Chapter 6 #2
“I promise. But I’m telling you now to stop thinking about what other motherfuckas have to say. There has never been a scandal in the office, and there never will be. Even if people did know that we were together, I wouldn’t give a fuck, Layne. And I don’t want you to give a fuck either.
“As respect to you, I’ll keep shit professional at the office, but outside of that, we can do whatever we want.
What do you say?” She seemed to hesitate for a moment.
I understood her reasoning, but I didn’t care about it as much as she did.
I just wanted her to say the word, and I was going to make sure I made her happy from here on out.
“Okay . . .”
“Okay?”
“Yes. You can date me.”
“Then it’s on. Get ready to glow for the rest of your life.” I picked up her hand and kissed the back of it as she smiled.
This journey with her was going to be interesting.
Layne and I rode around the city talking, after talking with the decorators, getting to know each other better. Although I had just left from dinner with my people, I made sure to only order an appetizer since I was plotting on how to take Layne out.
We went to Belle Isle Park, ordered tacos from the food truck, then sat at the picnic table to eat.
I had never done this before in my adult years.
Like I said, the women my people tried to hook me up with, we never got past the first date.
We’d have dinner, then their legs would be in the air by the end of the night, with nothing else to remember them by.
I wasn’t a sappy nigga, but I loved love.
My parents had been married for forty-one years, so I always knew I’d find me a wife one day.
Layne was the second person I’d ever taken interest in and hadn’t bedded yet.
Which was a surprise but wasn’t. I could tell she was raised to have morals and values.
Even though the sexual tension had been there with us since day one, she was standing on business about her personal life not interfering with her work.
And I respected the hell out of her for that.
“. . . My parents had offered to pay the rest of my way through school, but I didn’t want to continue to depend on them.
I mean, it makes sense for them to pay for their child’s education since they had it to do so, but I wanted to be grown, and look where that got me,” Layne explained when I asked her about her education.
“I can understand you wanting to be independent . . . It’s natural for some children to want to be able to do things on their own. But you probably should have used your peeps money instead of creating a debt you now have to pay.”
“I know. It was a stupid decision, but I don’t regret it. I was still able to graduate. Granted, I thought I would be using my degree at your company, I still get paid well just from being your assistant. Did the other assistants make sixty dollars an hour too?”
I chuckled. “Only Brian. The other ones, I told you, were hired through a temp agency. They paid them whatever their pay rate was going for.”
“Oh, right. You did say that,” she said, finishing her last taco. “You know I interned at your company a few years ago?”
“You did?” I asked, surprised. “Why didn’t I meet you before three days ago?”
“Brian was your assistant then, but while training under him, he never introduced me to you. Said you were a meanie and didn’t like people.
It’s how I knew so much about you. I was already getting your coffee and ordering your food.
He never let me order the personal items like the flowers, since that was personal information, but everything else, I did for you. ”
“That punk ass nigga.” We laughed. “I’m sure he knew had you met me, his job would have been in jeopardy.”
“I beg to differ. I only interned there as an assistant just to have something under me since I’d never worked a day in my life. As you can see, I didn’t get hired in. It was just something to put on my résumé.”
“Damn, just use me, huh?”
She giggled. “I had to. You know how it is.”
“I do. Now that you’ve told me about your degree, I want nothing more than for you to use it. After the anniversary party, I want you to become my social media manager.”
“Say what now?”
I laughed. “You heard me. As much as I’d love for you to stay close to me, I want you to do what you worked hard and put yourself in debt for. The pay is more too.”
“Avery . . . That-are you sure?”
“I wouldn’t have said it if I wasn’t. I like you. I want to see you shine. I’m going to dread looking for another assistant, but for you, I’ll endure it.”
“You don’t have to do that. I haven’t even been your assistant that long.”
“Do you want to stay next to me or follow your dreams and pay off that debt? I mean, I’m not opposed to having you near me,” I said, licking my lips and smiling at her. Layne’s cheeks were turning pink as she tried to hide her blush.
“I—I don’t know what to say. My degree was the reason I even came to the open interviews at your company. Jennifer told me you needed a business manager. I wanted to kick her ass for lying to me, but I’m glad she did recommend for me to apply.”
“I’m glad she did too.” We stared at each other before her eyes went out to the setting sun. She was shy. I loved that about her because I was the same way before, only I grew out of that once I started having sex. All that shy shit went out the window.
“Come on, we got one more stop to make.”
“Okay.”
I gathered our trash and tossed it, then took her hand, escorting her back to her truck. I was determined to make Layne Grant fall madly in love with me.