Page 8 of Differences
I regretted the day I applied for this job and even met Weston. If I had a time machine, I would use it. It didn’t help that I thought back to that night every time I saw him. Every time he spoke in our meetings, I would study his hands and remember how they were once gripping my hips and rubbing my breasts. Even when his mouth would move, I remember how he licked and sucked on my sweet spot.
However, my career meant more to me than anything. I had dreams and goals. No matter how good Weston looked in his suits or how nice he smelled, I needed to gain self-control before I ended up losing it all. The experience of our night of fun was not worth losing everything that I worked hard for. Since joining TRU, I had made a major impact on the company. I even was being outsourced by other influencers to help with their social media. Everything was working in my favor, and I had to make sure I kept my eye on the prize.
My phone rang, pulling me from my thoughts. I groaned at the name that appeared but tried to keep a positive mind.
“Hey, baby.”
“Sup...you on the way home?” Jay asked.
“Yeah, did you take the chicken out like I asked?”
“Nah, babe. I was on the game and was in the tournament. My bad. Can you not stop by the store and grab some more?”
I wanted to scream. Instead, I took a deep breath.
“Well, no, babe. Remember, it wasn’t in the budget this week to buy anything extra. We are trying to save money.”
Times were hard, especially with Jay not even trying to get a job, so all the bills fell on me. TRU was paying me well, but having to take care of myself and another grown person had gotten expensive. Jay had not found a job yet. After months of looking, he decided since I could make my dreams come true, he could become a streamer. He spent every hour on the game trying to grow his platform. After five months of streaming, he only had fifty followers, two being his mom and me. Jay wasn’t that good at it, either. He was always losing, and he didn’t have the best setup. I tried giving him recommendations, but he would get mad and throw in my face how everyone wasn’t as lucky as me.
Since getting the job at TRU, things between Jay and me had gotten worse. Two days after an amazing night with Weston, Jay showed up at my door. He was begging for us to work things out and made a promise that he was going to get on his feet to be a better man for me. After listening to his pleas and remembering we had been through so much, I hopped back into a relationship with him. I was aware that people go through hills and mountains before they discover what it is they want to do. After two months of being back together, Jay began showing how much he had a disdain for my success.
“Bay! Did you hear me? Just grab a five-dollar bag of chicken.”
I let out a deep sigh. “Jay, again, that defeats the purpose of us budgeting our money. I’m already tired from work, so I just wanted to come home, cook, and get some rest.”
“You act like you ain’t the only one stressing. Shit, you’re living your dream while I’m sitting here trying to figure mine out.”
I knew where the conversation was going, so I didn’t push it. There wasn’t a day that went by that Jay didn’t remind me about my career. Before I could change the subject, he continued speaking.
“Aye, look, these new J’s dropping, so I’m thinking about DoorDashing tonight so I can make some money to get them. Can I borrow your car?”
I rolled my eyes. Jay’s priorities were so fucked up. He still struggled to get his priorities right. However, after the day I had, I didn’t want to go down this path. So, per usual, to avoid conflict and a night filled with arguing, I agreed.
“Sure, that’s fine. Can you at least—”
Before I could finish, he hung up the phone. I let out a frustrated scream.
I hate men, poor and rich ones.
* * *
Due to mybladder winning the fight against me sleeping, I woke up in the middle of the night to relieve myself. After handling my business, I immediately reached for my phone. My phone showed it was eleven-thirty p.m. I looked around and saw that everything was still the same. The TV was still on the series I was watching, and Jay still wasn’t back yet from DoorDashing. I had called his phone ’til I fell asleep but got no answer. I tried dialing again, but still no answer. I let out a frustrated sigh. I was sick of this shit with Jay.
Jay leaving and not returning for hours later was happening too often lately. The last time he pulled this stunt, he was gone for twelve hours in my car, not answering the phone. Then, when asked where he was, he gave me a sorry-ass excuse of how he was driving around to clear his mind. However, a part of me knew he was lying.
I tried calling again, but this time, my call went straight to voicemail instead of ringing, which fueled me even more. No matter how many times I had this conversation with Jay, he took nothing into consideration that I was saying. It was tiring having to deal with the same song and dance with him. My deep sleep was now ruined. There was no way I could go back to sleep. So, instead, I made myself busy by getting a jump start on my work. I worked on different interview questions for each person in leadership.
When I got to Weston’s interview questions, I froze. My body heated as I thought about our nights from two months ago. One of the wildest yet best nights of my life. My body hadn’t received that type of treatment since. I longed for it badly. It was difficult being in the same office space as him. Every time I saw him, I got annoyed because I couldn’t ride him ’til I exploded all over him. However, tension between the two of us was at an all-time high. Weston acted as if I had killed his cat the first day he saw me at the office. I tried to be cordial, yet that went to shit. No matter how friendly I tried to be, Weston dismissed it.
For two months, it was a big adjustment. Some days were harder than others, but once I realized Weston was the same with everyone, I stopped taking it personally. I kept my distance from him as much as I could. If I spotted him coming, I would go in the opposite direction. If I knew he would be in the same meeting as me, I sat on the opposite side of the room to avoid making any type of contact with him. However, the girl between my legs always failed me whenever he was at least ten feet away from me. I would squeeze my legs tight to control the pulsing in between them. I could feel myself heating up just from thinking of him.
I scratched the thought and went back to focusing on the interview questions specifically for Weston. A part of me wanted to know more about his life. Weston was straight-faced, private, and even more private. One would think he worked with the Secret Service. No one in the office knew about his life outside of work. We didn’t know about his hobbies, interests, or even where he was from. He kept it specifically work-related. He was closed off, and yet that only intrigued me. I generated questions to dig deeper into his life, but not too much for him to think that I was instigating, just enough for me to get answers to some questions that I always wanted to know.
As I worked on the last question, my phone pinged. It was a message from Jay.
Jay <3:Picked up more DoorDash orders. Be home later.
I rolled my eyes. Few restaurants were open at this hour, so there couldn’t have been many orders coming through the app. I’ve had my suspicions of Jay and his antics, but I never investigated. I was a firm believer that what was done in the dark would always come to light. I stood by that. Instead of ignoring his message,I tapped back with a thumbs-up and went back to my work.
