Divine

When he first inherited the club he immediately started renovating. He gutted the entire inside and remodeled it to showcase live performances and bands. To make it more than just a club. He hadn't gotten to the outside yet but it was on his to do list.

He pulled into his driveway and shut the engine off. As he stepped into his living room, he put his keys down and turned the TV on. He hated the quiet that came with being at home. He wanted laughter, to hear his children running and playing. All he heard now was the sound of his own breathing. And you know. The TV.

He went into the kitchen and prepared himself a small dinner. When he was finished he took a shower and went to bed thinking about how he was going to get Calise to see that she was his, that they were meant to be together.

~~~~~~

It was around one thirty when the two best friends pulled into Calise's driveway. As She was unlocking the door she realized Shauntea hadn't said anything since they left the club. She was really quiet, which wasn't like her at all. "What's wrong with you?" Calise said.

"Why do you do that?" she asked. "Why do you run like that?"

Calise sat down on the couch in her living room. She looked Shauntea in the eye, debating if she should tell her.

"Oh come on," Shauntea said, "I know what your thinking and I'm not leaving here until I get the whole story. I've seen you do this to too many men to just leave it alone."

Sighing in defeat Calise asked her, "Remember that guy I dated in college?"
"Yeah, I think his name was Carl, right?"

She shook her head. "Yeah, him. We dated on and off for two years before we decided to get serious. I did everything for that man, I mean everything. I never told you but he proposed to me. Yeah, I was ecstatic too. I started to plan the wedding but he told me he wanted to elope. I thought it hopelessly romantic. So we caught a flight out to Las Vegas and got a hotel room on the strip. Because it was so last minute I didn't pack a bag and neither did he. I also needed something to wear for the wedding. Carl said he was tired from the flight so to just go without him to get the things we needed." She took a deep breath. The next part was hard to say. "I left to the mall and was gone maybe two and a half hours. When I got back to the hotel I heard the shower running. I sat all the stuff I had bought on the bed and went to join him in the shower. I opened the door to the bathroom and Carl was on his knees with his head between some chick's legs. I couldn't believe it."

As she was telling her story Shauntea just sat with wide eyes starting at her.

The girl saw me and tapped him on his shoulder. She had the nerve to smile at me. Carl got up and said "What are you doing back so early?" He didn't try to explain or anything. He just grabbed a towel and walked over to me. By then I had come out of my shock and lunged at the girl in the shower. Carl stopped me from reaching her. He grabbed me around my waist and took me into the main room. He told me to calm down. He started this whole spill about how he was sorry and he didn't mean for me to find out this way. I asked him why would he do that, to tell me what I did wrong. He told me I was a good woman, that I had a lot going for myself but that I was passionate enough for him. That he needed more out of his sex life and he didn't think that I could give that to him. I started getting angrier by the second. I asked him why did he even bring me all the way to Vegas just to cheat on me. Why not just tell me back home. I didn't even let him answer. I slapped the shit out of him, gave him a big Fuck You and left. I never looked back. He tried calling me a couple of times after that but it wasn't worth it," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"I found out later that the girl had been fucking him for over a year and he had flew her down on a separate flight. After a while I stopped listening to all the shit people were saying about him. It hurt to bad. Since then, I refuse to give myself to men. Well, my heart at least. Whenever I feel it getting too serious, I leave. I only stay long enough for it to be fun then go."
"So what happened with Deondre?" Shauntea asked her.
"He told me he had been looking for me for months. That told me he wants more than just sex. I can't give him that if that's what he wants."

Shauntea just looked at her friend. Her heart bled for the pain that she had gone through over that punk Carl. All of a sudden she gathered Calise in her arms and held her. For so long Calise had pretended that what happened didn't matter. That it was just a lesson. You live it, you learn it, you move on. But sitting here in Shauntea's arms, feeling the pain that she wouldn't let herself feel then, she realized it affected her more than she was willing to admit. But regardless of that or maybe because of it, she would never let a man be in a position to hurt her like that again.