Southern Gentleman's Club

Her Reality

Onyx Marshall bit into her burger at the Sugar Shack. Her mind briefly went to her encounter with Malik Minnelli. A light blush graced her face. Just as quickly, she remembers... desirability is a fickle thing. A billionaire's interest in her is the last thing she should be focused on.

Her watch pings again. Time for therapy. She grabs her cane and holds the tray tightly in her weak left hand. The tray wobbles just a little.

"One more! One more, push it. Push it!" her physical therapist fussed at her while watching the watch.

"I'm too tired...I can't. I can't do it." her healthy limbs shook under the pressure. The ball drops. "I can't..."

"You can't as long as you tell yourself you can't." he stops the watch and sighs. "You need a new form of motivation." He hands the water bottle with a sigh.

"I have all the motivation I need..." she grabs the bag with the stronger hand. "Same time next week, I already know." Onyx didn't even look back. Justin was always there to listen...even from the beginning.

Four years ago

Onyx frowned at Shawn with a headshake. "What part of I'm not comfortable with riding with you today? It's been raining off and on for the past week. You know that."

"Nothing will happen, Onnie. Just come with me..." he tosses her a helmet with a smirk. She sighs and finds her riding boots and leather jacket against her best judgement. Her phone buzzed just as she was about to mount the bike.

"Hey, Justin! Wassup?" she cheerfully answered.

"I was just about to invite you to the bar for drinks with my girl and her homegirl since you said you never have time to meet new folks.

"I'm going for a ride with Shawn..." she guiltily answers. Shawn and Justin weren't the best of friends.

"But it's been raining...you sure?"

"Yeah! I know what I'm doing...I have my license, fully charged phone, and helmet."

"I don't feel like this is a good idea, Onyx..."

"I will be fine." She ends the call right there. Shawn revs the motorcycle up and they take off quickly down the street.

The ride is going well...not a cloud in the sky. The Colorado sun shining brightly. And just as the pair make it to the Ice Cliff town limit, the sky got considerably darker. The wind blew around them. The bike wobbles a little.

"You need to slow down." Onyx yells at Shawn.

"I got this." He overzealously goes even faster. The rain comes almost like a bullets from the sky. The already drenched road is even wetter now.

I wish he'd slow down...Onyx thinks. She closes her eyes to the rain. The front wheel hits idle oil and sends the both into the trees nearby.

The bike lands on Onyx's left side. She never knew what hit her in the moment.

A couple of hours later, Malik Minnelli is coming up the road in his Cadillac Escalade after a business trip. "Aye, slime...I see something up the road." His driver gets his attention. "Looks like an accident."

"Call for help then." He doesn't even think about it when he hopped out with his pistol cocked. A man, a woman...a bloody woman. Unconscious? Dead? "Tell em, the woman barely got a pulse." Ten minutes later, "Nah, she doesn't have a pulse at all..."

"Aww shit, lil mama..." he whispered. Shawn wakes up with nothing but a scratch. Malik and his driver push the bike off Onyx's body. Shawn stands and watches...part stunned, part guilt.

The ambulance pulls up just as Onyx loses pulse again. They wait and wait again.

"Pull the white sheet over." The EMT orders. "Call her next of kin. We're taking her to Ice Cliff Medical Center."

"Wha-what?" Shawn couldn't believe his ears. "She gotta wake up...Onnie! Onnnie! Wake up." Malik stands to the side. Not sure if he should leave or help...

The man's pleas shook him. I'm sure I'd be the same way...

Onyx gets out of the shower and warms up her lunch. Without her cane. She was tired of having it around her in her own home.

I woke up from my coma about a month later. Nothing about me had changed...at least I thought so. My mom stood over me with sadness.

"I can't feel the left side of my body." I looked up in alarm.

"You're paralyzed on your left side." She informs me.

"What? What happened?"

"You had a motorcycle accident. Shawn walked away with scratches. And you kept flatlining."

A long recovery followed me.

Three years later

"You don't even look at me..." I stood in front of Shawn with my cane holding me up. Even in that moment he averted his eyes away from me.

"I'm being respectful." He opens his hands. "You know I hate this place."

"I'm in an assisted living place. Not a nursing home."

"I just can't do it, Onnie."

"Can't do what?"

"This...us."

"I'm not following you." The wind in my lungs being knocked out.

"You asked me why we don't have sex anymore...I can't bring myself to touch you like that."

"Like what? I'm still Onyx..."

"You're crippled. I don't find you attractive anymore." His true feelings boil over in frustration.

"I see..." I grab my cane and hobble to the door as quickly as I could. "Goodbye, Shawn. I can't hate myself and have you hated me too. Only enough room for one set of hate here."

He walks out without a second glance. Through with this love shit.

Meanwhile, Malik flipped the screen back to YouTube. "Welcome back to my channel." Onyx Marshall waved in the camera with a smile. Another makeup tutorial. I know what a gotdamn contour is and a winged eyeliner too. I done watched too much of this shit...just to see her. That familiar feeling in my chest tightened.

I'm sure Onyx is the woman I helped that night. I never got any more information on her wellbeing after the ambulance took her away. I would be lying if I said I wasn't trying to find her. But with nothing but a nickname to work with, I had no choice but to let it go.

"I would...but men don't like cripples for real."

Why would she say that when there's...never mind.

No, a billionaire like Malik Minnelli deserves a woman to give him all his heart's desires...and I am not that woman. A disabled woman that can't even be a woman...