Chapter Sixteen
Jasmine
It had been twenty-four hours, and I was still raging. “How could he? I mean, it was one thing to accuse me of cheating, but it was another thing to do it in a roomful of people while pulling my hair,” I screamed into my phone.
“Wait until this nigga gets back in the D. I got heat for niggas like that,” Stacey yelled.
“I swear, I’m done with this shit. I can’t take it anymore, Stace. The killing part is the whole time the nigga was in my face yelling, his breath was smelling like pussy! He fucked the bitch and ate her pussy while my dumb ass waited in the lobby.” I shook my head and wiped at a tear. I was dressed in a peach Juicy Couture sweatsuit with gold sandals, gold hoop earrings, and my real hair slicked back into a ponytail. After leaving that nightmare of an event yesterday, I checked into a Holiday Inn that was about eight miles away from our room at the W. I paid the concierge to transport my luggage over here and begged her not to tell King where I was. I took a long shower, washed my hair, and removed my tracks. I turned off my cell phone and refused to watch television or turn on the radio. I knew that it wouldn’t take long for my business to hit the airwaves, so I needed time to reflect before it did.
My only reason for turning my phone on today was to check in with my mom and Jordan, then book a flight home. The minute my signal came in, my shit began to blow up. There were fifty messages, most of which were not from King. They were from his publicist, Danielle, my mom, and a few other relatives, who had more than likely seen that crazy shit on TMZ or something.
“Do you want me to come out there?” Stacey asked, grabbing my attention.
“No, I’m cool. I’m leaving here first thing in the morning. Tonight I’m just going to chill here at the hotel. I might call Amelia to see if she’s available for dinner,” I said, thinking about my good friend who lived in Cali. Amelia was the ex-girlfriend of Kold Hart, another rapper in the game. She left his ass last year after finding out he had gotten two people pregnant during their relationship. Since then, she’d made a name for herself in the fashion industry both as a model and designer.
“Okay, that’s cool. Well, tell Amelia hello for me, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
We ended the call, and then I walked onto the balcony to catch some sun. It was beautiful outside. It felt good to have some alone time. No King, no press, no Jordan, no anything. I didn’t have to be a mom, wife, nurse, teacher, and maid all while in six-inch heels and smiling for the cameras. Actually, it felt good to be makeup free with no hair extensions. This reminded me of the old days. I was enjoying this time away from my real life.
I sat down on the tan lounge chair, put on my Dolce & Gabbana shades, then dialed my mother.
“Hello.”
“Hey, Mama. How are you and Jordan?” I asked.
“Hey yourself, baby girl. We’re good, but how are you, baby?” I could tell by the tone in her voice that she already knew what was up.
“So you’ve heard, huh?”
“Yes, baby, it’s all over the place. What happened? What did you do to make him that mad?” she said out of concern.
I stopped and stared at the phone in disbelief. “Mama, why would you think it was me?” I asked, bewildered. My mama had always had my back. There must’ve been a good reason for her to ask what I had done.
“Well . . .” She let her word hang in the air.
“Well nothing, Mama. I didn’t do anything to him. He ran off to go fuck some actress and left me in the lobby of the hotel. A man came up to me with a business card for King. He said he wanted to cast him in his next movie, so I put the card in my purse. The man walked away. King walked up and went ape shit on me, pulling my hair and dragging me.” I waited for her to speak.
“Jasmine, are you sure that’s what happened?”
“Am I sure? I know you didn’t ask me if I am sure. I was there, and so were about a thousand other people. Go ask them.” I was beyond pissed and about to hang the phone up.
“Calm down, honey. I only asked because the report that I watched didn’t mention anything about him putting his hands on you. It said that you had too much to drink and openly flirted with some man at the premiere. It also said that King was really embarrassed because you were sloppy and falling all over the place.” She paused and cleared her throat. “Baby, they even showed pictures of you on the floor trying to cover your private parts.”
I gasped at what she was saying. “I swear on my son that was not what went down. This is all Danielle’s doing. That bitch,” I spat. “Look, Mama, I have to go. Kiss my son and tell him I’ll be there tomorrow.” I tapped the end button on my phone screen, then immediately dialed Danielle.
“Danielle Crawford,” she answered on the second ring.
“Bitch, why in the fuck would you spin the story like that? You know that’s not what happened,” I yelled.
“Excuse me, but I’m no one’s bitch.” She cut into me. “First of all, Mrs. James, let me remind you that I don’t work for you. I work for Mr. James. My best interest lies with him,” she said as a matter of fact.
“You’re dirty, Danielle. You know what he did to me, yet you sold me out. Protecting him only makes him think it’s okay to do the things he does, and you’re foul for that.” I was about to cry because I was hurt.
“Jasmine, let me tell you something. Protecting him only means I get paid and so do you. If King gets locked up or looks like the bad guy in the press, no one eats. Do you understand that?” She attempted to scold me like a child. “So what? We had to make it look like you were the one out of pocket. So what? We had to pay people to back up our story, and so fucking what your feelings are hurt? At the end of the day, we averted a disaster that could’ve ended King’s career. You have to learn that taking one for the team will happen every once in a while. You have to do your part and play your position if it keeps food on the table, clothes on your back—designer clothes, I might add—and pays for your son’s medical bills,” she ranted.
“Don’t say anything about Jordan,” I screamed as the tears rolled down my face.
Danielle sighed. “Jasmine, off the record, King is the biggest asshole I know. Do I condone the shit that he does to you? No, I don’t. But it’s a job, and I do it well because it pays my bills. Am I sorry that this happened to you? Yes, I am. However, you stay and continue to except his bullshit time after time. You’re a beautiful young woman with so much to offer this world. I think it’s time for you to do you and leave his ass. Then again, if I know you like I believe I do, your ass isn’t going anywhere.” Her words hit me like a ton of bricks. “Now if you don’t mind, Jasmine, I have to take another call. I’ll speak with you later. Goodbye.”