Chapter Twenty-Two
Amber sat on the edge of the bed trying not to go upside Dexter’s head.
He stumbled in the house at five in the morning smelling like booty and liquor.
He was loud, knocking over shit, and rambling about shooting up a club.
Dexter didn’t bother to wash his ass or brush his teeth, and if he had just gone to sleep, Amber would’ve been cool, but no.
Dexter started mumbling about how he was going to run up on Logic and make Tyler watch as he beat his ass.
Amber tried not to take their situation serious, because it was easy to see he was still hung up over his ex.
She liked the way they vibed, but then he’d do something to remind her that they were simply fucking around and nothing more.
Dexter fucked her good and seemed to be knowledgeable about the music industry.
He introduced her to producers, took her to parties, and even worked on music with her.
Amber tried to leave it at that, but slowly she was developing feelings for a man whose soul was tied to another.
Bzzzz bzzzz bzzzz
Peeping over at her vibrating phone, Amber glanced at Scottie’s name before answering.
“Girllll,” Scottie groaned into the phone. “I can’t stand these niggas.”
“Tell me about it,” Amber co-signed, allowing her eyes to roll over to Dexter. “What’s wrong?”
“Logic! He's really messing with that girl.”
“You knew that though.”
“Right, but I didn’t think it was this deep. I went over this nigga house trying to make up, give him a lil pussy, hoping we’d be good, but this nigga answered the phone right in front of me. He on the phone caking with this bitch and I mean caking hard!”
“Oh hell nah.”
“Girl! And when I said something, he proceeds to tell her he didn’t fuck me. Like this nigga was explaining himself to that hoe.”
“Wow,” Amber muttered, barely paying attention.
Notifications and text messages had her phone vibrating like crazy, and that could be a good thing or a bad thing.
Either way, Amber ignored Scottie to see what was going on.
She prayed it was good feedback from her single.
It hadn’t hit the Top 100, but Darryl had faith that it would after they released the video that looked like soft porn.
Even if people didn’t like the song, they’d stream it for the video, and in Darryl’s eyes, a win was a win.
Looking through her text messages, Amber saw a few from Darryl and the label urging her to give them a call. Scrolling a little further, she saw tags and mentions from almost every app on her phone.
“Oh shit!” Scottie yelped. “Bitch get on Instagram!”
“I’m already on here.” Amber was trying to make sense of what she was seeing.
“Oh my god. The Shaderoom just posted a video of Dexter getting dragged out of the strip club last night. Have you talked to him?”
“He right here.” Amber rolled her eyes. “Why they tagging me in this shit?” She frowned. “I-” Amber’s voice trailed off as she moved to the next post. Clicking on a link, Amber held her breath and pressed play.
“Babyyyyy, what the hell was in the water this weekend!” Nesha Re clapped her hands together.
“I don’t know, but the streets in Detroit are hot right now, and I don’t mean it in a good way,” Monti replied.
“Now, in case you haven’t heard, Bobbi released a song over the weekend, and yea, she needs to stick to doing what she do…whatever that is.” Nesha Re rolled her eyes. “She sounds horrible, but TikTok is eating it up. Girlie is giving Joseline Hernandez and that’s being nice.”
“You stupid,” Monti cackled. “It’s definitely giving Do It Like It’s Your Birthday. It’s a mess!”
“Oh no,” Nesha Re leaned forward, “It gets messier. Amber, who is also fooling around with Dex just released a song, and lo and behold, it’s the same song Bobbi dropped. Same words, different beat, better tone.”
“Oh my god,” Amber whispered, holding her stomach.
“Oh shit,” Scottie mumbled, listening to the same video.
“Wow!” Monti covered her mouth.
“Yes honey. Oakwood put out a statement this morning, claiming Carla, Tyler’s ex-manager, stole the song and gave it to her daughter. Carla then gets online and starts saying how the CEO of Oakwood stole the song from Tyler, and Dexter was in on it,” Nesha Re gossiped.
“Oweeeeeee, I knew he wasn’t shit.”
“Yes, and you want to know the best part about all of this?”
“What’s that?”
“My girl is somewhere living her best life watching these clowns scavenge for her spot. Little do they know, they’ll never be her. It’s only one Tyler, and Amber and Bobbi will never be able to fill her shoes.”
“I know that’s right!” Monti hollered. “Oakwood talking about Amber is the new princess of R&B.”
“And see this is what I'm talking about.” Nesha Re shook her head. “Why wouldn’t they allow that girl to create her own lane? Why force her into a spot that was customized for someone else?”
“I agree. It’s like they are trying to force Amber on us.”
“And Ty, if you’re listening, I know Logic fine ass is blowing your back out and I’m here for it all.”
“Logic, if you’re listening, I love the way you humbled Dex last night. You’re right. These niggas are sassy and Dexter is a heckler.”
“Aright yall, we have a poll on our Instagram page. I want yall to go vote on who sung it best,” Nesh Re announced. “Personally, I think Amber did, but Bobbi's version is going viral.”
“Going viral doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. They are teasing that girl.”
“Well, teasing or not, she’s running up a check.”
Amber’s heart loudly beat outside of her chest as she clicked on the link to Bobbi’s song.
“Oh. My. God.” She covered her mouth as Bobbi recited the exact same lyrics, word for word.
As if it couldn’t get any worse, on the next verse, Dexter’s Stevie J wanna be ass started rapping.
“I’ll call you back.” Amber ended the call and turned over to face Dexter, who was snoring with his mouth wide open as if his breath didn’t smell like open ass.
“Dex.” She shook him as he rapped the same words she had been singing for the last two weeks.
“Dexter!” she yelled a little louder. “Wake the fuck up!”
Amber was confused because although he hadn’t been to the studio with her, she let him hear the song.
Dexter had even told her which parts to tweak, and she foolishly listened.
She would have respected him if he told her the song was already taken, but no.
He allowed her to look like a fucking fool after promising that he was going to look out for her.
“What?” Dexter groggily replied, rolling over on his side.
He hoped like hell she wasn’t trying to fuck because his hips were sore as fuck, and if he didn’t pop a pill first, there was no way his dick was going to get hard.
“What is this?” she screamed, damn near hitting him in the nose with the phone.
“Move it back some. Damn, I can’t see shit.”
“You don’t need to see it to hear! Open up your little ass ears and listen!”
Focusing, Dexter heard his voice and almost shitted a brick. He thought he had deleted all traces of the song he and Bobbi recorded, but it was obvious he had missed something. Before he could even explain, Amber threw the phone at him.
“Fuck.” He grabbed his throbbing nose.
“You weird ass nigga!” She swung at him.
“Aye, chill the fuck out.” Dexter pushed her so he could get out of the bed. He didn’t know if she got the memo or not, but he wasn’t afraid to knock a bitch on her ass, and if she touched him again, he was going to blow her shit back.
“Why the fuck would you let me release that fucking song if you and that bird brain bitch already released the same song!”
“We was just fucking around. I didn’t know she was going to do that shit.” Dexter tried to explain, but Amber wasn’t trying to hear it.
“I know yall was fucking around because the hoe sent me a video of you eating her pussy Mr. I don’t eat pussy,” she scoffed. “I’m cashing you out, letting you drive my fucking car, and I can’t get my pussy ate, but you eating this bitch. Get the fuck out of my house.”
“Man, I don’t know what the fuck you talking about.” Dexter snatched his pants off the floor.
“Oh my god, this is so messed up!” Amber shook her head. “You know, I tried to be cool. Even after Darryl told me the label dropped your bum ass.”
“What?”
“Yea! They told me to leave you alone, but I thought we had an understanding. I still looked out for you because I know that shit embarrassing, but you played me.”
“Amber-
“No wonder Tyler ran from your nasty ass! Your broke ass was fucking on the girl cousin.”
“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.” Dexter tried to bypass her, but Amber mushed him in the face.
“You’re a fucking fraud and I hope she never comes back.” Amber pushed him. “Broke, lame ass nigga.”
Whap!
Dexter’s right hand sent Amber flying into her nightstand.
“Nigga are you out of your mind?” she screamed, holding her face.
“I gotta be if I stuck my dick in your wide ass pussy. Fine as fuck with bottomless pussy. What a fucking waste.”
“Get the fuck out of my house and leave the keys to the car you bum ass nigga.”
“My name on that shit too,” Dexter glared at her.
“Your name on it, but you can’t make the payments and if you walk out of here with those keys, I’m calling the police!” Amber shouted.
“You a ole janky ass bitch.”
“And you a ole walking, panhandling ass nigga. Kick rocks.” She clapped her hands.
“Panhandle these nuts,” Dexter sneered, snatching his phone, wallet, and shirt off her dresser. He started to grab the keys to the car, but he had a feeling she’d really call the people on him and that was the last thing he needed.
“That’s what I thought,” Amber pursed her lips.
“Shut up and do some fucking Kegels or go get that shit surgically fixed before you keep singing about putting them droopy ass lips on a nigga. Talking about I'm a fraud, bitch yo loose ass pussy is a fraud.” He stormed out of her bedroom.