Was it Good for You Too? (7 page)

Delvin let a bashful smile split his features. He adjusted a little more into Tailan's warm body. She ignored the movement and kept on reading. It was a ploy that gave him hope. Delvin was certain his woman was still in there. She had to be. She had survived so much before him.

With his head nestled in her breasts, Delvin could hear her heart thump harder, faster every time he stole a sultry glance her way.

He closed his eyes. Yes, his Tailan was still in there, and he was breaking her down.

Thirty minutes later, the luxury coach made a sharp turn, and Delvin's eyes popped open. He looked up at Tailan, who was studying something out of the window.

“Get up,” she ordered.

Delvin sat up to let her pass.

Tailan was at the front of the bus before it came to a complete halt.

He rose as he glanced out the window to see Elona and Michelle, staff who had traveled by car to set up before the authors arrived. They were wearing solemn expressions that propelled Delvin to the front of the bus.

He looked on from the top of the stairs as Tailan hit the steps and made her way down. Something was very wrong. Delvin felt it down to his bone marrow. He watched Tailan stiffen as Michelle said, “We've got a serious problem.”

Chapter 8

Tailan looked from one woman to the other and asked, “What kind of problem?”

They both remained eerily silent, forcing Tailan to whip through a set of scenarios in her mind that could pose an issue on a tour of this type. “The books didn't arrive?”

“No, that's not it,” Michelle answered, giving Elona a quick glance as though hoping her co-worker would chime in and save her the trouble of sharing the unpleasant news.

Derek, the man in charge of making sure the authors had what they needed, and Karyn, her marketing guru, walked out of the store and straight to the bus. Their steps were brisk, almost a run.

“Telona Geans, spit it out!” Tailan demanded, using Elona's complete name instead of the nickname she'd taken on because people kept getting Tailan and Telona mixed up.

“Something's not right about this whole set up. You need to speak with the general manager,” Elona said, running her hand through dark tresses that were already disheveled. Nodding to where Derek, Terry, and Karyn were helping the authors off the bus, she yelled out, “You might want to hold off on that.”

“Where's the general manager?” Tailan asked.

“Right up front,” Elona answered, with an uneasy glance at Michelle. “Trust me, you'll see him as soon as you walk in. The guy gave me The Willies,” she said, shuddering.

“Ms. Tai, he won't tell us what's up,” Michelle said. “Said he only wants to speak with you.”

Tailan pivoted then hustled like lightning to the entrance of the store and was standing in front of the manager in thirty seconds flat.

The appearance of the man explained why Elona had caught The Willies. The bulky, balding, pale-faced human was as translucent as wax paper. The two buffoons flanking him were no better. All three men looked like undercooked aliens. She could practically see her reflection in them. They needed some sun—and fast!

The scowls marring their faces meant they weren't the most welcoming squad she'd seen all week. Maybe this motley crew wasn't feeling all the extra work involved.

Tailan extended her hand. “Good morning. I'm Tailan Song.”

The general manager looked down at her hand as though it was contaminated with some type of disease.

That flipped her eyebrow clean into her hairline. “I was instructed to speak with you.”

His beady eyes narrowed in on the line of authors swiftly taking their places at the grouping of tables stretched out in front of jewelry and children's wear. The icy vibes emanating from the men was enough to make Tailan shiver.

The manager's eyes cut back to her. “We don't want your kind here.”

Tailan blinked and tilted her head. “Our kind? You mean authors? Highly intelligent people who write books?” she said, gesturing to the group who were conversing with members of the excited Woodland staff. “You know those things that your store sells more of than most book stores?
Those
kind of people?”

The two men behind the manager passed a look between them and folded their arms in unison.

“You mean the authors your corporate headquarters approved to do
this
tour at
this
spot at
this
very time?” she redirected since her previous approach garnered no response.

“They might've approved it,” he countered, rocking on the balls of his stumpy feet. “But they don't know how we do things around here.”

Tailan whipped out her cell, keyed in her password and clicked a couple of buttons.

The burly, beady-eyed worm got right in her face and trained his gaze on her. “You can call anybody you want,” he challenged with a sly grin. “They can't do squat. We don't want your kind here. Now, I want y'all out.” He thumbed in the direction of the entrance to make his point.

Tailan stared at him, disgusted. “I'm a little confused,” she said, hitting a button on her cell. “So you need to make it plain for me. When you say you don't want
our
kind in your store, you don't mean authors. Because we have groups of them here all the time. So exactly what do you mean?”

“Them,” he said, gesturing with a jiggly arm to the group of ladies who were smiling, chatting, and greeting the fans who were beginning to block the main entrance.

She eased the phone to her side. “I'm sorry, come again? I don't speak—” she mimicked his arm gesture. “You need to be a little more direct.”

“Darkies. Nigras!”

The heaviest of the crew chuckled as Tailan's heart sank to her toes.

“Are you serious?! In
this
day and age?” she snapped. “You don't want them here because they're Black?”

“I can say one thing,” the round man who looked the most like something from outer space said from behind the manager. “Nothing's wrong with her hearing.”

Tailan had suffered the indignity that came along with being mixed raced most of her life. These loathsome creatures were nothing new to her, but it wasn't just about her. Besides the four males, she had a bus full of women, professional women—mostly professional anyway—to worry about.

She scanned the store and noticed some alarming issues. One—there were a couple of men fiddling with shotguns like they intended to purchase them. But the weapons department was in the back of the store, not in the women's section where the men were casually standing. Two—the two snot rags standing behind the manager were wearing the store's security uniforms. They were in on this! From the looks of it, they were frothing at the mouth to start some mess.

Delvin came to her side, and the tension around her spiked to new levels. Delvin's presence propelled all three men to take a cautious step back. Time moved like molasses as she sensed Delvin doing the same thing she just had—sizing up the situation. Seconds later, his speaking glance let her know that he'd reached the same conclusion she had. “How can I help, Ms. Song?”

God bless him. The man could play it cold and direct like nobody's business. “Get the authors back on the bus,” she said so only he could hear. “Now!”

Delvin pivoted, aiming in the direction of the autographing area. Tailan gripped his arm to hold him still for a moment. “But don't alarm them. Nice and easy—but
quick
.”

He gave her hand a tight squeeze and seconds later, he was at Michelle's and Derek's side, relaying the information. Next, he told Karyn, Terry, and Elona, and soon everyone went into full retreat mode.

Tailan cut her eyes back to the men in front of her. They were celebrating their victory with handshakes and back slaps. She wanted to knee every one of them in the rubber parts. But that was only a temporary fix to her problem. This store alone brought in more book sales than five combined, and it was where they'd done their heaviest promotion. She sized them up, never revealing a single flicker of emotion on her face. Did they really think she was going to take this lying down?

Dummies!

“Fellas,” Tailan drew their attention back to her with a perfect brilliant smile. “Now that I know how
y'all do things ‘round here
,” she lifted her phone, propped her hand on her hips and declared, “how about I return the favor and show
you
how we do things where I'm from.”

Tailan snapped around and walked away. Over her shoulder she announced in her best southern drawl, “This ain't over boys.”

She put the phone to her ear as though she was making a call. When she was out of range, she quickly saved the recording of her conversation with the manager and his posse and forwarded it. Next she flipped through her directory, found the number to the local radio station, and hit the send button.

Three minutes later she was connected directly to the host during the commercial break. “Damaris, I need you to get someone from your sister station—the television arm. Get them down to the Woodland in Fort Wayne right away. And if you have any pull with one of your competitors, get them in on it too. We've got a serious story brewing here, and I need all the coverage we can get.”

“Cool,” Damaris replied. “Robin's near that area, and I'm on my way. I'll call Ron Spoon. He's been trying to take me out to dinner since we left college. I'll owe him one, and you'll owe
me
one.”

“Done! Make it happen, Captain!”

Fifteen minutes later, Tailan was back on the bus with the authors and her team. She needed to think fast and act even faster. These authors deserved a chance to shine, and she would give it to them.

The Vets took a long, hard look at Tailan, then one by one looked out to the men who had given Tailan a hard time and shook their heads. Several fans that were standing near the entrance were pointing in the bus' direction and were stunned speechless by the abrupt departure of the authors. Tailan was losing valuable time to turn this around.

Her mind was awhirl with thoughts.
Shotguns.
Media coverage would not be enough. She closed her eyes and stilled her mind, and an answer became clear. She whipped out her cell again. This time she dialed the police.

Tailan waved her hand to order the bus to quiet down as she said, “We have several celebrities on site, and the crowd's getting out of control,” she told the dispatcher. “Can you send over some escorts right away?” She gave the location and ended the call, then turned to find Delvin standing right behind her.

“What's the plan, baby?” he said, sweeping a glance towards the angry men in front of the entrance. “I know you have one. Let me know what you need.”

Her heart swelled at the vote of confidence. “Give me a minute. I'll need to clue everyone in at the same time.”

Tailan snagged the attention of her key people by yelling, “Support team—to me, now!” Within ten seconds, her staff was huddled up in a semi-circle surrounding her at the front of the bus. “All of you have your iPads, right?”

“Right,” they chorused.

“Download the credit card processing software.” They whipped out their equipment and Tailan gave them the login and password to use, then slid an American Express card to Derek and a company Visa card to Elona. “I need you,” she said, pointing to Derek and Michelle, “to go back to the Woodland on Wade Drive and buy every copy of our authors' books they have in stock.”

“Done!” Derek said.

“You three,” she said, gesturing to Elona, Terry, and Karyn. “hit the Woodland near Route 30 right off the expressway. If there's any problem, just tell them we'll restock everything by tomorrow.”

“Cool,” Karyn replied with a quick few keystrokes on the iPad. “We'll call the stores and have the books waiting for pickup at customer service so we don't have to wait.”

Tailan grinned. “Good thinking.”

Derek nodded, letting her know that he would do the same.

“I need you all back here in twenty minutes.”

Derek looked at everyone and said, “Time to make it rain, people.”

The five of them sprang into action. Michelle skirted around Tailan and was right on Derek's heels. Their cars peeled out in record time.

The second their cars cleared the parking lot, Tailan turned to the authors.

“Can I have your attention please?” She started and all eyes locked on her. “I want—”

“Why did we have to leave? What's going on?” The authors were jumpy, and a flurry of questions shot her way. Soon roars of excited voices volleyed back and forth, making it impossible for her to answer. All were in an uproar except The Vets, who were leaned into each other in a private conference.

Tailan held up her hand to silence them. Voices trickled to a halt.

“I apologize for the inconvenience,” she said, making eye contact with as many authors as possible. “But things here weren't set up quite right.”

“Bullshit!” Shannon shot back, causing a few murmurs of agreement from the other divas.

Nona rocked her neck. “The books were there.”

“The tables were there,” Chanel added, mimicking Nona's movements. “So what's really up, chick?”

“Yeah, what's really going on?” Shannon asked, slapping Nona some skin. “You throwing shade in the game?”

Brenda tugged Tailan's sleeve and said, “Tell them the truth, baby.”

Tailan looked to Beverly, Brenda, and Joyce, then to Les and Fran. They saw it too—they understood.

She turned and stared into everyone's eyes. Once all attention was on her again, she revealed, “The manager doesn't want us here. He made it ugly clear that, in his words, ‘our kind' aren't welcome in his store.” Tailan moved up the aisle and stopped in the middle of the bus. “I didn't anticipate this on a tour in the heart of America. But that sicko manager out there was more than willing to remind me that right now we are ‘red-neck' deep in Klan Country.”