6/Danielle
I watched Ron with that bitch on his arm.
I didn’t want to stare, but his walk demanded my attention.
I hadn’t seen him since he spit on me, and just the sight of him caused old feelings to resurface.
There was something about him that did things to my body before my mind could catch up.
He had obviously moved on, yet I couldn’t help feeling jealous the way the two of them were hugged up.
I felt hate. I felt love. I felt like going over there and demanding that bitch leave my man alone.
Then reality settled in. Luckily, I remembered he no longer belonged to me.
Dammit!
Am I ever going to get over him? It’s been months, yet he is all I can think about. I am so pathetic. I don’t know if I’ll ever love anyone like him. I’m not even sure I want to.
“I know who that is,” I heard Renee say when she returned with our drinks.
Of course she did. Knowing her, she’d gone to the bar just to get a closer look. “Who?” I asked, trying hard to sound like it didn’t matter one way or the other.
“He’s with that bitch Rosalyn.”
The name didn’t ring a bell. “You know her?”
Renee nodded and took a sip. “Yep. She used to mess with my cousin Dirt. Straight ho. I heard she’s got the package.”
“Which package?”
Renee pursed her lips. “Herpes.”
“Hell nah!” I couldn’t help but feel relieved, even though her coochie being infected was probably just one of the hundreds of rumors floating around this little-ass town.
“Danny, if that’s what Ron wants, then so be it.”
That was easy for her to say. Renee left her husband because she caught him screwing another man. The only reason Ron and I weren’t still together, was because of my daughter’s lie. I wanted so badly to get out of my seat and go over there and talk to him.
Don’t you dare do it.
Fine. Besides, Renee would kick my ass if I even tried.
I sipped my drink and watched the two of them circling the building—him in front, her right behind on his heels like she belonged there.
As much as I hated it, they looked good together.
She had more curves than a cul-de-sac. Full breasts.
A wide ass and a narrow waistline. She was wearing low-rider jeans and a midriff sweater that showed off her belly ring.
Ron had on loose-fitting jeans and a T-shirt that couldn’t hide the sculpted muscles in his arms and chest. I wanted to reach out and take a bite.
He had bowed legs. Dammit! Just knowing someone else was now riding my dick was hard for me to accept.
Instead, I was left fiending for him, thinking if he would just give me one more chance, things would be so different.
My nostrils flared. It wasn’t fair! I had waited almost two years for him to grow up and get a job. And just when he had finally started getting himself together—when things between us had just begun to feel stable—my daughter stepped in and fucked everything up.
“You need to quit staring before he notices.”
I blushed. I should have known Renee was watching me. “Damn, am I that pathetic?”
“Danny, I know you ain’t still trippin’ off Ron. After he spat in your face, he would be the last man I’d want to be with.”
I took a slow sip from my glass, ignoring her comment, and was glad when David came over and led her back onto the dance floor.
Sometimes my best friend gets on my last nerve.
What she’ll never understand is that it doesn’t matter how long I date Calvin, I will never get over my one true love.
No one can make me feel like Ron does. The brother was slinging dick for days, and nothing beats being in bed with a thug.
I forced myself to look around the room, but my eyes kept landing on Ron and that ho on his arm.
If Portia hadn’t lied, we’d still be together.
Or maybe not.
I released a heavy sigh. Maybe it was time for me to let go and move on.
After all, it was Ron’s loss. I had been a hell of a good woman to him for over two years, and up until those last couple of months all he had done was use me.
My utilities had gotten turned off so many times even though Ron claimed he had paid the bill.
Then there were the calls from his baby mamas in the middle of the night. For real, he wasn’t even worth my time.
So why did I still want him like he was oxygen?
Bitch, get over him.
I looked up just in time to catch Ron glancing in my direction and quickly turned my head. The last thing I wanted him to know was that I still loved him.
Renee returned, reached for her drink, and brought it to her lips, bobbing her head to the music.
Everything was going to be all right. I could feel it.
As long as you stop staring at Ron.
Determined to redirect my focus, I scanned the opposite side of the room and that’s when I saw him. A tall, thuggish-looking brotha with Hershey’s chocolate skin.
Good God Almighty.
I had never seen him before, and I thought I knew everybody. My heart started pounding. When he glanced over in my direction and our eyes locked, I wiped my mouth to make sure I wasn’t drooling.
Renee noticed too. “Goddamn, the cutie is sweating your ass.”
“And I’m checking his ass out, too.”
It wasn’t long before he crossed the room and stopped right in front of our table. I thought I was going to fall out of my chair.
“Hey, sexy, you want to dance?”
I was tongue-tied. All I could do was stare up at his smile.
Renee intervened. “Hell yeah, she wants to dance.”
I rose from my seat and followed him onto the dance floor. The last time I slow-danced with another man in a club, Ron had started a fight. I glanced to the right to make sure Ron wasn’t watching. He wasn’t.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
I smiled up at him and wrapped my arms loosely around his waist. “Danielle. Yours?”
“Chance.”
Ooh. His name was just as sexy as he was.
I leaned into him, and together we swayed to the music. I gazed up into a pair of mesmerizing hazel-colored eyes. Damn, could this brotha possibly be any finer? “Are you new in town?”
“Yes and no,” he said with a pearly white grin. “I went to school at Lincoln University and used to hang out in Columbia all the time.”
“Where’d you grow up?”
“St. Louis. But I’ve been back in Columbia a month. If I can find myself a good woman, I’d have a reason to stay.”
The music slowed, and Chance pulled me snugly into his arms. I closed my eyes and smiled. Damn, it felt good being held like this. Why couldn’t it feel this easy with Calvin?
When the song ended, he pulled back slightly and stared down at me again. “I’ll let you get back to yo girl. But first, put your number in my phone just in case you try to sneak out before I get your info.”
I smiled, trying to hide how much I was feeling him. The last thing I wanted was to look desperate.
“Holla at me before you leave.”
I nodded, then sashayed back to the table, and caught Ron staring.
I tossed my head back and laughed all the way back to our table.
Good for his ass.