“Yo, stop at Fourteenth Street,” he told the driver.
“Thanks,” she said as he leaned back.
He sat back and looked out the window. “Listen, Madison, I'm sorry if I've been rough or too aggressive. I am a man who knows what he wants. I really am feeling you. You are a successful, attractive, mature young woman, and I can use you on my team,” he said.
“Thank you,” she said. “You want me to join your team, Clarence? I have a job.”
“No, like, to have my back. Hold me down. Be my lady,” he said.
“You can have any woman you want. Why do you want me?”
When she'd first felt attraction toward him, she recalled being a bit insecure and competitive with his exotic women company, but now she felt totally different and could care less if she wasn't his cup of tea.
“They come a dime a dozen. I can have truckloads of them, but ones like you aren't as easy to find,” he said.
Madison couldn't lie to herself and say she wasn't flattered. He was a younger, richer man. She had to admit that if she didn't have to worry about her job and he wasn't so unpredictable and possibly crazy, she would consider leaving Jamahl for a walk on the fun side with Polytics.
“I appreciate that, and I will definitely consider your offer. It's just that my career means a lot to me.”
“If you end it with me, I am going to share our little secret, and then your career won't be all that sound anyway,” he said.
She looked at him, shocked again. “Are you threatening me?” she asked.
He looked back at her with a blank stare.
“You
are
joking, right?” she asked.
“Not really. I want you, Madison. I won't do you dirtyâjust give me a chance.”
Madison just sat there, trying to think exactly what she was supposed to say at this point. This man was really off his rocker. She wondered how he had ever gained this much power and popularity without anyone noticing. Then she realized how accommodating his team wasâthey probably all knew and just didn't say a word because he was feeding them all.
Fourteenth Street was the next corner, and she could feel the Suburban slowing down.
“I will call you soonâI'm just asking that you give me time to think,” she said.
“I will be out of the country for the next few days. How much time?” he asked.
“A week or two, just give me that. Don't come to the office, don't stop me if you see me out. Just give me the time to think.”
“OK, but in two weeks we will talk,” he said.
“Yes.”
The car stopped, and she got out. As soon as the black Suburban pulled off, she hailed a cab to go home.
Chapter 30
S
he was running late for work. Naomi had been out late the night before and had had a rough time waking up this morning. She spent the entire train ride trying to figure out her thoughts and to self-reflect. She didn't understand how things were happening so fast. All of a sudden she felt like the popular girl in schoolâand even when she'd been in school, she hadn't known what that felt like.
She got off at her stop and began to walk toward the staircase to exit the subway. She noticed a man walking directly in front of her. She could only see a portion of his profile from behind, but from what she could see, he looked like he was a handsome young man. The train platform was too crowded to walk closer to him to get to see more of what he looked like. She could see the tag sticking out of his hat, which was obviously there by mistakeâshe was close enough to read the XL imprint. She thought maybe she could use that as an excuse to tap him and get a better look at his face and possibly the start of a conversation, too.
She felt desperate, trying to walk as fast as possible to keep up with him in the crowd. She didn't know why she was so intrigued by a man she didn't even know and hadn't seen fully. Maybe it was the curiosity that was killing herâthe curiosity about whether his profile and cool demeanor did him justice or whether it was a false advertisement. She could see his fair, medium-brown skin tone, his well-fitting jeans, leather jacket, and stylish paperboy cap. Something was making her follow this man as if she knew exactly the reason.
Finally, he made a turn past the staircaseâa turn she had no intention of makingâand she realized she would be crazy to follow him. All for what? So she continued her way up the staircase to the upper level of the train station, all while trying to get a few last glances at him. She felt like she was defeated, having never actually seen his face. If she saw him another day with another outfit, she wouldn't even know it was him.
This sucks.
As she walked down Broadway wondering “what if,” she realized she was overanalyzing something that wasn't such a big deal. After all, he could have been a married man with eight baby mamas and a jacked-up face. Why did she even care? Being away from her boyfriend was causing her heart and mind to wander much further from him than she cared to admit. She knew that working in the entertainment business had subjected her to only the worst of options half the time, but was she that hard up?
She didn't know why she would even be considering getting to know another man after last night anyway. The longer she thought about it, the more she forgot about the strange guy in the paperboy hat. She began to remember that she had enough on her plate for the time being. She had spent the entire night with Neil, drinking and hanging out. When they had left the Cîroc party, they had headed to some other industry party hosted by some artist and his band. She knew there was a chance he and Tyreek were cool enough to share stories, but that didn't stop her from rolling with Neil until three o'clock in the morning. She had a feeling that maybe Tyreek wasn't feeling her all that much, or at least not the way she was hoping he would.
Naomi knew there was a chance she could bump into Tyreek while hanging out with Neil, and a small piece of her wondered if Tyreek would be concerned or at least a little jealous. It seemed she couldn't say no to the attention. She told herself it was just innocent fun, but at the end of the night, it wasn't innocent anymore. When Neil dropped her off, he reached in for a kiss and began fondling her breasts. Naomi, buzzed off a few drinks and a bit afraid to say no to him, went ahead and participated. It wasn't until she felt his hand trying to go up her dress that she stopped short and pulled away slightly. She wasn't ready to have sex with yet another guy in less than a week. It surely wasn't out of respect for Tyreekâhe had barely spoken to her since their night together. She just knew she could never speak to her boyfriend again if she was going to wild out like that.
As for Tyreek, she had seen him twice in the department, and both times he had been quick and short with her. They had spoken once on the phone one night after work. However, aside from that, there wasn't any talk about what had happened or any plans to hang out again. Deep down, Naomi felt a little used, but she didn't want to succumb to the emotion. Not only was she not wanting to appear weak, she knew she still had to manage to clear things up with her man back home. Yet for some reason, she had kissed Neil, only adding to her disrespectful behaviors. She wished she could confide in her boyfriend, but she was well aware that he would very likely break up with her if he knew what she had been up to. She had sent him a picture of her new look via text, the same day she had gotten the haircut. His reaction seemed concerned with her new attitude more so than her new look; he'd said he liked it but that it was just so different for her. Naomi could tell it only added to his fears of the way the city life was affecting her. Naomi was beginning to realize he had some valid concerns.
She walked into her building, past security, and pressed the elevator button, waiting patiently for it to arrive. The sound of heels clicking began to get louder in the hallway. When she looked up, Tiffany was walking up to her.
“A bit late, are we?” Tiffany asked.
“Yes, sorry.”
“I heard you were out partying last night. That's no reason to get here late.”
“I know. It was the trains,” Naomi said, knowing damn well it wasn't the trains.
“Well, leave earlier if the trains aren't dependable.”
The elevator arrived, and they both stepped in. Naomi didn't say anything, because she knew anything she said would sound like an excuse.
“Speaking of, you need to be careful who you hang out with. You are a grown woman, and I'm not telling you what to do, but you don't want to risk your career messing around with these men.”
Naomi was beyond confused how her boss knew about Neil and was wondering if and what she knew about Tyreek. Then she also wondered if it was Tiffany's business who she dealt with outside the office, and she began to get upset.
“Many people have lost their jobs in this business because they couldn't keep their personal preferences under control. It's just a note to the wiseâtake it how you want,” Tiffany said as she walked off the elevator.
Naomi trailed behind. She could feel her face fill with embarrassmentâit was hot, and she knew it was red. Tiffany walked fast enough ahead of her that there was no chance to really explain herself unless she sped up after her. She was too embarrassed to do that; besides, she didn't know what to say. She didn't even know what Tiffany knew.
Naomi got to her desk and glanced into Tiffany's office to see what she was doing, but she couldn't see her from that angle. She sat down at her desk and placed her purse in the corner of her cabinet as usual. Naomi's mind was racing with thoughts; she was trying to remember where she was less than a month ago before her makeover and how she wished she could go back in time. It was as though she'd lost herself just that fast. Cheating on her boyfriendâsleeping with Tyreek and kissing Neilâall of it was just a lot for such a short period of time. Even if she tried to say it wasn't that big a deal, she was feeling the consequences now. She didn't want to get fired because she was characterized as a ho.
She opened her cabinet to get out the employee manual to see if there was anything regarding having relations with other employees. She realized that a lot of companies had those boundaries, but they were all different, and she wanted to know if what she had done was grounds for being fired. She was scanning the handbook page by page when she noticed Tiffany walking toward her.
“Can you take this file and bring it to Frank in the art department? Then bring the CD they're going to give you to the business and legal department. Tell Adam I need him to listen for samples,” Tiffany said, handing her a file.
“Sure,” Naomi said and jumped up.
Tiffany walked away without looking back. Naomi could feel the tension all through her own limbs. She sensed that Tiffany might be mad at her or just disappointed; either way, she didn't like it one bit. She was hoping that all she knew about was that she'd hung out last night with Neil. She was hoping that the Tyreek story hadn't spread that fast and that far.
She entered the art department on the fifth floor and walked straight up to Frank's desk.
“Hey, Frank. Tiffany told me to give this to you and to get a CD from you,” she said.
“Oh, sure. I have the CD for you, but give that artwork to Susan. She's at her desk,” he replied.
Naomi walked away. From the reflection in the glass ahead, she could see him glance back to look at her derriere. She put an extra sway in her walk; she figured if he was going to look, she wanted it to look right. She continued over to Susan's desk and saw she was on the phone. She walked up, waved the file in her hand, and slowly placed it down on her desk so Susan could see she was leaving it. Susan lifted her finger and mouthed
Give me one minute.
Naomi stopped and leaned against the wall behind her. Susan gestured toward the seat. Naomi was a bit confused but sat down anyway.
She hardly ever spoke to Susan, so she knew it wasn't gossip or anything personal. She figured Susan had a message she wanted her to relay back to Tiffany. She looked around the floor at the rest of the people in their cubicles and offices. Everyone seemed to be hard at work except for a few over by the coffee and water station. The art department designed all the album covers and posters and most of all the images of any sort needed by the label. Naomi thought to herself that if she had a bit of artistic skill in her, she would want to work in art. It was all creative and innovative; it could never get boring when it was something new every day, she thought to herself.
Susan hung up the phone. “Hey, Naomi, sorry for the wait.”
“It's OK. Tiffany just told me to bring you that.”
“Great, I needed this back today. She's always right on time.”
“Yeah, I have to go bring this CD to business and legal now and then go back to my chambers.”
Susan laughed. “OK. But listen, I just wanted to give you a bit of advice from an old-timer to a new-timer,” Susan said as she looked Naomi right in her face to let her know she meant business.
Naomi instantly became concerned with what she was going to say and looked puzzled and afraid of what was to come next.
“We as women in this business have a thin line to walk. It's a male-dominated business, and we are making a lot of strides, but we aren't there yet. We can't do what men do and get away with it. You have to be careful how you carry yourself around here, how you dress, and who you deal with. People talk, and things can look real bad.”
Naomi could feel that tension filling her body again. Her underarms were getting sweaty.
What the hell?
she asked herself.
Was there a label-wide announcement made about her?
Naomi was thinking there had to be other interoffice relationships that took placeâshe couldn't have been the only one. At this point she knew all this couldn't have come from the Neil situation. It had to be Tyreek.
“Thank you for the advice. I will be sure to keep it in mind,” Naomi said. She didn't know what else to say. She felt she was getting a “whore intervention.” She was beginning to become more offended than embarrassed. She knew that what she'd done wasn't necessarily the smartest thing, but it wasn't as if she'd murdered someone. She didn't understand how this had become such a big deal so fast. She knew she was new to the company, was young and from out of town, but she didn't know where everyone got off putting their noses in her business.
“No problem. I just like you, and I don't want to see you get taken advantage of,” Susan replied.
“If you don't mind me asking, why did you figure I needed these words of advice?”
Susan looked away and began to move some papers around on her desk. It was evident that she would've chosen not to answer that question. Naomi figured if
she
had to be put on the spot, she was going to expect some information in return.
“Let's just say people talk. I am not implying you did anything, I just don't want you to be the topic of too many conversations. You are still new here; you don't want a tarnished reputation.”
“Who was talking?” Naomi asked.
“I don't want to start anything, Naomi. I was just trying to give you some advice.”
“Susan, with all due respect, you kind of already started something.”
Susan looked at Naomi with her eyebrows raised. She seemed a little surprised that Naomi was being confrontational.
“You are not the same young woman I met when you started working here, I see,” Susan said.
“No disrespect intended. I am just curious because you are not the first person to speak to me today, and I feel like the butt of some company-wide joke.”
Susan looked sympathetic. She looked around to see who was near, and then she leaned in close to Naomi.