Turning around to see who it was, I locked eyes with James. We had worked together for several years at my previous job. He was the only one who reached out to see how I was doing after I was let go. He, too, couldn’t stand Logan’s messy ass, so it was something that we had bonded over.
“Hi, James. How are you?” I asked, placing my hand into his extended one.
“I’m good. A little better now that I’m seeing you.”
Blushing, I couldn’t ignore his flirting. James was a handsome guy and very successful, but I wasn’t sure that I was in the mood or right mindset to even consider talking to another man. Men in general had begun to irk my nerves, and I wasn’t sure when I’d be ready to get back out there and even remotely consider taking another man seriously. And no, it had nothing to do with Sincere, at least I didn’t think that it did.
“Well, I’m glad to hear that.”
“Look, I don’t know if this is the right time or not, but I’d really love to take you out on a date. Now that we don’t work together, we don’t have to worry about following that no dating in the workplace rule. If it’s too soon after what you just went through, though, I’ll understand.”
“I’m flattered, really, I am. But you’re right, it’s a little too soon. We can be friends, though. I don’t have much else to offer outside of that.”
“I understand, and I’ll take what I can get. Well, hey, promise me that you’ll save me a dance before you leave for the night. Can we start there?”
“Sure, I’ll make sure I do that.”
As I watched him walk away, I was glad that he wasn’t overbearing and tried to hog up my space. I didn’t come here to be tied up in a conversation with one man all night. In fact, Ididn’t come to speak to any man, but if I had to, I didn’t want to spend my entire night flirting with him. It wasn’t that he was a bad guy. I just wasn’t in the mood for it.
“You know that nigga isn’t the right man for you,” I heard Sincere say behind me.
His voice coming out of nowhere scared the shit out of me and damn near made me drop my drink from the way I jumped. I wasn’t even aware that he’d snuck up behind me. And I didn’t know how much of the conversation I’d just had with James that he’d heard. I also didn’t know why I was concerned about him overhearing my conversation.
Jesus!I really needed to get my feelings in check when it came to this man. A man that wasn’t and would never be my man. However, something about him had me feeling like I’d just gotten caught trying to talk to another man when I shouldn’t have been.
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked, hoping I could get away with acting as though I didn’t hear him, and praying that he didn’t care enough to repeat what he said.
Stepping closer to me, he moved the curl from in front of my face and bent down so that we were staring each other in the eyes, “I said, that nigga isn’t the right man for you.”
“And why do you think that?”
“Because I’d like to think that I’ve learned enough about you to know what kind of man you need in your life.”
“That’s a big assumption, right?”
“Normally, yes. But when it comes to you, I don’t think so.”
“Oh,” I said, not sure what else to say.
“I think you’ll see that soon enough,” he said, grabbing a drink from the waitress and turning back to me. “Are you here by yourself? I’m not sure I feel comfortable with you standing over here by yourself.”
“Uh, no. I came with my friends. Actually,” I said, looking around him and seeing both Raelynn and Zaveah watching us from the other side of the room. “There they are. I should get back to them. It was nice seeing you tonight.”
“Indeed, I’ll see you at the office tomorrow,” he said, smirking as he stepped to the side so that I could be on my way. The entire walk to the other side of the room, I could feel him watching me. And, as much as I wanted to, I forced myself not to look back.
Now that myperiod was done, I was back to working as I did before. I wasn’t one of those girls who could push through her period. When mine came, I was down for the count and was barely able to focus. I kept a heating pad and meds at my desk and did my best to limit the number of meetings we had to attend outside of the office. But those days were behind me for another month or so, so I was back on my feet.
I had less than a couple of months before I would no longer be Sincere’s personal assistant and could step into the full-time PR Manager role if I wanted it. I had gotten about ten job offers since I started working with Sincere, and I was still so thankful that I had been courageous enough to come up here and demand a job with them. If not, I would’ve probably still been sitting on my parents’ couch trying to figure out my life.
Now, I had to figure out what was next for me. Did I stay here and remain loyal? Or did I find something that was more aligned with the industries I was used to working in?
While the music industry wasn’t my initial goal, I’d actually fallen in love with it. And, Sincere was the only one who was willing to give me a job when everyone else closed their doorson me. I felt like I owed him my loyalty, so I was leaning toward staying. And, if loyalty wasn’t a good enough motivator, the paycheck definitely was. I would be making damn near double what I did in my previous position, and I didn’t know what I would do with all that extra money.
“Here are the files that you needed,” Beverly said, tossing the papers down on my desk.
Sucking my teeth, I replied, “Beverly, let me talk to you for a second.”
I had dealt with her bitchy ass attitude for months now, and that shit was going to stop. If I was going to continue working here, we needed to come to an understanding. She could not like me all she wanted to, but I wouldn’t deal with her damn disrespect. I gave her respect, and I required that shit in return.