He nodded at her. “You have to learn to be more confident. Sometimes attractiveness can mask insecurities. But you have a good heart. So learn to go with what you feel and be strong about it.”
At the end of their first full day of work at his office, all three women were even more impressed with him. They sat and ate at a Burger King restaurant and discussed their separate observations of the boss.
“He is a very smart man,” Rocki commented.
Treena nodded over a burger and said, “That’s why we all wanted to work for him, right? So why would we expect anything less?”
All Beverly did was smile while eating fries. She didn’t want to express what she was thinking about him. I think we like each other, she mused. It was as if he was using code words to let her know, ever so cleverly. But to hell if she was going to tell her girlfriends.
“So, what did he ask you, Bev?” Rocki asked, eating fries of her own.
“Umm, you know, about my career aspirations and stuff,” Beverly lied.
“And what did you tell him?” Treena quizzed.
“I mean, I told him that we all want to learn how to plan events or whatever.”
“Well, he didn’t ask me all of that,” Rocki commented. “He must like you more,” she joked.
Beverly shook her head. “Here we go with that again.”
Rocki argued, “But it’s true. A lot of guys be liking your little ass.”
“I’m not little, I’m just smaller than you,” Beverly countered. “Besides, that man is married and about to run for mayor soon.”
“And what is that supposed to mean, that he can’t like you?” Treena questioned. “Because I can tell that something’s going on with him and C.J.,” she assumed.
“Oh, yeah, she’s on fire for him, and be trying to play it all off. Do you see how she try not to look at him around us?” Rocki brought up. “Like, she would really do that shit if we weren’t there. Please! It’s all a damn act. And it’s obvious that she don’t want us all up in there. But I got news for her ass, this internship is a lot more important to me than her little hurt emotions.”
Beverly only smiled again. But she didn’t like the conversation about C.J. and David having feelings. Even though she assumed as much herself, if C.J. was able to bottle up the majority of his attention at the office, then where would that leave her?
“What do you think, Bev? You think C.J. got the heat for him?”
Beverly turned the question around and asked her, “Do you?”
Treena didn’t hesitate. “Hell yeah!” she answered frankly.
Rocki broke up laughing and spit her soda back down her straw. She held up her right hand to high-five Treena across the table. She bragged, “I would give his ass back spasms in a hot minute.”
Beverly shook her head and grinned passively. “Y’all crazy. That man is married.”
“Like that ever stopped a dick from getting hard,” Rocki noted.
Beverly said, “Rocki, people are eating in here.”
“And they eat in the bedroom, too,” she joked.
Treena laughed. “What about you, Bev? You didn’t feel anything crazy when you were in the room alone with him? I mean, we’ve seen this man all up on television and in the newspapers plenty of times. And he looks and smells way better in person.”
“Duuuhhh, you can’t smell his ass through the TV,” Rocki stated.
“Well, that’s my point. Now we’re all up close and personal with him. But the internship is still most important to me though,” Treena established for them.
Beverly nodded in agreement. “Right.” But if he ever wanted to…she contemplated.
When the three interns attended their first evening event, they all got a chance to meet David Butler Sr.’s wife, Krystal. She was a tall, regal woman who had put on a few more pounds than the pictures David kept of her inside of his office. Maybe he liked the curves of his younger wife and not the older one.
“Nice to meet you,” she addressed them civilly. But she wasn’t particularly warm to them. She more comfortable around Cheryl. In fact, she seemed to avoid her husband’s secretary for the majority of the evening. That made the college students more suspicious of David’s relationship with C.J.
I can imagine how she feels, Beverly told herself of his wife. She related how his wife must have felt to her own feelings of when her college boyfriend had begun to wander in other directions, and at no fault of her own.
Maybe that was the problem. David was right. She should have been more confident and straightened her boyfriend out as soon as she suspected him of cheating. But as she watched her boss work the room of Birmingham notables with his impeccable style of dress, his 100-watt smile, his fluid conversations, wit, and obvious good looks, she couldn’t help but be struck by him.
“So, David, when are you gonna make the big announcement that everyone’s waiting for?” a city official asked him amongst the fine suits and ties, dresses and skirts, soft music and wine, and catered finger foods, with plastic plates, cups, forks and knives that stretched from one end of the room to the other.
David realized the group of eight surrounding him would spread his answer throughout the room. “Well if I ever decide to make an announcement of something ah, special, trust me, you guys will all be the first to know.” He then shared a light laugh to go down with his white wine.
Ever so often, he would look over and catch Beverly eyeing him. He made it seem as if she were his little secret inside the room. Or at least she felt that way.
She then took her eyes off of him for a few minutes to collect another piece of chicken, only for David to creep up beside her at the food table and slide another hint into her left ear. “Keep your eyes on the prize, young lady. You just might get it.”
Beverly stood frozen at the table, wondering who may have seen him speak to her. She suddenly felt a nervous wreck, with tingles of confusion paralyzing her from the spine down. He had stopped her from moving her arm to select another piece of chicken.
He is just bad, she told herself. I wonder how many women in this room he’s been with. And his wife probably knows about most of then. But she’s just in here playing wifey.
Beverly turned just enough to her right to locate his wife, as well as C.J. and any other woman who may have been following David’s moves. But everyone seemed to maintain their places, as if the man’s open flirtations were all acceptable. So she began to daydream about what the boss would be like in bed.
“Hey, what’s on your mind, girl? How come you’re over here looking all stiff?” Rocki walked over and asked her.
Beverly shook it off. “Oh, I was just…thinking.”
“About what?
Beverly grinned and fibbed, “I think that wine was a little too strong for me,” to throw her friend off track.
Rocki looked her in her eyes. “Oh, well, in that case, don’t talk to these men too strong in here. Because about three of them tried to pick me up already. And I know your little body can’t defend yourself after no drinks. So I better stay right here next to you.”
Beverly didn’t like the sound of that. She liked her private space. “I’m not that buzzed. I’m not drinking anymore, that’s all.”
“Well, still, I need to stick by you, just in case.”
“Walk with me to the bathroom then.”
As they made their stroll toward the restrooms, a much younger man than the average in the room approached them. He looked no more than his late twenties, where the room average was forty-something. But the average woman in room was a decade or so younger.
“Hey, how are you guys doing? I’m Gregory Daniel.”
He extended his right hand to them. He looked like a younger, taller version of the next big man in the city. And his eyes were all over Beverly.
Rocki looked him up and down and stretched her eyes wide, impressed with him. She shook his extended hand. “Well, I’m Raquelle, and this is my girl Beverly.”
Beverly shook his h
and and immediately caught David Butler in clear eye view from the right. He was speaking to another group of his admirers. She was paying so much attention to her cat-and-mouse game with David that she hardly listened to the younger man, who was single, flattering and closer to her age and speed.
“Oh, what was that?” she asked him absentmindedly.
Rocki told him, “Don’t mind her; she’s a little buzzed right now. We were headed to the bathroom to unload it.”
Gregory laughed at Rocki’s candidness. “Well, make sure you see me again before you leave. And take my card with you,” he told them both, handing both of them his business card.
Rocki looked over his laminated card with his photo for real estate. “I’ll make sure she calls you when she starts looking for a house or something.” She had no confusion about who he was interested in. And it was no big deal to her. Rocki had her share of men in the room as well.
“Or before then,” Gregory countered.
Beverly flipped his card over in her hands and held it out a little longer to make sure that David would see it from the distance.
Now let’s see what he does about this? she pondered.
When they reached the bathroom, Rocki asked her friend, “Girl, what’s wrong with you tonight? You didn’t like him? He was practically drooling over you.”
Beverly grinned and blew it off without a word. She couldn’t say the young man was not attractive; he was. Her mind was simply preoccupied. “I don’t really want to be in a new relationship right now. I think I need a summer break.”
Rocki pushed the ladies bathroom door open. “Who was talking about a relationship? Just date the man and see what he’s about.”
Inside the bathroom, they encountered C.J., who was powdering her face in the mirror.
The secretary looked at them both and grunted, “Hey.” Then she looked toward Rocki. “Who are you talking about?” She knew Raquelle was more likely to give her an honest answer. Beverly was more secretive.
Rocki grimaced. “Umm, some guy we met.” She figured it was none of C.J.’s business.
David! Beverly thought of answering boldly. But she would never do that. Her private life would remain private. That’s how she had always been, private and dedicated to her love interests.
C.J. shrugged and mumbled, “All right.” She finished her powder job in the mirror, then she gathered her bag and walked out.
As soon as she was out of earshot, Rocki commented, “I wonder who she’s getting all extra for to leave here with tonight? Ho!” she snapped.
Beverly grinned at the slight and thought of David Butler Sr. again. He had done a real job on her mind without even trying hard.
He’s only toying with me in here, she tried to convince herself. Nobody’s getting him tonight. He’s gonna go right back home with his wife. He’s trying to see who’s interested in him to pump up his own ego, that’s all.
Just as he kept everyone guessing about his run for election as Birmingham’s mayor, David kept her—and no telling how many other women—guessing about an opportunity to sleep with him at the end of the night.
So by the time Beverly had returned to the room, she had straightened out her wandering mind. And she decided that her boss could flirt inside the room all he wanted. But there was no sense in her taking him seriously; he didn’t really mean any of it.
Nevertheless, as soon she found herself separated from Rocki and Treena again, David’s trusted assistant Robert Clay had caught up with her to ask how she was doing.
Beverly nodded. “I’m good.”
“Are you tired yet?” He seemed straight to the point.
She grimaced. “Ahh…not really.” She didn’t want to sound as if she was slacking on the job, especially since they had not been asked to do much that evening. She had no time to be tired as an aspiring event coordinator. She had to expect to be up and energized at all times of the day and night. And she couldn’t expect to rest or be tired until the evening was over.
Robert then handed her a room key to the Marriott as if it was a normal business card. “If you want to stay out, call him and let him know. And everyone doesn’t get one of those, so put it away.”
He spoke with such authority and directness that Beverly slid the room key into her small purse immediately. “Okay,” she uttered.
“All right then,” he mumbled to her gruffly. “Now that’s yours to use or not to use alone. And you call him first.”
Robert walked away from her as calmly as he had approached. And their fast exchange sent her mind right back into a tailspin.
Oh my God! she told herself. He is serious!
With all of the anxiety that she felt, she could hardly breathe.
Then Gregory Daniel popped back up.
“Hey, we meet again,” he joked.
The young man had bad timing. It was the wrong night, the wrong place, and the wrong girl.
“Hey,” Beverly responded. And that was it. She didn’t have anything else to say to him. He was only getting in the way of her thoughts about David’s invitation.
“So are you still buzzed a little bit?” Gregory asked her, smiling charmingly.
Beverly failed to even fake it. The young man was beginning to irritate her and she needed to get away from him.
“Excuse me, but I have something to do,” she told him. And she then walked off toward Treena. Her tall girlfriend had been chatting up a couple dozen people and collecting business cards for herself.
“What have you been doing all night?” Beverly asked.
Treena turned and frowned at her. “Are you kidding me? What have I been doing all night? I’ve been collecting business cards and phone numbers. This is what we’re here for. But what have you been doing?”
“Not that,” Beverly leveled to her and grinned. “We have all summer to do that. I was relaxing tonight and seeing how everything works.”
Treena shrugged. “Okay, suit yourself. But I’m not wasting time or opportunities relaxing. You can relax anytime. There were some major people in this room tonight. And you don’t really know if they’re gonna come to the next event or not.”
Things were beginning to wind down at close to eleven o’clock on a Wednesday evening. The majority of the crowd had to work the next morning.
Beverly countered, “I know somebody will be here. The next event may have more important people than this one.”
Treena paused, then nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. But then I’ll be right back on the grind again, collecting more numbers.”
Beverly grinned. “Have any guys tried to get at you tonight?” She wanted to move their conversation closer to what she had been thinking about, older men who chased younger women.
Treena frowned. “Of course. That’s all day, every day. But I always work my way around it. So I smile at their little comments and then ask them what kind of work they do. And by the time I get to my third question, I shift their minds back toward business.”
Treena was a little too much business sometimes for Beverly’s taste. So she asked her, “And you didn’t talk to any man you may have been interested in tonight?”
Treena finally grinned. “Yeah, but I didn’t let them know it.”
They shared a laugh as Raquelle walked over to join them. “What are you two laughing at?”
“Life,” Treena spoke up. “But it’s almost time to pack it in for the night,” she commented, taking a look around the emptying room.
Before she could finish her final assessment of the crowd, David popped up behind them and put his arms around them all. “Girls, it’s been a good night tonight. So get back home or wherever else you have to go, and I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow morning, if not sooner.”
Rocki and Treena chuckled, but Beverly simply smiled. David’s sly comments were tailor-made for her, and her friends had no idea what he meant by it. So as soon as he had left them, Rocki asked, “What did he mean by ‘tomorrow morning, if not sooner’?”
Beverly
shook it off to diffuse another one of Rocki’s bombs. “Stop reading into everything, girl,” she complained. “If you haven’t noticed it yet, he likes being ambiguous. He’s been doing that to people all night.”
Treena caught on. “Have you been listening to him talk all night?”
“I’ve listened to him enough to know,” Beverly countered. “He likes catching people off guard.”
“Well, what he catch you off guard with?” Rocki asked with a smirk.
Everything! Beverly thought to herself. But she dared not to share that information with her friends. She shook it off instead and smiled.
“You really have a wild imagination, girl,” she commented. “Well, let’s go ahead and go.”
Beverly had driven them to the downtown event that evening, and while she drove her friends back home, she contemplated if she would call David on his cell phone to find out his intentions for giving her a key to a room at the Marriott.
“Why you all quiet, Bev?” Rocki asked from the passenger seat. Treena was already knocked out in the backseat. She had practically been up for two days straight, strategizing the previous night, and had used up every bit of her energy at the event. And now that it was finally over, her body had shut down for a much needed rest.
Beverly took a breath. “I’m thinking about getting in bed and getting back up for tomorrow, that’s all.”
“Who you telling? I might be coming in late tomorrow myself.”
“But I know who won’t be late,” Beverly teased in reference to Treena.
“Yeah, that’s why she’s back there sleeping now,” Rocki suggested. “She’s a damn workaholic and ain’t even out of college yet.”
Beverly dropped Rocki off at her parents’ house first, then she drove Treena back home to wake her up and help her into the house. Once her driving duties were accomplished by midnight, she was free to call or not to call David Butler Sr.
“What if he’s sitting right next to his wife?” she imagined to herself out loud. “That would be so embarrassing.”
Then his wife would look at me the way she looks at C.J., she assumed. But I could call him to say we all made it back home safely. His wife can’t argue about that.