Ballad Of A Bad Bitch

by Ms. Bam

  * * * *

  3. To the Top

  The entire room of twenty plus people were totally quiet. The only sound filling the room was the soulful, smooth sounds of Mia King's voice filling the room. Every ass in a seat knew they were about to get paid. It was as if Whitney Houston and Mary J. Blige birthed a baby and her name was Mia King. No dick needed. Eyes were closed, heads nodding. That's the effect her voice had on everyone who heard her . The song came to an end and everyone seemed to awaken from the trance she'd put everyone in.

  Reginald Davis,Mia's manager, was the first to speak.

  “ Mia there's no turning back now. Everyone's going to know your name. Do you hear me? Everyone! Young girls to grown ass women. Hell you're going to have men out here wanting to change their ways to become the type of man you're singing about. Your single has been at number one on the R&B charts for the last eight weeks and in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 for even longer. When this album drops there's no looking back.”

  Mia took a deep breath. Excitement and dread filling her at the same time. Damn, I want them to love my music but am I really ready for this? I can't honestly say I am.

  “ Okay everyone. That's enough for now. We all have jobs to do so let's make it happen. I need to speak to our rising star here about a few things.”

  Everyone stood and filed out of the room chattering excitedly about the upcoming album release. Mia sighed and prepared herself. She already knew what Reginald was going to bring up and quite frankly she was tired of hearing the shit. Why didn't he just leave it the fuck alone?

  “ Look Mia..,” He said taking the seat directly in front of her.

  “ Reginald why is my whole life history so important? I'm here. I write my own songs. I do everything you could ask of an artist but you need to be all in my business? Excuse my language but why the fuck does anyone need to know all that? All the world needs to know about is my music. Period.”

  “Mia don't you realize you're on the verge of becoming a major star? This is already beyond having your single played on the radio. I'm your manager;I'm here to protect you. But if you were under the impression you could just become a star today and no one would want to know who the hell you were yesterday...you're dead ass wrong. I need to know everything about you. If you got ten skeletons in your closet, open that muthafucka up so I can look at them and see what we're dealing with. You're not gonna have me out here looking crazy. Caught off guard, we've put way too much money into you for anything to come up and knock us off our square.”

  “ I understand Reginald. You know all you really need to know. It's not as if I'm an underage child who needs my parents permission for anything. You know I'm in a relationship and just like you asked I've kept my personal life in the background for my image just like you asked me too. Which by the way has been very hard for me given the fact I'm actually very proud of the way my life is now. You know about Jacobi. Leave it at that. I'm estranged from my family but that's not unlike a lot of people.” Mia could feel a tear sliding down her cheek and raised her hand to quickly wipe it away. Being a recording artist was a dream she didn't even know she wanted until it fell into her lap. The last thing she wanted was for it to be snatched away from her.

  “ See? That's the shit I'm talking about right there. I haven't even really asked you much and you're crying. What are going to do when all the secrets you're hiding are flashed across the headlines of magazines, TMZ, shit, world star hip hop? You need to get ready. Because the paparazzi ain’t no joke. I want you to tell me about anything that has happened in your life that could come back to haunt you...shit haunt us. Forgive me for saying this but every time we touch on the subject,I don't feel like you're keeping it one hundred with me. You're holding back with me and I know it. I can feel it. Mia if it's any constellation let me say this, if I didn't really believe you had the talent,the star power to make a huge impact in this industry I would have walked away. I'm pressing the issue with you because I believe in you.”

  “ Thank you for that Reginald. I understand where you're coming from and you're right. There are just some things in my past I haven't confronted yet. Reginald give me two weeks. I need to go home and set some things straight. Can I have that time at least? I'll keep in touch while I'm gone and the next major thing we have scheduled is the new video shoot right?”

  “ Damn two weeks? You can't take a week? We've got so much to do.” Reginald said flipping through his day planner.

  “ Without a doubt I need two weeks.”

  Reginald shook his head.

  “ Damn okay. Take two weeks to handle your business but I want the truth when you get back. I don't need any surprises out of you. Mia King I'm going to be real with you. You are the artist who is going to take this label to the next level. This is about more than you. I can't have shit fucked up because I don't know what's going on.”

  “ Damn Reginald, just leave it alone. Like I said in two weeks we'll go to dinner...on you and I'll tell you everything.” Mia said standing to grab her jacket.

  “ Can you call me a cab? I'm tired as hell. Now all this shit has my head hurting.”

  “ You don't need to take a cab. I can drop you off.” Reginald offered. In the nine months since he'd discovered Mia not one time had she invited him to her home. Not that it was required of her but damn, as closely as they worked he'd never once been invited in? Even with the rides. It was New York and everyone was used to catching cabs or using the subway but when you could bypass all that and get a ride most people took you up on it. Not Mia. She always claimed she used the time to think.

  Reginald didn't buy it. Mia didn't trust him. Or any man it seemed from the amount of dates he heard she turned down. The only dude who seemed to be close to her at all was some nigga she'd initially claimed was just a long-time friend and her room-mate. It had taken awhile for Mia to admit to him that her and this nigga Jeremiah were more than friends. The way that nigga looked at him any time he did come around, Reginald already knew their relationship was more than that. He had to get to the bottom of all the secrecy.

  He'd invested way too much time and money into her already,used every connection he had in the music game to get her played everywhere. It was paying off. In two weeks if she didn't reveal it all to him he'd used whatever means necessary to find out himself.

  Reginald paged the front desk of the studio and told them to call her a cab.

  “ I'll see you in two weeks Reginald.” Mia said “ In two weeks when I get back, I guarantee you I'm going to have ten more hit singles to give you.” Mia said laughing for the first time since the conversation began.

  “See you in two weeks.” Mia said walking out of the room. Reginald watched her shapely heart-shaped ass leave the room and walk down the hall until she was no longer in his line of vision.

  Goddamn that bitch is fine!

  Reginald remained in his seat. Mainly because the evidence of his attraction to her was evident. His dick hard as Chinese arithmetic. Mia always appeared oblivious to the effect she had on the men around her. By no means did he want to over-step his professional boundaries with her but it was hard. Mia was the vision of a black queen. 5Ft8 inches tall with thick shapely legs, big ass, tiny waist and a flat stomach. Flawless mocha covered skin and even though far too many claimed it when they knew damn well they were lying, there had to be a damn Indian hanging off the limb of her family tree somewhere because she had beautiful thick, silky natural hair that flowed down her back. Deep brown slanted eyes and amazing cheekbones. In all honesty Mia could have walked into any modeling agency and had a contract within minutes. You'd better believe there were plans in the making to exploit her outer beauty as well. Reginald was already in talks with several agencies in regards to product endorsements. Which was exactly why he needed to know everything. Multi-million dollar endorsements didn't happen for clients who had secrets waiting in the wings to be found out.