Chapter 8
Remind me what I’m getting again for coming to this thing with you?” Charlie asked, as she stepped out the car and handed her keys to the valet of the five-star hotel.
“My undying love, sis,” Stassi answered, laughing. “We should have self-parked this ugly-ass car, though, Charlie. You got me pulling up looking poor.”
“It’s work, right? Does it matter how we pull up?
” Charlie asked. “Take care of my baby, here. She’s my prized possession.
” Charlie pointed at the valet, warning him but her smile was endearing.
“It’s old and ugly but it means the world to me, and if it doesn’t start right away, just give it a little gas. ”
The older man smiled and accepted the key. “You got it,” he answered.
Charlie’s black, lace bralette left nothing to the imagination, but her thin figure made it less seductive and more high fashion. Her skirt was black and skin-tight, with two slits that rode up so high her red thong showed when she walked.
“This looks like a big deal,” Charlie said. “What did you say this guy did again?”
“It is a big deal. If I nail this tonight, I’ll likely book five more jobs before I even leave,” Stassi said. They stepped inside the hotel and headed into the ballroom, bypassing the crowd as they headed for the kitchen.
“Let me just make sure my staff has this in order and then all I have to do is make sure everything goes smoothly,” she said.
“You’re not working the kitchen tonight?” Charlie asked.
“Nah, she’s working the room tonight, meeting a few people,” Day said, walking up to them, interrupting.
Charlie didn’t miss her sister’s blush and she can’t say she didn’t understand.
Day was just one of those men. He commanded the room, the type to make you misplace your words midsentence.
Charlie felt the urge to pat her pockets in search of them because his sudden presence had certainly stolen her moxie.
He examined her first, then swayed his gaze toward Stassi.
“You and your friend showing out at my event,” he said.
“My sister. This is Charlie. Charlie, this is Day,” Stassi introduced. “He’s the man of the hour. Dynasty is his company.”
Charlie’s stomach fell out of her. “Dynasty? Like, the music group?”
“Yeah, and I’m not exactly the man of the hour. I’m a partner at the label. Let me introduce you to my man. He was super impressed by the setup, said we got to get you on the team so we can use you for future events. Told you I’ma put you on,” Day said.
He turned and cupped his mouth with his hands. “Yo, D!” he shouted.
Charlie knew before he even walked over to her who would come.
Demi approached and Charlie’s stomach knotted.
He was freshly faded, lined to precision, but he looked royal.
A blue so dark it almost appeared black rested against his skin as he wore the Yomi dashiki, tailored pants, and Gucci loafers.
Is he African? She wondered. Would explain the dick.
She had never seen a more regal man. Black and blessed.
His weird-ass was pre-occupied in his phone as he headed their way.
He didn’t have to look up because everyone moved out of his way, some vying for his attention as he passed.
He lent it to no one as he sipped his drink.
Charlie was frozen. She didn’t know if she should flee or stay.
He looked up at her and she saw her presence affect him.
Shock and a bit of appreciation flashed across his face as he took in every inch of her body before coming back to her face.
“This my man...”
“We know one another,” he said.
“Not really,” Charlie said. “Not really at all.” Charlie turned to Stassi. “I’m going to get a drink. Let me know if you need me.”
Charlie started to walk away but Stassi was on her heels. “Is that-”
“Yup, that’s his bitch-ass,” Charlie said before Stassi could even finish her sentence. “Nigga is alive and well, so he chose to fuck me and then ghost me.” Charlie couldn’t put enough distance between her and Demi.
Stassi had to grab her arm to get Charlie to stop. “Hey, we can go if you want. My team can handle this.”
“No, I know how important this is for you. The networking is worth more than the commission. I’m cool. I’m just keeping my distance. Go ahead. Do your thing. I’ll be taking advantage of the open bar.”
“Are you sure?” Stassi asked.
“I’m positive,” she said.
Stassi nodded and then glanced back at Day who was absorbed in conversation with Demi.
“You say the word and we out,” Stassi said.
“Handle your business,” Charlie stated. “I won’t be the reason why you miss this opportunity. I’m good.”
Stassi gave her arm a squeeze of appreciation before making her way back through the crowd. Charlie could feel him staring and when their eyes met, she rolled hers away.
Bitch-ass nigga, she thought. She glanced his way once more but quickly retreated when she discovered he was still staring. Fine. Ass. Nigga.
She was grateful when he kept his distance, but his eyes never left her.
Every time Charlie searched the room for him, he would already have her in his crosshair.
It was like he was touching her. His eyes left a fingerprint behind.
A grace to her neck. A kiss to her lips.
Damn, a flick of her clit. How did he have this much power over her?
Charlie was soaking wet as her heart stampeded, she was winded as an unbelievable anger and wanting filled her.
God, how her body ached. She had only had him once but it had created an addiction. Clearly, she had done the same.
He didn’t even try to look away. One hand rested on the front of his slacks because she knew his dick was trying to pull him to her.
Like a metal detector, it was screaming for her because Charlie felt it.
Her pussy clenched and she had to force her eyes elsewhere.
How could she resent and desire a man all at the same time?
Demi needed to stop giving out good dick, if he only intended to do it once, because Charlie now wanted it again and again.
He was surrounded by people. Artists on the label, other executives, women, his circle.
So many important people around him, clamoring for his attention, and he gave them all a moment of his time, but those eyes always ended up back on her.
“You look real uncomfortable over here.”
Charlie turned her focus to the man who approached her. He handed her a champagne flute. Charlie took it but didn’t drink from it. She didn’t know him well enough to trust what might be in it.
“Just enjoying the vibe,” she answered.
“You are the vibe. It’s a lot of people in this room, but you’re the one,” he said.
She frowned and then laughter escaped her. “That is so terrible. Like, seriously, why do you niggas do shit like that? Tell obvious lies just to make conversation,” she said, shaking her head.
The man laughed and shook his head. “Damn, baby, you going hard on a nigga. I been trying to figure out how to start a conversation with you for 20 minutes and you ain’t making it easy. I’m embarrassed as fuck right now,” he said, snickering as he sipped the bubbly.
“I’m embarrassed for you,” she laughed. For the first time all night, she didn’t feel uptight. “All you have to do is say hi and maybe provide a name. I’m super simple.”
“Hi, I’m Sin,” he said, holding out a hand for her. “And you’re beautiful, and I apologize for the extra shit.”
Charlie placed a delicate hand in his and he caressed it with his thumb as they shook.
“I’m Charlie, it’s nice to meet you, Sin,” she replied. “See, wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“Easiest shit I’ve ever done,” he answered, staring so hard that it made Charlie blush.
“Yo, nigga, take a walk.”
Charlie heard the lethal tone of voice as it came up behind her and she almost choked on the champagne she was sipping as she turned to him. Demi stood over her shoulder, so close to her body that she could feel his dick pressing into her ass as he placed a subtle hand to her hip.
“My bad, Demi. I ain’t know this was you. No disrespect, family,” the man said. “It’s all love.”
“More walking,” Demi said. He wasn’t with the conversation. He was like a dog with a bone — territorial as fuck.
Charlie spun on him. He had some nerve. He had all the nerve. The audacity of this man.
“Who do you think you are?” she asked.
“Nobody, Bird. I’m a nobody-ass nigga for handling you the way I did, and I know I got no right to be tripping on you, but I’m fucking tripping.
You in here with your titties all out. Got these red fucking panties on,” he said, backing her against the bar and leaning to whisper in her ear. “Damn, Bird.”
Charlie shook her head in disgust.
“You gon’ make me kill something in here tonight,” he said.
“Niggas eyes been on you all night, thinking about what it would be like to fuck you. That’s what you wanted with this outfit?
For niggas to shoot they shot right in front of me?
They can do that. They can shoot they shits with you, Bird, as long as they ready to shoot with me too, cuz I got all the shots, Bird.
All the bullets in the world behind you. Out here being fucking fast, man.”
He had never been so irritated with a woman. His temple was throbbing, his pulse racing, with anger, in jealousy.
“Fast? Nigga, I’m grown,” she said, face twisted in irritation.
He looked her up and down, down then up, and then fixated on her throat. He wanted to wrap his hands around her throat and squeeze a little. His dick bricked just thinking about it. What was it about this girl that made him lose his discipline?”
“You real grown, Bird,” he agreed.
“I didn’t know this party was for your company.
I don’t have time for this. I would have never come,” Charlie said, shaking her head as she shifted in her stilettos and looked away from him.
Charlie stormed off, heading out of the ballroom and into the hallway, anywhere that was away from him.
She needed some place where she could breathe because, in his presence, she just couldn’t quite inhale, all her breaths were leaving her.
“Yo, Charlie, give me a minute; let me talk to you,” he said as he followed her.
Her entire being had thrown him off. Hers was the last face he had expected to see tonight, but it couldn’t be unseen.
Twenty-two days of discipline, of erasing her texts, of watching the video she had sent him again and again just to get a fix, had all been flushed down the drain at one glance.
She looked beautiful, not in the overdressed, stunt on these niggas type of way that every other woman present did.
.. but in Charlie’s way. In a, I don’t give a fuck about nobody in this bitch so I’m going to wear whatever, fuck a dress code type of way. She was fucking beautiful.
“Oh, now you want to talk? Now you got some shit to say? You been silent for weeks but all of a sudden you an orator, my nigga?” she asked, a little louder than she intended, getting stares from the stragglers that lingered in the hallway.
“Aye, clear this shit out! Get the fuck in or out!” he barked on the guests that lingered in the hallway, desperate for a moment of privacy with Charlie.
His temper flared as she kept walking. He knew he had no right to be mad but hell, she was mad, so he was mad too.
They were mad as fuck together, because damn if Demi didn’t just want to do everything she did, wherever she did it, however she did it.
He had no business in this hallway with this damn girl, pleading for a second of her time.
Demi didn’t beg anyone. People normally begged him; women, especially women, normally begged to be in his presence, normally begged for dick, for money, for trips and he always declined.
He had a woman at home, a good woman, but Charlie made him weak.
“Stop following me you fucking weirdo,” Charlie spat as she pushed into the women’s bathroom, the one place he couldn’t follow. Just as she suspected, he halted. Not because he wasn’t allowed there but because his OCD wouldn’t let him take another step. Public bathrooms disgusted him.
He had a feeling she knew that. It enraged him.
Charlie and her fucking boldness, her disregard for his rules.
He wanted to kick the damn door in but instead, he backpedaled to the bench across from the door and sat.
He wanted to walk away, but he had pictured her in his mind too many times over the past few weeks to let her get away.
This couldn’t be a coincidence that they had crossed paths again.
When 15 minutes passed, he knew she was stalling him out.
He pulled out his phone and sent her a text because while he had deleted the number, his obsession with her had committed it to memory.
Self-preservation. It had to be. He knew he would need that number one day because no way should he know it, but his brain wouldn’t let him forget.
DEMI
Bring your shitty-ass out the bathroom.
CHARLIE
Bring your weird-ass in the bathroom.
He put his phone in his back pocket and grit his teeth so hard his jaw hurt.
He stood and walked into the bathroom, suffocating instantly.
The banging of the door as it hit the wall startled Charlie as he crossed the room, pressing her back to the wall and bracing both hands around her body as he bowed his head.
A struggle. Demi was having a mental battle.
Against the fucking germs he was sure was in the air and now all over him, against his conscience, against the mental battle he desperately wanted to win against Charlie.
“You playing with me, Bird,” he said.
“The way you played with me?” she asked. “Get the fuck away from me, Demi. We don’t have shit to say to each other.”
Charlie tried to push by him, but he wasn’t budging.
“Move, Demi, before I scream,” she warned.
“If you were going to scream, you would have done that by now,” he said.
Charlie was so annoyed that she did the only thing she could think of. She mushed him, rubbing her hands all in his face like she was smashing a snowball. Demi lost control, wrapping one hand around her neck, and hemming her up. His face felt like battery acid had been poured all over it.
“You done lost your fucking mind,” he said sternly. His hold on her tightened as his nostrils flared and he stared into her eyes. Without warning, he let go, storming out of the restroom and leaving Charlie inside with tears in her eyes.