Vengeance (27 page)

But I did tell her about what I had done to Michael. Speaking of which, that was another reason why I knew Ascending Trends would be crowded that Tuesday morning. I had put Plan A out into the universe a few days earlier. I decided to pace myself and let that shit with Herman have a couple of months to marinate before I fucked up the world according to Cherie and Michael. I had edited the footage myself, cropping out heads and other identifying aspects of Glaze and Mrs. Teasedale, but leaving no doubt that it was Michael Vinson in every single frame. Then I had used a remote, untraceable router—the shit you could order offline was ridiculous—to post it on
Porn4U.com
. MediaTakeOut and WorldstarHipHop had a field day with it. Worldstar had about ten million views the first day. It was off the motherfucking chain.

Michael had always wanted to be famous. Well, now he was. He was famous for stockpiling pussy on a sofa and eating and banging them both out, not to mention the other shit that went down that day. Cherie had to be embarrassed. One could only imagine the tags she received on social media, linking her to the video, or the phone calls and texts she received. I am sure people were talking mad shit about his cheating being the reason why he had never proposed.

In fact, Cherie hadn’t even opened up her store since the leak, but when Nikki called to make an appointment, all that changed. She stood to make hundreds of thousands of dollars off me—both with my direct purchases and from the women who would want to look like me and would ask her to make them similar outfits. Cherie was hurt, she was disappointed, but she wasn’t foolish enough to miss out on landing me as a client. And the fact that I was actually coming to her so she could show off was an added bonus.

All of that had been running through my head prior to Antonio’s question.

“Yeah, it’s going to be a mess,” Nikki added.

“It’ll be fine. I have an appointment, so there really shouldn’t be a lot of people around.”

Nikki was sitting beside me on the rear seat of the SUV. Antonio was up front with the driver and Kagiso and Diederik were following us in a Mercedes CLS 550.

“You know better than that,” she said. “That chick has probably called or texted everyone she knows to tell them you’re coming. A chance to meet Wicket?
Girlllllllllll
, it’s going to be a madhouse!”

“If it gets too bad, I’ll simply say unto her, ‘Bye, Felicia.’ ”

We both giggled.

Antonio asked, “Isn’t she the one whose dude was outed in a video last week? I saw something about it on MediaTakeOut.”

“Really? What happened?” I replied, feigning ignorance.

“Oh snap!” Nikki exclaimed. “I hadn’t even put that together.” She turned to me. “Her boyfriend has a sex tape with two women where he’s doing them both at the same time.”

“My motherfucking hero,” Antonio remarked. I saw him give the driver a fist dap. Apparently, the driver had seen the shit, too.
Perfect!

“That’s a damn shame.” I tried to pretend like I was bothered by it. “She must be so hurt. I’ve met him before and he seemed to be so into her.”

“That video is on point,” Nikki said. “You want me to pull it up on my iPad so you can see it before we get there?”

I suppressed a laugh. “Sure, why not? Seems like everyone else in this whip has seen it. I feel left out.”

Once we arrived at Ascending Trends, a group of both men and women were hanging around outside like they were simply kicking it.
Who shoots the breeze in front of a clothing store?
You would’ve thought Cherie was serving free Starbucks coffee up in that mickey.

Some were obvious as we pulled up, and whipped out there camera phones, pointing them directly at the back door of the SUV. Others tried to act like they didn’t know what was going down. Diederik and Kagiso got out the Benz first and went inside to make sure I could have a clear walkway into the place. Then Diederik came out and Antonio got out the front to help him make a path on the sidewalk for me. I had just finished off the video, making comments the entire time like I was shocked and appalled about the entire thing. In the back of my mind, I was commending Glaze once again for doing the damn thing.

Nikki and I were escorted out the back and I spent a good two to three minutes posing for photos, but no one was allowed to take one with me. All they were able to do was snap away and jockey for positions to take selfies with me in the background. After I grew tired of it, I walked inside.

“Wicket, I’m so glad you could come!” Cherie exclaimed, dressed to the nines at that time of the morning. She had on a red satin dress with a big bow on the side. It was smoking hot. I had to give it to her. “I have some champagne waiting for you back in the viewing area.” She paused to make sure everyone was listening and then announced, “Cristal.”

I wanted to gag. Cristal, at about two hundred a pop, was cheap to me. If she had been talking some vintage Krug Brut, then she would’ve been saying something.

I faked a smile. “Sounds good.”

“I’m sorry they’re so many people in here. A lot of people are hitting me up early for the holidays.”

“Well, perfection takes time, so I understand. You’re going to be real busy from the looks of it.”

When she winked at me and flashed a phony smile, I lost it. I was about to initiate Plan C. I actually went there for a reason and wanted an audience. Nikki and Antonio mentioning the video in the car and then showing it to me had been unpredicted, but it was right on time. Now my “act” would make a lot more sense.
Won’t He do it?

There were a good twenty-five or so people in the boutique. I glanced around and took them in. Some of the hairstyles were “unbeweavable.”

“It’s a blessing to be so popular, both in the local community and globally.”

“I guess you’re ever more famous, or should I say infamous, now?” I ran my fingers over a little black strapless number on a mannequin. “I just caught that porno of Michael on the way here. Over forty million views on that one site? He’s the man, huh?”

Cherie looked like she wanted to drop dead right then and there. The others were being quiet, trying to catch every word. Antonio chuckled a bit.

“That entire thing was a misunderstanding,” Cherie replied. “He was set up.”

I squinted at her in disbelief. This bitch was going to try to make excuses for him. Shame on it all. “Set up?”

“Yes, it was an audition for a movie and things got out of hand.”

“Well, shit, if he didn’t land that role, then the role couldn’t be landed. He ate more pussy up in that flick than ten men in a whorehouse.”

Everyone laughed but Cherie and me.

“That’s going to become a classic. The way he ate them both out on top of each other.”

“It’s already a classic,” Kagiso said with a grin. He’d apparently seen it as well.

“Like I
said,
it was a misunderstanding.” Cherie was getting heated. “Everyone falls, but they get up. I’m quite sure you’re no saint.”

If she only knew the half of it!

“No need to get those cute little lace panties of yours up in a bunch, and don’t insult me again. I made time out of my
extremely
busy schedule to come check out your stuff. Now you want to disrespect me?”

“Wicket, you disrespected me first. I’m not in the mood to discuss Michael. He’s fine.
We’ll
be fine.”

“Wow, that’s some loyalty for a man who’s been with you for decades and still hasn’t put a ring on your finger. He’s purchased the cow and at least a dozen calves by now.”

“I know that’s right!” one chick with orange hair and blue contacts yelled out. “I ain’t laying up with no man for more than a year without a proposal!”

Another one yelled out, “Not unless his first name is Sugar and his last name is Daddy!”

“My personal life is none of your business!” Cherie yelled at me and then eyed the other two women. “And it’s none of yours, either!”

One of the few men who was in the store said, “Maybe he shouldn’t have been banging out random broads in front of a camera then.”

“He didn’t know he was being taped!”

I smirked. “Oh, come on. While it
appears
that there may have been cameras shooting from various angles, there was a big-ass tripod and camera right there in front of the sofa. Sad! He has you making up excuses for him. Must be some great dick, because it’s made you blind!”

Cherie reached her breaking point. “You know what,
Wicket
? I don’t give a damn how famous you are or how rich you are, you can get the fuck out my place!”

“Hold the fuck on,” Nikki said, beating KAD to the punch. “You can’t talk to her like that.”

“I just did! And you can get the fuck out of here, too!”

Nikki glanced at me. “You want me to whip this bitch’s ass? I already know you’ve got me on the bail money.”

It took every morsel of self-control in my body, from the roots of my hair to the edges of my pedicured toenails, not to choke Cherie’s ass out right there in the middle of her marble floor in front of all those people.

“No, Nikki, she’s not worth it,” I replied to her. “A tiger never loses sleep over the opinion of sheep.” I stepped up closer to Cherie. “Be glad that I’m in a good mood today, unlike yourself. You didn’t make me look bad by asking me to leave. You showed these people, who I’m sure will spread the word, that you’re an extremely weak woman.”

“Damn sure did,” Orange Hair said, followed by a lip smack.

“What your man was doing on that video came very naturally to him. It wasn’t the first time or the last. You need to make sure you use protection, because I wouldn’t fuck him with some other broad’s pussy.”

“Damn!” a man exclaimed. “She went there.”

“If you want to be a dummy and let that man bring you down and humiliate you in front of the world, and allow him to jeopardize everything you’ve worked hard for, do you. But don’t get upset with those of us who refuse to succumb to the power of the dick and act foolish over it.”

I started heading toward the door as people snapped photos and, without a doubt, video to post all over the place. This was one time when I didn’t mind. In fact, I welcomed it. Having a showdown with me would only make tens of millions of more people want to see the sex tape.

I decided to say something profound as I left with KAD and Nikki. I turned, glared at Cherie. “I truly pity you. The worst thing about being lied to is realizing you weren’t even worth the truth.”

I heard Cherie yell out, “Bitch!” and almost lost it for real. Diederik grabbed my lower arm and told me to keep walking. If he hadn’t been there, I would’ve slammed her head against that sidewalk until I cracked her skull open. Little did I pick up on the fact that that thought was actually a premonition of what was to come.

Friday, November 9, 2012

11:12 p.m.

Atlanta, Georgia

I
rushed into the house and up to my bedroom and slammed the door. Then I slid down to the floor on the opposite side and started crying. I couldn’t believe that I had done that. It was never my intention to physically hurt someone, even Cherie. I wasn’t sure if she was dead or alive, but I was praying for the better of the two scenarios. But what if she was in a coma, or if she’d have to have some limbs amputated. All kinds of thoughts ran through my head and none of them were good.

Diederik knocked on my door. “Where have you been? Kagiso said you disappeared on him at the restaurant.”

At first, I refused to answer, but he wasn’t going to leave me alone until I made something up.

“Wicket?” He was pounding on the door and trying the knob, but I had locked it. “Ladonna?”

“I’m fine,” I managed to get out. “Just tired. Kagiso is overreacting. You guys treat me like a baby. Sometimes I need some space . . . not to mention privacy. I’m entitled to that.”

Then I heard Antonio and Kagiso walking down the hall. “Is she all right?” Antonio asked Diederik.

“She says she needed space,” he replied to him. “And that we don’t give her any privacy.”

Kagiso said, “Bullshit. She could have told me that she needed space instead of running off like that.”

“Maybe she needs to go see that lady doctor again,” Antonio remarked.

“Something’s definitely going on here,” Diederik said. “Kagiso, where do you think she went tonight?”

“Hell if I know. Like I said, she ditched me like some espionage movie. When I went to look for her in the bathroom, she was gone and no one saw her leave the place.”

“Next time, you need to call the authorities right away,” Antonio chimed in. “Anything could’ve happened. From now on, she doesn’t go anywhere without at least two of us with her.”

“And one of us always stands outside bathrooms from now on,” Diederik said.

“Her father will kill us if anything happens to her.” Kagiso was getting too melodramatic in his tone and, quite frankly, they were beginning to piss me off.

They were taken aback when I flung the door open, after drying my tears. “You all do realize that I can hear you talking about me, right?” I eyed each one of them with disdain. “I’m not a fucking baby. I’m your boss. You don’t tell me what to do. I tell you what to do.”

I brushed past them and headed downstairs to the great room to pour myself a drink. I was still trembling and worried about the consequences of my actions. When Antonio mentioned the police, that had been a reality check for me. What if red lights and sirens flooded my driveway at any second? There were freaking security cameras everywhere in Atlanta, not to mention the possibility that someone had caught the entire thing on a cell phone. I had been covered up, but anything was possible.

KAD was in the room with me, but keeping their mouths shut, while I crammed a glass with ice from the bin behind the bar and mixed some Diet Coke with Mount Gay Rum. I took my drink and went and sat on the leather sectional.

Kagiso must have been the elected spokesperson after they exchanged glances. He sat down beside me, but didn’t get too close. “We’re only concerned about you. Surely, you know that much. You’re our boss, but we also consider you to be a friend. And in my case, I’ll even admit that my feelings go much deeper than that.”