

  The food came, and Black still wasn’t feeling better. I thought that maybe after we ate, his frown would turn into a smile.

  “Oh, Tangie, I almost forgot to tell you. Our engagement party is tomorrow. Some of my boys thought that it would be nice to do that for us,” Tay announced while we all sat down at the table to eat dinner.

  “What? Well, okay. That’s real nice, baby, but I wish I had known. I would have helped plan it. You must have told a lot of people,” I said.

  “Shit. I didn’t tell you? It has been all over the news and magazines. I got, like, four of them in my carry-on right now.” He got up, dug into his carry-on, and brought the magazines over to the table. There it all was. All four of them had our engagement story on the cover. The captions were almost all the same.

  “The rapper Tay’von, or as the ladies like to call him, Mr. Too Fine, has gotten engaged to the very sexy star of at least three of his music videos,” I read aloud.

  When I looked inside that magazine, there was not only a picture of him and me leaving the restaurant where we had had lunch with Black and Shamika that day, but there was also a snapshot of me from one of his videos.

  “Wow. They really know how to catch you without you even knowing, don’t they?” I observed.

  “Man, they’ll hide in some bushes or even climb a tree if they have to,” Black noted.

  “Well, it looks like your face is out there now,” Tay’von remarked. “I’m sure everyone is going to try to get you to talk to them. I might just call up a reporter and get it over with. I can get us a two-hour special. That way they can leave us alone after we do one.”

  My heart skipped a beat when I thought about a two-hour special. That would be the best way to get the word out about the video girl company that I had been thinking about starting. I was going to run everything about that by Tay later on, but I was sure he was going to go for it.

  “Oh my God. Yes, we should do that. We can get the house all dressed up and nice. I think that it will be great.” I said it as if I was a big kid. I leaned over and planted a big, wet kiss on Tay’von’s lips. I appreciated him so much. He was making all my dreams come true, and for that, I loved him.

  “Calm down, baby. It’s not for sure. All I said was that I’ll think about it.”

  “Yeah, well, I think it’s a good idea. At least you would know that you’re putting out the facts, and not just sitting back and letting them lie about us. But do
whatever you think is best, baby.” I leaned over and kissed him again. I was not going to press the issue. I was going to get what I wanted, anyway.

  “Look, I’m not hungry. I’m just gonna go to bed. Where’s the bedroom?” Black said as he got up from the table.

  It was killing me that he was so down. He had been really nice to me in the past. It was a shame to know that things were going to get worse for him, that is, if Shamika came through and did what Carmello had asked her to do.

  “I’ll show you which one,” Shamika said. She got up and walked him to their guest bedroom. I watched them leave, then I turned to Tay.

  “What the hell is wrong with Black tonight?”

  “He’s got a good reason to be pissed. His new single is blowing up, but the label is still giving him shit over what happened. But he’ll be all right.”

  Tay and I ate our food, and I kept reminding him that we had guests in the house. He was telling me how much he wanted to fuck me on the table. I tried to calm him down, but he wouldn’t let up, so I ended up saying, “Fuck the food,” and pulled him up by his shirt and led him upstairs. Now, I knew that the house was big, but we didn’t hear Black yelling at Shamika until we got to the top of the stairs. So I stopped and listened, hoping that I would learn something new about the odd couple.

  “How fucked up do you think I feel when I got all this shit going on and I can’t even come home to you even acting like you’re happy to see me? You could have tried to play it off a little bit, don’t you think?”

  “Come on, nigga. You know that we don’t even roll like that,” Shamika yelled back. “What, you want me to jump into your arms like we in some type of movie or some shit? That may be Tangie and Tay, but that has never been us. And where are you getting all this new shit from, anyway? You know how we roll.”

  Shamika had been really thrown off. To her, Black should have known by then that she wasn’t an affectionate woman.

  “You’re such a fucking hood rat. I see not even the new clothes can change you. I am not asking you to be like Tangie. All I am asking you to do is to at least fake like you’re with me for more than just my money.”