Chapter 18
18
Then…
“ H ow you get an apartment already? You ain’t even started this new job, yet!” was how my father responded to my announcement at the dinner table. My sisters looked to be near tears, but neither spoke.
“I just told you, Daddy. I got a sign-on bonus from the company, enough to put down a deposit and get a bed and couch. That’s really all I need right now,” I replied, adding to the laundry list of lies I’d already told him.
My big bear of a father stared at me, concern and something else in his eyes—fear. “What kind of company you say this is?”
“Mills-Thomas. I’ll be working as a pharmaceutical rep for them. I’ll be traveling all over, and it’s good money, Daddy.”
“Healthcare, Memphis? I would think you wouldn’t want anything to do with that system after…”
That’s when it hit me. Mama. Her loss was why all of them, my family, were taking this news so hard.
So, I stood, abandoning the plate of neck bones and greens “Aunt” Pauline had cooked for us, and stepped around the table to hug my daddy. “I miss her, too, but it’s time for me to try to figure life out without her. I’ll still be living here in town.”
“Not The Village. You said the apartment is in Parkton,” he grumbled.
“It’s the same thing, Daddy,” I reminded him.
“Parkton is changing, getting dangerous in some parts.”
“I won’t be living in those parts.”
“I thought you wanted to be a cop or something.”
“I did; maybe I still do. Never said I’d be at this job forever.”
Silence from Daddy. Sniffles from Lilith. A hung head from Umber. I moved to hug them, too, but my daddy held onto me, softly saying, “You be careful. You might be mean, but you ain’t invincible.”
I chuckled. “I will, Daddy. You be careful, too…with Aunt Pauline.”
My daddy actually blushed. I was happy he had her around to make him feel better.
My sisters left their seats, and soon, all four of us were locked in a tearful hug. I mean, I didn’t cry, but they did.
Six months into this new life and I’d already earned fifty thousand dollars from one assignment, an easy one at that. I didn’t even have to leave the state, and it helped that the target was this grimy loan shark guy who abused his wife. He had so many enemies, the police would never figure out who shot him in his office late that night. I was in and out in minutes. No witnesses. No evidence left behind. I was really good at this.
So, I was truly taken aback when I answered the door to my relatively new home to find my boss standing there dressed in khakis and a white button-down shirt, brown rimmed glasses, neatly trimmed hair and beard. He was older than me by a few years, but not by that much. I could tell because he had this maturity about him that told me he’d seen and experienced more than I had at that point.
“You gonna let me in, Miss King?” he asked, his voice vibrating in my ears. His energy enveloped me, making me acutely aware of any vulnerabilities I may have possessed even though I couldn’t name them. The way he looked at me, the way he smelled? It all made me feel so weak.
I hated it.
“Why are you here?” was how I chose to respond, my eyes glued to his.
He smiled. “This feels a lot like déjà vu, you know?”
Nothing from me.
“You think it would be good to discuss business in your doorway?” he asked.
He did have a point, so I reluctantly let him in, offering him a seat on my couch. I settled on the opposite end of it from him.
“You know, Miss King—” he began, but I cut him off.
“My name is Memphis. Call me Memphis,” I said.
“I like King,” he replied.
“Well, thank you, but Miss King sounds like an old woman. I’m not an old woman.”
“Oh, I know that.”
Rolling my eyes, I repeated, “ Why are you here ?”
Turning his body to face mine, he said, “I’m your boss. You’re supposed to be nice to me.”
“This is me being nice.”
“Okay, King…just wanted to congratulate you on a job well done. That was a clean extermination.”
I nodded. “Yeah, it was.”
His laughter was so loud and boisterous that I nearly joined in. “I really like you—the attitude and all. Hell, I might be in love.”
I frowned, adjusting my posture to mirror his. “What kind of boss are you? This has got to be illegal, you flirting with an employee.”
He flashed another smile which induced another twitch between my thighs. “King, this whole company is built on illegality.”
He did have a point…again.
Scanning the living room, he shared, “Looks good in here. I like what you’ve done with the place.”
“Thank you. So…you came here to do a performance evaluation? That’s it?”
He stared at me as if making a decision. Then he said, “Come here,” in this low voice. Not exactly commanding but not begging, either. Rather, it felt beseeching and full of deep desire. And damned if I didn’t want to obey him. I wasn’t the obeying type when it came to men or much of anyone else because fuck that. So, I didn’t move…although I wanted to.
Instead, I asked, “Why?”
He licked his nice lips, his eyes darkening. “Because I said so, King.”
“You might be my boss, but you don’t own me. You can’t make me do shit, Mr. 001A.”
“Bo.”
That one word made my heart jolt in my chest. “What?”
“My name is Bo. That’s what I want you to call me.” He moved closer to me, the scent of him crawling all over me. “When I finally fuck you, I wanna hear you scream that, not some damn numbers.”
I blinked hard as he moved even closer. “I’m not fucking you. To be honest, I don’t even like you. You can fire me if that’s going to be a problem.”
His face was mere centimeters from mine as he countered, “You don’t like me, but you’re damn near hyperventilating, King. Don’t worry, I won’t touch you today?—”
Some crazy bitch inside me jumped out and kissed this nigga, hard and rough. He was so caught off guard that he moaned in what had to be an uncharacteristic and momentary show of weakness. He kissed me back, matching my vigor, and when we parted, we just sat there, our heaving breaths crashing in the small space between us. What seemed like a millennia later, he pecked my lips one soft time, before wordlessly leaving my sofa and my home.
My only thought?
Why the fuck did I do that?