Her neck bucked back slightly, but she caught herself. Her hip stuck out a little. Most men probably would have missed it, but I was too observant to miss shit. “Do you know who I am?”
The right corner of my upper lip lifted. “Yes, Blake, I know who you are. Again, how can I help you?”
She tittered. “So, you’re the magic that’s supposed to fix the operation? That’s hard to believe with an attitude like yours.”
This was a rough introduction, but I would expect nothing less. Based on what I had been told about her, I knew that my demeanor would be off-putting to her. It was usually for people who wanted control and weak people.
“I wouldn’t say that I’m the magic that’s supposed to fix the operation. What I will say is that I am the man that fixed the operation. As far as my attitude, there is none. I simply have a certain standard for my conversations and presence.” My tone was absolute.
Her head tilted with her stare. The shop was silent, which let me know that everyone within earshot was tuned into our conversation. They were probably more vested than I was because they were more familiar with who she was. I didn’t give a fuck about who she was, with all honesty.
“Is that the way you address your boss?” she questioned. Her audacity was cute. It was a shame that I had to shut it the fuck down.
I tittered with a head shake. “Blake, if your name was Derrick, I might consider addressing you differently. You are not my boss, sweetheart. You work for Seneca. I work for Derrick and Seneca. We are on the same level; we just do different shit.”
She didn’t like the truth. I knew for a fact that I wasn’t beholden to her, because that was a conversation that I had with Seneca when he let me know that he wanted me to watch her back while her right, Stitch, handled something else.
When Seneca came to me with the request to watch her back, I was hesitant. He told me that she would be resistant. An explanation of her personality was given, and from what I could see, it was spot on.
Her feet moved her body back. “Wow! Okay, this was an interesting first impression. Seneca let me know that we would be working together in certain elements until Stitch gets back. How do you think this is going to work?”
My shoulders lifted to my ears. “I think it will work fine. It always will once you got a real nigga behind you.”
Her brow arched. “Are you insinuating that Stitch is not a real nigga? Is that what you’re saying?”
“That’s absolutely not what I’m saying. From what I know about him, he’s as real as they get. What I also know is that he’s like a brother to you, so he has a soft spot to enable your unnecessarily masculine bullshit. He might not even see it because he’s used to it. I, on the other hand, see you, and I won’t tolerate that bullshit. You’re going to respect me, and I’m going to respect you. We’ll work just fine.”
No This Man Didn’t . . .
“I, on the other hand, see you, and I won’t tolerate that bullshit. You’re going to respect me, and I’m going to respect you. We’ll work just fine.” He said that shit like it was a smooth line of a spoken word poem.
I wasn’t sure how to feel. I didn’t know what to expect when it came to Scotty. I went home to change after I dealt with Toyala. I also wanted to do some research. I texted Mel at the body shop and told him to send me a picture of Scotty. He took a great candid photo of him and sent it to me.
He was fine as hell, with his red ass. I took that shit and put it in Google and came up with not a damn thing. What the hell was that? Now, he stood in front of me and told me that I hadunnecessary masculine energy. My mind was in shambles as I tried to remember the last man that spoke to me crazy. I couldn’t remember, because I probably killed their ass.
I tried to pinpoint his energy, but it was foreign to me. New energy had entered the chat. “You’re not from around here, huh?”
His smirk was subtle. “Is it that obvious? Nah, I’m from Chicago.”
That made sense. I couldn’t say that I’d ever met a man from Chicago, but I heard about them. They were a tough group from what I heard. “That makes some sense, I guess. We won’t get into your comment about my unnecessary masculine energy.”
He pulled his phone out of his overall pants pocket and pressed his fingers on the screen. He extended the phone to me then said, “Put your number in so I can get in touch with you, and vice versa.”
See, that was that shit. With a titter, I asked, “You’re not going to ask? You’re just going to tell me what to do?”
He said nothing. He just kept his focus on me. My brows furrowed before I grabbed his phone, then put my number in it. When I handed the phone back to him, he pressed the screen. Seconds later, my phone vibrated in my back pocket.
I took it out to see an unsaved number. My finger pressed the reject button on the screen because I knew it was him. When I glanced at him, he wore an expression that was hard to read.
“I think that we need to sit down to get to know each other better if we are going to be interacting in a manner where we need to watch each other’s backs in various situations. Is that cool?” After I nodded to his statement and question, he told me that he would reach out to me to set it up. He pivoted his body, prepared to walk away. Before he did, he looked at me. “Oh, and in the words of my Jilly from Philly, if I can tell you what to do, then I can tell you what to do.”
What the fuck! Bitch, say something back!I was caught so off guard by his words that I didn’t get a chance to say anything back. I was so disappointed in myself. There was no way that I would let this nigga handle me.
A Few Days Later
Let’s Rap . . .
Today was a productive day of shopping for my newest client, Leslie. We got a late start because she was already thirty weeks pregnant. Social media was a strong avenue of promotion that some people overlooked. I certainly did at one point. A business mentor of mine told me to invest in a social media marketing director. I took the advice, and it was the best decision I ever made.
