Was it Good for You Too? (9 page)

Two Woodland employees exited the store carrying a table and chairs. They were followed by several other employees who all carried tables, book stands, and chairs, which they hurried to set up outside the bus. The store's staff nodded to Tailan and completely ignored the general manager's glare.

“You stop this right now,” Bill bellowed as two of the henchmen rushed to get in front of the employees to halt their movements.

Five squad cars pulled up, they stopped close to the crowd, and the officers hurried out of their cruisers. They approached Bill. “We heard there's a problem.”

“Yes, get these nig—”

The first officer's eyebrow shot up to his hairline.

“—people out of here!” Bill boomed, gesturing to the authors and their fans. “This bus can't be here. It's taking up too much space in the park—”

“Officer, I made the call,” Tailan said, passing him a flyer. “There's a book signing here today. And the manager seems to think we shouldn't be inside
his
store, so I found a way to make it happen out here. But the crowd …” She gestured to the hundreds of people spreading out around them. “The crowd is a lot bigger than I thought it would be. Plus, with the media coverage here …” She pointed to the table of authors where the reporter was interviewing The Vets. “We thought you all could make sure the celebrities are safe.”

“How many are there?”

“Twenty-one.” Tailan sighed and placed a dramatic hand over her chest. “I thought it would be too much for us. And definitely too much for the store's security team.”

Tailan drew the attention of the officer over to the men holding the shotguns. “At least I
think
they're security. They don't have badges. And—wow! The price tags are still hanging off the guns.”

The officer's gaze narrowed at the group of men. “Are they supposed to have those outside of the store?” he asked Bill, his tone cold and lethal.

Bill's eyes bulged, his flabby jaw unveiling his shock. “They just bought ‘em.”

“Really?” Tailan crossed her arms over her chest and countered, “Do they have a
receipt
for them?”

Bill flushed beet red.

“You know officer”—her eyes snagged his name plate—“Hinton.” Then her eyes lifted to the face of her uniformed guardian angel. “Not having a receipt and being
outside
of the store with merchandise …” She scratched her head and frowned. “That's called stealing where I'm from.”

“Well, they … I … We …” Bill sputtered, waving his boys back toward the store.

Officer Hinton grinned, signaling to his fellow officers to make tracks in their direction. “If they don't have a receipt for those, take them into custody.”

Bill came at Tailan. “You have no right to sell those here,” he growled, gesturing to the area where the impromptu signing was taking place. “Those aren't even our books!”

“You're damn straight,” she said in a low tone that only Bill could hear. Then she added at a louder tone, “Satan will sell ice cream in hell before I'll let you make one dime off
our kind.
”

“So it's like that, huh?” A tall brown-skinned officer glared down at Bill, whose self-preservation instincts prompted him to take a few steps back.

“Ma'am,” Officer Hinton said to Tailan. “I've got a better idea of what's going on now.” He tipped his hat to her. “We'll take it from here.” He pointed to two other officers. “Spread out and corral the crowd in an orderly fashion. Also, have cars thirteen and four move over to the street and redirect and manage the traffic flow.”

The officers nodded and got on the job.

Bill was in Tailan's face with his godawful breath as he growled, “You won't hear the end of this.”

Delvin came to her side, and the warmth of him was comforting. She looked first to Bill then to the officers and Delvin, then smiled.

“I won't hear the end of this? Well, neither will you.” She flipped out her phone and played back their recorded conversation for the whole group to hear. All of the remaining officers—Black and White—soon pinned angry gazes at the general manager. She relished Bill's shocked expression. “I've already sent this to corporate. The next time we come back,
you
won't be here.”

Bill glared at her, spun on his heels, and stormed away.

“Hey Bubba,” she said to one of Bill's pudgy cronies who was being placed in the back seat of a police cruiser. “You're right. There's nothing wrong with my hearing.” She winked. “And there's nothing wrong with my brain either.”

Tailan turned from the defused situation to see David exiting his limo, which was parked near the bus. He rushed toward her with a smile wider than the Mississippi. “The team called me in to get a truck of books out this way,” he said. “I swear I couldn't have handled that better myself.”

“I'm going to head back over to the signing table,” Delvin announced. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek. She nodded and turned her attention back to David.

“I put in a call to Dan while I watched you handle the problem,” David continued. “He's putting out a nationwide blast to all Woodland Stores about the authors.”

Tailan yelped for joy and jumped into his arms. “Do you know what that means?”

“Yes!” David said, embracing her. “If Margo wants to deal from the bottom of the deck, she'd better come with a better set of playing cards. Because right now, my dear, you've got the winning hand.” He waved to the team then jetted over to his waiting limo.

Tailan returned to Officer Hinton and said, “What kind of books does your wife read?”

He grinned down at her. “Romance novels—the fluffy stuff. But I like something with a little bite to it.”

Tailan looked at Pam and took the officer's arm, guiding him to the marketing queen. “Then I have just the books for you.”

Chapter 10

Delvin couldn't believe the burst of envy that bubbled up in him as Tailan and “Officer Friendly” made it over to the signing table. The officer was hanging on Tailan's every word. She introduced him to Pam, then gave a brief pitch for the woman's book. The camera crews had split their attention between the men being arrested and carted away and the lively crowd that was surrounding the authors.

Soon a few other officers, who were giving Tailan an appreciative once-over made their way to her. Delvin rose and rounded the table. His approach to Tailan pulled the camera guy's attention. He pushed his way between the officer and Tailan and said, “Ms. Song, on behalf of all the authors here today, I wanted to personally thank you for your quick thinking and ingenuity.” That was the only warning he offered. Then he whispered in her ear, “Remind me never to get on your bad side.”

Her smile was all blushes, but her comment was not. “You
are
on my bad side.”

“Not for long.” Delvin captured her mouth in a kiss so steamy that anyone observing it would assume they were the most “in love” couple in the world. The media camera and countless cell phone cameras caught it all.

He pulled away and finished with a wink. Delvin returned to his seat, but not before noticing how the officer's lips spread into a knowing smile.

* * *

“I come to get sold out!” Delvin cheered several hours later as he stepped onto the bus and danced his way up the aisle. The others laughed, cheering with him as their new mantra started again.

“Lord, have mercy,” Susan piped in. “I can't believe we pulled it off!”

“Gotta admit, Delvin,” Lutishia said. “Your idea was pure cross-promoting genius.”

Delvin shook his head, aiming to deflect the attention from himself.

“Oh no, Delvin!” Brenda exclaimed, gripping his arm to hold him in place. “Lutishia's right. When you put out the word that they could
only
get an autographed copy from you if they also bought at least two books from the rest of the author panel, that put us over the top!”

“And it worked!” Beverly laughed. “My God, those people were picking up books left and right and flying over to the registers. God bless you, baby!”

Delvin gave a fist pump, and the whole bus roared with laughter. Then he took a bow before dropping into his seat. He appreciated all the adoration, but it all concealed his ulterior motive—doing his best to help Tailan
win
. He was determined to help Tailan turn this lemon of a day into grape juice and let the world wonder how she did it.

He glanced over to Tailan, who was still giving the colorful gang high fives. She turned and mouthed,
thank you.
But her eyes held the real reward. Tailan's exotic deep pools reflected the only thing he wanted—all of her love. Finally, she let him see it.

Delvin returned the smile with a wink.

The only time the signing had gotten a little tense was when they dipped very low on book stock. All of the available books in a five mile radius—except, of course, those from the store in front of which they were sitting—were now on the lot and going fast. As much as Delvin wanted this to remain
The Tailan Song Show
, he knew her too well to avoid the issue any longer.

“Tai,” Delvin said while taking a quick break to assess the situation, “I know you're upset with the general manager, but you can't leave these people hanging either.” He gestured to fans who had been waiting for nearly an hour. “They're going to fire him.” He stroked a hand across her cheek. “They're not going to put up with folks who let personal issues get between them and making a profit. Trust me on that. Sell the store's books, Tai, and quit being so bullheaded.” He kissed her again and walked back to his place. She gave him the evil eye for a few moments but eventually complied.

No sooner did he have Tailan ushering out all the book stock from inside the Woodland store before another annoyance reared its head.

A tall, blonde Amazonian charged out of a limo and zeroed in on Tailan. Delvin observed the hostile stance of the woman and made quick steps to Tailan's side.

“Delvin Germaine,” Tailan said, “Meet Margo Nelson. She's the daughter of the man who owns NEG.”

Everything about Margo put Delvin on edge. But what really held his attention was the tension the woman ignited in Tailan, who studied the blonde as though she was connecting several dots. “I knew something wasn't quite right,” Tailan proclaimed.

Margo's green-eyed gaze swept the area, her frown was every shade of ugly. “So you managed to make it work.”

“Absolutely,” Tailan replied, a smile lifting the corners of her sensually curved lips. “Your father's counting on it.”

“My father has nothing to do with it,” she countered with a sly smile that annoyed Delvin. “I'm the one managing this fiasco.”

“This book event will sell out, Ms. Nelson,” Delvin fired back before he could catch himself. “If that's your definition of a fiasco, then this tour is the most successful fiasco in history.” He turned to Tailan just in time to see a sly grin streak across her features.

Margo looked past Tailan, scanning the store's entrances as though searching for someone in particular.

Delvin's hands clenched into fists as Tailan blurted, “So you're the one who called Bill and told him to put us out?”

Margo feigned outrage better than any actress Delvin had ever worked with. “I did no such thing,” she gasped, taking a step back.

Liar.

“Your father's going to be real happy about what went down today,” Tailan said.

Margo waved her off, and Delvin took deep offense to the gesture.
Nobody dismisses my woman!

“He won't know a thing about it,” Margo promised.

You really don't know Tailan, do you Margo? Boy, are you slow on the uptake.

Tailan mimicked Margo's nonchalant pose and placed a hand on her hip. “If Bill and Bubba go down,” Tailan batted her eyes innocently before giving Margo a cold, lethal stare, “trust me, those morons
will
take you with them.”

Margo's arrogant smile disappeared.

* * *

The cheers on the bus pulled Delvin from his private thoughts.

“We did it! We did it!” Tailan screamed and shimmied up the aisle.

Delvin had never been so proud of her in his life.

When her little dance was over, she stopped in front of Nona and gave her a hard look.

Nona was on her feet in a jiffy. “Everybody, I've got something to say.”

The boom of Nona's voice attracted the attention of everyone on the bus. With a few gulps and a deep breath, she said, “I'm sorry for what I said. Beverly and Brenda, I was outta pocket for that. I'm truly sorry.”

A few murmurs and quite a few shocked expressions followed that statement.

Apologies then echoed from the other three, extended to everyone on the bus.

Beverly stood and swept a look across The Divas, before moving to Nona's side. “It's okay, baby.”

“When you know better, you do better,” Brenda said, giving Beverly an almost imperceptible nod. Beverly put a few reassuring pats on Nona's back and finished, “But the next time you come at us like that,” she cleared her throat and patted the upper edge of her bra, “I'ma havta cut ya.”

I knew it! She's packing a weapon. That's old school right there.

Nona's eyes bulged and her mouth dropped as she sized up Brenda and Beverly. “Y'all ol' heads from the hood too?” Her shock was authentic. She plopped down, too stunned to speak.

“Detroit, baby.” Beverly flipped her a steely gaze. “Like Malcolm said, you better recognize.”

Delvin's laughter was contagious. Soon everyone except The Divas was rolling in their seats.

He had tears in his eyes as it went even further.

“No, no, baby doll,” Beverly commanded, pulling Nona out of her seat. “You sit up here with me.” She ushered the sputtering woman to the front of the bus. “I plan to enjoy the rest of this tour. Which means,” she directed Nona to the window seat beside hers, “you and your posse will remain separate for the rest of the tour. Just like we did the
children
in church back in the day.”