The Reunion Show (22 page)

She stood and straightened the wrinkles in her dress. “I'm not going to sit here and let everybody team up on me. First it was the vote, now this.”

“Man, ain't nobody teamin' up on you,” Price said. “All I stated were the facts, and you don't want to acknowledge the truth. We've all been talked about and called out on our shit. Cool out and chill.”

Sylvia ignored him. She stormed toward Jeff. “I'm out of here. I've had enough of this. Do not contact me to do any nonsense like this again. As far as the contract goes, I would appreciate it if you would tear it up. If you have to, sue me.”

In a blink, she was gone. I couldn't believe it, but then again, yes, I could. She could dish it out, but wasn't strong enough to take it.

Jeff seemed disgusted. He stood and laid the index cards down in the chair. “I figured this wouldn't be easy, but I appreciate all of you for hanging in there until the end. With Roc and Sylvia gone, we're going to wrap this up. Before I present Jada with the check, I want to thank each and everyone one of you for taking time out of your busy schedules to enter the Hell House challenge. All of you contributed something great to this project, so pat yourselves on the back for giving it your all. Jada, as the winner, I ask that you come forward to receive your check for one hundred thousand dollars. Many feel as though you deserve it. I must say that I agree with them.”

Jada blushed as she wobbled to stand on her feet. I clapped and shouted. “Woof, woof.”

Jaylin didn't budge and Prince's lips were pursed. As she glided her way up to Jeff like she had just won the Miss America Pageant, she grinned from ear to ear. Then, she squeezed her leg, as if it hurt.

“Ouch. I need to hurry up and get out of here, so I can go see about this leg. It sho' is botherin' me.”

Jeff handed her an envelope. When she opened it, her eyes got real big. “OMG,” she shouted and touched her chest. “This is really happenin'.”

“Speech,” I shouted, feeling so good because we had pulled this off. “Let's hear a speech!”

She held her stomach and appeared very excited. So much so, that it looked like she was having an anxiety attack. “Okay. Breathe,” she said, taking deep breaths and fanning herself with her hand. “I need to breathe.”

She kept joking around. I could tell she was playing, but I was ready to get this done and over with. I was excited about claiming my half of the money, and I wanted to find out what Jaylin was getting into tonight. For whatever reason, Jada was stalling. She'd better not have a heart attack before putting my cash into my hands. After that, I didn't care what happened to her.

“I…I want to thank God for makin' all of this possible,” Jada said. “Thank you, Jeff, for comin' to me with this idea, and a special thanks to everybody in the house for puttin' up with me. I had hella fun, but I am so glad to be gettin' out of here, knowin' that I will never have to see any of you mofos again.”

I noticed that she looked directly at me. Plus, she didn't single me out to thank me. I had to throw a little something into her thank-you speech.

“Our friendship can't be forgotten,” I said. “You may not see anyone else, but you'll definitely see me again.”

She winced and put her hand on her hip. “I don't think so. All of my loyal friends live in North County. Some went to Hazelwood East, some Sumner High School. I haven't gained any new friends within the past two years, so I don't know what you're talkin' about with the friend stuff.”

“I'm talking about our newly found friendship, where you have my back and I have yours.”

I was trying to hint around, without letting anyone know I was talking about the money. She knew darn well what I was talking about. It seemed to me that she was trying to renege.

“Chase, I'll call you in a week or two, so we can talk about that friendship thingy, okay?” She turned to Jeff. “It's urgent that I get to the emergency room to go see about myself. I don't know what's goin' on, but my legs, back, and stomach hurts. I thank you again, and I hope this check don't bounce. If it does, I'm comin' for you.”

She tried to rush out of there before clearing up what we had discussed about the money. I hurried out of my seat and called after her.

“What?” she turned around and shouted.

I kept my voice lowered. “You know darn well what. I know you're not trying to skip out of here without saying goodbye, are you?”

I made weird facial gestures, so she'd know what I was referring to.

“Oh, that,” she said with fake laughter. “I got you. Just call me in a week or two, girl. I need to quickly call a cab, so I can get to the hospital.”

I hated to be played for a fool. At this point, I was so mad about how things were starting to fall apart that I inched closer to Jada and whispered to her through gritted teeth. “If you fucking play me, heifer, I will destroy you. We need to get to the bank first thing in the morning, so that you can give me my half of the freaking money that I earned.”

Jada took a few steps back. “All that teeth grittin' mess don't scare me, and just so you know, your breath stank. Name callin' will do you no good either. The more I thought about this, the more I came to the conjunction that I'm not givin' you one damn dime.”

The wrinkles on my forehead deepened. “Come again, I didn't hear you. And it's conclusion, you dumb, bitch! I concluded that you will pay up.”

Before I knew it, I lifted my hand and slapped the heck out of Jada. I slapped her so hard that the hairs on her head shifted into another style. Before she could lay one finger on me, one of the bodyguards grabbed her. She swung out wildly, but the majority of her punches landed on him.

“Yo ass better run,” she shouted. “When I get loose, I'm gon' wear you out.”

So much was going on that I hadn't noticed Jaylin and Prince standing near Jeff. Jeff pulled on my arm to move me away from Jada. The other bodyguard had to jump in to restrain her; she carried on like a deranged woman.

“Let me go,” she shouted with spit flying from her mouth. She kept swinging the cane, trying to reach me. “I need to beat her ass before I get out of here.”

“Ain't nobody going anywhere,” Jaylin said, raising his voice. “Calm the hell down, before I have ninety percent of you muthafuckas in here arrested.”

We all turned our heads to look at Jaylin. He gave Prince a piece of paper and asked him to leave. “You don't have anything to do with this, so take this and get at me tomorrow.”

Prince read whatever was on the paper. He smiled and then saluted us on his way out. “Peace to all of you suckers. It's been real.”

He jogged away and was now history.

Jaylin looked at the bodyguards. “Let her go, and Jada, go have a seat. That check you have may not bounce, but if you leave out of here with it, I assure you that a stop payment will be placed on it.”

The breaking news definitely had my attention. Jada's too. She wiggled her arms, trying to get away from the bodyguards. They refused to let go of her, so Jaylin addressed Jeff.

“Tell them to back the fuck up. Now!”

Jeff appeared nervous. He sighed and told the bodyguards to let Jada go. I was definitely watching my back. I stood close to Jaylin for protection, and since Jada didn't take a seat, neither did I.

Jaylin looked disgusted and quickly spoke up. “Section 565.250 to 257 of Missouri Law refers to the invasion of ones privacy and prohibits anyone from videotaping others without their knowledge, especially in the nude. It is a crime, a felony, that is punishable by law and any person or persons involved can be charged and sentenced up to twenty years in prison. I'm not sure who will be prosecuted first, but I need everybody's full attention. Jeff, you fucked up by allowing a piece of pussy to interfere with a challenge that could've benefited all of us. I have no respect for you, and if I didn't care about sitting in a jail cell tonight, I would bust you upside your head for being so goddamn stupid. To save yourself, get that check from Jada and tear it up. Then pack up your shit and return the ten thousand dollars that I gave you for information about what Jada and Chase were up to. I'll expect that money by tomorrow morning or else you, and any others involved, will have law enforcement knocking at your doors.”

Hearing that Jeff had accepted money from Jaylin for information about our plans had my head spinning. I could barely move and neither could Jada. Being in jail for up to twenty years didn't sit well with me. We weren't sure if we were going to jail or not. Jaylin didn't seem to be bullshitting about pressing charges for being illegally taped. How I ever found myself in this mess, I didn't know.

Jeff snickered and tried to throw us under the bus. “Unfortunately, Jaylin, I didn't film anything that showed nudity, nor did I film anything without consent. The only things I filmed was what you and everybody else gave me permission to do. Anything else was done by Chase and Jada without my knowledge. So you see, my hands are clean.”

“What the fuck are you talkin' about?” Jada shouted. “I didn't film shit! Yo tail is lyin'!”

“Neither did I,” I said, lying through my teeth. I knew Jaylin could tell I wasn't being truthful by the way he looked at me.

Jaylin smirked as he looked at Jeff. “Looks like I have myself a set of witnesses who actually lived in the house and can vouch for who was filming what. You don't have any witnesses, so tear up the check, Jeff, conclude your mission and walk away from this. Unfortunately, none of this will make it to TV unless I say so, and you'll never reap the benefits of the half million you were supposed to get. All contracts need to be null and voided, and we all need termination letters within two days, if possible.”

I was so stunned by this. Jeff had this all planned out from the beginning. He was the one who stood to gain the most from Hell House. I didn't say one word. Jaylin seemed to be handling this appropriately and was doing so rather well. Besides, I wasn't sure how much trouble I was in just yet. I guess it served me right for trusting a backstabbing trick like Jada and expecting her to pay up. She was really going to snub me.

Jeff hesitated to make the next move, but eventually, he fell in line. He reached his hand out to Jada. “Give me the check,” he said.

She rolled her eyes and slowly walked up to him. With her head hanging low, she removed the check from the envelope and kissed it.

“This is terrible,” she said near tears. “I can't believe I let y'all fuck me over like this and get me caught up in this mess. And then to put me in a position to do some jail time wasn't even cool.”

Catching Jeff off guard, Jada lifted the cane and started wailing on him with it. “Muthafucka, I told you not to play me,” she said with each whack. “Didn't I?”

Jeff crouched down to protect his face. The bodyguards rushed over to grab Jada. One had her by the waist and the other one snatched the cane from her hand. When Jeff lifted his head, his hair was scattered and his shirt was ripped from Jada pulling on it. Jaylin and I had backed away, allowing her room to let out her frustrations.

“Let her go,” Jaylin said. “I'm sure y'all can understand how she feels.”

The bodyguards let Jada go. Jeff tried to straighten his shirt and gather himself. He touched his bloody lip where Jada had busted him in the mouth with the cane.

“Let's pack up everything and go,” Jeff said, wiping his mouth. “We're done here.”

“You damn right you are,” Jada shouted. “And I'mma report yo ass to the Better Business Bureau.”

Of course she didn't know any better, but oh well. Jeff and his crew started to gather their things to go, while Jaylin stood between me and Jada.

“Whatever beef y'all still got, squash it. It ain't worth it, so stop making fools of yourselves, especially over money. I'm not gon' press charges against either of you, but if y'all ever think about selling those videos or pictures, y'all gon' have a big problem on your hands. Now give me some hugs and get out of here. I may have to call the police on these fools, and I don't want y'all around if something pops off.”

Looked like my business here was done, but I still had further business to tend to with Roc and Desa Rae. I was on edge about the money that I was supposed to get, but was glad that Jada would leave here without one single penny. She reached out to hug Jaylin before I did.

“Thank you,” she said with her head buried against his chest. “I should've known better, but like you said, money is the root of all evil. There was surely some evil and connivin' people around here. I sholl wish I had some of that money, though, and is there any way possible that you'll consider hookin' me up on the side like you promised to do?”

Her words shocked me. I couldn't believe that she tried to cut a side deal with Jaylin. And then she had the nerve to talk about somebody being conniving.

“Not a chance in hell,” he said. “You fucked up. Just be thankful that you won't be going to jail.”

She backed away from him with sadness in her eyes. “But I had plans for that money, Jaylin. I wanted to get myself out of debt and take a trip with two of my girlfriends. You can give me somethin', can't you?”

“I'm giving you a lot. Your freedom. Now, stop being ungrateful, go pack your bags, and take your stride up out of this house like all of us have had to do.”

She lowered her head in a playful manner and walked off singing Carol Burnett's theme, “I'm so glad we had this time togetherrr, just to have a laugh or sing a soooong…”

I couldn't help but laugh to myself. She was a damn fool. Once she was out of sight, I reached out to hug Jaylin. His body felt solid as a rock, and the smell of Clive Christian was tickling my nose. He smelled so spectacular that I didn't want to depart from him. I was surprised when he lowered his hand to my ass, giving it a light squeeze.