Sex, Secrets and South Beach (22 page)

D
esiree came back from her stroll feeling
refreshed and ready to tackle anything, even Leilani and
Ysenia. The ocean was one of the things she loved most about Miami.
It always made her feel connected to something. All of her
ancestors had lived near the Atlantic. Her family in the Dominican
Republic, even her African ancestors, whoever and wherever they
were, were probably looking at that same water. For once, thinking
about her family and where she came from didn't make her feel sad
or angry. She had a new family now. Bentley and Sparks, Titanium
Records, were her fam. She was their first lady, their princess,
and their Queen Bee all in one. She decided to see what Bentley was
up to before she had her makeup touched up.

"Hey, baby," she cooed. She kissed
him, but his lips were unresponsive.

"What's the matter?" she asked him.
She hoped he hadn't heard about her minor scrape with Ysenia and
started tripping. Bentley didn't say anything; he just grabbed the
remote, punched rewind, and then pushed play. Desiree sucked in her
breath as if she'd been punched in the gut. That was how it felt to
see the tape.

"Where did you get that? Who gave that
to you?" she demanded.

"What happens in Cancún stays in
Cancún?" he spat at her, his voice full of sarcasm. "Obviously
not."

"I can explain." Desiree's mouth felt
like the Sahara. Her throat was burning.

"I don't really want to hear
it."

"Can I just talk to you?" she begged.
Dez reached for his hand, her eyes pleading.

"Don't touch me, Dez."
Bentley dodged her like she had leprosy.
This can't be happening, she thought in a panic. What did you
think? That it would disappear? That he'd never find out? You're so
stupid! You aren't good for shit! How could you think anything good
would ever happen to you? You're nothing!
She shook her head violently.

"That was a mistake from a long time
ago," she began.

"It was two years ago," he said. "I
hardly consider that a long time."

"I was young."

"Yeah, right. What, twenty-one,
twenty-two? That's old enough to know what you're doing. You ain't
shit but a freak. Be a woman and own up to that shit."

"No. I was younger than that." Dez
choked on her words as she began to cry. She felt the bile rising
in her stomach. She resisted the urge to heave.

"Please." He looked at her with
contempt. "And spare me the tears. You're a good fucking actress,
I'll give you that."

"You've gotta let me explain. Hear my
side of the story. I was a little girl." Bentley was headed toward
the door. She couldn't let him walk out of her life. She couldn't
let her dreams blow up in her face.

Tell him the truth,
she thought
. If he
really loves you, he'll understand.
His
hand was on the knob.
He's leaving you.
They'll always leave you. No man in his right mind would want to
stay with you. You're dirty!
Sucia!

"I was only sixteen!" she blurted.
Bentley froze. He turned around to face her.

"What?"

"I said I was only
sixteen."

"You really expect me to believe
you're what, eighteen or nineteen?"

"I'm eighteen. I turned eighteen on my
birthday yesterday."

"Get the fuck outta here. I done heard
it all now."

"B, will you please just sit down and
let me explain? I know it looks bad, really bad. And I'm ashamed
and sorry that I ever did it. But I honestly just didn't know any
better. I'm a different person now, and it's partly because of you.
You and Sparks gave me a reason to believe in myself. You gave me a
shot. Don't take that away from me. You said you could tell that
I'd been through some shit, and that you respected me. Let me tell
you what it is. If you wanna walk after you hear me out, then okay.
But please don't go until you hear me. I love you. Please?" Desiree
had no pride left. She knelt on the dirty floor of the trailer, her
makeup streaked, her hair standing all over her head. He sat
down.

"You've got two minutes," Bentley
informed her, totally devoid of any emotion.

Desiree felt her heart sink. At
precisely that moment she knew that Bentley had been full of shit
the whole time. All that talk about respecting her gangsta. When it
came time for him to ride, he didn't even have the patience to hear
her out. How the hell could she begin to explain, in two minutes,
how she ended up in a porn tape at such a tender age? She'd been
played, she of all people, the master of games. Desiree felt a fury
unlike any other building within her.

"Well, if that's all I have then fuck
it. My whole name takes damn near two minutes to say. So fuck it,
be that way. As long as I have my deal, that's all that really
matters. I don't have to fucking grovel for you," Desiree spat,
half meaning it. "All I want to know is who gave you the fucking
tape? If it had been any other time, things would be different. But
somebody here is deliberately trying to fuck me and I want to know
who it is!"

"Does it matter? Does that change the
fact that you a ho?" Bentley's eyes were daggers. The comment made
Desiree cringe inside; she was so angry she balled up her fists
until her knuckles were white. The way she was feeling, the
situation could get much uglier very quickly.

"Fuck you! Fuck you, you
bitch ass motherfucker!" Desiree shouted at him, and this time she
really meant it. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks.
Leilani!
She had clearly
been coveting Dez's post. How could she not be jealous? If she
could get her out of the way, Leilani would be free to milk
Sparks
and
Bentley for any and everything she could. She wouldn't be
surprised if Leilani had tried to kick it to Bentley, even though
she was acting like it was all about Sparks. Who else would want to
see her fail? Who else would go to such great lengths to make her
look bad? In a fury she ran out the trailer, leaving Bentley
behind. She was out for blood. It was real personal now.

Desiree ran all over the set like a
madwoman in search of Leilani. She found her sitting on a stool,
munching on a plate of crudites. She looked beat, but not as beat
as she was going to after Desiree got through with her. Swift and
silent as a ninja, Desiree grabbed Leilani's ponytail and threw her
to the ground, knocking over the stool.

"You fucking bitch. You couldn't stand
to see me get ahead, could you?" Desiree snarled at the astonished
Leilani as she tried to stand. Desiree administered a swift kick to
Leilani's rib cage with her stiletto-heeled, calf-length boots.
Leilani winced in pain and dropped back to the ground.

"Dez. Please, stop. Why are you doing
this?" Leilani begged, holding her midsection. A trail of blood
dribbled from her lip. A small crowd gathered to observe the
disturbance, but no one bothered to stop it.

"Bitch, you know why!" Desiree sat on
top of Leilani and pimp-slapped her. Then she slapped her again.
She balled her fist up tightly and prepared to clock her, but was
prevented from doing so by Sparks, who had come to Leilani's aid.
Leilani lay on the ground crying and holding her face as Desiree
struggled to release herself from Sparks's iron grip. Bentley came
running up to them out of breath.

"Dez, chill!" He grabbed her by the
shoulders and shook her hard. "It wasn't Leilani," he screamed at
her.

"What?" Desiree was confused,
breathing heavily, her breasts heaving up and down

"It wasn't her. Leilani didn't give me
the tape," Bentley explained.

"What tape?" Leilani asked,
bewildered, as she put a hand to her mouth. Her saliva was thick
with mucus and blood, and her bottom lip was split. Sparks knelt
beside her and cradled her in his arms.

"We need to talk, the four of us, in
private. Now!" Bentley barked and dragged a kicking and screaming
Desiree back to his trailer. Sparks and Leilani looked at each
other, both at a loss for words, confused about exactly what was
going on.

"You okay, baby?" Sparks asked Leilani
gently as he held her.

"I guess so," she sniffed, shaking
with fear and confusion. Leilani felt a wave of embarrassment wash
over her as the entire cast and crew of the video stared at the
scene.

"Come on, boo. Let's find out what the
hell is going on." Sparks scooped Leilani up and led her, limping,
to Bentley's trailer.

Sparks turned the latch on the flimsy
lock of the trailer door and then methodically went around the
trailer shutting all the windows. He pushed a button that
automatically released metal shutters that covered all the windows,
including the windshield. He cranked on the AC full blast and sat
in the swiveling passenger's seat.

"What the fuck is going on?" he asked,
exasperated. Bentley and Dez eyed each other. He shook his head at
her, then buried his face in his hands. Dez cleared her
throat.

"Somebody gave Bentley a
tape that has me on it doing some things that I'm not proud of. I
thought it was Leilani, since she's been giving me so much grief
lately. That's why I kicked your ass. My bad." Desiree glared at
Leilani, then felt a twinge of guilt. She looked down at her nails,
rather than at Leilani's bruised and bloodied face.
She had it coming,
she
thought, to ease her conscience.

"Well, what the fuck is on the tape?"
Leilani barked through swollen lips. Dez's guilt disappeared
instantly. She gave Leilani the stankeye.

"Why don't you see for
yourself? Sparks, why don't you take a look at your
superstar
. Now maybe
you'll talk to me before you go signing folks on the spot," Bentley
snarled sarcastically, walking over to the television and switching
on the tape. Leilani and Sparks watched in a combination of shock
and horror before Desiree cut off the set angrily. She felt like a
sideshow freak on display.

"What Bentley is conveniently leaving
out is that I was only sixteen when I made the tape. Are you
satisfied? You've humiliated me, okay?" Desiree glared at
Bentley.

"Wait a minute. That tape
can't be
that
old," Leilani pondered aloud.

"How old
are
you, Dez?" Sparks
asked.

"Eighteen," she answered. "I turned
eighteen yesterday."

"You can't be eighteen. I know you.
I've seen your ID, your place. You were my friend," Leilani said in
disbelief, holding her lip.

"Dez, you are full of shit, Sparks,
please give the bitch the boot," Bentley hissed angrily. Dez rolled
her eyes.

"Look, I'm, I mean, I was a runaway. I
left home when I was sixteen and met Dan not long after I got to
Miami. I was living with a woman named Ginger, but then she got all
religious and tried to control my life, so when Dan offered me a
new life, I took it. He said he cared about me and that he was
going to make me a star. I trusted him because I was young and
hungry. After about a year, I realized that he wasn't going to get
my career off the ground unless it was as a porn star, so I broke
it off. That was about a year ago. Now here we are."

The three of them were silent for
several moments.

Leilani was the first to speak up.
"Why did you run away?"

"I don't want to say. Does it really
matter? Life was fucked up where I was, so I left." Desiree’s eyes
were nearly black with anger. Leilani was still trying to be all in
her mix.

"Are you telling the truth now? I
mean, are you legal?" Sparks asked, stroking his goatee.

"Yes, I am. I don't have anything that
shows my real age. Why would I? But I'm sure you can verify it. I
turned eighteen yesterday."

''I'm just asking because if you
weren't, your deal wouldn't be legally binding," Sparks
replied.

"Well, I am. So you can't get rid of
me that easy." Dez rolled her eyes and neck.

"If I wanted to get rid of you, I
could. There's always a loophole, Dez, remember that. But I don't
want to get rid of you." Sparks looked at her and
grinned.

Dez, Leilani, and Bentley screamed in
unison, "What?!"

"Baby, look how much trouble she's
caused," Leilani whined. "Look what she did to my face! You mean
you want her to stay?"

"She can't possibly be reppin' our
label!" Bentley countered.

Dez stood mute, in total
disbelief.

"Dez has skills out of this world. You
name one female out there that can outflow her. If I toss her aside
because of the tape, someone else will sign her," Sparks explained,
which made Dez smile.

"But what about our reputation? We
worked hard as hell to build this label. You gonna give her a
chance to destroy it?" Bentley was heated.

"Dez ain't gonna destroy the label.
She's gonna take us to a new level. Eve used to strip, and so did
Trina. It's not a big deal," Sparks explained. Bentley opened his
mouth to object. Sparks cut him off. "Hear me out. That tape is
illegal. She was a minor. It's child pornography. With or without
us, Dez, you're about to come into a lot of money," Sparks
continued.