Corrupted Chapter 3, Page 2

  BOP! BOP! BOP! BOP! BOP!

  She wanted to interrupt them all before they got started with anything.

  “Jesus, who’s that?” one of the girl’s inside questioned. They were all shocked into silence.

  “I don’t know,” Jackson answered as he approached the doorway.

  Susan stood there waiting for him, listening through the door and seething. Jackson would surely get a piece of her unadulterated mind that evening. She was now anxious to lash into him.

  Inside the room, Jackson stopped at the closet and slid the hotel’s fluffy white bathrobe over his naked body. He then leaned forward to look through the peephole.

  “Oh, it’s Susan,” he announced before he opened the door. He sounded relieved. “Hey Susan, what the hell was all that about?” he asked as the door swung open.

  Susan stepped right inside without being asked, and she marched straight back to the bedroom to see who else was in there. As soon as she barged in on them, two naked young women scrambled to cover themselves in alarm; one blonde, one brunette. They were both shorter and slightly younger than Susan was. They didn’t know if she was a pissed off girlfriend, an estranged wife or what. But she looked ready to whip both of their naked asses.

  “What is going on in here?” she demanded.

  Both naked women looked to Jackson to answer for them. Without his leather boots on, and Susan still prancing there in her heels, she stood inches taller than him. And she made them all look like kids.

  Jackson answered, “We’re just in here relaxing. We didn’t know if you were still coming or not.”

  “We? You didn’t tell me about anything about . . . this,” she stated, referring to the naked girls. “I mean, what are you thinking about? Are you high on something?”

  She was facing only him now, as the naked women eyed each other, stunned. Susan was more than ready tell the star author all about himself. It had been a long time coming too. Nikola Tubollati had gotten way out of hand. How dare he invite her to his room that evening along with two floosies? He was being an ultimate asshole!

  Jackson shrugged it off as if it was no big deal. “I mean, we were just in here relaxing, watching a few movies or whatever, and then, you know . . . we just decided to get a little more comfortable.”

  Susan looked at the large flat screen television set against the wall to her left, and she noticed the porno movie that was still on.

  “More comfortable for what?” she asked him. “I mean, you have a serious career to think about here. And this is company money that’s paying for this hotel room. Did you stop to think about that before you decided to just relax? Evidently not.”

  Finally, the two young women remembered Susan from the publishing party earlier, as their eyes drew larger with nervous intrigue.

  Before Jackson could even respond to her, Susan turned her ire onto his company.

  “Do you two have nondisclosure paperwork? I need your names and addresses to send it out to your homes in the morning. Who are your lawyers?”

  The two naked women searched each other’s eyes and faces for answers. Their hearts were both racing like madness.

  What the hell is she talking about?

  “A nondisclosure for what?” the brunette asked her quizzically.

  “To state that this was all consensual. How old are you anyway? Because I am not gonna be any part of this nonsense. We’re gonna get this straightened out right now,” Susan huffed.

  The brunette said, “I am twenty-three years old, and I’m not signing anything! I am out of here. I don’t even have a lawyer.”

  But she did have a boyfriend, and a close-nit family. So there was no way in hell she wanted her family named involved in something slanderous, especially when they didn’t get a chance to do anything. It would have all been ridiculous, and she was not out to be the next Kardashian sister. So she rushed to pull her clothes back on, starting with her bra and panties. The blonde rushed right behind her.

  “This is fucking crazy,” the brunette fumed as she got dressed. “As far as I’m concerned, I wasn’t even here. So you don’t have to send me shit. Okay? You don’t even need my name.”

  “Me either,” the blonde added quickly. “And I’m twenty-four, by the way. So we are hardly underage.”

  Susan already knew as much. Her mind was only working on legal overdrive to scare the girls. Jackson watched and listened to the whole thing without another word. He didn’t speak again until after they had walked out. And boy was he turned on by it.

  “Gee, I didn’t know you had that in you,” he told Susan, grinning. He took a seat on the edge of the king-sized bed and chuckled at it. But Susan was hardly through with him.

  She said, “This is not one of your books, Nikola. This is real life here. So if you wanna keep fucking up like this, then you do it on your time and your dollar. Okay?

  “Take my advice on this,” she warned him. “I go to work everyday with people who could care less about you. And as soon as you’re no longer a best seller, you’re out the door. Then you’ll be lucky to even get a Christmas card from them. I’ve seen it happen.”

  Being pushed out of the publishing door was no joking matter. But Susan had put it so fiercely to him that he ego was bruised. So Jackson felt compelled to strike back. Nikola wouldn’t have had the audacity to say it.

  “And what would those same people say about you sleeping around with me? You’re not even supposed to be here right now, are you?” he alluded. “What, you just popped up at my room by chance?”

  Susan paused and nodded. She already understood her earlier mistakes with him. She couldn’t take them all back, but she still cared enough about both of them to pray for their survival.

  She shrugged and said, “I happened to see you out at Times Square with what looked to be two underage girls. And they appeared to be drunk and headed back to your hotel room, the one that I reserved for you at The Millennium. And I know it was none of my business, but after thinking about it, I panicked and ran behind you to make sure that you wouldn’t be making a career-ended mistake. So excuse me for caring.”

  She paused and allowed her elaborate story to sink in on him. She told him, “I can write too, Nikola, and so can the newspapers. And trust me, you don’t want to go there, especially not in New York. Because at the end of the day, it’s not about the truth, but what sounds good enough to sell.”

  Jackson heard that and chuckled. He mumbled, “Vincent told you that.”

  “Yeah but it’s true.”

  As Jackson remained silent, contemplating it all, she added, “Good and bad things happen to all of us. You’ll write a new bestselling book, and I’ll get a promotion and a pay raise. Or, you’ll publish a not-so-good book, and I’ll get fired. That’s just how it goes, and none of us can change it.”

  Finally Jackson sighed. “This business isn’t that cut and dry is it?”

  “It can be if you make it that way,” she told him. “So, you never cut off the hands that help you, and you never burn the bridges that you’re still crossing. Vincent taught me that too.”

  She turned to walk out as Jackson stood and grabbed her hand.

  “Don’t leave me now. There’s no one left here but me and you.”

  Susan slipped her hand away from him. She said, “You’re already here alone. You’ve already pushed me out the door. Now you can really think about what it feels like when you care about a person who only sees you as a number.”

  “I don’t see you as just a number, Susan,” he told her as he reached for her hand again.

  Susan avoided it. “Apologize to me then . . . and then wait for me to get over it.”

  Jackson paused and shook his head. He said, “You really need to write your own best seller one day.”

  “I will,” she told him, and she stepped toward the door to leave again.

  “Okay, I’m sorry,” he mumbled dryly. “Now don’t leave me here. Just keep me company. You don’t have to do anything.”

&nb
sp; Susan thought about it and sighed. Everything had calmed down. The circus had left the city, leaving nothing but silence and the stench of the animals in the room. She looked back over toward the television set that was still on. The volume down low enough to watch and not listen.

  “Are you gonna turn that off?” she asked him. “I don’t want to see that.”

  Jackson grabbed the remote and changed the channel to something more respectable.

  “Is that better?” Star Wars was playing late on the movie channel.

  Susan looked and grinned. “That’s actually one of my favorites,” she told him. “But . . . I’m really too tired to keep you company now. And I have to be back up bright and early for the expo in the morning, far earlier than you do.”

  She finally grabbed the door handle, ready to leave. “I guess you can turn your adult movie back on if you need to. You’ve already paid for it.”

  Jackson smirked and no longer tried to stop her. “I’ll see you some time tomorrow at the book signing.”

  Susan opened the door and told him, “One o’clock.”

  Jackson grimaced. “I thought it was at two?”

  “Yeah, but you need to arrive early.”

  He smiled. “Yeah, all right. I’ll be there.”

  After she walked out, he mumbled, “At least I don’t have a morning signing. I can sleep good now . . . right after I jack off.” He walked over and clicked his porno movie back on, and this time he turned up the volume for extra stimulation.

  At two o’clock in the morning, once everyone was worn out from partying, Darlene and Antonio still had to decide how to separate.

  “So, how do we do this?” Tony whispered to her. They were on their way out of the nightclub behind Brittney and the others. They still didn’t want to make it look so obvious that they already knew each other. Nevertheless, it was their first actual meeting.

  Darlene whispered back to him. “Let’s just call each other when we get in tonight and go out again tomorrow after the BEA. I mean, it’s really late now.”

  Tony nodded and agreed to it. “Yeah, and then we can really hang out and see New York.”

  “I’m already loving New York,” Darlene commented loud enough to be overheard.

  “Yeah, it’s a big difference from Denver, right?” Brittney cracked and laughed from the front.

  “Oh, a biggg difference,” Darlene emphasized.

  “So, when are you planning on relocating?” Jill teased her.

  They reached the sidewalk outside of the nightclub, where all eyes were suddenly on Darlene, including DeWayne’s and Chelsea’s.

  D told her, “You don’t have to move out here if you don’t want to. New York is expensive, dog. Don’t let this all glamour shit fool you.”

  “Yeah, I know, but . . . there’s so much more to do here. I could really get my creative juices flowing in New York.”

  She had been thinking about the move since before she arrived, and she definitely thought about it afterwards. However, lodging all of her things from Denver to New York would be a huge task. She figured it would be better to sell off her furniture and start all over again in New York than try and move everything. The expense and hassle of the relocation would be murder. But how expensive would buying all new furniture in New York be?

  “Well, does anyone have any old furniture they’d like to get rid of?” she joked.

  Chelsea broke out laughing. “I see where you’re going with that, girl. Buying a bunch of new furniture in New York will break your ass before you even get set up good.”

  “No, not necessarily. I know plenty of places that sell inexpensive furniture in New York,” Jill commented.

  “Yeah, and in New Jersey, too,” Antonio chipped in. Of course, he loved the idea of Darlene moving to New York. He could already envision his many sleepovers if everything went as planned. She was a beautiful dream come true, and she already understood his passions as a fellow writer.

  “Sounds like you guys would all be willing to help me,” Darlene hinted and smiled.

  “Oh, I don’t even live here. I live in Miami,” Chelsea told her.

  “I always wondered what it would be like to live in Miami,” Jill mused.

  “It’s great,” Chelsea told her. “Great weather, great people, great beaches, great things to do.”

  Great orgies, DeWayne thought to himself with a grin. He hadn’t been in one himself, but he could imagine it, especially with Chelsea there. He figured her Christmas sir name was perfect; she was forever ready to unwrap her packaged gifts.

  “Okay, so how many taxis do we need here?” Brittney asked at the curb.

  “I’m at Times Square at The Millennium,” Chelsea answered first.

  “Okay, well, we’re both at The Hudson. So you can catch a cab with us,” Jill responded in reference to herself and Brittney.

  Chelsea nodded, “Okay.”

  D said, “I’m good. I’m taking the sub back to Brooklyn.”

  All eyes were on Darlene and Antonio again.

  Antonio spoke up first. “I’m heading back to the New Jersey Transit. So I’ll catch the sub with D.”

  That left Darlene alone.

  “And where are you? Are you in the Times Square area too?” Jill asked her.

  Darlene grinned, knowing that her answer would be a cause for alarm. “No, I’m way up in Harlem,” she told them, beaming. “I’m right on Columbia University’s campus.”

  “In Harlem?” Chelsea asked her. “For what?”

  DeWayne frowned and said, “Ain’t nothin’ wrong with Harlem. What’s the problem? That’s where the real people live and not just tourists.”

  “Whatever,” Chelsea piped. “The only thing I do up in Harlem is eat, party and sell books at the Harlem Book Festival. But I’m not ever staying up there. It’s too damned . . . crowded.”

  “Anyway,” D interrupted as Chelsea continued to cringe. “Are you catching the sub with us, or you taking a taxi up there?” he asked Darlene.

  Antonio awaited her answer himself. He wanted to spend as much extra time with her as possible.

  However, Brittney jumped in and said, “She can ride in the same taxi as us. We’ll just pay the driver to take her up to Harlem after dropping us off.”

  “You’re gonna squeeze four people in one taxi?” Antonio asked them.

  “Watch us,” Brittney told him.

  Sure enough, they waved down a taxi and all climbed inside, with Brittney jumping up front with the driver.

  “Times Square,” she said. And off they went through the New York streets.

  Antonio didn’t even get a chance to say his good bye.

  “You got her number, right?” Double D asked him, smiling.

  Tony smiled back. “What makes you say that?”

  D frowned at him. “Shid, if you spent that much time with that girl tonight and ain’t get no number, something wrong with you.”

  Tony laughed it off and didn’t respond to him as they began to walk toward the subway station, a block away.

  “So, how’d you hook up with Vincent as your editor?”