One Man's Trash (6 page)

TEN
Diamond sat on the edge of her bed and replayed the video of last night’s
events for the fifth time on her phone. Kimmy had texted the link to her early
that morning. The title of the video was ‘Tri Records Scandal’. It showed her
yanking the mic from JT and she heard herself call him a bastard. She watched
them argue back and forth, and Philip rush on the stage. She cringed at the part
where she pushed JT in the chest.
She shouldn’t have done that. Pushed him. Never hit a man unless you are
prepared for him to hit you back, her mom would always say. The video ended
with them walking off the stage and the person filming the scene with his cell
phone saying in the background, “what the hell happened?”
She fell backwards onto the bed and let out a huge sigh. The past few months
had taken a crazy turn. One day she decided to move to New York to pursue her
dream. She ended up working for a big time record label. Then she met this guy
that she instantly felt a connection with. A connection that seemed to get
stronger and stronger the more they hung out with each other. A like that
quickly evolved into love.
She cared for him. Wanted nothing but the best for him. She wanted him to
succeed in fulfilling his dreams as much as she wanted herself to succeed.
There was nothing she wouldn’t do when he asked. Hell, she did things for him
without him asking. She hardly ever told him no.
To show how much she loved and cared about him she agreed to help him get to
the next level in his music career. She
did
work for a record label and
had a close working relationship with the decision makers. What kind of
girlfriend would she be if she didn’t try to look out for her singer boyfriend?
She wanted to be a good girlfriend. This was her first real relationship. Not
some silly crush on a guy that barely knew she existed who always referred to her
as
little Diamond, my brother’s best-friend
. This was real. Reciprocated
love. But with all the things that started to take place after agreeing to get
JT that meeting with Philip, she questioned if the love was real at all?
Was this all about his career? She didn’t doubt that he liked her, but who
would purposely hurt the one that they loved? Cheating on the one that they
loved? Steal from the one that they loved? Who did that?
She’d instantly trusted JT. One of her flaws, trusting people too quickly.
She’d shared a deep part of herself with him. A part that she had only shared
with one other person. He betrayed her trust. It was like her innocence had
been stolen. She tried to wrap her mind around the crazy road that she was now
on. A road that took her from helping her boyfriend get a meeting with one of
the top execs at Tri Records, to being told that the top execs wanted her to
present some of her music to them, to accusing her ex-boyfriend of stealing her
song.
Who wrote this movie? It had to be one of those crazy low budget student films?
Whoever wrote it, the script sucked. She hadn’t signed up for this. This was
supposed to be her opportunity to get her foot in the door. But her foot was
now stuck firmly in her mouth. The way she reacted was unprofessional and
embarrassing yet warranted. To hear those words being sung by JT violated her.
They were etched in her heart and no one was supposed to hear those words but
Ryder.
Those words were created for him. They were given to him. And she prayed that
he still had them. The one song that she didn’t have backed up in writing or
electronically. Those words only existed in her head, in her heart, and on a CD
that she made five years ago. Well that was the truth until she foolishly
shared them with JT. Now they lived on his computer as well.
Diamond dialed Ryan’s number. He picked up on the second ring. “Hey Diamond.”
“Ryan, I need to talk to you, are you busy?”
“I always make time for you. What’s up?”
She sighed. “It’s so much to tell but I’ll keep it as short as possible. JT
stole a song from me and I need to prove that I wrote it. The only problem is,
I don’t have the proof anymore.”
“Oh. My. Gosh. JT stole your music? Wait, isn’t that your boyfriend?”
“Ex. He’s my ex-boyfriend. But he became my ex when he cheated on me.”
“What now? He cheats on you and then he steals your music? What type of men are
you dealing with, Diamond?”
“I didn’t know he was trifling, Ryan. He did a whole 180 from when we first
started dating. Trust me, I feel stupid. I allowed myself to get played.”
“I’m sorry, girl. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I’m just surprised,
that’s all.”
She rubbed her temples. She had the same headache from last night. “Do you
think you can possibly talk to Ryder. I mean I know that he hasn’t talked to
you in a few years but is there any way you can convince him to talk to you
just to ask him one question?” Her chest ached. It would be a miracle if Ryder
had even listened to the song let alone still had the darn CD.
“He’s out,” he said.
She heard the smile in his voice. Diamond sat straight up. Her heart fluttered.
“Ryder’s out of jail? How? When? Why didn’t you tell me your brother was out of
jail?”
“I’ve been meaning to, there’s just so much going on right now, Diamond, I can
barely think straight. I was just as surprised as you are when I got the call
that he was being released from prison early.”
Diamond sat in disbelief. Ryder was out of prison. Her mind instantly went back
to the last day she’d seen him.
She paused in front of his bedroom door. It was cracked but she couldn’t see
him. Her hands trembled. Why was she so nervous? She’d been in his room
countless times with Ryan since they were young kids, and had talked to him
countless times even if it was just saying hello. She looked down at the CD in
her hand. It was now or never. She took a deep breath and rapped on the door.
A few seconds later, Ryder appeared, bare-chested, exposing the tattoo of a
lion on his chest. She stared at the lion, then down to his six pack abs, then
down to his pale bare feet. She looked back up when he cleared his throat.
“Hi,” she said, shyly. “I umm,” she swallowed hard, “I wanted to give you
something.” She held out the CD.
He took it from her hands slowly. She bit down on her bottom lip as he read the
front of the disc.
To Ryder G. From Diamond aka DeeAye
Undeniable Love
was written in black Sharpie on
the case.
He opened the cover and pulled out the yellow lined notebook
paper that had the lyrics to the song. She had gone over this moment countless
times in her head before showing up tonight. She would hand him the CD and walk
away before he read the words. But her feet were glued to the floor. Her legs
locked. She was literally paralyzed. The only thing that moved were her eyes as
she scanned his perfectly sculpted body that stood in front of her.
When her gaze reached his face again she noticed he was reading the piece of
paper. Oh shit. She wasn’t supposed to be around when he read the words. Why
didn’t she just stick to the plan? Why did he have to come to the door with no
freaking shirt on? It should definitely be against the law for someone with
Ryder’s body to walk around shirtless. It should be mandatory that he stayed
fully clothed at all times. Well at least in her presence. Even his darn feet
were cute for goodness sake.
Ryder folded the paper, put it back inside the case and closed it. He eyed her.
“You wrote this?”
She nodded. She didn’t trust herself to speak.
He tapped the CD against his hand. “Cool.” He stepped away from the door.
Diamond turned around to leave.
“Aye.”
She stopped in her tracks.
“Thanks.”
She looked back at him. A smile slid across her face. He smiled back and closed
his bedroom door. That was one of the happiest moments in her life. A few days
after that, she watched from the back of a courtroom as the judge sentenced him
to seven years in prison for aggravated battery.
“Diamond? You still there?” Ryan’s voice echoed in her ear.
“Yea. Yea, I’m still here.” She wet her lips.
“I was calling your name like fifty times, girl. I thought you had hung up.”
“You did not call my name no fifty times.” She laughed. Ryan always made her
laugh no matter what BS she was going through.
“Okay it was more like five but still.”
“Anyway, Mr. Exaggerator, I need one of the hugest favors ever from you.”
“You name it.”
“I need you to ask Ryder if he still has that CD that I gave him a few days
before he went to jail. Tell him that my life depends on it. Well more like my
potential career. But you get the point. This is extra serious.”
“Wait, you gave Ryder a CD before he went to jail? What was on the CD?”
She paused. Shit. This was supposed to be a secret that she took to her grave.
She hadn’t told anyone about the CD. Not even Kimmy. Apparently Ryder never
mentioned anything to Ryan either. Stupid JT. Now she had to tell her best-friend
that she’d been secretly in love with his brother since she was old enough to
spell the word love.
She sighed and covered her eyes with her hand. “I wrote a song for Ryder,
recorded it on a CD, and gave it to him a few days before he went to jail. I sang
the song for JT when we first met. He put me on the spot to sing something and
that was the song that came to my head instantly. He recorded the song but
promised that he would delete it. He didn’t. He stole it. I have to prove that
it’s mine and I can’t do that unless I get that CD.”
“Wow. This sounds like a scene from Young and the Restless. More like Young and
the Songless.” Ryan laughed at his bad joke.
“Somebody got jokes!”
“I’m sorry. I’m such a bad friend. I shouldn’t laugh but I’m trying to
comprehend the fact that you didn’t tell me that you wrote a love song for my
brother. I didn’t know you liked him like that. I mean, I knew you thought he
was cute but, wow.”
It was more love than like. But she wouldn’t dare tell Ryan that. He would
probably just laugh at her.
“I will definitely ask Ryder for you. I’m supposed to go by there today.”
“Oh, Ryan, thank you
so
much.” Her spirits lifted.
 “Diamond?”
“Yeah?”
“What will you do if he doesn’t have the CD anymore?”
Now that was the million dollar question. If she was on the game show,
Who
Wants To Be A Millionaire
, that would be the question to send her home.
There was no other way to prove that it was her song without the CD.
“Ryan, I honestly have no idea.” Final answer.

ELEVEN
Diamond got permission from her boss to take a few days off from work to sort
out the issue with the song. She flew back home to Atlanta. Her mom greeted her
at the airport. She had briefly explained what happened to her parents, but she
planned to go into more detail after she took care of this music business. Her
mom pulled up in front of the mailbox of Ryder’s house that he rented from an
old high school friend of his.
Diamond checked her reflection in the visor’s mirror. The last time Ryder had
seen her she was overweight, wearing glasses, and extremely shy. She applied
more lip gloss to her already glossy lips. She pulled her hair to tighten the
ponytail holder and snapped the visor shut.
“You look beautiful dear. He’ll be impressed.”
Diamond brows furrowed. “Who’ll be impressed?”
“Ryder.” Her eyes crinkled in the corners.
“Mom, I’m not trying to impress Ryder.”
“Okay, if you say so dear.”
Diamond kissed her mom goodbye and got out the car. She slowly walked up the
driveway. Her tummy knotted. She had pictured the day that she would see Ryder
again so many times in her mind. Not once had she pictured it being this soon
or under these circumstances.
She pressed the doorbell. It chimed throughout the house. She studied her
reflection in the mirror. She had chosen a white tank top, denim shorts and
white flip flops. Casual yet sexy. Sexy? Did she just refer to herself as being
sexy? Diamond smiled at her reflection. There was a first time for everything.
About a minute later, footsteps moved closer to the front door. She stepped
back when the door opened. Her breath caught in her throat. Ryan pushed open
the storm door and she exhaled a sigh of relief. “Hey, Ryan,” she said.
“Hey, come on in.” Ryan pushed the door open wider. She brushed past him and entered
into what appeared to be the den. It was bare except for an old plaid couch.
Something that definitely had seen better days. It probably had come with the
house. She couldn’t see Ryder purchasing that thing.
Ryan led her into the kitchen. Ryder stood from the table when she entered the
room. Only Ryder Gillian could spend five years in prison and walk out looking
like he just left a photoshoot. He wore gray sweats that hung a little baggy
around his athletic frame and a black wife beater, probably Hanes. He looked
like a Hanes guy. For some reason, the image of Marky Mark in his Calvin Klein
days popped into her head. She bet Ryder was hiding those Marky Mark abs
underneath that tank top.
Just the thought of seeing his naked body sent a wave of desire all over her.
Ryan placed his hand under her chin and pushed her mouth closed. She looked at
him. Oh. My. Gosh. She was practically drooling over this man and didn’t even
know it. “Sorry. I don’t mean to stare. It’s just—”
Ryan grinned. “We know. Trust me, sometimes I can’t believe he’s here either.”
Ryan nudged her with his elbow. He thought she was drooling because she
couldn’t believe Ryder was home after all these years. But she was drooling
because her feelings for him had rushed back into her heart as strong as they
were when she was growing up. Maybe stronger.
“Long time no see, huh?”
His voice was deeper. Was that possible? Or maybe it just sounded deeper
because she hadn’t heard him speak in forever. At least he
could
speak
right now. She answered his question the best way she knew how, with a nod.
“If I didn’t know that you were coming over I wouldn’t have recognized you.
You’re definitely not the Diamond I remember.”
She shook her head in agreement that she wasn’t the Diamond that he remembered.
Ryder lowered his head and put a hand up to his face to hide a smile. Diamond
looked at Ryan with pleading eyes. He had to save her from making a complete
ass of herself.
“So Diamond, I explained to Ryder what happened with JT and told him that you
needed the CD. So why don’t we discuss that since we’ve gotten reacquainted.”
Diamond blinked slowly.  If she didn’t break out of this Ryder induced trance
he was going to think that she was the same shy girl from back in the day. She
was not that girl. She was not even a girl. She was a grown woman. She used to
wish to be older so that he would finally look at her like a woman. Now she
was
older. Hell she was even sexy. And you know what sexy women do. They talk. Not
drool.
Ryan took her by the arm and led her to the seat in front of Ryder and sat in
the seat beside her.
Ryder’s green eyes held her gaze. She cleared her throat and rested her hands
on the kitchen table.
“Where are my manners?” He lightly touched her hand. “Would you like something
to drink?”
She shook her head. Speak Diamond. Sexy women speak. “No, thank you.”
“Okay.” His pearly whites brightened his face. “So I had the pleasure of seeing
your performance on YouTube the other night?”
She rested her head in her hands. “I watched that horrible video like a hundred
times I’m sure. Each time I watched it I just wanted to crawl up in a hole
somewhere and never show my face again. I don’t even know what came over me. I
just heard those words and I was like—”
“Imagine how I felt when I heard it.”
How did he feel? She studied his chiseled face. He was too perfect to be human.
He was probably created in a lab somewhere like the lady from Weird Science. A
beautifully tanned Ken doll with green eyes and jet black hair.
“I couldn’t believe that was you onstage,” Ryan said.
“I couldn’t believe it was me either and I was there. You know me, I always try
to avoid confrontation. But there I was…confronting. I don’t confront people.”
“You did for that song,” Ryder said.
Diamond looked into his eyes. “I did…for that song.” He nodded. She glanced
down at her arm. If she moved her arm a few inches to the right, her wrist
would be kissing Ryder’s wrist. The hairs on her arm pricked up as if a wave of
energy was passing from his body to hers. An energy that heated up her entire
body. She crossed her legs and hoped that Ryan couldn’t feel the warmth
emanating from between them.
“I never told anyone about the CD. But I listened to that song almost every
night before I went to jail. So yeah, that song meant a lot to me and when I
heard that dude singing it, I couldn’t believe it.”
“Well I didn’t give it to him. As you could see from the video, I was totally
upset about the whole thing. I mean, I completely made a fool of myself
reacting like that but, I was in the heat of the moment I guess.”
“It’s understandable.”
There was that light touch on her hand again. Was he trying to torture her?
Diamond repositioned herself in her seat. Who knew a touch as light as a
feather could send such a strong surge of electricity through her body. If his
feathery touches did this to her. Just imagine what would happen to her body if
he actually caressed her. “Oh, my,” she breathed.
“What?” Ryan asked.
“Huh? What?” She looked at Ryan puzzled.
“You said oh, my. What are you oh my’ing about?”
Shit. She said that out loud? “Oh…oh my…this stuff. Yeah. Got me crazy. You
know.
Oh my.
” She laughed it off. “So, Ryder, umm, do you still have the
CD?”
Ryder looked at his brother. “I left everything in my room.”
“Well then it should still be at your house then.” Her eyes grew wide. “I’m
sure your parents didn’t throw out any of your belongings.”  
“Our parents moved since then, remember?” Ryan stated.
Where was that red Easy button from Staples when you needed it? Of course this
wouldn’t be that easy? “Yeah, that’s right. Well where would they keep his
stuff?”
“I know that they put a lot of his stuff in the attic. We could check there.”
“
You
can check there,” Ryder corrected his brother.
“Why not we?” Ryan asked.
Ryder shook his head. “I haven’t talked to mom and dad in years lil bro. I’m
not sure if I’m ready for that yet. I hurt them.” Ryder lowered his eyes. “I
hurt them.”
“Ryder, mom and dad love you no matter what. They want to rebuild a
relationship with you, man. Trust me when I tell you that. If you would have
continued to allow us to come to visit you we would have been there every
single week. I promise you.”
Ryder looked up at his brother. A sadness rested in his eyes. They stared at
each other as if sending a secret telepathic message to one another. A
brother’s bond. A connection strong enough to withstand years of silence. “I’m
not ready.”
Ryan dropped the matter. “I will go look in the attic then.”
“Thanks,” Diamond and Ryder said in unison. They shared a smile.

Diamond
shut the door to Ryan’s car and buckled her seatbelt.
“How does it feel to have Ryder home?” she asked.
Ryan started the ignition. “It’s unbelievable. I’m happy he’s home but he’s put
me in an awkward position with my parents. I told them that he’s out, I had to.
I didn’t want it to get back to them from someone else. But with him not
wanting to see them face to face, they are a little hurt. Grateful that he is
at least talking to me but still hurt all the same.”
“Does he seem okay? Like mentally? Emotionally?”
“When he first got out, he seemed to be a little depressed. I mean I could
definitely understand. His whole world was shifted yet again. It’s basically a
new lifestyle. He’s a free man but there are still some limitations because of
his past. I’m trying to be there for him as much as I can. I even thought about
deferring my enrollment into med school so that I can make sure that he’s
getting settled and to just spend more time with him.”
“I’m sure Ryder didn’t agree with you deferring med school.”
“Nope. He said that was the last thing he wanted me to do.”
“I’m still sort of in disbelief. Like he’s actually home.” She shook her head.
“Yeah, I could tell you were in disbelief. Your mouth dropped to the floor when
you saw him.” Ryan laughed.
“Whatevs.” She nudged him playfully. Ryan pulled into her driveway. “Thanks
hun, for your help.” She kissed his cheek.
“I’ll let you know what I find.”
She hopped out the car and ran into the house. Her parents were sitting in the
living room watching old reruns of Good Times.
“Hey, folks.” Diamond flopped down in between them like she used to do when she
was younger.
“Diamond, you are getting too big to squeeze into this tiny space now,” her
father said.
She wiggled her butt to make more room. “I’m never too big.”
Her parents laughed. “I wanted to talk to you guys about what’s going on right
now. Do you want the good news or the bad news?” she asked.
“Good news,” her mom answered.
“Okay, good news. My boss at Tri Records liked my writing so much that he
offered to present some of my music to the higher ups in hopes that they could
use some of my material for their artists!”
“Oh my! That’s not good news…that’s wonderful news! Congratulations baby!” Her
mom gave her a smooch on the cheek.
Her dad gave her a high five. “Now the bad news,” he said.
“Okay, I’m not going to go into a lot of details but I will give you the bullet
point version. The guy I was dating, JT, was an aspiring singer, being the
great girlfriend that I was, I got him a meeting with my boss at Tri Records. I
wrote a song for him to put on his demo. They loved the song so they told him
to bring two more songs to the table to present to the Board. Before I could
work on the songs with him we broke up because he cheated on me. He then broke
into my home and into my safe and stole all my music journals.”
A small gasp escaped her mom’s mouth. Diamond continued, “I didn’t report the
break in because I have all those songs backed up and copyrighted. I changed my
locks because, apparently he had made a copy of my key and now I have a
security system. Fast forward a few days to the listening party for Tri
Records, JT performs and he is singing one of my songs.”
“Did you tell him that you have the copyrights to all your songs?” her dad
asked.
“Yes, sir. But…this song was not one of the songs in my journal. This song is
the one I recorded for Ryder years ago before he went to jail.”
“Ryder Gillian?” her dad asked
“The one and only.”
“She has a crush on him.”
“Mom!”
“Oh hush, I think it’s cute.” Her mom laughed.
“
Anyway.
” Diamond looked at her mom sideways. “Long story short, I have
to prove that I own the song. And the only proof I have is the CD that Ryder
has. Or had.”
“And we are just hearing about all of this?”
“Dad, I didn’t want to worry you guys. It was nothing that I couldn’t handle on
my own. It’s my first time being on my own. I don’t want to be calling my
parents every five minutes. That’s not being independent.”
“I’m upset that you didn’t call the cops when he broke into your apartment.”
“Dad, the only thing that was missing was my music journals so I knew who had
done it. He was the only one that knew about the key to the safe.”
“Speaking of key,” her mom interjected, “why did he have a key to your apartment?”
“I had a key to his.”
“So. No man should ever have a key to a woman’s apartment unless he is paying
the bills. Keep that in mind the next time you get a boyfriend missy. You hear
me?”
“Yes ma’am.” See this was why she didn’t tell them everything. But she had to
admit. That was good advice.
“Well, I want you to move back home.”
“Dad! No, I’m not allowing some lowlife to run me out of town. I’m fine there.
He’s not a threat to me. He’s just a loser that will do anything to make it.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of. He’ll do anything to make it.”
Diamond huffed. “I’m not moving, Dad. I have a great opportunity to pursue my
music career. I can’t just throw that away now. Once I get everything settled
with this theft business then I can move on. I’m sure the label will drop him
after I prove that he’s a no good lying piece of trash. I can sue him, right
Dad?
“You can’t really sue him because as you said you don’t have the song
copyrighted by the Library of Congress.”
“But I have proof that it was written years ago. I mean I will pay for a
handwriting analyst to verify that I’m not lying about the date it was written
if I have to.”
“What did your boss say about the matter?” her mom asked.
“He won’t allow JT to sing the song until I can prove that I wrote it.”
“Well that’s a good thing. We shouldn’t have anything to worry about once you
have the proof. I suggest that you copyright that song as soon as you find that
CD,” her dad said.
If
she found the CD.