Chapter 4 #2
She wanted me to say some shit that would make her feel better about all the different reasons as to why I wouldn’t hire her, running around in her head.
She wanted me to tell her that it was because of another woman or some shit like that, but the truth was that I just didn’t want her ass there, so she wasn’t going to be there.
What she chose to believe was up to her, though.
I just wasn’t going to sit and feed into her delusions.
“That’s bullshit! It’s because you’re always up there flirting and doing shit that you shouldn’t be doing, that’s why. Who did you hire anyway?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“Oh, so you’re fucking her or something? Why can’t I know who you hired? I work in PR, so you know I know damn near everybody. Go ahead and tell me her name. I’ll figure it out if you don’t. So, let’s save both of us some time, huh?”
“Fine. I hired Kenedi Mathis,” I said, watching as the tears immediately fell from her eyes. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Please tell me you didn’t hire that lunatic? The girl literally spazzed out on her boyfriend on live TV, and you’re hiring her to run the PR department for your business. You can’t be that crazy, Sincere! That will literally ruin your company.”
“Can’t nobody ruin shit I’ve built. And regardless of her personal shit, she’s a beast at what she does. So, yes, I hired her.”
“I can’t believe this is happening right now. Did you know that we used to work together? She’s the one whose spot I took. You literally hired my biggest enemy for a position that I’ve been basically begging you for. Why would you do some shit like that?”
Damn! Taking a second to process what she was saying, I felt a little bad about hiring Kenedi.
However, how the fuck was I supposed to know that the two of them not only worked together, but that they fucking hated each other?
I had a feeling this shit was going to make my life a lot more stressful whenever they were in the same room.
And, I knew that Logan was going to bitch and complain about the shit forever if I allowed her to.
“Well, first of all, I didn’t do the shit on purpose. You’ve never told me the girl’s name, just that y’all couldn’t stand each other. But, yeah, she’s the one that I hired because she’s the best for the job.”
“You have to fire her. This relationship can’t work if she’s working for you,” she said, folding her arms and staring at me.
“Yeah, that shit isn’t going to happen. We’re not even in a fucking relationship,” I said, picking up the menu.
I was a grown-ass man, and there was no way in hell I was going to let somebody tell me what the fuck I had to do.
That added to the fact that Logan wasn’t even my woman, yeah, it wasn’t going to happen.
I already knew that I would be putting out fires and letting motherfuckers know that whatever they felt about Kenedi and the shit she’d done had better never come across my desk or let me hear it.
We’d all done crazy shit in our past, and while the entire world didn’t know about it, I knew that if the shit ever came out, everyone wouldn’t be so quick to judge her.
“So, you’re choosing her over me?”
“Nah, you’re choosing her over you. I haven’t said a damn thing outside of I’m not firing her because you don’t like her.”
“Fine. I guess there’s nothing else for us to talk about,” she said, finishing her glass of wine, grabbing her purse, and storming out of the restaurant.
“Would you still like to order, or will you be leaving, too?” The waitress asked.
“Nah, I’m ordering. I’ll have the steak, medium rare, with loaded mashed potatoes and asparagus. Oh, and I’ll take a Hennesy and Coke,” I said, handing her the menu.
I wished the fuck I would get up and chase after her ass for acting like a brat.
She knew I didn’t do all that dramatic shit, and she was going to learn that acting like she was fucking twelve had officially ended our situationship.
She could go do that shit with another nigga, because I would never be the one to deal with that shit from her.
After dinner, I made my way home. I had a lot of shit to catch up on, but I wasn’t going to work tonight.
I really needed to get some sleep and get prepared for the next day.
Kenedi would be at the office tomorrow, and I had a lot of shit that I needed to get her caught up on.
So, instead of pulling an all-nighter, I was going to take a hot shower and get caught up on some rest. Something I hadn’t done in a long time, because when you were a man in my position, rest wasn’t a luxury that you had the time to focus on.
As I pulled into my driveway, I shook my head.
I wasn’t surprised that Logan was sitting in my driveway, but I was pissed that she was.
I just knew I’d at least get a couple of days’ break before she came with the we need to talk bullshit, but I guessed I was wrong.
Pulling into my spot, I threw the car in park as she hopped out of her car and stood in front of mine.
From the attitude that was written on her face, I knew she was still pissed and still on her bullshit.
Bullshit that I wasn’t in the mood to entertain.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Logan?”
“I’m here so that we can continue talking about this.”
“We don’t really have shit to talk about, though. You said how you felt, I said how I felt, and that’s really the end of it.”
“Do you not care about me, Sincere? My father said that if a man doesn’t care if you’re hurt, crying, or whatever, then he’s not the man for you.
Every time I have an issue with something, you shut me down and disregard how I feel.
How would you feel if I went to work with one of your competitors, and then acted as though the shit wasn’t a big deal? ”
“Well, first of all, you should listen to your father because I agree with that. Secondly, intentionally working with someone you know I don’t fuck with is something completely different than not knowing beforehand.
There was no way for me to know that you and that girl got beef with each other like that, so quit trying to make it seem as though I did some shit to you on purpose.
Now, if that’s all you came to talk about, I’m tired, and you need to head home. It’s late.”
“Oh, so I can’t come in now,” she said, rolling her neck around.
Dropping my head as I shook it, I replied, “Logan, what part of I’m already tired don’t you get?
You always want to talk about me, disregarding how you feel, but your selfish ass does the same thing.
You already know I have a lot of shit going on, but do you give a fuck?
Nah! You do whatever the fuck you want to do and say whatever the fuck you feel you need to get off your chest, regardless of what headspace I’m in.
So again, I’m tired, and you need to go home,” I said, walking into my open garage.
If she wanted to argue with somebody, she could argue with her damn self.
I was sure she’d send me whatever else she felt the need to say in a text message later anyway.
“You’re really going to leave me out here?” She shouted at my back.
“I’m not leaving you anywhere. I told you to take your ass home,” I said, opening the door and disarming my alarm system.
“I can’t drive home this late,” she said, walking up toward the door.
Looking at my watch, I realized the time, and even though I didn’t want to deal with her ass tonight, I knew she had a point.
Moving out of the way so that she could come in, I didn’t miss the smirk on her face.
She was lucky I was a gentleman and didn’t call her ass an Uber.
If I weren’t so fucking tired already and she didn’t live on the other side of the city, I’d follow her ass home.
But, since I was too tired, she’d have to stay the night this time.
However, I knew it would be her last, whether she wanted to accept that or not.
“I’m going to take a shower,” I said, leaving her standing there.
I knew she thought she’d won, but she hadn’t.
Her ass was going to shower, take her ass to sleep, and she was leaving when I left.
And, if I were lucky, this would be the last night that I had to deal with any of her shit.
However, thanks to her career, she was trained to be persistent and keep going until she got the outcome that she wanted.
So, I had a feeling her ass was going to be a problem for a while until she got the picture.
Or, until I was forced to make her get the picture.
“Nice to see that you beat me here, Kenedi,” I said, walking into my office as she sat on the other side of my desk.
“Yeah, I didn’t want to be late on my first day.”
“You don’t want to be late ever.”
“Yes, you’re right. I uh got you a coffee. The lady at the front desk told me to stop and get you a cup,” she said, sliding one of the cups on the desk to my side.
“Thanks. But you don’t get coffee. We have people who will get us coffee,” I said, taking the cup and making a mental note to get on Beverly’s ass.
If anybody was supposed to be getting me coffee, it was her.
While Kenedi would be working as my assistant, she wasn’t a traditional assistant.
This was just my way to keep her ass close and ensure she didn’t get into any trouble.
However, I honestly didn’t think I’d be having any problems with her.
I was sure that she could already tell that I didn’t plan on playing any kind of games with her like that, so she was going to come in, work hard, and ensure we didn’t have any problems.
“Do you have a notepad and pen?” I asked a little nicer than I normally would.
I really needed to work on being a little bit softer on her, at least for now.
I didn’t want to scare her off because just as much as she needed this job, I also needed her.
I wasn’t lying when I told Logan she was a beast. I had no doubt that once everyone brushed what she did under the rug and they saw what kind of talent she had for them to claim, they’d be knocking at her door, and I wanted to ensure that I was able to permanently snatch her up before anyone else was able to, professionally, of course.
“Yes, I have one,” she said, smiling as she held it up.
“Cool, grab your coffee and let’s head to the conference room,” I said, grabbing my cup and waiting for her to lead the way out of the office.
“So, I see you managed to finally find a job,” Logan said as we stepped into the lobby area.
As I bit the inside of my lip, I did my best to control my anger.
Logan didn’t just pop up at my office because one, I didn’t allow that pop-up shit, and two, her ass had a job that she needed to do.
Being a publicist wasn’t an easy job, and it always required them to be doing something.
I should’ve known that she would bring her ass up here, though.
The moment that I told her about hiring Kenedi, I was sure the wheels in her head started turning, and she started working on a plan to piss me the fuck off.
“Seems that way, huh? Do you work here, too?” Kenedi asked, clearly biting the inside of her lip, too.
I wouldn’t have even been mad if she knocked Logan’s ass out because, at this point, her ass surely deserved that shit. But I didn’t want to let Logan fuck up her first day, so I stepped in the middle of the two and tried to defuse the situation.
“No, I don’t. I actually have your old job now. However, I would love to work here. It’s something my boyfriend and I are working on,” Logan said, stepping next to me and wrapping her hands around my arm.
“Oh, you two are together? I would’ve never guessed.
Sincere, would you like me to find my way to the conference room while you talk to your girlfriend, or should I wait over there for you two to finish?
” Kenedi asked, turning to me as Logan’s face grew red.
I knew Logan was pissed that she wasn’t feeding into her bullshit.
“Yeah, just give me a second. The conference room is down the hall and to the left, you can’t miss it,” I said, pointing in the direction she needed to go.
“Okay, thank you.”
Once she was down the hall, I pushed Logan’s ass toward the elevators and pushed the button for her. She stood there tapping her feet, but if she knew like I did, she would get the fuck on and leave me the fuck alone.
I had only had to spazz out in my office twice, and I wanted to keep it at that.
And both of those times were on male artists who thought they were going to treat the women they brought up here to the studio any kind of way.
I wasn’t above meeting a woman at her level if she acted as though she didn’t have all her fucking marbles, much like Logan was doing, but I didn’t play that putting your hands on them shit.
“I know you’re not upset because I decided to come visit my man before I headed into work today,” Logan finally said as the elevators got to our floor.
“Logan, get the fuck out of my office. Don’t bring your ass up here again unless I personally invite you. Do you understand me?” I asked, holding the elevator door open for her so she could step in and hear what the fuck I had to say.
“I can’t believe you’re this upset because I spoke to your employee. If that’s all she is, I’m not seeing what the issue is here, Sincere,” she said, shrugging.
Shaking my head, I stepped out and allowed the door to close.
As I headed down to the conference room, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and went to Logan’s contact so that I could block her ass.
I wasn’t about to get fifty million messages that I was sure she’d be sending throughout the day.
Once I was inside the conference room, all eyes went from Kenedi to me, and I knew having this meeting first thing was exactly what the fuck needed to happen.
“So, as you can all see, I’ve hired a new publicist,” I said, stepping to the front of the room.