“What’s going on?” I whispered my question to Dolph, wondering what had been responsible for the sudden change of mood at the table. “Your shit-headed ex is here…” Dolph said in silent anger, as he was a bit uncomfortable about what was happening. “But then, I’m not stopping this for anything.” It was quite amazing the way he had quickly regained his composure, and he turned back to face the table. He had ordered the servants to shut the blinds to keep the sounds out of the meeting, and that was pretty smart. But then, how had Randy found this place? Had he gone as far as following me all the way here? Wasn’t he aware that his getting in here wasn’t going to change a single thing? I had thought he had been so happy with his new girl, why was he suddenly becoming obsessive about me?“I apologize for that… shall we continue…” Dolph said as he sipped juice from his glass. “What’s going on?” Kayla wasn’t going to let that slide so easily. “You were all looking so troubled just a few mo
“Well…” I muttered, still searching for the best explanations that wouldn’t spill the beans about the contract marriage. I had to admit that she had me in a tight corner all by myself. “The thing is…”“Were you dating them both at the same time?” Kayla’s probing question gave me an idea and a way out of my hole. “Don’t tell me that you were just playing around with…”“The thing is that…” I decided to step in just before her inference would go further than I wanted it to. “I was at a point in my life where I was in between two very promising options of who I was going to take it further with.”Kayla listened attentively, and that was a good sign. Her body language showed a willingness to listen, and not a judgemental look, ready to nab me at any given loophole in my words. That gave me the courage to get those words out. “Randy showed more passion at first, and that made Dolph resign to the position of patiently waiting to see if I would have a change of heart somehow,” I hoped Dolph
I was feeling like the happiest man alive, as I drove to the casino after having my parents over. The confidence was brimming to the point where I had insisted on driving myself to work, instead of my men driving me. More than any other thing, I was thinking about the brief encounter between Tamika and my older brother who had been threatening to ruin the whole thing for us. She had warded him off so perfectly and so professionally, that I wished that I had caught the brief encounter on camera. It was quite amazing how just her words had shut him up. I just had to reward her with her phone. But then, I kept myself from thinking about her too much, as I believed that would become my greatest undoing. There were still a lot of things to do in those two years we would be together, and I would be ruining everything if I let my feelings get in the way.I took up my phone to check the GPS I had put on her to make sure that I hadn’t made the wrong decision by returning her phone to her. I
“All right... get yourself together, Tamika...” I said, psyching myself up for a few more moments, as I was about to turn on my phone. I was bracing myself for whatever it was that I would see there. But then, I was sure that it was bound to be nasty. There was probably a horde of messages from all sorts of people for me. Most of all, I was anxious to hear from my best friend and manager. Julia was probably worried sick about me, being unable to reach me after all those days, even after I had been trending all over the media.Just like I had predicted, I saw several missed calls and voicemails lined up waiting for me, of which Julia's was the most. I felt bad that I had made her that worried. She didn't deserve to go through all I had made her go through. It had all been because of my moment of carelessness. I carefully went through each voicemail from her, as I was bracing myself to read all the content that was flying around about me. That was going to be the last thing I would g
“Oh my...” Julia gasped in amazement, as she walked in through the front door. “You've been living in a mini paradise for the past couple of days.”“If that's how you want to put it...” I said, patiently walking her into the house that I was so proud of. Again, a part of me was wishing that all of this wasn't a lie. But then, I silenced that part of me by remembering the reason why I was doing all that in the first place. “Seems like all of this was just a perfect means to get you to move from the wrong man to the right one for you. I can almost see a script for this story.” Julia's cinematic mind was kicking in already, and that made me feel even more guilty than I had felt at first. The lies were just too perfect. “It's so nice seeing you again, Julia...” I took the conversation away from anything that had to do with the story, and that had my heart racing uncomfortably. Besides that, I wanted to end the meeting as quickly as I could, as I wouldn't want a collision between her an
“Who’s the beauty that she brought over?” Michael asked ecstatically, as we watched Tamika and her friend have their chat in the living room. “I still can’t believe this is the real Tamika Fisher right here in your living room.”I let his words breeze past me as I tried to bottle up the rage that was boiling up within me from Tamika’s defiance. Why would she bring someone over without saying a word to me? It seemed like she was already getting too comfortable. Perhaps it was the phone I had returned to her. “Why don’t we head over there and join them in the drinks?”“No…” I was almost unaware of how loud my voice had been when I let that out. Instantly, all eyes were on me, choking me with hot embarrassment. “I meant… no way, Michael.” The cover-up was even more shameful.“Are you all right?” Michael asked as he took a sip of his glass of cocktail. “You seem a bit tensed.”“Tensed? No, I’m not…” I said in subtle denial, as I tried calming myself with some cocktail. It was hard gettin
“Now, you’re being delusional…” I said to myself, as I drove at a slow steady space behind her car. Despite the possibility of her calling the cops on me, I persisted in following the trails that I believed she was leaving behind for me to follow.I had hurriedly left Dolph’s company as I had feared that I would never get the chance to run into the beauty that had captured my heart at first sight. There was no way I could go to Tamika for her number, as I thought that to be nothing but demeaning. I believed that I was on one of those journeys in which a man had to walk on his own without any assistance from anyone. “You’ve got this…” I muttered again to myself, as I kept a slow and steady pace. All through the journey, I was resisting the urge to just speed up to the side of her car, and just ask her her number. I just had to cling to my self-restraint as tightly as I could. I still had questions about how Dolph had been able to end up with the phenomenal Tamika Fisher. But then, I
“No... not again...” I was having yet another one of those Dolph dreams, where I was getting married to him. There were just too many things about that dream that threw me off, especially the fact that a part of me was beginning to enjoy the whole scenario.From my experience in relationship therapy, I could tell that getting married to Dolph was the dream of many girls. A young, wealthy, good-looking guy who just had it all. But then, the thought of getting married to him just happened to scare me. “It's all a for sacrifice your career,” I reminded myself, as I got out of bed. If I was planning to make a comeback, I had better begin making adjustments to the real Tamika Fisher. I had to return to my usual morning routines that made me who I was before Dolph would interrupt them rudely. There was no telling what he was going to be up to after yesterday's ordeal with Julia. Instantly, the phone buzzed, bringing me back to reality. It was Julia, and that had me wondering just why she