Page 13 of Differences

Weston was standing at the front of the room, presenting. He called my name, and the hairs on my arm stood up.

“Ms. Walker, it’s nice of you to join us this morning even though...” He looked down at his expensive watch. “You’re ten...wait...eleven minutes late,” he noted with a sly smirk.

Embarrassment flushed across my face. I felt Weston got a thrill out of making others feel like crap. Regardless, I couldn’t let him see he had got to me. I needed to turn my charm on.

“Sorry, Mr. Jones, it’s just that I was having car trouble.” I smirked. “You know, I meant to get that looked at, but the price it will cost and how much I’m making won’t allow me to. My pocketbook is kind of tight around here...don’t ya think?”

Some people in the conference room giggled, and others tried to stifle their laughs. I kept my eyes locked on him. It was like being in an old western, and we were about to have a standoff. Weston pushed the inside of his lip with his tongue, followed by a deep sigh, and I knew he had caught my shade.

“Well, Ms. Walker, find a spot for me on your busy calendar, and I will make sure we have that conversation.”

“Will do.”

I immediately grabbed a seat in the corner. I listened in as Weston went over the budget before I tuned out. My mind drifted to how handsome he looked today in his tan suit. It had been tailored to perfection. Weston’s broad shoulders caused me to have flashbacks of when my nails were digging into them while he was on top of me. The faint mustache he rocked this year only added to how handsome he was. Weston belonged inGQ, and he knew it. He had my head spinning, my heart thumping, and my honeypot leaking just from him standing up and presenting. It was hard to forget an image like that, and no matter how hard I tried, I failed.

* * *

The meeting finally ended,and I had been sitting in my office going over social media plans for the week when there was a knock at my door. Before I could tell the person on the other side to enter, my door was already being swung open. I glared at Weston. He would always walk into the room without waiting for the other person to invite him in. No matter how many times I told him to knock and let me prompt him to walk in, it fell on deaf ears. He closed the door behind him, strutting in, taking a seat in one chair in front of my desk. He unbuttoned his suit, exposing his crisp white shirt.

We sat in silence before I could no longer take the awkward silence.

“Yes, Weston?”

He smiled. “You look nice today,” he complimented.

I rolled my eyes, waiting for his backhanded compliment. Yet it never came.

“Thanks,” I replied in a dry tone. “Now, what is this visit about?”

“I mentioned us having a discussion about your raise, so I’m here.”

I rolled my eyes. “Weston, I’m fine. I was just teasing you.”

He looked at me. “Why were you late?”

“It had to deal with my car, but it’s not because it’s in the shop.”

He lifted his eyebrow.

“My boyfriend has my car, Weston.”

“Why? He ain’t got no car?” Weston probed with a hint of amusement in his voice.

“I don’t see how that is funny.” I folded my arms across my chest.

“I’m trying to wrap my brain around the fact that you are dealing with a nigga with no car.” He laughed, holding his stomach.

“We choose not to have two cars. That way, we can save money and better our future,” I defended.

That was far from the truth. We didn’t have two cars because Jay couldn’t afford one. He made bad money choices over the years, and his credit was trash. I would have to co-sign in order for him to get something that he could drive, and I wasn’t willing to take that risk.

“None of this is funny, so make it makes no sense to me why you are laughing so damn hard!”

He held his hands up in defense. “Damn. I must not be paying you enough for real.”

“Weston, it’s not that deep. Let the damn topic go.”

He held his hand up in defense. “Okay, my bad. All jokes aside, I’m here to discuss a raise with you. A few of us in the C-suite were talking about raises. Your name was the first mentioned.”

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