Jaded (6 page)

“Isn’t there something in there that deals with infidelity?”

“Yes. But I don’t think . . .” He looked puzzled. “Has Rodney cheated on you?”

“He’s a rich man, Preston. What do you think?”

Preston tossed his head back and laughed.

“No offense,” said Jade.

“None taken. But the fact of the matter is: it isn’t what he’s done that would be important, it’s what you could prove.”

“Excuse me?”

“Can you prove it?”

Jade shook her head.

“Then how do you know?”

“Women always know. Even when we pretend we don’t.”

“Instinct won’t help you in court.”

“What happens if I can prove it?”

“There’s a clause in your prenuptial agreement that states . . .” He flipped through the contract. “In layman terms, the clause states that if a divorce commences as a result of his infidelity then you would be entitled to a quarter of his assets plus the primary residence. I take it that would satisfy you more than the seven-hundred-square-foot condo?”

Jade eased away from the window and lowered herself back into the chair, her thoughts churning with possibilities.

“And if I’m unfaithful?”

“You lose all claim to any of his assets no matter the length of the marriage.” Preston continued. “But I’m afraid this caveat won’t help you much. You’d need undeniable proof of an affair or it’ll just be your word against his.” Preston rolled his eyes. “Judges love that.”

“You’ve finally said something useful.” Jade’s mind percolated with the sweet beginnings of a plan. “I guess I’ll have to prove it.”

Preston McKinley smiled and showcased teeth as white as freshly picked cotton. “And exactly how do you plan on doing that?”

Jade smiled, stood up, and threw her chinchilla over her arm.

“You’ll see, Preston, love. You’ll see.”

***

Chapter 5

Syeesha lay awake in bed early that morning contemplating the pros and cons of joining the air force. On the pro side, Syeesha felt pretty confident she’d look good in the cute navy skirt and sky-blue blouse that was their signature uniform. On the con side, Syeesha cringed at the idea of her feet landing ever so neatly in her father’s footsteps. Morphing into the man who woke his girls at five in the morning to scrub the toilet or dust furniture before he returned from his forty-minute run wasn’t worth all the job security in the world. Not to mention the pay would never get her a McMansion in Bridgeport. She turned onto her side and shut her eyes. Already she’d been awake for an hour. Rising before dawn was an annoyingly difficult habit to break, her father’s house rules being buried deep inside her like a bedbug enmeshed in a cotton pillow. The cleaning was the worst of it. Before Kiki moved in, Syeesha had been known to avoid cleaning for weeks at a time. Her stomach still lurched at the smell of Lysol.

Syeesha gave up on the pretense of sleeping and sat up in bed. She opened her laptop and checked her e-mail. An old acquaintance from law school had contacted her. She and Tanya Griffin had studied together a few times before Tanya had dropped out. Syeesha’s eyes swept over the e-mail.

Sy,

Tried calling you at work and heard you aren’t at Clarke anymore. Where are you now? School full-time? You’re a better woman than I am for sticking in there with law school. Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve reached out to you. Need an itty-bitty favor. Call me
anytime
.

Hope all is well.

Tanya

Syeesha couldn’t imagine what she could possibly have that Tanya needed. Bored with the predictability and intense rigors of law school, Tanya had opted for a career in Internet marketing, whatever that was. They had gone out only a couple of times over the past year, but now their relationship had basically been reduced to quick shout-outs on Facebook.

Syeesha looked at the clock. It was a spectacularly inappropriate time to call anyone, but Tanya had stressed
anytime
. Still, Syeesha was mildly flustered when Tanya answered the phone as though she’d been awake for hours.

“If you had called me one minute later I would have thought you a rude and neglectful human being.”

Syeesha chuckled. “Well, then. You may reserve that opinion for someone far more deserving.”

“What happened at Clarke? You quit?”

“They quit me.”

“Eww. I know it’s not because you screwed up. You’re too efficient for that.”

Syeesha threw the covers from her legs and moved through the dark to the kitchen.

“It’s the economy. Allegedly.”

Tanya laughed. “What a suspicious mind you have. I’m sure that’s exactly what it was.”

Syeesha poured water into the coffee maker.

“Speaking of suspicious minds, your e-mail said you needed a favor from me. Can’t imagine what it might be.”

Trina yawned. “What time is it? Oh my God. I’ve been up since four working on this damn thing.”

“What?”

“I’ve got a new website designed to attract advertisers. It’s a girl-about-town kinda thing. I have multiple channels that focus on different aspects of living in New York. Sex, money, politics, that kind of thing.”

“Interesting.”

“It’s not. Which is what I called you for.”

Syeesha placed a mug on the counter and tried to figure out where Tanya was leading.

“I need more traffic.” Tanya sighed as though exasperated that she was being defeated by something as intangible and innocuous as the Internet. “I’ve been contracting out the articles plus doing a few myself, but it’s not working. The articles are too generic. In order to get more traffic I need something more personal and . . .”

“Titillating?”

“Exactly!”

“If you want me to write about my sex life, I think other writers have already done pretty well with that idea. And even if they haven’t, I don’t have a sex life worth writing about anyway.”

“Yeah.” Tanya made a sucking sound with her teeth. “That’s what I figured.”

They disrupted the early morning quiet with raucous laughter.

“Gee, thanks!”

“It just so happens that I assigned that channel to someone else. I’m calling on all my buddies to help me out with this little venture. Was thinking you could write about money.”

“I don’t have any.”

“Maybe you could write about what it’s like living in a city where there is such a huge disparity between the haves and the have-nots. Your personal experiences being, well, you know, a have-not.”

Although her good sense told her to be offended, Syeesha chuckled at the idea that her life would be newsworthy, or titillating, in any way.

Perhaps Tanya should’ve stuck with law school.

“I appreciate you thinking about me, Tanya, really. But I don’t have the time between school and—“

And what?

Syeesha had more than a little extra time on her hands right now. But writing a blog about her personal finances while living in New York didn’t sound nearly as interesting as Tanya would like it to be.

“I totally understand if you can’t,” Tanya said, her voice sulky. Apparently, Tanya had retained a few tricks in jury manipulation from those insufferable moot courts because she had injected just the right balance of emotion into her commanding voice to make Syeesha want to buy, design, and market the whole damn website herself. She was sure that if the situation warranted it, Tanya could also do an impressive take on Jack Nicholson’s famous line in
A Few Good Men
, “You can’t handle the truth!”

“By the way.” Tanya spoke with a tinge of curiosity. “Where are you working now?”

“I’m not. Sent out a few résumés, but eventually I need to make my way into a staffing agency.”

While she waited for her coffee, Syeesha spread creamy peanut butter on a slice of bread.

“Just so happens I know a guy who owns a staffing agency.”

She is good. . . .

Tanya continued as though it was an afterthought. “He’s a really dear friend of mine. Last time I talked to him he said that he’s overwhelmed with candidates. Market’s tough.” She paused for effect. “’Course it always helps when you know someone who knows someone.”

Syeesha plucked a banana from the bunch on the counter and sliced thick, quarter-inch chunks onto the peanut butter. She recalled the staffing agency she went into after she had been sacked. Job applicants had been sitting shoulder to shoulder in the reception area. She’d stuck around long enough to hear a woman mention that she’d been unemployed for a year.
A year!

“Fine.” Syeesha leaned against the counter and bit into her sandwich. “I’ll write the money section of your blog if you introduce me to your friend.”

“I’ll call him later today and ask when you can drop by. Now.” Tanya sounded as though she was shuffling pages on the other end. “Let’s talk compensation.”
Nominal.
“Length.”
Substantial.
“And due dates.”
Soon and often.

But at least Syeesha knew someone who knew someone who might hook her up with a paying gig.

***

Chapter 6

“Jade? What are you doing here?”

Jade had never visited her assistant’s apartment before. Any other human being who’d opened her front door to find her boss standing before her would be, at the very least, mildly alarmed. Not Kim. She was a pink Starburst all the damn time. Jade felt it was a wonder she hadn’t OD’d already on the bubbly assistant.

“Are you going to invite me in or wait for me to get mugged?” Jade shouted over a Shania Twain classic blaring from the room.

Kim laughed. At what, Jade wasn’t sure.

“You won’t get mugged in this building. It’s pretty safe.”

She moved aside, allowing Jade to come into the apartment.

“I walked right in as someone was leaving,” Jade apprised her. “Not what I’d call secure.”

“My parents pay eighteen hundred bucks a month for me to live in Gramercy Park. I promise you it’s safe.”

Jade moved through the apartment. As soon as she walked in she was facing the small kitchen area: two burners, three cabinets, a sink. No oven. Three plush chairs were positioned around an oval table that doubled as a seat, probably because a sofa wouldn’t have fit through the front door. On each wall hung an oversized picture of a different African-American model. Jade stopped behind a chair. She could see beyond the archway into the other room. A bed. A dresser. Nothing else could fit in there except maybe a Chihuahua. Jade wondered where Kim kept her clothes.

“You mind turning down the music?”

Kim dodged into the other room, her long, squiggly dreadlocks swaying down her back. The music stopped. The place immediately felt smaller without Shania’s voice filling the room with her thoughts on consumerism.
Easy to wag a finger at those obsessed with wanting more when you live in a chateau in Switzerland, Jade thought.

“Love that song, Ka-Ching!
”
Kim plopped into a chair and folded her legs beneath her. “And I’m so excited about working on the new KaCee video.” She held an invisible microphone to her lips and began belting a KaCee tune.

“Kim, please. This isn’t a social visit.”

Kim folded her arms and waited.

“You won’t be working on the KaCee video with me. I’m letting you go.”

“Letting me go where? I don’t understand.”

Six months Jade had tolerated this girl. Longer than she had ever tolerated any assistant. It was beyond sobering. Jade took a seat.

“I’m moving in another direction with my business and right now I need a different kind of assistant.”

“Did I do something wrong?”

Kim’s posture sunk as she finally grasped the full meaning of Jade’s words. It was equivalent to watching a balloon shrivel while air seeped from an invisible hole. Jade reminded herself that there were always casualties of war, and forged ahead.

“I’ll pay you for the next two weeks. Hopefully, you’ll be able to find something soon. If you need a recommendation—“

“Did Rodney say something?”

Jade glared at her. The cool demeanor she projected gave way to a warm suspicion she cloaked with a smile.

“I’m sorry?”

“I wasn’t sure if he said something about me.”

“What would he have said? He barely knows you.”

“No, but I figured the way he looked at me . . .” Kim shrugged and pushed a burnt-red lock of hair over her shoulder. “Thought maybe he had an issue with me.”

Jade swallowed hard. “Has he ever—“

“No!” Kim rushed to her feet. “Is that what you thought? Is that why you’re letting me go?”

“What did you mean by that?”

“He looks at me like he can’t get away from me fast enough. Which is why I try never to come around. Only those few times when I had to drop something off to you.”