My Bestfriend's Man (5 page)

Brandon

“Fuck,” I said out loud to
myself. I looked down at Melinda and had to refrain from smacking the shit out
of her ass.

“What?” She said looking at me
like I was the crazy one. Like I was the one that did something wrong.

“What the fuck are you doing
here?”

“I came to get something to eat.
Is that
aight
with you?” She asked
putting her hand on her hip. Then just like that she switched personalities.
“And since we are here together…,” she started, trying to hook her arm in mine
again, but I wasn’t having that.

“We aren’t together. We did not come
here
together
!”

As I looked at her crazy ass I
knew sleeping with her was a mistake, but at the time I was vulnerable,
desperate and needy. Melinda knew this and capitalized on it. Now, I can admit
shorty had mad skills in the bedroom. She could deep throat a dick and hold
that shit for days, but that was as far as it went. The attraction was simply
sexual nothing more, but Melinda couldn’t seem to get that through her thick
ass head.

I mean, how many times you have
to tell a person you don’t want them. I’ve said it several different ways and
apparently she still doesn’t get it. I’ve said in a text message, sent it in an
email, said it through a friend and I’ve told her ass directly that I don’t
want her and here she is giving me that stupid ass smile she wears every damn
day, like shit between us is kosher.

“We can change that,” she
laughed.

I’ve never put my hands on a
woman, but shit like this caused me to catch myself. I really had my heart set
on some Chick Fila, I was starving at first, but now my appetite was gone.
Seeing Savannah up close and personal had me in my feelings. It’s been damn
near a year and my heart still beats for that girl. I left crazy ass Melinda
standing there as I headed back to my ride.

As I weaved in and out of lunch
hour
traffic,
all I could think about was
Savannah. I’m going through memories trying to figure out where the hell we
went wrong. We were in a good place. She was a steady nurse at the hospital and
I worked as an accountant for a small firm called ASG Accounting. We were
living the life and I was just a few days away from popping the big question
then out of
nowhere
things took a turn
for the worse.

One day I come home to the house
we had just purchased together and all her stuff was gone. She didn’t leave a
note, give me a phone call, nothing. I went through extreme measures to find
out what I did, but she wouldn’t talk to me. I tried talking to Roxie, but that
was like talking to a
pit bull
. She
didn’t like me anyway and the feeling was mutual. I talked to her parents and
they were just as confused as me. To this day I still don’t know what happened.
She won’t give me a straightforward answer whenever I questioned her about it.

She just says, “You know what you
did” or “Don’t play dumb”
or,
“You said
you would never hurt me.”

Just a whole bunch of bullshit
that I didn’t quite understand. Before I headed back to work I grabbed a muffin
and coffee just to get me
through
the
day. It helped physically, but seeing Savannah had me emotional. I hated
feeling this way. Women just don’t understand the worst thing they can do to a
man is break his heart.

After a long day at work and
getting nothing accomplished, except avoiding Melinda’s crazy ass, I decided to
stop by the local bar. I still resided in the home Savannah and I purchased
together. I wasn’t in the right state of mind to deal with the memories right
now. It was Monday, so it wasn’t too crowded. I spotted an empty stool at the
bar and quickly took refuge.

“What can I get for you?”

“Vodka and
Cranberry,
please.”

“Rough day?” She asked.

“You have no idea.”

“I’ll be right back,” she winked
and walked away.

I watched the sway of her hips as
she worked to prepare my drink. She was cute. Even though I wasn’t a big fan of
the latest trend of hairstyle she was wearing, one side shaved off and the
other side long, it looked good on her.

“Here you go handsome,” she said
with a smile advertising her deep dimples.

Her smile was like a breath of
fresh air. Maybe I was feeling lonely, and in desperate need of someone to take
away the bruise that had been left on my heart. I downed that drink with ease.
I already informed my boss I wouldn’t be in tomorrow, so I was free to do
whatever.
 

“Another
one,
please.”

“Sure.”

She handed me my drink and I
downed that one too. She looked at me sideways and placed her hand on her hip.
“You wanna talk about it?”

“Women.”

She laughed. “Men.”

“Why is it so hard for women to
communicate? I
mean
if we did something
wrong just tell us so we can fix it. Can I have another?” I asked waving my
glass in the air. Dayum, I hated the way I was feeling right now. I swear I’m
never falling in love again.

She set the drink in front of me.
“Are you sure it’s not the other way around?”

“What’s your name?”

“Brandi.”

“You have a minute, Brandi?”

She looked from her left to her
right. I looked as well. I wasn’t the only one sitting at the bar, but she
wasn’t needed at the moment. She nodded her head yes and I proceeded to tell
her my story. She stood there in deep thought. I could tell she was just as confused
as me.

“It sounds like you guys were
happy, but I have to ask did you cheat on her?”

“Well, technically I did once,” I
said shaking my head trying not to think about my betrayal. “Can I have
another?” I knew I would need a drink if I was going to get into details about
this shit.

“You need to slow down,” she said
with a frown on her face.

“This is what happens when a man
falls in love and has his heart broken.”

“Here, but I think that should be
your limit.”

“Now you want to break my heart
too.”

“I would never do that.”

Something about the way she said
it made my stomach do somersaults. I downed the rest of my drink and wiped my
mouth with the back of my hand. She was staring at me, so I shifted my eyes and
focused on something else.

“Finish telling me the rest of
the story,” she finally said breaking up the uncomfortable silence that had
rested between us.

“Can I have another one?”

*
  
*
  
*

I woke up and my head was
pounding. I sat up and immediately regretted it. I grabbed my head and released
a moan of anguish. I tried to piece together the events of last night. I
remembered talking to the bartender Brandi, but after that it was a complete
blur. I couldn’t even remember how I got home.

“Dammit,” I said out
loud.
I was disappointed in myself for being so
irresponsible. I’d come too far in life to mess it up now.

I sat there for a few more
minutes and gathered my composure. The clock on my wall read a little after ten
in the morning. That’s unusual for me because I’m always up at six for my daily
run. I wouldn’t say I’m a fitness fanatic, but I do try to get my thirty to
forty-five
minutes of exercise every day.

I got up and relieved my bladder
before walking out. My destination was the kitchen because my throat was dry.
As I bypassed the living
room,
I couldn’t
help
but notice the comforter I usually
kept stored in my closet was now on my couch with a bump underneath of it. I
frowned.

“Yo!” I yelled. I must have
startled whoever was underneath because they jumped and went crashing down on
the floor. I remained glued to my spot as they struggled under the comforter.
“Brandi.”

“Yeah, and whatever happened to
good morning?”

“How the hell did you get in
here?”

“Take a wild guess?” She said
clearing her throat. I watched as her eyes roamed over my body. She looked
away. “You were drunk last night,” she said getting up off the floor and
sitting back on the couch. She yawned and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. “So
you asked me to bring you home.”

“And you agreed?” I asked looking
at her sideways.

“I’m here aren’t I?”

“Do you know how dangerous that
shit is? I could be some got damn serial killer!” She curled up her lips and
folded her arms across her chest. I was offended. “Don’t let the school boy
looks fool you.”

She laughed and shook her head.
“Anyway. I ain’t no fool,” she said with a wink as she pulled out her pocket
knife.

She wasn’t a
fool,
but I sure as hell felt like one. I
couldn’t believe I fell off to the point I put myself in danger. I was slipping
and I had to get myself together. I dodged a bullet because Brandi could have
robbed me and killed me in my sleep I was so out of it.

“What’s for breakfast,” she asked
interrupting my thoughts.

“Breakfast?” I questioned.

“Yeah, I figure the least you
could do is make me breakfast.”

I smacked my lips. “Let me go put
some clothes on.”

“Or not,” I heard her mumble.

*
  
*
  
*

“So you mean to tell me, you have
no idea why she broke up with you?” Brandi asked as we took
the short
drive to the bar to pick up her car.

“No, I don’t. I already told
you,” I said not in the mood to relive old memories. I had a moment when I saw
Savannah the other day, but it was time for me to leave the past in the past
and get over what could have been.

“Touchy,” she said as she stuck
her tongue out at me.

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-two. I told you that last
night.”

“You have kids?”

“Hell no. I can barely take care
of myself.”

“It looks like you’re doing okay
to me,” I said as I parked beside her Jeep Commander.

“Looks can be deceiving,” she
said. She lingered around in the car for a moment longer like she wanted to say
something. “See you around I hope,” she said as she leaned over and gave me a
kiss on the cheek.

I didn’t say anything as I
watched her get out. I stuck around and made sure she got to her vehicle
safely. She waved at me as she pulled off. Since I had the rest of the day off
I
figured,
I might as well enjoy what the
summer weather had to offer. I stopped at a local park and went for a jog.

It did little to ease the
thoughts that clouded my mind. As hard as I tried I couldn’t get Savannah off
the brain, I kept replaying memories trying to find out what the hell I did
wrong. I needed some answers. I got angry as I thought back to how she left me
without an explanation. You can’t up and leave someone without telling them
why.

After finishing my afternoon run
the first thing that should have been on my mind was a hot shower, but it
wasn’t. Savannah was stuck on my brain like glue. I hopped in the car and sat
there for a minute. My first instinct was to stop by and pay her a visit. If
she will just tell me where we went wrong maybe that will give me some closure
so I can move on with my life.

I sighed and dragged my hands
down the sides of my face. My cell phone began to sing momentarily distracting
me from my troubled thoughts. I grabbed it and plugged in the digits to unlock
it. As soon as my eyes landed on the number I frowned. She wasn’t programmed in
my phone, but I instantly recognized the number. I shook my head contemplating
on whether or not I should even entertain the bullshit. I opened the message.

  
Hey,
babe wondering if you wanted to do a late lunch.

  
~Mel~

I was so mad I wanted to reach
through the phone and strangle her ass. I never thought in a million years one
night could cause me this much of a headache. I didn’t even give her my best
and she was still
trippin’
. I angrily
tapped my phone screen as I text her back.

Look cut
all that
babe
shit out. I already told ya
crazy ass to leave me the fuck alone. If it’s not work related then don’t call,
don’t text, don’t email. Nothing. This is the last time I’m telling you. You’ve
been warned.

  
Within
seconds,
she
texts
me back.

Oh,
so I’m
just good enough to fuck and that’s it. Naw you got me fucked up. You fucked
with the wrong bitch. Bet on that.

~Mel~

I looked at the message and
simply shook my head. I wasn’t about to entertain her crazy ass any longer. Her
meager threats didn’t even faze me. I had other things on my mind. I started up
my car and decided to head home. Well, I intended on going home, but for some
reason I found myself in Savannah’s neck of the woods.