"Under pressure," Thomas "T.J." Julien said to himself as he walked into the office of Stephen Docker, smug-faced scheduling manager for Secure Task, the security company he happened to work for. The bozo knows I live in Vanier and he sends my Black ass out to Kanata, an hour and a half away by bus, T.J. grumbled, and he rubbed his hands. He honestly wanted to wring a certain bozo's neck...
"Hello, Mr. Julien," Stephen Docker said, and for the umpteenth time, T.J. wondered how such a smug-faced weasel got to a position of authority within the company. T.J. suddenly remembered a book he recently read, The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout, and smiled as he realized the nature of the threat he faced. Stephen Docker is smug, glib, callous, uncaring, and has zero empathy. This definitely made him a sociopath...
"Hello," T.J. replied, and he sat down, already knowing how this was going to go. The same scheduling douche bag who thought it was fun to have guards go into a work site at two o'clock in the morning, finish at eight, and then come back by four o'clock that same afternoon wasn't going to be moved by his tale of woe concerning Ottawa's transit system.
"Mr. Julien, you've been late too many times at the Nova Tech Center in Kanata," Stephen Docker said, and he flashed T.J. the kind of smile that a serpent would recognize. Get it over with, T.J. thought, wishing the creep would stop dragging his feet. Must be nice to bark orders at people over the phone and in emails from the comfort of your office while others are risking their necks, T.J. thought.
"I see," T.J. said flatly, and he wondered what he was doing in Stephen Docker's office. This creep was but the latest bozo that T.J. had been working for. The security industry seemed to attract a ton of assholes and bitches with power-trip tendencies and fragile egos. Such men and women, a miserable lot if there ever was one, ending up in management positions and liked to take out their frustrations on those below them.
"You're being removed from site," Stephen Docker said, and he smiled smugly, this skinny, pale, dark-haired creep with the weirdest last name T.J. had ever heard. This dude is creeping me out more and more, T.J. thought. What kind of name is Docker anyways? Did the bozo enjoy docking people's pay? Did his grandparents and parents work at a loading dock? Sheesh, seriously!
"Whatever," T.J. said as he walked out of Stephen Docker's office. The bozo was gleaming with pride as if he'd just accomplished something major. The day this bozo gets hit by a bus I will start going to church again, T.J. thought with a smile as he walked out of the Secure Task office. He could hear Stephen Docker call his name, and casually ignored the bozo. Creeps like that only had power over you if you give it to them...
"I wonder if there are other security companies looking for people," T.J. said to himself in the elevator. The day started out quite nicely, as T.J. finally had a meeting with someone he liked. It had been a couple of months since T.J. got dumped by Josephine Ajoku, the tall, dark-skinned, curvy and big-bottomed young Nigerian woman whom he'd been dating since the start of the summer. While T.J. found Josephine a bit flaky, she was a lot of fun in bed.
"Hello, Joseph," T.J. said to his good buddy, a tall, chocolate-hued, fit brother with kinky dark hair and a slick smile. Joseph, whom T.J. had known ever since his early days with the security company. They worked at the Canada Communications Center building in downtown Ottawa, just a couple of young Haitian men working security among the throngs upon throngs of annoying government workers.
"Hey, T.J. what's good, my brotha?" Joseph said, and he bumped his fist against that of T.J. The two young men went into East Side Mario's restaurant inside the Saint Laurent Mall and waited to be seated by a pretty but sour-faced young brunette who served as hostess. The two young men sat at a well-lit table near the front, and flipped through the menus that a jovial, curvy young waitress placed before them.
"Man, it's good to see you again," T.J. said, and Joseph smiled and nodded, then continued browsing through the menu. T.J. admired Joseph, who looked good in a Black leather jacket over a dark green T-shirt and blue jeans, with an old-fashioned fedora covering his kinky dark hair. The Haitian brother looked just as good as T.J. remembered, if not better...
"Yeah, Carole is out of town with Little Joe, so I got some time," Joseph said, and T.J. nodded. A certain smile came to Joseph's face as he mentioned his wife Carole and their son Little Joe. He was honestly happy for Joseph because he'd found the woman of his dreams. Carole, a beautiful, curvy red-haired gal with piercing green eyes had fallen head over heels for Joseph when they met at La Cite Collegiale, ages ago. This was shortly after Joseph and T.J. stopped hanging out...
"Carole takes excellent care of you, Joseph, you look good," T.J. said, and he sipped the Pepsi that the waitress placed before him. Joseph leaned back in his chair and flashed T.J. that fearless smile of his. The smile of a man who knew who he was, and liked it. Joseph had changed a lot in the past few years, while T.J. felt like he was stuck, unable to move forward, no matter what he tried...
"Thanks, T.J. so how is your Nigerian lady friend? Josephine, right?" Joseph asked, and he smiled slyly, for he knew the answer before T.J. opened his mouth. T.J. had never been good at relationships, either with women or men. The smart-mouthed Haitian brother was open about who he was, a Bisexual man, and a lot of ladies and fellas tended to be puzzled then turned off by his brutal honesty...
"Man, don't ask," T.J. said, and he felt a wave of despair soar through him. He'd met Josephine Ajoku while working security for a Walmart located in the West End of Ottawa, Ontario. The gal was gorgeous, funny, smart, and had that big round booty that T.J. could not resist. Initially reluctant to date T.J. due to his peculiarities, Josephine Ajoku eventually gave into his advances, and he began dating her.
"You were happy with Josephine," Joseph said evenly, and T.J. looked away. In his time, he'd done his fair share of experimentation among the sexes, and always walked away empty-handed. Women claimed to want an honest man, but dismissed him for swinging both ways. Men, well, most of them didn't want a relationship anyway, so that was that. T.J. was doomed to loneliness...
"Dude, I begged her to come back but she's gone, alright?" T.J. said, shaking his head. He thought of Josephine Ajoku, her lovely face, those full lips, those curves, and that body. Oh gawd, that woman had a booty and T.J. loved kissing that big beautiful dark derriere of hers. The thought of someone else touching Josephine Ajoku's booty seriously pissed T.J. the fuck off..
