“Good morning, Janita,” Reecie said with her usual grand smile.
“Good morning, Mrs. Webster.”
But Janita’s heart was hammering by the time she got up the courage to look into Hawk’s eyes. She’d been thinking about him all night, and the fact that he hit on her. She knew what that was about: He wanted a one-night stand. But the oddest thing to her was that his body was saying he wanted her for sex and sex alone, but his eyes seemed to be saying something different. Like yeah, he was attracted to her. But it was not just a physical attraction. Which made no sense because the man was so aroused last night that he couldn’t hide it. But she saw much more than that in him, and she couldn’t explain it away. “Good morning,” she said to him as their eyes met. But it was a very brief meeting because she quickly looked away.
“Walk us out,” Reecie said to Hawk as she continued to keep her arm around his waist.
Janita hurried ahead of them to open the front door, and Reecie could see how Hawk was staring at Janita’s nice littletight body. As if he already had gotten some from her and wanted some more.
But Reecie didn’t believe it. She would bet her husband’s fortune that Hawk tried to hit on Janita last night alright. That part she was certain was true. But she would bet her life that Janita didn’t go for it. Reecie couldn’t see that particular young lady allowing that. That young lady was nobody’s whore.
And if Hawthorne did come onto Janita, it was only a test in his eyes because Reecie knew that her son, unlike many in their family, and despite what the tabloids said, was nobody’s whore either.
After they made it outside and up to the waiting Mercedes, Janita hurried in front again and opened the back passenger door for Reecie. But before getting into the car, Reecie placed her hand on the side of her son’s handsome face and stared at him. “You don’t know how happy I am that you didn’t get hurt,” she said. “But I was so hurt that nobody told me.”
“Nobody knew, Mother.”
“Not even Matty?”
“Not even Matty. All everybody knew was that there was a shooting at Eagle Records in the early hours of the morning, and nobody but the shooter was harmed. That’s all they knew. That’s all the cops know. That’s it. I purposely kept myself out of it.”
“But you were right in it, though. That gunman was gunning for you.”
“He was gunning for Eagle Records, which, in his pea brain, is me. It goes with the territory.”
“Which is why I hate your profession and always will,” she said as she kissed him on the cheek. “Take care of yourself.”
“You as well,” he said to his mother.
Then Hawk looked at Janita. A part of him wanted to get to know her better so badly that he considered asking if he could come and see her sometime. But he dared not do it. She had her own life, her own routine, and probably her own man.
And besides, his mother was right. It was hard out there for a music mogul. People were gunning for him. Not necessarily violently the way his mother meant, but there were many people in the music industry that wanted to take him down from his perch at the top. That hate was real. Why would he want that young lady in the middle of that war?
He didn’t. Besides, he steered clear of twenty-somethings for a reason. They were still cooking. They didn’t know shit about shit. He wasn’t wasting his time on a half-baked meal.
But still! Those eyes and that face haunted him throughout the night. And seeing her again, in the bright morning light, made it worst. She had the sweetest little face he’d seen in a very long time. And although she wasn’t what he would classify as bubbly: she was way too serious to be so young. But she still managed to have the kindest eyes. “You take care of yourself too,” he said to her in a way so heartfelt it stunned him.
It stunned Janita, too, because a part of her believed he meant it. “Yes sir,” was all she could think to say.
Reecie actually smiled. Did that child just sayyes sir? Poor thing. She had a long way to go to get next to her son. But she was convinced that her son would eventually see the light.
But just as Reecie had gotten onto the backseat of the Mercedes, a car busted through his security gate and began racing toward them. Terror suddenly gripped Hawk and his mind immediately went to Janita. He grabbed with all the force he had and threw her onto the backseat of that Mercedes alongside his mother. Although his small J-Frame pistol was still inside his Queen Anne drawer in the foyer, the Glock he carried everywhere he went was on his person. And he pulledit out quickly and got in position ready to fire at that wayward driver.
Janita, who had been stunned when Hawk pushed her so violently into that car, was attempting to pull out her weapon too.
But then Hawk saw who that driver was and his ready to shoot stance changed. He stood upright. Because he knew who that driver was as her Land Rover came to a screeching stop in front of the Mercedes and she jumped out.
Even Janita knew who it was when she jumped out of that Land Rover. It was Kemberly, her brother’s favorite recording artist.
And she was red hot. That was why Janita, with her weapon drawn, got back out of the Mercedes Hawk had thrown her into. But Hawk had his Glock to his side, no longer ready to shoot, as Kemberly hurried to him. She was crying through her rage. “You dropped me?”
“I didn’t drop you.”
“How dare you drop me! I have more streams than most of those losers you kept on the label combined. But you droppedme?”
“I told you I didn’t drop you. What I told your agent is that if you didn’t agree to my terms, then I’ll have no alternative but to drop you.”
“I’m the best artist you’ve ever had at Eagle, and you do this tome? You treat me likethis? I’m bigger than Beyonce and you treat me likethis? I hate you, Hawk Webster, you bastard,” she said as she began hitting him violently. “I hate you!”
