by Rain, Renee
I felt a need to get Rome out of my system. That night, I decided to go back to Club Amoré. I was surprised to find that neither Henry nor Rachell were present. I ordered a strawberry daiquiri at the bar and asked the bartender if either of the two were in Eros. He held his lip tight and nodded his head “no”.
A younger blond woman sat next to me. She looked like she may have been in her mid to late twenties. As I sipped on my drink, she introduced herself as Holly. I replied with my name and shook her hand. “So I heard you asking about the owner Henry,” she looked to the bartender and ordered a martini. I asked if she knew Henry and Rachell. She told me that she has seen them in passing, but never anything more. She looked through her designer bag to get some money to pay the bartender. She tossed her hair to the side and scooted to the edge of the barstool to get closer to me. “So, you haven’t heard?” I nodded my head because I had no idea as to what she was talking about. “It’s been buzzing all over the place this evening that Rachell was found dead in her car sometime today.” I held my drink in my mouth for a minute, swallowed hard and asked Holly, “what do you mean she was found dead?” Holly went on to explain that Rachell was missing most of the day and Henry and one of his friends went searching since the police said she had to be missing 24 hours before they would act on a missing persons report. “Well, they found her in her car at a park on the north end; she was in the driver’s seat with a note that just said she was sorry. Now I don’t know if she took some pills, shot herself or what, but she’s gone.” Holly took a drink and scanned the club.
I called the number I had in my phone for Henry- no answer. I immediately started riffling through my purse looking for the business card that Henry gave me when we first met. It had his alternate cell phone number on it and I felt a serious need to call him. Tucked among store receipts and shoppers cards, I found it. I dialed the number and waited. After five rings, it went to his voice mail, but I didn’t leave a message.
I looked at the clock- it was 11:30p. I had a missed call from Rome and decided to call him back. The line rang twice before I heard his voice on the other end. “I was hoping you would call,” were the first words that I heard. I took my purse, tilted my head to Holly and walked outside. “Hey Rome what are you doing?” I held my head down but my eyes looked up to see if anyone was around as I stood just outside the door. I could tell that he had just taken a sip of a drink as he told me that he was over at Henry’s house. He said that something happened to Rachell, but he didn’t say that she was dead. He told me it was a serious situation and he felt like I should be there. I could hear other people in the background as he asked me if there was any chance that I could come out to Henry’s right then. “Well, I’m a ways out, but I suppose I can come out there.” I had an unsure tone to my voice as if I really didn’t want to go and Rome sensed it right away. “What the hell do you mean by that?” There was silence. “You have a lot of nerves acting like you really don’t care and this could be a matter of your life,” it sound like he took another drink. “Look, I am sure you weren’t calling to say ‘hey Rome I’m yours’, I get that...” I cut him off before he could finish ranting, told him that she would be there soon and hung up.
When I arrived at Henry’s, I slowly walked to the front porch and through the door. Initially, I didn’t see any familiar faces. As I approached the kitchen, I saw Rome and Scott sitting at the counter with drinks in their hands talking. Scott nudged Rome to draw his attention to the fact that I was there. “Hey babe,” he stood up, place one arm around my waist, tilted my chin up and kissed me. His demeanor was completely different from the telephonic scolding he had given me not long ago. He acted as if we were a happy couple meeting up on a date. I was surprised for a moment, but I reciprocated the kiss and acknowledged Scott by nodding my head to him. He told me that Rachell was dead. “Oh no,” I tried my best to give a sorrowful tone. “Where is Henry at?” I asked as I scanned the faces of strangers. With an emphasis on his name, Rome replied that “Henry is not doing so well. Actually, none of us are.” He picked his drink up and told me to follow him.
We walked down the hall to the home office. When we entered, I quickly focused on the silent, tearful man who sat in one of two leather recliners. “Hey man,” Rome stated to get Henry’s attention. He looked up and for a split second we locked eyes. He gestured to us to have a seat on the chaise lounge that sat across from his seat. “I’m really sorry,” Henry cut my words short by holding his hand up letting me know that he wanted me to be quiet. “It’s been years of playing this game and I would have never imagined it ending like this,” Henry said to Rome as he filled his glass up with his favorite top shelf cognac. Rome replied “yea” and as he took a sip of his drink. Tears began to roll down Rome’s face. Scott walked in and closed the door. Rome turned towards me and just looked at me for a moment. I looked over at Henry; he was looking down at some papers that were on the table next to him.
“Bri,” Rome placed my hand between his hands, “Rachell took her own life.” He didn’t know that I already knew this, but I couldn’t understand why Rome was acting as if I needed to be consoled. After all, he knew I did not care for Rachell at all. Rome went on to explain that the reason Rachell committed suicide was the reason I was asked to come out to the house. Henry walked over and kneeled in front of me. As he handed me papers that had the health departments letter head on them, he told me that Rachell may be positive. My hesitant response was, “positive for what?” Rome took the papers, sat then on the table and placed his hands over his as head and leaned forward. Rome stated, “HIV, Sabrina, HIV.” Henry said that Rachell received a letter from the health department stating that her information was given to them as being a recent sex partner for someone who tested positive for HIV. It said that she needed to come in for testing and have a list of all previous sex partners in case additional notification is needed.
“I think she just didn’t know how to tell anyone because she felt that it was her fault. She admitted in her note that she had been sleeping with people outside of the circle that she met at the club and online. She left a notebook with dates and names of over 80 men and women she had sex with in the last 5 years.” Henry sounded calm as he said this, but all I could so was shake my head. “I left the note she wrote so the police could do whatever they needed to do with it. But this letter…..I can’t have people knowing this.”
“Damn,” I stood up and went to where Henry had been sitting. I filled his glass with cognac, stood there with my back turned, tilted my head up and drank. I thought she would panic, but to take her own life…I didn’t think she would do that. I drank some more. Once the glass was empty, I turned around to face the two men who were now standing in anticipation of my next reaction. I picked up the papers as if I just wanted to read them. I had to get rid of them. “So what does this mean for me?” I asked with a flat tone of voice. Rome stated, “it means you’re going to have to get tested, we all have to get tested and often for a while.”
I looked at Henry who stood with a solemn expression. “She slept with over 80 different people,” I repeated to Henry. He walked closer to me and put his arms around my waist. “Baby I promise I tested negative twice since the last time me and Chell had sex. I didn’t lie to you.” He kissed me on my lips and tears ran down my face. Rome exclaimed, “What the fuck do you mean baby? You two been fucking around outside the parties?” Scott stood in front of Rome and told him to calm down. Scott knew about Henry and I all along. It was his hotel that Henry kept a suite for us to meet at. “You know what Rome,” he looked at me silently, “you go and tell April I said hi and don’t stand in my face acting like you were ever so into me.”
Reality was sitting in and this was way too much for me to digest. I felt a surge of adrenaline going through my bloodstream. With her admitting to sleeping with all of those people, what if she really did have something and we are all walking time bombs?
“Look, I will keep getting tested and let you all know my r
esults. But I’m done with all of this.” I grabbed my keys out of my purse, put the papers in my purse and left before either could ask me to give the papers back. Kent noticed me storm away with tears in my eyes and must have figured that they had broken the news to me. I wasn’t truly worried about HIV, but I was worried about her taking her own life because I was being malicious. I decided that I would not mention any of this to Tamera. I was sure that if the streets talked to her the way she claimed, she would find out about this on her own. My drive home was long and sobering. Rome called my cell- I didn’t answer. Henry called too. I didn’t answer him either.
I went to the funeral. I even met up with Henry twice after Rachell was buried. The second time we saw each other was too much for me. We tried to screw each other’s brains out, and physically I loved it. But he told me that he never wanted me to leave him. I’m sure he was just in his grief, and although I wanted him even more, I couldn’t stomach the thought of his wife being out of the picture in the manner in which it occurred. She should have gone to get tested, but I guess she was doing enough playing on the side that she felt guilty. I kept telling myself that I didn’t make her do it, but I felt a need to stay away from everyone.
The next few months were long and stressful. I followed through with testing every three months. Once I had two lab results come back negative, I only texted the information to relay it to Rome and Henry. When they would reply trying to converse, I didn’t respond. I often saw Rome in passing at work, but would never stop to talk. One Friday afternoon, he decided to stop me and try to get me to say more than a simple hello. He asked me what I had been up to. “Just working and trying to pay bills,” I replied. He asked if I would join him for dinner one day. “No,” I quickly responded and told him that I was looking for a second job and that I really didn’t have the time or money to be eating out. He looked at me like I was crazy. I’m sure he wondered why in the world I needed a second job because he knew about how much my salary was and my living expenses weren’t high. But the truth was, for months I patched up my anxiety and grief with shopping and taking weekend trips to the casino’s that I couldn’t afford.
“Well, I’m sure you aren’t interested, but Henry is looking for a part time accountant since he opened his third club”. I nodded my head ‘no’. I knew Henry would pay well, but I had a weakness for that man that I had to keep in check. Thinking about him still made me want to tighten up my walls and take slow, deep breaths. He would never forgive me if he found out the truth behind the letter that lead to Rachell’s suicide. It would be in my best interest to ignore Rome’s suggestion and not inquire. “Thanks for the heads up, but I just need to disconnect from you all and move forward with my life.” I tried to speak in a sincere tone as I walked away. I was glad that I was granted a transfer request to a sister location on the other side of town and this would be my last day in that building. I didn’t tell him about my transfer, so he didn’t know that this would be the last random run-in we would have in those hallways.
As I sat in my car getting my things together, I paused and laugh out loud. “Ha, work for Henry. That must be the funniest thing I’ve heard in months.” I shook my head as I placed the key in the ignition. I sat and thought about how all of this began and how much of a nervous wreck I had been over the past months. Knowing that I would rarely- if ever see Rome again gave me a degree of peace. Really, I was drowning in debt from my self-prescribed shopping therapy and needed to do something before I was faced with garnishments.
I scrolled through my phone. I saw a text message from a friend Tearny. She was younger than me, but we found that we were both from the same area when she did an internship with my company while I was doing some audits in Atlanta. I was surprised that she would be in town. I heard through the gossip line at work that she had shown up a couple times with bruises on her arms. I reached out to her a few times, but she always acted like everything was fine. I replied that she should call me when she got in town.
I proceeded to my contact list. When I got to the eighth letter of the alphabet, I took a deep breath. I started the car and prayed that no one would answer as I pressed ‘call’.
Club Amoré
The ways of my mind despite me,
I walk in prayer, but sin is so enticing.
Turbulence in my heart won’t let me stay put,
So I walk this path though it does me no good.
Flesh on flesh is a feeling that consumes,
Momentary pleasures I cannot refuse.
The warmth of his breath opens my soul,
The look in his eyes shows me his goal.
The pleasure of his strokes: long, full and strong,
The wetness I expel lets him know he can go on.
For him, I’m always ready and wanting lots more,
New night, new adventure and now ready to explore.
Many draw near and love to adore,
Something attracts them- What? Not sure.
Perhaps it’s the face- all innocent and such,
Maybe it’s the way I walk and switch my butt.
They never understand why I love Club Amoré,
Sex without strings when you walk in the door.
Her husband adores me and in lust he will devour,
His wife adores her- she feels her pussy is power.
No judgment in your fantasy while at Club Amoré,
Where you can be an angel or be a devil’s whore.
About The Author:
Renee Rain
Well, this is my first printed story! I hope they only get better after this!
I am a wife, a mother and a professional by day (No really I’m a wife and mother all the time). Writing is something that I have always loved doing as a past time. A couple of friends told me a while ago that I should have my material published so others can read. So here it is!
There are a couple ways to correspond with
Renee Rain:
Website: www.ReneeRain.com
Or
Renee Rain
PO Box 1873
Jonesboro, GA 30237