“Umm…!” I attempted once again to clear my throat. “No, I’m fine…went down the wrong way!” I crowed with a rueful smile trying to downplay my embarrassing mishap.
After a painfully extended time of reprieve, I tried to reel things back in by pleading with them to continue. From that point on the meeting ran smoothly. There were very few questions but all were answered suitably. Michelle apparently gave numbers they could live with because there were no rebuttals. The lawyer’s questions were answered by John and before I knew it Brett, the executive assistant, was closing the meeting informing we’d hear back with a final decision in a couple of weeks.
Chapter 5
Azmir
The alarm went off, startled I jolted before hitting the snooze button. I’d already been up engulfed in a stream of thoughts. I eventually sat up, rubbed my eyes and reached over to turn the alarm off before it sounded again.
“What time is it?” Lady Spin uttered while wiping sleep from her eyes.
“Only five.”
“Damn. You get up early. I’ll be knocked the hell out for a few hours. You mind?” she asked being courteous since we were at my place. I thought for a minute before answering. I remembered Tara was no longer an issue so she could stay as long as she wanted. If by chance Tara popped up then she got what she got. I didn’t give a fuck.
“Do your thing,” I murmured noncommittally.
I rose to wash and headed to the gym. For some reason I felt anxious this morning. There was something in the air—something to get excited about. I felt crazy for giving that persuasion too much thought so I put it out of my mind and went on with my day. Heading straight to the recreation center, I got my daily workout on with Tyler, my personal trainer, and hit the showers. I had a full day ahead so I moved swiftly as I suited up and checked my watch. It was seven fifty-six, which meant I was running on schedule.
I went up to my office to retrieve messages and my schedule from the receptionist. The itinerary had been inundated with conference calls, executive staff interviews, and business proposal meetings set up until mid-evening. My workday started with a promising conference call. It was with my man, Magic, and his people along with mine discussing a hotel development project. He was impassioned with pulling young entrepreneurs, like myself, up from the bottom. He’s allowed me to invest in a movie theater with him. It was a great opportunity to expand my brand. The call started at eight fifteen a.m. and was scheduled to end at ten a.m.. I had a subsequent meeting scheduled at ten a.m. and didn’t relish back-to-back booking, but that was the kind of day it was. It was ten minutes after ten a.m. when my receptionist, Peg, came in to remind my assistant, Brett, for the second time of my ten o’clock waiting in the conference room. The problem was you don’t rush Magic. I didn’t drop any hints of needing to go, just waited my time while taking in his wise instruction.
It was a quarter after and we’d just finished wrapping up. I asked one of my admin staff, Karen, who would be sitting in on this meeting to head to the conference room and I’d be there in a minute, I had to use the rest room. As we entered the conference room, Brett, who was an MBA-candidate intern, led the meeting. I usually recruited minorities as interns to pay it forward but couldn’t resist him after the interview. He was a promising apprentice with a keen ability to not only anticipate my needs, but he also possessed an astute frame of corporate culture with great flexibility to learn, which resonated with me from the beginning of his screening process.
I sat down at the table and immediately reviewed the paperwork to recall the nature of this meeting while Brett kicked the meeting off. I didn’t peruse the room to see who we were meeting with until I learned what the meeting was about. When I looked up that’s when I noticed her.
It was the Nasty Girl.