All I Want... Is You (17 page)

The stare that Troy gave him was hot enough to melt metal.

“You wouldn’t be wild’n out like that with the heavies behind you, partner.” Troy tried to flex. “You still a lame ass, off-brand corporate house nigga. I bet them manicured nails hardly ever get dirty, huh, punk?”

Derrick’s eyes narrowed, and everything happened at once.

The RP bodyguards stepped back about five feet.

Troy felt a punch to the gut, which knocked him to one knee.

Derrick dropped a knee right between his eyes soon after, knocking Troy on his back.

Derrick was on top of him before he could get up, keeping a knee to his neck. “Now, unless I missed my guess, I believe the ladies asked you to leave, including my baby. It would be in your best interest to honor that request.”

“Whatever, nigga, I ain’t going nowhere until your bitch and I finish things between us.”

“It’s already done, Troy.” I flatly stated. “It was over months ago, there’s nothing to finish.”

“You heard the lady.” Derrick told him as he lifted him off the ground. “It’s time to leave.”

The bodyguards and the bouncers escorted Troy outside of the club, leaving Derrick facing me with a quizzical look on his face.

“Any other crazy ex-boyfriends that I need to be aware of to couple with the crazy females in my life?” he sarcastically asked me. “We sure know how to pick them, don’t we?”

~Derrick~

I was in deep thought on the flight to L.A.

I usually did that when I was in business mode.

Having Cori sleeping in the seat next to me didn’t affect my ability to multi-task and figure out what I needed to do once we touched down.

I had the girls’ itinerary cross-referenced with the things that I needed to get done and the connections that I needed to follow up with also.

Anything after midnight was pure play time, regardless of where we were.

The beach house on the Pacific Coast Highway, with its view overlooking the ocean could not have been a more romantic locale for setting up some damn good shots. I haven’t had much of a chance to do something on this scale in a long time; most of the clients that I’ve had were male artists, which was fine, but there’s only so much you can do for a male artist outside of drape a lot of pretty women over him and let the camera do the work.

I get to really let my creativity flow, and it would be easier having my baby there with me.

Professionally this will be the first time that I would be using the house, and I was looking forward to finding the spots in the house that would distinguish each of the girls. Lord knows they are not carbon copies of each other, although it sounds that way musically.

I took my time to talk to each of the girls, one on one, since we had six hours before we touched down.

A moonlit stroll on the beach during sunset would be perfect for Candace; that was my vision for her, considering she’s the “sweet one” of the group. Taking advantage of her caramel skin tone against a raging orange sunset would be intoxicating to say the least.

I found out that Tracie had a thing for bubble baths, so it was easy to find the whirlpool tub in the master bathroom and have her covered in some very strategic places, just to get the men going.

Kyra, for all of her toughness that she portrays when the group is together, by herself I found out that she’s quite the sex kitten. A love of lingerie gave me the boudoir experience for her, complete with bedroom poses and seduction on levels that she wouldn’t have a clue about.

That just left my baby in the living room, lying out against a fire and a tiger skin rug that I remembered was still there. Seeing her in nothing but a leather coat and heels giving me pouty faces and giving me other ideas after the shoot was over definitely left me trying to figure out just when my body would betray me.

Oh, and of course a few surprises of my own just to shake things up.

The possibilities of this shoot were endless, and it was the type of shoot that could put me on the map on a variety of levels.

But first…

We have to touch down and make it all happen.

Ahhh, there’s nothing like L.A.

We touched down at John Wayne Airport, and as instructed, there were two vehicles waiting, a driver stationed and waiting at one of the vehicles.

The Lincoln Navigator limo and driver were for the girls to be chauffeured to the places they needed to go.

The Cadillac Escalade was mine.

I needed my space for my equipment, you know?

Well, that, and alone time with Cori, of course.

There was no need for a driver for me because L.A. might as well be a second home for me, as much time as I spend out here for shoots and other business.

The bodyguards rode in the limo with the group, and the driver already knew to head up the PCH to Malibu, which was a little over an hour’s drive, which would give everyone a chance to recover from the jet lag a little bit and make calls and things like that.

It would be a good few weeks chilling on the ocean, that’s for damn sure. I just wanted to see the looks on their faces when they got a chance to see the house that they would be crashing in.

As we were getting all of the equipment and the baggage into the trucks, Cori slid her arms around my waist and slipped in a few kisses.

“I take it you’re enjoying the journey so far?” I asked rhetorically.

The answer to my question came in the form of a deftly placed kiss on my neck. Cori whispered in my ear, “I hope I never wake up from this dream. I can’t wait to see what else lies in store.”

We finally got everything in and got ready for the ride up to the house.

“You know I love you, right?” I told her as she began to walk to the limo.

“Yes, and before this trip is over, I plan to show you how much I love you, too.” she teased back, blowing a kiss before disappearing into the SUV.

I got a phone call from Mr. Richton as soon as I got in the SUV, and I answered it as soon as I could after I started the truck.

“Yes, sir, we’ve arrived in L.A.” I stated, making sure to answer the first question that I knew was already on his mind. “What else can I do you for, Mr. Richton?”

“There’s not much that needs to be done at this point, my boy.” Mr. Richton stated through my earpiece. “Just do your usual bang-up job.”

“Consider it done, sir.” I replied, clicking my phone shut as we headed to the entrance ramp to I-405.

The weather was pretty good for mid-January; it felt like early May in Atlanta, not too warm, not too cold. I opened the sunroof and popped
Cazhe
’s demo CD in the disc player, letting the girls’ voices give me further inspiration as to what to do with their shoot. It was a ritual of mine that has served me very well, and I had no intentions of breaking my ritual.

Hearing Cori’s voice on the lead of one of the tracks had me in a trance; I was glad that the chauffeur had the limo on GPS all the way to the house, because I probably would have gotten us lost if I took the point.

I couldn’t resist letting my mind wonder to what could happen once the album dropped later in the year. The media blitz would be insane.

Posters would be placed nationwide in every possible retail store that can be had.

The digital blitz would be amazing to say the least, with the cover being placed on an international stage. Once it hits the Internet, any and everyone would be able to view it and pre-order the album.

I have to be on my game; probably more than I’ve ever been, and there was the added pressure of making the woman in my life look like a superstar. They already had the sound; the rest would be on me.

I’m good with that, I live on pressure.

We finally made it to the Pacific Coast Highway coming off I-10, and having the ocean as the backdrop for the ride all the way to the house was just the serenity that I needed.

Well, I needed something else, too, but there would be time for that after work has been done.

My cell phone began singing to let me know text messages were coming in, and even though I knew I wasn’t supposed to answer while I was on the road, I picked up my phone to see what

came in.

Cori’s smiling face graced my screen first, in addition to other pictures of her kissing at the phone, acting a fool with the girls while in the limo. It was fun to see them finally enjoying themselves for a moment or two. Her naughty and nasty messages telling me what she couldn’t wait to do to me were worth the risk. Some of the things that she suggested would make a good girl blush.

Fortunately for me, I liked my girls naughty and nasty.

I texted back that I had some things in store for her, too, and she should be ready for whatever I had for her.

The next morning would be when the work would begin.

In the meantime, I enjoyed the ride up the Pacific Ocean all the way into paradise.

~Cori~

“
Oh my God, look at this place!”

It felt like forever after we turned off the PCH to get to the winding roads that led to the beach estates that Derrick was talking about on the flight. We got to the driveway to where the home was located, and it felt like drive within a drive just to get from the main road onto the estate grounds.

It was well worth the wait, though.

It looked like something out of
MTV Cribs
.

We got to the front of the house, and it looked simple enough; we could see that it had two levels and that it was pretty sizeable, which worked for me because I had hoped to have my own space.

Once inside, we had no idea what we were in for.

The house was nothing short of exquisite!

Derrick studied our faces with this smirk on his face, trying hard not to laugh at us.

“What’s so amusing, D?” Kyra asked after closing her mouth from looking around her. “We know you high powered executives are used to this kinda stuff, but us simple girls can’t act like we’ve been there and done that.”

“I’m sorry ladies, but I couldn’t help myself.” Derrick tried to contain his chuckles. “Your reactions were just what the doctor ordered. Would you like to tour the place, just to get your bearings?”

Tracie answered quickly, “Yes, I want to see this place so that I don’t get lost.”

Hanging on Derrick’s arm as he took us from the basement to the second floor, trying to get over the awe of the place became a difficult task as we counted off eight – count them – eight bedrooms and just as many bathrooms, strategically placed around the building.

Every time we got to a window that faced the Pacific Ocean, neither of us could resist looking out of the window to get another view. It felt so surreal, just out of a complete dream.

I didn’t want anyone to pinch me, though. I wanted to ride this one out until someone pulled me from my sleep.

Marble and hardwood floors could be seen throughout the house, glass fixtures on the stairwells and along some areas on the walls, and the kitchen was to die for!

What really had us tripping was the sight of the central vacuum system, complete with a robotic vacuum that did the sweeping and vacuuming on its own. Tracie screamed when she saw it heading in our direction to sweep up some dust on the floor.

“Okay, that’s it, I gotta get one of these the first chance I get!” Candace yelled after moving her feet out of the way when it rushed past her.

“I’m glad you like the place so far.” Derrick said while patting my arm as it intertwined with his. “I didn’t want to disappoint when I made the call to my contact to rent the place out.”

“How long are we supposed to be here, D?” Tracie asked. “A sistah could get used to being in a place like this. I just don’t want to get too attached.”

“A little over three weeks, but we have the place for an entire month right now, just in case things take a little longer than expected.” Derrick answered. “After we do what we came to do here, the rest of the album will be re-mastered and polished back in Atlanta.”

“Okay, cool, then I’ll soak all this in for as long as we can, but we might need to come back out here when we’re not on the clock.” I quipped. “I can see a few parties that can get thrown in here.”

“Well, don’t get too crazy with it, okay?” Derrick winked at me. “I don’t have $14 million to

blow to buy the place if we wreck it.”

A collective
damn
came from the four of us.

“Okay, so no wild parties, but can we at least have guests?” Tracie asked more out of concern for Brian, I already knew that much.

“I already texted Brian the location, Tracie, if that’s what you mean.” Derrick seemed to read her mind. “In fact, I texted the information to your significant others, too, Kyra and Candace; they have explicit instructions to not divulge the location under any circumstances, under penalty of severe punishment by me.”

“I’d hate to see how that goes down,” Candace smirked. “After what we saw at the club the other night when you took T-Money down, I wouldn’t want to be on your bad side.”

“Okay, ladies, the bodyguards have checked the grounds and they say it’s okay to settle in,” Cheryl walked in from the other room explaining. “There are enough bedrooms to accommodate us all, which is a very good thing. According to the itinerary, we have a recording session in the morning, around 8am, so we need to get some sleep, ladies. Goodnight.”

“
Baby, why are you still up?”

“I’ll be a minute, baby, I just need to finish up some stuff.” I heard him answer me while still typing on his laptop.

When I moved behind him to purposely distract him, he kissed my hand and kept back at an email that I saw on the screen.

The email address was from the detective that was assigned to the case regarding Omar’s death.

This was not what I wanted him focused on during our first night in this beautiful house.

“D, come to bed, baby, I don’t want you worrying about that right now. I just want you to relax and rest so we can do what we came here to do this week.” I told him, kissing his cheek. “We’ll deal with that mess when we get back.”