Page 3 of I Accidentally Hired a Shadow Walker
“You did?”
“The asshole was trying to get the contract behind my back. Von told me about it.” I picked up my phone and scrolled through the contacts. “I’m just glad she didn’t hold his disloyalty against me. Could have cost me everything.”
“So what now?” She looked at the papers in her arms. “That’s a quarter of our people gone overnight and no one to train the new recruits. What are we going to do?”
“There is someone I can reach out to. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do this, but it looks like we don’t have a choice.” As a punctuation to my statement, a chime sounded from my computer, alerting me that all parties had signed the contract. “Damn, that was fast.”
“What was?” Natalie asked as I stood, grabbed my jacket and purse, and headed for the door. “Whereare you going?”
“The contract is finalized. I need to get this locked down before we’re forced out.”
2
Ain’t no way
“Suck it up, Jericha.” I told myself as I drove from my office. “This is a necessity. No, it’s not what you would prefer, but future you will love what you’re about to do.”
Of course, it wasn't the ideal situation to drive into my former friend's office and ask for her help. It was hard enough thinking about the way our friendship fell apart. Most days, I avoided it altogether. How do you look someone in the eye after they stole your dream?
When we were fresh out of school, I told Rose everything I planned to do for my business. It was going to be a hard sell trying to get funding, but she was so encouraging, I gave her all the details. I told her my name, my logo, my design, my message, my themes, everything. I was so excited, I even gave her an early version of my business proposal.
And you know what she did? She took that proposal to her rich father, who gave her the money to start her business. Yeah, she didn’t need to go begging banks for loans like I did. Before I even had my first meeting, Rose had taken every single detail I had slaved over for years, curated formybusiness, and started her own.
And then, the bitch presented it to me like I should be happy about it. She actually took me to the front doors of her new establishment and saidlook at this! I guess she expected me to cheer and scream, “Oh my God, how wonderful! I’m so happy for you!” Nah. That’s not what happened at all.
I went the hell off!
Because what the hell else was I supposed to do? Here I was, looking at the woman I thought was my best friend for the last six years of my life, and she had stolen my dream, one she never wanted for herself. Rose’s problem was her low self-esteem. Cash doesn’t create confidence. Even with all her family’s money, she was still a girl who lowkey hated other women. If she could snatch up the thing that made you shine brighter than her, she damn sure would!
Women like Rose often took a girl’s girl and turned them sour. Not me. She just made me learn a hard lesson. Keep the goal and the plan to myself. Let the world see it when it’s done, when it's established and no one can take it away from me.
What made the situation worse was that Rose, for whatever reason, ran around making me look like the bad guy. She spun a story that basically swapped our roles.Iwas the friend who wasn’t happy for her.Iwas the friend who had secretly been jealous and hated her for so many years. She was the innocent rich girl who had opened her heart to my poor, fat ass.
Because of what she did, I lost so many connections in my life I knew I would never get back. But they were people who I decided I didn’t need in my life. As vocal as I was about my dreams, I didn’t understand how so many of them could believe her. The truth was, they were just as fake as she was. They knew she was lying, but they didn’t want to lose proximity to the supposed value she could bring to their lives. You know, access to Daddy’s wallet.
Fast forward three years later, and Rose's business was failing. You know what she did when that happened? She came back to me apologizing and asking for my help. And what did I do? Because apparently, that lesson hadn’t been engrained hard enough, I foolishly helped her. I gave her the advice to turn her business around.
I told myself it was a good idea to help her, because it meant a potential ally. That was the Band-Aid thought that kept me from kicking myself. But that turned out to be the truth, because of a dumbass named Mitch. With such a short time until the kickoff of the contract, I had no other option but to go to Rose and ask for her help.
Only this wouldn't be a handout—this would be a business proposal. I had heard rumors about Rose's business. It happened when you were in the same industry. At the last two conventions, Rose was nowhere to be found. Once again, the woman who bribed her way through college wasn't doing so well. At the very least, this collaboration would put money in her pocket and give me the manpower I needed for the short term.
“That’s exactly what I need!” I slapped the steering wheel before flipping on my turning signal, indicating I wanted to turn into the gas station. No, I didn’t need fuel for my car. What I needed were those little strawberry glazed donuts! They were my weakness, and most days, I avoided them because it meant an extra hour in the gym, but they also brought me joy. Shoot me, I’m a comfort eater.
As I maneuvered the car into the lot, a black car, top down, whipped in front of me. I slammed on my brakes, narrowly avoiding hitting the man with long dreadlocks that spilled out over the side of the car when he sped by me.
“Son of a bitch!” I yelled out, but he didn’t acknowledge me. He parked, hopped out of his car, and headedinside.
I parked next to him, stopping myself from slamming my door into his. I was an adult, and I could handle big emotions! It didn’t matter. I would have those little donuts soon, and they would make everything better.
I hopped out of the car, adjusted my skirt, and made a beeline for the last aisle in the store, where I knew I would find those tasty treats. My heart warmed, and a smile spread across my face when I saw the last bag sitting on the top rack. It was meant to be. Just as I reached for it, just as I was inches away from having the thing that could make my day better, a disgusting man's hand snatched it from me. And who stood in front of me with green eyes and a wide smile that made me want to punch him in the face? The same asshole who had cut me off!
“I was about to grab that,” I said, trying to soften my voice. Maybe if I was nice, he would give me what I wanted.
“Oh, well, maybe they have more in the back.” He shrugged. “Gotta be quicker than that, huh?”
And then, his goofy ass walked away from me.
“Seriously?” I scoffed. “Fucking men!”
