Chapter 1
Kianna: What You Won’t Do For Love?
Wiping the tears from my eyes, I fix my face in the bathroom mirror. My heart is broke into a million pieces so clocking in for work on time was not a priority. I loved Ace, and after all, I did for him he chose his girlfriend over me. I stayed up all night reading the emails she sent to me. She made it clear that she is his woman and not going anywhere. How could I be so stupid over this man? He told me every lie in the book, but I overlooked it because he made me feel good. The truth is he made all the girls in the call center feel good, but I was the center of his attention. I never laid eyes on a more handsome man than him. His lips make me moist. Every time he speaks, it was as if the Mack god himself wrote the script. He knew how to combine words in a perfect sequence so that I felt like the only girl in the world. He talked me up on a pedestal, and I thought he would never let me down.
Now I am in this mirror, late for work, and he’s gone. How could I be such a dumb ass woman? I didn’t mind the shit his girlfriend was talking to me, hell I didn’t even care that he had a girlfriend. Shit, I was married, but I was perfectly prepared to leave the one I was with for the greatest man in the world. My husband didn’t look at me the way Ace did, and he damn sure didn’t talk to me like Ace did. My husband was predictable all he ever did was go to church, hang with his friends, and fake spoil me with his good guy act. I was so tired of his “I’ll do anything to make you happy” attitude. It could be the middle of the night if I said I was hungry he would go to the kitchen and make me a hamburger. That ain’t love that was duty, and I needed more than a servant.
Ace is the passion that I lust for. I should have never picked his phone up when he left it on his desk yesterday at work. What possessed me to scroll through his phone and forward his girlfriend our email conversation? Stupid of me to think she would read those messages and leave him. She checked my ass real good tho and put me in my place. Broke my heart and made me feel stupid for buying the dreams Ace was selling. Insult after insult and all I could do was remain calm because I thought I was going to win the prize. If I said anything out of line Ace would never talk to me again, so I bit my tongue and accepted her insults. I had to play my position and tell her what she wanted to hear.
“No, I don’t want your man, no, we never had sex, no, I didn’t know he was in a relationship, and I will never talk to him again I don’t like cheaters, etc.”
Yeh, me and Ace never fucked but I wanted her man, and I wanted to comfort him when she dumped him. Ace spent all his time flirting with me, but he never crossed the line. I knew he was loyal to her so letting her catch him cheating was the only move I had to play. So, I played my hand, and now it all blew up in my face. After, all I did for Ace he won’t even answer my phone calls.
Damn, let me get to my desk, I had calls to answer, and I was late. Plus, I wanted to send Ace an instant message from my work computer. I move through the office slowly as I can barely walk. I’m still tired and stressed from last night. I see Tisha sitting in her cubicle, but I didn’t want her to see me. One thing about working at a call center is that everyone is in your business and I did not have time for this today. I set my purse down and spoke to Tisha, “Hey girl.”
“Mr. Whitaker said when you got here to come to his office.”
Mr. Whitaker wanted to see me I wonder why, “Ok, thanks for telling me. Do you know what he wanted?”
“No, he didn’t say what he wanted. He just told me to tell you to come to his office. Probably cuz you late. You must’ve been out with Ace,” she said.
I rolled my eyes because I was not in the mood for her shit today. Her messy as was always in somebody’s business. She just mad because she tried to push up on Ace and he wasn’t interested. I went to sign in on my work computer, but my login was not working. I decided to skip clocking in and go directly to Mr. Whitaker office. When I went to his office, he was sitting there with Pam from HR.
“Nice of you to join us this morning Kianna,” I hated the way he talked. He sounded like his nasal passages were clogged, but he was trying to hit a high note at the same time.
“Good morning, Mr. Whitaker sorry I’m late. I had an emergency,” and I did my heart was broke but he didn’t need to know the details.
“That’s fine this won’t take long. I called you in the office today because we had reports that you were taking screenshots of customer’s personal information and downloading them to a USB drive. Are you aware that this is a crime?” I was shocked that he knew about that. Who could have possibly told? I was always careful to do that when Tisha was on her break, and nobody else was around.
“Yes, sir I am aware of that being a crime and I would never do that.”
“Well….” He paused and gave me a grin like bitch you busted. “We decided to do a scan of your computer, and we have a record of all the screenshots you took. We have alerted the proper authorities, and if any of these profiles show up on an identity theft alert, we will have no choice but to prosecute you for fraud.” Damn, shit just hit the fan. The only person that knew I was stealing was Ace, and that’s because I was doing it for him. He told me he was having a tough time financially, but he knew a way to make some extra money. Since I was just a temp at the office, he told me the worst that would happen if I got caught was that my agency would reassign me. I didn’t care about the risk I just wanted to get Ace.
“Well, sir then why are we having this conversation. You said that I did it and you have proof, and I am saying that I didn’t. Anybody could have put that on my computer if it is really on my computer. You never liked me anyway so who knows it probably was you. Pam how many times have I came to your office and said Mr. Whitaker was harassing me?”
Pam looked at me as if she did not want to get involved and said, “Well, that information is confidential, but I can confirm you have reported Mr. Whitaker for harassment.” All I could think of is when I first started stealing for Ace he told me to build a paper trail against one of the managers. He said if anything went wrong you could always pretend you were being set up.
“Quite a few times. Mr. Whitaker this sounds like you are trying to get rid of me, but if you think you are taking me to court for identity theft, then I am taking you to court to for sexual harassment. I see the way you look at me. Always staring at my backside when I walk into a room! You gotta thing for sistas don’t you.”
His white face turned red, “Kianna, I think it is in the best interest of the company that your temporary assignment here ends. We will no longer need your services.”
I snatched my final check out his hand and said, “Kiss my black ass. I don’t need this job anyway. My husband makes enough money to take care of me.” Security was now standing outside of Mr. Whittaker’s office. He reached his hand out, and I handed him my badge. As I walked out of his office security escorted me to my desk to grab my purse. I’m so embarrassed right now because everyone is staring at me. They are escorting me out the job like some damn criminal. These bitches are staring at me ready to gossip. Everybody is trying to figure out what happened. Damn, I’m fired! How was I gone go home and tell my husband this? I can see myself now, “Hey babe I got fired today for stealing identities for a nigga I thought was cute.” You know how dumb that sounds?
Security walked me out the building and waited until I got in my car. I sat down in my seat and exhaled deeply. I picked up my phone and called Ace. WTF…are you kidding me? I dialed the number again just to hear the message, “We’re sorry, but the number you called has been disconnected.”
Damn, maybe it was Ace who got me fired. I knew he didn’t want to talk to me but to change his number that was fucked up. If Ace did get me fired it was probably because of his dumb girlfriend December. She so damn controlling she probably put him up to this. As much as she complained about his lack of money she should have been grateful he was trying to hustle. Nah Ace wouldn’t get me fired. Deep down I know he cares about me even if he did change his number and told me never to speak to him again. I miss him so much. I feel like shit and worst of all I gotta go home and explain why I got fired to my husband.
