“Thank you,” she said, and RJ kissed her a long, lingering kiss that made her toes curl inside her pumps. “Now help me out of it, please. I have to get back.”
RJ kissed her lightly on the lips. “I don’t think so,” he said and turned to go sit back down.
“Why not?” Venus asked, with her beautiful face twisted.
“You don’t have a lot of time and now that I’m looking at you, I really wanna take my time and fuck you slow and long. You let me know when you got time for that.”
Venus smiled, and RJ looked at his watch.
“And besides, Scarlet should be sneaking her way through the crowd and sitting down at the piano right about now.”
Venus got excited. “Scarlet is here?”
“Scarlet, P, Lola, Monte—”
“Just like you said they’d be.” Venus looked at RJ and shook her head. “Damn, I wanna fuck you … but I gotta get back and …” Venus started backing toward
the door. “And the show is getting ready to start,” She stopped at the door. “But, I wanna fuck you so bad,” Venus said and rushed out of the office into the packed club. She was disappointed that she didn’t get to feel RJ inside of her even for a little while, but he was right, and the risk was too high anyway.
Since Venus had a little influence with management, security escorted her through the crowd as far as they could without it attracting Sterling’s attention. She made it the rest of the way to her table on her own. And she had great seats too. Venus and Sterling had the table next to Meka, Gladys and Wanda.
The DJ was playing The Regulators latest release and the dance floor was packed. As the song was fading, Scarlet began playing and the crowd kept dancing to what they thought was an extended mix. That ended when Scarlet hit a high note and the stage lights came on. The crowd went wild, and nobody left the floor as she performed a medley of her songs.
“Thank you,” Scarlet said when the song was over and tried to quiet the crowd. “As some of you can tell, I am not from this country,” she said, and the crowd laughed. “But I have found a home here and a family.” She laughed and winked at Wanda. “A family like none other and I want to introduce you to a member of that family.”
Scarlet stood up and came to the mic. “Before I bring him on stage, I have to tell you that when I first met him, I was scared to death of him.” She took the mic and began to walk. “I mean, I heard the stories on the news and here I am, this little West Indian girl, and he is larger than life. But I have spent a lot of time with him and I can tell you that Paul Roberts is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met and an absolute pleasure to work with. Ladies and gentlemen, P Harlem,” Scarlet said, and the house went bananas as P swaggered out on stage, hugged Scarlet and took the mic.
“Thank you, thank you,” P said. “Ladies and gentlemen, the world’s greatest entertainer, Scarlet. Before the night is through, she’s gonna play every instrument on this stage. Give it up for her.” And once the crowd quieted down a bit, P continued. “I know all of you came to see Cristal and shit, but we … we being Monte and Lola, were gonna come out here and do a song and then Cristal was gonna come out. But here’s what we gonna do. Monte, Lola, come on out and bring Cristal with you.”
By that time, RJ had come out of the office and was at the bar with Marvin, Judah and Pills. They were drinking champagne to celebrate their successful night.
“I want to thank The Four Kings for having us tonight. Judah, Pills, Money, RJ, we gonna turn this bitch out tonight for y’all. I promise you that,” P said, and the crowd cheered as all four kings raised their glasses to him.
Then Monte and Lola Luv came out on stage to a standing ovation that only got louder when Cristal made her first public appearance.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Cristal.”
The crowd roared as she took her bow and then Cristal hugged her four labelmates, before returning to center stage to take another bow. Then P Harlem took the mic again and quieted the crowd.
“Now, I have an announcement to make and then we gonna start the show.” The crowd cheered. “What I have to say is gonna come as a surprise to somebody and is gonna make somebody else very happy.”
Scarlet dropped a beat.
“I want to introduce you all to, and welcome to the mic, the newest member of The Regulators … Cristal!”
All at once, the crowd erupted, Cristal started to cry because she truly was surprised, and RJ screamed, “YES!” because this was exactly what he wanted. The addition of Cristal to The Regulators tour meant that the possibility of booking outdoor venues just went up along with his profit margin.
“You happy, RJ?”
“Hell yeah!” RJ shouted.
P Harlem was as good as his word and The Regulators brought down the house. And after the show, the celebration at the bar continued. The kings were joined in their celebration by Wanda, Gladys and Meka, who shared a glass of champagne with them before leaving for the night.
“Be on time in the morning.”
“Yes, Aunt Wanda.”
“Congratulations, RJ, I am so proud of you.” She hugged and kissed him on the cheek.