“Ms. Lawyer, you avoiding me?”
I screwed my face up, clearly bothered that he called meMs. Lawyer. In the current calculations in my journal, we had elevated fromMs. Lawyer. “Gerald, leave me alone.”
I picked up my pace. “I can catch you.”
I still had a full half of hallway to make it down, and he was by the elevators. Could he beat me to my door?
Sure.
Was I too stubborn and wanted to test the theory, even in these YSL mules?
Absolutely.
I hiked my work bag onto my arm and took off running down the hall, breathing out my nose because Menace had taught me that when Landon beat me in a race when we were younger.
I was ready to tear Landon’s ass up because he was rubbing it in, and Menace grabbed me, telling me to breathe out my nose while running. Then he went and raced Landon, and made Landon feel exactly how I felt.
Like I knew he would, Gerald breezed right past me. The asshole had the nerve to start stretching while he waited for me to continue walking down the hallway.
I stopped trying to run and was now walking down the rest of the hallway like a worn-down hooker who had her last bit of cash snatched from her while fixing her wig.
Just tired and out of hooting and hollering.
“Don’t know why you standing at my door.”
“I need to walkourfucking dog.”
I spun around and balled his lips up. “Gerald, stop cursing at me.”
He puckered his lips, loosening my grip around his thick lips and then kissed the palm of my hand, as I unlocked my door. “Not cursingatyou.”
Folding my arms, I looked up at him. “Since when I became Ms. Lawyer?”
He chuckled, making me realize he had said the shit on purpose. “You don’t like that, eh?”
“It’s fine… just was wondering.” I played it off like I wasn’t bothered by the sudden switch of names.
There was this thing inside of me that refused to allow men to see the real me. I never wanted them to think I wanted them more than they wanted me. Part of me felt like a sucker, so I played hard to get a lot of the time, never showcasing my true feelings.
“Zoya?”
“Hmm?”
“Open the damn door… got us in the hallway looking like a lick” he replied, and I pushed the door open.
Soon as the door opened, Bando came trotting down the hall. When I first got him, I used to crate him. The more time we spent together, I learned that he had no desire to do anything other than nap when I was gone. He usually took his naps in my office because the view was better.
At least, that was what I liked to think.
He stopped and sat, not jumping on us when we came through the door. I sat my things on the counter. “Release.”
Bando got super excited and started wagging his entire butt as I rubbed him down. He was a big dog, and I couldn’t have him running and jumping onto people when he met them. He was friendly, but not everyone knew that.
Plus, I didn’t want people thinking my dog was just a big ol teddy bear. I wanted people to look at him as protection, because that was exactly what he was. With me having a nephew and a God daughter, I needed to make sure he wasn’t knocking them down once they both started to walk.
“When the hell did you become a dog trainer?” Gerald asked, still standing toward the foyer.
“I hired one and then took over once I realized he’s smart like his mama.”
