Torn Apart (African American Romance) (5 page)

LaVerne
was also from her hometown, but like Rhonda, she had moved her and her young son to the city to make the kind of healthy life that she had been unsuccessful in doing back home. Although Rhonda and LaVerne did not run with the same circles back in their younger days, they both had painful pasts that was connected to people and their time back home so they were glad to have moved beyond that. In this big city, it was ironic that they would end up working in the same downtown agency and find out they had both came from the same small town they once called home.

LaVerne
had left the party about an hour earlier because she needed to get home to her son but she had teased Rhonda all evening long about how Ken had been watching her and asking about Rhonda all evening. Rhonda told LaVerne that she was not interested in anyone who was too scared to come up to her and speak for himself—this was not high school and they were not kids so time out for that type of behavior. Why did Rhonda say that? As LaVerne headed out the ballroom to leave, Rhonda saw her go over to Ken and whisper something in his ear which led him to turn to look at Rhonda.  “Oh shit! I am so going to kick her ass!” Rhonda said to no one in particular as she quickly turned around to avoid Ken’s look and act as if she was not the least bit interested.

As soon as
LaVerne gave him that advice and left, Ken headed toward one of the bar areas that was setup in the ballroom to order Rhonda a glass of white wine, one of her favorite drinks as LaVerne had mentioned, and make his move.

“So are you enjoying yourself this evening
, Ms. Downing?” Ken asked loud enough for Rhonda to turn around to face him. He handed her the wine glass.

“Thank you, and yes I have been enjoying myself immensely. So is that what
LaVerne was whispering to you—that I liked to drink so you could try to get me tipsy?!” Rhonda asked jokingly looking him straight into his light brown eyes as she took a sip of the wine.

“Among other things,” Ken responded looking Rhonda
right back into her eyes with a seductive smirk. Although they were both trying to play as if they were in control and at ease, they were also both quite nervous because they were very much attracted to one another.

“Well why are you now just coming over to speak? I have been here all night.”

“True, but please know that it isn’t because I’m scared and like to play high school games,” Ken responded obviously in reference to Rhonda’s comment to LaVerne. “I didn’t want to come on too strong and make you feel uncomfortable by being all up in your space.”

“Well I am glad that you did decide to come speak but I am getting ready to head upstairs.”

The hotel had offered special holiday rates for their suites that evening for employees of the agency, and Rhonda had taken advantage of the offer months ago when she had a boyfriend to bring with her. Although she was single again, Rhonda was considering how it would be nice if Ken might join her if he responded in the way that she hoped he would to the comment she had just made; he took the bait.

“Upstairs?” Ken
asked quizzically catching a glimpse of Rhonda’s backside in her fitted red cocktail dress as she turned her back to him to drink the last few sips of her wine.

“Yes, I made a reservation for one of the rooms. I thought it would be nice to dance, eat and drink all night and just go upstairs to bed when I’m ready without having t
o worry about driving home,” Rhonda answered as she handed her empty glass back to him and smirked back at him.

“Man, I wish I would have done the same.
If you don’t mind me asking, do you have someone joining you?” Ken was hoping she would invite him up to the room. As bad as he wanted her this moment, he was still too much of a gentleman to just force himself on her.

“I’m not sure.”
Rhonda responded as she started digging into her purse.

Ken’s heart dropped a bit as he thought that she must have been digging for her cell phone waiting to see if her booty call was on the way. He briefly looked away to hide any possible disappointment that may h
ave been on his face but when Ken looked back at Rhonda she had her hand held out with a room key card.

“It all depends on if you come and
join me in 15 minutes—room 625,” she added with a seductive glance.

Rhonda was getting a kick out of his expressions; she had see
n the look of displeasure on Ken’s face for that brief moment before she offered her room key card, and she definitely noticed the sexy smile that lit up his face after she completed her sentence inviting him upstairs as well.

“So is that a yes?” Rhonda waited for an answer.

“Hell yes!” Ken said as he reached for the key and also grasped her soft hand lightly caressing it. It damn near made her shudder.

“
Good, I’ll see you in 15 minutes.”

Rhonda blew him a kiss before turning around feeling his eyes burn into her as she sashayed out of the ballroom heading toward the elevator. When she turned around for a quick glance once she made it to the elevator, Ken was still in the same spot watching her as if he was undressing her with his eyes.

Rhonda had changed into her short red
nightie that she had brought along for the night. She was not really planning on having an overnight guest when she had packed it but the thought had crossed her mind that she may get drunk then horny enough to want to possibly invite someone up with her, so it didn’t hurt to come prepared. It never occurred to her that Ken would actually be the one she would spend the evening with but she figured hanging out in the hotel’s lounge or bar would mean possibly running into some old acquaintances since this had been one of her frequent happy hour hangouts. She checked herself in the mirror to make sure the gown fell just right over her hips, she freshened her makeup and then fixed her long flowing hair so that it swooped to one side. As she prepared to dim the hotel room light her phone rang. In a haste to answer the call and get it over with before Ken came upstairs, she failed to screen the call as she would typically do; this was one phone call she wishes she would have screened.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Hi Rhonda, how are you?”

She could not believe she was hearing the voice f
rom her past that would once made her heart melt. Now all Rhonda wanted to do was curse him out but she knew that would not be the classy thing to do to a preacher, even if he did still deserve it.

“Who is
this?” Rhonda decided to respond in a clueless manner as opposed to the offensive manner she felt trying to make its way out of her.

“Oh, so you’ve forgotten about me already huh?” David asked with a light chuckle.

“David, is this you?” What do you want?” she asked struggling to keep a calm tone. She needed him to get to the point of this phone call. He has some nerve calling me after all this time, she thought.

“Am I catching you at a bad time?”

“Yes, you are actually. I only have a minute to talk. What’s up?”

“Well Rhonda, what I need to say will take more than a minute so I’ll just wait but what I will say now is that this call is long overdue. The way we ended things…”

“You mean the way you ended things?” Rhonda interrupted with a slight attitude.

“Yea, I guess you’re right
—the way I ended things was wrong and I can understand if you do not want to talk to me ever again but I was wondering if you will be coming to town for Christmas. I would really like to take you out just to talk and clear the air. There are some things I just need to share with you and make right.”

Rhonda was becoming angrier by the minute
, but not just at David but also at herself. There was a part of her that really wanted to take David up on his offer and see what it was that he wanted to discuss. Rhonda’s curiosity about this was weighing on her hard and she could not understand why she cared so much.

“I will be home David but I have a lot of things planned already that will take
up the few days I will be there,” which was the truth. Rhonda only came to town ever so often so she squeezed quite a bit of family time into her visits when she did come to town.

“I promise, I won’t take up too much of your time
—I know I have no reason to ask anything of you but I’m only asking for an hour. I hope it’ll go past that but if that’s all the time I can get from you I will take it.” David practically begged. He had never stopped thinking about Rhonda even when he ended things with her. At that time and for the first year as the pastor at the church he was enjoying the attention of all the women and the power that came with his new position. Then it became the usual for him—women throwing themselves at him and he becoming bored. By this point, though, David Jr. was much like his father David Sr.; although he was not married like his father had been at his age, he was still carrying on different relationships with various women. David was misleading them and having them think he was being faithful; then there were the ones who did not care if he was taken or not.  He was already missing Rhonda during this time in his life, but he began missing her more when Tina brought up her name and put it in his mind that Rhonda had moved on and was living life without him in it. It had taken David some time to get here to where he had the nerve to call her but he figured the holidays would be the perfect time. People are usually more sentimental during this time of the year, he thought, plus David knew that she would most likely be coming home for Christmas.

“David, I have your number. If I have time when I get to town I will give you a call and let you know about getting together.
”

“You promise? When will you be arriving to town anyway?” David questioned.

As Rhonda began to respond she heard a knock at her door.

“Sorry David, I have to go. I will be arriving Thursday. I’ll try to give you a call
during my visit. Good night.” Rhonda hung up the phone before giving David time to even respond. Although she did not mean to end the call so abruptly, the more Rhonda thought about it she was glad she did end it the way she did; she did not owe him any explanations about anything. Now she was more ready than ever to let Ken inside and in more ways than one. She needed to get David off of her mind.

“What took you so long?” Rhonda said as soon as she opened the door
, pulling Ken in by his necktie.

As soon as the door was closed and Ken stepped inside, Rhonda put her arms around his neck and pulled him in toward her for a deep, tongue kiss. He kissed way better than she had imagined that he would. As they kissed more deeply, Ken instantly became aroused and began to back Rhonda up against the wall.

“Damn girl, I could kiss you all day. I love your lips.”

“Do you really?” Rhonda asked as she helped him loosen his necktie and his shirt. Man, he smells so good, she thought to herself as she admired his cologne.

“Yea, I do. I
’m sure that I could love both sets. Can I show you?” Ken stopped kissing her and lifted her gown to find that she was already panty-less. He began to finger her while looking deep into her eyes for a response.

“
Mmhhm,” she moaned.

Exactly the answer Ken wanted before he kissed her again on the lips, then along her neck teasing her before he finally knelt down pulling one of her thighs over his shoulder before he let his long tongue guide him to the pair of
lips he had been fantasizing about tasting for the past few months.

Rhonda grabbed his head to maintain her balance because Ken was taking her to a point of ecstasy that no one had ever taken her with his oral skills. It was not like she had many lovers or experiences to compare it to, but within the past couple or so years she had matured in her lovemaking skills tremendously and had certain expectations from her suitors.

“Oh Ken, damn,” she struggled to get out as her grip on Ken’s head got tighter.

Ken felt her whole body tremble with every suck and tongue penetration. He stopped for a brief moment to pull her gown over her head and to ta
ke in her beautiful, voluptuous body in the dim light.

“You are so damn
sexy,” Ken said before he pulled her in for a kiss and picked her up to take her over to the bed.

Rhonda was turned on b
y Ken’s compliments and his aggressiveness as he carried her but she still had the telephone conversation with David on her mind. Enough of the talking, she thought.

“
Am I? Well so are you baby,” Rhonda responded as she reached for his zipper and slipped her hand through the opening and inside his briefs to grab his penis and started massaging it as he stood over her. “I’m ready to get acquainted with my friend here.”

Rhonda turned over on her stomach and got in her favorite doggy-style position letting him know she was ready
for Ken to enter her. Ken reached for the condom he had in his pants pocket and finished taking off his pants. He had been waiting for this to happen for so long with Rhonda that he began to believe that he would never have this chance. Here it was and Ken had to show her he was up for the job; what he did not realize was that he had already won Rhonda over from the moment he entered the room.