“Rochelle, I need to see you in my office!”
Chapter 9
Tameka
“Since you’ve been away, I’ve been down and lonely. Since you’ve been away, I’ve been thinking of you,” Alise bellowed out Diana Ross’s melody “Missing You,” hitting every note in her unique, smooth as satin tone. I held my hand over my heart, feeling the love and pain in my friend’s words. She sang the song frequently when she was thinking of her ex, so tonight she must’ve been feeling nostalgic.
It was throwback soul night at Club Elite, and Alise was singing her heart out as one of the featured local singers. The building was packed to capacity, so packed that people were being turned away so that we wouldn’t violate fire code.
Alise finished her set and bowed to the roaring crowd that soaked up her every word. “Thank you. I truly want to thank you all for making a girl feel like she can sing. This is why I love being at Club Elite, so don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back up later tonight for another set, and then make sure you come back Saturday for new school R & B,” she said along with her signature curtsy before she left the stage.
“I love you!” a man screamed from the crowd, causing everyone to start clapping and chanting Alise’s name. “I really love you!” the man’s voice could be heard again but this time louder than the chanting crowd.
I squealed as Alise made her way over to the table and sat in the waiting chair next to Jayne. Kemara and Channing were also hanging out with us, and Jeb joined us whenever he wasn’t putting out a fire for one of his employees or patrons.
“You were great up there,” I said to Alise when she walked over to our table.
“Thanks. Those lemons must have come through for me because I’ve had a sore throat all day and had to suck on a lemon before I got here.”
“You sounded amazing,” I assured her.
“Girl, you know you can blow,” Jayne chimed in.
Alise waved over a waitress and ordered a glass of red wine. “Can you drop in a few ice chips,” she was saying to the waitress when she was interrupted.
“Excuse me, Miss—Alise,” a tall white man touched Alise’s shoulder as he spoke. “Can I have a dance with you?” he asked with a huge, weird-looking smile plastered on his handsome face.
“Hello….no, I don’t feel like dancing right now. Just got off the stage, so I’m going to hang out with my girls for a while before I have to get back up there to sing again. Thank you though,” Alise said with a genuine smile and friendly tone.
The man tugged on her arm. “Come on, Alise. Just one dance, sweetheart.”
She tried to pull her arm away from his grasp while saying, “I don’t feel like dancing.”
The man didn’t let her go. Instead, his fingers started making a raging imprint in her arm as he gripped her tighter. Alise tried to pull away again, but it was obvious he was stronger than her and had no intention of leaving her alone.
“Let her arm go!” Janye yelled as she slid down off her barstool.
“I come here every Thursday and Saturday to see you, and this is how you treat me? Give me just a few minutes, please,” the man pleaded with Alise. “All I want is a dance.”
“But she doesn’t want to dance with you,” I spoke up for my friend who looked like she didn’t know what else to say to the man.
“Did I ask you anything, bitch? So you need to stay in your place. No one is over here for you anyway.” He turned back to Alise. “Please, I can give you everything—”
“Who the hell are you calling a bitch? You crusty little asshole,” I snapped into the old Tameka in zero point five seconds as I stood from my seat as well.
“Is there a problem here?” Jeb’s bouncer, Bruiser, walked up beside the man and stood in take down position as the muscles in his neck flexed. “Sir, would you mind taking your hand off the lady?” he said in a booming voice.
“Fuck off, and find your own girl,” the man said. He was clearly not as built as Bruiser, and his medium build standing up to Bruiser’s intrusive six-foot tall, heavyweight stature made me fear for his life. Him being smaller didn’t have an influence over the man. He stood there, poking his average-sized chest out, talking smack and standing up for his right to harass my friend. “I said get lost,” he growled at Bruiser before pushing him in the chest.
Bruiser grabbed the man and with little effort slammed him to the ground. He put his knee in his back and held him there as the man screamed, “Get off of me! Help. Someone get this man off of me!”
Jeb noticed the commotion and left the bar area where he had just went to do a cash pull and came over to kneel down beside the man. “You causing trouble tonight, buddy?” he asked as if he knew the guy.
“Jeb, I come in here every week to buy drinks. Tonight, I only wanted to meet the singer, but she was acting stuck up, and your muscle took it upon himself to floor me. I should sue this place,” the guy whined.
“He grabbed Alise and wouldn’t let her go,” I said to Jeb in Bruiser’s defense.
“Time to take out the trash.” Bruiser patted the man down then scooped him up in one quick motion. He tossed him over his shoulder like a ragdoll and started walking toward the front door.
“Put me down,” the man yelled, wiggling like a little kid as he glared at Alise. “This is your fault! I’ll get you one way or the other, so you can believe this isn’t the last of me,” he said as he glared at her with an evil look in his beady eyes.
“Bruiser’s going to toss him on his face and beat him up while he’s out there,” I said.
“Yeah, I better make sure the douche makes it to his car without losing a rib or an arm.” Jeb sighed as if weighing the outcome of his paid employee beating a man to death while on the clock before he walked behind them out of the club.
Just then, Channing walked toward the table from the bathroom.
“What’s going on? What did I miss?” he asked as he looked at the stunned looks on everyone’s faces.
“A crazy man just tried to force Alise to dance, and Bruiser had to get him off of her and drag him out the club,” Jayne said.
“Did Jeb go out there with him? Because you know Bruiser is going to put a hurting on him if no one is there to stop him,” Channing stated.
I nodded. “Yes, he’s out there with him.”
“Let me go see if my cuz needs my help,” Channing responded.
Kemara touched his arm. “Be careful, baby.”
“I will.” Channing pecked her cheek before he walked toward the door.
I turned to my friend who was rubbing her temples. “Are you okay, Alise?”
“I’m a little shaken up, but I will be alright,” she said.
“There’s always one that tries to mess up a good night,” Janye said.
“I bet he wishes he hadn’t after Bruiser got hold of him,” Kemara chimed in, and we laughed.
“I don’t know what I would have done if he didn’t step in when he did. That man was a lunatic,” said Alise with her voice still a little shaky.
“Hell, with that crazy motherfucker making threats to bother you again, you may need to hire Bruiser as your personal bodyguard. I know I’d love to have him personally guard me, whew,” Jayne said as she fanned herself dramatically.
“Calm down, sis. I don’t need anyone to guard me,” Alise said to Jayne. “I refuse to allow a crazy person to have me running scared.”
That sentiment didn’t quite reach Alise’s eyes, which were wide and fearful. It was natural that she was afraid this man would come back for her, hell, I was too. His eyes had a wildness in them that made it seem as if he wasn’t the type to give idle threats, but more like the kind of man to don a machine gun and wipe out a roomful of people because he had a fucked up, lonely life.
As I thought these things, Alise seemed to come to her own conclusion. “With the way the world is these days, I might look into getting some security,” she stated thoughtfully.
“I’m just saying, Bruiser is the man for the
J-O-B,” Jayne repeated, dramatically spelling out the last word.
I shook my head at Jayne’s antics then turned to Alise. “You’re going out and doing more shows. You’ll be meeting more people who will try to get in your space, so you have to be more mindful of who’s around you. I mean, your brand new single is on iTunes that’s selling at number ten, right after Kane Brown. Maybe it’s time to stop acting like you’re not a big deal. You’re a big fucking deal celebrity, and you’re my friend,” I gushed.
“Listen to you being all supportive and protective,” Alise said, offering me a warm smile. “Thanks sis.”
“But you are a big deal. I would hate to have to escort you to your gigs, ready to hit someone with a beer bottle if they try to bother you, but you know I will do it.” I laughed.
“Not before I knee his ass,” Jayne said and laughed.
The rest of the crew joined in the laughter.
“Okay, I’ll check into Bruiser’s company and see if he has someone that can go with me to my events and see me home safely on those nights,” Alise agreed.
“That’s all I’m saying,” Jayne said with a wink, and we all sighed in relief to know our friend was taking measures to protect herself.
“Just think about it. If you have crazed fans at this level, wait until you hit #1 on iTunes,” I said.
“Well, let’s just drink to you hitting that number one spot soon!” Kemara chimed in, and we raised our glasses to that.
***
Jeb
“It’s a good thing we went outside with Bruiser. He would have broken the asshole in two if we hadn’t held him back,” Channing said of my friend and bouncer who was in rare form tonight. He was known as Bruiser for a reason, but since he’d been working at Club Elite he hadn’t dismantled a man the way he did the regular who tried to attack Alise. The poor guy had no clue of the danger he’d put himself in.
“I know, man. That shit was wild. It took us both to hold him back even after the man was cowering and begging for his life. I don’t know where all the extra rage came from tonight, but Bruiser was in a zone,” I said, closing the door to my office. I had already talked to Bruiser and sent him home to cool off.
“So we’re just going to pretend we didn’t see him drooling over Alise as if she were a bag of Lays the entire time she was on stage performing?” Channing asked.
“Huh?”
“Yeah, you would have thought she was the last ham sandwich on Earth.”
“And we know how much he loves ham,” I said, laughing. “That time you got the last piece of his mother’s ham at Thanksgiving didn’t turn out well for you,” I teased Channing.
“Ha, ha, ha… Anyway, our boy is pussy whipped, and he hasn’t even gotten any yet,” Channing stated.
Bruiser peeked his head into the door. “Jeb, the front door needs smaller bills.”
“What are you doing back here, man? I told you to take the night off,” I said.
“Nah, boss man. Alise has to do her last set, and my job is to protect her on Thursday and Saturday nights when she’s here. I’m not letting a punk run me away from my job, ” he said sternly and then started to walk off.
“Bruiser?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re going to have to work on that temper, man. Dammit. We can’t be catching lawsuits because you want to bruise people up,” I said.
“Listen, that guy was disrespectful to your singer that you hired to work at your club and told that you would provide a safe environment. You hired me to provide that safety. If you want me to do my job, you’re going to have to let me do it,” he said indignantly. “Besides, why the hell would you hire a bruiser if you only wanted a scratcher?” he mumbled.
“I’ll get the change out there in a minute, man. Just don’t kill anybody, please.”
“Gotcha, boss man,” he said and walked out.
“He’s totally going to kill someone,” Channing said, laughing as he stood up.
I dropped my head into my hands and shook it. Channing came over to where I was sitting and pat me on the shoulder.
“I’m about to grab the wife and head out,” he said. “Stay safe, cuz.”
“Alright, we’ll catch up with each other soon,” I said and watched him leave out while thinking about how I was going to deal with Bruiser’s temper. He was an old friend from the brotherhood that left because he started to evolve in his way of thinking. He wasn’t quite there yet as far as his belief about races intermixing, but he respected me and Tameka’s relationship, simply because he knew how much I cared about her.
I was about to go back out to the bar area to hang out with Tameka and her friends for a while when Rochelle met me at my office door.
“Hey,” she said, touching my chest and causing me to tense up. “I just got here and wanted to let you know Trey will be here in about an hour.”
“Thanks for letting me know,” I said, removing her hand and placing it back at her side.
“I heard about a fight earlier tonight. What’s the deal with that?” she asked.
I played the situation down. “It wasn’t a fight. We had a guy harassing the singer and he got put out by security.”
“Oh.” She touched my chest again, but this time slid her hand down to my stomach and started inching lower until I grabbed it firmly in my hand.
I spun her around and said, “Go back up to the front, Rochelle.”
“If that’s what you want,” she said, slowly rubbing her ass up against my crotch.
“Stop that!” I said, pushing her away just as Trey stepped up to the doorway.
“What the hell are you doing here tonight, Ro? I thought I told you to stay your hot ass at home,” Trey said furiously.
“I just stopped by on my way home to make sure—”
“Make sure what? That you got a chance to rub your ass on Jeb before I got here?”
“I—I didn’t—” she started stuttering.
“You think I haven’t noticed how you’re always watching this man? See, you pulled the wool over my eyes for a long time, but when I told you to work here with Jeb, it wasn’t because I think your ass is smart. It’s because I saw the way you lit up when I first mentioned working with him. I just wanted to set you up to see what kinda shit you on.”
“Baby wait, let me explain before you start to—”
“Rochelle, I’m not Mr. Biggs. You have two point five seconds to get out of my face before I strip you out of those clothes I bought you and make you walk home.”
Rochelle put her head down and walked out of the office and up the hallway without looking back.
“And make sure you don’t go to the condo I bought you! I got my boys on the way to change the locks.”
The sounds of her sniffles could be heard as she continued to walk up the hall.
“Trey, man, I wasn’t trying to…”
“No need for any discussion, Jeb. I did my research on you two after she started giving off vibes that she was feeling you. I know what she did to you, and I also know that you’ve been turning down her advances. I think it takes a real businessman to put up with someone as dirty as Rochelle to see their dream through. We’ll talk soon about closing this deal. Let’s get to this money.” Trey dapped me up and turned to leave out.
I let out a deep breath I didn’t know I was holding then made it to the front of the club and was relieved to lock eyes with Tameka. She was questioning me with her eyes, wanting to know why Rochelle had been walking around Club Elite looking for me. I went to Tameka, took her by the hand, and led her to the dance floor. At that moment, I wanted to be close to her, to feel her body next to mine to remove the foul feeling of Rochelle touching me.
Alise had made it back to the stage, and she was singing “Make It Last Forever” by Keith Sweat. I began to sway to the music with Tameka while talking into her ear, “She’s been trying to come on to me, but I wouldn’t dare accept her advances.”
“I figured that much,” Tameka replied. “But wha
t is she doing here? I thought you told her not to come back without Trey.”
“I did. She came into my office to tell me that he’s on the way, but he caught her trying to come on to me and told her to leave,” I said.
“Good for him! She’d better be glad I didn’t catch her raunchy tail,” Tameka said with tension in her voice.
“She won’t be a problem anymore, but I’m not concerned about her. I wanted to come tell you what happened, so you’ll know that I’m not hiding anything from you. I’ll always have an open and honest relationship with you,” I said as I massaged her back.
“Jeb,” she said, pulling back to look into my eyes. “I trust you completely. Even without you telling me what happened, I know you would never cross that line.”
I wrapped my hand around her neck lightly and pulled her to me for a kiss. Our tongues made love in a preview for what was to come later. We danced for hours until finally it was time to shut down for the night.
“This has been a long night!” Tameka said as we walked out at the end of the night.
“It sure has, but it’s going to be even longer once I get you home. Baby, I’m going to do things—” I quickly turned my attention to the sound of a man and woman arguing.
“I don’t need you standing over me like I’m a child!” the woman yelled.
“You don’t know what you need. If you keep behaving the way you do, something bad will happen to you! You need to stop acting like you’re a man, because you’re not!” a familiar voice yelled back.
“Just leave me alone. You’re acting worse than a stalker!”
“You wish I was stalking you…”
“Is that Alise and Bruiser?” I asked Tameka.
“Yeah, that’s them,” she replied, and we started walking in their direction.
“Bruise, man what’s going on now?” I yelled out.
“First of all, this man thinks he’s my daddy or something. I left my phone case at the table we were sitting at, so I drove back over here to get it, and he started hollering at me like a mad man,” Alise said as her chest heaved up and down showing her distress.
Safe Place Series Page 21
