Game Over
home,” Chink ended. For some crazy reason I agreed.
    My new Miami life consisted of mini-mansion type living. Waking up to champagne, exquisite food, and good sex—it all had me in la la land like the grind was over. Just imagine waking up and able to go for a swim in your backyard that was adjacent to the beach. Nothing like it! I’d been accustomed to spending my days scouting out the next styling gig for some record label. I always had to hop in New York City cabs or pay ridiculous parking prices just to make moves in New York. Now I slept with the producer who created most of Murder Inc.’s hits in a fabulous house in Miami. That was the life!
    We shopped constantly marching through the Bal Harbour Shops. And since I moved in with Chink with literally the bag I’d left New York with, new clothes were needed daily. He bought it all, no questions asked—Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and every store Miami had to offer.
    It seemed like a fairy tale until the real Chink made an appearance. It’s crazy how something can look so good on the outside but be real foul on the inside. It didn’t take me long to realize Chink had come from nothing and the world of Hip Hop and his celebrity status had affected him in a negative way. Others had warned me that Chink was a womanizer. Soon, I got a whiff of it. He talked down to everyone around us, often times trying me too. But my mouth was fire…ready to pounce back on him when he tried. Somehow he felt entitled like everything had to go his way. Everybody was a ‘bitch’ to him. Bitch this and bitch that! He used the word like a pronoun, dishing it out every chance he got. It turned into a level of disrespect I hadn’t experienced with Murder Inc. Although Ja Rule had his flings, he was totally respectful, always considerate of others so since they came from the same culture and climate I expected the same from Chink. Nah! His ego was insane.
    By my second week at the house he had invited other women to the house , ones he had sexual relationships with. Thank God I made his ass use condoms each and every time. Catching something was my worse fear. I hadn’t become emotionally tied to him, so for me, it was no sweat. I understood where we were going….nowhere…yet the money and good living still flowed. I figured where else would I go and have a lavish lifestyle that someone else paid for. I mean where else would I go where Ashanti lived in the mansion next door?
    Before long, it was time for me to go. My intuition told me that would be the end of Chink and I. He had enough women on his little string that I figured he wouldn’t even remember my name by Christmas. Before leaving I told him I would be at my grandmother’s house in Brooklyn and that he could hit me up once he got to the city. That’s when his next proposition arose.
    He offered to let me stay in his apartment in New Jersey for free.
    I could stay rent free ? Aw hell! Another bell went off. I should’ve known not to accept….but I did. Free rent and a chance to get out of the projects was all I needed to hear. So I left Miami, went back to Brooklyn and soon found myself living in an apartment in New Jersey where Chink Santana footed the bills. Unbeknownst to me, someone else lived there too. It wasn’t just me.
    Games! Always games.
     
     

 
     
    10 - Trust No Man
    Games . Trust me, in this industry, everyone plays them. Either you’re the player or you’re getting played. You use or you get used. It’s not personal. That’s just the way it is. And the quicker you realize it, the better off you’ll be. I’d realized it, accepted it and I was using it to my advantage. That’s why the arrangement I had with Chink Santana worked for me.
    Our relationship wasn’t going anywhere. That was more than obvious. But rather than walk away, I continued to stay at the spot in New Jersey with him and his assistant. Shit, he was still paying the rent and bills so why not? Like I said, you use or you get

Similar Books

Carry Me Like Water

Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Wolfe

Cari Silverwood

Swept Away

Kristina Mathews

Beware 2: The Comeback

Shanora Williams

Inferno

Casey Lane

FEARLESS

Helen Kay Dimon

The Gigantic Shadow

Julian Symons