Chapter 1 - The Meeting
This is my first post please be gentle 🫶🏾
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Zaria POV
Laying in bed staring at the ceiling. What am I doing with my life! I'm almost thirty working a dead end job, and single as fuck.
Doo doo do do doo do do! My alarm to my tether to escaping homelessness.
Ugh! It's time to get my ass up and start the day.
I'm Zaria and this is my life.
Wake up.
Work.
Go home and repeat.
My life has become dull and repetitive. Everyday I tell myself "Something has to change" I need some spice in my life to get me out of this rut!
But go back the same ole song of life.
Climbing out of bed I go to the bathroom and look at the reflection of my 5'3, dark skinned, chunky and curvy frame while I ponder on my morning routine.
"Hmm...Maybe I'll put a little make up on today".
I think while ...
"Girl that's dead!" I say to my reflection and go on with my usual routine; brush teeth, shower, skincare, and moisturize.
After my morning routine is done, I go to my closet to find an outfit for work. Picking out my usual simple and comfortable go to; a pair of slacks, a blouse, and loafers.
"Alright! I'm dressed let's get on to this crashing roller coaster ride called work" I say aloud while leaving my apartment to start my day as an Architect for a construction company.
Before I get to work I decide to stop at a local coffee shop to get myself a green tea latte and pastry before going to work.
After parking, I reach over to grab my purse and feel the car jerk forward then hear a "thump". I look behind me and see two grown ass men fighting against the rear of my little sedan, "Shayla". Rushing out of my car, I yell
"What in the hell are y'all doing? Stop, Stop!"
Against my better judgment I attempted to grab one of the guys by the waist and pull them away from the fight but this dude is solid. Others around us pull out their phones to record and some pulls the other guy away who looks like he lost the fight.
As the men are being separated they are yell obscenities at each other "Fuck you!", "Go to hell!" As the battered guy I'm not holding starts to walk toward a nearby sports car to nurse his wounds the belligerent man I'm still holding says calmly to the other man "This is not over, we'll meet again". The way he said it gave me chills and I let go of him immediately.
When I let go of the mystery man's waist he turns and looks at me with the most intense dark green eyes I've encountered.
In this moment I realize my fool self tried to pull a very muscular linebacker built, 6 ft dude away from a fight with another big ass dude. What the hell was I thinking?!? As I look at him more I begin to notice how attractive this crazy man is....
15 minute rewind:
Adriel POV
Current I'm in the parking lot stewing with anger at a local coffee shop my sister's ex-boyfriend Ron frequents on his way to work. I plan to beat his ass for physically abusing my precious yet evil ass sister. Recently I discovered he assaulted her in a fight at her apartment and he was not charged with anything because his family comes from old money. Dalia requested I not pull strings for her because "It's a bigger issue regarding women's rights and the legal system." Which I 1000% agree with so to compromise with her wishes we agreed that she will have around the clock security and get back into self defense training.
As I'm waiting and considering leaving, his obnoxious yellow and green sports car pulls into the parking lot. Immediately, I get out of my car and make my way across the parking lot over to him.
"Oh hey Adriel, what's up" he says as I'm saying,
"What's up with you hitting Dalia?"
"I don't know what your talking about just like I told the counsel she tripped down the stairs at my place that night it's not my fault she's a clumsy bitch." he says while smiling.
This bitch has me fucked up, he literally left hand and bite marks on her. I'm stunned that this asshole would lie so easily. I'm think to myself as while silently staring at him.
"Ron! I saw my sister in person so we both know that's a lie" I say calmly. "You know what's about to happen Ron, I'm going to give you 15 seconds to prepare yourself" I tell my smart watch to set a 15 sec timer aloud.
Ron starts to laugh "You know what yeah I hit her she knows what she did wrong. So what now you don't scare shit you are just a grunt who got lucky!"
I stand there stoically as he continues to spew bullshit for a few more seconds.
Ding!
The chime alerts me as I slapped and punched Ron in the face hard causing him to slam and fall onto a car. As I moved to stomp Ron's face while calling him every curse word I know, I felt arms around my waist pulling me back. Looking around I see people crowding and grabbing their phone to record the altercation. Feeling these light tugs attempting to pull me away I stop my assault on Ron. Other people around start dragging Ron away as he yells and curses at me.
I look him in the eyes and say calmly, "This is not over we will meet again" and in this moment I felt the arms around me disappear.
I turn around and to give someone an angry glare that immediately softens when I see this tiny chocolate beauty who tried stopped me from beating Ron's ass.
"Uh Hi" I say
"Hi" She says and looks up at me and with the prettiest brown eyes.
"Thanks for stopping me that probably would've resulted with me in jail had I not stopped" I say "But I don't recommend you make that a habit of breaking up fights though people are crazy and we wouldn't want you getting hurt"
"You're welcome asswipe" she says and points her index finger at me. "For one I'm no demure damsel that needs to be patronized and two I mainly did it because I'm still making payments on my car. Shayla wasn't built for 2 grown ass men to be fighting and slamming into her. So how about you find somewhere else to tussle aside from a busy coffee shop first thing in the MORNING!!"
Damn that was her car I knocked Ron into I realize and immediately start to feel bad.
"Oh goodness, I'm really sorry about that ma'am" I start to survey her car for damage and notice a dent and scratches on the trunk. "It looks like it's some superficial damage back here. I will pay to get this fixed"
"Damage?!?" She yells and races to the back of the car to observe the damage. Slowly turns her head in my direction to send me a fuming glare thats cute as hell but scary at the same time.
"Ohh no!! You sure will be paying for this buddy." She says. "What would possess two grown ass men to be out here fighting like they have no damn sense?" I hear her mumble.
I ignore her comment and pull a business card from my wallet. "Here is my card with my contact info on it. Once you have the bill just reach out and let me know and I'll pay for it or use my mechanic." I offer and hand her my business card
"Adriel Santos, CEO of Tez Corp?" She reads
"Yea that's me. What is your name?"
"Zaria Diallo"
"Beautiful name and woman" I say with a smile
"Thanks " she says with an eye roll. "How do I know this is legit and you won't dodge my calls when it's time to pay?"
Hmm if you have her number Adriel you can call her I plot/think as she bends over to assess the damage to her trunk further, which is giving me a lot of thoughts about a different trunk right now.
Shaking from my thought I say "Shouldn't I take down your contact information?" I say "So I know who it is and won't dodge your calls"
She ponders for a second and says "We can just go through insurance." she turns around and said dumbfounded
"Well I do know of a private body shop in the area that does great work and we want to ensure Shayla is taken care of properly."
"Umm okay here's my info text me your mechanics info and I'll bring my car there after work since it's Friday."
"Great! When I get to work I'll send an time estimate and the address to the shop. I'm texting you a gift card for a ride share as well so you don't have to drive your car like this and I will get it towed to my mechanic within the next 10-15 minutes" I said and texted her a $500 gift card to last her the weekend.
She looks me up and down and scrunches her face up and says "Wait what? The bumper is just dented I can still drive it and drop it off to mechanic."
"Zaria I need to apologize again for my actions and the damage I've caused please allow me to take this burden off you." I press while looking into her eyes.
"Fine I've never used one of these let me get it setup.
As she is setting up the app I take the time to observe how beautiful she is in her blouse and wide leg slacks that does everything it needs to do for her thighs and back side. Her blouse opens a bit in the chest area and I think I can see a peek of black lace.
Deep in my ogling I'm startled when she says.
"I think I'm requesting my ride now and thank you." She says "I can't believe you are so polite to me but out here fighting in suit before you went to work? Just wow! Hopefully no one posts it Mr. CEO."
I laughed. "I have my reasons darling. Do you want me to double check that your ride is setup properly?
"Yes please" She walks next to me to show me her phone and I smell her perfume then feel a heat and tingle come over my body and something pulling me closer to her like a magnet.
"Is everything setup alright?"
"Uh yes, yes it is, you have 10 minutes before they arrive. Can I get you something from the coffee shop before your car arrives?" I ask.
"Sure"
We walk into the shop in a comfortable silence and stand in line it's about 5 people ahead of us I notice.
"So Zaria Diallo, what is it that you do for a living?"
"I'm an Architect for a construction company"
"Oh nice do you enjoy your work?"
"It's alright and pays the bill" she says in an indifferent tone.
"If you had a chance to do life over what would you be doing"
She gives me a quizzical look and says "I'd be an Architect overseas in the "poor" countries to design homes and buildings that aren't being used for capital gain like the US. Also teach the younger generation others what I know."
"Wow that sounds like an wonderful dream. What's stopping you? You don't look old or like you're gonna keel over tomorrow." I ask jokingly
"Life, bills, time, or just me I guess" she says solemnly.
"Sometimes we can be our own worst enemies" I say. "But we write our own stories in life so when you're ready for that change you will know"
She gives me a smile and says "Thank you Adriel. Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course"
"What on earth possessed to you hit that man? I'm so baffled how the person you've shown me beat that man's ass like you did."
I laugh loudly and look her in the eyes and lean close to her ear and say "You will never know that side of me darling."
She looks up at me and in a way that lets me know the attraction is mutual. Choosing to answer her question to alleviate some of the tension.
"In regards to the dickhead he hit my sister and the courts failed her so I wanted to scare him away from her"
As we approach the cashier we place our orders and stand in the waiting area for our drinks and pastries and sit in silence for a few seconds when I here her say "I understand why you did what you did but next time find somewhere more private and at night. You're lucky no police showed up."
I smiled at her and grabbed our order and handed her the items she order as her phone alerted her, her ride would be arriving shortly. We walked outside to wait for her ride to arrive.
"Hopefully I didn't cause you to be late or anything. Once again I'm sorry and will be in contact later today about your car which is on its way to the mechanic as we speak."
"Crap! I'm gonna be like 30 min late. Oh well I'll just stay later or skip lunch. Thank you for the apologies and breakfast you have a good day Adriel and keep those knuckles to yourself" she waves with a chuckle.
"You too darling and see you soon" I want to comment on the skipping lunch but I know it's not my place...yet. I watched as she got in the car and was secured inside. Then made my way to my black sports car to go to Tez Corp praying no one recorded or posted anything. I should call my lawyer and PR manager on the way and get this sorted.
As I'm pulling out of my parking spot I notice an owl looking at me from a nearby tree and flys away.
"Hmm that's odd I thought owls were nocturnal"
Not thinking anything about it I make my way to my job with thoughts of Zaria.
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(A/N:) See you next Thursday!!
