Page 13 of Dream Cum True
Six
Elias
“You wanted to see me?” I asked my boss, who’d summoned me to his office.
After a disastrous return home from vacation, I’d been exhausted going into the office lately. I’d been spending most of my time getting my house back in order. There was still much to do, but I’d made some progress with the cleaning company that Officer Benson had recommended.
“Close the door and have a seat.”
“Oh, this must be serious. What’s up?” I closed the door and sat in the chair in front of his desk.
“I assume you haven’t checked your email?”
“I just got here, and you know I don’t check my email from home.”
Robert Brentwood looked at me with stern eyes. He was an older Black man who didn’t have a welcoming spirit or demeanor. He was one of those niggas who was by the book and very unwilling to take risks. While I understood he didn’t want todo anything that would cause him to lose the company he’d built, he was a bit over the top in my opinion.
He called me into his office almost as soon as I stepped into the building, as if whatever he needed to tell me was life-threatening. I would bet my last dollar that whatever the reason, it wouldn’t be as serious as he made it seem.
“I don’t have time to beat around the bush or curate my words. You’re on paid leave until further notice.”
I frowned because confused wasn’t enough to describe my thoughts.
“Paid leave? Why?”
“A series of emails were sent to everyone in the company.”
“Okay. You said you didn’t have time to beat around the bush, but you’re doing a lot of stalling.”
“The emails were videos of you and a woman having sex.”
“What!”
“They were very graphic, and it’s obvious it’s you.”
“There must be a mistake. I’ve never recorded myself having sex.”
“Well, someone did. Elias, I don’t care what you do in your personal life as long as it doesn’t affect your work. These emails not only go against company policy, but they’re also a huge distraction for everyone in the company.”
“I apologize for that. I didn’t send any videos, nor did I knowingly record myself, or give anyone else permission to do so.”
“While that may be true, I have to put you on paid leave until we can figure out who sent them and this situation blows over.”
“You’re sending me home for some shit—you know what? It’s cool. I’ll see my way out.”
I left Brentwood’s office fuming and had to stop myself from knocking some shit on the floor on my way back to my cubicle.As I walked past everyone else, I felt eyes on me. They could look all they wanted, as long as they didn’t say shit.
The company employed twenty people, seventeen of them being Black Americans. I was cool with everyone, but not cool enough for me to discuss this situation. If I learned nothing in my forty-two years, I learned all skin-folk ain’t kinfolk.
I only considered two of my co-workers friends. One of them hadn’t arrived yet, and the other was on paternity leave. We definitely needed an emergency meet-up as soon as possible because this was some straight bullshit.
After grabbing the items I wanted to take home for my forced hiatus, I headed toward the elevator. As I got closer, the doors opened, and my boy Javon stepped off. Before he could get too far, I put my hand on his chest and pushed him back inside.
“What the fuck?” he questioned, not angrily, but he was definitely confused.
“We need to talk.”
I pressed the button for the lobby, and we both stood with our backs against the back wall. I didn’t speak until we were outside in front of the building.
