Sitting on the sofa in the rec room of his boy Jay's crib, Derrick just stares at the big screen TV. Even though there's at least 60 people in the house, including some very scantly dressed fine ass females; and the sound of Master P seems to be visually making the house walls vibrate, he's totally oblivious to his surroundings. Just as he's thinking about getting up to go get in his truck and ride out, a known football groupie name Kendra plops down on the sofa beside him and throws one of her legs across his thigh.

"What's up pretty boy?" She allows her blood red MAC painted lips to slide across her perfectly capped $3000 smile; compliments of one of her many deep pocket diving conquests. Unfortunately, it was one of hits boys on the team who was stupid enough to pay for it. Tried to school his ass but he was a young rookie at the time and didn't know any better---was momentarily blinded by what all the guys called pro-pussy...you had to be playing pro ball to get the pussy. Anywhere there's even the slightest smell of fame and money, Kendra and her little friends can find it like a Lowjac on Janet Jackson's Range Rover.

"I heard that you've finally given up and stopped begging ole girl to marry you." She leans in towards his ear. "Shittttt! Sweetie you know you'd never have to beg me." She laughs, expelling a strong gust of alcohol and Black and Milds cigar mix.

Turning his head, slowly he looks her up and down. As beautiful and fine as she is sitting next to him in a halter top with BeBe across the chest in rhinestones and matching Capri pants, the only word that pops in his head from the sight is, TRIFLING. Not bothering to acknowledge her with a response, he pushes her leg off his and stands up. Walking over to where Jay is talking shit over a game of spades he waits for him to throw out his last card before saying that he's leaving.

"Yo Jay man, I'm out." He holds out his fist.

"Man, shit's just getting right." Jay stands up to give him a pound.

"You know thangs don't really get crunk 'til round midnight."

"Yeah dog," a guy they call Bear cause he really looks like one, takes a stogie out of his mouth as a white girl they call Kream comes and sits on his lap, "You know around that time most shit realllllly starts jumping off." He squeezes her ass causing her to squeal with delight.

"Yeah D." she takes the cigar from Bear and holds it in the air mimicking Groucho Marx and then sticks it in her mouth and takes a long drag on it like she's smokin weed, "that's when shit really starts coming off." She laughs at herself, showing just how much she's had to drink. "Oops, did I say coming off, I meant jumping off." Bear squeezes her ass again which sends her into another fit of giggles. Young ass can't be no more than 18; just old enough not to get a nigga locked up.

Thinking to himself how tired he is of the hanging out and partying and the women it attracts, he again shakes his head at the attempt to persuade him to stay.

"Naw man, I'm tired as hell. I'ma head back to the hotel to crash." He turns and gives Jay one last pound. "I'll get up wit cha later." He throws his bald head up at Bear and the rest of the crew sitting around.

"You out?" Jon Seabrook asks, standing near the sliding glass door with his arms around two women.

"Yeah dog, I'm out."

"Ah ight man, take it easy."

Walking out through the patio and past the pool, he's caught off guard at the nostalgia of how he met Santina 3 years ago in this very house at one of Jay's famous parties. Looking out across the water, he can almost visualize her sitting on the edge of the pool on the other side in her neon green bikini talking to her bestfriend Evai. True to life, Evai had all the men running around behind her like dogs in heat, catering to her every whelm and fancy, but Derrick couldn't seem to pry his eyes away from Santina. Something about the way she sat with her perfectly toned legs dangling in the water and her hair sitting on top of her head with a few pieces falling around her shoulders was almost beyond regal. It was obvious that although she knew that she was beautiful, it didn't affect her one way or the other. Even had she been dirt dog butt ugly, she would still have been the most breath taking woman there that day.

For almost 2 hours he watched her every move and found himself searching nervously if someone distracted him long enough to lose sight of her. Unfortunately his arrogance was at a record high that day and their first meeting was almost hostile. It became clear from the time she walked up to where he was standing that she was not as taken with him as he expected and wanted her to be. As a matter of fact, she seemed to go out of her way to all but totally ignore him, which was something that he was truly not use to.

Since his elementary school days, Derrick had had more than his share of girls running in and out of his life. By the time he reached college, he could honestly say that he'd lost track of the amount of women he'd screwed. Shamefully now, but sometimes up to four girls in one day which especially in college and upon going pro, he often shared with his boys. They would pass them around like a chicken leg shared by six brothers on a pledge line. But ever since he first laid eyes on Tina, he's never had an inkling of desire to be with anyone else. Within 10 minutes of their meeting they had argued and he had found himself losing his cool which was most definitely not apart of Derrick Melton's persona.

Even after she cussed him out and then slapped the shit out of him for calling her a name, it only made him want her that much more. Two days after their first meeting, he found himself calling around to people he knew in the entertainment industry to track her down. Once he found where she worked, he called every day for a week and left messages with her assistant but to his disappointment, never received any type of acknowledgement from her. After that he was so perplexed that he even started questioning his own abilities. From that point forward, the chase was on. Never had a woman ignored him as she was doing and it was like a major rush for him.

Next he began sending her roses to the office. Not just a nice bouquet in a vase with a neat bow on it---he would send four and five dozen at a time until he became so frustrated he just said fuck it and had a whole van load sent out. She finally called him back and said that if he didn't stop bothering her she would have a restraining order taken out on him for harassment. He had replied that he'd just have to take that chance and that if she really wanted him to leave her alone, she should at least allow one time for them to meet somewhere so that he could properly apologize for what happen at the party. No one could have been more surprised than he was when she accepted.

They'd decided to meet at Justin's three days later and while he wanted to see her immediately, she said that she could not meet with him on such short notice. Those three days were pure torture for him. For the first time that he could ever remember, he had to work hard to get a woman and it was fucking his head up. His boys and even his family often joked that she must have some Creole or Jamaican in her to have Derrick open the way Tina had him. After that day at Justin's, they were virtually inseparable. Tina was nothing like he had ever experienced and every time he so much as thought of her, it would send goose pimples all over his body. She was so damn independent while at the same time demanded to be treated with chivalrous respect, and so he found himself doing things he never thought he, Derrick, would be doing--- opening car doors, walking on the side next to the street, calling ahead of time before visiting and hell, he even had to schedule dates. It was a very big pill for him to swallow, but for her the pain was sheer pleasure.

As a matter of fact, he found it intriguing to actually DATE someone for once in his life. And soon he found himself in a position he'd never been in before. Derrick Melton, Mr. Love 'em and Leave 'em was falling, and there was no safety net in sight. Hell, he didn't want there to be one. He wanted to completely enjoy the experience without any form of protection whatsoever.

HE had been the first to say I love you. HE had been the first to offer a drawer for the overnight stays. He had even offered the sacred keys to his house and cars less than a months into the relationship. All his boys thought he had lost his mind when they began calling the house and her soft sexy voice would answer the phone way over into the wee hours of the night and even on days when he was clear across the country. He realized just how much he loved her on his first away game when he asked her to take off from work and go with him and she refused. The word NO being said to him was like someone cursing his mother in his presence, it just wasn't going to happen. He was so taken aback that it took him a second to regroup. Then he decided that she must have misunderstood so he asked again. WHAM! She threw that NO word at him again.

No? No! He had to ask himself, "Did she just tell me no." So he asked her. "Excuse me baby, I hope I don't seem retarded and shit, but did you just say no?"

Crossing her arms across her chest like sistas tend to do when they're about to read you, she nodded her head and then opened her pretty little mouth and repeated it again. "No Derrick, I can't go." Blinking his eyes a couple of extra times cause they started to feel like they were stinging a little from the blow she had just thrown to his ego, "What do you mean you CAN'T go?"

"Because I have to work."

"Work?" He had started laughing and then caught himself when she gave him one of those looks. "Tina, I'm sure the record label won't lose artist if you take a few days off. Shit, the VP has the hots for you anyway, he doesn't give a flying fuck what you do just as long as you keep wearing them little bitty skirts." He had tried to convince her to go with me although most of the guys on the team had to try to convince their women to stay at home.

"Well I care." She bucked her big brown eyes at him. "This is my career Derrick Tyrone Melton, and I can't just say fuck it every time my lil football playing boyfriend has an away game or feels like HIS career is more important than mine. I worked for this company before you, I'll continue to work for the company with you and if there's a problem with it, I'll still be working for them after you." She had put her little hands on her hips and started to roll her head around on her neck. After picking his face up off the floor, all he could do was stammer out an apology.

When she picked him up from the airport two days later, the swelling in his chest didn't have anything to do with the win they had just had over the Saints; it was all about the little 5'5, 140 lb. woman standing next to his car in front of baggage claim at Hartsfield International Airport. Walking out of the sliding doors and seeing her standing there waiting for him, he knew right then in that instant that he would have to make her his wife for his life to be complete. They had been dating a little over 3 weeks and since that time, had not spent more than 18 hours apart. Those two days away in New Orleans had been hell and in his rush to get the game over with and get back home to her, he had run 367 yards and over about twenty men making an interceptions and three touchdowns in the process. The guys on the team thought he was just pumped about the new season and the chance of the Falcons playing in the Super Bowl at home in the Dome, and he was just as content in letting them believe what they wanted.

"Waiting on me?" Derrick comes out of his trance to find Kendra walking up on him. "Why didn't you just tell me to meet you out here while we were sitting inside?" She slides her model thin arms around his neck and tries to lick his left ear which isn't very hard with her height almost looking him eye to eye.

Slowly letting out a deep breathe in aggravation and peeling her arms away from where they've put a vise grip on him and she's smashed her breast against his chest, he says, "No, I was just getting some fresh air to let the alcohol wear off a little before I get on the road headed back to town."

"Why don't you let me drive you back? I'm ready to go anyway and I'd hate for you to get a DUI and have your name plastered all over the papers." She offers.

"No, I haven't had so much to drink that I can't drive, but thanks anyway." He turns and walks past the pool and out the side gate.

"Groupies." He says out loud in disgust.

Getting into his truck and cranking it up, Joyce Latell is on the Quiet Storm. As he's about to pop in one of his rap tapes, Jagged Edge's hit song, GOTTA BE begins to flow over the airwaves. All he can do is lay his head back against the seat as the music they had agreed would be their first dance song as man and wife, bathes his truck in pure heartfelt melody. One tear escapes the corner of his eye and runs down the side of his face.

"Room 46 please." I nervously tap my fingers on the desk while trying to figure out what I'm going to say when he answers. I've called five times today and about just that much everyday since leaving my mom's house 3 nights ago and either he's never in his room or just doesn't want to talk to me. Then my heart does a little dip from the thought of him possibly refusing to see me at all. What if he tells me that it's really over and that he's moved on.

The phone rings back to the front desk. "I'm sorry but Mr. Melton isn't answering his line, would you like to leave a message?" The attendant on duty asks.

"No thank you, I'll just call back." I reply and hang up. Turning my chair around, I get up and walk across the room and unlock the sliding glass doors and step out on the balcony. With it being early fall, there's a mild breeze out but not enough to really need a jacket--it's just right for star gazing and thinking---perfect weather for me and Derrick to be walking around Piedmont Park holding hands and planning our future as we were doing last year around this time. The twinkling of the lights always has a calming affect on me when I'm stressed out about something so for a while I just lean on the railing and look out over the city.

So many times when I would be working late Derrick would come up to my office with a picnic basket and candles and we would spread the blanket out on my office balcony and eat. The memory brings a smile to my face and for a while, I reminisce about the beautiful experiences we've shared since I first met him at a swimming party that Evai forced me almost kicking and screaming to go to. All she kept talking about for a whole week was how it was going to be so many football players and celebrities there and that she just had to go cause she wanted to meet Chuck Smith and Jamal Anderson. I did everything I could to get out of it cause that's all I deal with on a daily basis----people in the industry and their ALL EYES ON ME attitudes; but eventually she sweet talked me into it using the excuse that it would be a networking opportunity for her new business and since I knew a lot of the people, I could introduce her around.

The first time I laid eyes on Derrick Melton, my heart did one of those dips like you get from the first hill of the Scream Machine at Six Flags. The only word that came to my mind was, DAMN. Bald headed and every bit 6 foot 3 inches, 220 lbs. of 100% pure unquestionable black man. And when I say BLACK, I mean black as in the African men that sales fake Coach bags on Peachtree Street. He was talking to a girl in what was suppose to have been a bikini but in reality could not have been much more than a few strings of yarn which barely covered her cottage cheese looking dimpled butt and screaming, I'm fake, breast. He had on a pair of swimming trunks and from clear across the pool I could see the baby soft black slick hair on his chest and stomach. Just thinking about what could possibly lay within the confines of those shorts shamelessly made my nipples hard like someone had rubbed an ice cube across the tips.

"That shit don't make no damn sense." Pops out of Evai's mouth as if she's reading the little cloud over my head in the Sunday comics. "Too bad he's one of the biggest hoes in pro ball that there is." She slides off the side of the pool into the water.

"And how do you know?" I find myself being unnecessarily defensive. Besides, with Evai love em, drain the pockets dry and then leave em ways, he's probably been one of HER victims.

"Girl, where have you been?" She tries to dog paddle but can't do it very well cause she's so tall and the area we're in is only 4 feet deep.

"Obviously not in all the places your hot ass has been." I kick water at her.

"Fuck you." She splashes me back.

"Come on now---how do you know he's a hoe?" I ask again, trying not to sound too eager.

"Cause they all are girl." She finally gives up on the dog paddling and begins to float on her back in front of me. "It's four of them that hang tighter than knat bootie and when it comes to females, their only objective is to fuck. Shit, they've probably already screwed half of the females up in here. They will pass your ass around like a blunt and the sad part about it is that these stupid as bitches don't give a damn. All they care about is the fact that they can brag that they've fucked one of them and hope they'll luck up and get a little more time to prove their worth."

"So why are you here?" I smirk. She stops floating and stands up in the water. "Cause the difference between me and these stupid ass hoes is that I know how to use my money maker and they don't. And when I say my money maker, sweetie I ain't talking about this pot of gold between my legs either." Then she proceeds to school me on how she differs from let's say, ole girl with the 38DD's who was talking to the bald headed guy.

"See the key to this game is to first, make sure YOUR shit is pimp tight. No man who truly has something going for him wants a female who ain't got shit to offer. Yeah, you can look like your ass just stepped out of Playboy magazine with tits and ass spillin out all over the place, and fuck the shit out of him daily like Heather Hunter, but nowadays," she points to her head, "if you ain't got shit going on upstairs; a man who has something ain't going to want you for much more than a fuck. True to life, he might dick you down on the regular and even buy you some shit and if you're lucky, put you up in a nice spread. However, when it all comes down to the get down, rarely will you find yourself with MRS. in front of your name. Shit, you can tell by the guy who got caught soliciting last year at the Super Bowl that it don't mean shit for them to buy pussy. The staying power lies within what YOU can bring to the table and what comes out of your mouth when you open it.

That's why so many of their asses marry white women." She states as if it's a fact instead of just her opinion. "Shit, white daddy already has a yacht and 600,000 shares of Microsoft-- it ain't like the bitch needs his money although don't be foolish enough to believe that she don't WANT that shit. "

"Ok, so you're covered in the brain department." I say, really enjoying this lesson I'm being taught. "What else is there to it?"

"See these guys are so use to women running up in their face and throwing the coochie at them that it totally fucks with them when they run across a fine ass sister like me and you who ignores the shit out of them-a woman that's not easy for them to get is like finding pure gold in the flea market," She smiles, "It's a mind thing." She again points to her head. "It's a challenge cause it's like, 'why in the hell ain't she sweatin me like the rest of these honeys'? I need to check her out and see what her problem is."

"Oh, I get it---the more you ignore them, the more they want you?"

'Ding, Ding, Dinga Ling Ling Ling." She chops the water with her hand and sprays me laughing. "You, my sista, is a perfect example of a woman who does not know how to use her money maker."

Shaking my head at her as usual, "My JOB is MY money maker, plus I don't have the time to be sitting around brain wrestling like some people." Shrugging her shoulders, "Suit yourself girlfriend." Then she adds, "Class is dismissed."

Suddenly a nice looking brother with dreads comes out of nowhere and grabs Evai around the waist, picks her up and dumps her in the water. She comes up screaming and sputtering as he's trying to get away while laughing at the same time. Forgetting about me and our conversations, she swims off after him.

After that, I get out of the pool to go in search of the bathroom. Walking around to the other side, I go over to one of the promoters that I know from a party my label threw last Christmas to get directions. Not paying attention, I don't realize until I'm up on him that one of the guys in the little circle that he's talking in is Mr. Sexy Black Bald Head Football Player.

"Kae Kae." I tap him on the shoulder. He turns around, "Hey Tina." He takes my hand and pulls me to him in a friendly hug. "I saw you a while ago and was working my way over to speak to you." He smiles almost blinding me from his braces catching the suns light.

"Yeah, I saw you earlier but you looked like you were talking business and I didn't want to interrupt."

"Well you know how that is." He throws his hands up and laughs. The whole time I can feel bald head Mr. Clean eyes burning through my skin.

"Kae, do you know where the bathroom is?" I try to cut the conversation short. "I don't like walking all over people's house." I explain.

"I can show you." Mr. Clean speaks up.

"It's not necessary, you can just tell me." I turn towards him and instantly feel the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Not expecting what my eyes are being blessed with, I find something new to say in place of the word DAMN I used upon first sight of him-----BEAUTIFUL. Thick shiny black eyebrows that thins out in the middle of his forehead though never completely breaking their connection-a small scar from probably scratching a chicken pox as a child on the left cheek and a dark birthmark the size of a silver dollar on the jaw while a single diamond is catching light in his right ear----following my eyes down to his mouth---full lips covering white teeth that are startling against such dark skin which is poreless on his shiny bald head. Afraid I'll lose all decorum if I look below his neck, I keep my eyes fixed on his face.

"I was about to go inside to make a call is all." He shrugs.

"Oh." Is the only word that I can find to say.

Holding his hand out in front of me, "Ladies first." Turning to Kae, "I'll talk to you before I leave."

"Yeah, you make sure you do that." His mouth gleams at me. Walking in front of Mr. Clean, again I can feel his eyes burning through my skin, specifically on my ass this time. Taking the stairs that lead from the pool up to the house, I hear people going, 'What's up D, you got it going don't cha,' and, 'That's what I'm talking about D-man,' yet I keep walking like I don't hear them or him stopping to give out hugs to the ladies and talk shit with the fellas. Reaching the top of the steps I see people going in an out of a set of French doors and head in that direction.

"Tina wait up." I hear him calling my name behind me. Swinging around and with a little more sass than I'd plan, "What?" I say.

"Damn girl, why all the attitude?" He walks up close forcing me to look up into his face.

"You know that I have to use the restroom. I don't have time for you to keep stopping and squeezing and high-fiving everyone you see." I put emphasis on the squeezing part.

"Unlike some people," He looks me up and down, "my personality attracts people instead of turning them off."

"So I heard." I turn and walk through the door deciding to just ignore him all together and find the bathroom on my own. "Negro thinks just because he is as fine as all get out, has a nice set of pretty white teeth and a lot of money that a sister is suppose to be sniffin around his balls." I mumble out loud as I walk pass some people gathered around a big screen TV playing Playstation and down a long hall. "If that's what he's expecting from me, he is definitely S-O-L."

"Excuse me," I stop a girl that I seem to see at all of the celebrity functions, "Do you know where the bathroom is?"

"Yeah girl, I'm headed that way." She gives a fake smile and kinda looks me up and down.

I want to tell her she can retract her claws but keep my mouth shut and follow her through some more doors, up a set of stairs and into what I assume is the recreation room.

"Kendra baby, long time no see." A guy dressed in Fubu from head to toe reaches out and grabs the girl I'm walking with.

"Oh, what's up Jay." She flashes that fake smile again while at the same time seemingly looking around for someone else.

"Looking for Derrick, huh?" He asks. "I saw him about 10 minutes ago outside talking." He jerks his head back towards the direction from which we just came.

"Naw, I wasn't checkin for him..."

Refusing to wait while they chit chat, I clear my throat, "Which way did you say the bathroom is?" I move towards the Kendra chick. They both turn and look at me like they're just realizing I'm there.

"Hey Kendra," This Jay person raises his brows, "is this one of your friends?" He looks down at me like a peace of freshly tenderized Filet Mignon.

Almost dismayingly she replies. "She just asked me to show her where the bathroom is."

"Oh, well in that case, you can use mine." Jay says. "It's right this way." He starts to walk off indicating I should follow.

I can tell that Ms. Thang is not too pleased at his hospitality but I really don't give a damn cause by this time I'm about to burst. We go up yet another set of stairs and through the kitchen and then make a right into a short hallway and then a left into a bedroom the size of half a house. Damn, boyfriend must have some serious cash flow.

"It's right through there." He points to a set of double doors on the otherside of the room.

Coming out of the bathroom a few minutes later I almost run smack dab into Mr. Clean. "What are you doing in here?" I ask as if I have the right to.

"This is my boys crib, so the question is, what are YOU doing in here?"

Walking around him and towards the door, I throw over my shoulder, "Well if you must know, your BOY told me I could use his bathroom."

Half way outside the door I hear him mumble, "Groupie."

"What did you just say?" I turn around and walk back into the room.

"I wasn't talking to you."

"I know you could not have possibly been talking to nor referring to me." I put my hands on my hips knowing that I'm about to read his arrogant ass.

"For your freakin info, I have a job and a damn good one at that. I don't give a flip shit who you are or what you do. That's the problem with your type, you think that just because you got a little fortune and fame that girls are suppose to run up behind you and inhale ever time you break wind. Well if that's what you're thinkin, suga you got a sister all fucked up--"

"Yeah yeah yeah," he cuts me off and then snaps his fingers up in the air like the gay guy on In Livin Color, "I have my own credit cards, I have my own bank account, I pay my own bills. Whatever. Y'all females are all the same, as long as a brother's got flow, he can still hit that ass."

The next thing I know, hand is connecting with skin and then we both stand there looking stunned as hell.

Totally speechless from his words as well as my actions, I simply turn on my heels and walk away with intentions of finding Evai and getting the hell out of there. Unfortunately, by this time the party is in full swing and with the size of the house and the amount of people there, that's almost next to impossible to do. Giving up, I decide to go find me a nice quiet corner to simmer in hoping I'll catch her floating by.

Finding an empty lounger over in the far corner of the deck, I lay back and watch the happenings. Even after our little run in, I find my eyes constantly seeking out that bald head. And every time I spot him he has some female up in his face practically with her drawers down around her ankles. No wonder he's such a hoe----every female up in here is trying to give him some coochie. Well THIS is one female who ain't trying to give him shit.

Unexpectedly, the party turns out to be a lot of fun. I run across Evai not too long after I sit down and even after explaining to her what happen with me and Mr. Clean, she refuses to leave or allow me to do so either. Yet thanks to her the rest of the night I find myself constantly in the middle of something or another from volleyball to spades to shooting pool to playing Truth or Dare.

"Girl, I gotta take a break." I beg off on another round of Twister. "I'm going over there and sit my ass down." I point to the lounger.

While I'm sitting there kinda smiling to myself at how a bunch of 20 something professional people are making a fool of themselves twisting their bodies in unimaginable ways, who would come and sit down next to me but Mr. Clean. "Uh Santina right?" He looks at me uneasy.

"No, Ms. Groupie." I continue to look straight ahead.

Chuckling, he too begins to look straight ahead. "Uh, listen. I want to apologize for what I said. I really didn't mean it and I knew from the moment that I first saw you that you're not like the rest of these women around here."

Turning to look him in the face. "And how do you know that?" He laughs again and then takes his hand and begins to rub his face where my hand landed. "Cause for the past two hours I've been running thorough background checks on you Ms. Greene." He says with a light nervous laugh that I find rather pleasing and rather attractive coming from such a big man.

"You're well respected judging by what I see and hear and you also have a whole hell of a lot going on upstairs." Then he chuckles again. "Plus no woman has had the nerve to slap me except my mother."

"Oh yeah." I still refuse to look his way. "Well Mr. Cle....hold up, first of all, what is your name." I finally turn to look at him. Damn, he looks good. With a picture of him in those trunks hanging on my wall, I'd probably have to buy new batteries every week.

His eyebrows shoot up on his forehead like Bert and Ernie and he starts to frown. "You really don't know my name do you?"

I shake my head cause I honestly don't and Evai never told me what it was the whole time we talked about him.

"Well damn, you sure don't do shit for a brother's ego." He lets out a deep breath and kinda drops his head. "Do you watch football?" He looks over at me with those sexy eyes.

"Nope, 'fraid not."

"Where are you from?"

"Here." I reply proudly.

"You're from the ATL and have never heard of Derrick Melton of the Falcons?"

Then it clicks. "Ooooooh. Yeah, I've heard of him." Then it really clicks.

"You're Derrick Melton." Turning my nose up. 'Yes Mr. Melton, I've certainly heard about you." I say.

Getting up from my chair. "Well, it's time for me to go." I begin to walk away.

"Hold up, you never accepted my apology."

Slowing down, I stop for a second to let him catch up and without looking back at him I go, "I know." And walk on off to find my girl and tell her I'm ready to bounce.

Fading the bitter sweet memory to the back of my head, enough time has passed by that I feel as if I can concentrate again on my work. Going back inside, I begin making phone calls and setting up promotional dates for a new artist we have coming out. Before I realize it, two hours have passed and the clock on my credenza is saying it's after 9. Reaching over I pick up the phone and punch in the number again. If he does not answer the phone this time I'm going over there anyway and post myself outside his door. "Hello, this is Ms. Greene, can I have Mr. Melton's room please?"

"As a matter of fact, Mr. Melton just went up on the elevator." The desk clerk says. "Can you hold for a second before I ring his room so that he won't miss your call?"

"Yes please." I say. Then suddenly, I hang up the phone. Rising from my desk, I grab my jacket off the back of the chair and snatch my purse out of the drawer. Within minutes, I am pulling out of the parking garage of my office building and heading towards the Biltmore Suites Hotel. I can't take a chance on him refusing to talk to me.

Pulling up in the circular drive 10 minutes later, I practically throw the keys at the valet and hurry into the building. I know that he's still here cause I caught a glimpse of his truck when I first pulled in. Walking pass the front desk and over to the elevator, the doors open just as soon as I get there. The woman getting off looks extremely familiar and it doesn't take long for me to figure out who she is when she looks up and sees me standing there.

"Hey, Tina isn't it?" She tries to pretend as if she's unsure of who I am.

"Correct, and your names Kendra right?" I begin to get this queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach seeing her just getting off the elevator.

TO BE CONTINUED.