Love Hurts Read online

  (Lessons In Love Series)

  All Rights Reserved.

  Copyright © 2020 by Genesis Woods

  Publisher: M Squared Publications

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment. This eBook may not be resold or given away to other people. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specific places or living persons. The opinions expressed in the manuscript are solely the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

  This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Her

  “So Lovie, how did you and your husband meet?”

  I played with the hem of my dress. Mind going a mile a minute with thoughts of why I was sitting on this ladies couch in the first place. Did we really need marital counseling? I mean, had our marriage gotten that bad that we needed to bring a third party to help us work through our issues? She didn’t have a ring on her finger, so what could she possibly do to help my husband and I get back to...us?

  I licked my lips and raised my head, finally giving her the eye contact that she so obviously wanted.

  “Kingston and I met a little over fifteen years ago. I was a freshman and he was a sophomore at LSU. I had just crossed over to Delta Sigma Theta and he was already a Phi Beta man. The Que’s were having this fundraiser on Valentine’s Day for the cancer society and my sorority volunteered to help out. King was one of the brothas behind the kissing booth.”

  A small smile cracked her lips. “The kissing booth? That must’ve been an interesting place to meet.”

  “It was.” I shook my head and blushed just thinking about the first time King and I actually spoke to one another. “I mean, I’ve seen him around campus more than a few times. We always greeted each other in passing because we ran amongst the same crowd. We just had never said anything to one another until that particular day.”

  “Well, tell me what happened...When the two of you finally spoke.”

  “Honestly?” I asked, becoming a little embarrassed about what I was about to confess. The therapist nodded her head, silently telling me to continue. “I think I actually fell in love. When I walked up to the booth, King didn’t notice me there at first. One of his line brothas elbowed him and tried to discreetly chuck his chin up in my direction. When Kingston turned around and smiled at me...my heart literally jumped out of my chest and into his hands.”

  She wrote something down in her notebook and then looked back up at me. Her almond shaped eyes staring directly into mine. The expression on her smooth and slender face was full of curiosity. She uncrossed her legs just to cross them the other way. The sound of the nylon stockings rubbing together lightly echoing in the air. Her leather black binder was open wide on her lap probably filled with secrets of the different couples who have walked through her doors over the years. I hated that Kingston and I were now a part of the nameless people in her book who needed an outsiders help to get their relationship back on the right track. King and I have always had this connection where we could talk to one another about anything and everything, however, somewhere along the line that strong connection became broken somehow.

  “Personally, I’ve never experienced the whole falling in love at first sight thing but I do believe that it can happen. Especially when you meet your soulmate. Do you believe that your husband is your soulmate?”

  I thought about her question for a few moments before answering. “Up until a little over a year ago I did.”

  She wrote something down in her book again and then asked, “What’s changed so drastically within the last year to make you say that?”

  My mind drifted back to the first time I noticed a weird shift in my marriage. I was woman enough to admit that I probably deserved some of the blame, but my husband and his growing ego deserved most of it in my opinion.

  “King’s level of stardom.” I admitted, hating myself for being jealous of my own husband. “I went from being his only fan to maybe one of two million. He no longer cared about what I thought about his music or his career. Didn’t ask for my input anymore in his writing process or invite me to studio sessions and shows. It was like the more attention he gained from all of these random people, the more I started to become invisible to him.”

  “Did you try to tell him about how you felt?”

  I waved her off and started playing with the hem of my skirt again. “Anything I would say to him would literally go in one ear and out the other. Either that or we would argue so bad that he would end up sleeping in the guest room and be on his phone all night or he’d leave the house and not return until...the next...morning.”

  I don’t know why but I kind of choked up on that last part.

  The therapist looked at me over her sleek square glasses with a look of concern on her face. “Lovie, do you think that your husband is cheating on you?”

  Him

  “Absolutely not. I would never cheat on my wife. I love her too much to ever hurt her that way.” I scooted up to the edge of the couch and looked the therapist directly in her eyes, “Why would you ask me that? Does Lovie think I cheated on her?”

  She wrote something down in her leather notebook before responding to my question.

  “I can’t answer that question with a yes or no. What your wife and I discuss in our sessions is what we discuss in our sessions. I’m not at liberty to relay any of our conversation to you unfortunately.”

  “But this is supposed to be marriage counseling right?” I challenged. “What’s the purpose of us coming here for these sessions if we’re not going to talk to each other and try to work our issues out together?”

  I asked the question but I already knew the answer to it. My marriage was in trouble. And I’m not just talking about the small kind of trouble were you fuck up, work it out, and start all over again. I was talking about the type of trouble where the words irreconcilable differences are thrown around. The kind of trouble were two people who were once madly in love with one another can become each other's worst enemy. The type of trouble that made you not want to believe in love and everything good that comes with it ever again.

  The therapist finished writing out her notes and then looked up at me.

  “The purpose of you and your wife coming here, simply put, is because of love. You two obviously are still very much in love with one another, you’ve just come to a median in your marriage that neither one of you wants to be the first to make right.”

  “You believe my wife is still in love with me?” I asked, sitting back in my seat. My eyes frantically searching the therapist's face for any kind of deception.

  She nodded her head and closed the notebook on her lap.

  “Is there a reason why you may believe that she isn’t in love with you?”

  I dropped my head to my chest and rubbed my eyes.

  “Lovie and I haven’t been on the same frequency for some time now. She’s so busy with her career trying to climb the corporate ladder and I’m starting to become a household name to millions of people. My music is starting to become way more popular than what it was a few years ago. And then the ba-.” I clamped my eyes and mouth shut not wanting to take this conversation there.

  “If you want to work through your issues Kingston, we need to talk about everything.” She waited for a few beats before she continued. “What were you about to say? Was it something about a baby?”
br />   I held my hands up and shook my head. “Forget I even said that. Can we talk about something else? Anything else?” I pleaded.

  Dr. Lisa bit the end of the pen cap sitting on her lip and lightly tapped her heeled foot on the carpeted floor. I could tell she wanted me to elaborate more and what I was about to say but now was not the time.

  “Do you think that this new found stardom may have possibly gone to your head and you haven’t noticed?” She changed the subject. Thankfully.

  I shook my head no.

  “I’ve never been that type of dude. Being in the limelight doesn’t fuel me or pump my ego.”

  “Then what does? What fuels and pumps Kingston's ego?”

  I didn’t hesitate when I answered, “My wife does. And it’s been that way since the first time I saw her on the LSU campus in the cafeteria. She didn’t see me because she was so busy trying not to drop her books and backpack while carrying her lunch and this big ass soda in the other hand. I got up from my seat to go and help her but she ended up slipping through a big crowd of students and out of the cafeteria before I could. After that, I always made it a point to give her a quick head nod or small wave whenever we would see each other in passing. It wasn’t until the fundraiser did she and I finally speak.”

  “The fundraiser where you were behind the kissing booth?”

  I chuckled and blushed. “Yeah. I see she’s told you about that already.”

  The therapist didn’t deny or confirm that she’d heard this story before, she just smiled and raised her perfectly arched eyebrows. “I wanna hear your interpretation of when you two first spoke to one another.”

  I bit my bottom lip and sat there for a second lost in my thoughts. That day Lovie and I spoke to one another for the first time was a day that would forever be cemented in my head and heart. Like I said, I would see her around seeing as we ran with the same crowd but for some reason I was alway to chicken shit to walk up to her and start any kind of conversation. My brothas had a field day clowning me about that too. They all knew my light obsession with the almond butter beauty who had just crossed over to DST spring line. Her curvy frame was a direct work from God. Those full thick lips and beautiful brown eyes could knock any grown man down to his knees and that smile, that smile of hers has been an inspiration to hundreds of my lyrics. Lovie possessed the type of beauty on the inside and out that every woman wanted and every man desired in a mate. I got into it with a few of my brothas and specs who talked about getting at her. Everybody knew that she was off limits even though she wasn’t mine yet.

  When she walked over to the fundraiser booth and picked me to kiss after donating to the cause, I damn near had a heart attack. It wasn’t until she flashed that gorgeous smile of hers did my heart start to act right again. In my mind I pictured our lip lock going one of two ways; she either hated the kiss and slapped me afterward for wasting her time or she enjoyed the kiss and slid me her number to call her later. To my surprise, neither way happened. Something better did. When I lent over the booth and placed my lips on hers, I actually saw my whole future flash before my eyes. A future that included her, some kids, and a love so true that it could never be broken.

  “What happened after the kiss?” The therapist asked after I finished telling her the story.

  “We were inseparable. I believe that I fell in love with Lovie that day. The second our eyes connected and our lips touched, I knew deep down in my soul that she was going to be my forever love.”

  The therapist opened her notebook and started to write again, “Do you think the disconnect you and your wife are experiencing right now is due to infidelity on her part?”

  I shook my head. “No, because just like me, I know Lovie would never hurt my soul like that.”

  She scribbled a few more things down before placing her pen on the lined paper and bringing her attention back to me.

  “King, do you want your marriage to get back on track?”

  “Yes.”

  “Will you be willing to put in the work needed?”

  “Absolutely.” I told her without question.

  “If a divorce is still on the table after you two have put in some work to right the wrongs and things are still not the same, will you be okay with finally filing the paperwork and dissolving your marriage?”

  Her

  “No. I won't be okay. I don’t want to get a divorce. I don’t want to be without Kingston.” I paused for a second to get myself together. “He is my everything and I honestly can’t see a life without him.”

  The therapist sat back in her chair and stared at me for what felt like an hour before finally speaking again.

  “It’s crazy how the two of you are so in tune when you’re apart, however, when you’re in each other's presence y’all argue like cats and dogs. What do we need to do to get the two of you to be that,” she interlaced her fingers together, “glue you once were?”

  I honestly didn’t know how to answer her question. Kingston and I weren’t even living together right now. I made him move out almost two months ago. Watching him pack his things broke me apart. I’ve cried almost every night since he’s been gone. There were countless times where I’ve picked up my phone and dialed his number, only to disconnect the call before the call even connected. King was staying at his best friend's house, so on my way to and from work I’ve taken many detours and have driven by Simon’s spot or the studio just to try and get some sorta glimpse of him.

  Of course I stalked his social media sites, wiki pages, and everything like that, but a picture on my cell phone screen would always pale in comparison to witnessing the fineness of Kingston DeVoe in real life. The intensity in his amber colored eyes whenever he gazed at you made you feel like he could read your soul. The way his big arms enveloped you in a hug made you feel as if he could and would protect you from anything in the world. His smooth brown skin felt like silk to the touch and his thick and defined body was a blessing that only an expert sculptor such as Picasso could mold. The softness of his lips made you feel like you were on cloud nine with every kiss and the way that he gave his love was like something out of a fairytale book. Kingston promised me that he would do anything in his power to give me a happily ever after when he recited his vows ten years ago. I guess it’s safe to say that that promise was no longer on his list of things to do.

  “Lovie,” the therapist called, breaking me from my thoughts,”are you okay? Seems like you left the session for a second.”

  I wiped the few tears that fell away from my eyes with the back of my hand and tried to cover up my sadness with a smile but I don’t think she fell for it. Picking up the tissue box next to her plush leather chair, the therapist offered me a few pieces and I gladly took them.

  “I...I’m so sorry about this.” I apologized while trying to catch the new batch of tears running down my face. “I don’t know what's happening right now. One minute I’m so upset and angry with Kingston on how he allowed our marriage to fail and the next all I want to do is beg him to come back.”

  She watched me break down for a few more seconds before writing something in her notebook and asking her next question.

  “Lovie, you just said something that was very interesting to me. You said that one minute you are so upset and angry at Kingston for allowing your marriage to fail...You don’t think that you had a hand in that as well?”

  I pulled my bottom lip into my mouth and really thought about her question for a minute. I mean, there were some small things that I possibly could’ve done to make sure our marriage stayed the course but ultimately Kingston was the one who changed and caused this rift to happen in our union. Even after the ba- I took a deep breath. This was not the time to talk about that.

  I slowly shook my head. The tears I was trying to hold captive in my eyes now freely falling down my face.

  “I think that I played a small par-” Dr. Lisa raised her hand up in the air cutting me off while nodding her head from side to side.

  “Before you g
o and put the blame all on Kingston Lovie, aren’t marriages supposed to be a fifty fifty thing? Your part and his?”

  “Well yeah but-” She interrupted me again.

  “If you weren’t giving your all in your percentage of the marriage how could you possibly put the majority of the blame on Kingston for it failing?”

  “Well, because…” I let my words trail off as her words began to sink in. Did I play a bigger part in the issues Kingston and I were having? Was it a mutual thing that got us to this point so far? The realization of me possibly being an equal part in our marriage failing hit me like a ton of bricks. “We can’t be fixed, can we? I asked the therapist through my light sobs.

  She studied my face again for a few moments before saying, “I’ve counseled hundreds of couples in my twenty years of practicing. I’ve seen some who should’ve never gotten married from the start and I’ve seen some who just need a little guidance in how to get back in sync. You and Kingston are at disconnect in your marriage that could be very tricky to get past if the both of you aren’t willing to see your own faults in what brought you here. But with a little time, some forgiveness, a lot of self reflecting, and tons of you talk I listen, I talk you listen communication, I think you two can get back to living out the happily ever after you both should be working on to give to one another.”