AllFreeNovel
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I should have gone home, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave. I kept my three-day reservation and came down to the conference hall where the tournament was held. For the past two days I watched players win or lose at rounds I should have been competing in. I was the better player. I would have won, but I couldn’t do it.
“Would you like another?” a woman asked. She was in a tight black dress, hair pulled back in a chignon at the nape of her neck, giving her a clean, sleek look paired with dramatic eye makeup and black painted lips.
“Please. Thank you.” I handed over my empty glass and she nodded, walking away. I was on my second glass of wine. What she brought back would be my limit for the evening. I needed something to dull the anxieties and frustration swarming in the pit of my belly from not following through with my original plan.
Win this fucking tourney, for me. For my dad.
As I suspected, the frontrunner for the tournament won his game. His opponent, James Garner, was frustrated after having made it to the semi-finals. The guy struggled, his challenger, Timothy Hall, did not, which made this bittersweet. There was something about rooting for the underdog. I had been rooting for Garner, but this evening was only going to end one way. With Hall securing his spot in the final round. One of the last two players meant to share the spotlight tomorrow evening. Hall was good, I was fucking phenomenal.
When the server returned with my wine, I thanked her, removed cash from my purse, and placed two twenties on her tray. She had been working the floor all night long with several other women who had to smile and look pretty for arrogant, disrespectful men. She deserved a lot more.
Women in a man’s world, yet another reason I regretted backing out. I could imagine their faces when I won. A woman competing changed things, but again, I backed out. I sighed through my annoyance and focused on my wine.
Right after I took my first sip, my phone rang. I smiled but rolled my eyes. The finalists were announced only minutes ago and of course Tyren was following. He was more pissed that I backed out than I was. He’d given me enough shit already. Although he understood my reasoning, that didn’t mean he would let me slide. I answered, prepared to hear his latest complaint.
“Yep…”
“You would have beat them both.”
“Maybe.”
I would have.
“Maybe? That’s your cop out, Rho, for being pussy.”
My eyes rolled harder. “If you’re referencing that I have one, you would be correct.”
“Nah, you are one. Your pockets could have been twenty stacks deeper but you bailed.”
“What does it matter to you?” I shot back in annoyance.
“Not a damn thing other than it’s important to you. Just one, Rho. You need to win one time to get that shit out of your system but what I really want to know is which one of them is holding you back?”
Gut punch.
“Nobody is holding me back.”
“We’re lying to each other now?”
I sighed dramatically. “No.”
“Aight then. This really about your pops or is it about ol’ boy?”
“Neither,” I admitted, half truthful. “It’s about me.”
“Maybe in a small way, yeah, but you miss your old man and you miss ol’boy too. Both have made you put your life on hold, Rho. I was hoping this would snap you out of the funk you’ve been in but then you backed out.”
“I’m not in a funk…”
He laughed arrogantly. “I love you, lil cuz. I’m not gon’ lie to you. The past four years you been drifting. Six actually.” Six since my father passed, four since I experienced Dreaux. “I don’t know what the fuck went down with the two of you but you’re different.”
Very different.
But how could I be the same after experiencing him? Dreaux was… shit, I didn’t know what that man was other than a lot of everything. I felt him all over, in my spirit, and I fucking changed because of him. I missed a man I didn’t know shit about and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about missing him.
I was living my life and I was happy, but I wasn’t content. The minute I woke up to an empty bed and apartment, I felt his absence. I was doing time with him and not because it was what I wanted. I just couldn’t free him from my system. Hell, maybe he lied to me. Who fucking knows? He could be freely walking this earth. What I did know was that one night with Dreaux made me feel like life could be good. With him.
“He made me cum in the most powerful and blissful way I have ever experienced in my life. That’s what went down with us. There, now you have all the details.”
