LITMIR.BIZ

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why you’re playing me shady, ain’t it?”

      “No. Now, I gotta go. Later, all right?”

      Korey hung up, with an attitude, too. What nerve? I could tell I would have to be careful how I played my cards with him. The banging continued, and as I got off the bed, the wet polish on my toenails touched my plush tan carpet.

      “Darn it,” I said, looking at the stain on my carpet.

      “Chase!” I heard Drake yell. “I know you’re in there. Open the door!”

      I tightened my silk flowered robe, and waddled to the door with my toes flipped in the air so they wouldn’t touch my carpet. I knew the day would come when I would have to confront Drake, so I guessed that today was my lucky day. I pulled open the door, and stood with no expression on my face. From the look of Drake’s cold, red, and glassy eyes, I could tell he’d been drinking. He was a borderline alcoholic, but I dealt with that issue. The fact that he was handsome as ever and put me in the mindset of Idris Elba, that kept me attached too. Sex between us was spectacular, but a cheating man I would not tolerate.

      Since I’d opened the door, he tore into me. “I hope you have a good explanation for setting my house on fire. There are thousands of dollars of damage, and I expect you to pay me for the damages.”

      “I hope your insurance premiums were paid up, because I’m not giving you one single penny. Besides, I don’t know what you’re talking about, and if you came over here to argue with me, please don’t waste my time. I’ve set you free, so let’s be done with it.”

      Drake bumped my shoulder and swaggered his way inside. He wore a leather coat, blue jeans, and black dress shoes. His low-cut fade was neatly lined, and his goatee suited his chin well. No, his looks couldn’t be ignored, but seeing him made me think about the woman’s legs thrown over his shoulders.

      “You are lucky that my insurance premiums were paid up, but for the next month or so, my house is not livable. I have to stay with my brother. Do you have any idea how much you’ve inconvenienced me?”

      I wasn’t sure if Drake had a tape recorder, so I wasn’t going to admit to any thing. I closed my door and stood in the living room with him. “I’ll say it again, Drake, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Don’t blame me if you got caught with your pants down, and one of your other women got upset with you. That’s what you get for trying to be a player.”

      Without being offered a seat, he took one on my beige sectional. “I wasn’t trying to be no player. I dated that chick a long time ago, and when she stopped by to see me, one thing led to another. She knew about you and that was the first time, during our relationship, that something like that happened.”

      “Save it for your chickenheads, okay? You got busted, and no matter what you say, I’m never going to take you back. I in no way believe that was the first time something like that happened, and at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter.”

      Drake sat silent for a moment, then stared at me as I continued to stand close by the door. “Okay, Chase, I fucked up. Sorry. We’re not going to let three years go down the drain, just like that, are we?”

      Drake couldn’t be serious, could he? I tried to burn this fool up in his house, didn’t I? Why was he apologizing to me? This had to be a joke. I moved closer to the door and touched the knob. “Maybe when you’re sober, you’ll realize how serious all of this is. Three years, four, or ten, baby, you got busted. What we had is o-v-e-r, and there is nothing left to be said. I’m deeply sorry about your house, but you should have known that there are consequences for men who backslide on their women. When you find out who the woman was who burned your house, let me know. I’d like to send her a thank-you card because she did me a favor.”

      Drake stood and walked up to me by the door. “Quit playing,” he said. “I’ll give you some time to think about all of this, okay? You act like you ain’t have no damn love for me, and it’s not cool that you don’t want to work this shit out. I’ll get at you in a couple of weeks. By then, maybe you’ll have come to your senses.”

      I said not one more word, and opened the door. Drake could see in my eyes that I wasn’t playing with him, and, eventually, he’d have to accept the fact that there would be no reconciliation. He left and I happily slammed the door after him.

      That night, I was asleep in my two-bedroom apartment, dreaming about Drake and another woman. When the telephone rang, I jumped from my sleep and reached over to see who it was. It was Korey calling, and I couldn’t believe that it was almost 2:30 A.M. How dare he call me at this time in the morning? When I didn’t answer, he had the nerve to call right back.

      “Hello,” I snapped.

      “I didn’t mean to call you so late, but I couldn’t sleep. Do you still have company, or did he already leave?”

      Korey was starting to irritate me. Who I had at my place was none of his business. “I’ll call you tomorrow,” I whispered. “I haven’t gotten much sleep tonight and I have to get up for work in a few hours.”

      He pushed again. “Are you alone?”

      “No,” I lied. “As a matter of fact, I’m being rude right now. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

      I hung up, and it was official. Korey was scratched from my to-do list, simply because he was already becoming a pain in the ass. All we were was phone buddies, and he was trying to keep tabs on me when he already had a woman. That in no way made sense to me.

      I was running late for work, and now I couldn’t find my keys. Why was I running late? Because I couldn’t get back to sleep after Korey’s phone call. I was up thinking about my past relationship with Drake, too, and had started to feel disappointed about the three years I’d wasted with him. What a setback.

      I finally found my keys, and as I left my apartment, I bumped into my neighbor, Lance, who was leaving his apartment too. He seemed to be running late as well, and we met up on the steps.

      “Good morning,” he said, extending his hand for me to go down the steps in front of him. “Ladies first.”

      “Thanks, Lance.” I hurried down the steps in my high heels and thick winter coat. The light snow had been falling for a few hours, and when Lance and I reached our cars, they were covered with snow.

      He looked at his watch. “I guess there’s no need to hurry because I’m already late.”

      “Me too,” I laughed.

      He brushed the snow off his car with a snow scraper and offered to do mine. I had a towel that I’d gotten from my trunk and it really wasn’t doing much. I accepted Lance’s offer and stood shivering as I watched him clean both of our cars. Lance was just an okaylooking brotha. He looked to be in his late thirties, had a shiny bald head, and wore a trimmed mustache. I could never tell if his body was hooked up or not, because his clothes were always too big and, quite frankly, too slouchy. I had seen several different women at his apartment; I guess it really didn’t matter how a man looked, as his collection was always more than one. Besides that, he drove an older model Ford Expedition that needed some work. He was always outside trying to fix it, and had asked me for a jump at least twice. I wasn’t trying to judge; after all, Lance seemed like a really nice person.

      “You’re good to go, Chase,” he said, stepping away from my car. “Be careful on the roads and have a good day.”

      “You too, Lance. Thanks.”

      I got into my clean burgundy car, quickly turning it on so it could heat up. Lance waved again before pulling away. I followed him, making my way to work.

      I was twenty minutes late, and the only person who had made it there before me was my other coworker, Veronica. Her cubicle was behind mine, and instead of peering over it like she always does, she came around it to talk to me. I hung my coat on the coat rack, and her eyes were checking me out.

      “You always look so nice in your suits. How many of them do you have? I swear

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