"Again? Are you sure?” Asked Tamia with raised brows. “You’ve been pushing a lot of y’all meetings back.”
I’d been rescheduling in-person meetings with Crescent like crazy. I hadn't seen him in over a week and needed to. The last time I saw him, I ended things. For real this time. I had to. It wasn’t just because of what happened with Duke and him threatening us; it was also because I didn’t have any room in my life for a man. Things with Crescent and I were getting too serious and well… that scared me a little. What did I look like? Jumping from one situation to the next, unhealed? It was hard to do, considering being with Crescent did give me a sense of comfort.
I couldn’t run away from my responsibilities forever, though. I literally had to go down to The House of Nova Ray. A walk through was required at this stage of designing.
I sighed and rubbed my lips together. “No. Don’t push it. Sorry. Keep it… Make sure Addison is available to accompany me.”
Tamia turned the corner of her lips up at me and squinted. Sitting the iPad down, she crossed her arms over her chest. “Okay. Spill it.”
“Spill what?” I asked, looking up away from the iDesign program, at her.
“What is going on between you and Mr. Carter?” She looked over her shoulder at the opened door and walked over to close it.
I drew back. “Nothing is going on between Mr. Carter and I.”
Tamia scrunched her face up at me. “You know I can tell when you’re hiding something, right?”
“How can you tell?”
“You think I’m about to tell you? Hell no,” she paused and laughed. “But you’re hiding something. Something is going on. Something has been going on for a while now. And... I think it’s quite... fucking... spicy.”
“Tamia!” I yelled. “If you don’t get the hell out of my office with that shit.”
She pulled a chair out from my desk. “Nuh, uhn. I’m not leaving. I don’t care. I don’t care. We are off the record. When’s the last time we were off the record, NeNe? We’ve been so on the record lately that I forgot we were home girls too.”
“Girl,” I mumbled.
"Girl...” She repeated. “Don’t girl me. I know something is going on between you two. Every time I walk in on y’all you get weird and he’s watching you like a hawk.”
“What?”
“What?” She mocked again, making a face. “I know ball, bitch. And I know! Something happened between y’all. Probably not on the elevator that day but definitely in your office that day I came to tell you I was leaving. I’m a vibey ass bitch and thevibes told me something spicy happened. Y’all kissed? He ate your pussy? Y’all fucked? Duke been acting reaaaal strange. I?—”
“Tamia, mind your business,” I seriously said. “Nothing happened between Mr. Carter and I. Okay? Leave it at that.”
She drew back and raised her brows. “Okaaay.” Clearing her throat, she grabbed her iPad and said, “So... you sure you keeping the meeting or you want me to call his people with another excuse?”
I squinted, ready to curse her out. But instead, I just shook my head and told her to keep it. My first mistake was mixing business with friendship. I should have kept Tamia on the business side of things. But we came up together. She was with me from the bottom, so the friendship naturally happened. I just hated that she knew something. I wondered if anyone else could see something between Crescent and I. Was it loud? Our attraction for one another. Did the rest of the team think something was going on, too?
The last thing I needed was for there to be whispers around the office about me and Mr. Carter. I would be mortified. Sighing, I brushed my hand over the top of my head, slicking my ponytail back. What the fuck? You know what... Claire was a little smiley today. And when I walked up to get on the elevator, Sean and Shardae stopped talking like they were talking shit about me. Shar worked closely with Crescent. Did he mention me too many times? Compare too much? Say something he shouldn’t have said? Or was it something else? Shit.
“Is it...” I said, as Tamia headed out. “Is it obvious?”
She turned around, the corners of her mouth pushed up. Cutting her eyes at me, she asked, “Is what obvious?”
I sucked my teeth and tilted my head to the side with an attitude. “You know what the fuck I’m talking about.”
“Nope. I sure in the hell don’t. I know you’re not talking about what you just damn near cursed me out over.”
I rolled my eyes. “Tami.”
“Mahogany!” She shot back. Rolling her eyes, she said, “Yes, it’s obvious.To me. I’m always around. I doubt it if anyone else noticed anything.” Doing a little shuffle, she hurried back over to the desk. “Details. I want details. What happened?”
“Girl... I'm not sharing any details with you," I said, avoiding eye contact.
She sucked her teeth. “Why not? You act like I’m one of them other bitches. It’s me. The same bitch that hugged you that time you came into the office, looking a mess, crying, pretending it was about not having any clients. Back then I didn’t ask anything, but I noticed the signs. Ya nigga had just cheated on you. Not just ya nigga but your husband.”
My jaw dropped and I shook my head. “Tamia...”
