My Cup Runs Over: The Ultimate and Final Deception (8 page)

Just as he was about to kiss the side of her cheek, she moved just enough to let him know she could feel him near her. Simultaneously, she reached out her arms to pull him closer. She sighed, still holding him close to her.

“Um… I feel you. Feel so nice.” 

“You smell nice” he said. “I wish you knew how bad I wanted to get out of the club tonight just to be here with you.” 

Still with her eyes closed she responded. “Thank you. I needed to hear that” she replied.  “There, on the table, is something for you” as she pointed towards the nightstand. He put the card in her hand.

“Um…so are you trying to romance me big boy?” she asked, taking the card out of the envelope to read it.

“Yeah, I guess you can say it’s something like that,” he continued. She began reading the card and then looked at him. “So which is it; something like that, or just yes?” she insisted.

JJ took the card out of hands and began kissing her and asked, “So where would you want me to begin, with the something, or the- that?”

“Let’s start with the- that...I really like the way it feels right now.” She replied. 

JJ continued rubbing between her thighs as she squirmed in an attempt to resist his touch. “So do you want me to give you a little something, something?"

Waiting for a response there was complete silence as she grabbed him by the face with the palms of her hands. “You know I do but I need you to wait for just a second. Now I’ve got something for you..." as she reached for the letter.

JJ wasn't interested. “Come on baby, do we have to do this right now? I mean I’m feeling you right now.”

Vivian sat up a little in the bed. “Will you just trust me for one minute?” as she opened the letter. “It’s a letter that came in the mail for T-Bird about the foundation. Read it and afterwards we’ll talk. I need to see your reaction first..."

He took a deep breath of frustration and began to read the letter. It didn’t take long before he began to break out into laughter while shaking his head.

“This is crazy! I mean this is unbelievable!!! Q and Trey are gonna trip when I tell them about this in the morning..."

“Honey isn’t Q flying back to Chicago to take T-bird to Detroit?” 

“No, he decided he’s not going to fly out to get her until she’s ready to come back here; to perform and in N.Y... This is so unreal!” JJ continued.

“I couldn’t believe it myself, even after reading it to T-Bird twice. She’s still in awe and refuses to believe it’s true. Getting that amount of money from the state to help run the foundation...it's almost unthinkable!”

“Well, I believe we need to have our own little private celebration, right here, right now. Wait here while I’ll go get a bottle of wine.” After returning with the bottle and two glasses, he filled them and kissed them together.

“Here’s to the foundation. Somebody is truly watching over us..." JJ marveled as they took a sip. There was nothing more comforting for Vivian than experiencing JJ beginning to open up and share his emotions with her again... 

The next morning seemed to come too soon as T-Bird received her wake-up call from the front desk. Meanwhile, Andre was already downstairs making sure the bus was in front of the hotel, ready to take everyone to Detroit. As he stood talking to the driver, she walked up.

“Did you forget that Q was supposed to fly back and get us?” 

“Nope.. he called to tell me he wasn’t coming back until we finished in Cleveland.” Andre replied.

“Okay, I just hope to have a voice by the time we arrive after listening to Little Joe being on this bus...” she laughed just thinking about it.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about. I’ll start calling the rooms to get everybody up so we can get out of here.” Andre said. 

As soon as JJ got up, he did a conference call with Trey and Q to tell them about the letter Vivian had given him from the city about the foundation. 

“Hey guys I know it’s early, but I had to catch you before your day got started.”

“Thanks a lot bro. I’m still asleep and to be honest, I don’t get the opportunity that often to sleep this late and especially have my woman with me,” Trey said.

“So what’s up?” Q asked. "I’m up and trying to brush my teeth.”

“Damn Trey, you still got that pretty ass Carlotta lying next to you?”

“Yeah…Of course. Come on now, you’ve got jokes at this hour? We’ve had a long night.”

“Take it easy my brother... I’m just messing with cha to make sure you’re awake, that’s all,” JJ continued. “Okay, listen to this. I’m going to read you the letter from the City of Newark and the State of New Jersey about the foundation. They’re donating $1,00000.00 and a temporary staff from three corporations to help teach students and listen to this..." JJ paused here to make sure he had their attention.

"What JJ...Damn" Q urged.

JJ laughed and resumed, "...they’re even giving us a building for $1.00 at 1 Plaza North, downtown, to establish as a school of business. All in the name of R.E.A.C.T.”

Trey immediately sat up in the bed. “What? I don’t think I heard you clearly. Can you please repeat all that slowly?” He expressed so much emotion, Carlotta rose up out of her sleep to find out what was going on.

“You heard me perfectly clearly,” JJ said. "This is not a joke. I have the proof right in my hand. Vivian gave it to me last night and if it weren’t so late, I would have called you both right then and there.”

Q was still trying to rinse the toothpaste out of his mouth so he could respond to what he was hearing.

“Wow man, that is outrageous! How in the world did all this happen?” 

”Well, it says here that they’ve been monitoring our accomplishments in the community with the foundation and after privately tracking the success rate of the people we’ve trained, the Urban Development and Grants commission wanted to make a contribution to our cause and help us continue our efforts to educate those coming to the foundation.”

“Well has anyone talked to T-Bird?” Q asked.

”Right now only Vivian but that was late last night after reading the letter to her. According to Vivian, she’s still in disbelief. The last thing she said to Vivian was that she wanted to get some rest and try rationalizing it all. I believe she’s on her way to Detroit right now for tonight’s performance. I’m going to have some attorneys look over all the paperwork as soon as possible.” JJ said. “I told you guys this was bigger than us months ago. Remember?” 

“I just don’t know what to say,” Trey said, as he began to tell Carlotta the news. Immediately a smile came on her face, validating the efforts they all had made in their community. Q was still speechless on the line and after gathering his composure, spoke. 

“Man! Nothing prepared any of us for all this but we have to continue to help her now. She’s going to need it more now than ever. I’m all for it.”

“Me too” Trey said.

“Okay that sounds good to me. We’ll just wait for her to call the shots and I’ll call her to let her know I’ve got someone looking over the paperwork. I’ll also let her know that we’ve spoken about this. Hey, sorry for the early call interruption, but I had to let you know. I’ll talk to you guys later.”

After hanging up, JJ read the letter over again, still trying to digest the door of opportunity being opened to the foundation. God was definitely at work in this plan!

Back in Chicago, Andre was busy getting everyone on board the bus for the ride to Detroit. While everyone else went back to sleep, Little Joe was writing down new material.. he wanted to practice for his new audience away from home.

As soon as they all arrived at the hotel, Andre checked everyone in at the front desk and received a package. It was from his group with a tape of their latest material for him. The minute he entered his room he opened it, grabbing his head phones and asking T-Bird to join him. 

“This is hot” T-Bird said. “I never heard anything like this before; they’re putting down some real funk. Who are the females on the tracks? They’re killing the vocals” 

“I told you.” He replied. “My group is going to blow the states up like nitro when I get them over here.” 

“Go ahead brother. I’m ain't mad at cha.”

While the others unpacked and chilled until the 4 pm sound check, Andre headed downtown to see the Stadium where they'd be performing. He stood right in the middle of the stage watching the workers build an additional platform for the band and pulling up with two trailers full of equipment. The crew manger then walked up to him.

“Excuse me but are you here for a reason? No offense, but this is a restricted area for insurance purposes and we don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Well actually, I’m Andre, one of the promoters. I was just trying to see where the stage was going to be set up since nothing has been done yet.”

“No problem sir. We’ll have everything up and running in about two hours,” the crew manger said. “You can check back with me later to complete any final details for the lights and sound checks.” 

“That will be fine,” Andre said. “I’ll have someone call you back as soon as I think you’re done.” 

Back at the hotel, T-Bird was already on the phone with JJ, getting his reaction to the letter.

“Hey JJ.. what’s up? We just made it to Detroit safely. So, tell me did you get to look over that letter?”

“I sure did and all I have to tell say is, Gucci all the way. There’s nothing stopping us from taking advantage of something like this.” He was still beaming!

“So how am I supposed to balance all this?”

“Don’t worry. I’m going to have an associate take care of everything. I mean what can you really say to a thing like this? Let’s face it, it’s the best thing that could have happened for the foundation.” JJ continued. “Hey, tell Andre I said hello.

“I will. He’s on the way back from checking out the stadium.”

“Well go ahead and handle your business.” JJ said. “We’re going to have a lot to talk about. You know I’ve been thinking about his blueprints and proposition to open a second Tea Pot in London. I didn’t want to move too fast just because it sounded good but I think I’m finally ready. So when the tour ends, we’re going to make some things happen. In the meantime, turn Detroit out.” 

“I’m going to be scared of the monster you two create once you've put your heads together.” T-Bird elaborated.

“It’s all Gucci. I’m going to get ready for my day. I’ll tell Q and Trey that I talked to you.”

“Okay, we’ll see you next week” T-Bird replied before hanging up the phone. 

Although T-Bird could sing, she thought about her life and where it would be without JJ, Trey and Q. She never imagined moving from Louisiana would cause the impact she was experiencing.

Good friends are the best thing in life and I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world
, she thought to herself. 

When he got back from the Stadium, Andre knocked on her door just to check in. She looked at him kinda funny like...there was something on her mind.

“Tell me something Dre. Have you put money in Shaun’s pocket?” 

He just smiled before answering. “Of course. That’s my nigga. If it weren’t for him there would be no Dre. All that I am is because of what he did for me. He took me out of the drug game when I was hustling on the streets. We went to school together and always had a close relationship. That’s what made it easy for him to get through to my hard head. He taught me a better way to make money without getting shot or going to jail. I remember following him round to parties when he was promoting from club to club. Man, he used to put those gigs together so well, while I was still dealing. Finally, I started seeing the bigger picture and I tell you no lie, we partied our asses off back in the day.”

“Oh… So that’s how it all went down huh?” T-Bird asked. 

“Yeah, that’s how it all went down,” Andre replied. “I owe Shaun everything and I’m going to help him get his game back.” This statement was made with true conviction.

“Alright, I’m convinced.. you’re a friend alright. And, I really respect you for sharing with me. We all need somebody sometimes to pull us along the way to get to the next level. You know?” 

“Boy do I know, but it’s all good. I believe it’s important to look back at where you started. It helps to keep you grounded. That’s why I don’t understand what happened to Shaun. I’ve got to be there for him.”

After having that conversation, T-Bird laid back to relax a minute, convinced that Andre was genuine from the ground up.

“Come on.. get out of that zone sweetheart,” Andre said, reaching over to shake her.

“Sorry, I guess I’m still tired. So what’s next?” 

“Nothing,” Andre said. “I’m going to call everyone’s room and tell them once we’re sure the stage and sound is up, we’ll be leaving. In the meantime, you get some rest. Touring is grueling and this is your first rodeo, so you need to chill..." 

“Well, thank God I don’t have to go to another radio station.” 

“Yeah, lucky you, but I do believe
Impulse
and
Cleave
will be going downtown for interviews and if they’re not back in time for the sound check, their band is going to have to make sure they’re straight...”