Page 56 of Business Casual

Chapter 10

My eyes widened as Avery Hughes walked into the meeting with Katrina Little in tow. I knew the bank he worked for was on the list, but it never occurred to me that he would be the liaison the bank would send. He grabbed a seat and I looked away immediately. The last time I saw them together, Katrina was angrily glaring at me from across the club while Avery shamelessly flirted with me.

I really hope they don’t embarrass me.

Still stunned, I needed to get my head in the game.

I focused on what Tre was saying and then it was my cue.

“The success of this will empower and financially bolster the community and in turn, your businesses,” Tre stated as his part of the presentation was concluding. “In order to take on a project of this magnitude, we hired a talented social media manager to get the word out. She will tell you a little more about what we have planned.” He looked at me. “Ms. Jones.”

I stood and flashed a smile around the room. Avery’s face lit up in a surprised smile as he stared at me. Next to him, Katrina’s face tightened, and her eyes narrowed. I ignored them both.

“Hello and good morning,” I started. “I’m Imani Jones and I’m happy to be part of the team. If you’ll open your blue portfolio…”

The meeting went better than planned. Every single one of them seemed to be eating out of the palm of my hand by the time I turned things back over to Tre. I was high off the reception of my hard work and smiled the entire time I listened to Tre bring the presentation home.

“This initiative starts with Franklin Financial but it’s all of us in this together,” Tre finished to a round of applause.

Both of us worked the room, shaking hands and answering questions. I’d purposely skipped Avery and let Tre do it. But he didn’t leave. People were exiting the room and unfortunately, Avery wasn’t one of them. Instead, he waited until there were only a few people left and went out of his way to speak to me.

“Imani Jones,” Avery said, sticking his hand out to shake mine.

Not wanting to look like I was being a bitch, I had no choice but to engage.

“Hello!” I greeted Avery and Katrina with a bright smile. “I hope everything in the portfolio answers your questions and helps you and your team deliver.”

“I did not expect to see you here today,” Avery commented. He stepped back and checked me out from head to toe. “You look good… real good.”

“Avery,” Katrina hissed, crossing her arms over her chest.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, looking between the two of them.

“You know I got promoted to Asset Manager,” he said smugly.

I made a face. “No, why would I know that?”

“Yeah, Avery. Why would she know that?” Katrina snapped. “Howwould she know that?”

“Because our best friends are best friends,” he explained to her. When he turned back to me, he winked. “So, this is the new job you got.” He looked around the conference room and whistled. “Nice work.”

“How do you know she got a new job?” Katrina protested. “What is going on?”

“Calm down,” he demanded gently. “Right now, you are my assistant and that’s all.” When he turned back to me, he asked, “When do you get your car back?”

“I get it back today.” I shifted my gaze to Katrina. “I have to be more careful about the kind of people I allow around me.”

Feigning confusion, she asked, “What happened to your car?”

I glared at her but decided to ignore the baiting. The palm of my hand itched to slap her across her heavily made up face.

“Did you end up getting the rental or did he give you the Mustang?” Avery wondered.

“Mustang.”

He whistled. “That car is like you.” He paused. “Black, pretty, high maintenance, and—”

“A lot of miles!” Katrina added with a cackle.

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