“Well, I can’t speak for those other two but I’m happy for you. Especially after what happened with daddy,” Mixie added in a low tone, and I knew it had to be because she was at home.
Her bringing up the situation with my father brought instant tears to my eyes. I wish I could say that I wasn’t regretting my decision but part of me was. Since the last time I’d seen him, I’d tried to call him every day but he wouldn’t answer the phone. I’d even called him a few times since I’d been on the island and he still sent me straight to voicemail. I wanted to try calling him on the phone in the house but I didn’t want to trick him into speaking to me, I wanted him to answer the phone knowing it was me.
“I am happy for Jani,” Carm added and TreVonia murmured her agreement as well. “I just wish that I was there, too. Shit, daddy disowned me, too. I could use some shit to take my mind off the fact that I’m all alone.”
I rolled my eyes at her. “Carm, you barely called daddy unless you needed something and rarely came home for holidays. I’m sure you aren’t missing anything.”
“True but still… it’s my daddy.”
The line went silent as we all reacted in our own ways to the hurt in Carmella’s voice. A single tear ran down my cheek and I wiped it away quickly, sniffling the rest away.
“He’s not taking it well either,” Mixie finally spoke, in a hushed tone.
“No, he really isn’t,” TreVonia added. “We didn’t want to tell you guys because we figured it would make it worse for you, but daddy’s isn’t doing well without you two.”
My heart squeezed tight in my chest and I closed my eyes, allowing a few more tears to escape.
“Just give him some time,” Mixie added, as usual, trying to provide us comfort. “He’ll come around. Just give him a little space to realize he’s miserable.”
After ending the call with my sisters, I got dressed and ready to go out with Luke. A stylist came to do my hair after my massage and mani/pedi. This was star treatment and I had no problem finding a way to get used to it. The estate was huge, so big that I hadn’t been able to explore all of it. I couldn’t wait to get back to walking around it and scrutinizing every little detail. Luke had definitely spared no expense when it came to décor and the level of detail in the architecture told me a lot about his taste. It also told me a lot about his net worth. I was used to nice things but nothing even close to this.
Taking a deep breath, I rounded the corner to the stairs, anxious about what Luke had in store for our night. When I saw Luke standing downstairs there was also a chauffeured car waiting behind him. I watched his eyes run down my physique as I sported the dress he’d picked out for me. I felt like the queen he said I was.
“Damn,” was all Luke said as I walked down the stairway but, in my mind, my appearance was no match for his.
Luke was the type of man who could sport any style and rock the hell out of it. In a single day, he could go from hood chic to corporate swag and wear every style in between and still look effortlessly sexy. At the moment, he wore a tailored suit that perfectly fit his slim, muscular build. His long hair was braided into a single braid that ran down his back, and his goatee was freshly cut. His signature gold chains hung around his neck, his gold, diamond-encrusted Rolex glistened on his wrist, his ears sparkled with diamonds and his tattooed hands were bare except for a diamond pinky ring that he wore on the left.
His taste was impeccable when it came to how he dressed himself but also how he dressed me. The gown that he picked out for me was by some designer that I couldn’t name, but I knew it had to be expensive from the moment that I saw it. When I put it on, it was like silk on my skin, making my small curves look better than they’d ever looked before.
“You tryin’ to give me a fuckin’ heart attack, huh?” Luke asked, laughing a little, but I saw the seriousness in his eyes as he looked me up and down.
“Not a heart attack. Just tryin’ to keep your eyes on me for a little longer. That’s all.”
“Well, you get an A-fuckin’- plus,” he replied, still marveling at me and I beamed, ducking my head slightly to look away as continued to stare. “You’re beautiful. Shit… if I wasn’t hungry as hell, we wouldn’t be going anywhere but back to the room.”
“We can save that for later,” I laughed, grabbing his hand. He nodded, his eyes still serious as they pierced into my face. Then he let them drop once more to take in my body and licked his lips before turning away to lead me into the black Escalade that was waiting to take us to our next destination.
Instead of going to a restaurant off the property, the Escalade led us down a road right there on the estate. We stopped near a cabana right on the water; it was lit up by torches and in the center was a table lit by candles. My eyes widened as I looked at it in awe, once again rendered speechless by the fact that Luke had managed to plan all of this out for us. When it came to romantic men, Luke Murray was not the first thought that came to mind, but he was showing me that there was more to him than anything I thought I knew.
The food seemed endless and so were the drinks. By the time dessert came, I was nearly drunk off wine, working on my third glass even though Luke was only on his second glass of Hennessey, a ‘man’s drink’ as he put it.
“So about this list,” he started, taking a sip before placing his glass down and leaning closer to me. “Did you finish it?”
I gulped down the last of my wine before nodding my head and retrieving the paper from my purse.
“I didn’t think it would be so damn hard to figure out what I wanted out of life. But after coming here…”
I paused, once again thinking about how much this experience made me think of greater goals. Luke smiled, almost like he could read my thoughts without me saying them so I didn’t finish, I simply handed the folder up piece of paper to him and watched as he read through my list. Once he got to the bottom, a smirk crossed my face when I saw him pause and raise his brows.
“Hmm,” was all he said but I knew exactly which line on my list had garnered his full attention. No lie, I was a little nervous about what his reaction would be once he saw it, but it was part of what I wanted and so I wrote it down. And then, a slow smile rose up on his face, starting at the edges of his lips before completely taking over his face.
“How many years until you hit twenty-eight?” he asked me smirking, and I ducked my head to hide my smile.
“Not too many more… but this is just my wish list.”
“I can dig that shit,” he replied and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Your wish is my command.”
He stuffed the paper into his pocket and I turned to look out over the water, still wearing the same goofy ass grin on my face. Somehow, even though nothing had happened just yet, I knew that he meant every single word he’d said.
Carmella
Zeke had me fucked up.
Yeah, I was somewhat to blame for having a total of two attorneys in my family and not asking either one to look over my contract but who would’ve thought his ass would be that slimy? Especially since he was dealing with his own sister’s best friend. I couldn’t believe this shit! Now, reading over the contract, I felt dumb as hell. Not only had I signed away my rights to review the promotions that any photographs I took would show up on, I’d signed a contract that was in effect for a total of two years. For two whole years, I would be the face of all of his porn advertisements. Hell, the way the contract was written, if he wanted to put me as the face of herpes cream, he had the right. How could I be so fuckin’ stupid?
“Explain this to me, please,” I fumed, slamming the advertisement down on the top of Zeke’s desk. His eyes ballooned at my tone before he looked down at the photos. The wrinkles on his forehead relaxed and his lips cracked into a smile that I would have loved to slap right off of his face.
“Oh these? You’re just seeing them, huh? They look great, don’t they?”
Do you know his ass had the audacity to smile at me like I should agree?
“Grea
t?!” I shouted, my angry black woman coming on in full gear. “You got my pictures on a fuckin’ porn ad! Do you have any idea who my father is? This is fucked up, Zeke! You could’ve told me this shit.”
I told myself when I was walking in there not to show out, but I was about to do just that and more. Zeke was staring at me like he didn’t understand why I was so angry and I was looking back at him like he was dumb as hell. Why wouldn’t I have a problem with this? Even if he didn’t have to show me the ads my photo would be on, as a decent human being he could have let me check them out before plastering my face all along the east coast of the USA!
“Could’ve told you what, Carm?” he asked with furrowed brows, delivering a slight shrug with his question. “You post shit worse than this photo on your Instagram page for thousands of people to see. So just because I’m advertising a porn video, that you’re not even in, it’s a problem?”
See, it was niggas like this that were the sole reason women spazzed out in the first place. I came in here with every intention to be a lady and have a decent conversation, but he was about to have me show my whole ass.
“What I choose to do with my pictures on my Instagram page is one thing. If I decide to release a picture of myself ass naked, then that was a decision I made to show my body. But for you to use that as an excuse to make money off of me by selling sex is not acceptable!”
Zeke rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Carm, you were half-naked, wearing a thong bikini, bending over a desk with your ass and tits practically hangin’ all the way out of the lil’ ass shit we had you wearin’. What the hell did you think you were selling? Even without the word ‘porn’ on this piece of paper, that’s exactly what it is.” He shoved the papers towards me and I backed away with my nose twisted up, not even wanting to touch them anymore.
“Well, I’m done and I’m not doing it anymore. You can take the car and the condo that you gave me. I quit.” Looking down, I reached into my purse to grab the keys to both and sent them sailing across Zeke’s desk, right at him.
“You can’t do that,” he said, chuckling. There was an evil twinkle in his eye and I was instantly reminded about the way that Sasha had warned me about her brother. Why the hell did she give me that half-assed warning anyways? Why didn’t she just come out and tell me? As much as I wanted to yell at her for that, I couldn’t bring myself to call her and let her know how stupid I was for not being more responsible.
“Yes, I can!” I spat back and cocked my head to the side before pressing my hand into my hip. “I’m not bein’ the face of any porn enterprise you have goin’ on. I’ve embarrassed my family enough.”
“Well, you’ll be embarrassing them a whole lot more because you’re under contract,” Zeke reminded me and pushed the keys back towards me. “So take your shit and be ready to come in tomorrow and perform. We have some new stuff that we are on deadline to get out for the west coast. Your ad will be everywhere. Get ready to be famous.”
My mouth dropped open. I really couldn’t believe that someone as handsome and charming as Zeke could be so evil. But I guess he hadn’t made all this money by not being an asshole.
“The west coast? But I go to school in Cali… I don’t want my professors and colleagues there to see—”
“You said you wanted money. You said you wanted to be famous. I’m giving you all that. I’m holding up my end of the bargain and I expect you to do the same. We are all professional adults in this business.”
And with that, Zeke lowered his head and began shuffling the papers on his desk in a dismissive way. This conversation wasn’t over but I needed to regroup. If at any time I needed my older sister, it was now. Janelle had to be able to find a way for me to get out of the contract I’d signed with Zeke. There couldn’t be a way that I was really stuck. Thankfully, she was due home from her tropical vacation with Outlaw and I would be able to ask her later on tonight.
***
“Carm…” Janelle sighed and I squeezed my eyes closed, expecting the worst. “You really should’ve let me see this before you signed it.”
“Duh,” I shot back, not wanting to sound bitchy but unable to sound any other way. “I didn’t think that Zeke would try to fuck me over like this. He’s Sasha’s brother and he knows about daddy running for mayor… I just didn’t think he would do this to me.”
Janelle sighed again and I fought the urge to just hang up the phone. I was well aware of how naïve I sounded. Sasha was my friend but Zeke wasn’t. To be honest, I didn’t really know much about him so there was no reason for me to just have trusted him. Especially after his own sister had told me to watch out for him.
“People will screw anybody over when it comes to money. Look at Chris… as much as he claimed he felt about me, when it came to possibly losing his job, he only thought about saving his own ass.”
My mind switched gears, all of a sudden, and I thought about that crazy night we’d had in front of Janelle’s apartment. The day that both of us became fatherless daughters.
“Have you heard from him since?” I inquired, mainly because I was curious about Cree’s family and how seriously they took that ‘thug shit’ they seemed to all abide by. That night, they’d allowed Chris to leave in his own car, but I wasn’t stupid and I noticed that Yolo had decided to take off shortly after in Outlaw’s car, driving in the same direction as Chris. Something told me that he wasn’t just making sure that Chris was making it safely home.
“No,” Janelle said after pausing for a short while. Something about her tone told me that she’d been thinking about Chris too. “But I wouldn’t expect him to want to talk to me, to be honest. I return back to work tomorrow so I’ll probably see him then.”
“And if you don’t?” I couldn’t resist asking.
“And if I don’t then… I don’t know. He’s not my concern anymore, Carm.”
One thing for sure, Janelle was definitely in love and she had it bad. The Janelle I knew wouldn’t have dismissed the idea that Chris could very well be somewhere dead, thanks to her new gangsta boyfriend. She would have wanted to know for sure that Outlaw had nothing to do with Chris being harmed. Janelle had always been the more morally upstanding of us all. The Janelle I knew wouldn’t have let this go so easily by saying that Chris wasn’t her concern. Then again, the Janelle I knew wouldn’t have chosen another man over daddy either. Outlaw was changing her and I couldn’t really say that it was for the worst. At least she seemed to finally have her own mind.
I held the phone in my hand, gripping it hard as I looked back over the electronic version of the contract I’d signed.
“So you’re sure that there is no way to get out of this contract?” I asked her again, hoping for the best although expecting the worst.
“I mean… it’s pretty straight forward. It’s a two-year contract and you gave up your right to review images before they go to print or any authority you would have on where the images are placed. Pretty much, you signed something saying you would take photos for Zeke’s company and he can do whatever he wants to do with them. Unless he allows you to pull out of the agreement, there is no way you will win this in court.”
Now it was my turn to sigh and I did so heavily. “I’ll talk to you later, Jani. I’m going to go ahead and get to bed. I have a long day of work tomorrow.”
Before she could say anything, I hung up the phone and a single tear ran down my cheek. I tried to sniff the others away but, before I knew it, more began to fall.
“Shit!” I cursed, rubbing at my eyes.
I looked around at the beautifully decorated condo I was in. My prize for selling my soul to Zeke. The past few days I’d been sleeping at Cree’s place, but I couldn’t stand to stay there anymore because I was afraid that one day he would walk in the door ready to go crazy on my ass after seeing one of Zeke’s ads somewhere. It was bad enough that he was constantly going off on me about the types of pictures I put on up on Instagram, this would send his
crazy ass over the edge.
Standing up, I walked over to my dresser and pulled out a small piece of glass, a credit card and my magic powder. My party drug had turned into a full-fledged habit, but I wasn’t prepared to admit it yet. More and more, I was using to get over my feelings about all of the bullshit going on in my life. After Cree and I really made it official, I’d managed to push the drugs away because I’d been staying with him, but everything happening around me now was too much. My father had disowned me, and now I saw that I was stuck in a contract that I didn’t want to be in. And even if I could get out of it, I was in no better situation. Outside of what Zeke paid me, I was broke so I pretty much depended on him. My life had gone from sugar to shit.
And so, I leaned over, plugged one nostril, and snorted my troubles away.
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She Got It Bad for a Heartless Gangsta 2 Page 29
