Page 47 of Session 25

The sound of my alarm woke me up. I was scheduled for two meetings today. Not in the mood to sit and yap in people's faces all day, I decided that after the second meeting at noon, I was going home. It was Friday, and scheduling a meeting at the end of the work week was careless and uncalled for. Most people called out on Mondays and Fridays, so I was hoping for a quick open and shut, add to the budget meeting.

I strolled into the office fifteen minutes before the meeting started. My four inch black Jimmy Choo pumps slapped across the tiled floors with urgency.

“Ms. Malone, I’m glad you’re here. I need to see you in my office.” Curtis snapped like the bitch he was. If he was still on the bullshit that happened weeks ago with Marcel, I was going to scream. He was the type of nigga who had a stick up his ass and no one checking for him, so that’s probably why he was always angry.

“Good morning.” I entered his office behind him, closing it.

“I meant to personally check in with you. These past few weeks have been busy, and you’ve been handling your business at work despite the incident that happened with your spouse.” I gave him a blank stare. He needed to spit out what he was asking because right about now it sounded like some bullshit.

“I’m well,” I put on the fakest smile I could muster up.

“Ok good. Are you safe?”

“Excuse me?” I snapped my neck back. “I’m fine. That was a one-time thing. It won’t happen again, trust me.”

“I’m not worried about it happening here, I mean at home.” He looked to the floor then back at me. “I watched my mother get abused almost my whole life. I’m honestly just concerned. I didn’t mean to come off any other way.”

“Oh,” I paused. “We are done. I’m safe, and I moved away.”

“Oh good. I’m happy for you. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask. This will stay between us.”

“Thanks.”

“You are an amazing woman and a huge asset to this company.” I knew it would circle back around to work. “Now let’s go on and get ready for the meeting.”

The morning dragged on. I sat, spaced out, chiming in when needed, then back to thinking about all the mess going on in my life. My phone was in my office, so I wasn’t aware of any new messages or calls, but I could bet that after last night I’d hear from one or all three of the people I had some type of ties to.

I’d be happy when Marcel left me alone, but from the way he acted over me when I took Rika down told me that he was not through with chasing me. I planned to stay out of Yonkers and Patterson for a while, but that obviously didn't stop him from finding me at the hotel. And that’s when a thought popped in my head. I couldn’t figure out for the life of me how he knew where I was until I remembered I shared my location with him from my iPad.

I made a mental note to turn off my location on all devices until I got home. If I wanted to completely move on, I needed him to have no access to me. It wasn’t hard given the circumstances; it was more annoying because he couldn’t seem to understand the word no.

“Thank you, everyone. Let’s hope all the numbers are to our liking, and we will be expanding.” I smiled, got up, and tried to exit. “Koi, a minute please.” When Curtis asked us to speak again, I wanted to scream. Teddy looked at me, furrowed his brows, and made a face that only I would understand. I pursed my lips together and shrugged before he trotted out of the conference room.

“I was gonna say, you can leave for the day. With the numbers you’ve come up with and the work you’ve done on the bookkeeping, you deserve an early day off.”

“Oh, wow. Thank you.” He didn’t even know I was gonna plan an emergency if I had to stay here a minute longer. He nodded as I rushed to my office. I was out of the building in less than ten minutes. Curtis didn’t have to tell me twice about leaving early.

In the car, I looked at the plethora of text messages I had. Roman was checking on me as usual, hoping that last night didn’t change how I viewed him. Rae, on the other hand, had left me a text that I couldn’t quite read her mood. I skimmed through it, unsure of how to respond.

This was new. I wasn’t into women, and I honestly didn’t even know if I’d want it to happen again. After sleeping on it for a few days, I was thinking more clearly. This could get messy, and with the mess I already had going on, I needed to step back from some things. Yet, she was still my therapist. How the fuck was I going to end this situation and keep my therapist was beyond me.

Rae: I see you still haven’t responded. If what we did was wrong, Koi, just let me know. I can go back to being just your therapist.

I left her on read for right now. She wasn’t gonna overstimulate me on my phone. Rae had to understand that this was not her relationship or her job. She was not in control of this. I was.

“Hello.”

“Little girl, are you okay? I’ve been texting you all morning. A simple I’m fine mother would have sufficed.” She smacked her lips.

“I know, ma. I was busy in meetings and left my phone in my office. I was given an early dismissal, so I’m going to go home and finish setting up my reading nook.” I had recently added two new authors to my TBR list, Love at a Funeral by Shay Dawn and Taysum: Terms of Commitment by Bree Bree. Ready to dive into the books, I needed a calming space to get me right.

“Umm hmm, well, I hope you stay away from here. You know that situation could have gone left and then what?”

“I already know ma. You don’t need to lecture me about it.”

“I’m just saying.”

We talked for all of thirty minutes before I told her I was home. She got off the phone after promising to come and visit me this weekend.