by Goss, Shelia
***
“Yes baby, that’s the spot. Don’t stop,” Garrett moaned at the same time his cell phone rang. The ring tone indicated it was Trevon. “Whatever you do, don’t stop.”
Garrett answered the phone in between strokes. “This better be good. Yes, that’s it.”
“Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“Man, talk or I’m hanging up.”
“Hailey kicked me out.”
“You interrupted me to talk about that mess.” Garrett didn’t wait for a response. He hung the phone up on his friend right before his body gave in to an orgasm that had him and his bed partner moaning each other’s names.
“I hate for this to end,” Shareeka Johnson said, as she wrapped her arm across his chest.
“It has to.” Garrett said, feeling a little guilty. Normally messing with other men’s women didn’t phase him, but lately his self-conscious had been beating him up. “Besides, your man needs you. He sounded a little upset about something.”
“Screw him. He’s always putting work before us,” she responded.
Garrett didn’t know that she was Trevon’s woman until he ran into Trevon and Shareeka out on a date a few months ago. Garrett and Shareeka had been seeing each other for months whenever her man, in this case Trevon, ticked her off. He tried on several times to warn Trevon that Shareeka wasn’t who he thought she was. Garrett soon came to the conclusion that it wasn’t his business to disclose her indiscretions; especially since Trevon refused to stop messing with Hailey.
He also didn’t want to ruin their life long friendship over a woman. He had been knocking boots with Shareeka before he knew Trevon was her man, but Trevon wouldn’t understand; so to keep the peace he kept quiet and made sure Shareeka was kept happy. If he didn’t keep her happy, she would go find another man to screw over Trevon with. At least with him, he didn’t have to worry about him catching feelings. Garrett had no love for women who cheated on their men.
~ 3 ~
Hailey strolled into the studio wearing huge brown shades to match her brown leopard skin tight outfit. “Work your magic,” she said, as she slid into Mo’s chair. Mo was her make-up artist and on-set hair stylist.
He used his hands and undid her ponytail. “This here has to go. Looks like another wig day for you Missy.”
She removed the shades and Mo almost had a fit.
“Oh my. Did you get into a fight?” he asked. He swiveled the chair around and used his hands to accent the puffiness under Hailey’s eyes.
“As you can tell I didn’t have a good weekend.”
“Do tell,” Mo said, as he went to his case and pulled out several hair wigs in various sizes and colors. “What are you wearing today Mademoiselle?”
“I’m not sure.”
He held up a black wig with wavy hair. “So what man do you want me to beat up today?”
Hailey chuckled. “Why do you assume it’s about a man? I do have a life.”
“Dear, you know I know men and only a man can have a queen like us come in looking like this.”
She looked at her reflection in the mirror and didn’t like what she saw. While Mo worked on her make-up and hair, Hailey told him about Trevon. “I should be the one getting married to him, not this Shareeka Johnson person.”
“I agree dear,” Mo, said to appease her.
“Besides, the name alone sounds so ghetto.”
“Now when you’re right, you’re right, but Hailey you can’t go prejudging someone because of their name.”
“Whose side are you on anyway?” she asked.
“It’s all about you. But Mo tells you like it is,” he said, as he did the finishing touches to her make-up.
“I’m just saying. Why would he want ghetto-fabulous, when he can have all of this?”
He turned her around to face the mirror. Hailey looked like the star that she was. “Shareeka better watch out because once mine, always mine. Trevon Swint is mine.”
Mo gave her a high five. “Work it girl.”
“Think I won’t.”
Hailey feeling satisfied with her hair and make-up opted to wear a three piece beige pants suit. She said a silent prayer and waited for John’s signal. She walked out on stage to the cheers, “Hailey. Hailey.”
“Welcome to the Hailey Barnes Show.” Hailey spent the first few minutes talking to the audience at home; drawing them in with her twinkling eyes and dimples that wooed many photographers when she was modeling. “When we come back, you’ll meet my panel of guests from the infamous paparazzi.”
Hailey’s heart wasn’t in today’s show. She was just going through the motions. She asked the pertinent questions some of her peers had said behind closed doors and lit into some of the panelists because she too had been a victim of paparazzi mania.
“Growlll,” one of the panelists imitated a bear’s growl.
Hailey held her hand up to her heart. “Sorry. I’ll take off the claws.”
The audience laughed. One of the other panelists said, “We promise to treat you like the other stars.”
“Ouch. Maybe I should be nicer to you guys.” Hailey looked at her audience and then back at her panelists. “Not.”
At the end of the show, Hailey thanked the audience and the panelists. She heard one of the panelists say, “She’s not as bad as what folks make her out to be.”
“No, she was actually nice.”
Hailey smiled and walked off the stage. She could turn on the charm when she needed to and if she could woo members of the paparazzi, she could get her man back. She needed to make a phone call and smiled as she headed to her dressing room. Her smile faded when John blocked her path.
“Follow me. Security wants to meet with us now.”
Hailey tried to get out of the meeting. “But. I have things to do. Things to prepare for tomorrow’s show.”
“It can wait.”
She followed John to his office. She didn’t see how he worked with all of the chaos. He had files everywhere. She was surprised he knew where anything was. She was so busy wondering how mister control could work in a space filled with boxes and files everywhere. She knew exactly what she was getting him for his birthday. She was hiring someone to clean his office.
“Ms. Barnes, thanks for meeting with us,” Bach, the head of security said, as he extended his hands out.
Hailey smiled and shook his hand. She admired a man who could look like a man on steroids but still look like he walked off the cover of GQ magazine. His clean shaven head was a turn on but simply reminded her of Trevon. She sat down in the first available seat.
“Fellows, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but I have things to do.”
“This will only take a few minutes. I promise you,” Bach responded. For the first time, Hailey noticed he was holding a folder. He handed it to her.
She opened it. Her mouth flew open. “Where did you get this?” she asked. She viewed the red stained letter that contained more hateful words. With each letter, the words became more and more personal.
“After last week, we decided to go through all of your fan mail. We came across these and a few others.”
Hailey twisted in her seat. “I don’t know what to think.”
John hadn’t taken a seat. He leaned on his desk. “I think you should consider hiring a personal bodyguard.”
“We’ve talked about that before. Having guards here on set or when I do events is fine, but I refuse to be a prisoner in my own home.”
“Only until we find out who is sending this. I have my men working on it now. I have a few men I can recommend to you in the meantime,” Bach said.
Hailey held her hand up. “No need to. I have someone in mind.”
This was perfect. Hailey decided to use her situation to get Trevon to realize she was the woman he was in love with. After the meeting, she rushed to her dressing room and dialed his number. He answered on the third ring. “I knew you couldn’t stay away.”
“This isn’t personal, its busines
s.”
***
“You did what?” Garrett yelled as Trevon informed him of their new client. “Call her back and tell her we’re booked. There’s no way I’m taking Ms. Drama Queen on as a client.”
Trevon pled. “She’s scared man. What if this fan does something crazy? Besides, it would ease my mind if we were the ones protecting her.”
“Hailey is as defenseless as a tiger in the wild.”
“Man, you didn’t hear how she sounded on the phone. I had never heard her sound that way before.”
Garrett walked out of Trevon’s office. Caroline, their secretary, looked between the two and shook her head. She was used to the two friends slash business partners rants. She continued her filing. Garrett sat behind his desk and scrolled through the personnel list. “This is insane.”
“I would handle it myself but you know our relationship is kind of sensitive right now.”
“Whatever man. We can put Brenda Anderson on it. Brenda can pretend to be her assistant and that way whoever the crazed fan is, if they are watching her, it won’t seem abnormal.” Garrett typed up a quick email and sent it to Brenda.
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll call Hailey and let her know.”
“Let me do the honors. You’ve done enough.”
Trevon took a seat across from Gavin’s desk. “Hailey, I hear you’re having some problems,” Gavin said.
Garrett turned his chair around. He didn’t need Trevon staring into his mouth every time he said something. He listened to Hailey whine. “He’s sitting right here. You want to talk to him?” He paused and then burst into a hearty laugh. “We’ll talk later. I’ll meet you at your place in a few hours.”
“So what did she say? Did she sound disappointed?” Trevon blurted out question after question.
“You owe me. You better name your first born after me.”
“Yeah. Okay. But what did she say?” he asked.
“She told me to tell you to kiss her a--,” he was cut off by his desk phone ringing.
~ 4 ~
Garrett picked up Brenda, one of his best employees, and went over the few things he knew about Hailey’s harassing letters. Brenda said, “I heard she could be a real you know what.”
“She’s not that bad,” he lied.
“I hope not. If she is, I might need to ask for a raise.”
“Maybe I should have you sign a contract beforehand,” he joked.
“I knew it. Something told me to fake an illness.”
This was Garrett’s first visit to Hailey’s new place. He noticed several security faults the moment he pulled up to her gate. The gate was wide open as he pulled up in the circular driveway of the light brown bricked two story house. Trevon was slipping. If he cared about Hailey like he said he did, he would have made sure she had better security measures.
“I’m impressed,” Brenda said, as she exited the car and admired the colorful landscaping.
Garrett glanced around as they waited on Hailey to answer her door. He turned when he heard the door open. He was taken back when Hailey stood looking as if she stepped off the pages of Essence magazine. Her smooth chocolate skin glistened and the crevices in her dimples seemed to get deeper as she widened her smile and welcomed them in to her home.
She hugged Garrett. The floral fragrance she wore attacked his senses. “Boss man,” Brenda repeated several times.
“Yes Brenda.”
“I’m going to check out the house. You’re coming or staying?” she asked.
“You two go ahead. I’ll take a look around outside.” He didn’t give either a chance to respond before heading out the front door. Garrett was acting like this was his first time meeting Hailey. In fact, it was the opposite. They had been friends since college. He admitted to looking at her as a sister. Well that was stretching, a distant cousin.
Trevon and him vowed to treat her like one of the guys; well that is, until the day he came home early and caught them two butt naked on the couch. Although the dynamics of their relationship changed, Garrett still treated Hailey as he would any other female friend that he wasn’t sleeping with. She was the friend he called when he needed female advice. As they had gotten older, they rarely had heart to heart talks; instead he seemed to always be caught in the middle of playing referee between her and Trevon’s on again off again relationship.
Garrett removed a notepad out of his pocket and jotted down some notes. Hailey didn’t know it, but she was about to have a brand new security system put in. There were so many holes in her current system, he wanted to find whoever sold her the one she had and slap them himself. He wouldn’t trust the system she had with an enemy and being in this line of business, he was sure he had plenty of those.
He caught up with Brenda and Hailey in an upstairs bedroom. Although her place was elegantly decorated, it felt like home.
“I was just telling Brenda that we go way back,” Hailey said, as she looped her arm through his arm as they headed back down the stairs.
“Don’t believe a word out of her mouth,” Garrett responded.
“One thing hasn’t changed. He’s still a ladies man,” Hailey said.
“I’ll pretend like I didn’t hear you say that.”
“Would either of you like anything to drink before you go?” she asked.
“No, but I could use your little girl’s room,” Brenda responded.
“It’s the third door to your left.”
As soon as he knew Brenda was out of earshot, he said, “I know the game you’re playing and I’m not going to be a part of it.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Hailey led him to the living room.
“I get that you’ve been threatened, but I’m sure you could have gone with another security firm.”
Hailey batted her eyes. “I wanted the best and the last time I checked. GT Securities was the best.”
“You thought Trevon was going to run over here. Trust me, he would have but I think it’s about time you two grow up and part ways.”
Hailey walked closer to Garrett. “I think you need to mind your own business and do what I’m paying you for.”
“Me and my employee can walk out and let you fend for yourself. You and your faulty security system.” Garrett refused to be bullied; especially by the likes of Hailey.
Brenda walked in the room. They ignored her. She cleared her throat. “Hailey it was nice meeting you and I look forward to working with you. Garrett, I’ll meet you in the car.”
Neither said a word. Hailey was the first to break the silence. “Maybe this wasn’t a good idea after all,” she said, as she shrugged her shoulders.
“You hired us to do a job and we will do our job; but as your friend, I hate to see you get hurt.”
“I’m a big girl.”
“Tre told me about what happened. Tre’s my boy, but you can do better.”
Garrett noticed Hailey’s body tensing. She said, “Let’s agree to keep our personal life separate from our business.”
He extended his right hand out to her. “I can, but can you?”
Hailey hesitated before shaking his hand.
***
Hailey let out a scream she had been holding in since learning that Garrett was the one handling her case and not Trevon. Her little plan to get some alone time with Trevon without it seeming obvious was backfiring. She had to come up with another plan. Brenda seemed like an okay person but she was not who she envisioned on being her bodyguard.
Garrett was still the same conceited man he had always been. She wanted to knock the smug look off his face. If she wasn’t trying to get Trevon back, she would make it a mission to make Garrett fall in love with her and then break his heart like he had done the countless other women she knew about.
She meant to ask him what he meant about her faulty security system. The thought left as quick as it came. Her cell phone vibrated in her pocket. Trevon’s name displayed. “What do you want?” she snapped.
“Just checking
to see if everything is okay.”
“If you cared so much, then it should have been you over here.”
“Under the circumstances, I just thought it was best.”
“Best for who? You. You’re one selfish m-f.” Hailey mouthed several other obscenities.
“You need to calm down. I thought I was doing the right thing. If you want me to handle things from now on, I’ll talk to Garrett and we can see about re-arranging things.”
“I don’t care what you do.” Hailey flipped her phone close, which disconnected the call.
He actually thinks I’m going to sit back and let him dictate what goes on in my world; he has another thing coming. I hope Garrett doesn’t agree with him. It’ll serve him right. In fact, having Garrett overseeing my safety might be better. I know it will be. Garrett can help me get my man back.
~ 5 ~
“Mo, I want you to meet Brenda. She’s my new assistant.”
They shook hands. “Girl, you should be a hand model.” Mo held her hand up and looked at it from different angles. “They’re so soft.”
Hailey pulled Brenda’s hand away. “Ignore him. Come on, I’ll introduce you to everyone else.”
“Think about it. I have a friend who could hook you up,” Mo said.
Brenda followed Hailey throughout the building as Hailey made her introductions. “Bach is the head of security and will be able to tell you everything there is to know.”
Hailey felt Brenda was in capable hands. She left the two alone as she prepared for the taping of her show. The show went off without a hitch. Brenda was waiting near her office. “Did you get a chance to see any of the show?” Hailey asked.
“I caught some of it, but I mostly spent the time going over the letters Bach had. I’m having some of my people run some tests. So far nobody has been able to get any prints, but don’t worry. Working together, we should get to the bottom of things.”
“I still think everybody is overreacting,” Hailey confessed.
“You never can be sure in incidents like this. It’s best to be prepared than not.” Brenda followed Hailey inside the room. She sat down at her make-shift desk and began typing something into her laptop.
