Night of Seduction (52 page)

Hesitantly,
Maybelline handed the remote to Ty.
“
Let
’
s begin with the
facts. Ms. Austin
’
s privacy was
violated by a woman who is now incarcerated for the crime. And she
has been violated again here. A private detective upon the request
of one Latoya Wright took the pictures you just witnessed. Ms.
Wright has been arrested for attempting to blackmail Eric Davies,
Ms. Austin
’
s
fianc
é
, by threatening to expose these very pictures. At
some point Ms. Wright forwarded these illegally obtained
photographs to Mrs. Maybelline Austin and she saw fit to invade Ms.
Austin
’
s privacy again here. Allow me to show my
solution to all of this.
”
He hit the play
button on the remote.
“
Here you have
Maybelline Austin entering a Hotel on West Broad Street. A few
minutes later we have, Mr. Roscoe Ford entering the same hotel on
the same date. Here we have Mrs. Austin entering room number 223 at
3:00 pm and Roscoe Ford entering the same room at 3:15; with
neither leaving before eight that evening.
”

“Stop this
madness!
”
Maybelline stood and yelled.
“
Turn that
thing off.
”

“There
’
s a perfectly good
explanation for that. It was a meeting.
”
Roscoe
stammered as he stood.

“A meeting, you
say?
”
Ty asked.
“
Well,
let
’
s examine that theory. Here
’
s another day,
different hotel, different time. Was this also a meeting? I think
not. But none of us know what went on in those hotel rooms, because
it was done in the privacy of the room. The same expectancy of
privacy Siri Austin was entitled to in her own home. How does it
feel to have your business displayed for all to see Mrs.
Austin?
”

“Nothing there
is indecent. None of those pictures you have are indecent. We are
both fully dressed and handling business.
”

“It
’
s the kind of
business that
’
s in question Mrs.
Austin. There are cameras all over hotels, shall I continue. I have
quite a few.

“No!
”
Siri shouted.
“
Enough. I
will resign my position effective immediately.
”
Siri
shook her head.
“
This is too much. No
one deserves to go through this!
”
she cried. Eric
reached up and took her hand.
“
No, I want this to
stop now.
”

“I want to see
what you have.
”
Carl said to Ty.
“
Do you
think for one moment she would stop if this were the reverse? Hell
she already proved she wouldn
’
t.
”

“Carl!
”
Maybelline shouted.

“In fact, at
this time I
’
m calling for your
resignation for indecent behavior, Mother.
“

“Carl?
”
Maybelline and Siri
shouted.

“Stop, please,
stop,
”
Siri cried out. She looked up at the people
sitting in judgment of her.
“
Nothing you have said
or shown here today negates the fact that I am a good educator.
It
’
s not as if this school board has an abundance of
people waiting in line to teach at our schools. Yet,
you
’
ve allowed this woman, and her personal vendetta, to
rule over me for the last two years.
”
She wiped the tears
from her cheeks.
“
Yes, I made love to
Eric in my home. Someone trespassed on my property, took pictures
of us and attempted to blackmail us with the pictures. You used
those very same pictures to attempt to get me to do what you want.
Well, why should I at this point? You have shown nude pictures of
me to every member of this board. Look around Mable, have you
noticed that, other than you and I, they are all men. How in the
hell do you think I feel at this moment? Or do you even give a
damn? Even if Ty had nude pictures of you, I would not do to you
what you just did to me.
”
She looked at the
board members.
“
Each of you will have
to answer to a higher power for your actions here today. As for me,
you
’
ve lost a damn good teacher.
”
She turned to
Eric.
“
I
’
m ready to go
home.
”

Ty took the
flash drive from the computer, reached into his pocket and gave the
board members an injunction.
“
If those pictures
appear anywhere this board will be held
responsible.
”

Siri, Eric and
Ty walked out of the board room. Carl followed behind them.
“
Siri!
”
he called out. He seemed so
defeated.
“
I
’
m so
sorry.
”

“It
’
s not your fault
Carl,
”
she said as his mother walked out of the
room.

“Carl!
”
Maybelline called out.
“
As a member of city council you just called for my
resignation. The board needs you to tell them you were not
serious.
”

“I was serious
mother,
”
he said as he turned to walk towards her.
“
But that is the least of your problems. As of now, you no
longer have a son.
”

He walked out leaving a stunned Mable
staring after him.

Eric turned to
Ty.
“
Anyway we could get her into a cell with
Latoya?
”

“Now that would
be poetic justice,
”
Ty smiled.

Eric turned to
Siri and could tell this had taken an emotional toll on her.
“
I know it feels as if you have no control over
what
’
s happening. But baby, take it from someone that has
been there, the only way to take control back is to eliminate what
your enemy has over you.
”
She looked up at him
with tears still lodged in her eyes. He cupped her face between his
hands and gave her the sweetest kiss. Eric took her hand.
“
It
’
s time to piss a few
people off.
”

♫

The next
morning Jason and TeKaya returned home to Gabby telling them all
the turmoil that had taken place while they were away.
“
Can your chief friend get me inside that jail to kick
Latoya
’
s butt. You don
’
t mess with my sister
and get away with it.
”
TeKaya turned to Jason.
“
Can you get me inside that jail?
”

A laughing
Jason pulled out his cell phone.
“
No baby, I
can
’
t, but I can get Eric on the phone to see
what
’
s happening.
”

“Jason,
I
’
m going to Richmond. Are you
coming?
”
TK asked as she walked toward the steps to change
her clothes.

Jason smiled as
he watched the sway of her hips when she walked away.
“
When you ask like that, how can I
refuse?
”
He picked up Sierra.
“
Hey pumpkin. You
want to go see Uncle Eric?
”

“Yeah,
”
Sierra clapped her hands as Jason
dialed his phone.

“Hear
you
’
ve been busy while I was away,
”
he said when
Eric answered.

“Man, it was
unreal,
”
he replied in almost a whisper.

“How is
Siri?
”

“She
’
s asleep, but weary.
I hate what this has done to her.
”

“Why
didn
’
t you call me? You know I would have come
home.
”

“That
’
s exactly why we did
not call. You and TeKaya deserved your honeymoon, uninterrupted.
How
’
s TeKaya?
”

“Pissed. She is
ready to break into the jail to kick Latoya
’
s butt for
messing with her sister.
”

“Then by all
means do not tell her what the ex-mother-in-law
did.
”
He cut off the next question.
“
Don
’
t ask. If I answer
you, your wife will be on her way to Richmond. What we have to do
now is stop this snowball from picking up any more speed.
You
’
re the PR expert, what should we
do?
”

“Make the story
a non-story.
”

♫

At eight
o
’
clock, that evening, Jason, Ty and Kiki had assembled
a group of reporters from several media outlets to announce the
engagement of Eric
“
Silk
”
Davies to Siri Octavia Austin. It
wasn
’
t just a normal press conference, it was an impromptu
celebration. The highlight of the evening was the private video
viewing an unreleased song by Silk Davies
—
Heaven
’
s Gate.

Eric spent the day in the studio getting the
music just right, while TeKaya spent the day in her dark room
putting the photographs into a sequence of poses of Eric and Siri.
Once the music and pictures were merged together, neither Eric nor
TeKaya could have imagined the final product would be so powerful,
so touching, so sensual.

“Wow!
”
TeKaya said when the video ended. She
looked at Eric, who couldn
’
t seem to take his
eyes off the monitor.

Eric turned to
Siri, who sat motionless beside him as tears streamed down her
face. She looked over at him, then at TeKaya.
“
Can I
throw my wet panties at him now?
”

Eric and Jason looked at the two sisters as
they were nearly on the floor laughing.

A
year later, almost
to the exact day they met, Siri stood in the lobby of The Crown
Plaza Hotel where her book release party was being held. The book,
Night of Seduction, had received rave reviews prior to its release.
Crimson Publishing executives were ecstatic with the pre-sales on
this unknown author. Of course it didn
’
t hurt that her
husband, musical genius, Silk Davies released his CD,
Heaven
’
s Gate in conjunction with the book. In fact,
everyone that attended the release party was given the CD and front
row tickets to Friday
’
s At Sunset to see
Silk Davies perform.

Maxine Long
watched as the camera shy Siri posed for picture after picture with
executives and fans.
“
She has certainly
come a long way from,
‘
the press and I
don
’
t get along
’
,
stage.
”

“Mmm-hmm,
”
Kiki replied without taking her eyes
off the man standing with Eric.

“Why
don
’
t you just go over there and tell the man you were
wrong. You can and will move to Atlanta and take all of us out of
our misery.
”

The words
Latoya said would not leave her. As liberal as she was, there was
one thing that she was just old fashioned about
—
she
believed in love, marriage, children and the white picket fence.
Tyrone did not want the wife and kids. He did not believe in love.
Kiki turned to Max.
“
I have no idea what
you are talking about.
”

“I
’
m talking about the
fact that that gorgeous, successful man, Tyrone Pendleton asked you
to move to Atlanta and you turned him down. Why I
don
’
t know and you don
’
t
either.
”