“Conquests?” Antonio smirked. “What is this? Medieval times? Flowers die, Jacqueline. I like giving gifts that leave a lasting impression. Something personal, like a monogrammed sweater for PeeWee. Or something to commemorate my time with someone. Something more…permanent. You know, like a tattoo.” He brought a hand to his neck and turned a cheek, as if daring her to look at the letter J that curled behind his right ear.
No this asshole didn’t. Jackie closed her eyes and let out a breath. “What do you want, Antonio?”
“Well, besides checking on PeeWee, I came to talk about Mo Williams.”
Jackie opened her laptop, pretending to check her email. Her inbox was finally organized, thanks to Calvin. “Yeah, what about Mo?
“You didn’t respond to my messages. I need to know what you want to do, Miles. We’ve got to move fast—or else miss out.”
“I was occupied caring for my family member. Which, by the way, I’m sure it’s some kind of HR violation that you told the entire office my business. Leon the security guard, of all people, knew PeeWee had been sick!”
“Uhm, everyone noticed that you weren’t here. You are a person who comes in every day, rain or shine. For you to miss work, they kinda figured it was a family health issue.” Antonio motioned his hand around. “And look around, all you have in here are pictures of your dog. It wasn’t hard to figure out.” He nodded toward her bookshelf. “Wait. Is that a first edition ofMidnight in the Garden of Good and Evil? That’s dope.”
Jackie glanced around her office. It was true. A picture of PeeWee graced every surface in her office. There wasn’t one picture of her Dad, Gideon, or Uncle Roydell. She didn’t even have a picture of her beloved Boss Chicks in here, much to their dismay. The greatest love of her life was PeeWee, and she didn’t care who knew.
“Besides,” continued Antonio. “Can’t people be worried about you? Caring about folks isn’t a crime, Jackie.”
“No,” Jackie said. “But they’re nosy, not concerned. Besides, I can handle my own problems.”
“Like you’re handling getting Mo Williams on board, right?” Antonio raised one of his impossibly thick brows.
This man really thought he had her number.
He sighed. “I’m telling you: It’s going to take the both of us to sign him. Mo is very prickly and doesn’t trust anyone. Even less so right now. You know that. Shit, you tried once, and you saw how that went.”
Bringing up her past failure to sign Mo wasn’t helping Antonio’s argument. Jackie did not like being reminded of failures of any sort. “And I said I’ve got it together.”
She, in fact, did not have it together. She’d tried every avenue she could to reach Mo, short of calling his mother. Everyone in his camp was being tight-lipped about his whereabouts—including his very unhelpful assistant, who had basically told Jackie to shove it where the sun don’t shine. If Mo was trying to make a comeback, he was being ridiculously elusive, which made no sense. Maybe Tanika had her info wrong…but Tanika was rarely wrong when it came to a lead.
Antonio shook his head. “You’re so damn stubborn, Jack. All you have to do is say yes, you want my help. I know those beautiful lips of yours can form words other than cursing me out. C’mon. Let’s try it.”
Jackie watched as Antonio mouthed the words “help me” playfully, over and over. She’d had enough of his antics.
Jackie stood, coming around her desk. She put her hands on her hips, ready to tell Antonio to never talk about her lips again. The string of expletives that Jackie had ready for him was on the tip of her tongue. Yet, when she opened her mouth to speak, there was…silence. Antonio erupted into laughter, thinking she was playing with him. Jackie cleared her throat and tried again, yet nothing came out. It was as if her vocal chords were frozen.
Antonio’s laughter stopped as he stared at her, worried. “Jackie? You okay?”
Jackie held up a finger and went to her fridge. She opened a bottle of water and took a couple of sips. She attempted to speak again, and once again, no real sound left her throat. She whizzed and hissed, trying to formulate words. It was useless.
What the fuck is happening?she thought. Panic soon replaced confusion as Jackie tried to speak again to no avail. She grasped at her own throat. Antonio tried to come close, but she held up her hand to stop him. She didn’t want him to come near her.
Jackie crossed the room to her phone and called Calvin at the front desk, putting him on speaker.
“Yes, Ms. Miles?” he answered.
Clearly, she wasn’t thinking straight. How was Calvin supposed to hear her? She coughed, then attempted to speak.Damn it. It was useless.
“Ms. Miles? You there? Do you need something?” Calvin asked, exasperation in his voice.
This time, Antonio stepped in to answer. “Hi Calvin, Antonio here. Jackie seems to have lost her voice.”
“Finally,” chuckled Calvin. Then he heard Jackie slam her fist on the desk. “Oh! You’re being serious. I’ll get Ms. Miles some hot tea with lemon right away.”
As soon as the call disconnected, Jackie began to pace frantically. To her knowledge, she hadn’t been around anyone with a cold or strep throat. She certainly hadn’t felt as if she was sick. No fever or chills. Maybe she was having a stroke, like her Aunt Dell? Dell stopped speaking altogether after that. Well damn, here she was jumping to conclusions again. It could just be a sudden case of laryngitis. For the past week, the only living being she’d been around was PeeWee. Could dogs give humans laryngitis?
Jackie’s mind flashed to the waiting room of the animal hospital, the terror she’d felt not knowing what was wrong with PeeWee. And then there was the wild-haired woman’s voice again:
You need to quiet your tongue and speak with your heart.
