My Cup Runs Over: The Ultimate and Final Deception (10 page)

_______________________

After the show, everyone met at the Tea Pot for the after party. They took their regular booth and drank bottles of Champagne and Cognac cheered all the performances. Request for autographs came from all directions as they dispersed to the different floors in the club.

Andre pulled out the accounting sheets, showing the revenues from the two concerts totaling $1.6 million. 

“Look here, after paying for advertising, radio slots, posters all over the city, security, insurance and the stagehands operating the sound and lights, we’re still walking away with a million. Can you handle that?” he asked.

“I sure can,” Melvin the piano player interjected, sipping from his glass. “Just keep showing me the money baby, and I’ll keep playing my ass off!”

“No doubt, no doubt,” Andre continued. "I tell you what... we’re going to take a short break so everybody’s off until Thursday morning. That will give you all a chance to tie down the rest of your business affairs and then we’ll move on to Memphis, New Orleans, Houston, Los Angeles and finally Atlanta. The remaining shows will be in San Diego, Oakland and Vegas..."

______________________

Desiree had already begun a series of articles on her cuz and the rest of the groups on the tour. Being the Chief Editor had its benefits, allowing her to expose the readers to the inside stories of the tour and interviews from radio station and other magazines. She received a phone call from Gary, letting her know he was on the job...

_______________________

Having two days to finalize business with the foundation worked out perfectly for T-Bird, giving her peace of mind, knowing JJ and the guys were on top of things. When everyone met on the bus, Little Joe had them laughing non-stop as they rode almost 16 hours.

Just as T-Bird was about to close her eyes and dose off for a quick nap, Darnell called.

“Hello?”

“T-Bird, is that you?” It’s me Darnell..."

"Wow do you sound tired.” You would have thought
he
was on tour!

“Well, hello stranger and how are you?”

“We’re on the road again. I’m doing okay.”

“What’s going on with you?” T-Bird wondered if that was a trick question.

“Have you received any new projects from Desiree?”

“No...I’m just trying to clear my desk so when you get here there will be nothing to keep me from giving you every minute of my time.”

“Good answer again. We’ve been riding all day so we should be arriving in Memphis soon.”

“I can’t wait to see you when you hit Atlanta. You have really stolen my heart and that’s rare.”

“I just hope you realize how special you really are.” She replied, warming to his words.

“Baby everything about us is special. Believe that.” 

“Well, we’re just entering the city limits. Can I call you later?”

“Okay I’ll be waiting,” Darnell responded. 

When T-Bird and the groups arrived in Memphis, they performed another perfect show and continued on to New Orleans, where she was able to take Andre and the entire entourage to meet her family. Although the city was culturally exciting, there were poverty ravished neighborhoods outside the square. Everyone living in the Bayou was proud she and Desiree had made it out to become successful. There was nothing that could compare to being home, experiencing so much love, good food and seeing everybody. Before she left, she gave them all tickets to the show that night.

Her cousin Chancy pulled her to the side; he wanted to talk to her about Darnell because Desiree had already called, telling him her concerns and that she'd hired an investigator to watch him. Although surprised, T-Bird tried to down play the situation, letting him know everything was alright between them. If she didn’t, she knew her cousins would go to Atlanta to have a conversation with Darnell. Chancy had just been released from prison and reminded her that even though everyone in the family had liked Shaun, he'd barely gotten away with spending all T-Bird’s money and hurting her. It didn’t matter he'd been her husband. Only there love for T-Bird and not wanting to hurt her further had spared Shaun a bullet. Darnell fucking up and being on the D-low was going to be a totally different story.

They'd planned a trip to Ms. Rita, the palm reader, to find out the truth but Desiree said no, to let her handle it first. She didn’t want Chancy to overreact and end up back in jail. No one in the family wanted to see their cousin hurt again by Darnell. Chancy made it clear if she ever called him because Darnell wasn't doing the right thing, he would come to Atlanta and kill him...point blank. If they'd only known their intuition was right, Chancy would have been headed to the ATL with guns loaded. Darnell was living a double life as a bisexual man. 

Being home in New Orleans, gave T-Bird the opportunity to see old friends. With a new album, it seemed the whole city was coming out to see her show before she moved on Los Angeles and Atlanta. Reconnecting with her roots helped put quite a few things into perspective for her and reminded her of just how truly blessed and loved she was. She had no intention of calling Darnell as they had agreed. She wanted to arrive in the city, totally surprising him and finding out for herself what was really going on; to see if he was telling her the truth about really wanting to be with her. The only person she had intended telling was Desiree, in order to confirm all the interviews that were scheduled.

__________________________

Early the morning after T-Bird's arrival in Atlanta, Desiree excitedly took her all over the city shopping and visiting friends since the show wasn’t until the next night at the Roxy Theater. Gary, the private investigator, was watching Darnell meet with his male acquaintances. He had no idea he was being followed and airing all his dirty laundry. Or, that T-Bird was in town. For some reason, his lover Lamar had failed to tell him of Desiree's plans.

After doing early morning interviews with V106.1 and 94.9, T-Bird had the remaining day to herself. Darnell still didn’t know she was there until one of his friends called telling him. He immediately attempted to call her but got no answer. She was already in one of Desiree’s cars trying to find her way to his place. Desiree called.

“Cuz, if you’re going looking for Darnell.. good luck. He didn’t even come to work today. Do you think he even knows you’re here?” 

“Babe, shame on him if he doesn’t after all the advertising going on,” T-Bird replied.

“Maybe you need to think about trying to find him later and we hit the clubs tonight.” 

She was trying to deter her from looking for Darnell at least for the night; she wasn’t about to tell her cuz she'd hired someone to follow her boo around town.  More importantly, she'd hoped to find out what he was doing before T-Bird even arrived. 

“Don’t worry cuz. I’ve already made a few decisions about me and Darnell and if he doesn’t want to tell me the truth, that his feelings have changed or he’s seeing someone else, then it’s all good.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure something is going on.  Either way I’d still like to know the truth.

“Just be careful babe, these folks down here drive too fast and will run you off the road. I’ve got some loose ends to tie up while you’re out..before we get together. I’ll see you when you get back.”

Desiree was praying Gary called her to at least say their suspicions were unfounded before T-Bird arrived at Darnell's condo. But, gut instinct and women's intuition told her the shit was about to hit the fan. Only question was, could she stop T-Bird before she splattered it all over Atlanta...

_____________________

A big lump sat in the middle her stomach and throat as she got out the car and walked up the front stairs to ring the bell. That same gut instinct and woman's intuition told her this was
not
gonna be pretty.
T-Bird, are you sure you're ready for this
, she asked in her mind.
Yes,
was the answer she got back.

Coincidentally, or was it, a pizza was being delivered to the unit next door. Thinking quick on her feet she paid the deliveryman $50 to knock on Darnell’s door. After several knocks a voice from the other side of the door finally answered. “Who is it?” The voice sounded vaguely familiar to her; she'd heard it somewhere before.

"Pizza delivery sir.”

Once again the male voice answered. “Pizza? No one here ordered pizza,” he said, while opening the door. It was Lamar dressed in a bathrobe. It appeared he had just gotten out of the shower.

As she stood in the doorway, Lamar looked her up and down, positioning his hands on his hips.  “What do
you
want?”

Immediately the deliveryman knew it was going to be trouble and moved out of the way.

“What the hell do you mean what do I want?” T-Bird’s first thought was to call Andre, but instead stood her ground. “You need to tell me what the hell you’re doing here and half naked? I’m looking for Darnell. This is his place isn’t it?” 

“Bitch, don’t worry about where he is and you better get ta stepping before I kick your ass! Darnell belongs to me and this is our place.” 

“Oh hell no you didn’t just tell me that! Nigga, you need to do yourself a favor and start digging your own grave cause yo ass won't live to see the sun go down.”

The commotion at the door made another voice from the back room echoed out.

“What in the world is going on?” T-Bird immediately identified the voice as Darnell. When he walked out to the front room, he was also wearing a bathrobe and T-Bird couldn’t believe her eyes. Some things are too obvious to be believed or denied.

“T-Bird! Wait a minute! I mean what are you doing here? I received a phone call telling me you were here but I thought it was a joke. I thought you weren’t arriving until tomorrow.”

The woman was speechless, subdued, but the New Orleans hood rat, the around-the-way-girl, the fighter emerged to take her place and take over. She immediately pushed them both out of the way, forcing her way inside and knocking a shocked Lamar to the floor. All hell broke loose...shit flew everywhere!

At that moment, Gary was calling Desiree, telling her to get over to Darnell’s place right away! His investigator had just called saying T-Bird was going ham after finding Darnell with another man. Allowing reality to set in, every bit of logic went right out of the window, leaving Darnell no way to explain what was happening. The investigator rushed inside, identifying himself as he watched Darnell try to restrain her before she destroyed his place. However, T-Bird was so crazed, she tossed him into the wall like a balled up paper bag and punched him right in the face. As he and his lover attempted to run out the front door, the investigator pulled his gun to keep them from leaving. All she could do  was grab her own hair and let out a loud scream.

Way too calm for human safety, she called Desiree to tell her what was happening and could barely get her words out of her mouth. 

"Desiree! I need you down here now! I’m at Darnell’s place and just found this motherfucker prancing around in his robe with Lamar! I can’t believe this shit!!! This gay ass nigga was trying to play a bitch like me...you better hurry up before I put both these sissy muthafuckas down for life!!!"

Desiree knew her well enough to know she meant every word and was scared as hell.

“Calm down cuz. I’m only a minute away. Please hold on and don’t do anything you will regret later. Remember, you’re here to do a concert and can’t afford to be in the news over something like this..,” Desiree continued. "..Where are you exactly? Is the investigator still there?”

“Hell yeah and how the fuck do you know him? He’s keeping them from leaving. I’m about to lose it. I’m about go to jail over this bitch ass nigga I thought was a real man...these bitches got me fucked up!"

Desiree, Andre and Melvin, the band leader, pulled up; Gary arrived at the same time.

Getting out of their cars, they could hear T-Bird screaming at the top of her lungs, calling Darnell all kinds of names because he'd tried to play her like a fool. Andre tried escorting her downstairs, but she was having none of that. She had a score to settle and settle it she would. Andre wasn't having any of
that
as he practically dragged a hysterical T-Bird towards the first landing. B
efore they reached the first platform, she broke into tears, falling into his arms. Looking at her expression and the shock on her cousin's face, Gary just put his arms around Desiree.

“Remember before we started this, I asked if you were ready to handle something of this magnitude? My job is not an easy one. I see this all the time. This guy is a piece of trash just like the others I’ve encountered. How could your cousin get hooked up with the likes of him?”

Desiree couldn’t say a word and had to be the strong in order to help T-Bird get through the whole ordeal and concentrate on the show she had to perform the next night. Andre assisted T-Bird into the car and asked Melvin to stay with her while he went back upstairs.

By the time he approached the doorway, Darnell’s friend was acting like he was the one who'd been violated. He smirked at Andre while walking away switching, with his wrist twisting in the air, looking for some clothes to put on his nasty ass. Andre was so mad, he kicked him right in the ass...Lamar hit the floor for the second time. He then ran to Darnell and began choking him until he couldn’t breathe.