Beautiful Broken Love

by Shanora Williams

I was a man born and bred in sunny Orlando, Florida,

Jump scare

She wasn’t an entirely bad person, which was why I had given her a key to my apartment early on.

Insane sentence

“Because I want you to know that even though we vowed to spend the rest of our lives together, you should be happy. Whether I’m here or not.”

I’d mentioned tulips being my favorite flower at the photo shoot a few weeks prior. I couldn’t believe he remembered such a small detail about me—something so minuscule during a mindless conversation. I picked up my fork and smiled.

Sure, most of that love came from women who wanted a selfie or a quick fuck, but it felt good knowing I was someone to them.

lets talk to the therapist mama

“I like the hand cream,” I told her. “Keeps my hands soft.” I sounded stupid,

Oh—can we take a picture together? My golfing buddies are gonna freak when they hear Deke Bishop was in my house!”

ohhh thats not-

“I don’t believe that shit. Not for a second. So, what, he goes to a fucking alcoholic group, joins a church, and that makes him a saint? Fuck that! He hasn’t changed, and you know it!”

ykw. i get him.

“Get over what happened? Ma, he was literally beating your ass and mine every day until he got arrested!”

WAIT I THOUGHT HE WAS JUST A DEADBEAT???

“She’s right. I—I’m moving too fast. This isn’t normal!”

can we pls go to a therapist..

“I came here to tell you that Deke is not who you think he is. He’s a user and a manipulator. He makes you believe that he cares because he’s so nice and charming and always has the right things to say, but it is all false. The truth is that he is a loner who will only hurt you because he knows he’s a shitty human inside. Being with him is a mistake.”

shes insane 😭

Sixty grand? Was she serious? My company made twice that in two weeks.

LMAO

“Security let me in. I told him it was urgent. He remembers my face.

the security guards in these books are always such ass

“Go get her back,” he finally said after some time, and for a split second I thought he was talking about Giselle. When he realized I was about to protest, he held up his free hand and said, “Davina. Go get Davina back.”

What’ll happen when you’re tired of me too? Will you toss me to the side like trash? Pretend I never existed?

meanwhile he fell first and harder lol

But how could I answer after hearing that from Giselle? Because I’ll be honest, other than knowing Deke was a professional NBA player, that he had two sisters and a dog, and that he’d lost a brother at a young age, I didn’t know much else about him.

and you know even less about her so now what

“I don’t like bringing it up because he committed suicide.”

Oh!

All this time he’d been dealing with that heartbreak, and I didn’t know because I was so selfish, so stupid, so worthless.

And we're still not seeing a therapist... Right...

I’m not supposed to be with a fucking basketball player! I’m not supposed to be with a guy who treats women like objects—

Now who da hell said that

Plus, it feels too soon after Lew to even think about going that deep with anyone else.

ENOUGH! Who cares how long its been

I found a letter in his hand. All it said was ‘I’m sorry. It’s all too much.’

And they want him to forgive the dad... Like theyre actually evil

“He could be here right now in the physical sense if it weren’t for him. I really don’t understand why he’s here.” “Declan,” Mama hissed at me. “Deke, come on,” Camille chided.

Let him.speak

He was on one knee, a velvety black box in his hand with an oval-shaped diamond ring nestled inside it. The diamond gleamed in the light, and I didn’t even want to think about how much he’d shoveled out for it.

Oh he really did that shit in front of everyone...