"Hi, it's nice to meet you," Courtney said, smiling at Brittani who was halfway paying attention. "Dior, you look absolutely gorgeous on your cover. I'm so proud of you," Courtney said, putting her attention back on me.

"You say the sweetest things to me, thank you."

"With that face and your body, you make it easy."

"Courtney, put your number in my phone. We have to stay in touch. You're fabulous for my ego."

"You're so funny, Dior."

"No, I'm so serious. I need a girl like you in my life."

"Sure, it would mean everything to me to be your friend."

"You keep saying all the right things we'll be friends forever. So enjoy the party and I will be in touch."

"I'll be waiting to hear from you, thanks again!" she said waving bye.

"Dior, stay away from that little girl."

"Why?"

"Because she really is sweet and she doesn't need to be corrupted by you."

"That's not funny, Brittani."

"I wasn't trying to be. We go way back. I got nothing but love for you but it's no secret how we get down, especially you. That little girl isn't ready and probably never will be, for what she would learn from you."

"Every time I run into her she makes me feel good. Everybody needs a person like that in their life. I'm glad I ran into her and I am going to call her. This night is turning out to be almost perfect."

"Why only almost? I can't think of nothing that would make it better."

"When Lorenzo gets here then it will be perfect."

"Lorenzo, who the h.e.l.l is Lorenzo? I've never heard you mention that name before."

"He's the guy that made all this possible. He promised he would be here and surprisingly I'm disappointed that he hasn't shown up to share this night with me."

"Wow, so am I! I hope he does show up 'cause I can't wait to see this Lorenzo dude, especially since he got you waiting for his arrival...interesting."

"What's interesting is who just walked through the door, look." I pointed my finger towards the entrance and shook my head. "If he came to embarra.s.s me I swear I'm leaving."

"Are you crazy, you can't leave your own party. Make his a.s.s leave!"

"Brittani, as tempting as that sounds, let's not get it twisted. I'm on the cover of a booty magazine and that's Sway Stone. Who do you think they care more about?"

"I get your point, but you still can't let him run you out of your own party."

"You're right and I'm not. Come with me, I'ma go ask Phenomenon if he knows when Lorenzo is coming."

"So Phenomenon is cool with Lorenzo, is he the one that hooked you up with the video?"

"Pretty much."

"Now it's all making sense. So what does this Lorenzo guy do, is he in the music industry?"

"He definitely has dealings with the industry but I'm not sure exactly what he does. He seems to have his hands in a few things since he's always too busy handling business to talk to me."

"I see somebody has gotten under your skin. And I'm glad because anybody is better than Sway.

"Hey Phenomenon, have you talked to Lorenzo tonight?"

"Yeah, I spoke to him on my way here."

"Did he tell you what time he was coming?"

"Oh, he ain't gonna be able to make it. He got some other s.h.i.t going on."

"Really, well that's cool," I said walking off feeling like I had just got stood up for the prom. This bizarre sense of devastation came over me and I didn't like it at all.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Brittani," I snapped. "This is my night to shine, f.u.c.k Lorenzo! Let's go have some fun." I dragged Brittani to the middle of the dance floor. Kanye West's new song was playing and my body swayed to the music as I tried to escape thinking about Lorenzo and lose myself in my own world.

"I always loved the way you move," a voice that I was way too familiar with whispered in my ear. His hand held on tightly to my body as if it never stopped belonging to him.

"What do you want, Sway?" I asked turning around to face him.

"The same thing you want," he said, gripping under my chin firmly. He then took my hand and led me to his table without any resistance from me. I saw Brittani shaking her head in disapproval but I welcomed going back into Sway's world.

When we sat down, his bodyguards stood in front of our table, acting as a wall to shield us from everybody. "I know you've missed this," Sway said pulling out a vile of c.o.ke. And he was right. I hadn't snorted any c.o.ke since we were together. Sway always had access to the best quality of drugs which was a perk I lost when I wasn't with him. "Here," he said rubbing the white powder under my nose and over my lips. He then gripped the back of my hair tightly and put his tongue down my throat. As he eased up I began kissing him back.

After Sway dipped his finger in the c.o.ke I sniffed it off. He kept dipping and I kept sniffing. Before long he had my b.r.e.a.s.t.s out my dress licking each one, going back and forth and finger f.u.c.king me at the same time. While he did this I kept snorting c.o.ke as if making up for all the weeks I had been without it. I couldn't decide which one was bringing me the most pleasure, the foreplay or the c.o.ke play.

"Are you ready to feel this d.i.c.k inside you?"

"Yes," I purred, ready to ride him right here in the booth.

"Then let's go."

"Can't you put it in right now?"

"What I have planned for you we can't do it in here. Now let's go."

I pulled my dress up and down and wiped off as much of the white stuff from my face as possible. But it didn't matter, Sway's bodyguards surrounded us so people could only catch slight glimpses as we made our exit to his awaiting car. During the ride back to his crib, we continued to snort c.o.ke and drink champagne. He even gave me a couple pills that I swallowed wanting to take my high as far as it could go.

"I want you to suck my d.i.c.k," Sway demanded pulling down his pants. He took some of the c.o.ke and sprinkled it on his d.i.c.k which had me crawling over to him quickly. "Yeeessss," Swayed groaned as my tongue teased his d.i.c.k before my mouth took over.

By the time we reached Sway's penthouse my dress was practically off and I couldn't wait to f.u.c.k. But Sway had a different agenda. The moment the front door closed I was. .h.i.tting the floor of the s.p.a.cious mosaic marble foyer from the powerful impact of his backhand slap. "You didn't think I was going to take you back without punishing you first."

"Sway," I muttered, looking up to the gla.s.s chandelier that had water features. I had never really noticed that but while I tried to ma.s.sage away the sting Sway left on my face I focused on it but not for long because he didn't let up. Sway tore off my dress before grabbing me by my hair. He lifted me up, dragging me across the floor like a rag doll into his bedroom. This certainly wasn't the first time Sway had put his hands on me but normally it would be one quick hit to remind me to stay in my place but this was different.

"I can't mess up that pretty face because when the photogs take our pictures we don't want any obvious bruises now do we," Sway said with a sinister smile on his face. "But there are other ways to make sure you remember never to disrespect me again."

Sway tossed me down on his bed and walked over to his drawer and pulled out a long thick black belt. My first instant was to run out his place, b.u.t.t a.s.s naked and all but between the c.o.ke, champagne, pills and the initial slap I couldn't even muster enough strength to get up off the bed. The c.o.ke had my heart racing and head spinning. I a.s.sumed the pills were what had me unable to move. "Sway, don't do this," I mumbled.

"It's for your own good," he said before the first whip ripped across my b.u.t.t. "If I could I would take this belt and whip your entire body. But I have some upcoming events we'll be attending," he paused mid sentence before lashing down three more whips, "and I'm not sure if your outfits are going to expose your back, legs and arms so to be safe I'll just whip yo' a.s.s." I always knew Sway was crazy but this was taking it way too far.

"Baby, that's enough," I pleaded barely audible.

"You're right. I don't want to split any of your skin." And just that quickly Sway dropped the belt and took off his clothes. He got in the bed and the next thing I knew we were both sleeping.

When I woke up my a.s.s was burning and my mind started replaying the events of last night. "That n.i.g.g.a whipped me," I said out loud realizing that what happened wasn't some sort of bad nightmare but my reality. I looked around the bedroom but I didn't see Sway. I eyed the clock and couldn't believe it was the middle of the afternoon. I had basically slept the day away. Before I could try to get up I heard the bedroom door open.

"Mr. Stone has instructed me to run you a bath," some woman said walking past me.

"Who are you?"

"I'll be helping you get prepared for the event you'll be attending with Mr. Stone."

A few minutes after the woman went in the bathroom Sway came in. "Drink this protein shake and take this pill," he directed as if he hadn't just beat me with a belt last night. "We have a lot to do tonight so I need you to get your energy up."

"I'm not going anywhere with you tonight."

"Yes you are, now take this."

"Sway my a.s.s is still hurting from what you did to me."

"This pill, the drink and bath, all of that will make you feel better."

"Give it to me." I gulped down the pill with the protein shake which was actually very tasty. "So where are we going tonight?"

"I'm headlining a charity event."

"Are you performing?"

"No, they didn't have enough money for me to perform too. Some other artist are performing, I'm only hosting. Let me see your face, I want to make sure I didn't leave a bruise from the slap yesterday." He held my chin up looking to see what damage if any he caused. "There's a slight mark but nothing some makeup can't cover up."

"You shouldn't have hit me in the first f.u.c.kin' place."

"I can't wait to f.u.c.k you later on. I know you can't get on your back right now because you're sore. But you'll be good by tonight," he told me, totally ignoring what I had just said.

"I don't know why I keep f.u.c.kin' with you."

"Yes you do, because you love being with a Superstar and you hope some of it will rub off on you. You got your little King Magazine cover but you know nothing is going to bring you the type of attention you crave like being with me."

"I don't even like you. You make me sick!"

"No you make yourself sick. I'm 'bout to start shooting my video for the lead single off my new CD. I want you for the lead."

"Why? I thought you had no interest in giving me shine."

"You did Phenomenon's video and now you're on the cover of King with that bulls.h.i.t headline. So people won't start giving him credit for blowing you up, I want you in my video. I need everybody to know you're my project."

"Now I'm your project how convenient."

"You need to be thanking me. After being in my world I know it had to be depressing to go back to yours. But now we have a better understanding. I'll let you shine just make sure you follow my rules.

"Mr. Stone, her bath is ready."

"You heard the lady, go 'head. I'll be back shortly."

"Since you're talking about rules I have one of my own."

"What's that?"

"I don't want Tracy or Lori in my presence. If you want to still f.u.c.k them go 'head but not around me and that's nonnegotiable."

"Not a problem but don't develop a habit of making rules because most of them won't apply to me but remember, all of my rules apply to you." I watched as Sway left the room before I got up.

When I stepped in the whirlpool I looked around the Italian marble bathroom with mother of pearl inlays and the rainforest Swiss steam shower. It was a stark contrast to the bathroom I had in my New York City apartment. Yeah, Sway was right there was no comparison to what it was like being in his world. His fame provided him with a lifestyle that only a handful of people ever got to experience and I was one of them. If only I could come up with a way to be able to get it for myself. I really started to believe that Lorenzo would make that possible for me but he didn't even show up to my party. It was like I started off as some sort of game for him and somewhere down the line he got bored and decided to toss me to the side. Sway seemed to be my only hope but the price was so high when it came to dealing with him. I would make it work though and having plenty of drugs to keep me medicated would make it that much easier. In the serenity of the hot water, I closed my eyes and let my mind drift away.

Lorenzo.

Blame Game.

"How was the party?" I asked, after placing my order with the waitress. I had been ripping and running so hard in the last forty-eight hours that I wasn't even eating. So when Phenomenon called to meet for lunch, I welcomed the break and an opportunity to eat a good meal.

"It was cool. It was a nice turnout. I met me a cutie and got plenty of shine. I guess that's what it's all about. Oh, and I think you broke homegirl's heart. Even though she tried to play if off I could tell Dior was disappointed you didn't come through."

"Why you say that?"

"'Cause she asked me where you were and when I told her you wasn't gonna' be able to make it, her face d.a.m.n near cracked. I had no idea you was kickin' it wit' her."

"We're not. I'm just helping her out with some things."

"That's cool, I think she back wit' Sway anyway."

"Back with Sway, when did that happen?"

"He came to her party. I didn't see them together but they're in today's paper. She went with him to some charity event last night."

"Yo, she's crazy."

"That's what being in this industry will do to you, make you crazy. I'm finding myself already giving into it. What they say, fame is more addictive than heroin." As Phenomenon rambled on about the pitfalls of being in the entertainment industry my mind wandered to Dior. She had called me a couple times the night of the party but I couldn't answer my phone. Dealing with Alexus kidnapping and other bulls.h.i.t, there was no way I could break free and deal with a bunch of phony m.u.t.h.e.rf.u.c.kers at a party. But I should've never told Dior I was coming and have her find out I wasn't from Phenomenon. Now she was back with Sway. I decided to call her since I was in the city.

"I'll be right back." I got up from the table and stepped outside to call Dior.

"Hey Lorenzo, it was great seeing you at my party the other night. Oh, that's right you didn't show up." The fact that Dior greeted me with so much sarcasm let me know Phenomenon was right.