Reign Delay Read online

  Reign Delay

  Tracy Gray

  Copyright © 2020 Tracy Gray

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  ISBN-13: 9781234567890

  ISBN-10: 1477123456

  Cover design by: Kerry Sovde Design

  Front Cover Photography by: Alexandru Acea

  Back Cover Photography by: Alexandru Acea

  Editing by: LRB1 Style! Editing Services

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309

  Printed in the United States of America

  This book is for my one and only ~ Kacie.

  And she knows why.

  Foreword

  When I sat down to write this book, I actually had to put "Keeping Busy" down for a minute, because Reign and Xavier wouldn't leave me alone.

  They wanted me to tell their story, which is a story of love...real love, although they were young. And forgiveness.

  From Tracy’s Heart:

  Please be advised that “Reign Delay” is a novella, which means that by its very nature, it is shorter than a full-length novel. It also means that every character mentioned will not be unpacked and/or explored. Every question that the reader may have may not be answered and /or addressed.

  Having said that, please note that it does have a beginning, a middle, and an ending. However, the story wraps up in just over 100 pages.

  If full-length novels are more to your liking, please feel to check out other Tracy Gray offerings.

  Prologue

  Reign

  “You don’t have the luxury of being dumb, little girl. You’re gonna mess around and ruin your life before it even gets started. And your father is too prominent and too powerful to have a dumb-dumb in his very own household.” She collared me up, pulling my limp body right up to hers, her face close enough for me to smell her stank coffee breath. “Get yourself together, little heifer!”

  That interaction when I was seven years old was enough to make me despise my paternal grandmother, and to avoid her anytime I could. She didn’t like me, preferring my twin sister, River and I didn’t like her, preferring...well almost anybody. So, it was mad phony that her mean ass was stunting in the doorway of my office. An office space that I shared with her favorite - River. Why wasn’t she down in River’s office? Being alive in River’s office? Skinning and grinning in River’s face...in River’s office?

  “How may I help you today, Grandmother?” I asked as politely as I could. Because as much as I hated her for snatching me up that day, and for talking shit in my face my entire life, the sentiment she expressed had stayed with me. I really didn’t have the luxury of being dumb. I was a woman on a mission. I needed to be smart, and always keep my wits about me. That meant phony-kicking it with chicks that I typically didn’t mess with, if they caught me while I was in professional mode, being “Interior Design Black Barbie” and stuff.

  Her smile was wider than ever, and though I’m sure she thought she looked endearing, she looked like The Joker to me. Furthermore, I wanted her the hell out of my space, so I needed to move this visit along. In that vein, I cocked my head to the side, and waited for her to answer my question.

  “I came by to lavish praise on my granddaughter, and to tell her how proud I am of her. I was at my prayer warriors meeting this morning and Lucille and Mae couldn’t stop talking about how they had seen River...and you in that magazine.”

  Uhm, so the article in Chicago Magazine was the reason for the visit. After River and I had been featured in a “25 under 25” article about 25 people under the age of 25 to watch in the city, based on the success we’d achieved with our company, River Reign Exclusive Design, people had come out of the woodwork to both congratulate us and hire us. Particularly people from my father’s church, Works of Faith Covenant Church - which was a mixed blessing, because while we definitely appreciated the support, my father’s parishioners did have a tendency to act like spies where River and I were concerned. They liked to report back to him about everything we did and said.

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. My River wasn’t in her office, so I figured I would come down here and see you. Please pass my congratulations and praise on to her. She’s so bright.” She looked up at the ceiling, probably wondering how she ever got so lucky as to have a granddaughter as fabulous as River. “I always expected that she would do big things. I guess it’s a good thing that she agreed to help you out when you were still dreaming about starting a little business.”

  And there it was. The shade that she loved to throw. I’d wanted to start a little business. So, eff my B.F.A. in Interior Design and my MBA. If River hadn’t been willing to go halfsies on a business with me, I’d apparently be on the track turning tricks over in Englewood, or something. I truly despised that lady.

  I stood up from my desk. Now that the wicked witch of the South (side) had said her piece, hopefully she could hop on her broom and be on her way. “I’ll make sure to let River know you came by, and that you love her, and that you’re very, very proud...of her.”

  “Why are you saying it like that, Reign? Like I’m only proud of her? I just told you I was proud of you. You know, ever since you were small, you had that little...funky attitude. That way of being ugly acting. I never liked it when you were little, and frankly, I don’t like...”

  “Sorry to interrupt.” My assistant, Trinity Wells, said stepping past my grandmother and into my office. The look in her dark brown eyes let me know that she wasn’t sorry at all. She knew what it was with my grandmother, and she had come to save me. I would have to give her a bonus. “Your 1:00 o’clock consultation is on the line.” She turned to my grandmother and gave her a bright smile. “Good afternoon, Mother Champion.”

  Trinity’s smile was promptly returned with a frown and a turned up nose. My grandmother disliked Trinity even more than she disliked me, and that was saying something. She knew Trinity from Works of Faith, because Trinity had grown up in my daddy’s church. So, my grandmother remembered her from children’s church, and from the youth choir, and from when Trinity was sat down from the youth choir for being pregnant at 17.

  That was something I had a hard time reconciling. My friend was sat down from the youth choir for getting pregnant and bringing a beautiful life into the world, but my grandmother could be a mother of the church, in spite of the fact that she was mean, bitter, judgmental, messy and a gossip.

  “Good afternoon, Trinity. Your kids do good in school this past year? Didn’t give their teachers no trouble, did they?”

  “I just have the one child, Mother Champion. I’ve just had the one for eight years now. She’s an only child. But yes, she does great in school and she’s very well behaved.”

  See? Messy!

  She looked Trinity up and down, again, then turned her gaze to me. “Please let River know how proud I am of her, Reign.”

  “I will.” I assured her, hoping that would make her hurry up and go.

  She turned on her heel and I almost cheered. Instead, I looked at Trinity and rolled my eyes up to the ceiling.

  “Oh yes, and I’m proud of you, too.” She added, before she disappeared down the hall.

  I went around my desk and plopped down in my chair. “Whoosah.”

  “Yeah, your granny is a trip.”

  “My granny is a bitch. Anyway, I appreciate you taking the initiative to get her the hell out of here. Expect a V
isa gift card or some other form of thank you on your desk sometime this week.”

  “I didn’t do it for the bonus, Reign. I did it, because you’re my best friend, Girl. I love you, and I don’t want no hating ass grandmothers bringing their negativity all up and through your space. You need to create. You need good energy. Good Chi.”

  I pretended to meditate.

  “Oh, and I need to be a better administrative assistant, because you really do have a phone call. Some chick from Portland, Oregon wants to talk to you all about doing her boss’s place.”

  “I’ll grab it. Thanks.”

  I slipped off my earring, as Trinity left my office shutting the door behind herself.

  “Thank you for your patience. This is Reign Champion. I understand that you’re interested in working with my sister and me on a design.”

  “Actually, my boss is interested in working with you. Personally, I think it would be more efficient to work with someone local. I mean, we’re in the Pacific Northwest, and you’re in...Chicago.”

  I didn’t understand the disdain that the chick on the phone was giving me. I mean, she was the one who had picked up her device and dialed my number. It wasn’t like I cold-called her and gave her the hard-sell. She didn’t know Reign Christina Champion, though. I hired clients - they didn’t hire me, and I wasn’t hiring this broad or her boss. I was “Interior Design Black Barbie,” on that ass. She needed to ask about me.

  “Yes, we are. If that presents a problem, I understand you limiting your search to designers in your local area. I won’t take up any more of your time.” I was just about to disconnect the call, when I heard her call out to me.

  “Reign! Reign!”

  “Yes?” I asked, reluctantly. I was pretty good at reading people, and this broad read like somebody I was going to have to fire, either right now, or later down the road once I had invested time and energy into her boss’s project. I wanted to cut this off at the head. “I’m sorry, with whom am I speaking?”

  “This is Denise Rowland. I’m sorry, it seems like we got off on the wrong foot. My boss is really interested in having you work on this project.”

  “May I ask exactly with whom you are employed?”

  “I’m the personal assistant for Xavier Mayhew.”

  “Oh hell nah.” Slipped from my lips before I could catch myself. Was she serious? Did she seriously call to consult about me working with Xavier Mayhew, and going across the country to do it? Hell nah. That wasn’t happening, but I would try to be more professional about it. “I’m sorry. What I meant was, we are currently booked up until 2025. Please extend our most sincere apologies to your employer, and I wish him the best of luck in his search for a designer.”

  Even after I placed the phone back in it’s cradle, my hand still rested on top of it, like it was glued there. Xavier Mayhew. It was funny how life worked. For two years, I had barely heard that name, barely had to think about him. Remember him. Then, the last football season happened and Xavier Mayhew must have been in beast mode, because every time I turned around, somebody was mentioning his name, interviewing him or sporting his jersey. I could barely go through the checkout line at the grocery store without being confronted with his gorgeous face, or ridiculous body on the cover of some magazine.

  Xavier wanted to hire us to do a design job for him? There was no way that I was prepared to work with him on something like that. I couldn’t talk to him. Hell, I couldn’t be in the same room with him.

  Sliding my hand away from the telephone, I sat it in my lap. Xavier Mayhew tried it. He thought he could call my office, request my services and get me to agree to design a home for him in Portland, Oregon. Arrogant bastard!

  Xavier

  1

  “The bitch hung up on me, after the bitch said ‘hell nah’.” Denise told me.

  My older brother, Brandon, hit me with the screw face. “Your assistant is unprofessional as hell.” Then he turned to her. “If you were my assistant, which would never happen, by the way, I would fire you right now on the spot. That’s not how you speak to your employer about a contact that he asked you to reach out to.”

  “I’m unprofessional? What about the bitch who literally just said “Oh, hell nah,” when I told her that I was the personal assistant for Xavier Mayhew?”

  Brandon turned to me. “Your personal assistant keeps referring to Reign as the bitch, do you have any thoughts on that?”

  Of course I had thoughts on that. I wanted Denise’s ass to be more professional. I mean, she was out in these streets representing me, and she was doing it poorly. But my homeboy, and teammate had asked me to give his god-sister a chance, so I hired her. I was starting to regret that decision. My real assistant, Jocie Harper, was off on maternity leave. I’d promised her 12 weeks of uninterrupted bonding time with her new baby, and I was keeping my word. I would just have to swallow Denise’s lack of experience until Jocie returned.

  “Ay, you’re gonna have to sign up for those receptionist workshops I told you about, if you really wanna keep this job when Jocie comes back, Denise. Nobody should have to train you on the basics of doing business. I mean it should be obvious that rule number one for an assistant is...be polite. If you can’t get that down, there’s no place for you here. I move in circles that require a level of savvy that you just don’t demonstrate. Furthermore, don’t refer to my associates - business or otherwise as “the bitch.”

  “Fine.” She said, snatching up her pen and notebook. “I’ll be in my office signing up for a workshop.”

  “Her office?” Brandon’s expression was incredulous.

  I tried not to laugh. “The third bedroom.” I explained. “You need to be in the first workshop they offer, or this will be your last week working for me.” I called after her.

  I could’ve sworn that I heard her mumble, “fuck you.” But since I couldn’t testify to it, I let it go.

  “Fire her ass, tomorrow.” Brandon advised.

  “I got bigger fish to fry.”

  “Like dealing with the fact that as professional as Reign is, she actually told your assistant “oh, hell nah,” when you tried to hire her?” He didn’t chuckle when he asked me, but I could tell that he wanted to.

  “I fucked that up.” I admitted, and it was the understatement of the millenium. I had more than fucked up the situation with Reign. I had murdered it, dismembered it, buried it, and now I was trying to exhume it from the grave.

  “You fucked that completely up and even then, there was a window of opportunity to right them wrongs. Why the hell would you wait three years to shoot your second-chance ass shot?”

  “I’m immature, nigga. What you want me to say, Brandon? That I needed to have my THOT-nation minute?”

  “THOT-nation?”

  “Yeah, when I THOTTED all over the world. Instagram baddies from every corner of the globe.”

  “That shit played out all over IG and Twitter, too. You think Reign didn’t see that shit? You can’t possibly think that, X. Tell me you don’t think that, X.”

  “I know she saw it, Brandon. But what the fuck can I do about that now? Anyway, that was the past, this is me now. Now, I’m ready for her. I found myself. Now, I want my woman.”

  “You’re sounding real fuckboyish right about now.”

  “Now,” I disagreed, “my fuckboy days are behind me. I miss my girl. Grandma died and everything...suddenly became really clear.”

  He nodded slowly.

  “I ain’t satisfied.” I continued. “My life ain’t what I want it to be, need it to be.”

  “You’re 25 years old, X. Nobody expects you to settle down, and become some kind of role model for monogamy. Now’s the time to go on your thot-nation world tour. Live recklessly. You don’t want to wake up one day and realize that you rushed into something.”

  My brother didn’t understand where my head was at, and I wasn’t up to explaining it to him. So, I gave him the truth (facts only, no emotions) because I knew it was palatable, and that h
e would accept it. “Age ain’t got nothing to do with it, Bruh. Yeah, I’m 25, but I’m in the NFL. My first season in the league I probably got pussy from a different woman 365 days in a row. I’ve had a lot of faceless, nameless sex. Now, I just want Reign.”

  “Well, based on what your ratchet-ass, fill in assistant had to say, it doesn’t seem like the feeling is mutual.”

  “Nah, it doesn’t.” I admitted. “But luckily for me, I’m not a quitter.”

  “What? You gonna try to go through River?”

  “Yep and anybody else that I have to go through.”

  It was obvious to me that her mouth was full.

  “Tell me why I should help you, Xavier.” River said, over whatever she was ignorantly chewing in my ear.

  Unlike with Reign, I’d actually made the call to River myself. I needed to plead my own case.

  “Because I love her, Twin.” Again, that was the short version, but that was all that I was willing to give River. I wasn’t trying to get into the long story with anybody but Reign and I had my reasons.

  “Nigga, please. Go ‘head on with that. With all due respect, X...fuck you and your feelings. You hurt my sister, my twin, my other half. I can’t believe you would even come to me like we’re on it like that. You know I hold my sister’s grudges, and we don’t fuck with you.”

  I let her get her rant out, because for one, what she said was truth, and secondly, at least she was talking to me. She hadn’t hung up on me. “Yo, I know. I know I fucked up. I just want…”

  “A second chance? Motherfucker, my sister just wanted to love you, and you shitted on her.”

  I paused for a second. “Ay, what the fuck is up with your word choice, River? Do you kiss the First Lady with that mouth? Does Pastor Champion know you’re on the phone acting real worldly right now?”