Chapter 3
Chapter Three
RHAPSODY
Bending over with my hands resting on my knees, I struggled to catch my breath while feeling like I had to throw up.
The bad thing was, I was only twenty minutes into a forty-five-minute workout.
The session was brutal. My trainer stood patiently while I tried to catch my breath.
After about thirty minutes, he clapped his hands lightly.
“You got this, Rhapsody. Come on, let’s get to it.”
Straightening up, I waited for him to demonstrate the move that we were going to do next.
His idea of a warmup had been ten minutes on the stair master.
The fact that I had signed up to work out with him three times a week almost had me in tears.
I didn’t think I was going to make it. A gorgeous woman with a fat ass and tiny waist sauntered by, and I thought about why I was torturing myself.
I had body goals, and I wanted to meet them.
No pain no gain. With every passing minute I thought I was going to die.
When we were finally done, I wanted to kiss the ground.
Never in life had I been so grateful for something to come to an end.
I thought I was delirious and tripping when I saw Blaze approach my trainer and give him dap. He looked over at me with a slight smirk on his face.
“We meet again.”
Blaze was so fine it was sickening. I didn’t know how tall he was, but he was at least six feet.
He had a muscular physique that made me have the most impure thoughts.
His muscles were wrapped in flawless milk chocolate.
Blaze’s hair was cut very low and tapered on the sides.
He had a full beard and full lips that made my yoni contract if I stared at them for too long.
He was gorgeous and had a beautiful home.
It was safe to say he had money. Blaze appeared to be the perfect package.
“Hopefully, it’s not my last day on earth,” I panted making my trainer laugh.
“You did good. Give it another week or so you’ll be a pro.”
Joel said his goodbyes leaving me standing with Blaze. Awkwardly, I shifted my weight from one leg to the other. Noticing that he was wearing jeans, I assumed he was either done working out or hadn’t started. “You about to start your workout or you finishing up?”
“Neither. I was in the office. I own this gym.”
I didn’t attempt to hide the fact that I was impressed. “Oh wow, that’s what’s up.” I loved to see a black man doing his thing. Another cool point for Blaze.
His eyes bore into mine and suddenly, I was nervous.
“I know you’re fresh out of a relationship, but I feel like I keep running into you for a reason. You want to meet up for drinks tomorrow evening?”
Never in my life had I thought I was ugly.
Even with the extra weight gain, I didn’t think I wasn’t attractive.
I just didn’t feel sexy. But having a man as handsome as Blaze shooting his shot had me stunned.
Even at his house when he said there was nothing wrong with my body, I felt like he was just gassing me.
“That would be cool, if I wasn’t on a diet. I’m really trying to lose weight, and Joel said no alcohol.”
Blaze’s head bobbed. “I can dig it. What about we go to a smoothie spot?”
“That sounds better. Sure.”
Blaze pulled his phone from his pocket, and I gave him my number.
The first step I took when we parted ways made me wince.
My body was sore already. Every time I thought about all the foods I had to give up and the vigorous workouts, I contemplated just going to get lipo.
When I finally made it to the car, I rested my head against the seat and closed my eyes.
Exhausted didn’t even describe how I felt.
I remained in that position for at least ten minutes before starting the car and pulling out of the parking lot.
As I drove, I thought about the fact that I had been single for less than a week, and I already had a date lined up.
Jeremiah was going crazy because he didn’t know how I knew that not only did he cheat on me, but I knew what he’d said about me.
After I said what I had to say to him at the cookout I refused to answer the phone for him anymore or read his text messages.
As soon as texts came through, I deleted them.
Every morning when I woke up, an immense amount of grief tightened my chest and made me feel like someone had died.
I was so ready to get past this heartbreak.
The way breakups felt, it made me want to just remain single.
Thoughts about remaining single made me think of Blaze.
Jeremiah’s words made me feel like crap, but Blaze asking me out on a date stroked my ego just a tad.
Of course, I wasn’t ready for anything serious, but it was nice to know that I wasn’t some overweight ogre that repulsed every man that I came into contact with.
Melody swore that Jeremiah wanted to cheat anyway and that my weight gain was just an excuse.
While I drove, I thought about the chicken breast, rice, and broccoli that I’d meal prepped.
I was getting my shit together for me but in the event Jeremiah did run across the new and improved me, I hoped he’d eat his cheating ass heart out.
I knew I had to take the time to heal, but Blaze could be a nice distraction.
Melody was hell bent on me getting my lick back and making Jeremiah as sick as he made me.
Honestly, I just wanted him out of my life.
If I never saw him or spoke to him again it would be too soon.
As the bell over the door chimed to signal that the door had opened, I winced from the pain that radiated through my arms. I woke up that morning and could barely move.
Joel kicked my ass. I was doing sessions every other day, so I had break, but I for sure couldn’t enjoy it.
Looking around the establishment, it didn’t take me long to spot Blaze near the back looking through his phone.
I advanced in his direction, and his head lifted.
I wasn’t sure it was possible for a person to get finer each time you saw them, but that seemed to be the case with Blaze. That man made my stomach flip and my lady parts moist. As I approached, he placed his phone face down on the table and gave me his attention.
“You know what you want? I’ll order it.”
“Just a strawberry banana smoothie. Thank you.”
Blaze walked off while I eased myself into the seat as slowly as I could.
Soaking in Epsom salt hadn’t done a thing for the pain that I was in.
I looked around the smoothie shop. It was my first time there, but I liked the vibe.
It was like artsy meets health nut. Less than ten minutes later, Blaze was back at the table with two smoothies and a muffin.
Even me reaching for the cup hurt, and the discomfort showed on my face.
“You sore like that?” Blaze chuckled while sitting down.
“Yes. I swear it feels like I got hit by a bus,” I groaned.
“Like Joel said just keep at it. You’ll have the hang of it soon and be a pro at it.”
“I hope so because this is torture. And the fact that I can’t take my mind off the pain with ice cream sucks even more. Every day I want to say fuck it and go lay on a table.”
“You wouldn’t be the first and definitely not the last. I say keep going with the fitness journey though.”
I sipped my smoothie and smiled. Never did I want to be one of those male centered women that felt like I had to have a man in order to be happy.
Getting over Jeremiah and being happy was a priority of mine.
I didn’t want to make everything about the opposite sex, but this was the second time I’d been in Blaze’s presence, and he made me feel so much better.
Like there was hope for me, and I would maybe find my soulmate one day.
Then, I thought about how many losers I ran into before meeting Jeremiah and got discouraged all over again.
“So, may I ask if you’re single and if you are, why? Maybe I’m being presumptuous, but you seem like a great catch. Sadly, I’ve seen women that are way thirstier than men. I know you have to beat them off with a stick.”
A cool chuckle escaped him. “Women will be women,” he gave a lazy one shoulder shrug. “All pussy isn’t good pussy, and I try to avoid pussy that will have me posing for a mugshot.” The intensity of his gaze made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
A chill crept down my spine as I gazed into his chilling eyes. It told me everything that I needed to know. Blaze wasn’t a joke nor was he to be taken as one. Being that I didn’t have any intention of crossing him, I cleared my throat and attempted to act unfazed by his words.
“That can actually be easy to do. When I walked into my ex’s home and heard the way he was talking about me, it took everything in me not to run in the bathroom and beat his ass.
” Shaking my head at the memory, I became pissed all over again.
“I mean if he wanted to cheat he should’ve just done it.
But he didn’t have to talk about me like a dog to a complete stranger. ”
My jaw muscles flexed as I gritted my teeth with anger.
Talking about it pissed me off all over again.
And the fact that Jeremiah was really playing dumb angered me even more.
Had I not heard him with my own ears, he just might have had me convinced that he was telling the truth.
I loathed how his betrayal had me second guessing everything.
That probably wasn’t even the first time he cheated, and my dumb ass was walking around na?ve as hell and green as fuck.