“Kat, you gotta listen to this,” Elise says, dropping her phone into her stereo system. “Derrick’s on!”
“You know I don’t want to hear-” I start to shoot back, but before I can, Derrick’s voice fills the room. It’s raw, different than anything I’ve ever heard on the radio before. No, I’ve heard this voice . . . but only when he’s just talking to me. I close my mouth, listening to every word.
“Okay, that was our opening break . . . Toni Braxton’s Another Sad Love Song,” Derrick says. “Now normally I’d start off the show with an introduction, a few laughs, maybe a little innuendo to get things rolling. But right now . . . well, this isn’t The Love Whisperer talking. For those of you who are looking for some advice, maybe something closer to what we normally do here, tune in next hour. This hour, this is just me . . . plain ol’ Derrick King trying to fix something that happened last night.”
“You see,” Derrick continues, “last night was something that I never planned. Those of you that tuned in heard me give permission for certain racy recordings to be played on the air. Let me be clear. At no time did I authorize that. Folks, I didn’t even know I was being recorded. What you heard last night was the highly edited versions of private conversations between me and the woman I love more deeply than I can ever say.”
“Do you believe him?” Elise asks.
“Shh!”
I turn my attention back as Derrick keeps going. “I was betrayed by a now former coworker who put spyware on my phone when I wasn’t looking. This person, and I’m not naming names due to pending legal action, but this person then took intimate private phone calls and video chats and spliced them together to create what she wanted. Fuck it, let’s be plain. Who knows how many people heard it live, no need to beat around the bush. Kat, I didn’t know about the recordings. I left the studio yesterday because my dad’s in the hospital. What happened last night I had no part in. Last night I missed your phone call because I left my phone in my car when I rushed into the ER. I damn near puked when I talked to Jacob this morning and he told me what had happened. I . . .I’m sorry.”
I stand up, walking toward the radio. “Derrick . . ..”
I can hear the honesty in his voice, the raspiness as he speaks. “Kat, I never wanted to hurt you. You’ve been through so much, and all I wanted in our lives was to keep making you happy. You’ve told me so many things, and I’d never do what happened last night even to an enemy . . . let alone to the woman that I love. Please, I know you’re angry. I’m angry too. Call me. I sorta broke my phone when I found out about the software, but they got me a new one and it’s clean, I promise. Same number, it’s sitting here in front of me. If you don’t want to do that, call the show. I’ll put the whole damn rest of the show on a mixtape if I need to. I love you, Kat. Call me.”
“I need to go to him,” I say, turning to Elise. “I don’t want to do this over the phone. I have to look him in the eye.”
“Not like that you aren’t,” Elise says with a tiny smile. “No offense babe, but you smell like stale wine, along with a shitload of sweat and other general yuckiness. And you’re still in your pajamas.”
I look down, and pull my pajama top off. Elmo drops to the floor, and I rush to the shower. “Lend me some clothes!”
“Got some sweats . . . not much else for this weather, you’re too damn short!” Elise calls from her bedroom. “Good enough?”
“Good enough!” I say, scrubbing quickly. I hit the major areas, and am jogging out the door exactly six minutes later, Elise’s phone still broadcasting Derrick’s voice.
“Folks, to everyone listening, I have this advice for you. Check your computers, check your phones. What happened to me . . . well, I didn’t even know spyware like that existed. It’s invisible and they don’t even need your phone password to install it, just your number. But you see, even knowing that, I don’t regret having phone sex with a woman I care deeply for. I don’t regret the video chats either. I do regret that what was loving and private between us was broadcast by someone jealous of my position on this show. I do regret that my sweet Kat, who is one of the kindest, most precious people in the world, was made to sound like something she’s not through the magic of sound editing. Guys, you never heard the important parts of our calls. You didn’t get to hear that, in between the sexy playful talk, we exchanged words of love, of commitment. You never got to listen as she joked with me about us breaking the closet barrier right after that last sound clip where she called out my name. So protect yourselves. If you want to have phone sex, that’s fine. You want to naughty chat, that’s fine too. But protect yourself.”