Hooker to Housewife (25 page)

“And that requires the two of you getting back together. I guess you've picked up the pieces pretty quickly,” Tyler said, feinting for a drink.

“How's everything going over here?” William asked, sneaking up on them.

“Can you excuse me for a minute?” Tyler darted off to her trailer before she broke down in front of the men.

“What did you do to her?” William demanded to know.

“You mean what you did,” Andre said accusingly. “What type of man makes a woman choose between her career and love? Only someone that is extremely insecure.” Andre walked off and made his way to Tyler's trailer.

“Andre, leave,” Tyler implored with tears streaming from her
eyes. Andre became weak seeing his one true love in so much pain, but his anger held him together.

“You can't have it both ways, Tyler. Yesterday you ended our relationship like I meant nothing to you, and today you turn around and get upset because I'm getting back with Chantal.”

“How can you just go from me to her? Why can't you just take a break for a minute?”

“Take a break for what? So I can mope around feeling sick over you? I refuse to do that.” Tyler sniffled, trying to hold back her tears, but Andre was breaking her heart.

“I can't listen to this. You're killing me right now, Andre.”

“Well, blame yourself because I wanted to give you everything but you chose William and your career.” Andre tried to resist giving in to his heart but Tyler seemed so delicate, hovering in the corner. He relented and walked over and held her in a deep embrace and kissed the lips he missed so much. Tyler reciprocated the passion and they fell down on the couch giving in to their obsession. Right when Andre grabbed her buttocks and began removing her panties, Tyler jumped up.

“I can't do this. I've made my decision. I have to stick to it.”

“You're so fucking confused, but I'm done playing these games with you. I'll see you on the set.” Andre stormed out, furious with the mixed messages Tyler was sending. As Andre was walking out, William walked in.

“Tyler, pull it together. Your boyfriend is showing that he has more substance than I gave him credit for, so you need to carry yourself with some professionalism before you are blamed for the collapse of this movie,” William threatened.

“ ‘Collapse'!” Tyler echoed out loud. “What are you talking about? This movie is coming together as planned.”

“For now, but if you have a nervous breakdown over some hiphop hustler turned wannabe actor, this movie will be a complete bust.”

“I understand, William. I'm actually starting to understand a
lot of things. Or maybe I'm finally accepting that when it comes to men and relationships, I'm a glutton for punishment. I've been through so much in the past but I continue to make the same stupid mistakes when it comes to love. First I fell for your pathetic married-man lines and now I'm in love with a man who has a crazy baby mama. I don't know what's wrong with me. Maybe I'm in love with love or maybe I love the drama that comes with such dysfunctional relationships. Or maybe I just need to see a therapist. Whatever it is, I will hold my own and finish this movie,” Tyler stated, not appreciating the fact that William was implying that she was weak. She went over to the mirror, checked her reflection and exited the trailer, leaving William with a slight grin on his face. He knew exactly what to say to whip Tyler back into shape.

 

A few weeks had passed and Chantal had made a full recovery. Her wrists were still bandaged up, but that was a minor setback for the drama queen. She was enjoying the attention Andre was lavishing on her since he had brought her home from the hospital. She knew most of it came from the enormous guilt he harbored, but that didn't matter to her; she was willing to get it any way she could. In Chantal's mind she deserved every ounce of sympathy since her suicide attempt could've backfired. She thought about the night when Andre had given her the brutal news that he was marrying Tyler and her form of self-preservation had instantly kicked in.

After Andre had given her the brush-off and closed the door to the study, Chantal ventured off to the kitchen. She went through several utensils until coming upon the perfect knife. The fear of what she was about to do was making her stomach bubble but as she grasped tightly to the knife she honestly believed this extreme action was her only chance to save her now defunct relationship with Andre.

On her long walk upstairs to the bathroom, several times Chantal reconsidered the route she was about to take. Her biggest
concern, besides accidentally cutting her wrists so deep that she might die from blood loss because Andre didn't come to the rescue in time, was the fact she had no sort of pills to medicate herself. She would be of clear mind as the edge of the knife ripped through each layer of skin and the blood splattered. Chantal wouldn't be able to find any comfort until her body lost enough blood to make her unconscious. When she had closed the bathroom door to begin her diabolical plan, Chantal felt it would all be worthwhile if Andre came back to her.

“Chantal, I was shook as shit when I heard about your suicide attempt,” Shari sputtered nervously. “I knew you were bugging out over Andre and Tyler but I had no idea it was killing you like that.”

“Neither did I until Andre told me he was going to marry that chick. Shari, my whole world crumbled instantly. I couldn't believe this bitch just came along and snatched my man up just like that. It reminded me of high school when the new girl comes along and all the niggas are checking for her. You expect for her to get all the attention for a couple of weeks maybe even a month if she's dope like that. But then you assume niggas will get tired of sweating her and she'll be old news especially if she ain't giving up the ass. That's what I figured would happen with Andre. He would be infatuated with the glamorous starlet for a minute but then realize he would never have her because her loyalty was with her creator William Donovan.”

“Damn, so Andre and Tyler are getting married. How is she taking the fact that you're staying in his crib?”

“Actually, the engagement has been called off,” Chantal said with a devilish grin.

“Excuse me?” Shari asked with eyes bugged out, feeling as if she missed a part to the story.

“I guess I did have the starlet figured correctly. I don't know all the details, but just from eavesdropping and the little that Andre has unwittingly revealed to me, Tyler
did
pick her creator over him.”

Shari sat down on the white leather couch Chantal was cuddled
up in. She moved one of Melanie's teddy bears and hovered close to Chantal as if about to get some top secret information. “What do you mean, Tyler picked the creator?” she said.

“You heard me,” Chantal said, as she gingerly held the cup and sipped her hot tea.

“Andre must be devastated,” Shari blurted out quickly, then, just as quickly realizing how those words must have crushed Chantal, said, “I'm sorry, Chantal. I didn't mean it like that.”

“Yes, you did, but that's okay. He is devastated. He's trying to walk around here as if just a few weeks ago he didn't confess how deeply in love he was with Ms. Tyler Blake and he planned to make her his wife, but now the relationship is over. I even heard him crying a couple of times in his study. Of course, I didn't let him know that I heard him, but he really has it bad for that bitch.”

“How do you know Tyler picked William Donovan over him?”

“One afternoon, when Andre thought I was sleeping, I overheard him on the phone with his mother. He told her that William basically gave Tyler an ultimatum, either her movie career or him. The selfish bitch picked her movie career. I've been running through hoops trying to get Andre to marry me, but this snotty bitch comes along with her fake-ass innocence and he's rushing to get her down the aisle. But instead of her being grateful to catch a winner like Andre, she gives him his walking papers. That's an ungrateful bitch right there. Lucky for me her behavior has shown Andre that no one will ever be down for him like me. I almost fucked up and killed my ass trying to prove that shit.”

“What you mean ‘almost fucked up'?” Shari was now looking at Chantal like “bitch, you don't mean what I think you mean.”

“Girl, you know damn well I don't want to die, but after Andre dropped that bomb on me I had no choice but to go hard. What's harder than slitting your wrists? I didn't mean to cut so deep though,” Chantal added with a chuckle.

“Chantal, you're fucking crazy. I can't believe you faked trying to kill yourself over that nigga. But I guess that's better than really
trying to kill yourself over him. I don't know, all this shit is sounding confusing to me. I'm just happy that Melanie still has her mom and you're alive and able to talk to me.”

“Tell me about it. But I had to do it for my family. If Andre would've married that girl they would start their own family and Andre would soon forget about me and Melanie. My daughter deserves better than that and so do I. My only concern is that Andre was still going to marry that chick even after I slit my wrists. Yeah, he was promising that I would never have to want for nothing and he would finance whatever business I wanted to start, but he still was going to marry her. The only reason he's not is because she backed out.”

“I know you're sick of me asking you this, but what are you going to do?” Shari questioned, totally enthralled in this real-life soap opera.

“Hope that Andre comes to his senses and realizes that Melanie and I are his family and he needs to go ahead and wife me.”

Just as Shari was about to ask Chantal another million-dollar question, Andre walked in with a big Fred Segal box and laid it on the glass table.

“What's up, Shari?” Andre said as he walked around and kissed Chantal on the forehead.

“I'm good. How you doing, Mr. Hollywood?”

Andre smiled at the understated compliment Shari bestowed upon him about his budding career as an actor. “Just trying to maintain,” he said.

“What's in the box?” Chantal asked, curiously hoping it was something expensive for her.

“Open it. I know how you love Fred Segal,” Andre grinned. Chantal removed the top of the box and her eyes instantly beamed at the sight of the gorgeous fuchsia dress. Right beside the dress was another small box that obviously had a pair of shoes in it. The shoes were studded with fuchsia and clear-colored stones. Andre definitely had incredible taste.

“Andre, this is beautiful!” Chantal wailed.

“That shit is hot,” Shari chimed in.

“I'm glad you like it, because I want you to wear it tonight to the Beverly Hills Hotel. The movie is about to wrap up and we're having this Hollywood shindig to celebrate.”

“Andre, look at me. I need a pedicure, manicure, and my hair needs to be done. Not to mention the shit around my wrists,” she complained.

“Don't worry about that little shit. I have someone coming over to take care of all that. You'll be the prettiest woman at the party.” Chantal couldn't help but wonder if that meant Tyler wasn't coming. “As far as the packaging on your wrists, just cover it with love bracelets.” Chantal instantly lit up at Andre's words. Maybe she did still have a chance to be Mrs. Andre Jackson.

 

When Chantal and Andre walked into the party at the Beverly Hills Hotel she immediately scoped the place to see if Tyler was in attendance. She breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't spot her, but part of her was disappointed because she wanted the home-wrecker to know she and Andre were back together. Andre led Chantal to her seat and introduced her to everyone they came in contact with. The studio heads and crew from the movie set were congratulating Andre on the fantastic job he did on the film. Some went so far as to say that Denzel Washington needed to watch his back because everyone would be banging down Andre's door once the movie was released. Andre took it all in stride. He tried to remain cool about the compliments but on the inside he was hoping he would one day have half the acting career of Denzel Washington.

Just as everyone was sitting down and getting comfortable, the room seemed to freeze and everyone's eyes shifted in one direction, including Andre's. Chantal slowly turned around in her seat to see what had everyone in the room so mesmerized. To her utter
disgust, Tyler made her movie star entrance in a form-fitting pastel pink satin dress with William Donovan trailing behind her like she was the queen of the world. Photographers were snapping her picture and she was posing and eating it up like this was what she was born to do. To make matters worse, one of the movie executives came over and told Andre he wanted him to go take some pictures with Tyler for the press. Andre seemed reluctant, but it was more out of anger for Tyler showing up with William than anything else. Chantal sat in her seat burning up inside.
Look at that bitch cheesing all in the cameras with my man. I want to slit her throat.
Chantal thought.
Unfortunately, going to jail isn't an option.

“You look beautiful tonight,” Andre whispered in Tyler's ear as they posed for the photographers.

“I'm sure your date wouldn't appreciate you saying that to me,” she said burning with jealousy after noticing Chantal.

“Yeah, well, William looks as if he's about to have a heart attack if I stand any closer to you.”

“Then I guess you better move,” Tyler barked as she gave one last fake smile to the paparazzi and strolled off with William.

From the short distance it looked as if some heated words were exchanged between Andre and Tyler, but Chantal couldn't get a clear read. It was obvious to her and she assumed everyone else in the room that their body language ignited sexual chemistry. When Andre eventually made it back to the table, he didn't even acknowledge the fact that she had to witness him posing with Tyler. He was still fuming over whatever words he had exchanged with his ex. Then to add fuel to the fire, William and Tyler sat straight across from Andre and Chantal, but no one made eye contact. It didn't matter, though, because Chantal was burning a black hole through Tyler's sensuous pink dress and everyone's tension levels were at an all-time high.