Chapter 12
T
he Suburban had big, beige, plush leather seats and a mini refrigerator down below. Madison had been in a million of these, but she always enjoyed the ride each time. It was better than a limousine or a Maybach or any of the other flashy means of chauffeured transportation, in her opinion. She liked how it was discreet but luxurious; it signified importance but it wasn't flashy.
The radio was tuned to 99.1 FM, and Madison listened carefully to see if KD was keeping it short and sweet. Of course he wasn't, and Madison could only sigh to herself that she had to speak to him once again. As she sat there listening carefully and critiquing his every word, she felt Polytics tapping her leg.
“So tell me more about yourself,” he said.
“What is this, a date?” Madison asked.
“Damn . . . you are so mean.”
“No, I'm not. I'm very nice, actually.”
“You always have some smart response. I was just asking you a question.”
“I was only kidding. I'm not meanâyou're just sensitive.”
“Oh, good one. Whatever, Miss Madison, you're real funny.”
Madison was trying to hide that she was still blushing. She felt like a schoolgirl having her first conversation with the coolest boy in school.
Moments later, they pulled up to the station. The driver and the security guard discussed things Madison couldn't hear, and then the driver got out and opened Madison's door. They both stepped out of the car and into the building as security followed them. Once inside the lobby, Madison stopped at her own security desk to get them both checked in. Once they had their security badges, they headed up to the ninth floor. Martin, a security guard who secured just the ninth floor, seemed surprised to see Madison back at the station. He looked thankful that he hadn't gotten caught sleeping on the job. She liked thatâkeeping everyone on their toes. The studio was around the corner, and though she was tempted to go tell KD about his long talk break, she decided to head straight toward her office.
At some point when the security guard had been checking them in, Polytics and his security had had a quick conversation that had led to his security guard waiting behind. It seemed as if the guard was going to chill with Martin. Madison waved her key card and unlocked the door that led to the office. She and Polytics made their way back to her department without saying much of anything to each other. It was so late at night, there was no one still in the office except probably some cleaning staff taking out the garbage. Polytics looked around at all the platinum record plaques hanging on the wall outside of her office as he waited for Madison to key into her office.
Once the door was open, she turned on the lights, and they stepped inside.
“You can take a seat,” she said.
He sat down on the plush leather couch across from her desk and began to look around her office. She walked around and sat in her chair.
“Pass me the CD,” she said.
Polytics reached in his pocket, pulled out a CD with a clear cover, and handed it to her. She placed it in the CD player behind her desk.
“I appreciate you taking the time out to do this,” he said.
“No problem,” she said.
“Just goes to show that you are a real special person. You don't owe me shit, but you're looking out. I really like that about you.”
“Aw, thanks,” she replied as she hit PLAY.
A few seconds later, the sounds of a harsh beat began to seep from the speakers in every corner of her office. Polytics's lyrics began to consume the beat, and it wasn't long before both Polytics and Madison were bopping their heads. Madison used the remote by her keyboard to turn the volume down some.
“Now, this one I like. The beat demands your attention, and your flow is different on this track versus the others,” she said.
“I was thinking about making this one my next or third single,” he said.
“I think it definitely should be a single, but you may want to make one of your tracks with an R & B hook your next single. As we discussed, you have to build your ladies audience.”
Just as Polytics was about to respond, there was a knock at the door. Madison leaned over and pressed PAUSE on the remote.
“Who is it?” Madison yelled.
She couldn't depict who belonged to the muffled voice on the other side of the door. She was guessing it was KD, Polytics's security, Martin, or someone working late trying to find some other human life in the office. She walked around her desk to open the door. Standing on the other side was the five-three cleaning lady with garbage bags in her hand.
“I needed to get your garbage,” she said.
“Sure, I'm sorry,” Madison said as she moved out of the way.
The little lady entered the room and began removing the filled bag of garbage and bringing it to her cleaning cart outside Madison's door. As she did what she needed to do, Polytics looked around the room at all the platinum- and gold-record plaques hanging on the wall addressed to Madison Cassell of WDRD. He read each one, checking out all the details.
“Do all the artists send you a platinum record?” he asked.
“Not all, but most. The ones whose music I have played.”
“Well, I'll be sure to send you my platinum record next month.”
Madison giggled.
The woman had replaced the garbage bag with an empty one and finished what she was doing. Madison waited and began to close the door behind her after saying good night.
“How are you so sure you're going to go platinum?” she asked.
“I just do. My album is hot, and my singles have been the biggest club songs all month.”
“Well, I'm happy that you're so confident and so excited, but it's happened before.”
“What has happened before?”
“An artist looks so promising, and then their career flopped.”
“Oh, noâthat won't be me.”
“OK. Well, if you are so sure of yourself and your career, why do you have me up here late at night to get feedback?”
“Because I wanted you up here late at night,” Polytics said as he moved toward her in one movement.
Madison was thrown completely off guard, but before she could try to gather her thoughts, Polytics's strong hands had the back of her head, and his tongue was roaming around in her mouth. She felt his other hand stroking her back, and though her mind was telling her one thing, her body was enjoying every second of it. Madison couldn't remember the last time she had been kissed so passionately, if ever at all.
She finally placed her hand between herself and Polytics to make some room between them. As soon as he backed up enough to look her in her eyes, he reached back in with his mouth. This time while he kissed her he picked her up and walked toward the wall behind her. She could feel her body release endorphins; she seemed to just get weaker and weaker. Madison knew this was all wrong, but there was no doubt that it felt all right. He had her pinned against the wall, kissing every bare part of her body he could reveal as he removed her shirt and pulled her bra strap down. Madison just gasped for air as she took huge breaths, her body reacting to the shock and euphoria. It seemed that it happened in one action, that Polytics had removed her jeans and had her legs wrapped around his waist, thrusting her. Madison knew it hadn't been one motion, but it was happening so fast she couldn't find the time to think. She wanted to stop because she knew there was no turning back, but the heated moment was so unbelievable she didn't want to stop it and ruin everything it could be.
His shirt came off, and Madison ran her fingers all over his sculpted body as she grabbed, pulled, and scratched for more. He was so built and so large she couldn't believe that all of him was wrapped around all of her. He was surely good at what he did because there was no time for Madison to thinkâit was as if he had put her in a trance. She had gone from his waist to pinned against the wall to bent over her desk chair to the edge of her desk and back to his waist. By the time they were done, twenty-eight minutes had gone by, and Polytics was just finishing what he'd started. They were both breathing heavily, and Madison couldn't look him in the eye. It was like waking up from a dreamânot wanting it to be over but in shock that it had even happened.
Madison had changed clothes in her office before, but after all the years of working there, she had never been in that office stark naked until now. She began to pick up her clothes and slowly put them back on. Polytics began to get himself dressed as well. Neither of them said a word as they caught their breath and dressed themselves. It was as though they had silently agreed somewhere along the way that this was going to happen, so there was nothing to discuss. The longer the silence settled in, the more Madison realized what she had just done was so risky and crazy she was in disbelief that she had let it happen. She began to wish it really had been a dream and it wasn't an actual reality that she had just finished having sex with a rapperâa rapper whose song she played on the radio constantly. She was well aware what kind of implications and drama could come from that reality. If only she were dreaming, it could've been the best dream ever, with no consequences to pay. This was looking like the real reality here: she had just had sex with Polytics. It was real good sex, but it was definitely something that could ruin her career, so as mind-blowing as the experience had been, it was beginning to lose its excitement.
“This stays between me and you,” Madison said as she put her shoes on.
“Of course.”
“I don't normally do this,” she said.
“Right, so it was just something special about me?” he asked.
She just looked at him. “I guess you can say that.”
“Well, that makes me feel awfully special,” he said.
She was trying to remain composed and not let him see how uneasy she was. Although she was trying to speak calmly and appear unruffled, she could tell her mannerisms and fidgeting fingers were giving away just how frazzled she was.
“This is so embarrassing to ask now, but what is your real name?”
He chuckled. “Clarence.”
“Nice to officially meet you, Clarence,” she said.
Madison found it in her to find the humor in the situation. She had to admit, regardless of how unethical or tacky the sex was, it was worth every 1,680 seconds. She didn't feel right critiquing his album after that; she just wanted to wrap this night up before anyone knocked on the door or saw them leaving together.
“I guess it would be best if we listened to your album some other time,” she said.
“That's fine, it
is
getting late,” he said.
“Besides, you're going platinum either way. You don't need me.”
“Of course I need you.”
Madison turned back to see that Polytics looked serious. She had only been kidding, but maybe he hadn't seen her smile. Instead of acknowledging his tone, she checked to make sure they were both fully dressed and presentable and opened the office door to leave. She grabbed her purse off the door and turned off the lights. Polytics walked out behind her and closed the door.
“It will lock automatically?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“I'm going to need the key to your officeâone of the privileges of being your favorite rapper,” he said.
Madison caught the humor, but she couldn't laugh. She was almost hoping they could just walk and not talk and pretend he hadn't just had his penis inside her and his tongue down her throat. Hearing him speak of it only made her more uncomfortableâit made all the voices inside her head speak louder and louder. So she tried to ignore them, and she ignored him.