Bro-mance 101 (7 page)

“
Look,
Zhané
…
”

“
No, you look.
”
 
He was clearly irritated, w
h
ich made her feel good.  There was a chink in
the black knight’s
armor. 
“
You asked me to take a long
,
hard look at myself and I did.  Now, it’s time for you to do the same.  You demand all these people open up to you
,
but you don’t reciprocate.
Y
ou’re
a hypocrite
.”

He was silent, but she could still see the s
torm brew
ing
in his dark eyes.  “
I thought I loved her
,
” he finally spoke
. 
“
Worse, I thought she loved me.  It ended up badly. 
It t
ook me a l
ong time to get over
her
,
but I did.
”

Zhané
watched
the
raw emotions flicker across his face
.  Anger.  Bitterness.
Defeat
. 
“You don’t realize it,
” she told him, “
but you’re
making women everywhere pay for what
your
ex did.
  That’
s the whole basis of your show.”

He h
eld up a warning finger.
“
You don’t know what you’re
t
alking about.
”

“
Yes I do
,” she boldly pressed on.  “
And this time, yo
u can’t silence me with a kiss.”

A spark of defiance glinted in his eyes.  “
Sweetheart, it took m
ore than a kiss to shut you up.”

She couldn’t argue with that. She’d come here to give
him a piece of her mind and end
ed up
giving
him a piece of the pie.  She should be ashamed of herself
, but she wasn’t done with him yet.
“What you told
Malik
was wrong,” she said.  “
You should have advised him to talk to me first, not just throw me aside like an old rag.  I don’t think you realize what an impact your words have on people,
De
v
l
in.  You have the power to sway others.  That is a huge responsibility that you should not take lightly.”

“I don’t,” he battled back.  “I speak the truth.  I’m sorry if you can’t handle that.”

She
gave him a sideways glance
. 
Devlin Hart was holding onto some serious baggage. 
Someone would have to fight tooth and nail to get him to fess up to it. 
“I guess you’ve never made a mistake in life.”

He opened his mouth, she was certain to give a back-handed reply,
when the l
ights flickered and the e
levator lurched
back to life. 

“The p
ower’s ba
ck on,”
Devlin
stated matter-of-factly.

The elevator d
oor
s
chimed and
then
slowly
opened
. 
Zhané
glanced at Devlin
, waiting for him to say something, b
ut he clung to the strong, silent stereotype.  How ironic. 
Two str
a
ngers
ha
d
just performed
the most intimate
act
a man and woman could do.  Yet, an
awkward
shroud of silence
now
hung over them. 
Within the span of a few hours, her emotions had
mutat
ed
from disbelief to anger to calm acceptance. 
Her boyfriend had dumped her, she’d met the guy responsible, and she was fine with it. 
Life had a fucked up sense of humor. 

Zhané
c
ollected her purse
and walked through the elevator doors.  As an afterthought, she tossed
a few
parting words over her shoulder. 
“It was a pleasure meeting you
, Devlin Hart
.  Thanks for the ride.”

SIX

“You did it right there in the elevator?”
 

“
I s
ure did
.”

“
Girl, y
ou are scandalous!
”

“
Maybe, b
ut
that man
was the best I ever had.
”

Zhané
laid face down,
feeling the soothing effects of a hot stone massage, while
her best friend,
Katina was on the bed opposite her getting a sea weed body wrap.  This was one of the rare spa treatments they allowed themselves to indulge in every once in a while. 

“You know that was just
rebound sex
,” Katina informed her.  “Devlin Hart t
ook advantage
of you in a moment of weakness.”

“I disagree. 
Devlin
actually
d
id me a favor.
He helped me
to
realize
that
what
Malik
and I
had was a shell of a relationship
.”

“
You can’t
be
serious.
”

“
I am.  And I harbor no ill will toward
Malik
.  I w
a
s just as wrong as he was.  D
ev
lin says our relationship was doomed from the start.
”
 

“
Oh, now
y
o
u’
re
quoting this guy?
”
 

“He said some things that really resonated with me.”

“
He’s a
male chauvinist
.  You can’t even take what he says
at face value
.”

“He’s not that bad, Tina.”

Katina
propped
herself
on her elbows,
and
turned toward
Zhané
,
her
dark eyes
wide
open
in surprise.  “
Not that bad!
Girl, that man must have h
ypnot
ized you.
 
In fact, you probably
didn’t even
fuck him
.  He’s so smooth he made you believe it happened!”

“
Shit, if that wasn’t real, pinch me ‘cause I
can
still
feel
my body humming from what that man did to me
a week
ago.
”

Katina cracked up laughing.  “W
hat am I going to do with you?
You’d better give me your car keys so you
don’
t try to drive back over there for seconds!”

Zhané
laughed too
, careful
to keep still so the stones didn’t slip from her back. 
“That’s not a bad idea.”

“
Ooh, you’re worse off than I thought
.”

“
I was upset with
Devlin
at first, but after I thought
things through
, I realize
d
I have no reason to be
pisse
d at him
.  Nobody can make my man leave me
but me
.  I have to take
some
res
p
onsibil
ity
for our breakup
.
”
 

Katina let out a deep sigh.  “You’re too forgiving,
Zhané
.”

Zhané
closed her eyes, signaling the end of the conversation.  She felt a connection with Devlin Hart, but maybe it was all in her mind.  Maybe Katina was right: it was just good old-fashioned lust.  No
satisfying
r
elationship could come from a quick
ie
in an elevator
. 
She was setting herself up for failure again, jumping f
rom the frying pan into the fire. 
Her sigh mirrored Katina’s. 
Oh
,
well. 
I’m not going to beat my
self up about it. 
What
’s done i
s done. 

Thankfully,
she’d
never have
to see Devlin Hart again.  He’d forget all about her, and in time, she’d
forget how
for a blissful moment,
he
’d given her
a memory to last a lifetime.

********

“
What’s your opinion
, Dev?  Is a girl who puts out on the first night worth keeping around?  My friends say those types of women are hos.
”
 

Devlin
l
istened half-heartedly
to the caller on the line
.
There was a time when he would have thought a woman who gave it up during a one night stand was easy.  He was suspicious of women who used their feminine charms to get what they wanted.  Now, he wasn’t so sure.  He didn’t
believe
Zhané
had ulterior motives. 
In fact
, he felt just the opposite. 
She
was a classy woman.  The moment presented itself, and she was very mature about getting what she wanted.  He didn’t fault her for that. 
Now he c
ouldn’t
get her out of his mind.

For days, he’d relieved their encounter. 
The sweet smell of her perfume wafting through the elevator cab. 
Her soft lips
pulling at his.  Her velvety tongue dueling seductively
in his mouth
.  The feel of her round, soft ass
cradled
in his palms.  The warm wetness that enveloped him as he thrust insi
de her
over and over again.  He’d had his share of sex
ual conquests
, but
nothing as explo
sive as his experience with
Zhané
. 

When she left him in the elevator that day, he wasn’t sure what to say or do.  He’d never been stumped for words.  He called out to her, but she was gone, swallowed by the downpour outside. 
Although s
he’d vanished, her words remained to haunt him.  She’d had the nerve to call him out about his motives.  He was not hosting Bro-mance 101 as an act of revenge.  His show was about helping the fellas move on
,
just like he’d done with his ex-girlfriend. 

Yeah, right.
Who are you kidding?  It took you a year to get rid of the toothbr
ush
she left in your bathroom!

“
What do you think?” the caller continued.  “S
hould
I
just hit it and have a little fun with her.
Can I take a woman seriously who screwed me the first night
w
e met?”

Dev
lin gave the caller an honest answer.  “Y
es
…you can take her serious
. 
You
don’t give yourself enough credit
, man
.
Just be
cause she
had sex with you doesn’t mean
she’
s the type of woman to do it with
everyone.
Maybe she felt a connection with you.
Give
her
a break.”

Silence clouded the line as the ca
ller seemed to mull it over.  “You’
re right
,” the man finally said.  “
I mean, damn, I got skills.
  Maybe she was feeling me like that.
”

“That’s right!”

“I can’t assume she’s a slut just because my homies say so.”