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“Well, you don’t have to try hard,” he said, motioning to the crowd that was still hyped over my set. “They love you.”
We reached the table in the corner where Jayne, Tameka, Kemara, and Channing were sitting. He helped me into my seat
and walked away but not before blessing me with one more of his to-die-for half-smiles. If he gave me a full smile, I was sure I would moan out loud. Tameka pulled my attention from watching Bruiser walk away.
“You were great up there,” she said.
“Thanks. Those lemons must have come through for me because I’ve had a sore throat all day and had to suck on a lemon before I got here.” I looked behind me and was disappointed to see that Bruiser was halfway across the room at the bar. It wouldn’t have bothered me if he stayed by my side tonight.
“You sounded amazing,” Tameka brought my attention back to her.
Jayne rolled her eyes. “Girl, you know you can blow.”
I smiled graciously at both of my friends who had been supportive of me the entire way from my vision of creating a single to now.
I called the waitress over and ordered a glass of red wine with ice chips. When the drink arrived, I was about to take a sip when the same tall, dark, handsome and mysterious white guy, who met me outside of the bathroom last week, and who had just yelled his love for me, tugged on my shoulder.
“Excuse me, Miss—Alise. Can I have a dance with you?” he asked, and I politely turned him down.
My performance had tired me out. Plus, I just wanted to hang out with my girls and catch up for a while. Not caring about any of that, the man’s grip on my arm tightened. His imprint now visible in my flesh. The scowl that hardened his once calm features frightened me. Then, as quickly as the frown had appeared, it faded, and a smile appeared on his face again.
“Come on, Alise. Just one dance, sweetheart,” he pleaded.
By now, my senses were heightened. Something about his vibe was not right. I looked at him carefully. Was he crazy or what?
“I don’t feel like dancing,” I said clearly. I tried to move away from him so that he would release my arm, but his grip only got tighter, holding me in place.
That madness I saw in his gaze before danced in his eyes once again. Drugs or psychiatric issues, I didn’t know which one, but I could clearly see that he was off.
“Let her arm go!” Jayne jumped off her barstool to come over to stand by me.
She placed one hand on the man’s more massive hand to try to pry him away from me. He didn’t budge. He continued to stare into my eyes with a piercing look as if he were trying to process my rejection of him, which was obviously more than he could bear. This left me speechless.
“I’ve come here Thursday and Saturday to see you, and this is how you treat me? Give me just a few minutes,” the man said, and his words were forceful and harsh. “All I want is a dance,” he said in a much softer tone, then smiled. It was as if two people were living inside of his body.
At this point, dancing was definitely not going to happen. A spray of mace in his face maybe, but nothing even resembling a dance.
“She doesn’t want to dance with you,” Tameka cut in. I noticed her looking around the room, and I knew she was looking for her husband, Jeb.
“Did I ask you anything, bitch?” the man barked at Tameka. Before she could register the shock of him yelling the derogatory term at her, he answered, “No! So you need to stay in your place. No one is over here for you anyway.” He glared at Jayne and Kemara to include them in his venom, in case one of them was thinking about interjecting.
His face quickly contorted back to a smile when he looked at me. It disgusted me to witness his eerie changes in behavior, and the changes came so fast. His smile was the scariest thing I had ever seen on a human. All I wanted to know was how could a man so damn gorgeous be a nutjob?
I positioned my legs on the stall so that it would be harder for him to pull me away. I had gone into the full, anti-abduction mode. The way he was towering over me, he had complete control over my movements otherwise.
“Please, I can give you everything—” he started.
“A bitch! Who in the actual hell are you calling a bitch?” Tameka screamed, cutting him off.
“Is there a problem here?” Bruiser stepped up and stood beside the man who, in turn, shot a vicious look Bruiser’s way.
“Sir, would you mind taking your hand off the lady?” Bruiser asked.
“Fuck off, and find your own girl,” the man said flippantly.
Everyone at the table knew this confrontation was about to go from bad to worse when Bruiser took two steps forward to position himself to take the man down. I had seen him in action before, and he was nobody’s joke. There was no way this man knew what he was getting himself into.
“I said get lost,” the man yelled at Bruiser and pushed him in the chest.
