Nyair held back amusement as he finessed the hair on his chin, stopping at the entrance.
“So you want to help me out?” He asked.
Lauren didn’t know how she would pull off a banquet plus the General Motor’s event she had on the same day, but she felt compelled to try.
“Sure, however I can help,” she answered.
Nyair placed a hand over the left side of his chest. “Nothing makes a man feel like a man more than a woman being of service to him. Thank you,” he said. He pushed open the door, and she was grateful that he looked away because he missed her blush.
“I’ll email you to find out more,” she said as they made it to her car.
Nyair opened her car door, and Lauren slid inside. Before he closed it he said, “Goodnight.”
She waved, and he tapped the top of her car as she drove off.
Chapter 5
The sun was her enemy. It invaded her psyche with an invisible hammer. Pounding. Shattering. This migraine would last all day.
What was I thinking?She thought as she grabbed a pillow and placed it over her face.
Stassi had finished almost the whole bottle of liquor after Day had left.
She hadn’t had this much time on her hands in a while. With no client to tend to and no event looming over her head, she literally didn’t know what to do with her time. She grabbed her phone and moaned miserably when she realized it wasn’t even morning. It was almost 2 O’Clock in the afternoon.
“This shit don’t make no sense,” she uttered, chastising herself. She sat up against her headboard and began checking social media. It used to be for business. Networking on Instagram and checking out the latest trends in event planning each morning was normal. Today, she was a hopeless scroller. When she noticed Day in her notifications, she clicked on his page. He was an artist through and through. His page wasn’t even personalized. It was a collage of half pictures, never showing his face. Motifs of jewelry, dark studio booths, and tattooed hands around the waists of headless models filled his page. He was definitely living a rock star lifestyle. The guns and bulletproof vests he wore in some of the flicks proved that helived what he rapped. Almost as soon as she clicked like on one of the images, she was @’d.
@stassisaysso check ur DM’s sweetheart
“Who is this?” She quizzed as she followed the rabbit hole, letting social media take her from Day’s page to a white boy’s she didn’t recognize. He was beckoning her to her messages, but she didn’t recognize him. When she noticed him in a picture with Day on his page, she headed to see what he wanted.
D.N. says be ready for lunch. He has some time free in his schedule before he leaves town this evening. What’s ur avails?
Stassi frowned. “Why the fuck is this whiteboy DM’ing me?” She was responding before she could think twice.
He can’t message me himself?
The bubbles began to dance on the screen instantly, and she waited for this messenger boy to respond.
He’s busy. He says be ready in an hour.
Stassi clicked out of the message. “I don’t know who this nigga think he bossing around, but he got me so fucked up. Don’t send no flunky at me barking orders. I don’t care who you are.”
Just off GP, Stassi decided she wasn’t going. If Day thought he was going to treat her like a groupie, he had another thing coming. “White boy probably sliding in hella bitches DM’s with the same tired-ass lines.”
She showered and then slipped into a black, long-sleeved bodysuit, opting to cover her shape with a long fur vest.
She needed to get her most valuable clients back. Her termination had been like a slap in the face, she was too shocked to try to salvage the situation when it had initially happened, but now she realized she couldn’t leave with nothing. She might have signed a non-compete clause but what Lauren couldn’t do was control what the client wanted. She hoped she had made enough genuine connections for her clients to insist on keeping her on their accounts. If it was the clients’ choice to leave with her, Lauren couldn’t come back and sue. Lauren grabbed her purse and her car keys and headed out the door.
It wasn’t until she stepped out of the elevator did she hear the beeping of the tow truck. When she pushed out into the freezing air, her heart sank.
“What are you doing?!” She shrieked as she rushed to the curb where her car was being loaded onto the bed of the truck.
“I’m just doing my job, Miss,” the man gruffed.
“That’s my car! This is a mistake! I paid my car note this month! I still have a week before the next one is even due! Take my shit off the back of this truck!” She wanted to cry. In fact, she might have been, but the harsh winds blowing snow around her made it hard to distinguish the tears from Mother Nature.
“Lady, you’re going to have to take it up with Ally Financial. This car was requested back by them. It was purchased under a corporate discount, and the company has retracted its willingness to contribute, making this car out of your price range for approval. Contact the bank if it’s a mistake, but today this car is coming with me.” He began to walk away and Stassi practically chased him to his car door.
