CHAPTER 7
It had been hours since the photo shoot, and Jackie was still fuming.
How dare Antonio swoop in and use his charm to get his way?
As usual. Jackie was not charming; it wasn’t a characteristic she cared about having.
Charm wasn’t something that worked for women in her industry. Ruthlessness was much more effective.
Jackie kicked off her heels in her hotel suite and threw her jacket across a chair.
She went straight to the minibar and poured herself a vodka and soda.
This was an appetizer. She’d order room service later.
She wanted to kick something, punch someone—namely Antonio.
Her therapist wouldn’t have been too proud of her regressive approach to handling her anger.
After chugging her drink like a college student at a frat party, Jackie calmed down.
She took a few deep breaths. She needed to see the one person that she knew would make her feel better.
“Hey Jack,” Gideon answered cheerily when the FaceTime connected. “What’s good? How’s New York?”
“Not good at the moment, cousin.” She ran her hand over her hair lazily. “Do you think—”
Before she could answer, Tanika was attempting to squeeze next to Gideon on the screen. “Hey, Jackie! How was the shoot with PJ?”
“It was all good until Antonio Steele decided to show up out of the freaking blue.”
“Word?” Gideon said. “For someone who’s your archnemesis, he sure likes to be wherever you are.”
“Babe, maybe they have a Batman-Catwoman kind of thing going on,” Tanika chimed in.
“Look at you,” Gideon said, turning to Tanika with a smile. “You’ve been catching up on your DC comics, I see.”
“Well, just the movies,” Tanika laughed.
“My girl!” Gideon gave Tanika a kiss on the forehead. They were sickeningly cute together.
Jackie cleared her throat. “Excuse me. If I may interrupt this love fest, I didn’t call to see you do kissy faces! No offense, but there’s someone else’s mug I want to see.”
Gideon sucked his teeth. “Damn, cuz! What are we? Five-day-old chitterlings?” He handed Tanika the phone as he yelled, “PeeWee! Come here, buddy! Your mama wants to see you! Hey! Don’t chew on those! Those lows are brand-new!”
“Uhm, give Gid a second to wrangle PeeWee away from his Adidas,” Tanika said as she turned her attention back to Jackie. She leaned the phone up against the kitchen counter. “So, what did Antonio do this time, friend?”
Jackie lay back on the bed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “He decided to flex his testosterone to steer the photo shoot in a different direction. I had it under control.”
“Oh,” Tanika said. “Was his input a bad thing?”
Jackie bit the inside of her cheek. As much as she hated to admit it, Antonio had been right. After looking at the photos that incorporated the shoe, the whole spread made much more sense thematically. “I guess not.”
“Can’t give the brother his props, huh?”
“I refuse.”
“Well.” Tanika got closer to the phone, then whispered, “You don’t have to use your words to thank him properly.”
Jackie couldn’t stand Tanika’s thinly veiled innuendo…even if the thought had maybe crossed her mind for a millisecond. “Girl, if you don’t put my baby on the damned phone! I’ll never let you two puppy-sit ever again!”
“Fine, you ol’ meanie!” Tanika pouted. “Here he is now! Come here, sweetie! Come talk to your sexually repressed Mama! And you better not lick the screen again!”
Jackie could hear the comforting jingle of the bells on PeeWee’s Swarovski crystal collar.
Yes, it was a bit excessive, but Jackie loved PeeWee more than words could express.
Nothing was good enough or too expensive for her baby.
Besides, he was the only baby she would ever have.
Human kids didn’t fit into her vision of her life.
They required way more emotionally than she could possibly handle.
Plus, kids grew up and left the nest. Fur babies were ideal. PeeWee was just perfect for her.
As soon as PeeWee’s pristine marshmallow-colored face came into view, Jackie’s smile brightened. “Hey, Mama’s baby! How are you!”
PeeWee answered by giving her an enthusiastic bark.
“You having fun with Uncle Gid and Auntie Tanika?”
PeeWee’s tongue wagged, his head shaking from side to side.
“Are they feeding you all your snacks? Taking you for walks?
To that, PeeWee gave a little whine. Knowing Tanika, she was probably overfeeding PeeWee, just like she did Gideon. Her cousin had gained a nice amount of “happy relationship” weight in the months since being with Tanika.
“And are you being a good boy?”
“Hell no!” yelled Gideon in the background. “With his spoiled-rotten self!”
PeeWee whimpered shamefully, as if he understood the accusation. He turned his head away from the camera. Tanika howled with laughter.
Gideon bent down in front of PeeWee and held a chewed-up burgundy sneaker up to the camera. “I just got these Adidas! You owe me $200, Jackie!”
Jackie rolled her eyes. “It’s okay, PeeWee. Nobody likes a snitch! You’re still a good baby, right?”
PeeWee barked brightly. Jackie was beyond amused.
“Well, Mama is so happy to see your gorgeous face! You made my sucky day a lot better! I’ll be home soon, okay?”
PeeWee licked the camera lens. His image was smudged now, obscured by saliva.
“Boy! I told you not to lick my screen!” yelled Tanika as she ran to pick up the phone. Jackie chuckled as she watched Tanika’s hazy form grab paper towels and disinfectant to clean her screen.
When she was done disinfecting it, Tanika positioned the phone back on the counter. “Girl, you owe me, too, for keeping your dog! And you know what I want!”
Jackie had a good guess. Tanika was now the VP of Programming at WWSN, promoted from her former position as star reporter, and she was hungry for exclusives.
“Listen, just because I’m an agent doesn’t mean I’m the supplier for interviews for your network, Miss Thing.
Though, I do miss seeing your face on my TV—”
“Baby, my face is officially retired from being on camera. I mean, unless it’s Jalen Hurts. I’ll come out of retirement for him. That boy is fine!”
“I heard that,” called Gideon as he passed by.
“Not as fine as you, baby!” Tanika said. She turned and smacked him on the butt.
“Girl, don’t start nothing you can’t finish up in here,” Gideon replied.
Jackie frowned. “I’m going to let you two go. Nik, we’ll finish this conversation later. Because if you all start getting freaky, I’m going to barf.”
Gideon picked up PeeWee, and all three of them got on the camera. He lifted a paw and waved. “Tell your Mama bye-bye so your auntie and uncle can get busy in their new bed!”
Tanika laughed, petting PeeWee lovingly on the head.
“You two are disgusting.” Jackie shook her head. “And you better not have my baby anywhere near your illicit activities! Bye!”
Jackie let out a cleansing breath. For the first time all day, she felt relaxed.
Talking to her family and seeing PeeWee always put her mind at ease.
She’d picked up the room service menu and begun browsing the selections when her cell phone began to ring.
Marilyn Dawson was calling; Jackie braced herself.
Jackie hadn’t even said hello when Marilyn began to rail.
“Jackie! Why the hell was my son looking like a forest creature today? I thought Louis St. Jean was a visionary! The pics he sent me looked nothing like Louis’s stuff in the September Harper’s Bazaar.”
Jackie gritted her teeth. “And hello to you, too, Marilyn. I assure you, Louis had it all under control.”
“Hmph,” Marilyn scoffed. “That’s what PJ said, but I don’t want my son looking like a fool in his first major ad campaign. I don’t give a damn how famous this French photographer is.”
“Actually, he’s from Texarkana, Arkansas.” Jackie remarked. The accent was all for show.
“I don’t give a flying flip where he’s from. All I know is when I see this ad in a major publication, my child better be looking dignified. New Balance ain’t paying PJ to look like a Cirque du Soleil character. At least the shoe made it into the picture!”
“Right.” Jackie swallowed. Damn. If Antonio hadn’t been there to intervene and prevent shoe-less photos, this tongue-lashing by Marilyn could have been worse.
“Well, thank God for you stepping in! PJ said you talked to that fake Frenchie.”
Wait, what? Jackie furrowed her brow. Why had PJ lied to his mom about Antonio being there? That was weird.
“Yeah, well, that’s my job,” Jackie lied. “I told you. I’m looking out for your son as if he were my own…nephew.” She wasn’t going to say “child” and risk offending Marilyn; besides, Jackie didn’t have a maternal bone in her body. Except when it came to PeeWee, of course.
“You better had,” Marilyn said. “Hold on. How much did you say that was?”
In the background, Jackie could hear someone say, “The bag is $1475 ma’am. How will you be paying?”
“That’ll be on my black AMEX,” Marilyn replied.
Don’t you mean PJ’s AMEX? Jackie wanted to say something, but she bit her lip.
She had advised PJ strongly against giving Marilyn access to his money.
But PJ wouldn’t hear it. She’d seen this happen time and time again with her clients, but it was no use.
If a kid made it to the big leagues, they felt obligated to give their parents the world.
Their financial success, in her clients’ eyes, was also their parents’ reward for all their sacrifices.
Jackie had seen parents bleed their kids dry, guilting them into bankrolling lavish lifestyles.
It was a vicious cycle. In Jackie’s opinion, kids weren’t obligated to take care of their parents. Period.