Torn Apart (African American Romance) (6 page)

Rhonda was ready for Ken and he did not disappoint as he entered her, first sl
owly and gently grinding while running one hand up and down her smooth back while placing his other hand on her shoulder bringing her back closer into him. Rhonda began trembling again, which got Ken excited and made him speed up the motion, which just drove her more wild.

“You like the way this feels?” Ken as
ked as he now grabbed her hair. This move turned Rhonda on even more.

“Yes, baby
—don’t stop.”

Ken then slowed down again teasing Rhonda and making her back up into him even more practically begging for more with her body. Then he sped up again, grabbing at her ass and grasping her hips to make sure that she was taking all of him in. This went on for the next 15 minutes or so until Ken climaxed falling on top of Rh
onda on the bed and lying in that position for a few minutes holding her and running his fingers through her long hair and kissing the back of her neck. She turned around to face Ken who stared into her eyes with a gentle smile on his face.

“Rhonda, you know I’ve been wanting to touch you like this for a long time now, you know that right?”

“Yea, I kind of thought that,” she responded with a smile.

She was not giving up much information to let Ken know what she was feeling for him
, but she assumed that Ken got what he really wanted and that she may never hear from him again. Ken, on the other hand, did not want to assume that this one night meant the start of many more nights to come although he was very interested in having Rhonda in his life and for more than just sex.

“So will I get to see you again? And maybe next time I can take you out on a real date first? You know, do it the right way?”

Rhonda thought for a minute, as she was not expecting this. She did like Ken very much and after tonight she knew that she wanted to have him any way that she could again; the bonus was that he wanted to take her out on a real date and get to know her.

“I would like that, Ken. I’m going to
be leaving to visit family for the holidays but maybe when I return right before New Year’s maybe?” she suggested.

“Perfect.” Ken responded as he gave her another deep kiss and cuddled up with her for another few minutes. Ken did not
want to overstay his welcome so he pulled himself away from Rhonda and went to the restroom to freshen up. When he came back out she noticed he had put his pants back on and was starting to finish dressing.

“Where are you going?” Rhonda asked as she sat up in the bed.

“I know you got this room for yourself—I don’t want to overstay my welcome,” Ken politely said as he continued dressing and giving her that sexy smile that she had grown accustomed to seeing from him some time ago.

“Do you have somewhere else to be? Or wait, you have an
other booty call to get to?” Rhonda asked hoping he’d respond correctly.

“No, I do not have anywhere else to be or anyone else to be with. And what do you mean ANOTHER booty call? I hope this between us turns out to be more than just booty.”

“Well good—stop dressing and get your ass back over here,” Rhonda ordered as her anxiety dropped when she got the response she wanted from Ken.

Ken smiled and began undressing again before he joined Rhonda back on the bed and they p
assionately kissed. They made love for the majority of the night while talking and cuddling the rest of the night, with the exception of getting in about a couple hours of sleep before ordering up room service for breakfast. It was an evening and morning that neither of them would ever forget, and the start of a relationship that they both had been longing for. Rhonda had to go home and get some closure on some things though before she could fully open herself up to Ken.

Rhonda knew that she did not owe David anything, she could not get her mind off of what David wanted to meet with her about. She replayed their previous conversation in her head over and over trying to figure out his intentions. It crossed Rhonda’s mind that he wanted another shot at trying to make things work between them as a couple, and she was trying to prepare herself for how she would respond to that. Rhonda played over and over in her head shooting David down with the news that she was seeing someone, which it was safe to say that she was in the beginning of something with Ken. From that morning after leaving the hotel, she and Ken spoke on the phone every day and night, and even squeezed in a lunch before she left for the holidays. From what Rhonda was learning about Ken, he had been interested in her for quite some time, much longer than what she thought. He never let on about it because of the fact that she had been seeing someone else. The more Rhonda learned about Ken, the more she was beginning to fall in love with him. Ken was born and raised in the city, so that’s all he knew. He even attended college here and had made a name for himself working in human resources and recruiting. When Ken came to the agency, Rhonda noticed him right off and she noticed how he looked at her too. Now six months later they finally had the chance to get closer, but now she seemed to be letting her past come back into the picture and interfere. Was she going to let it?

Christmas with her family had been wonderful. Her parents were s
o happy to have Rhonda home even if it was just for a few days. Some of Rhonda’s cousins who lived in town also came by the house during those few days to see her and catch up. It was really nice to see everyone, and she had promised them that she would make an effort to make more visits the following New Year. Christmas Day had come and it was then that Rhonda remembered that she never got around to contacting David. Am I really ready to talk to him, Rhonda asked herself? Before she lost her nerve, she grabbed her cell phone, went to her old room for some privacy, and told David as soon as he picked up that she could meet him at their old spot in a couple of hours.

After telling her parents that she was goin
g to go for an afternoon walk, Rhonda rushed out the door before her parents could get a good look at her and comment on how well dressed she was for exercise. She did not want anyone to know about her date in the park with David, at least not until she had an idea of what it meant. The only person she had shared this recent turn of events with was Sherry, who she hoped would be able to shed some light on why her cousin was suddenly interested in connecting with Rhonda again. Sherry had not communicated with David in months, so she was just as clueless as Rhonda, and even tried to convince Rhonda not to even meet with him.

“You don’t owe him anything Rhonda. Don’t
give in so easy to his request—if its that important let him keep chasing you and show him you could care less about what he wants to discuss.”

Sherry did have a point, but also like Sherry mentioned, Rhonda was very curious to see what David possibly had to say to her
now after the way that they ended things. It was that curiosity that kept eating away at Rhonda and making her somewhat anxious to get this meeting over with and perhaps get final closure to their relationship. Although Rhonda had physically moved on after things ended with David, there was still a part of her that looked back during those early college years trying to figure out what happened that changed the direction of their relationship. She knew in her heart, back then, that she was going to be Mrs. David Barnes, Jr. She knew people probably considered that juvenile considering he was her first love, but the way they connected and the manner their relationship grew as they became adults growing with one another had made Rhonda feel as if she experienced something with him that no one else had; she felt that David could easily say the same in regards to her.

Rhonda
made her way around to the park that once was her and David’s spot. Instead of an official date, which it sounded like he was trying to attempt, Rhonda instead suggested that they meet at their old meeting spot because it would be a neutral, casual meeting place where he wouldn’t have the chance to try to pull out all the stops he was trying to sell to her over the phone. Of course, she had to make sure she looked her best to make David realize what he had been missing since they parted ways; Rhonda was dressed casual enough to make it seem as if she had not put much effort into getting jazzy for their meeting but at the same time she made use of those MAC products she had recently purchased to give her that natural glow she was looking for to go along with her favorite swooped to the side hairstyle she liked wearing when trying to give off her best “sexy Rhonda” look. It seemed to work too, because as soon as she saw David’s face as she approached the park bench she saw the desire all over his face. Rhonda had to admit, also, that David seemed to carry a stronger sexiness about himself that she had never seen before either, so both of them were a bit in awe about what they were face-to-face with; Rhonda just made an effort to not act as impressed.

David was already smiling and licking his lips as he stood
up to greet his former love. Rhonda had become even more beautiful, physically, than he had remembered. He always thought she was a beautiful woman but she now had a confidence that comes with experience. The thought made him briefly insecure of himself and whether or not he had made a mistake in setting this up, but the moment was here now.

Rhonda politely smiled as David opened his arms for a hug. She stepped right into his arms and they hugged for a few seconds before either of them said a word. It was like a truce following the hurtful parting of ways they had experienced there at that same meeting spot.

“How are you, beautiful?” David broke the silence.

“I am doing great. How about you?” Rhonda asked
as she broke the hug and looked David in his eyes before taking a seat.

“Better now that y
ou are actually here meeting me,” he responded as he joined her on the bench. David could not take his eyes off of her and Rhonda definitely noticed. She was beginning to think her assumptions about today might in fact be spot on. Rhonda decided to cut to the chase.

“Speaking of which, David
, why did you want to meet so badly? Now, after all of this time?”

“
The same old Rhonda,” David lightly chuckled as he grabbed her hand. “I’ll get right to the point then. I first of all wanted to apologize for how I ended things the way I did. I moved on to another chapter in my life without sharing with you what I was going through at that time and not even trusting that you could understand or even fit into that part of my life. I had shared so much with you about my feelings about my father, so I knew you wouldn’t understand my need to want to change my plans in order to please him. I kind of felt like I was being pressured at the time to come back home but then as things began to change and my father and I got closer I started looking forward to this new path I was taking. When it came to how I handled it with you, I was being selfish and I’m sorry for that. I hope you can forgive me.”

“I can,” Rhonda replied
as she politely smiled to emphasize her sincerity in accepting his apology. She felt he was being sincere but she did question where was it all coming from but she decided not to bother dwelling on that. For the next 10 minutes David and Rhonda talked nonstop about the events that took place in each of their lives from the time they parted ways up until the present. David described to Rhonda how his taking on the role of pastor had matured him and how he was working hard at trying to not only accomplish the goals of his growing congregation but also become a better man for himself. Rhonda described her life in the big city and how she loved her job and life there, with plans to hopefully start graduate school soon once things slowed down at her job. Before she knew it, Rhonda realized almost an hour had passed and she told her parents she would be back to the house by now.

“David, I need to head back. I’m sure my mom and dad are wondering where I am
—I told them I was going for a walk.”

“Oh. So they don’t know you were coming to meet me?” David asked as if disappointed.

“Well no, because I did not know how to quite explain my meeting you,” Rhonda responded as she stood up. “My mom and dad asked about you often when we first broke up—I think they were rooting for us. It finally got to a point where I think they knew I didn’t want to talk about you so I thought it would be strange to bring you up now. Plus, they might have started assuming the wrong thing.”

Rhonda felt the excuse
s coming one after the other, sounding more nervous than anything.

“And what is that? That we might be getting back together?” David asked as he stood up standing in her space much closer than she had expected.

“Right,” she responded as she stepped back a little.

“I wouldn’t mind if they assumed that. As a matter of fact, that was the second reason I wanted to see you. I would like you to give me another chance, Rhonda.”

Rhonda stared at David for what seemed like an eternity as he waited for some type of response or reaction that she was not giving. The polite, friendly, forgiving expression that she had been carrying during their visit all this time was now replaced by a look of suspicion, mistrust and confusion.

“David, why now? And not even that, but why me?”

“Why not you? Rhonda, don’t you ever wonder what could have happened with us?”

“Yes, back then I wondered
but I moved on and got over you and never looked back. I heard you did the same—what about Tina? Or anyone else for that matter. I’m sure you have plenty of options, let alone in your flock,” Rhonda responded.