All I Want... Is You (16 page)

I was taken aback by that statement, and I wasn’t sure where she was coming from by the intent behind it.

“May I ask why, Cheryl?”

“I want a straight answer from you, Derrick. Did Mr. Parker listen to the demo, and did he see the tape of the showcase last week?” Cheryl was stone-faced as she blurted out the questions.

“Yes, he has, and he was impressed. He doesn’t cut short any trips for trivial reasons, if that’s what you’re thinking.” I answered, perturbed by the insinuation. “If they sound good to him live as they did on demo and on tape, they are prepared to offer the draft of the contract for your legal team to review.”

“Off the record.” Cheryl started, moving close enough for the conversation to be heard only by the two of us. “I hear it from the girls that you and Cori are seeing each other.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“Is that why we’re here?”

My eyes narrowed, and Cheryl took a step back from me, undoubtedly noticing my posture had changed quickly. “Cheryl, your group is good, damn good, I know because I was at the showcase that night, if you remember. I’m not biased; this is business, and I don’t waste either of the big men’s time or energy when it comes to making them money.”

“Derrick, please understand—“

“I’m not done.” I cut her off, shutting her down. “I’m not even an A&R rep, but the bosses think that I have an ear for talent for some odd reason. I didn’t even want to be at this meeting because I knew that it might be uncomfortable for Cori. If you don’t want them to be here because you think I greased the wheels, then that’s fine. I have two others on speed dial that can be here within the next half-hour.”

“Alright, I just had to make sure that you were on the level, Derrick.” Cheryl replied, which took some of the edge from the tension between us. “You know how this business can be.”

“Actually, no I don’t know.” I gruffly stated, still a bit irritated that I’d been compromised. “It’s one of the reasons I stay insulated in my photography studio. The music industry is cutthroat, and I’m not in the mood for the politics of it. My private affairs are exactly that, private. Cori did nothing to persuade me to do anything, despite your thoughts to the contrary.”

“If that is the case, please accept my apology for jumping to conclusions, Derrick.” Cheryl said. “My girls deserve the shot.”

“Then let’s get it done. I will see you and the girls in the conference room in about ten minutes.” I told her as I headed inside the conference room to try and clear my head.

Mr. Parker met me before I could adjust and re-focus.

“Derrick, I wanted to talk to you about something before the group comes in for this meeting.” he said.

I wasn’t sure I was in the mood for any more talks, but I jumped into it anyway. “Yes, sir, what did you want to talk to me about?”

“It’s about the meeting that you helped to bring about, actually,” Mr. Parker began. “Rich and I talked it over, and even though you’re not exactly chomping at the bit to be a part of the A&R Department, we need to discuss compensation for the past two groups that you helped with, and negotiate the compensation for this group that we’re planning to sign if all goes well today.”

“Mr. Parker, I don’t think that would be—“

“I don’t want to hear one of your legendary speeches about being part of the team, D.” Mr. Parker cut me off. “Whether you want to be in A&R or not, we’ve already established that you don’t want to, which is why I didn’t want to hear your spiel. But there are some things we need to discuss regardless. But we’ll talk about that after we get things settled after the meeting, alright?”

“Yes, sir, you know I wouldn’t argue with the boss.” I replied. “But I am quite perfectly fine where I am in the studio.”

“This I know, son, and we’ll talk about that, too.” Mr. Parker smiled, leaving me completely clueless as to what he was alluding to.

I took my seat at the table in the conference room as one of the secretaries escorted Cheryl and the group into the room.

Seeing Cori’s face made this meeting all the more bearable.

~Cori~

“
I’m impressed. Very impressed.”

“I think we can put
Cazhe
on the map.”

Hearing those words made the past ten minutes after we finished performing completely surreal.

The fun part was watching Derrick sitting with Mr. Parker and Mr. Richton, acting like it was just another meeting in the course of his day.

Deep down, I knew he was just as excited to see how things worked out as I was.

He gave up a smile here and there, nodding to the flow of the performance, and I simply chalked it up to him trying to conduct business so that everything would be on the up and up.

Works for me, as long as the end result was what we had hoped for.

The way Mr. Parker smiled? We were in for a whole lot more.

“Ladies, I really must say that your voices are incredible, and we need to get you squared away and ready to record immediately.” he beamed as he scribbled down something to pass to Mr. Richton.

After Mr. Richton nodded at whatever Mr. Parker gave to him, he texted someone before he continued. “The legal team will draft the contracts as we speak, and the signing advances are also being cut in accounting.”

I thought I would faint when I saw the number that was set in front of me.

$100,000.

Thank God I was sitting down, or I would have needed a chair.

I could feel the excitement building in the room as Mr. Richton cleared his throat. “Ladies, welcome to the RP family.”

Cheryl had to speak for us because I don’t think any of us could really speak right now. “Mr. Parker, Mr. Richton, thank you for believing in my girls, I know they will live up to the billing.”

“I have no doubts that they will, once we get them packaged and ready to roll.” Mr. Richton agreed. “Derrick, do you still have the contact of yours out in Cali, the one that owns the beach house?”

“Yes, sir, I have it.”

“Very good, please let him know that we will need to occupy it for about a week.”

Derrick had a puzzled look on his face. “May I ask why, sir?”

“First, we’re going to need to do some digital prints so we can get the buzz going on the Internet sites. We’ll need poster shots for the girls to help with promotions in the stores, and they will be doing some recording out in L.A. also.”

Cheryl got a text message on her Blackberry, and after a brief moment, she replied, “I just received the contract, and I’m forwarding it over to our legal team now. Once everything is in order, we should be able to get back here to sign the originals so we can move forward.”

“Wonderful! Ladies, I can’t wait to see how everything turns out, and enjoy the start of your new journey.” Mr. Richton said, standing to shake our hands. “I think Platinum may be just around the corner for you.”

“
I wanted to see you, first.”

The surprised look on his face was exactly what I wanted.

“I thought you would be out celebrating with the girls.” he said, eyeing me as if he hadn’t seen me in months.

“I know, and I will, but I needed to see you.” I cooed, sitting on his desk and crossing my legs. “I wanted to say thank you for helping to put all of this together.”

“Baby, I didn’t do anything, I just put the word in, and you and the group did the rest.” Derrick told me, moving closer to where I was on the desk. “Between you and the big men, I’m being given just a little bit too much credit.”

I kissed him deeply, wrapping my legs around his waist. “You are something else. Just accept the fact that you helped make this happen. In fact, I want to do something special for you when we get out to L.A. to express my appreciation for all your hard work.”

“Is that right?” Derrick’s eyes lit up when he heard that. “How will you be expressing yourself?”

“I’ll let you know when it happens, and no sooner, baby.” I replied, kissing him again. “You made my dreams come true, it’s only fair that I help make one of yours come true, too.”

“Cori, you just got signed, I don’t want you—“

He was interrupted with another kiss across his lips. “You don’t have a choice in this matter, Mr. Morrow. I’ll let you know when it happens, and not a moment sooner, do you understand me?”

Derrick relented, trying his best to figure out if he wanted to press the issue or not. “Okay, baby girl, I’ll wait. Now, go and celebrate with your girls, I’ll be home later tonight around 10, just in case you want to come by.”

Oh, I’ll do more than just come by
, I said to myself.
I’ll do much more than that.

But I had another idea in mind after a text came in from Cheryl. A grin spread when I realized where we would be later.

“We’ll be at the Velvet Room to celebrate. Come by after work so we can have a reason to come back to your place and cap off this night properly… please?”

I felt his body shift after I batted my eyelashes and flashed my eyes at him. A grin popped across his face as he replied, “You know by now that I can’t refuse you, so why would I try now. I’ll be there by 11.”

After leaving the studio, I got a text message that made me smile brightly.

Congratulations, baby, I told you! We need to celebrate properly when I get back in town.

I sent a text back in return,
Yeah, I know, and I can’t wait to find out what you have in store when we do celebrate.

As I headed down to the main floor to get to my car, I couldn’t help but wonder about the possibilities that lay ahead.

One thing was for sure.

I couldn’t wait.

~Cori~

“
Why the hell are you here?”

I was on a high all night until I heard those words come out of Kyra’s mouth.

I was having drinks with some of the other fans that were celebrating with us in the VIP section when I turned around to see the one person that I didn’t want or need to see when things were finally taking off.

Troy.

I hadn’t seen him since that incident at my apartment, and I had basically written him off as “out of sight, out of mind” so I didn’t have to worry about whatever hold he thought he had on me.

Seeing him with the rest of the group just made things even more complicated because telling him to leave without having to make a scene with the rest of their ghetto asses.

Why this fool had to steal my joy tonight of all nights, I’ll never completely understand.

“Relax, Kyra, we heard over the radio that y’all got your deal done with RP. Me and the fellas wanted to say congratulations and kick it wit’cha, shawty.” Troy smugly replied.

“Well, thank you, and now you can leave.” I coldly uttered, still sipping on my margarita. “I’m gonna enjoy tonight without you and your crew trying to fuck things up.”

“Damn, Cori, why you gotta be so cold?” Troy seemed to feel like he had every right to be there with us. “I thought making it to the big time would put you in a better mood than this?”

Tracie jumped into the mix, placing herself between me and Troy. “Please, Troy, you weren’t any more interested in Cori’s career than you were in the last presidential election. Do us all a favor and take your trifling ass back to whatever hoodrat you’re fucking now so we can get back to some real celebrating?”

“Oh, so you got bodyguards now, Cori? Is that how it is now, after all we’ve been through?” Troy looked as if he was really getting frustrated now, and the smirk on my face only fueled his irritation that he couldn’t have me alone to talk.

I didn’t see the point anymore. He wasn’t worth the effort, and I took pride in my new-found courage by tapping Tracie on the shoulder to silently tell her that I could take things from here. Tracie moved out of the way, but she stayed behind me as if she had a shank in her skirt ready to slice.

“Troy, I can’t tell you how much of a favor you’ve done just by being here right now. It makes it easier to say this to you face to face,” I said. I was thankful that the music wasn’t as loud in the VIP so that I didn’t have to shout. “There’s nothing left for you here, Troy… nothing. You can be a fan from afar now, but I’m not feeling you up close anymore. Goodbye.”

I turned to walk back to my seat, and Troy had the nerve to grab my shoulder to spin me around to face him.

“I’m not done with you yet, Cori. Do you know who I am?” he demanded, and I saw his jaws clench, which in the past would have made me pause, but that was when he had power over me way back when. “You don’t get to say it’s over, trick, I do.”

My eyes darted away from him for a split second, and a grin spread across my face. The rest of the girls must have seen it, too, because I heard a fit of laughter behind me.

“Oh, y’all think this shit is funny now? I’ll show you how funny this shit is.” Troy cursed as he tried to raise his hand back to hit me.

Too bad he never connected.

It was over before it even got started.

Derrick looked like a man possessed, and this time I wasn’t scared of what might happen next. I was looking forward to it.

Troy didn’t realize that the bouncers had already whispered to his boys that they were causing a disturbance, and they had two options of leaving the club.

Needless to say, they left under their own power.

Troy was on such a power trip trying to put me in my “place” that he wasn’t aware that his backup had deserted him.

“Do you care to show the ladies just how funny this shit is?” Derrick spat as he caught Troy’s arm, which caused Troy to spin around to figure out who was talking to him.

“Oh lawd, it’s the off-brand nigga! What the fuck are you doing here, bruh? I thought you were at Fox Camera trying to get my pictures ready.” Troy laughed, until he saw that the rest of his group was nowhere to be found.

The smile soon faded, and Derrick’s got wider.

Bodyguards from RP flanked at his sides might have been the reason for the smirk on his face.

“Hi, baby, I’m sorry I’m a little late, I had to try and make Fox Camera before they closed, and I had to try and convince the staff in the lab that I wasn’t doing any print work for Animal Planet.” Derrick said, blowing a kiss at me to lay it on thick. “You know how hard it is to catch the good side of a subject.”