All she could think about was the fact that she’d be working under Rolani. Shadowing him. In his space every single day.
Giovanni continued, tapping the page. “The money good?”
“Huh?”
“I ask because Ro pushed for the increase. He said we gotta be competitive. Can’t have her taking offers somewhere else. His words were, ‘Make it so she can’t leave.’ So I hope that’s good for you.”
Her hand stilled on the page. Make it so she can’t leave. Rolani had slipped a message into a salary negotiation that only she would understand, and the precision of it made her neck tighten. She caught herself before her hand moved to her stomach and kept it flat on the folder.
“The money is perfect. And I don’t say that lightly because I know my value. I won’t let you down, Gio.”
“No worries from me. I trust you, and I don’t trust easily. Paige vouched for you. I trust my wife, so I believe you belong here.”
“Do I have a boss?”
Giovanni’s lips twitched like he enjoyed dropping bombs. “Ro.” That one syllable split her open. Of course, it would be him. “He’s handling the creative side of things right now until Spirit relocates to take that over full-time. So for the time being, you’d be answering to him on scheduling and stuff. He knows the business inside out. The nigga don’t forget shit.”
She smoothed her face over without missing a beat. “That’s fine. I can work with anyone.”
Giovanni studied her for a moment too long, checking her temperature. “Ro’s cool. He may look mean, but he’s a good dude. Real protective, quiet, but solid.”
She almost laughed. Protective didn’t even begin to cover Rolani Pracher. The man had pulled a gun on someone for touching her. What the hell was he going to do when he found out she was carrying his child?
“Speaking of, you already set up that radio thing for him next week, right? He said you hadn’t hit him yet.”
She nodded. “Yeah, it’s locked in. Before I start filming, I want people to already be talking about the story beyond the premiere. The radio interview builds the audience before the series drops. By the time we release the first episode, people are already invested.”
“See, that’s what I’m talking about. You're thinking three steps ahead.” Giovanni grinned. “Y’all gonna be straight together. He’s been moving differently since LA, but I think having you around gon’ help. You got that vibe about you.”
Since LA. Since she disappeared from his city, his orbit, his life. Giovanni didn’t know the half of it, but the words still landed.
“When do I officially start?” she asked, redirecting.
“Whenever you’re ready. You can start shadowing him this week if you want. Sit in at the shop, watch how he works with clients, and meet the people around the business. The deeper you go, the better the series will be.”
She nodded slowly, her mind already racing through how this would play out. Seeing him for the first time since the club. Working next to him. Pretending nothing had happened while her body carried the evidence of everything that had.
“I’ll reach out to him and lock in a time.”
Giovanni chuckled. “Yeah. Probably gonna be sick of each other by the end. Nigga got a lot of shit he’s handling.”
That was news to her.
She stood, tucked the folder under her arm, and dapped Giovanni up. “I appreciate this, Gio. For real.”
“You earned it, Ken. Keep doing what you do.”
By the time the meeting wrapped and she pushed through the heavy glass door and slipped on her sunglasses, her phone buzzed in her bag. She jumped from the unsettled nerves.
Ro: Welcome to the team, Mrs. Pracher. I’ll be seeing you.
Her hands grew clammy. She shoved the phone into her bag.
She’d been disappointed he wasn’t at the meeting. And maybe that was better. Maybe she needed more time. But time was running out. She still had no idea how to tell Rolani Pracher that the one night he’d promised would turn into forever was about to become a whole lot more permanent than either of them had planned.
She drove to Luther’s with her hands gripping the steering wheel tighter than necessary. Everything in Coupeville looked the same, but she saw it differently now. When you’re young, all you want is to get out. As she grew older, as the world revealed its true nature, she came to understand the comfort of knowing every street corner. She’d been all around the world, told who she was by people who barely knew her. Home didn’t do that. Home remembered her before she had to prove anything. But home also held the one person she still owed the truth.
She grabbed her phone and read the text over. He was always doing the most. Possessive.
