Relapse: A Novel (6 page)

“I’m going to have to pimp your ass out or something,” she said, shaking her head and crossing her arms. “Sure hope you got some gold dripping from that dick of yours ’cause you might be holding a sign that says
WOOD FOR SALE
. ’Cause you
are
going to buy my daddy a new car. I don’t give a fuck if I gotta take it out yo’ ass.”

From the tone in her voice Don knew she meant business. He followed Beijing around like he was her little puppy dog.

“I’m going to have to call us a cab,” she told him, “since the car we arrived in is up in smoke.”

The ride back in the cab was awkward. The cab’s air conditioner was broken. The windows were steamed, but Beijing was cold as ice.

Once they arrived at the hotel, she didn’t speak to him until the elevator opened on his floor. “Don’t call me. I’ll call you,” she snapped.

“Beijing, I want you to know I’m really sorry.”

“You sure are,” she said as the elevator closed.

Hours went by and he kept calling her. She stuck her cell phone under her pillow and tried to ignore it so she could think clearly. Finally, the fifth time her cell rang again, she snatched it up and answered. “Didn’t I tell you not to call me!”

“Baby?” It was her daddy on the phone.

“Oh, Daddy. I’m … I’m sorry. I thought you were this lame guy who keeps pestering me,” she said.

“I’ll kill him if he bothers you, Beijing, baby,” Sterling said in his gruff voice and was dead serious about it. Her father was no joke; he had killed a dude or two back in the day when he was hustling in the streets. Though Sterling had been walking the straight and narrow for almost thirty years now, make no mistake about it, he had no problem busting a cap in anyone who fucked with his daughter.

“No need.” Beijing had taken her dad’s comment as a joke but had no idea that to her father it wasn’t. “He’s harmless except that …” Just then someone knocked on the door of her suite.

“Dang,” she muttered. “Hang on a second, Daddy.” She was glad for the interruption because she wasn’t really in the mood for the lecture that she knew her dad had prepared for her. She opened the door and there stood a bellboy holding a bouquet of a dozen white roses.

“For me?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the young man said. “I tried to call up, but your room line was busy.”

“Yes, I have it off the hook,” she explained and then stood in
awe of the beautiful flowers. “Who on earth?” She looked at the card inserted among the beautiful flowers knowing good and well that broke-ass Don hadn’t sent them. Or had he used his last dollar trying to make it up to her? She found the card.

Beijing tipped the man and closed the door. She had a big smile on her face as she picked up the phone.

“Daddy, are you still out of town?”

“Yes, baby. I’m on the road now. I don’t get home till next Tuesday.” Sterling’s tone was still calm as always. That was his demeanor all the time, but Beijing knew a lecture was on its way.

“Mmm. Okay. Well, I hope you’re having a nice trip.”

“We still need to talk about the ordeal.”

“I know. Can we talk about it when you return, because I don’t want to really talk about it over the phone?”

“You are right, over dinner when I return. However, I want you to know that I spoke to Greta and she has reported the car stolen.”

“Yes, Daddy.” Trying to get her father off the phone, she added, “I just want you to know that I love you.”

“I love you, too, baby. I gotta go now. Bye.”

Beijing hung up and stuck her nose into one of the big flowers. It smelled so sweet. She realized that Johnny might solve a couple of her problems. She did not think twice about calling him.

“My lovely Beijing,” he answered, “I take it you received the flowers?”

“I did. And how absolutely beautiful they are. Thank you so much, but you really didn’t have to.”

“No, thank you, Beijing. You spared me a lot of pain and embarrassment, and if there is anything that I can ever do, big or small, please don’t ever hesitate to ask.”

“Well, Johnny.” She paused to get her nerve up. “There kind of is.”

“Anything,” he shot back quickly. “You want my firstborn named after you? You got it.”

“That won’t be necessary, Johnny,” she said, smiling, as she continued to build up courage.

“Good, because as you know I probably won’t have any.” Johnny laughed for a second, loving that he could be himself with Beijing. “How about a trip to your namesake, Beijing? I hear the weather is gorgeous this time of year. Have you been there before?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Do you want to go?” he asked.

“I would love to, but that’s not it.”

“Just know I would send you to Beijing or to the moon for that matter, if you wanted to go. Let me know when and I will let you know what time the shuttle leaves!”

“I know you would, Johnny, and I
really
appreciate you offering to do so.”

“So, if I can’t name my firstborn after you and you don’t want to take me up on my offer to go to Beijing, the moon, or Saturn, all that’s left is the shirt off my back.”

“I’m good with shirts right now.” She smiled again.

“Then what is it? I’m all guessed out.” Johnny wasn’t usually this generous, but Beijing was different. She was someone who’d helped him without expecting anything in return.

“Well”—she took a deep breath—“I feel extremely awkward asking you for this.”

“I’m all ears and eager to please,” he said in a reassuring voice.

“This is totally out of character for me.”

“No, no … spit it out, or I am going to start guessing crazy things … like maybe you want to ask to have a threesome with my lover and myself perhaps,” he joked.

“No, that’s not it either.” She smiled again.

“Then do tell,” he demanded.

“Well, I hate to be like so many other people who ask you for things, but I won’t bore you with the events surrounding why I need this favor.” She took another deep breath and inhaled a little more confidence and a bit of cockiness. “And maybe after this call, you may owe me another favor because actually, I got something on my hands that I am pretty sure can bring us both some big revenue.”

His silence made her continue.

“You know I’m not the one to ever BS you, and I know people are tracking you down all the time begging you to put any and everybody’s momma on, but for real, Johnny, I have a rapper that’s the hottest thing since the hookers out at All-Star weekend trying to make a dollar out of fifteen cents.”

“Ooouch now, that’s hot. When can I check him out?”

“He has some music that I can email you.”

“Then what am I waiting for? You should have sent it as soon as you got it,” he said.

“I really need a deal for him, Johnny,” she said, putting on her damsel-in-distress voice.

“Send over the music, and if he’s half of what you say, on the strength of you alone, I will do it. Not for him, but for you.”

“Give me a few minutes and consider it sent,” Beijing said, feeling better already.

“And let’s be clear, this is your baby. If it’s what you say it is, I will break you off a piece for bringing it to me.”

She called Don as soon as she hung up with Johnny. “Look, bring me some music up here. I have this guy that I want to send some music to, possibly get you a deal.”

“That’s a good look, Beijing,” he said to her excitedly. “I really appreciate anything you can do.”

“I’m still mad at you for that bullshit but at the same time, if I can help you I will. Come on now, because I got this guy waiting for me to email the music to him.” Within minutes, Don delivered the music.

Beijing downloaded the songs to her computer and emailed them to Johnny. It had been a super-long day and it was already after midnight, so she wasn’t expecting Johnny Wiz to call back. She took a shower and dozed off to sleep, only to be awakened by Johnny. As soon as she answered the phone, there was
no hello
, no
I’m sorry for calling you so late
, no salutations at all, he only said, “How come you never mentioned to me that hidden among your many talents was a good ear for music?”

“So you like it?” she questioned, still half asleep, but quickly waking up.

“From the sound of it, he seems to have great potential and it helps that he has you on his side. He nor I can’t go wrong.”

“So will you give him a deal? I’m asking you to give him a nice deal because he needs to take care of something that is important for me,” Beijing said.

“Why don’t you understand my love and loyalty for you, Beijing?”

“I do. You are proving it now, once you say yes about this deal,” she said with a light giggle to try to soften the moment up.

“I will have him flown in tomorrow to do the preliminaries.”
Damn, is my luck this good that I could possibly get Don a deal just like that? So easy? Am I really that good?

“Tomorrow he has to open up a concert here in Charlotte.”

“Okay, how about Monday, he’s on the first flight out of there. As a matter of fact I want you both here. I am flying you in as well.”

“Thank you so much, Johnny.” It was Beijing’s turn to be grateful.

“He must be special to you,” he said, glad to be able to repay Beijing.

“It’s not like that, but he does have talent.”

“Well, consider him a part of the Wizard Entertainment Group from this day forward. I got him, and I am going to play fair with him too.”

“Thanks again, Johnny.”

“You can thank me when he goes double platinum,” Johnny said. Then he chuckled. “After all, that’s what I do. I create superstars, baby.”

Beijing smiled at Johnny’s cockiness.

“Johnny Wiz at your service, baby. Now, is there anything else I can do to help make your life easier?”

“No, you just did it all.”

“Are you sure? Going once, going twice …”

“Well, there kind of is, but I just didn’t want to ask for too much.”

“I’m in a real good mood right now, so lay it on me.”

“I mean, since he’s now
your
artist, I do need the Wiz’s credit card number for his room at my hotel because the card number the promoter has on file was declined. I can get a nice discount rate but I can’t get it for free.”

“Done. Whatever it is, I will have my office take care of it.”

“You are the best.”

“Now, after this deal is done, we are going out to celebrate.”

“Count me in, Johnny. I can’t wait.”

When Beijing delivered the news to Don about who she was negotiating with he almost passed out. But this was only the beginning. There were still a lot of things to iron out.

Beijing knew she had to make sure that Don had his ducks in a row when dealing with Johnny. She had heard that he was the king of fucking musicians with no Vaseline, and though Johnny was doing her a favor, and Don was anxious to make the deal happen, she knew she had to be smart.

Beijing was thumbing through her Rolodex in search of an entertainment
lawyer who could go through Don’s contract with a fine-tooth comb when Dennard Dunlap came to mind. He and Beijing had dated back in high school. An occasional phone call or card over the holidays had been the extent of their communication since. Between their two sets of parents, however, they had kept up with each other’s whereabouts. Dennard had moved to Atlanta and become a successful lawyer. He dealt with mostly people in the music business, mixed in with an actor or two here or there.

Beijing was mildly surprised by how happy he sounded to hear from her when she called him.

“Beijing, so nice to hear from you. You know I think of you all the time.”

“That’s really nice.” Beijing didn’t know what else to say; she hadn’t really given him much thought besides when she ran into his mother every now and again.

“As a matter of fact, I’m going to be in Charlotte this weekend, are you there?”

“I am, and that actually works out for me, because I would like to enlist your services for a friend of mine. He has a contract that I would love to have you look at for me.”

“Of course, anything for you. Shall we chat more over dinner this Saturday then?”

“Only if you let me pay,” she suggested.

“Well, we’ll flip over who will cover the tab afterward.”

Beijing had still had the taste of the Vines restaurant cuisine in her mouth since earlier in the week when she and Don had planned to have dinner there, but because of their detour, they’d never made it. She made up her mind that she was going to enjoy tonight to the fullest. When she brought the brand spanking new Lexus to a halt in front of the Vines, the valet sprang up from under the huge black awning toward the driver’s side of the car.

“Good afternoon, ma’am,” he politely greeted. “Would you be using valet parking today?”

He was a young kid who barely looked old enough to drive.

Beijing gave the young attendant a once-over. “You do have a permit, don’t you?” she playfully queried, still holding tight to the keys.

The boy shot her a youthful smile. “I sure do, ma’am, I get that a lot.”

“Just be careful,” she said before reluctantly relinquishing the keys to the luxury sedan. Shouldering her bag, Beijing stepped toward the entrance of the restaurant.

“Welcome to the Vines,” the hostess sang from behind the podium. “Do you have a reservation?”

“Yes.” Beijing returned the girl’s smile. “It’s under Lee.”

She checked the list and then led Beijing to a secluded table where her dinner companion was waiting.

Dennard got up from the table and gave her a big hug. He still looked the same: a hair over six feet tall, Mr. Goodbar–colored skin, and perfect white teeth, although he was dressed a little better than back in the day. By the way his tailor-made suit clung to his body, Beijing surmised that he couldn’t have put on an ounce of weight since school.

“Good to see you, B,” he said, after releasing his embrace. “You look even more gorgeous than I remember. Why,” he asked with a crooked grin, “did we break up anyway?”