Free Adore You by Nicole Falls Page B

the secret squirrel shit?”
     
    “What! There’s something your wife didn’t tell you? Because I’m sure she knows better than me at this point. Bee doesn’t want the fam to know. She thinks Mama and Auntie Im would lose their shit. I told her she was trippin’.”
     
    Everett said nothing, looking away to pick up his beer and take a long draw.
     
    “What?”
     
    “She has a point.”
     
    “The fuck she does? Why because y’all dated on some kiddie shit back in the day?”
     
    “That and the fact that you aren’t exactly known for being Mr. Forever. So when you eventually end whatever this is that y’all are doing, it’s going to be mad awkward for the entire family, man. Who wants to deal with that shit?”
     
    “And what if I told you that this won’t be over any time soon?”
     
    “Then I’d say you might wanna let Bee know because she doesn’t have a clue.”
     
    “Noted.”
     

     
    “Robert Parker is on the line for you, Ellis. Do you want me to transfer him through?” Pauline said.
     
    “Senior or Junior?”
     
    “Junior.”
     
    Here we go again . Robert Parker, Jr. was a pain in my ass. I don’t know what it was that caused them to leave Jamieson & Weil, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t wish that they would take their business back. Sighing, I told Pauline to patch him through.
     
    “Ellis, Robert Parker here. Just wanted to touch base and see where you guys were with that logo update I asked for.”
     
    “Our graphics team is currently working to implement the changes, Rob. Like I said in the email, I’ll get it back to you as soon as possible. I know they have a few things that are high priority and some of the team is out on vacation, so it may be a few days before we’re able to get those changes implemented. The timetable isn’t changing, right? We’re still aiming for the new site to be launched in six weeks, right?”
     
    “Yeah, yeah. Six weeks. I just don’t want you all to fall too far behind. Jamieson & Weil never had these issues. I had that fine ass graphic designer over there at my beck and call. Tell her to jump and she asked how high. Damn. Sure hate that Father and Jake decided we needed to work with Urban Current going forward.”
     
    I steeled my tongue, seeing as how that “fine ass graphic designer” was my girlfriend and hearing this nigga go on and on about her like this made me wanna punch his entire face in. I hated that I was even put on this damn project, honestly. Carl insisted that it go to me since I was heading up our local business efforts. Roger, my counterpart, could have taken this shit though. I’d rather have dealt with national brands over interactions with this prick.
     
    “Like I said, Rob, we’ll get you sorted out in the next few days. Was there anything else you needed? I’m headed to a meeting shortly.”
     
    “Robert.”
     
    Was this nigga talking to himself?
     
    “Pardon?”
     
    “My name is Robert. You called me Rob.”
     
    You gotta be shitting me.
     
    “Right. Anything else you need?”
     
    “That’ll be all for now. If I need anything else, I’ll call back,” Robert said, hanging up.
     
    Rude ass bastard . I pressed the intercom to alert Pauline.
     
    “Yes?”
     
    “If that idiot calls back again today, don’t put him through.”
     
    I could hear the suppressed laughter in Pauline’s voice as she agreed to my demand. I checked with the lead graphic designer via email to get a more precise idea of when they’d have deliverables ready for this chump so I could avoid further interaction. As soon as I heard back from them, I’d email Rob... oh excuse me , Robert back so he’d stop calling me.
     

     
    “How did you deal with that motherfucker, babe?”
     
    We were in the middle of eating lunch when I asked Bee that question. I’d gotten a few curious looks when I showed up looking for Devorah. I wasn’t sure if that was because I worked for The Competition or because no other man has