I was so ready to get past this heartbreak. The way breakups felt, it made me want to just remain single. Thoughts about remaining single made me think of Blaze. Jeremiah’s words made me feel like crap, but Blaze asking me out on a date stroked my ego just a tad. Of course, I wasn’t ready for anything serious, but it was nice to know that I wasn’t some overweight ogre that repulsed every man that I came into contact with. Melody swore that Jeremiah wanted to cheat anyway and that my weight gain was just an excuse.
While I drove, I thought about the chicken breast, rice, and broccoli that I’d meal prepped. I was getting my shit together for me but in the event Jeremiah did run across the new andimproved me, I hoped he’d eat his cheating ass heart out. I knew I had to take the time to heal, but Blaze could be a nice distraction. Melody was hell bent on me getting my lick back and making Jeremiah as sick as he made me. Honestly, I just wanted him out of my life. If I never saw him or spoke to him again it would be too soon.
As the bell over the door chimed to signal that the door had opened, I winced from the pain that radiated through my arms. I woke up that morning and could barely move. Joel kicked my ass. I was doing sessions every other day, so I had break, but I for sure couldn’t enjoy it. Looking around the establishment, it didn’t take me long to spot Blaze near the back looking through his phone. I advanced in his direction, and his head lifted.
I wasn’t sure it was possible for a person to get finer each time you saw them, but that seemed to be the case with Blaze. That man made my stomach flip and my lady parts moist. As I approached, he placed his phone face down on the table and gave me his attention.
“You know what you want? I’ll order it.”
“Just a strawberry banana smoothie. Thank you.”
Blaze walked off while I eased myself into the seat as slowly as I could. Soaking in Epsom salt hadn’t done a thing for the pain that I was in. I looked around the smoothie shop. It was my first time there, but I liked the vibe. It was like artsy meets health nut. Less than ten minutes later, Blaze was back at the table with two smoothies and a muffin. Even me reaching for the cup hurt, and the discomfort showed on my face.
“You sore like that?” Blaze chuckled while sitting down.
“Yes. I swear it feels like I got hit by a bus,” I groaned.
“Like Joel said just keep at it. You’ll have the hang of it soon and be a pro at it.”
“I hope so because this is torture. And the fact that I can’t take my mind off the pain with ice cream sucks even more. Every day I want to say fuck it and go lay on a table.”
“You wouldn’t be the first and definitely not the last. I say keep going with the fitness journey though.”
I sipped my smoothie and smiled. Never did I want to be one of those male centered women that felt like I had to have a man in order to be happy. Getting over Jeremiah and being happy was a priority of mine. I didn’t want to make everything about the opposite sex, but this was the second time I’d been in Blaze’s presence, and he made me feel so much better. Like there was hope for me, and I would maybe find my soulmate one day. Then, I thought about how many losers I ran into before meeting Jeremiah and got discouraged all over again.
“So, may I ask if you’re single and if you are, why? Maybe I’m being presumptuous, but you seem like a great catch. Sadly, I’ve seen women that are way thirstier than men. I know you have to beat them off with a stick.”
A cool chuckle escaped him. “Women will be women,” he gave a lazy one shoulder shrug. “All pussy isn’t good pussy, and I try to avoid pussy that will have me posing for a mugshot.” The intensity of his gaze made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
A chill crept down my spine as I gazed into his chilling eyes. It told me everything that I needed to know. Blaze wasn’t a joke nor was he to be taken as one. Being that I didn’t have any intention of crossing him, I cleared my throat and attempted to act unfazed by his words.
“That can actually be easy to do. When I walked into my ex’s home and heard the way he was talking about me, it took everything in me not to run in the bathroom and beat his ass.”Shaking my head at the memory, I became pissed all over again. “I mean if he wanted to cheat he should’ve just done it. But he didn’t have to talk about me like a dog to a complete stranger.”
My jaw muscles flexed as I gritted my teeth with anger. Talking about it pissed me off all over again. And the fact that Jeremiah was really playing dumb angered me even more. Had I not heard him with my own ears, he just might have had me convinced that he was telling the truth. I loathed how his betrayal had me second guessing everything. That probably wasn’t even the first time he cheated, and my dumb ass was walking around naïve as hell and green as fuck.
“I keep telling you that nigga is lame as fuck. There is nothing wrong with your outer appearance. If he’s using that as an excuse to cheat, he wanted to do it anyway. There’s no way that man loved you. Because if he had, even if he preferred you smaller, he would have handled it in a different way. I know you don’t know me but if you don’t believe anything else that I say believe me when I say I don’t gas women or kick game.”
I gave a curt nod. “My sister hated him. And I hated that because I want my sister and my man to get along. She absolutely swore that he wasn’t the man for me, and every time she said it, I felt nauseous. Like what if she’s right? And she was.”
“Enough about that fuck nigga. How old are you?”
“Thirty. What about you?”
“Same.”
Blaze didn’t break eye contact as he picked his cup up and drank some of his smoothie. The fact that my clitoris swelled with desire had me tearing my gaze away and swallowing hard. My horniness had to be attributed to the fact that Jeremiah hadn’t been dicking me down. I was just horny and not thinking clearly. I needed to be somewhere healing rather than sitting across from a man clenching my thighs together because he hadme so aroused it was borderline uncomfortable. The first thing I was going to do at home was give myself a much-needed release.
Shifting in my chair made me remember the pain that I was in. “Oh my God,” I groaned lowly. “I don’t know how I’m going to work out tomorrow. It hurts to breathe.”
Blaze smiled subtly. “Once you actually start working out it won’t be too bad. Trust me. I can refer you to my massage therapist. Kynli is the dopest. She’ll massage you straight to sleep.”
“A massage would be amazing right now.”
Something flickered in Blaze’s eyes that I couldn’t quite read. Whatever the look was it made my breath hitch. Maybe I was reading too much into it but if I had a gun to my head and was forced to surmise what the look was, I would have said lust.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I wouldn’t even blink. That was how badly I didn’t want to break eye contact.
“I was going to offer to give you a massage, but I don’t want to come off like a pussy hound that’s preying on you right after you just ended a relationship.”
