I was skimming through another pile of papers when I heard a knock on the door. My evening manager, Renee, stuck her head inside and exclaimed, “Jeb, I think he’s here.”
“What?” I hurried to my feet. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I rushed out of my office before she even got a chance to reply.
I quickly trotted down the narrow dark hallway which was lined by floor lights and down the stairs to the club’s main floor where I noticed a crowded dance floor and bar lined with men ready to spend money on all the beautiful women in the club. I looked over at the bar area and saw lots of people spending guap.
Perfect, I thought. The night was starting off just perfect.
I scanned the crowd for the dapper-looking young man that was there to meet me. Trey always looked spiffy with a creased suit, a pair of sneakers, gold chains that dangled on his bare chest, and cologne that you could get a good whiff of before you even walked past him. When he was in public, he always had his crew tagging along, advisor in tow, security guard on his right.
Trey had come up big as a doughboy back in the day but went legit as soon as he got the chance. He had made the East side of the city, his city. He had invested in multiple properties and was now the big man on the block. If any business wanted a chance at excelling, Trey was the guy to go to. He had mastered the art of flipping, and everyone wanted to work with him. Now, he was taking his fortunes to bigger cities using the formula he created here, and I wanted to get in on it.
While my eyes tried to center in on even the slight resemblance of Trey, I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I turned around to see a woman in a fitted, red dress, wearing an all-too-familiar smile.
“Jeb,” I saw her mouth my name. I sighed and turned to see my ex glaring back at me. “Long time, no see,” she spoke as she grabbed onto my arm.
I pulled back and continued to look for Trey, trying to get her to take the hint. “Hey, Rochelle,” I said unenthused as I still searched the room for any sign of Trey’s crew.
She appeared taken aback as if that wasn’t the greeting she expected from me. But things were no longer the same.
“That’s all I get?” She looked offended. “A dry ass, ‘Hey Rochelle’?”
“Yes, Rochelle, I’m working. What do you want?” I asked, highly annoyed.
“I think the real question is, what do you want?”
I walked off, and she followed me. Now wasn’t the time for riddles and puns. In the past, her persistence and assertiveness was something that turned me on, but now her straight-up relentless behavior was making her appear like the pest everyone had tried to hip me to back in the day. I grew increasingly irritated at the thought that she was even here on the night that I was meeting with Trey. I didn’t need any distractions, and Rochelle was all distraction. And from the jump, at that. I was literally ignoring this girl, but she continued to follow behind me like a little puppy dog who wanted a home.
“I’m busy, Rochelle,” I finally stopped walking through the crowd of people and confronted her. “Can’t this wait?”
“Not if you’re finally ready to make all your dreams come true, Jeb,” she spewed as she crossed her arms. I finally got a better glance at her, now that she was standing in front of one of the lights that reflected off the stage in the back of the club. She looked the same, still a pretty face with her long hair just grazing the top of her plump bottom. My mind flashed back to when I used to fuck her from behind.
But she had let a lot of men in our town fuck her from behind. I remember the exact moment I received a text message with a video attached of her fucking my former bartender. And when I went to her place to confront her, I found her fucking my friend. I had been so embarrassed by the whole ordeal, I couldn’t even imagine telling anyone about the video I’d received. And to think I had been looking at rings the weekend before. I shook my head as I came back to my current reality. There was no use in revisiting the past.
“What the fuck are you talking about, Rochelle? I told you that I didn’t even want to see you again, and here you are in my fucking club?” I was inching towards yelling at this chick, but I rapidly brought my tone and pitch down. She wasn’t worth a damn thing to me. She didn’t even deserve a reaction.
I turned to walk away when I finally saw Trey and his notorious crew.
“Trey Cox!” I walked up to him, leaving Rochelle behind in a flash. I shook his hand the way old friends reuniting would greet each other.
“My man, Jeb! Owner of this bangin’ ass club!” He leaned in to shake my hand as well, and we dapped up like we had known each other for years.
That’s when Rochelle walked up from behind and put her arm around Trey as he rested his arm around her waist.
“Hey, baby, I was looking all over for you,” Rochelle said to Trey.
I was astounded and upset at the same time as Trey leaned in to kiss my ex who seemed to have a knack for trying to fuck up my life. She smiled and then gestured to me.
“I went to get Jeb for you and saw him looking around the club like a stray cat. Then, I couldn’t find you,” she added.
“That’s my baby, always looking out for her man,” Trey said with a smirk plastered on his face. “Now go and get us some drinks.” He sl
apped her ass as she walked back towards the bar.
She looked back at me as she sauntered off, and not in the least bit sneaky way, I might add. I shook my head in complete disbelief. I couldn’t believe I had to deal with Rochelle again. Now, I could only hope that Trey was the kind of man that kept his woman out of his business affairs. I felt that Rochelle would try to sabotage this deal just because of the spiteful person she was.
When I broke up with her, she played dumb like I hadn’t caught her fucking my friend. She went berserk and broke into my condo the next day and trashed it. Drama was indeed her style, and I expected nothing less with her hanging around Trey. Nonetheless, I shook it off and worked to get my focus back to where it needed to be, on securing a new location with the help of Trey’s investment.
“Come on, man, let me give you a tour of the club with the best nightlife experience in East Alabama!” I said, snapping back into business mode.