WILD THANGZ by Winston Chapman (An Essence Magazine National Best Seller)

Chapter 18

I had no idea how relieved I'd be in June when Tyisha moved back home with my parents.

After just a few weeks with her, I didn't think that I'd ever want to have kids.

Life was good for me. Brandon had renewed faith in me again and returned me to being the lead singer for Chocolate Cream.

In about a week from today, the band would be going to Los Angeles for the filming of the movie. Our role was small, just a short cameo-scene where we'd be the band playing at a night club in the background during one of the scenes, but it was still exposure. Even though the clip of the band would only be about 15-seconds in the movie, as the lead singer, I'd get the most of the few seconds, so I was excited.

I'd wondered if my dick-sucking with Brandon would turn into a nightly ritual. I wasn't worried about it or nothin', because I'd already made up my mind that whatever it took, I was going to do it.

Surprisingly, it never turned into that. Brandon treated me with utmost respect, which I found attractive, especially knowing that he could've taken advantage of our situation. And because it was clear that he was no angel, but for some reason he made a point to not be thuggish with me.

Actually, we were becoming closer as we'd go out together after a recording session.

Brandon had spent some time in the penitentiary for attempted murder, which caught me off guard, as I never would've guessed that.

He wasn't completely reformed of that life-style, as he confessed that he was funding the studio from drug-dealing. But it seemed like his goal was to make the studio successful enough that he'd be able to leave the underground lifestyle alone completely, which I respected.

There was something captivating about Brandon being a bad-boy, yet wasn't so tough that he was against being able to smile and have fun. Plus, it seemed like he was truly taking an interest in me beyond the singing.

We'd just changed our home phone number a couple of days ago because we couldn't take all the hang-up calls we were getting, a left-over problem from Brea's residency. But the final straw was that we more frequently got calls from the same guy with the 718-area code number that was now insisting that Brea still lived at our apartment. He'd even call and say 'Hey Brea' to me or Trina when we'd answer, like maybe we were actually Brea and that we'd be fooled because it sounded like he knew us.

"I got us some passes to an exclusive party that Herman's throwing," Brea said proudly, handing out the passes to Trina and me at work at R e f l e x .

From the moment I touched them, I could feel how expensive they felt. The paper was linen, with gold foil embroidery. The price on the passes was $150. The party was titled 'Wild Thangz' and was going to be held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Buckhead.

R e f l e x and the studio had been consuming so much of my time that I was dying for a girls' night out.

On Friday, the night of the party, we rolled up in style in Brea's Mercedes dressed sexy as the stars we thought we were.

We signed the guest registry and wrote only our first names on the name tag they gave. I started not to put mine on, as it messed-up the look of my outfit.

Despite being at a regal hotel, it wasn't a formal affair, more of a club-ish style of dress. R&B music was being played by the DJ, as we mingled through the crowd of about 60 to 80 people that'd been invited.

"I wonder why they call this a 'Wild Thangz' party?" Trina expressed out loud.

I wondered the same thing, but I didn't care as they had one hell of a food-spread which included shrimp the size of my thumb. The food was free and so were the drinks.