Company

Chapter 19

Drake sat on his balcony looking into space trying to figure out how to process the information that he was just reading about. There were photos of Tae and other women and all of the photos were linked to trashy media sites like TMZ, The Shade Room, and Media Takeout. These were sites he too made several appearances on due to his own bad decision making with women that didn't necessarily match his status, these were sites he didn't want nor like being on and he was almost certain neither did Tae, she didn't come off as a fame-seeking type of woman, she didn't care for the attention it brought, being on sites that made money off of spreading lies of celebrities to the public, feeding them pointless information, finding the best photos that looked like the worse situation to use against celebrities. These were the sites that Groupies, Strippers, and attention-seeking women and men sent in stories of celebrities that they f****d for a juicy read of the day, sending in photos of rappers they'd slept with while their girlfriends were back at home waiting for them to return from the tour. Tae was too good for these sites, she was too concerned about her image, her brand, her business. She was too professional. Surely it was not her doing on these sites he understood once you're famous there is no going back to a regular life no matter how fare you fall off. Drake's thoughts were cut into by a familiar voice coming up behind him.

"So, this is where you're hiding papi?" The female voice was too lustful to be Tae's, a seductive hint to it, she bent down at the waist and leaned into the side of Drake's ear from behind, her arms slid down his broad shoulders as she licked the outside of his ear. Drake leaned forward out of her grasp to face her, annoyed that she managed to get into his house and make her way into his space.

"How'd you get up here? Pass the security?" Drake frowned as he spoke softly but demanded an answer.

"I have my ways... you know that." She smirked. "Plus, I missed you. I haven't talked to you or seen you all day. You throw a party and don't bother with anyone." The women replied back with humor but Drake was in no mood for games, his mind was wrapped up in Tae.

Her dark brown skin illuminated against the porch light, even though the sun had officially called it quits for the day you could tell some kind of tanning oil covered her skin making it glow upon any kind of reflection, her bright yellow barely there bikini was far too tempting for any man and on a normal day, when he wasn't so caught up in his thoughts Drake would have given into her large breast that spilled from the top and the curves that formed her hips, ass, and thighs that he spent many nights before in between when calling upon, she made it her job to show off her perfect body that she worked for and casually displayed on social media. She was apart of a select few he quietly flew out when he'd go on vacation, having a harem of women for his picking while reaping the benefits of a long year of successfully charting in every aspect of entertainment, she was a guilty pleasure for him and they both knew it. Drake stood up to walk her to the door but he was stopped as she pressed herself against him.

"Carmen I don't have time for this right now. Not tonight." Drake said pushing against her, she lightly grabbed the side of his cheek noticing the stressed expression on his face. "Stop!" He said pushing against her hand.

"He Aubrey, we just got the clearance fo...... " Tae pushed the door open but was still looking at her phone reading the email she just got, Drake and Carmen both stopped and looked at Tae who was now looking up at the both of them, the look on her face was a bit unreadable, a bit hurt at the site of actually seeing him being touched by other women, in the presence of another woman but she kept her composure.

"Uh, I'm sorry, I'll let you know later." Tae said as she began to turn but was stopped by Drake's demanding "No" it struck her with annoyance as if he was bothered

"No. Tae don't move, Carmen you need to leave. Now." Carmen's eyes widened She looked at Drake than to Tae then back to Drake.

"Are you serious! You're denying me!?" She declared back, her voice louder than before. "She's not even one of the girls..."

"CARMEN!..." He yelled immediately cutting her off, not wanting Tae to hear what she just spilled out, for the first time he felt a bit ashamed of having the six women as a vacation haram due to the feelings that had grown well past what they should have been for Tae, there were things he didn't want her knowing about him and made sure she didn't handle. "We need to discuss business." Drake growled back as he pinched the bridge of his nose, she had made him visibly frustrated.

"So, I guess the blogs were right about you and her." Carmen said crossing her arms.

"Carmen. What did we talk about? You remember!" Drake's voice settled into a low growl as he spoke at her through clenched teeth he dipped his head being sure Tae could see or hear his words. Carmen's face grew soft she became almost childlike concerned that she might have messed up her future chances with him as if she felt like a cutoff was for sure coming.

"Sorry." She whispered looking everywhere but directly at him. Tae frowned as she watched their guarded behavior unsure of what to make of it, she frowned analyzing the way Aubrey hid his words. Carmen turned and walked towards the door, Tae stepped to the side out of the way to allow her to walk through it. Drake turned making his way back to the balcony he leaned over the railing balancing on his elbows he watched as his team of security escorted people off his property, Tae silently leaned against the door frame of the balcony.

"You ok? I can for sure come back later?"  Tae said sounding nonchalant, she quietly wanted on his instructions but he remained silent looking over a portion of his property.

"Why did you and Maliah breakup?"  He finally asked, wasting no time, he went head first right into what he wanted. Tae was caught off guard with the question. In all honesty, she and Maliah hadn't been together in years nor had she thought about her. Tae stood up straight and walked to one of the cushioned chairs she sat down a leaned forward on her knees, her face relaxed as she looked out over the balcony. She sighed taking in a deep breath and released it then remained quiet for a moment, so long that Drake looked over his shoulder to make sure she hadn't left the balcony.

"Because you started f*****g her."

Tae was blunter than he anticipated and her answer was more than he expected. He for sure braced himself for an oncoming lie in order to get out of the awkward situation.

"Erica?" He asked while still looking out over the balcony

"She wanted to do that bullshit Love & HipHop crap and I wasn't with it, I thought it was tacky and not a good look, but she went and did it anyway, so we broke up I wanted nothing to do with her." Drake could completely understand, he too dealing with the same issue with a past fling who wanted to make a name for herself by going on The Bad Girls Club. The particular move towards stardom didn't sit well with him so he had no choice but to end it long before she made her televised debut, he later did what he always does once reminisce on his past and referenced her on a song ironically called 'Good Girls Go Bad'.

"And Draya, Dollicia... The rest of them?" Drake asked as his back was turned to her. Tae sat quietly again unsure of what he was really asking, what he really wanted to know that she hadn't already confessed about.

"They were an 'at that moment' thing. That may sound bad, but yeah..." She said shrugging as her voice trailed off. Drake could tell she wanted to say more but he didn't force it. Tae sighed picking up on his silence and spoke again. "Some of them I dated before you got to them, some of them you dated before I got to them, some of them f****d with me while they f****d with you and vise versa."

He turned around, she could feel Drake burning a hole in the side of her face. "You took this position KNOWING that we shared the same past... The same women... a lot of the same women, and you said nothing!? Why!? You didn't think that was something you should have mentioned to me!?... oh by the way Aubrey, you and I f****d with the same women!? I couldn't get that!? Are you trying to make them jealous!? You using me for a specific purpose?!..... Get back at them?!... You don't think this is information that I should have known Lashauntae!" Drake's voice grew dark it went deep as he demanded an answer. His many antagonizing malicious filled questions, he cross-examined her, with a smug frown yet he wasn't allowing her the opportunity to answer him back, he was so angry assuming he was being used for something like all women eventually used him for.

Tae finally looked at him with her eyebrows creased together realizing his accusations were far from the truth but very much present. "Are you assuming I took this f*****g position to get back at you for something... get back at them!? Are you accusing me of something!? You think I sat up and masterminded a f*****g plan to be your personal assistant to get back at you because of some old ass relationships that we both knew wasn't going to go anywhere for the both of us!? Yeah, that'll teach him! Right cause I got time to do some childish ass bullshit like that!" Tae began to stand up, her voice grew heavy rattled with anger. "EXCUSE THE f**k OUTTA ME, for not telling you that we just so happened to f**k some of the same women years ago! EXCUSE THE f**k OUTTA ME for not bringing up these past bitches over a candlelit dinner Aubrey!" Tae looked up at Drake her nostrils flared as her jaw clenched together, her hand went up to pause from going again. "You know what, I'll go home tonight and I'll have you a new assistant for you within 3 days... less if you get one of your 'girls' to do it." She mocked him. Drake angrily bit his bottom lip at her comment, it for sure wasn't something he wanted her to know let alone be able to connect the dots together. Tae turned her back to Drake and began walking off the balcony towards his room, she was stopped and pulled back as Drake grabbed her by the arm. She halted and looked down at Drake's hand, Drake realized his grip then immediately dropped it pulling his hand away from her.

"You're not quitting and you're not leaving. That's not what I meant. I don't think you are setting me up for anything. I should have chosen my words better." Tae looked at Drake over her shoulder. Then turned her head away from him.

"If you need anything business-wise please let me know, I am your personal assistant." Tae finally said as she walked off the balcony into his bedroom, then out the door closing it behind it.