Chapter 13

One month later.

It's been 1 month since I met Collin at the bakery and my life has changed for the better with him. For the past 3 weeks after we met, we decided to get to know each other more noticing the chemistry that was between us. We went out on dates twice a week and he would randomly pop up at either the community center or the bakery and surprise me with flowers and food. Honestly, food is one of my love languages so he was doing everything right in my books lol.

We had finally come to the end of our break and I had started back up at university doing my last semester. I can't lie and say I'm not excited because I've worked so hard to get here being able to pay off my tuition alongside the 50% scholarship I got in order for me to graduate that free and only worry about myself and my future when and done.

I was currently at the bakery tending to a few of the customers we had, seeing how it was 2 in the afternoon and I noticed a delivery man walk in with a bouquet of flowers and Chinese takeaway. Not wanting to show how already excited I was, I continued to tend to the few people that I had and watched as he walked over to Mr. G and had him sign that he had received the items.

10 minutes later I had finished up with the customers and there was currently no one in the shop for me to serve. Placing a huge smile on my face, I walked over to Mr. Jay who was holding the flowers upside down with no regard for them.

“Honestly Pops have some respect for my gifts,” I said as I walked over and softly snatched my flowers, allowing the smell of the chicken and rice to penetrate my nose.

“I can see you're still running around with that boy. Not to put you down but I feel like something is off about him.” He said as he picked up the newspaper and continued reading. This mini conversation was something that we went through about twice a week or whenever I saw him around. For some reason, he wasn't really feeling Collin alongside Ma, Jess, and Kay.

They hadn't got to know him though and I felt like he was such a good guy. A week ago, we all decided that we would go out to dinner with Collin so that they can get to know him and question him as much as they want to and I hope that they will be able to see him for who he is and who I see him as.

I was not totally disregarding what they said though because I had honestly seen some red flags but I feel like they are so small that if I talked to him he would be open to trying to change some of his actions plus everyone deserves another chance.

“Pops, Don't worry I set a date for the dinner and I will let all of you know so that you get to meet him properly and not just see him from across the room,” I said as I open up the container of takeaway and spooned some rice and a piece of sweet and sour chicken into my mouth.

“We all just want you to be safe and cautious. I hope you know that. I am a retired boxer and I have no problem knocking him out.” He said as he stood up, kissed my forehead, and left out to go back home.

“I know,” I whispered out as I watched him walk to the flower shop that was across the bakery and buy Ma a bouquet of roses.

Picking up my phone, I decided to text Collin and let him know that I was grateful for the flowers and food.

Me: Hey babe

Collin: Hey love, you got what I sent over right?

Me: Yeah, a bouquet of roses and my favorite meal. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Collin: I’ve told you not to thank me. You know I love taking care of you. Anyway, I’ve got to get back to work. I’ll hit you up later?

Me: Yeah sure, have a great rest of the day. Bye

Closing out our thread with a smile, I got my food and took it to the back office, switching on the tv we had in there and watching an episode of The Circle on Netflix.

I also sent out a text to everyone, letting them know that we would have the dinner on Friday night at Big Kahuna, a well know restaurant in downtown Atlanta. Receiving replies of confirmation almost immediately, I put my phone down and enjoyed the rest of my break.

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Jeremiah POV

“J, I-I have something to show you.” Looking up from my laptop, I saw Justine walk into my office with a smile on her face and super short booty shorts that had her cheeks hanging out from the bottom.

“Yoh what did I tell you about coming to my office building dressed like a $10 hooker,” I asked with irritation evident on my face.

“Ugh, please, I love the attention I get from all the guys sending looks my way. You should be happy guys look at me like that anyways, it means you have a trophy,” She said as she walked around my desk and pulled my chair out, sitting on my lap.

“I have a meeting to go to in 10 minutes. Just tell me what you need to once I get home. I don’t have time to be distracted today.” I said as I lifted her off my lap and picked up my phone and iPad, walking out the office and hoping she’d be gone by the time I got back.

Waling into the conference room, I took a seat at the head of the table and prepared to go over our annual budget with the finance team.

2 hours later.

We usually never took this long, however, there was an anomaly in the budget for the previous year which one of our analysts pointed out. It showed that almost $300,000 had been spent and couldn’t be accounted for, using a company credit card. That wasn’t a lot of money to me but it was still a good amount that could have gone into bonuses for my deserving employees or to charity.

Calling up the bank, I asked that they trace exactly what the money was spent on and be able to hand a report over to me by soon, letting me know exactly who was behind the whole fiasco as well because I was ready to fire someone for going behind the company’s back and spending what didn’t belong to them.

Frustrated, I packed up everything and decided to go straight home, wondering what Justine had to tell me earlier on, hoping it wasn’t some nonsense that would get me madder like getting married. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t opposed to getting married at all, I just knew in my heart that Justine is not the woman I’m going to spend the rest of my life with soo yeah.

“Justine! I’m home. Where you at?” I called out as I walked into my 15,000 square foot house, basically a mini-mansion.

“I’m upstairs in the bedroom,” She called out. Feeling parched, I walked to the fridge and pulled out a Gatorade, opening it up and taking a long sip before heading up the stairs. Placing my briefcase where it usually went, I sat on the bed and waited for Jus to come out of the closet and say what she needs to earlier.

“Okay, so I’m not exactly sure how you are going to react but I’m beyond excited. This is something I know you want and have talked about.” She said as she walked out with a blue box in her hand, walking over to my side of the bed and handing it over to me.

Not wanting to waste any time, I opened it up and lifted the tissue paper, freezing and feeling my body go rigid when I noticed exactly what was in the box.

“What’s the meaning of this?” I asked her, feeling panic begin to rise.