Page 62 of Desire

When I arrived at work, I immediately summoned Tammy into my office. I hated it had come to this. Tammy had worked for me since I opened my second car dealership. When I announced I was running for mayor, she was the first to volunteer to help with the campaign.

After I won, it only seemed fair to bring her along as my assistant. I still had businesses to run while performing my duties as the mayor, and she could assist me with both. As I told Desire, Tammy was like a sister to me, so I didn’t see this coming.

“What?” she questioned with an attitude when she entered my office.

“Close the door and have a seat.”

She huffed as she closed the door. As soon as she sat down, she began complaining.

“Since you ordered me not to come back yesterday, I have a lot of work to do today. Can we make this quick?”

I leaned back in my chair and folded my arms across my chest, studying her for a minute. She didn’t attempt to hide her annoyance with me, but I thought I saw something else in her expression.

“Can you take a look at some documents for me?”

“Sure.”

I handed her the copies of the screenshots Quinton had left with me and the documents proving the messages originated from accounts connected to her phone number. Her expression went from annoyed to confused to holy shit.

“Aziel, I can explain,” she began, not even trying to deny she’d sent the messages.

“I’m listening.”

“See, I wanted to, well, I was trying to make sure, okay, I didn’t want you to get hurt?—”

“Tammy, just stop,” I interrupted, shaking my head. “You can’t even think of a good lie. Telling the truth would be much easier.”

She sighed, and tears gathered in her eyes. “I’m sorry, okay? My whole plan backfired, and I didn’t know what to do.”

“What plan?”

After hesitating for too damn long, she confessed something that blew my mind. I had no choice but to fire her. She didn’t take the news well. Unfortunately, the scene became ugly, and security had to escort her from the building. Desire was right, and I couldn’t wait to get home to tell her.

“You were supposed to get matched with me,” Tammy announced through tears.

Aziel arrived home about an hour ago. We ate dinner, played Azaria into exhaustion, bathed her, and put her to bed. I’d been anxious to hear how things went with Tammy, but he wouldn’t go into details in front of Azaria. Much to my surprise, he’d recorded their conversation, and I listened intently as the situation unfolded.

“Matched with you? What are you—oh, shit. You completed a profile with Arranged Hearts?”

“Yes, I did one for both of us and made sure we had everything in common. I had no doubt we’d match.”

“But, Tammy, why would you do something like that?”

“Are you stupid? I’m in love with you.”

“Whoa! Hold up. Is this a joke?”

“No, Az. It’s not a joke. I was heartbroken when you matched with someone else.”

“So, instead of moving on, you decided to harass my wife? Did you think you’d run her off with those messages and disrespect her whenever you were in her presence?”

“You were supposed to choose me!” Tammy shouted. “I helped you build a company and win a mayoral seat. How dare you choose her, allowing her to disrespect me when she’s in my presence!”

“Let me clear something up for you. I’ve never seen you as anything but a friend and sister. If you’d met me at the altar, the wedding wouldn’t have happened because I would never marry you.”

“Fuck you, Aziel. I fucking hate you.”

I heard papers shuffling, glass breaking, and yelling before the recording ended. I shook my head in disbelief.

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