Page 90 of It’s The Dawg In Him For Me

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I asked him as I slammed his door shut.

He looked at me with a condescending smile. “Good morning, Mariah. Nice to see you at work.”

“Shy, don’t give me that shit. What is this I hear about you trying to get me replaced?”

He nodded like it wasn’t nothing.

“Yeah, I am. Because you are never at work.”

“They gave me time off to heal from being cheated on.”

“Okay, and that was months ago. Why are you taking time off now?”

I paused for a second, thinking about my answer.

“Because I needed space from you, from what happened.”

Shy took a sip of his coffee. “An adult would have still shown up for work. I see you like to cause problems then hide.”

“I wasn’t hiding from you,” I said low.

“Whatever you want to call it, Mariah, that is fine either way it goes,” he said, standing up and walking over to me. “I am going to get you replaced.”

For a second, everything in me went still.

Not calm, far from calm, but the kind of stillness that comes right before something breaks.

I looked at him, really looked at him, like he didn’t know what I had been dealing with. Like he wasn’t the one who had been trying to hold me up at my weakest time.

“You are really that comfortable doing that to me?” I asked, my voice low but sharp.

Shyheim shrugged like we weren’t talking about money in my pocket. “It’s business. This has nothing to do with anything…personal.”

“Business?” I let out a short, humorless laugh. “I don’t think you would be worried about replacing me if I signed them divorce papers.”

His eyes flickered for a half second, but he recovered quick. “Mariah, come on now. I just told you it’s nothing personal.”

“Bullshit, Shyheim. You are mad because we fucked and I have not left my husband for you.”

“You are being emotional,” he said, standing up and walking to his door. “And I don’t have time for that in the workplace.”

His words hit me like a punch to my chest.

“I am emotional because I thought you gave a damn about me. I trusted you at my lowest. I liked you and everything. Why didn’t you just give me some time?”

“I did⁠—”

“No, no, you didn’t!” I said, cutting him off.

He shook his head. “This is too much for work, and I don’t want to deal with it.”

I looked him up and down, not knowing what that meant until he opened the door.

“See you on the set,” he said bluntly.

I walked out of his office, and he slammed the door behind me, making me jump. When I got back to my office, I instantly threw up.

“What the fuck is goin’ on?” I questioned as I threw up again right as Courtney was walking in.