On my way to the office, in the car that the company sent for me, I thought about everything that was in the email that was sent to me days ago about my first day. When I read the onboarding email, I was shocked a car would be provided for my first day because I would be issued a company vehicle. I knew the top executives got perks, but I wasn’t sure to what level.
There were a few office locations for the company in Augusta, Georgia. Before this promotion, I worked at a location with a laboratory in it. Now as the president, I moved up to the headquarter building. I’d been to the building a handful of times for vice president meetings. When we pulled up to the building, I forgot how big and shiny it was.
A young lady stood there with a tablet in her arms and a smile on her face. The driver opened my door to let me out of the car. I stepped out with my head high in all my fine ass, salt and pepper hair, professional sexiness glory. “Good morning.” I greeted the young lady.
“Good morning, Ms. Plates. It is so nice to meet you. My name is Constance Samuels, the training director.” She extended her hand for me to shake.
I shook her hand with a matching smile. She was a young, well put together Caucasian woman. “It’s so nice to meet you, Constance.”
“Let’s get you ready for the day. Before we go inside, let’s take a short walk over here to the executive garage. This is where your parking space is,” she let me know.
We walked to a garage that was connected to the main building by a covered walkway. The first spot I saw when I came through the door was the CEO, Robert Brand’s, spot. There was a bad ass Benz SUV. My breath caught momentarily in my throat at the matching SUV in the spot next to it with my name listed on the spot.
“Is that my company vehicle?” I asked as if it didn’t have my name on it. I loved my Lexus, but it wasn’t a fucking brand-new Benz.
Constance nodded before she held up the key fob. “That is yours. This is where you will park when at the office. As you can see, you park right next to Mr. Brand. The next two parking spots are for his executive assistant and yours. Unless you have someone in mind for the position, I can get you in touch with an agency to source your assistant.”
I took the key fob from her hand. “Oh, I don’t know why, but I assumed that there would already be one in place. How long do I have to put one in place?” I really didn’t think about whether or not I would have an assistant. That was stupid to think that I wouldn’t have one.
“It’s up to you. There is a temporary one assigned there now, but you do not have to keep her if you do not wish to. Mr. Brand took his assistant with him when he was promoted to CEO.”
That made sense. I was sure that his assistant had been with him for years. They had a groove. At least there was a temporary assistant in place for now. After I unlocked the SUV to get a look inside, we headed inside of the building.
We walked toward the elevators and went to the last one. Constance let me know that it was the only elevator that went to the executive floor, which was the fortieth floor. She handed me my new company identification card that also served as my keycard for all the restricted areas that the executives were allowed into.
There was a small list of individuals that had continuous access to the executive floors. If there were meetings that needed to happen on those floors, special access was given to those who needed them. “I have special access for the first two weeks of your position to get to your floor, to ensure that you acclimate properly. Now, I have exciting news for you.”
Her giddiness made me feel a bit giddy. She did this little shimmy before she continued to speak. “Normally, I would do your first day orientation, but someone made a special request to facilitate your day one onboarding.”
There was a pregnant pause as we rode up to the executive floor. I laughed at her goofy smile. “Are you going to make me guess, or are you going to tell me?”
“Well, Mr. Brand himself has requested to facilitate your day one onboarding. You and his offices are on the fortieth floor along with a gym, relaxation room, and a full kitchen with a chef on staff. Each office has its own lounge area and full bathroom. Naturally, both of your executive assistants’ offices are on the floor as well since they often work closely together to sync you all’s calendars.”
I zoned out as she continued to talk.Robert Brand wants to do my day one orientation.I was stuck at that part ofthe conversation. “Does the CEO normally do the day one onboarding?”
“Well, not to my knowledge. The last CEO definitely didn’t. What I can say that I’ve noticed about Mr. Brand is that he marches to the beat of his own orchestra. Since he’s been the CEO, he has already set records and made history. I’m sure you are aware that your promotion was one of those history making decisions.”
Just as she finished talking, the elevator dinged to let us know that we’d arrived at the desired floor. Seconds later, the door opened. There stood one of the most handsome, impeccably dressed Black men that I’d seen since my late husband.I’d seen him on television, but this was the first time that I’d met him in person. The television showed him absolutely no justice at all.
Constance and I stepped off the elevator toward a smiling Robert Brand. When he took a step forward, his cologne wrapped its scent notes around me like a cozy blanket of fuck me. My body felt tingles that I hadn’t felt in decades.Jesus, be a chastity belt.
“Ms. Plates, it’s so nice to meet you, Madam President.”
I was stuck once again.Madam President!It was at that moment that I shamelessly knew that if he asked, I would fuck him.
The Night Before. . .
Bet Among Friends
“I didn’t come here to get all my money taken by old niggas,” Rashad Goings, my son-in-law’s best friend, said. “Y’all got to be cheating or something. There’s no way that I came in here with ten bands and only got two left.”
My eyes shifted between him, Daylen, Declan, and Anthony Randolph, the hitting coach for the Augusta Chargers. Anthony and Declan had been close friends since Daylen was in college. Through Declan and our growing friendship, one grew with Anthony as well.
“Rashad, it’s alright to admit that your ass sucks at poker. I promise if you ask for help, we’ll teach you, young buck. We all had to learn at some point,” I taunted.
We were at my house for our monthly poker game. This was something that we started shortly after Simonette and Daylen became an official couple. These poker nights were the beginning of a friendship that I didn’t realize I needed. Yeah, I had friends that were frat brothers and business related. The friendship with Declan was different.
Daylen sucked his teeth. He, too, was on a losing streak. “No one needs to be taught how to play poker. Y’all need to be considerate of y’all grandson’s college fund.”
