Chapter 12 #2
“Yeah, Xena was saying something about she knew you were cheating too or something like that,” Travis explained.
Shyriq laughed. “Imagine that.”
“I mean, shit . . . You did hire the girl,” Bleek added.
“Hiring someone means I’m fucking them?” Shyriq questioned, swiveling his head to look at them.
“Nah, man. I know you were never on that, but I guess that’s what she thinks,” Travis said.
Shyriq downed the remainder of his drink.
He couldn’t care less what Xena thought.
She wasn’t on his mind at any time of the day, and he wished it was the same for her.
He didn’t know who this person was recording him, but Shyriq hoped he never found out, not for his sake but for Nhuri’s.
She had nothing to do with their divorce and surely wasn’t a part of his life before it.
“That’s on her. I hope whatever I’m doing haunts her ass at night,” Shyriq said nonchalantly.
The men howled in laughter.
“That’s cold, man. But she had it coming,” Cane said.
“So, how y’all meet?” Travis asked.
He was trying to make it sound like he was interested, and he was, but he really wanted to pillow talk with Toya later on.
She may have been friends with Xena, but she didn’t condone her behavior or how she treated Shyriq during this entire ordeal.
Morally, she was in the wrong, and it rubbed Toya the wrong way, so Shyriq’s business was safe with her . . . and her husband.
“Cane’s engagement party,” Shyriq answered.
“Awww shit. I get to give the best man speech at the wedding and tell everyone how it was because of me that you met the real love of your life,” Cane said, making them laugh.
Shyriq waved him off. “Man, grow up. You moving a bit too fast.”
“Am I? You the one who hired her as your assistant,” Cane said.
“She got let go of at her job, and I had a position open,” he shrugged.
“A few positions open,” Bleek said, coughing under his breath.
Shyriq was single and needed an assistant. It was the perfect setup.
“Y’all not gon’ let me live, huh?” Shyriq asked, amused by their nosiness.
“We are. We’re just trying to see where your head is at. Is she even qualified?” Travis asked.
Shyriq’s jaws clenched. He didn’t like Travis questioning Nhuri’s capabilities, and something in his chest tightened by him doing so.
“What, you think I brought her on to fuck off?” Shyriq questioned. “Of course, she can handle the position.”
Cane and Travis exchanged looks before Travis nodded. “A’ight. No need to bite our heads off.”
Shyriq waved them off just as Shar refilled his glass. “Thank you,” he said. “Y’all need to stop acting like I don’t know what I’m doing. Nhuri is in good hands.”
Cane chuckled. “I bet. I know she ain’t expecting your ass to be so damn serious. You got that ‘boss mode’ switch that throws people off.”
“Good,” Shyriq said evenly. “It keeps people on their toes.”
Travis studied him for a beat. “You see her moving up in the company?”
Shyriq exhaled, thinking about it. “Honestly, yeah. If she wants to, she has the skills. Just gotta see if she got the drive.”
Cane’s grin widened. “You really like her, huh?”
Shyriq side-eyed him. “What you mean by that?”
“You ain’t just hiring anybody, Shy,” Cane said, puffing his cigar. “You see something in her.”
Shyriq shrugged. “I see potential. That’s it.”
Travis smirked. “Hmm. We’ll see.”
Shyriq ignored them, taking another sip of his whiskey, but the conversation lingered in the back of his mind. He most definitely saw something in Nhuri besides what she had on her resume. Only time would tell if he was willing to figure out exactly what it was.
The night began to wind down for the fellas, but the flow of occupants in the lounge remained steady.
A younger crowd who enjoyed the atmosphere had gotten hip to the location and started visiting in the last few months.
Shyriq loved to see that. He was all for seeing a business be supported and flourish.
“A’ight. I’m out. Got get home to the missus,” Cane said while stretching and rolling his shoulders.
“She ain’t your wife yet. Wedding planning stressing you out yet?” Shyriq asked, finishing his whiskey. He let the smooth burn settle in his chest before pushing his glass to the side.
“Not yet, but I can feel it brewing. It’s whatever for my baby, though,” Cane said, smiling.
Love looked beyond good on him.
“I hear that,” Travis said, sliding out of the booth.
Bleek and Shyriq were up and out of their seats next. A hefty tip was left behind for Shar, and she was more than grateful for them. Fresh air entered their lungs as they exited the building. Shyriq inhaled, feeling as relaxed as ever.
“Y’all be easy,” Cane said, and they all slapped hands.
“Shy, you good?” Travis questioned, watching him closely.
He nodded. “Yeah, just enjoying the nice weather. You know how KC gets. One day, you can wear shorts, and the next, you’ll need a coat.”
“Or a boat. It rained for forty days and forty nights the other week,” Bleek griped.
Business at the car shop had been slower than ever those days. It rained for a good five days straight. The city hadn’t seen anything like it.
“Man,” Travis chuckled. “Tell me about it.”
Cane and Bleek headed to their rides while Shyriq and Travis stayed back.
“Aye, man,” Travis began, “I ain’t mean to be negative on whatever you have going on with another woman.”
Shyriq shook his head. “I didn’t take it that way. I know y’all are just some nosy mothafuckas,” he said, chuckling.
“I can’t deny that. We were just worried, that’s all. I’ve never been through a divorce, so I can’t speak on how to feel, but I’ve been betrayed before. Don’t let what Xena did make your heart cold. If Nhuri is who you want, forget what anyone has to say.”
Nodding, Shyriq took in his words and nodded. “I ’preciate that, and I won’t. Xena didn’t do anything but make me want to find the woman truly meant for me.”
“And that’s her loss, bro. You’re a good guy,” Travis said as they embraced. He patted him on the shoulder. “Be safe, and don’t get too lost in those thoughts. They can cripple you.”
“I hear you. Good looking out,” Shyriq said.
They parted ways, and though Shyriq wanted to act as if his words didn’t affect him, they had.
He didn’t want to turn his heart cold. He had so much love to give, and Xena had played with his heart.
Shyriq scolded himself as he walked to his vehicle.
How didn’t I see the signs? The question entered his brain as he started the ignition.
His drive home was filled with what-ifs and his next steps in life.
Going from married to single was a jump scare, and if you weren’t prepared, because who could be ready for that type of thing, you’d be lost in who you were.
Or who you were meant to be. By the time Shyriq pulled into his driveway, the thoughts of his past had quieted, but the ones of his future were loud.
His house was big but not excessive. It’s a nice mixture of modern and minimal.
It was the kind of home built for someone who valued order over unnecessary clutter.
Entering through the garage, Shyriq tossed his keys onto the kitchen counter, pulled off his watch, and went upstairs.
Slipping off his shirt, he yawned. His body was tired, but his mind was in overdrive.
He tried to shake it, but one thought kept circling back.
One person specifically. Shyriq couldn’t shake Nhuri for shit.
He wasn’t the type to dwell on people, but something about her kept scratching at the back of his mind.
Maybe it was how composed she was during their meeting, even when he’d thrown her mixed signals.
Or how she subtly made him hand over some of his control with her comebacks.
Shyriq smirked. He loved a woman who could stand on her own no matter who she was up against. Nhuri carried herself with a quiet confidence that shined through when it needed to.
Hiring her was going to test every patient bone in his body.
After showering off the night, Shyriq brushed his teeth and did his skincare before moisturizing his body.
Inside his bedroom, he slipped on a pair of briefs and climbed into bed.
Without thinking too much about it, he grabbed his phone. What he was about to do was probably against the policy somewhere in the handbook for GHC. But was it really considered rule-breaking if she hadn’t started yet? Shyriq smirked and shook his head.
“It’s not. Plus, I’m the owner. A little background check is needed,” he said, trying to convince himself.
Opening Facebook, Shyriq ignored the hundreds of notifications and went straight to the search bar.
He typed Nhuri’s first and last name in.
Her profile popped up, and he tapped it.
Scanning her picture, Shyriq smiled. Nhuri’s warm, brown complexion, tantalizing eyes, and high cheekbones had him stuck.
She had the type of face and beauty that made you get lost and forget your train of thought.
Shyriq scrolled her page, noticing she wasn’t the type to flood her page with selfies or long statuses.
Each post was days or weeks apart, as if she were never on the app, which Shyriq found attractive.
Compared to Xena, who lived for a social media moment and posted every intimate detail of her life, except her cheating, Shyriq found Nhuri’s page refreshing, just like her.
Her profile was clean and carefully curated, leaving much to the imagination.
Curiosity got the best of him as he continued scrolling.
Most of her posts were light, random thoughts, shared articles, some pictures of her and Natalia, and glimpses into her personal life without giving too much away.
Then he stumbled across a post from a few months back. Shyriq sat up in the bed.
“Sometimes life reroutes you for a reason. I’m just going to trust God and this process.”
There was no extra explanation, and the comments didn’t give up any context clues.
Just a bunch of people telling Nhuri they were proud of her and that she had this.
Shyriq tapped his thumb against the screen, wondering what had happened around that time.
He looked at the date and realized it was around the same time he and Xena split.
“Damn. What a coincidence,” he mumbled.
Too caught up and feeling like he needed to solve a mystery, Shyriq kept scrolling further.
He caught a picture of her at some event, dressed in a sleek black gown, looking poised and elegant.
She was smiling brightly, and Shyriq peeped the bystanders in the photo’s background.
All eyes were on her. He smirked slightly.
Nhuri didn’t seem like the type who wanted attention, but she got it anyway.
Based on the pictures he saw, she had friends, but her circle looked small.
She had a lot of love for her sister and niece, though.
That made him wonder where her parents were.
Natalia was all over her page, laughing in videos, celebrating milestones, and just being siblings.
Shyriq’s mind quickly ventured to Rush, but then he wondered.
How much had Nhuri sacrificed for her?
The more he saw, the more he realized he wasn’t figuring out much about her at all. He knew her qualifications and knew she’d be able to handle the tasks he handed her way, but who was Nhuri? And why the hell was he so damn intrigued?
Shyriq huffed and locked his phone before sliding it onto the nightstand.
He didn’t do this. Sit up and scroll a woman’s page, wondering how her life came about.
This was new. Nhuri had him acting out of character in more ways than one, and Shyriq didn’t know whether to drop his interest in her or lean into it.
He hired her because she was competent, not because he needed another distraction.
But maybe Nhuri was the exception, regardless of whether Shyriq wanted to admit it.