Commitment (52 page)

“So I heard you didn’t even know who
Smooth
was when you met,” he said smirking.

“
Of course, I did
,” she said. 

“
And I know you know me.”

“Not sure I know your music, but yeah
,”

Riley glanced around the room.
Several of Cameron Cole’s guests
were watching them curiously.
In the less than three minutes she’d been standing with him, they had become a subject of conversation.

“You
never heard my
music
?”

There wa
s a hint of doubt in his voice.
But not
self
-doubt.
Not only was
Cameron Cole notoriously egocentric,
he was
vociferously so
.

“
I’m sure I have,” she said. “Just don’t ask me to
name
your greatest hits or anything.”

He laughed.
“As long as you know
my
name,” he said it as though he was being beneficent.

“That I do know.”

Riley
took a sip of her champagne, wishing she hadn’
t
t
old Shawn he
should
go
looking
for Brendan.
There was no telling how long it would take him.

“
It’s easy to remember.
None of that
dumb shit them other niggas do.
Just plain ol’ Cameron,
the name my m
omma gave me.”
Then he laughed
.
“Not that
Smooth
is a dumb nigga.”

Riley
looked
at
him, expressionless.

“Aww.
I pissed you off,” he sa
id, leaning in again. “My bad.
No disrespect to your man.
If anyone
was
to approach my skills in this game, it
would
be
him
.”

She didn’t respond, so he just stood there, watching her. 

“So you’re a writer.”

“Yes.”

“
Come
interview me sometime,” he offered.
“I’ll break it down for you.
Everything about how this business really work
s
.”

“I think I’ve got that covered,” she said dryly.

“With all due respect.
Smooth
runs seco
nd or third to my number ones.
Consistently.
So maybe I can school you on a few things he can’t.”

Riley
sighed and t
ook another sip
of her champagne
, wondering when it would be okay to
discreetly find someone else to talk to
.
As though
he’
d
read her mind
, Cameron put a hand
firmly
on her elbow.

“Lemme show you
the rest of
my
house,” he said, in an abrupt change of subject.

She hesitated, and he seized on that, the smile falling from his face for a millisecond.

“
You ain’t gon’ embarrass me are you?
” he said.

“I don’t think I need the full tour,”
Riley
said, trying to sound casual.
“But maybe the highlights?”

Just as they were about to walk
away
, Cameron’s hand sti
ll on her arm, Shawn was back.
Brendan was not with him.
Riley
watched as he quickly
sized up
the situation
– the tense line of her mouth,
and
Cameron’s hand on her arm
.
In an instant, he’d deftly stepped between
them
, loopin
g an arm about her waist
.

“Couldn’t find him,”
he said,
about
Brendan.

“If I see him again, I’ll let him know
you’re looking,” Cameron said.
He
smiled at
Riley
one last time and walked away.

Shawn squeezed her waist, eyes still
on Cameron’s retreating back.
“You
okay
?” he asked.

“Fine,”
Riley
said.
“Although I can’t say I’m crazy about
the great Cameron Cole
.”

“
Nothing great about
dude
,” Shawn said right away. 

“
So no Brendan, huh?”

“What?”
Shawn looked at her.
“Oh.
No.
I didn’t see him.”

“Well
I’m starving and I swear
a
server
walk
ed
by with
sushi
a couple minutes ago
.
Let’s go find them.”

“I’ll
go
.
You wait right here.” He indicated one of the sofas nearby where there was a vacant seat
.

“Okay.
I’ll be here
,
soaking it
all
in.”

g

Shawn walked away, glancing over his shoulder at
Riley
before he rounded the corner
and
heading
in t
he direction Cameron had taken.
He hadn’t even really looked for B
rendan
.
He’d walked
around
the pool
,
glanced around curso
rily and headed right back in.
Five minutes tops.
But as he’d suspected, it was long enough for Cameron to make his
standard bitch-ass nigga move
.
He could have practically any woman at the party he wanted, but he only eve
r wanted what someone else had.

It had taken ever
y
ounce of
Shawn’s
self-control not to lay
him
out.
Groupies were fair game, but to put your hands on a man’s wife, you had to kno
w there would be consequenc
es.
He bit down hard on his lower lip until he thought it might bleed, and only let up when C
ameron finally came into sight.
He was standing with a couple of girls who had draped themselves over him
like tinsel.
Cameron was talking to a third pers
on, a dude Shawn didn’t know, but h
e walked right up to
him
anyway
and rested a hand on
his
shoulder
, gripping it firmly
.
He leaned in so
their faces were inches apart
.

Cameron looked momentarily surprised and then just as quickly, his expression turned
hostile
.

“Don’t
put your hands on
my wife again
,
”
Shawn said his voice quiet.

Cameron pulled back and shrugged Shawn’s hand off his shoulder.

“I don’t know what you talkin’ ‘bout,” Cameron said, blinking impassively.

Shawn shook his head. “Yes you do.”

“You come to my
crib
to show your ass,
Smooth
?”
Cameron asked loudly. 

Of course
Cameron
wanted a confrontation.
That was his thing. 

“
Don’t test me man
,” Shawn said calmly. 

Cameron
stared
him
down
for a moment as though considering whether to es
calate or defuse the situation.
He chose the latter
.

“No disrespect,
Smooth
.
To you or your wife.”

Cameron extended a hand, but it was an empty gesture
and they both knew it
. He would get
Riley
some food, and
when she was done eating,
suggest that he was too tired to stay much longer.
If he stayed, he was going to have to fuck Cameron u
p; it was as simple as that.

He found a buffet table and put together a plate with samples of everything and made his way back to the living room where he’d left
Riley
.
Sitting next to her on the sofa,
in animated conversation
, was Jodi.
He sighed and
went toward them
.
Then
Chris showed up out of nowhere, and headed in
Riley
’s direction as well
.

Shawn
watched his progress, remembering
the
last
email he got from Chris. It had to have been sent just minutes after Riley finished the interview and left his office. Shawn had been getting his hair cut when he heard the chime from his phone. Thinking it was probably a text from Riley
telling him how the interview had gone,
he’d looked at it right away. It was
not from his wife, but
from Chris
. One line.

Y
ou lucky motherfucker.

Now, watching Chris walk toward Riley
, he had to
marshal
all of his resources to
suppress
the irrational part of himself that
was
enraged just because Chris happened
to notice what he already knew,
that his wife was special
.

“How are you?”
Riley
was smiling at Chris i
n a way she never had before, w
ith real warmth.
She even turned her cheek and allowed him to kiss her.
Shawn handed her the plate of food.

“Excuse me
,” she said
to Chris and Jodi
.
“I am
so
hungry.”

Chris acknowledged Shawn with a nod and turned back to
Riley
.
Jodi
turned to look at Shawn, amusement dancing in her
eye
s
.

“So,” she said.
“I was telling
Riley
about
when you just got to
New York.
When you were all attitude.”

“Nobody wants to hear about that old shit,” Shawn said impatiently.

His annoyance only seemed to amuse Jodi all the more.
H
e turned away.
He didn’t want to watch
Chris and Jodi
pulling
Riley
into the fold
.
The little
episode
with Cameron had reminded him
of
why
he wanted her far away from all of this
.
He didn’t know what he’d been thinking bringing
her
here
.
There was nothing true or genuine about all this
crap
– it was all
gamesmanship
.
It was all about who had the bad
dest rhymes, ride, crib, women.
Eve
rybody was keeping score and at times like this he
just wanted out of the game.

Looking over his shoulder, he saw that Chris
had perched on
the arm of the sofa
closest to Riley and was leaning in
to say something to her.
Then
Shawn
spotted
Brendan
, and g
rateful for someplace else to be,
he
pushed past a nearby couple and crossed the room to get to him.

“Thought you wouldn’t make it,” Shawn
said, giving him some pound.

“Nothing else to do,” Brendan said
.  “Might as well take a ride.”
He looked
over Shawn’s shoulder
.