“I know you’re not upset because I decided to come visit my man before I headed into work today,” Logan finally said as the elevators got to our floor.
“Logan, get the fuck out of my office. Don’t bring your ass up here again unless I personally invite you. Do you understand me?” I asked, holding the elevator door open for her so she could step in and hear what the fuck I had to say.
“I can’t believe you’re this upset because I spoke to your employee. If that’s all she is, I’m not seeing what the issue is here, Sincere,” she said, shrugging.
Shaking my head, I stepped out and allowed the door to close. As I headed down to the conference room, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and went to Logan’s contact so that I could block her ass. I wasn’t about to get fifty million messages that I was sure she’d be sending throughout the day. Once I was inside the conference room, all eyes went from Kenedi to me, and I knew having this meeting first thing was exactly what the fuck needed to happen.
“So, as you can all see, I’ve hired a new publicist,” I said, stepping to the front of the room.
FIVE
KENEDI
As I watched Sincere talking,it was crazy how he commanded the room. I’d never seen a man hold the attention of so many people in the way that he was. I was sure that people weren’t blinking out of fear that they’d miss something. It wasn’t necessarily that he was mean or rude to get the attention that he was, either. It was just his aura. It pulled you in even though you didn’t want it to because you knew there was a little bit of crazy underneath the businessman persona that he put out there.
Even though I’d do nothing but look at him while we worked together, I couldn’t help but admire how fine my new boss was. He had a low-cut hairstyle that was always neatly lined up and looked as though he visited his barber on a daily basis. He wore a single diamond earring in his left ear that looked as though it cost my entire car note for a year. He had a muscular build, like the middle between Lebron James and Steph Curry. And his skin, he was the perfect milk chocolate color, and I was sure he tasted that way, too.
“Now, a lot of y’all are clearly aware that I hired Kenedi Mathis to handle the PR around here. I’m going to say what I have to say once, and then we’re going to go about our day. Idon’t want to hear any gossip, see any slick shit, or anything in between when it comes to her. You’re going to treat her with the same respect that you give me, and that you want in return. Yeah, she’s got a past, as do the rest of us. And, I’m sure that most of us wouldn’t handle the shit the way that she has if it were put out there for the world to see. Do I make myself clear on what I expect?” He asked, making eye contact with everyone in the room.
Once he was sure that everyone was on the same page, he dismissed them to start their day and get to work. I was so grateful that he’d done that because I didn’t want to work somewhere that I constantly felt judged. I knew people were still going to do it, but I felt like they were also scared of him enough to ensure that it didn’t happen in the office. So, as long as everyone kept their feelings about me and my business to themselves or in their group chats, we should all be just fine.
“Alright, let’s get our day started,” Sincere said, taking a seat across from me.
As he ran the day down to me, I did my best to keep up with the notes. I wasn’t used to basically being a secretary, and I knew that I would have to really stay focused in order to do my job well. And, I planned on doing my job very well. I had never been the type of woman to take handouts, and I didn’t plan on starting now. I was going to work for my position and earn it.
“So, you can go ahead and see about getting Kru booked for those venues, and then I want you to get some time scheduled for him and Lyric to get with the writers and producers. I would ideally like to have a few songs from them within the next couple of months. That way, we can start building some hype around their collaboration.”
“Okay, cool. I’ll get to work on that. Do you want me to just stay in here and work or from your office?” I asked, not reallyknowing where he wanted me to set up shop and do what I did best.
“No, I have an office for you,” he said, getting up. I assumed he wanted me to follow, so I gathered my papers and left with him.
“Oh, do you have that signed contract for me?” He asked, turning around midstride in the hallway. We damn near kissed when he spun my way because I was trying to keep up in my heels with his long strides.
As I took a couple of steps back, I replied, “Oh, yeah. I have it right here,” I said, reaching into my bag and pulling it out.
“Thanks,” he said, turning around and heading back toward his office. As he took a slight right, I saw the empty office that had to belong to me.
“This is your office. You need to get with Beverly so she can get whatever you need ordered to make it feel like yours. You’ll be spending a lot of time in here, so you need to make sure it’s comfortable for you.”
“Okay, thank you. I’ll get on that after I get these priority things done first.”
“Good. And if you have any issues with anybody, let me know. As someone with a past that is far from squeaky clean, I don’t like motherfuckers holding that shit over our heads. So, if you have any problems, big or small, let me know.”
“Okay, I will. And thank you again for this opportunity. I promise I won’t let you down,” I said, looking him in the eyes as I spoke. I could tell he was the kind of man who liked to look in your eyes to ensure you were telling him the truth.
“Trust me, I know. Now, get to work,” he said, pointing to the office and walking the short distance to his office.
As I walked into the office and sank into the most comfortable chair my ass had ever sat in, I wanted to do a happy dance, but I refrained. I had truly felt as though God hadforgotten about me and written me off as a lost cause, but I could see now that he had still been working on my behalf. I was glad that I had the courage to come up here and demand someone listen to me; otherwise, I would still be sitting in my parents’ house crying about how bad my life was.
Once I had all the numbers I needed to get to work, that was exactly what I did. When I had a break in my day, I was definitely going to text Zaveah and tell her about Logan’s ass. I couldn’t believe that the city of Dallas was that damn small that I’d run into the one person in this world that I hated with every fiber of my being. As much as I wanted to snatch her ass up, I knew that I couldn’t. Besides, I was sure that knowing I’d be working very closely with her man was more than enough to fuck up her entire week, if not month, so in my book, a win was a win.
It had been a couple of hours, but I’d managed to get the pressing things that I needed to do done. It was so crazy having phone calls with musicians who I’d listened to on my way to work. They were a lot more laid back and chill than some of the sports players I worked with at my previous job. Football players with $50 million plus contracts were cocky as hell, and always thought they could talk to and treat people any kind of way. I’m not saying that they were all like that, but a lot of them were.
“Yes, can I help you?” I asked Beverly as she came into my office.
“Here’s your computer, iPad, and phone. You need to set these up. I don’t think that I have to remind you that these are company devices and you shouldn’t be doing or watching anything inappropriate on them, right?”
I looked at her as though she was slow because by her saying that, she was reminding me of the shit. But I wasn’t trying to get on anybody’s bad side on my first day. However, I could clearly tell that for whatever her reasons were, she didn’t like my ass. That was fine by me, though. While I enjoyed working withpeople who I actually liked, it wasn’t a requirement. As long as we all kept it cute and respectful, we could keep our jobs and make this money.
