“Bertha, where is Mr. Wright?”
“He said to let you know he went to a stylist appointment set up by his label.” She half smiled and started out.
“Thanks. Have a good day.”
Damn, Tony was playing no games with this work stuff.
I finished my food while watching a little Netflix and then replied to a few texts in my phone from Camarih, as well as some of Mark’s clients. When done, I showered, brushed my teeth, and then got dressed in a skirt, a cool top, and some heels. It was hot as hell today, and I wasn’t about to be in my usual attire, fetching Mark’s lunch and stuff.
“Good morning, Rubie.” Angel, one of Mark’s clients spoke to me as she waited by for him.
Angel’s name fit her perfectly, because her singing voice was heavenly. She was beautiful too, with glowing deep dark skin, brown coily hair that looked like angels from heaven styled it for her each morning, and a cute, slim thick body.
I honestly didn’t understand how she hadn’t blown up yet. Mark was a good manager, but he focused more on the women he could sleep with. Angel kept if professional with him, so in return, she dealt with the consequences, I guess.
“Good morning, beautiful. How long have you been waiting?”
“Not long. But thank you for asking.”
“Welcome.”
I went back to Mark’s office so I could find out if there was something specific he wanted me to do.
“Miss Bailey, finally.” He waved me inward, so I obliged. “I need you to go by my house and pack up the guest room and quickly. I have some painters coming by. All—”
“Wait, what? That is not a part of my job, Mark.”
“Since when? You were hired as my assistant.” He laced his fingers.
I chuckled nervously.
“Mark, come on. You cannot be serious. There are plenty of things you could have me do, that don’t include packing your stuff up like a mover.”
“It’s not a lot of stuff, and right now, this is what I need.”
“And what if I choose not to accept this task?”
“Then uh, you can go home for the day and not return until you’re ready to take your job as an assistant seriously.”
“Mark—”
“Miss Bailey, I think because you’ve been working for me for so long, you may have forgotten your job title as assistant. You assist me in what I need, to make sure my management company runs smoothly. You are nothing more than someone I give orders to, and I want you to remember that. Sometimes I think you believe you’re a co-owner of Vegas Management, and you’re not.” He got me together.
“My apologies. Can I get the keys?” I forged a smile.
I hated having a job I needed versus a job I wanted. Because I couldn’t miss a dollar, I was forced to take whatever Mark gave me. If I didn’t work, I would lose everything. Hopefully that would change soon, I just didn’t know how.
“On the wall.” He pointed. “Once done with my house, come back and I will have something else.” He gave me no eye contact as he talked, clicking away on his big expensive Mac.
I said nothing and just pocketed the keys as I left. On the way out, I was passing Angel, but an idea hit me, so I reversed, taking a seat next to her.
Checking to be sure I didn’t hear Mark’s footsteps coming down the hall, I asked lowly, “What would you say if I told you I had connections to a pretty lucrative up and coming label? Their whole roster is fire, and you would be a great addition to the team.”
Looking off to be sure Mark wasn’t coming as well, Angel replied, “Do you really, or is this some survey?”
“I really do. My friend is the girlfriend of the CEO and founder. He’s looking for like one more artist, and I think it should be you.”
“What’s the label? And who is the owner?”
“Well the owner is Tony Wacko—”
“Oh no! No way!” Angel laughed, shaking her head.
“You know him?”
“Do I? Well, I don’t know him, but if you’re from LA, you’ve heard of Tony Wacko.”
“I know it may sound bad, but he really knows what he’s doing, I swear to you. I am not his biggest fan, but somehow, that ghetto fool knows his way around the industry.”
“Yeah, I have been seeing him make moves. I just… I’m kind of scared of him.” She laughed, and I joined her.
“Well that’s normal. I will be honest, he’s not the warmest person, nor is he conventional in his ways with his artists, but he will get you to where you need to be, not just as far as status, but overall artist growth.”
“Hmmm… Well, he is fine as hell.”
I giggled.
“Yes, he’s handsome, but remember, he’s my friend’s man.” I wanted her to never forget that shit. No way would I have Camarih thinking I sent some whore with ill intentions to her boyfriend’s label.
“I know. I was kidding.”
“Angel, sticking with Mark is gonna get you nowhere. Why wait for him to find you a label, which he won’t until you spread your legs, when one is right here?”
She pondered for a few moments it seemed, before pulling her iPhone out. She went onto her social media app, venturing to Tony’s page. I waited, not knowing what she was thinking as she sifted through his photos.
“Okay,” she locked her phone, “what’s next?”
“Well I will give your information to him or my friend, and—”
“She won’t be hating and not pass it along, right?”
“No, no.” I shook my head. “He loves her, and she knows it very well. She won’t be threatened by this. In fact, she asked me to pass people along.”
“Ah, okay.”
“So anyway, once I do that, I will let him take it from there. If you don’t get a call or anything after a week, let me know.”
“Okay. Thank you, Rubie!”
“Angel, come on, this has to be quick.” Mark barked on his way into the waiting area.
“Coming.” She got up, giving me a mischievous smile that made me chuckle softly.
“Rubie, get a fucking move on!” Mark hissed, making me feel good for stealing one of his most talented artists away.
“Sorry, Mark. I’m going.” I hopped up, rushing out.
It was 7 p.m. by the time I got home, and I felt disgusting. I’d broken a whole damn sweat playing U-Haul worker at Mark’s place, and then I didn’t have a chance to shower because he summoned my ass right back to work. Then for lunch, he wanted his smoothie and some Chinese food. And if you were wondering, no, they weren’t even in the same vicinity, so that was fun in LA traffic.
Dropping my purse onto the couch, I stripped out of my clothes all the way until I hit the bathroom. I couldn’t get into that shower fast enough. I washed twice with my favorite soap, and as I rinsed off the last bit, I heard the front door slam.
Hurriedly cutting the water off, I stepped out of the shower, wrapping my body in a towel.
“Surprise!” Armonn picked me up as soon as I opened the bathroom door.
“Put me down. What the fuck!” I shouted as he spun in a circle, keeping me afloat. “Now! Put me the fuck down!”
He finally did, but in the living room near our dining table. He made me sit and then squatted down so he’d be able to look up into my eyes.
“Okay, I know you’re mad, but I have a beyond good explanation.”
“Start with where the fuck my sixteen hundred dollars is, plus all the charges on my credit card.”
Yeah, while gone, this nigga had been using the credit card I gave him which was connected to mine. I didn’t even know until the bill came yesterday morning, letting me know he wasn’t dead or something.
Thank God Eitan gave me money to pay the bill, but I knew he’d be livid if he found out why it was so damn high and that he’d essentially paid for Armonn’s indulges.
“Right. So I was cast on a modeling show. I needed new photos for it, which I got, and it was the only money I had access to. There wasn’t enoug
h room on the credit card at that time.”
“So how the fuck were we supposed to pay rent? And what modeling show?”
“It’s like a competition, and whomever wins gets a contract. I had to go to New York to film, and I couldn’t have my phone to tell you.”
“They let you email on those shows.”
“They do?”
“Armonn, move—”
“No baby, wait.” He dug in his backpack and pulled out four envelopes. “Look.” He removed a check from each of them, the lowest being $1,000 and the highest $6,500. “This is ours. We can put this in the bank. And I’m not gonna use it for a designer jacket.” He grinned, still sexy as the day I met him.
“Oh my gosh.” I sifted through the four checks numerous times as tears pooled in my eyes.
“See, baby. I told you this was gon’ work.” He held the sides of my face. “I didn’t win the competition, but another agency caught wind of me and offered up a modeling contract.”
“What! Are you serious?”
This was like a dream come true and what I’d been waiting to hear since two months into this three-and-a-half-year relationship.
“I am.” He kissed me. “And I wanna thank you for always supporting me. I know it was hard for you, and I know I was a pain in the ass sometimes with my selfishness, but that’s over with.”
“Oh shit.” I sniffled.
“I know, right? About time, huh? We gotta celebrate! I wouldn’t have been able to do this shit without you, Rubie!” He hopped up excitedly. “I told you I was gon’ make this shit pop!”
My ‘oh shit’ comment was because this was not what I was expecting. I had fully planned for him to come through here, although not this soon, and for us to be done with. I’d planned to continue my relationship with Eitan, because I thought my father and everyone else was right about Armonn. But really, I was the one right about him all along. He was a good man, having a hard time. And now, I’d cheated on him, and unbeknownst to Armonn, had given up on his dream.
“Yeah umm, let me get some champagne once I put on some clothes.”
I got up.
“Cool. Oh, baby, ya phone.”
“Let me.” I damn near darted to my purse on the couch, snatching it up.
Digging through as I made my way to the bedroom, I saw Eitan was calling. I was supposed to go to his place once I showered. After eyeballing my phone screen for some time, I hit ignore.
What in the entire fuck was I going to do?
8
Rahim
“That’s good. He gon’ love that.” I bobbed my head as Abel and I sat at the mixer.
He was editing Nala’s latest track, and by the Grace of God, the shit came out perfect. She’d been struggling a little bit for some reason. Well I won’t say for some reason; it was obvious the shit was because of Tony. Seems she was more focused on trying to be with him, which was taking her focus off the goal at hand. Half the time, she tried to give excuses as to why she couldn’t make it to the studio if she knew Tony wasn’t gon’ be here. But when he was, she’d show up half an hour early, visibly excited to see his ass.
It was a shame because the girl had some pipes on her, and her voice wasn’t no dime a dozen shit. But like many females in the industry, she was more focused on getting fucked than actually being somebody. It’d be interesting to see how long she’d last.
“He is. She sounds good as fuck. I barely had to do anything with her ad-libs ’cause she did them in one take.” Abel stared intensely at the screen as he shifted waveforms, piecing some together and splitting others.
“If a muthafucka as crazy as Tony was standing outside the booth, watching yo’ ass like a hawk I’d bet you’d be a new aged Aretha Franklin too,” I joked, sending us both into a fit of laughter.
“Be singing muthafuckas up out their seats,” he added, making the shit funnier.
I looked down at my watch to check the time, before pulling my phone from my pocket. I’d been trying to get in contact with Shanece ever since she left me outside of the hospital but hadn’t been successful yet. And when I tried to press Camarih to get me connected with her, she refused. Tony was no help with that roadblock because according to him, he wasn’t no fucking matchmaker.
The night of, I’d tried to find her whereabouts by asking around the hospital, but niggas were acting like they didn’t know who the hell I was talking about. It’d been a little minute now, and Shanece had still been missing, even on social media.
“Aye, I’m about to make a call right quick. I should be back in a few minutes. Need anything before?”
“I’m good. By the time you come back, it should be ready for the final listen so that I can go ahead and master it.”
“Cool.” I left out.
It was about 2 p.m. in the afternoon, so I tried Shanece again, but she didn’t pick up. It was expected, so I moved on to the person I came out here to speak to. After trying Amara’s line three times, I got irritated and desperate, so I tried her work number.
The last time she and I spoke, not including FaceTimes with Ahmira where all she did was pick up and leave my baby with the device, was when she suggested we spend time apart. I didn’t know what had gotten into my wife, but I was hoping she’d moved on from that.
At the same time, it gave me free reign to do what I pleased with Shanece. I didn’t know what I really wanted, but I knew I didn’t want to lose either ladies. And the last time I fucked Shanece was so good that I still jacked off to the shit occasionally.
“Hello, Amara Cambridge’s office,” a girl answered.
“Who is this?”
“This is Mrs. Cambridge’s assistant, Miriam. May I ask who I’m speaking with and the nature of this call?”
“Assistant?”
“Yes.”
“My bad. I’m Rahim Cambridge, Amara’s husband. She didn’t tell her assistant about her husband? Or store me in the database so you know when I call?”
“My apologies. Mrs. Cambridge did mention that she was married but no names. And this is the first time you’ve called since I’ve been hired.”
“Right. Well can I get the number to her office directly? I’m her man, and I don’t wanna have to go through this process again.”
“She’s out of the office, Mr. Cambridgel that is why the call came to me.”
“Where she go?”
“She went to lunch. Would you like me to take a message or—”
“Nah.” I hung up, angrily dialing Amara’s cellphone again.
“Yes, Rahim.” She picked up, voice dry as hell. “One moment,” she told someone, and it was a nigga because a deep voice replied ‘okay.’
“Who the fuck is that?” I perked up.
“Who is who?”
“The muthafucka you at lunch with!” I roared. I was fired the fuck up.
“He’s my co-worker. But look, I am eating, Rahim. If this isn’t important, we can chat when I get back to my office.”
“It’s important. We haven’t talked since you suggested that whole separation shit and I—”
“Not important. I will give you a call when I’m back in the office.”
“Amara—”
Click.
I tossed my phone to the ground, cracking the screen and pissing myself off even more.
“Why you out here throwing tantrums like a little bitch?” Tony walked up, pissing me off.
“Man, fuck you.” I sighed, leaning against the wall. “You and yo’ mouth got my wife trying to leave me.”
“Be happy it wasn’t this dick, nigga.” I got off the wall, ready to squabble, and Tony peeped game, so he got in my face. “What’s up, cuz?” He sized me up, ready to go. “Don’t let a hoe you kept a secret get you fucked up. You mad at the wrong muthafucka in more ways than one, homie. You’ll get the ass whooping of yo’ life fucking ’round wit’ me.”
His more ways than one statement snapped me back to reality. He was right. I could only blame myself for not warning everybody
that my wife, whom I had never mentioned, was coming to the studio. And secondly, Tony was off in the head. He fought to kill, and I wasn’t exactly in the mood for that. I wanted to fight someone more normal.
“Whatever, man.” I went back to lean up against the wall.
“Take yo’ ass home to chill out ’fore I have to shoot yo’ ass.” He sipped his Jamba as he entered the studio. “Acting like a little ass hoe over some pussy.” He mumbled as he continued down the hallway, but I could still hear him.
I did just that because I wasn’t in the mood to work at all right now. Only thing on my mind was Amara being out to lunch with whoever the fuck that was, and Shanece ignoring me. I missed her ass.
When I got home, I took a shower before ordering some pizza. By the time I had found a good movie to watch for when my food arrived, I saw Amara calling.
“’Sup,” I answered.
“Hey, so I took the rest of the day off because Ahmira got sick at school, but it’s fine.”
“Damn, she okay?”
“Yes, just a little tummy ache. I let her have a whole cupcake last night because of her award for coloring, and it’s payback.”
“Shit.” I chuckled, missing the days when I was there for this type of shit.
“Yeah, so…” I listened to her sit down it seemed like. “I thought the last time you and I spoke, you understood that my decision to be separated was made.”
“Amara, we need to work this out. Remember when we worked everything out?”
“Yes, small things, not you pretending I didn’t exist. See the difference?”
“This ain’t big enough for no damn separation!”
“To you! It is to me. Now like I said, I need time, and if you can’t get that through your head, then maybe we should make it legal.”
It got quiet.
“For how long?” I finally asked after getting myself together.
“Not sure. But there is something else I need to tell you.”
She Gave Her All to the Hood’s Finest 2 Page 24