Chapter 4
Dammit, Deonta
Idrifted off to sleep, Raymond's face in my mind's eye, only to be jolted awake by the insistent ringing of my phone. Curses on my lips, I reached over to pick up the device and saw his name flashing across the screen.
“The hell?” I frowned, cleared my throat, and answered the call. “Hello?”
“Are you just getting out of bed?” he asked, as if he was an old friend.
I had to check my attitude before I responded. “Can I help you? Did you need something?”
“Yes, actually.” His voice came through the phone in a smug tone. “I would like to come see your facilities today. The proposal looks great, but I think it makes sense for me to see things before I completely sign on.”
“That sounds fine. Our team doesn’t really do much in office besides using the gym to train.” I sat up in bed, wiping the sleep from my eyes as Kaa slithered across the foot of the bed. “We don’t have them come in unless there are assignments.”
“That’s understandable. I don’t need to meet the team. This is more so an opportunity to get to see your day-to-day operations and understand how we can work together to make this partnership a successful one.”
“What time would you like to come by?” I asked, already done with hearing the man’s voice before I even had my morning tea.
“It would have to be late in the day.” He paused. “I have a few meetings to attend. If you’re okay with it, I can head your way around 4:30.”
So why the hell are you calling me now? I rolled my eyes, again pulled the annoyance out of my tone, and then responded.
“That should be fine. Please shoot me an email with the confirmed time and copy my assistant, Natalie, on it. We’ll accommodate you.”
“Thank you,” he responded, and then, in an antagonizing tone, said, “Have a good rest of your morning, whenever that begins for you.”
And then, he hung up, giving me no time to tell him to kiss my ass. I stared at the phone and realized this nutcase had called me at five-thirty in the damn morning. This had to be a power play, because the sun wasn’t even up yet. Who had business calls that early in the morning?
“Crazy son of a bitch,” I muttered, tossed my phone to the nightstand, and turned back over. I was not letting that man make me lose any more sleep.
After waking me up at the ass crack of dawn, Raymond was nowhere to be found!
Not a call, text, nor the requested email to confirm what time he was coming.
Throughout the day, as I checked my open contracts, followed up with potential new hires, and confirmed new appointments, my mind kept drifting back to him—that was exactly what he wanted.
Raymond was a typical man, wanting the world to revolve around him.
“This man will not distract me!” I fussed after looking at the clock. It was after four, and he still hadn’t checked in, not even after Natalie sent him an email requesting a confirmed appointment time.
“Still no word from Mr. Statton.” Natalie entered my office. She wore an adorable baby-doll shirt that made her look far more innocent than I knew her to be. I mean, the girl frequented raves and often dated men with motorcycles and gang affiliations.
“That’s fine. Maybe this is a sign I shouldn’t be working with him.
” I shrugged. It would be difficult finding a solution to the staffing issue, but I never backed down from a challenge.
Even with the pending agreement with Raymond, I had already put out a few other feelers with other companies.
Unfortunately, I had yet to hear back from any of them, but these things could take time. I knew that.
“There will be better options,” Natalie attempted to reassure me.
“Sure.” I paused, deciding I wanted to change the topic. “Wait, your birthday is coming up! What are we doing this year?”
“Honestly, I’m turning thirty, and it should be a big deal, but it doesn’t feel like it.” She pulled up a seat to sit on the opposite side of my desk. “It’s supposed to be more impactful than this, isn’t it?”
“What do you mean?” I leaned back in my seat. “Impactful how?”
“Theres no excitement. My life is monotonous, and all my friends have moved away—I mean, besides you.
And it's weird that I see you as a friend, because you pay me. I just always imagined my life would be so much more adventurous. When I first met you and figured out your secret, I thought that was a sign it was all about to get real fun, but honestly, not much has even come of that.”
“First off, we are friends. I can cut you a check and still be your friend.” I laughed.
“And your life will only be as exciting as you make it. You’re still young.
You have no kids or responsibilities outside of yourself.
There’s nothing stopping you from making your life the adventure you want it to be. ”
“You’re so wise.” She shook the braids out of her face. “This is why I look up to you.”
“We can find something fun to do. We still have a few weeks to plan. I’d suggest a trip together, but with this contract, it's not a good time to leave town.”
“We can save the trip for when you sign the next big deal!” Natalie clapped her hands. “This is only the beginning. There’s so much more greatness coming for you!”
“Spa day? How about that? I’ll plan it! Besides, you deserve it after all you’ve done around here.
” I looked at the clock. “Actually, you should head out now, start the celebration early and go take yourself out for a few drinks. What about that guy you were interested in? Maybe he’s available for dinner.
I’m not typically a fan of women asking men out, but exceptions can be made. ”
Natalie’s nose turned up like a dog had just taken a massive shit in her lap. “Ugh, If I could make him drink bathwater, I would.”
“That bad?” I straightened, always ready to trash talk a man.
“We were supposed to be on a simple date that turned out to be his family reunion! He introduced me to his mother as his fiancée.” She gawked. “Can you believe that? I stood there, no ring on my finger and panic all over my face.”
“Wait,” I laughed. “You only knew him for like two months, right?”
“Yes.” She shook her head. “He expected me to go along with it and even called to curse me out about how much it embarrassed him when I ran the hell up out of there. I mean, I might have played along if he told me about it ahead of time. I’m all for fooling a pushy mother, but that wasn’t cool.”
“Natalie, what did you do to that man?” I laughed because I knew there was more to the story.
She looked down at the tablet in her hand and tapped the screen, as if she had something important to do. “I have no idea what you mean.”
“You put a little something-something on him…didn’t you?” I pointed at her like I found the key to an unsolved case. “That spellbook you found!”
“Okay, maybe I experimented with a spell, but it was just supposed to make him want me, not jump to marriage.” She shrugged. “I even used half the recommended ingredients, like when making pancakes. I never want six. Three is more than enough.”
“I keep telling you to stop playing with magic you don’t understand. That’s not how any of this works. You’re going to get yourself in a lot of trouble if you don’t stop while you’re ahead.”
“We can’t all be like you. Your natural abilities work for you.” She pouted. “I have to try my best to learn and grow my own witchy powers.”
“Did you ever figure out who owns that grimoire?” I asked her. “Seriously, if it’s the property of someone evil, it's going to bite you in the ass.”
“No, but it vanished a while ago.” She rolled her eyes. “I only got to copy a few simple spells out of it before it did.”
“Good. You don’t need access to that anyway.
” My shoulders relaxed. At least we didn’t have to worry about her being cursed because she refused to listen to reason.
The day she told me she found it after taking her hardheaded ass to a party meant for magical beings, I told her to get rid of it.
Of course, I couldn’t force her to do anything.
She was a grown woman, after all, but I did ban her from bringing the damn thing anywhere near me.
“I could be a lot better if you would just take me under your wing.” She waved her fingers in front of her face. “Teach me your ways, sensei.”
“How many times do I have to tell you, I don’t know anything about that type of magic?
I don’t use spells to do what I do. But even if I did, do you think I would teach you a damn thing knowing how reckless you’ve already been?
Playing around with love spells is so dangerous, especially using one on a man you barely even know.
That seriously could have backfired on your silly ass.
You should be happy that man didn’t try to kill you. ”
“But think about how exciting it would make my life!” She tucked the tablet under her arm and put her hands in a praying position.
All the prayer in the world won’t make me dare mess with love magic. That shit never works out the way you want it to!
“Turning thirty isn’t that damn bad.” I laughed. “Now get out of here and find something safe to do!”
Just as Natalie stood to leave, a notification sounded from her tablet. She checked the message then looked at me. “It’s Mr. Statton. He said he will be here in an hour. I can hang around.”
“No need.” I waved her off. “You can get going. I still have some papers to review. I’ll wait for him. He just wants a tour of the place.”
“Are you sure?” she double-checked with me, as always.
“Yes. I didn’t do a love spell on him, so I won’t have to fight him off.” I teased her.
“Funny.” Natalie mockingly rolled her eyes then left. “See ya!”
It was never my intention to tell Natalie about my abilities. Actually, I wanted her to be in the dark. Foolishly, I thought that would make things easier for me. But three months after she started working for me, she found out, and I couldn’t have been more relieved.