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“Out!” He shooed her out of his office firmly and decisively.
Clearly, the first step in any attempt to ‘fix it’ would be to apologize to Tazeem. But Chess’s whole existence barfed at the thought of treading that path. Why should she apologize to Tazeem? Why? He’d started this whole thing by forcing his way back into her life. Then he had the gall to be smug about how he’d done it. He was the one who wouldn’t listen when she’d nicely told him to kick rocks. Worse, he’d tried to kiss her.
Hell, he owedheran apology for making her have to delete his chances of having another child. She was the victim here. Also, he’d looked just fine and dandy afterward. Hadn’t they all seen him practically wagging his tail as he skipped after that lady paramedic?
Yeah, Chess would go see him in the hospital if only to keep her job. But she wasnotapologizing.
She walked out of Richard’s office only to find both Mark and Evie, the third competitor, waiting for her at the reception whilst pretending to chat with Donna.
“Oh my God, Chelsea,” Evie was the first to speak when Chess reached the reception desk. Half-giggling, she asked, “Did you almost kill someone?”
Evie, a woman in her mid-twenties, could best be described as a younger, preppy Khloe Kardashian knockoff. The lanky, bottle-blonde loved her high-collar blouses, short plaid skirts, and Mary Jane pumps. Her personality was just as bright as her dressing. She smiled all the time and was practically bursting with positivity.
But Chess couldn’t stand her.
There was just something about Evie’s overly sprightly personality that rubbed Chess the wrong way. Nobody could be that damn happy all the time. Worse, Evie wasn’t a worthy competitor for the V.P. spot. Mark was an asshole but at least he was decent at his job and had gotten to his position by merit. Evie, on the other hand, was a nepotism hire (her parents and Richard ran in the same social circles).
Evie had none of the educational qualifications or experience needed to do her job, and it showed in everything she touched. There were always issues with Evie’s events, and Chess and her team had been pulled in several times to get her out of her self-made disasters. Yet somehow, Evie had pulled off a meteoric rise to team leader (it only took her one and a half years) and was now even competing to be Vice President.
If Evie won this competition, Chess would write a resignation letter. She refused to work under such an incompetent leader.
Despite her disdain for the woman, Chess kept her tone even as she answered, “No, Evie. I didn’t almost kill someone. It was just a little accident.”
“You know what, Winters? I take back what I said about you being a bitch for taking H-Street. You can keep it.” Mark smugly chimed in. “Something tells me that I’ll have a ball watching you work with Le Stride.”
“Mark, why is your nose in my business?” Chess snapped. After getting mauled by Tazeem then reamed out by Richard, she didn’t have the patience for more nonsense. “Don’t you have better things to do with your time?”
Mark retorted, “Oh, I always have some spare minutes to watch you go up in flames.”
“Well, I have a suggestion for how you can better use those spare minutes.” Chess’s lips kicked up in a sneer. “Use them to wash your hair. You look like you jumped into a tub of bacon grease.”
Both Donna and Evie laughed under their breath.
Mark tapped his hair self-consciously before he stood up straighter into his version of debonair. He sniffed. “That’s not funny.”
“Yeah, it is,bro!” Chess threw the ‘bro’ in because Mark was always raging against the straight agenda and the ‘bros’.
“You’re so annoying!” He stomped off in a huff.
Once he was gone, Donna released her laughter. “Why are you always poking at that poor man?”
“Because he needs someone to poke him.” Chess kissed her teeth. “His ego is too inflated.”
“How did your meeting with Richard go?” Evie finally spoke. “Did he scold you badly?”
“Eh!” Chess offered a non-answer.
Evie’s eyes widened and she gasped. “He doesn’t want you to quit the competition, does he?”
You wish! Chess scoffed on the inside. But aloud, she said, “Not really.” Not giving Evie any chance to prod for more details, she turned to Donna. “I need to sign out for the morning. Please let anyone who’s looking for me know, and transfer all my calls to Derrick. Tell him I’ll be back before lunch.”
“Where are you going?” Evie asked.
But before Chess could answer, Donna asked, “Are you going to check on the guy you performed the castration ritual on?”
Chess winced at the colorful description. “Yeah! I’m going to check on him.”
“Before you go, tell me-” Donna’s eyes gleamed with curiosity as she leaned closer to whisper, “What did he do to you? Why did you try to end his family line? Share, share.”
