I just couldn't get why Tamika had been so eager to take things into her hands, to the point of making a mess of things. But then, I was glad that she had come to the point where she had begun to realize that I was her best shot at regaining her place of prominence.The ride to the casino was quiet, as I had expected it to be. At that point, I was sure that she was still beating herself up for making that bad decision for herself. As though to add salt to her injury, the media had tagged her as controversial and confused after her ordeal with her obsessive ex. In the public eye, she had gone from a relationship therapist to a victim of relationships.That was beyond pitiful, as it has all happened in such a short space of time. I kept thinking of breaking the ice that was settling in the car, at least to make her feel a bit better. But then, I didn't think it necessary. It was a contract marriage after all, and there weren't meant to be any emotions. All that mattered was our perf
“Do you want to do this?” I was having one of those weird conversations with myself which anyone could easily tag as crazy. “A date at the casino? With some weird guy that ran after you yesterday? Come on, Julia… you're better than this.”But there I was, standing and waiting for him to come and pick me up at our agreed rendezvous. I was a walking paradox as I was doing just the opposite of what I would usually do, and Tamika's rules.I excused myself with the fact that even the relationship therapist had been met with circumstances way beyond her. Though I felt guilty while doing that, it was the truth of the matter. Michael happened to be different from every other person who had come into my space, and that was the best explanation for my unusual behavior. Soon enough, his car soon came into view. There was something unforgettable about that grey Lexus that could make me recognize it from a couple of miles away. I took a glance at my watch and marveled as I could recall how he h
“Amelia…”My past came flashing right before me at that table. Memories I had tried to bury at all costs, were all popping up right before me, as I stared into the eyes of my ex.I tried my best to keep my cool, as I was looking at the woman who had wrecked my life into unfixable pieces, without taking a second thought. All the vengeful thoughts I had needed therapy for were seething underneath me, threatening to explode. But somehow, Tamika's hand on my shoulder was able to keep me in order. “Who the hell is she?” Tamika whispered from behind, as she leaned over in a romantic way that had even more eyes rolling towards us. “Why's she talking like some psycho?”I wanted to tell her that she was overdoing the whole couple act. But then, she was just the reason I could keep it all together. “Because she is one…” I replied, trying as much as I could to keep my gaze from becoming the hateful one that I had in mind for her. “She is one of those psychotic exes that never go away.”“Oh…”
I don’t know what it was about Amelia that made me resent her very presence. Deep down within me, I knew that it was way beyond trying to put up a perfect act as a perfect partner for the rich, young prodigy.But I was beginning to own the character just a bit too much, and sadly, a sense of ownership had slowly begun to creep in with every passing moment. I had to stop, as I could see the shock that had come on Dolph’s face. “Tamika…” Dolph called out my name to break the spell of silence that was settling over the sudden encounter. I turned to him, expecting to see a shocked expression or that of disapproval. But then, he had a slight smile on his face. “Let’s get going, shall we?” Dolph replied, making sure that his smile got the message across to Amelia. “There’s nothing for us to talk about, Amelia.” He took my hand again and turned to the car with all his guards still around. “We have caused enough stirs for one day. I guess we can close the curtains here and now,” he whisp
“No…” I said, as I felt irritated by that pink dress that Tamika had put on, though it was among the ones I had bought her. By that time, I already knew that nothing he would wear would ever impress me in my fallen mood. But then, I kept fighting the guilt of having to take it out on her, as she had been one of the contributors to it. If she had known how things had gone down between me and Amelia, then she wouldn’t have even thought of uttering a single word when I was having one of those down moments. And by ‘those moments’, I meant moments where I would suddenly zone out into the not-so-distant past where I had met Amelia for the first time. I had been all bright-eyed and innocent back then, only to have my heart dashed into pieces along with the high expectations I’d had of her. It was all just so…“Are you messing with me right now?” Tamika asked with a groan that expressed her frustration. “I have tried six dresses on now. Don’t tell me that you cut my sleep short just to pu
I looked with dissatisfaction through the glass window of my office to the view of the city beyond as that seemed to be the only thing that thrilled me in my office and my casino as well.With my back turned on my desk and my gaze facing the view outside, I let go of all my worries for those few couple of moments. I knew that I would be caught up in the worries again as soon as I turned back to face that desk. But somehow, I drew comfort from the fact I had made contact with Randy, Tamika's ex, and that he was willing to work with me on the undertaking that I had suggested to him. That gave me just the slight ray of hope that I had been looking out for.I wasn't sure what it was, but I was sure that there was something wrong with the sudden elopement between my younger brother and the famous Tamika Fisher.He had it all— the looks, the money, the status, the charisma. But then, I was sure that those weren't enough to get him a woman as wonderful as Tamika Fisher was. To make it all e
“Seems like this is the best year yet,” Aaron said, as he walked up to me from behind and kissed me on the neck before reaching for the cookie jar in the cupboard above. “What makes you think that?” I asked looking back at him, as he mouthed a cookie. “Hey, easy on that. You're trying to watch your weight, you know.”“Yeah… I know,” he said, almost sounding like the cocky twenty-year-old hotshot I had fallen in love with, nearly a quarter century ago. “I'm just going to have a couple of bites and that would be it.”“Ugh…” I couldn't stand him munching on those extra calories as it made me feel guilty. “Well, Dolph is about to get married, and I'm happy for him.” Aaron smiled as he gave his unrelated excuse, which had me thinking.“That's why you want to gain a few calories, huh?” I asked as I recalled my last meeting with Tamika. It had been a few days since we had met, and I recalled seeing a slot of her trends online. “Of course,” Aaron said, as he shut the jar. “I have never bee
With Robert came thoughts of my past which I had desperately wanted to get rid of. I noticed that his smile slowly faded when he spotted me standing beside Dolph. He was probably feeling as awkward as I was. “Hello, Dolph,” he said, as he put his smile back on and shook hands with Dolph. “Such a pleasure to see you here, with your…”“Here's Tamika,” Dolph said introducing us both, as I hoped Robert wasn't going to make things awkward by telling him that we already knew each other. “Tamika, here's Robert. The brain behind the team that's going to make you famous again.”“Oh… nice to meet you, Randy,” I wasn't new to putting up acts, and that made it much easier for me to act calm in those few awkward moments of pretending not to know the man who had dated my sister but had wanted me instead.It was all a weird story, and I hated the fact that I could recall every detail of it perfectly. It all began with him coming over to our house one day. “Hello,” he had said, with those eyes that
"And yeah... I'm going to pay him a surprise visit..." I decided that as I was on the phone with Julia while trying to get out of bed. "That would spice things up as we would get to make out in his office...""You are naughtier than you sound on the radio..." Julia remarked as she was laughing hard over the phone with some music playing in the background. Soon enough, I was in the car on my way to the office. I was sure that Dolph was bound to be happy if he saw me showing up there. I was happy that I was going to be putting a smile on his face at that point. The air was simply cool all around me and it felt real good, much cooler than it would feel on a normal day. There were a lot of things that had me feeling like I was about to have a great day as I was about to make it all happen right there and then. I wanted to recreate the memory of the night that we had in his office on the night of the anniversary. There were just too many things that had me feeling like that moment in hi
"Hey, Dolphy..." I said as I was soon walking towards him with a walk that I made as seductive as possible. It seemed like I was about to face one of the most unimaginable moments that I would ever be in. Dolph was looking like a helpless prey in my hands at that point, as he was reeling from the effects of the drug he used to be so hung on. That moment had me wondering what exactly I would be up against in the next couple of moments as I was soon seeing the desires that were burning up in his eyes as he seemed to be sizing me up right at that moment. "What… are you doing here?" He sounded like he was out of breath like he was being eaten up slowly by a disease for which the only antidote to it was my body. There were a lot of things that had me feeling like I was about to be eaten whole. "Are you all right, Dolph...?" I asked, knowing that he was far from all right as he was looking to get his hands on me. "You don't look all right to me... you're looking like you are about to l
"Hello, Tamika's husband…" Michael reminded me of the title my mom had given me back then as I was driving to my office. It was bad that I had been called that by my mother, but then I wasn't going to tolerate that at all from Michael. "Call me that again and you're fired…" I said jokingly as I soon had the casino in view. I didn't know what it was that made everything seem much more beautiful after I had gotten married. That was my first time stepping out of the house after I had gotten married, and it was feeling quite awesome. The look of that ring on my finger was quite exhilarating each time my eyes came to where the steering was. It was almost hard for me to understand how I had been able to get it all to work out to the point where I got married to Tamika. There had been a lot of hindrances, but somehow we were able to get out of everything. "So, what's up? How's the newer couple in town holding up?" Michael asked as he was sounding like he had just woken from a long, event
"Are you sure it's that important?" I just didn't know what it was that made me feel cynical about Dolph's decision to go along with the visit to the office. He had just gotten married two days ago and there he was, suddenly trying to head back to the office when he was meant to be in bed with his wife. "It's not like important important, but I won't take long, I promise. Just need to get some files and I will be back with you, hun…" Dolph said as he went on with dressing up. He was dressing casually to the office in a bid to convince me that he wasn't going to stay long. But I still wasn't convinced by any of it. There were just too many things that had me feeling like I couldn't make it past those few moments without him by my side. It was hard for me to understand what exactly I would be doing all alone in those few moments that I would be all alone in there. "Tamika…" he said, as he put his arms around me after turning away from the mirror that time around. "You know I'll miss
I couldn't deny how lonely it felt, having to watch everything happen from the confines of my solitude which was eating me up slowly as I was almost losing it from watching the clips of Tamika's wedding online. It was quite a hard sight to behold but it ailed me greatly as I believed that all of this was meant to have happened between me and Ava. But that bastard Dolph had taken my place by her side and it was simply the hardest thing to watch. I just couldn't stand the sight of it. The jealousy had me burning up badly like I was having a fever. At first, I wanted to act cool and pretend that I was happy for her and all of that. But the pretentious act wasn't working as I had thought she wouldn't be happy with anyone else besides me. There were a lot of things that had me feeling like I was being mocked and made fun of with all those pictures and videos of them floating all through the net. It felt like she was trying to show me how capable she was to find happiness in the arms of
"But they just got married… how could you possibly be thinking of doing something that would cause them to split immediately? That's simply unfair." Amelia's words sounded like mere lip service to me as she almost sounded like she was just trying to show that she still had a conscience which was alive and breathing. Like she didn't want the same thing. "Quit acting like you were so happy with seeing that my brother had you replaced with her," I said, hitting her hard in places that I knew she wouldn't recover easily from. She was quite an egotistic one and I knew it was going to take way more than talk to get her to believe that the plan would be in her best interest as well. That would take a lot from me, but I didn't mind if that would be the case as long as she would end up agreeing to my request. It was hard for me to think of what I would be able to do at that point. "I understand, but still…" she paused a bit before restarting. "Are you going to make yourself come in betwee
It had been a refreshing moment being in the shower with Dolph, up until the moment he had made mention of the way we had met. It had me feeling awkward and it ended up ruining the entire moment for me. I wondered just how long all of that would go on. It was almost beginning to look like things would never get back to normal ever again. From that moment, I decided that I would be staying away from my phone and every external connection, as that had been mainly what had caused all of that. If I would stay away from Dale and all of his lies and frame-ups then I would surely regain the sanity I once had before have took it all away from me. "Let's just be happy…" I whispered to myself as I was about to leave the mirror which I had been staring at for the past couple of moments. I was feeling my confidence as it waned with each passing moment. It was bound to be another moment of putting up fake smiles for the cameras. It was almost like I would be airing on a show where I had to
I stood there in the shower, as I was breathing heavily as I had just dodged a major bullet from all that had just happened to me at that point. A lot was going on in my head as I was trying to figure my way out of that mess. It was hard to stay put that time around as I was realising that the effects of that drug in my system were about to cost me my marriage.That moment had me feeling impatient to go and find out what I had to do from Dr. Meyers. It almost felt like I couldn't do anything from that point onwards. It almost felt like my predicament was the most hopeless of all. There just weren't any means of identifying how I could be able to stay away from misbehaving until we had a lasting solution to that. There were no words to describe just how miserable I felt at that moment. All that our union was hanging on to at that point was Tamika's trust in me. I felt the desperate need to get her to trust me all over again, as the trust she had for me seemed to be wavering with each
It felt like my world had suddenly stopped and restarted hurriedly as I stood there staring at my screen. What was that I was looking at? It was almost impossible for me to keep a straight focus at that point, as I wanted to believe that what I was looking at was some sort of strange, unreal reality.I could bet that Dale was giggling victoriously wherever he was at the moment. There were just too many things that had me feeling like I was about to lose my mind from just watching the video. I turned off the screen at once as I was looking to keep myself from falling apart right there and then. Why was everything popping up right there and then?For the next couple of moments, I forgot that Dolph was in the room and it made me feel like I was about to lose my mind from the pressure that was coming on me slowly. The words he was saying to his mother over the phone were simply breezing past me as I was simply trying to get my mind off the video I saw. That one hit differently as I had s