The Art of Deceit

by Fabiola Joseph

I went up to my bedroom to watch a movie after making my call. I didn’t even stop and talk to Shamika, although when I passed her bedroom, I heard her call my name. I just wanted some time to myself. I locked the door and sat on the bed. As soon as I got my feet off the floor, I heard Shamika knocking on my door and calling my name. I just ignored it. I knew that she wanted to talk about Black kicking her ass, but I wasn’t in the mood. About an hour later Tay joined me in the bedroom, and we fell asleep early. It was a good thing, since we had to be up at six in the morning.

  I have always hated early mornings. Tay’von had to keep coming into the bedroom to get me out of bed the next morning. I took a long hot shower and then slipped on my robe. When I got downstairs, the makeup and hair people were already there. I walked by like I didn’t even see them. Tay laughed at my always present attitude.

  “You all will have to excuse her. She’s grumpy in the morning.” He wanted them to know that it wasn’t my fault, but I just rolled my eyes at him and asked the maid to pour me some coffee.

  The makeup and hair people took forever to do their jobs. Tay was acting really nervous, but I was so ready for my time in the spotlight. The public saw me only as the girl in his videos. Soon they would know me as Tay’von’ s fiancée, who happened to have a brain and something to say. We sat down as Mary Mendel read our bios to prepare herself. Once the cameras started rolling, she talked to Tay about his album that was out and then about the new video, which would premiere at the end of the show. She asked him about his upbringing and how that had affected his music. She also asked him how he felt about being dubbed Mr. Too Fine in the roughneck rap industry. That was when I had to step in and give my input on her question.

  “Well, hip-hop has come a long way. It’s not just about the saggy jeans and that unkempt look anymore. We are able to show all sides of it,” I explained. “You can even find men in suits rapping now. To tell you the truth, I am happy that he’s on that side of the game.”

  Tay smiled proudly.

  “So, how is it for you to be with a man who has millions of women dreaming about him every night?” she asked me.

  “I take it as it is. I knew who he was when I got with him. There are so many women who won’t, can’t, shouldn’t date or marry famous men, because they would go crazy. You have to have tough skin to deal with this lifestyle, and there is a lot that could mess up a relationship. You just kind of have to deal with it and know that fans will be fans and that most of what you are going to read and hear is lies. And remember that I did say most. Yes, there are times that no matter how much trust you have in your relationship, you’ll still let your thoughts run wild, and deep down you know that some of what has been said may be true. I mean, come on. How many times do you hear about famous men sleeping with a fan? You just have to have hope and hold on to it.”

  She was looking like she was really into what I was saying, and I was just getting started.

  “And what do you have hope for?” she asked.

  I looked at Tay’von, and he took my hand. “You just have to hope that the love that you have for each other will help him or even help you make the right decision. Now, I know that this has been said over and over, but men will be men. Only the strongest of them can turn down a half-dressed, ‘willing to do anything’ woman who snuck into their dressing room. And if anything happens that shouldn’t, well, I hope he’s man enough to tell me so that we can deal with it before I see it in some sleazy magazine. And it works both ways.”

  “Well, since you brought up sleazy magazines, I have one here that has everyone wondering about the death of R & B singer Amira. The headlines read ‘Singer jumps to her death after getting dumped by Mr. Too Fine’s girlfriend.’ What do you make of that?”

  I didn’t even blink before letting the lie roll off my tongue. I knew that she was watching to see if I would have a reaction, and I made sure to give her the right one. I could feel Tay’s hand tighten around mine, but I squeezed it back to let him know that he should relax.

  “You know, this really makes me sick,” I said. “Here we are in the middle of such a tragic death, and all these people can do is make up lies. This is exactly what I was talking about earlier. We still are not over her death, and to see such trash in this magazine is a shame. I hope that after people see this, they will realize that we should be more interested in how she lived. Not how or why she died. This is someone who touched so many lives with her soul, and she put that very same soul in every song she sang. Let’s at least shine the spotlight on that and leave the garbage behind.”

  I threw her off with that one, and she was impressed from that moment on. The rest of the interview went smoothly. Afterward, we showed her the grounds, and she acted like she loved everything about the house. We then sat back down and talked about the upcoming wedding, and she asked me if I was planning on being a housewife.

  “Well, I plan to open an agency for women and men who want to be in music videos or print work,” I responded. “Black women and men have a harder time landing jobs outside the hip-hop world. So I want them to have a place where they know I am working just as hard for them as I would for anyone else.”

  She asked me questions about myself for the next twenty minutes or so, before asking her last question.

  “So in an industry that is so overwhelmingly full of divorces, do you two think that this will last?”

  Tay leaned over and kissed me, then looked her dead in her eyes and said, “This is for life.”

  With that, the cameras stopped filming. She shook our hands, and then her crew gathered their things. We walked her to the front door, where Black had been standing and watching. Tay introduced her to him, but she didn’t seem that impressed, although she was trying her hardest to fake it.

  “Ah, yes. You’re on tour with Tay’von, right? Well, keep up the good work. Our next profile just might be of you.” She smiled after giving him false hope, then left.

  Tay pulled me into his arms and gave me a warm hug. “Damn, baby, you really did your thing. How come you never told me about this agency?”

  “It was only a thought. It just kind of came to me. So what do you think?”

  “I’m with it. Whatever you need, just let me know.”

  In his mind, he couldn’t get over how well I had come off. He really was proud of me.

  “Baby, this shit really is for life,” he told me. “I just wasn’t saying it for the interview. Now that we have done this, the whole world is going to know what a wonderful woman I have by my side. Niggas gonna hate when they realize you’re not just some groupie bitch that’s just with me for my money.”

  “How do you know that’s what they ever thought? Has anyone ever said that to you?” I quizzed.

  “Come on, Tangie. You know that any man that’s in my position and has a girl that looks like you by his side makes people think stuff like that. But we will show them that there is more than that between us.”

  I was sure that there was something he wasn’t telling me, but I let it go. It’s not like I gave a shit what others thought, anyway.

  He wrapped his arms around me again and squeezed my ass. I knew that he wanted some, so I escorted him to the bedroom.

  * * *

  It was Monday morning, and I sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at Tay. I rubbed my hand over his chest as I thought silently to myself, I am one bad bitch. I really had everything that I wanted at the time. Out of all the women out there who could have been in my position, I was sitting right in it. My mother had always said that I should make sure that the person I ended up with gave me everything that I needed and wanted. I should be his queen, and that meant that I should live and rule like one. I hoped that I had made her proud by paying attention to the wisdom she had instilled in me. I was so deep into my thoughts that I did not notice Tay’von smiling back up at me.

  He brought me out of my thoughts by clearing his throat.

  “What’s on your mind, Mr. Too Fine?” I asked.

 
“I’m just thinking about all the shit that we’ve been through. We have really come a long way, and it kills me every time I have to leave. Do you think that you could come back on the road with me?”

  Poor thing. He was pussy whipped. I wondered if this was how the white girls had the NBA and NFL players who seemed to be drawn to them like bees to honey.

  “You know that I have to start planning the wedding. Plus, I had all the road time I want for a while.”

  He laughed, maybe thinking that I just wasn’t cut out for the touring lifestyle. “So you’re just going to plan the whole thing while I’m gone? I don’t get no say-so, huh?”

  “Come on, Tay. Even if you were here, I would still be stuck planning the whole thing by myself. Plus, this wedding is going to be all about me.”

  He pulled me on top of him, and I sat up on his waist.

  “Well, since you’re going to be doing all of this, you mind telling me the date?” he said.

  I really hadn’t set one yet. “I’m going to have to get back to you on that.”

  “Well, you better let me know if you want me to be there,” he joked.

  Carl knocked on the door just then, walked in, and told Tay that the maid had his suitcase ready. I leaned over and kissed Tay. I did this so that Carl could get a glimpse of my bare pussy. He walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him. I kissed down Tay’s chest while making my way to his dick. I dropped some good head on him before he left for the road.

  * * *

  Our goodbye was bittersweet. I knew that I would miss him, but I had to get back to the Shamika situation. We all rode to the airport in the limo, and it kind of reminded me of that Kanye West video, except Tay was the one leaving. When we got to the gate, Tay hugged and kissed me, as if he was leaving forever. People pointed and asked each other if that was really Mr. Too Fine and his girlfriend. Before I knew it, I was watching him walk away with Black and Tony.

  As Shamika and I walked back to the car with Carl, she told me that she had “the tape” on her.

  “So what are you going to do with it?” I asked her in a low tone so that Carl didn’t hear me.

  “I’m about to call Carmello and see if I can drop it off at his office now. Do you think that you can come with me?”

  “Hell no. I already told you that I don’t want anything to do with this. I don’t even want to know why you’re even giving it to him. Just go do what you have to do. I’m going to go get the Chanel purse that I was put on the waiting list for. I’ll see you at home.”

  She asked me how I was going to get there. I told her that I would get her another car, because I needed to get to the boutique fast. I made the phone call for her and then left the airport. Carl tried to leave with me, but I told him to go to hell. He could either go with Shamika or just take a cab home. I gave the driver Carmello’s address and slipped him three hundred dollars. I told him to get me there as fast as possible and to keep his mouth shut later about where he took me. I told him that if anyone asked to just tell them that he took me to Laymen’s boutique.

  * * *

  I walked into Carmello’s office like I owned the place. There was what looked to be an undiscovered rapper sitting in the office.

  As soon as I walked in, he yelled out “Damn!” and grabbed himself. “Who the hell is this?” he asked Carmello.

  “Somebody that you could never handle,” Carmello answered him.

  “Shit. I am known for taming a whole lot of bitches who people thought could never be tamed,” he boasted.

  I sucked my teeth and looked him up and down. “By the look of them rhinestone studs in your ears, you could never tame or afford me. Now, disappear while grown folks talk.”

  He didn’t like that too much. “Bitch, who the fuck do you think you are? You walk up in here like—”

  Carmelo cut him off by walking around his desk and yanking him up by the shirt. “I don’t give a fuck what you do on your own time, but you don’t ever disrespect anyone who walks into my office. Now, are you going to walk out, or do I have to help you?”

  Damn! The power Carmello had over the young guy turned me on. I watched him rearrange his pinkie ring while he waited for thug boy to leave.

  “You know I could have handled that myself, don’t you?” I asked as I took a seat at his desk after the guy had exited his office.

  “Yes, I know, but he was way out of line. Anyway, I just got a call from Shamika. You know she’s on her way up here, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, I know. I want to see the tape, so just tell her that she can’t stay long. I’ll wait in the bathroom for her to leave. You do have one in here, right?”

  He got up and opened the door to his office bathroom. The speaker on his desk came on, and his secretary told him that Shamika was there to see him. I picked up my coat and purse, then went into his bathroom and locked the door. I was happy that I could hear everything that was going on in the office. As soon as she walked in, Carmello asked her for the tape. She reached into her purse and gave it to him without asking a single question.

  “I didn’t watch it, so I hope it’s clear. But please promise me that it will never get out. He damn near killed me when he woke up the next morning,” she said.

  Carmello stood up and walked over to her. “If you don’t want me to keep the tape, then take it back. Just know that without it, we have no deal. It’s up to you.”

  “Well, the tape is yours now, so the deal is in effect. You better not fuck me on this,” I heard her say as she walked toward the door. She was about to leave when something stopped her. “It smells like Tangie in here. She’s the only bitch I know who mixes her perfumes. Has she been here?”

  Carmello remained calm as he lied to her. “I’m sorry, but who is Tangie? If you’re talking about that girl that came here with you the first time, I haven’t seen her since.”

  Carmello walked her out and asked thug boy, who was in the waiting area, to see her to her car. He then reentered his office, shut the door, and knocked on the bathroom door, letting me know that it was safe to come out.

  “Damn. That girl got a good nose. That bitch should have been a drug-sniffing dog,” I grumbled.

  Carmello laughed and said he was thinking the same thing.

  While we were up in the office, putting in the DVD, thug boy was walking Shamika to her car. They made small talk along the way, and we’d later find out about their conversation. When they got to her car, the driver opened the door for her.

  “You’re way nicer than that other bitch that was up in the office. At least you ain’t all stuck up,” thug boy told her as she was about to get in the car.

  She turned and faced him. “And what bitch are you talking about? What did she look like?”

  “Some bitch that looked like she could have been mixed, maybe Indian and Black. But she walked up in there like she was the shit. I didn’t like her attitude at all. But she was bad as shit, though.”

  This was too much for Shamika. She knew she had smelled my perfume in Carmello’s office, and thug boy was confirming her thoughts. Someone who sounded very much like me was in that office, and she knew that it just couldn’t be a coincidence.

  “When did she leave?” she asked.

  “I never saw her leave, to tell you the truth. You didn’t see her in there?”

  “Nope. Well, be easy. I gotta go,” Shamika said as she climbed in the car. She closed her door, pulled out her phone, and called me immediately.

  “Hey, Tangie. You at the store yet?”

  “No, I’m on my way there. Why? You need something?”

  I knew that she was just asking me to see if I was really where I said I was. She couldn’t trick me on her best day.

  “I was wondering if you could pick me up one of them purses.”

  “Well, I was put on a waiting list, but if they have any more, then sure, I’ll get one for you.”

  When I asked him, the driver of Shamika’s car would later tell me that she hung up the phone an
d told him to take her back to my house. She also told him that she was going to wait and see if I came back with an extra purse for her, and if I didn’t, she was planning on showing what ghetto really was.

  * * *

  Back in the office, Carmello had popped in the DVD, and we waited for it to start. We sat down and faced the TV that was on his wall. The sex tape got right into Shamika giving it to Black. I sat there watching with my mouth wide open. This bitch was crazy. How could she do this? Point for her, ’cause I didn’t know what in this world would push me to such a point. Carmello and I sat and laughed at how well Black was taking it. When he held his own legs up and started to fuck back, I lost it. It was so funny that we watched it twice.

  When it was over, I stood up and told Carmello that I had to go. When he asked why, I told him about the purses that I had to stop and buy so that Shamika wouldn’t suspect anything. He called in his secretary and gave her the names of the purses. He told her to have them delivered within the next hour, and he said that if they gave her any problems, she should drop his name.

  I sat back down and pushed PLAY on the remote to watch the DVD one more time. Shamika was fucking the shit out of Black, and I couldn’t look away. If I was even a little bit attracted to her, I would have gone home and had her fuck me the same way. It was a shame that just the sight of her disgusted me; we could have had some fun.

  “Damn, girl. You’re all into that tape, huh? Are you getting wet?”

  I had to turn around to make sure that it was Carmello who had just asked that.

  “Why would I be getting wet off this?”

  He laughed at my question, knowing damn well that I knew the answer to my own question. He walked over to the bar that was in his office and poured two glasses of champagne. He handed me a flute and made a toast.

  “To the art of deceit.”

  We raised our glasses and tapped them together. We sipped our drinks as he went back to his seat at the desk.

  “It’s not often that I meet a woman with the same kind of mind as mine. You and I seem to be two of a kind.”

  “Oh, please, Carmello. You have no idea what kind of mind I have.”