I came here with my business hat on, but I couldn’t help it. I would have never spoken to another client like that. But see... Crescent wasn’t the average client. He was purposely being a pain in my ass and I didn’t appreciate it.
I locked eyes with him and cleared my throat. “It’s bullshit. I know, not too professional but let’s be real here. I’ve gone over Shar’s quarterly performance reviews over the past year and she’s been outstanding. She couldn’t possibly be giving you the problems you say she is. Incompetent? Poor communicationskills? Lack of vision? None of those things sound anything like Shar.”
He was quiet for a moment. Watching me. His eyes left mine and washed over the rest of my face before they landed on my eyes again. I sucked in a breath and held it as silence filled the room, the only sound being the ticking of the massive black clock sitting on the wall.
There he was again. Intimidating. Daunting. Alluring. Enigmatic. I didn’t like it when he went quiet and stared at me. Made me feel seen. Almost as if I was naked. Feeling naked today felt different than what it would have felt like a month ago.
I exhaled and brushed my hand down the back of my neck. “Cres?—”
“She’s not you,” he admitted.
I sighed again. Our eyes locked and I shook my head to break the eye contact. I knew I knew the complaint was bullshit. Crescent was selfish. He was a brat. Wanted what he wanted despite how hard it was for me to give it to him. I saw this coming. Knew he’d complain. Knew he’d create a problem just to get me here. I did, however, think it would take him longer. Thought he’d at least pretend to be content without me as his designer.
“Crescent you can’t be filing complaints, telling lies.”
“I didn’t lie. She is incompetent. She does lack confidence. I told the truth about all of that shit. But what it really boils down to is the fact—she’s not you. If she was anything remotely close to it, we wouldn’t be here. This isn’t personal—it’s business. I want you.”
I turned the corners of my mouth up. “It’s not personal?”
He smiled. Slyly, and bit down on his bottom lip. “Maybe a little.” Pausing, he added, “I want to look up and see you. I want to listen to you. I want to work with you. Not only because of thesuperficial shit, Mo. It’s your brain. Your passion. I want that. For The House of Nova Ray, I need that.”
I swallowed, shook my head again, and said, “I accommodated you.”
“You did. But she’s not a good fit. I want you for reasons other than wanting to be around you, Mahogany. This project… it’s special to me.”
“I know—which is why I got you the best.”
“The best would be you. Mahogany Mills. No one else.”
I squinted at him. “Crescent.”
“What does it matter, shorty? It happened. We happened. Compartmentalize. Sat it aside and run your business the way you run it. The way you would with anyone else.”
I looked up at him with pleading eyes, and furrowed brows. “You’re not just anyone else,” I whispered.
Silence filled the room again. I looked off. Put my eyes on the portrait of a little girl, sitting on his desk. Nova Ray. Had to be Nova Ray. She didn’t look much like him, but she was Nova. Who else would he had sitting on his desk? She was a cutie, with pigtails and sandy brown hair. Her eyes were big and bright. Just as bright as the smile on her pretty little pie shaped face. My heart ached a bit, as I thought about how short her life had been cut.
Before I could get teary-eyed, I snatched my eyes away from the picture and looked over at him. He was, as always, looking at me.
“What that mean?” He asked.
“Look,” I paused, ignoring his question. “We have a conflict and I’m here to?—“
My phone rang, cutting me off. How’d I forget to put it on silent? I fished it from my purse and paused at the sight of Duke’s face. Clenching down on my jaw, I hit ignore and put iton silent. When I looked up at Crescent he was, again, staring at me. This time with a squint.
“What’s wrong?” He asked.
“What? Nothing.”
He nodded toward my purse. “Your husband.”
“None of your business,” I said with a snort.
“Your husband. You looked at that screen, and yo’ whole vibe switched. That only happens when that nigga calls.”
I didn’t say anything. Couldn’t. What he said reminded me of what Emerald said when we met… about how Duke’s calls were obvious because something in my demeanor changed. That was then, when things were bad but not nearly as bad as they were now. So, I wondered… what that looked like now, in the midst of what I was going through.
“Anyway,” I said through a sigh, raking my fingers through my ponytail. “Shar. The House of Nova Ray. I’m here to rectify?—”
