Sleeping with the Boss

By Tionna G.

After the passing of Tionna's mother she was left to figure out how to navigate through this world on her own without the advice of her dear beloved mother. After such loss and getting away from her dead-beat husband Tionna took the streets of Baltimore. Little did Tionna know! Her world was getting ready to

• Language: English
• Publisher: Palmetto Publishing
• Release date: Mar 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781649907509

Tionna G.

I am a young woman who was born and raised in Baltimore, MD. After years of reading some great novels, I decided to take the liberty of writing and sharing with you some of my own personal struggles and love encounters. This book was inspired by true events that took place during a particular time in my life. I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I did writing it.

Book preview

Where I Am Now

I

t had been a few months now since Momma Louise had been gone, and my son, David, was about to turn sixteen. I had gotten a little used to the fact that I would never see her or hear her sweet voice again. After Momma passed, I could not bring myself to live in the city anymore. And I was also dealing with a failed marriage. We needed a change of atmosphere, so my son, David, and I moved out to Baltimore County. We had a few other relatives already living out there, so it was not too bad.

One day after moving to the county, I was chilling at my cousin Shauntae's house at this little party she had given with some close family and friends. While there, I met this guy named Stephen. We seemed to hit it off very well, so we exchanged numbers. After that night, Stephen and I stayed in touch pretty much every day for about a month or two. Eventually he wound up moving in with me and my son.

For a few years, things seemed to be going well until about our fourth year in. That's s when things started taking a turn for the worse. I started to find out that Stephen was just like most of these men—a piece of shit. I started catching him in a bunch of lies. He would always hang around with a lot of young girls, which he claimed they were just clients. But that made me start questioning his character. I even caught him cheating a few times, but me being me, I still stuck with him, giving him chance after chance.

The arguing became like a daily routine, and the fighting became more frequent. Why was I still trying to hold on to this piece of a man and make this work? It was not like he was helping me with the bills or even being faithful for that matter. Hell, I was now on probation from fucking around with this motherfucker! The relationship became very toxic not only for me but for David as well. My son started to really grow a hatred for him and not even wanting him around. And so did I! So I told Stephen he needed to leave.

He kept refusing to leave despite all my attempts of putting him out. I told him several times that I was done with the relationship and that he needed to move on. That seemed to have gone in one ear and out the other. I got tired of cussing and fussing and soon began to shut down. I became numb to the fact of him even being there. I could not get this man to leave my house. I began to accept the fact that he was never going to leave.

In the fourth year of our relationship, I wound up losing my job, which put me in a really tight bind. I thought I would be able to bounce back quickly, but work seemed to be a little scarce. I remembered Stephen's mother, Mrs. Sarah, a few years prior telling me about a job and how much money I could make. I liked Mrs. Sarah but not enough to want to work with her every day. I could deal with her outside work because I could control when to see her or how much time I would have to be around her, but to work with her would be too much, so I always declined. After months of not finding any employment and running out of options, I decided to call Mrs. Sarah and inquire about the job. I filled out the application and patiently waited for a response.

Later on in that week, my BFF Meghan, stopped by my house to give me some info on a temp agency she knew about. The next day, I immediately jumped on the phone and gave them a call. They gave me an appointment to come in the next day to fill out some papers. A few days later, I was placed on an assignment. It was some money but still not enough to cover all the bills, which by now I was way behind, and they were steadily piling up. I was still waiting on that call from the Sheraton, hoping that would be a better opportunity to make some decent money. At least that's what Mrs. Sarah testified too.

About a month later, I got a phone call from the Sheraton. They were calling to schedule me for an interview. I was so elated. Finally! But I was still not out of the frying pan yet because even though I was getting paid from the temp agency, I was still behind in bills. Shit, I was already four months behind before starting the assignment. Now we were about to go into a new month, which meant another pile on. Fuck! And Stephen's no good ass was no help. At this point, I was hoping that he was out

there cheating again so he could find some other woman who would take his sorry ass in. I frowned my face up and clenched my teeth. I could feel the heat rise in my face across my forehead from just thinking about him. I felt like I wished I’d never met this man.

The Interview

T

oday was the day of my interview. I said a little prayer, asking God to please let me get this job so that I could make a better future for me and my child. I got up out of bed feeling a little irritated. Stephen and I had been arguing half the night. But I put on my big girl panties and got ready for my interview. I made my way downtown to the Sheraton, making sure I arrived about fifteen minutes early. You know what they say, always arrive a few minutes early to make a great impression.

As I sat there patiently waiting to be interviewed for this job that I was in dying need of, I found myself drifting off into deep thought about how this opportunity could change my life and how I finally could be back on top of my game again. As I was in my thoughts, the door to his office opened, and I was greeted with a smile from what I presumed to be a five-foot-seven-inch tall handsome bronze-colored older gentleman. He wore a nice brown suit with a tan-colored shirt underneath that fit his physique and a multicolor bow tie that had some hints of brown in it. His shoes were caramel brown, which complemented his suit nicely. His hair was a coal black color. He had a nice and neat shape-up, which connected to his sideburns. And my nose took on the scent of the cologne that he was wearing, nothing too strong or overpowering but very intoxicating.

He said to me, Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat? In my mind, I was thinking, Hell yeah. Shit, I have been sitting here for about two hours now. How long does an interview take? But would it be appropriate to accept food on an interview? I snapped out of my thoughts quickly, and I kind of hesitated and said, Yes, sure. He took my order, and shortly after, the food was brought to me. He stayed long enough to give me the food then off again.

Now I was really thinking this was the weirdest damn interview by far. I had now been sitting here for about four hours and still no damn interview yet. So here I was with my thoughts again. Should I just leave? Did he forget I was here, or should I just tuft it out and wait? Shit, I’ve been waiting for four hours anyway. Girl, you really need to land this job. Fuck, I will wait. Luckily I was off on my temp job that day.

Finally, he stepped back into his office again. I was assuming he was ready to proceed with the interview. Nope! He said to me, I am so sorry. We are really busy, but please don’t leave. I will be right back to conduct the interview. Here we were now, six hours in. Finally, he came back, and the interview began—oh wait, what I thought was supposed to be an interview began. He went on to tell me how he got to where he was and how I could make money from working there, which lasted all about five to ten minutes.

But throughout him talking, I kept noticing how he would gaze and stare at me for long periods of time, almost like he was stuck in some sort of trance for seconds at a time. Then he would catch himself and laugh a little and then continue on. This went on pretty much the whole five- to ten-minute interview. When the interview was done, I left.

I was a little excited because I was like yes, I think I bagged this even though I did not do much talking, and damn, there were hardly no interview questions, at least not like normal regular interviews. Come to think of it, I was not asked anything about my previous work experience or anything like that. Honestly I was also a little upset that I spent eight hours sitting at a job that I was not getting paid for nor did I have yet.

Well, at least I got to get some good food out of the deal, I thought.

Then I started second-guessing the interview because he never said whether I had the job. I was thinking, Damn, I need a drink after all this. So I went to a bar called the Two Spot, on Wheeler Avenue off Baltimore Street across from Club Internationals, and I had a few drinks with some friends of mine.

I felt like since I hadn’t seen my uncle in a while, I would go roll up on him and tell him what had been going on with me. So a couple of hours after chilling with the homies, I slid through my uncle's crib, who lived not too far from there, to surprise him with what I hoped would turn into good news.

Oh, just a quick little backstory. My great uncle and I were really close before his passing. God rest his soul. He was like the father I never had. He was also one of my hilarious uncles. So any time around him meant a lot of laughter, a great time, and plenty of fun.

We chopped it up for a few, and I told him about my interview, and before I could finish, he asked if the boss was a man or a woman. I said a man. He said, Is he married? I replied, I have no clue because that was none of my business, and my mind was on landing the job and getting this paper, not what his personally situation was. He then replied, "Don’t