No More Games

60

"Just take me home, Dean." I leaned my head back against the headrest as Dean started the car.

"Everything ok, boss? Why you out so soon?" Dean asked, pulling out of the driveway.

I was over it. I have never been so overly frustrated in my life.

After everything I've done, I thought I'd be close to winning Sasha back but today I realized that I'm very far from achieving that. I have never been the type of person to invest so much time in something or someone that isn't giving me nothing in return and though I love her, I don't want to keep wasting energy for no reason. It's either she wants to be with me or she doesn't.

"All this was just a waste of time, Dean. I can't keep waiting around for this girl." I shook my head, looking out the window.

"What happened?"

"She admitted that she hasn't forgiven me when she's told me that she has. She wants me to keep coming to these stupid sessions just so she can "fix herself" and what not."

"Well," Dean looked at me through the rear view mirror, "what's the problem with that?"

I furrowed my brows and leaned forward. "The problem is that she's wasting my time, Dean! Do you know how long I haven't had sex because of her?"

"Mike," Dean chuckled, "this woman loves you and wants you back but you gotta understand that what you did—"

"I know what I did!" I snapped. "I'm tired of getting my past slapped in my face every day. I know what I did was wrong, I owned up to it, and I've moved on to becoming better! Why is it so hard to move past all the bullshit? Elise is already pregnant, I can't reverse that. Everyone just needs to get over it and move on!"

"Mike, Mike, Mike. . ." Dean sighed, smiling at me through the mirror. "I've known you forever, man and I know how you get when you feel like you're being controlled or when you can't have something you want. You're letting your ego and sexual frustration cloud your judgement on all of this. You gotta understand where Sash is coming from."

I brushed him off and just took my phone out to call Elise. I needed to know how she was doing.

As usual, my phone is always filled with messages and emails from close friends and family but one message stood out from them all.

A message from three days ago.

It was from my ex, Tatiana.

310-848-0001 (Fri 10:33 am):
Hey, Michael it's Tatiana. I don't mean to
bother you but I know you're with Janet right
now and she told me her phone was about to die
and I need to send her my new address so please give it to her for me. 11718 Wetherby Ln

The fact that Janet always keeps a relationship with every single one of my exes just baffles me.

I wonder what this was about.

I look at the time on my phone and it's almost 5:00 pm. "Hey, Dean," I cleared my throat, "change of plans. Take me to 11718 Wetherby Lane."

I watch as Dean simultaneously drives and enter the address into his phone's GPS.

"Your session with Bruno was today?" Dean asked.

"No, no, that's not where we're going. I'm just going to pay an old friend a visit."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sasha's Point Of View

I was sobbing.

Why was he acting this way? He just got up and left in the middle of our session. We barely even started the session and got real deep with our issues and he just walks out.

"This is what I've been telling you, madam Adelaine," I cried, "Michael has this ego that is beyond anything I know of. He's the most humble person when it comes to his fans, children and anything that has to do with Michael Jackson the pop icon. . .but when it comes to just the regular man, in his relationships, his pride is his biggest problem."

"I can see dat clear as day, child." She shook her head. "But dis is stemmin' from somewhere deeper. I can see a lot of frustration in him."

"He's trying to somehow make himself some sort of victim by finding these poor excuses to blame me with." I wiped the tears from my eyes. "He keeps saying that I'm stringing him along but that's far from the truth. I'm not just going to take Michael back so easily. I'm still hurt and confused about so many things. I've given him chances so many times before and he never changed. My trust in him was already broken and I was in the process of healing and mending that trust again when he hits me with the ultimate blow by getting his ex pregnant. How can he break me into a billion pieces like that and expect me to be put back together so quickly and take him back? How can he say I'm the one that's playing games?"

"Didn't yuh tell me his father did de same ting to his mother?" She raised a brow and I nodded. "Well, yuh see, Michael grew up in a household where de men he's supposed tuh look up to, have no sense of commitment to their girlfriend or wife. His father has child wit otha woman and his mother takes him back. Never leaves his side." Madam Adelaine went on. "He grow up seein' de wrong sides of a relationship so, now in his mind, he believes once he's recognized de wrong he's done and apologized wit plenty sweet words, plenty flowers and expensive gifts, etcetera, he believes yuh will get over it and take him back."

"Michael hated how Joseph treated his mother. It's beyond me that he's become exactly what he hated Joseph for."

"Yuh have to give him some time, child." She handed me another tissue. "Men are like children. When yuh don't give dem wat they want, they throw tantrums and push yuh away like they don't care. Don't pay him no mind, Sasha."

"I want to give him a chance so bad but I need him to understand that before we can start on a new relationship, we have to address and fix our individual issues that would hinder us from having a strong and healthy relationship." I said.

"So yuh are certain yuh will take him back after these sessions?" Madam Adelaine raised a brow.

"At this point, I don't even know anymore." I playfully rolled my eyes. "I love that man with everything in me, though. I just need time. But right now, I'm completely over his stupid ass."

"Fair enough, child," she sighed, pulling me in for a hug. "Fair enough."