Drama in the Church Saga

by Dynah Zale

  “I have set up my cell phone to remind me to pray, but I’ve found that life is too unexpected to stick to a daily schedule,” Danyelle responded.

  “I’m constantly being interrupted with different things which make it hard to maintain a constant prayer life. To pray every day is a lot. Isn’t it enough to just pray at Bible Study and church? Do we have to pray every day?”

  “Danyelle, what if God said ‘I’m only accepting prayer requests on Sundays and Wednesdays?’ Do you realize how chaotic the world would be? Prayers from parents with sick children and people starving in third world countries—their prayers would go unheard. God wants to hear from us every day.”

  “I agree with Danyelle,” Olivia commented. “Too many unexpected things can happen during a day to throw you off track.”

  “What about you, Tressie? Do you feel the same as Olivia and Danyelle?” Elise asked.

  “I did increase my prayer time when you first asked us to. But since then I have slacked off. With school and spending so much time with Payce, I find it difficult to stay committed to my prayer time. It’s been a few days since the last time I prayed,” Tressie admitted.

  “Ladies, I know it’s hard. Satan will do what he has to do to prevent you from speaking with God. His job is to put distance between you and the Lord. If he manages to squeeze a wedge between you and God, things will start happening in your life that will force you to pray. Just keep that in mind.”

  A chauffeured limousine pulled up in front of their house at precisely six thirty. Val and Julian were attending a party hosted by the owners of the Seattle SuperSonics. The entire Sonics organization would be in attendance that night—the owner, the general manager, the president, all the players, and their spouses.

  Since the season began, Val had only been able to attend one game, and that was the season opener. She was excited to see Julian play in his first professional game. The entire Sonics team ran out onto the court in single file. Julian wore the number three proudly pasted across his back. He stretched with the team at half court. He didn’t start the game, but the coach did put him in at the start of the second quarter. He was only in the game for ten minutes, but he scored nine points by making three three-pointers. Val could see the excitement in his face over his spectacular performance. The SuperSonics won the game ninety-nine to ninety-seven.

  During the game Val realized how lonely she really was. In Philly, Olivia had always attended Julian’s games with her, but in Seattle she was alone. She had been looking forward to attending that night’s game, not just to see Julian play, but to possibly make some new friends.

  When Val arrived at the Key Arena, an usher escorted her to Julian’s reserved seats. Val was well aware of the fact that the women who had seats around hers were either married or dating some of the other players, so she wanted to take the opportunity to get more acquainted with those women. When Val sat down in her seat she flashed a friendly smile to the two women sitting to the right of her, but both responded by rolling their eyes and turning their heads. Surprised by their response, she introduced herself to the women sitting to her left and they too turned their noses up at her. Val was disappointed, but she wasn’t going to allow their cold attitude to discourage her from wanting to make friends. She would think of a different way to make friends with them.

  They pulled up in front of the Hotel Monaco. The parking lot attendant opened Val’s door and helped her step out into the brisk Seattle night air. Julian came up behind her and placed his hand on the small of her back. He led her up the front steps and into the lobby.

  Once they were in the elevator the attendant asked, “What floor, sir?”

  “We’re attending the Sonics party,” Julian replied.

  The attendant punched the seventy-sixth floor. Val looked stunning in a gold Cynthia Rowley strapless dress, while her fiancé redefined the term debonair in a black suit made by Marc Jacobs.

  Julian pulled at his collar. “I wish we didn’t have to dress up.”

  “It doesn’t hurt to wear a suit every once in a while,” Val responded.

  The elevator attendant announced, “Penthouse floor.” The elevator doors opened and they stepped into the breathtaking entrance of the banquet hall.

  Val was speechless. Her wide eyes studied the unforgettable Seattle skyline from two walls made entirely of glass. A staircase that resembled the one in Gone With The Wind led to an outside balcony.

  The room was full of people, leading Val to think she and Julian were the last ones to arrive. The first person to greet them was Mr. Hass, the owner of the team. “Hello, Julian. I’ve been looking for you all night.”

  “Hello, Mr. Haas,” Julian replied, shaking his boss’s hand. “How are you doing?”

  “I’m doing so much better now that you’re here, our star player. There are a dozen people I want to introduce you to.” He noticed Val standing next to Julian. “Oh, I’m sorry. Where are my manners? This must be the beautiful bride-to-be, Valencia.”

  Val reached out to shake his hand.

  “You look lovely,” Mr. Hass said to Val. He wrapped Val’s arm around his. “Please follow me?” For the next two hours Theodore Haas introduced Val and Julian to every employee of the basketball organization. They met everyone from the president to the towel boys. By the middle of the night Val was tired.

  Val and Julian had stopped mingling to speak with Carlos and Pilar Torres. Carlos Torres was the only Latino player on the team, and also one of the few Latino players in the entire league. Julian and Carlos entered an intense debate over the future of the team, while Pilar initiated a conversation with Val. “I remember seeing you at the season home opener on Tuesday.”

  “Yes, I was there. I don’t remember seeing you.”

  “Oh no, I don’t sit in the players’ reserved seats. I usually watch the game from the luxury suites.”

  Pilar was a beautiful twenty-eight-year-old mother of three. That did not include the one she was so elegantly carrying in her womb. Her long, black hair was pulled back in a classic 1930s style bun. She wore a form-fitting maroon dress by Nicole Miller that flowed nicely over her growing belly.

  Val swallowed the last of her glass of wine. “Could you walk me over to the bar?” Val asked Pilar. “Do you fellas want another drink? I’m heading over to the bar,” Val said.

  “No, we’re okay,” Julian replied.

  The two women walked over to the bar where Val ordered herself another glass of wine.

  “Carlos is so excited about Julian joining the team. He really thinks they have a chance at winning the championship this year.” Pilar enunciated her words as slowly as possible. Her thick Spanish accent was hard to understand at times.

  “Well, they are off to a good start. If they continue to play like they did on Tuesday, they have a good chance of bringing the trophy to Seattle,” Val said.

  “Are you from Seattle?” Pilar asked.

  “No, we’re both from Philadelphia.”

  “So you’re not familiar with Seattle at all?”

  “No, not really.”

  “How about one day next week we have lunch together? We can go shopping and I’ll show you around the city.”

  “I would really like that. Since I’ve been here I haven’t really had a chance to get out and meet anyone yet.”

  “So you’ve been sitting in the house by yourself while Julian goes to team meetings and practice,” Pilar guessed.

  Val nodded her head yes and took a sip from her glass.

  “Yes, it was that way for me too when Carlos and I first moved here. But after a while I got accustomed to him not being home. It gets kind of lonely, so I occupy my time with our children.” She leaned her arm against the bar. “Sometimes I have to be both parents to our children. A lot of the time he’s on the road, at practice, or out with the fellows.”

  “Yes, Julian has not spent a lot of time with me. But I have tried to be understanding. I realize that he’s just entering the league and it’s goi
ng to take him a while to get accustomed to handling the responsibilities of work and home. Once his rookie year is over, we’ll get married and things will get better.”

  “You don’t think that the money and fame will change him? He signed an awfully large contract.”

  “I know Julian. Money will never change him.”

  “Can I offer you some advice?” Pilar asked while gently placing her hand on Val’s arm. Val looked at her suspiciously, waiting on her to continue. “If you want to keep Julian, make him realize that home is with you.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Val asked.

  “What I mean is that Julian’s financial situation has probably multiplied ten times since he’s entered the league and the money only gets better each year. A lot of people, namely home wreckers, will be jealous of what you and him have. They will try their hardest to take what’s yours. I suggest you do whatever you think is necessary to keep him from leaving you.”

  “Oh, I’m not worried. Julian loves me,” Val said with a spark of innocence in her eyes.

  “Love doesn’t have anything to do with sex,” Pilar replied.

  Val glanced over in Julian’s direction. She saw a woman across the room licking her lips at him. Julian smiled back at the woman and continued his conversation with Carlos.

  Pilar watched the scene unfold between Julian and the stranger. “Just keep in mind, the Sonics organization keeps plenty of women available for the players to play with in their spare time.”

  “Tressie, I promise you I’ll call you when I get in.” Payce unlocked the passenger side door for his friend, Darshon. “Tressie, I don’t know what time I’m going to get in. We’re just going out to the club. I have to go. I’ll call you later.” He hung up his phone.

  “What’s going on, player?” Darshon yelled out. Payce held out his fist and Darshon responded back with a pound.

  “I was on the phone with my girl. She’s asking me a million questions. Where am I going? Who am I going with? When will I be home? You would think we were married.”

  “She acts like that because that’s what she wants. That’s what they all want. They want the man to willingly put on the handcuffs and walk down the aisle of matrimony.”

  Payce laughed at his friend.

  “Is that the girl you met at your father’s church conference?”

  Payce nodded his head.

  “You’ve been seeing her for a while. Be careful, man. Church women are the worst. Women already think they’re right about everything, but a church woman will pull out her Bible and recite scripture to prove she’s right.”

  Payce laughed at Darshon. For once he did have a point. “Man, why did you have me pick you up at the corner? Is there something wrong at home?”

  “I was looking out for you,” Darshon replied.

  “Why? What’s up?”

  “Lisa heard you were home.”

  “Ah, man. That girl. Is she still up to the same ole thing?”

  “Yeah, she hasn’t changed a bit. She kept asking me, ‘Where’s Payce? When is Payce coming around?’ I told her you don’t roll with her kind, but she swears she can turn you out.”

  Payce laughed at the thought of her trying to track him down. “She thought I was joking when I told her that if we were to get busy, I’d have to play the part of the man. She’s not strapping nothing on and doing me.”

  Darshon laughed. “Man, I don’t know. Lisa must have something lethal. She has all these girls calling my mom’s house for her. They buy her clothes and jewelry. One even offered to buy her a car. She makes me wonder what she’s doing that I’m not.”

  “She must be digging those girls out.”

  “Man, I’m about to pay her to give me some lessons. If I had women catering to me the way she has all those chicken heads, I wouldn’t have any problems.”

  Payce drove to Center City, Philadelphia where Darshon directed him to a small street off Market Street.

  “Man, pull into this parking lot,” Darshon directed.

  “Give these to the attendant.” Darshon pulled out two small metal squares that closely resembled a pair of cuff links and gave them to Payce. The attendant took the pieces of metal, walked over to the garage door, and inserted them into the wall. The huge metal garage door that faced them rose up and a ramp platform was lowered to the ground. Payce stared at the ultramodern device.

  “Go ahead, man. Enter,” Darshon urged him.

  “Darshon, where are you taking me?”

  “I told you—someplace we haven’t been before.”

  “Yeah, but this seems like some underground shit. Something where you have to have a membership to get in.”

  “Relax, you’re going to enjoy yourself,” Darshon reassured him.

  They parked the car, walked to the elevator, and rode to the top floor in silence. Payce was skeptical of what Darshon was up to. They had been best friends since the fifth grade, and since then, Darshon always found the freakiest places for them to hang out. For Payce’s eighteenth birthday, Darshon told him that they were going to an exclusive resort in Florida. It was a nudist colony. Payce could never forget the time Darshon got them on a cruise ship that was filming the sequel to the Girls Gone Wild movie. Nothing could top that weekend, Payce thought.

  The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Payce followed Darshon down a long hallway until they stopped in front of a pair of glass doors. Payce read the words printed on the door. “The Doll-house Spa.”

  “A spa?” Payce stopped in his tracks. “Man, I’m not going into a woman’s spa. Are you crazy? What happened to you while I was locked up? You’ve been hanging around your sister too much.”

  Darshon pulled him to the side. “Man, I promise you, this is not what you think. Would I ever steer you wrong?”

  “Yes, everything you do is wrong.”

  “I’m the one who took you to your first strip club, I’m the one who got you your first threesome, and I’m the one who has always had your back. Now trust me on this one. It’s all right!”

  Everything he said was true. Payce reluctantly let his defenses down and walked into the spa with him.

  A girl with long, sandy blond hair greeted them at the door. She wore a T-shirt three sizes too small. On it were the words “sugar and spice.”

  “Hi, remember me? I’m Darshon.”

  The girl looked at him closely. “Oh yeah, I remember you. The last time you were here you came with your sister,” she replied.

  “Your sister.” Payce chuckled.

  Darshon hit him to shut up. “Yeah, that’s right. This time I brought my friend with me. This is Payce. This is his first time here and he is also a very good friend of my sister’s. So can you make sure he receives the VIP treatment?”

  “Of course,” she replied. “Any friend of Lisa’s is a friend of ours.”

  She grabbed Payce’s hand and led him down the hall. Darshon followed them to a small white room with no furniture. A robe hanging from a hook on the wall was the only thing in the room.

  “Take off all your clothes and change into the robe. I’ll be back to get you,” she instructed Payce.

  “Payce, I’ll meet you in the massage room,” Darshon yelled out before the receptionist closed the door.

  “Darshon better not be playing games,” Payce said.

  After he changed into the robe, the receptionist led him to a room where Darshon was getting a massage by two Japanese women. Payce was surprised to see the women massaging him in the nude.

  Darshon lay there as if he were a king. “It’s about time you made it.”

  One of the Japanese women gestured for Payce to lie down on the table next to Darshon.

  “Man, what is this place and how did you find out about it?” Payce asked.

  “My sister turned me on to this place.”

  “Oh, now I understand. This is one of her lesbian hangouts.”

  “Yeah, but not only lesbians work here. So do bisexuals. Man, just lay down and enjoy your mass
age. The night has just begun,” Darshon told him.

  They enjoyed the soothing massage with oils being rubbed into their backs and therapeutic candles burning around them.

  Darshon ordered them each a shot of Hennessy and a Corona. “Payce, everything here is free—the drinks, the massages.”

  “How did you manage to work that out?”

  “I told you Lisa hangs out here all the time. She is a really good customer, so she gets a lot of fringe benefits.”

  Darshon held up his glass of Hennessy. “Man, welcome home.”

  “Thanks. Glad to be home. I’m never going back to jail.”

  They tapped their glasses together. The sound from their glasses caused a curtain in the room to draw open. A large glass window revealed three women engaging in a threesome.

  Darshon smiled at the performance as Payce watched in amazement. Payce was jealous. He wished he could join them.

  “Man, you knew this was going to happen?” Payce asked.

  “I had it all planned. And you were ready to fight me outside.” He pointed to the window. “This is what they do here. They provide you with enjoyment and entertainment.”

  Payce was amazed. He studied the expressions on their faces. He could tell each one of the ladies was enjoying their time together.

  The two Asian women masseuses turned Payce and Darshon over onto their backs and gave them each a full body massage. The feel of the women’s hands allowed a low moan to escape from Payce; acknowledging how good it felt.

  After the women were done Darshon sat up and wrapped a towel around his waist. “Come on, player. I have another surprise for you.”

  They walked down the hall together and stopped in front of a white door.

  “This is where we part ways. I’ll meet you back in the massage room later.” He patted Payce on the back and walked down the hall to enter through another white door.

  Payce slowly opened the door and three Amazon women attacked him. They pushed him down onto an air mattress and wouldn’t allow him to move. Fortunately, this was one time he didn’t mind being vulnerable to a group of women. They tossed his towel to the side and gave him a time he would never forget. Payce felt like he was the star of his own porn video. He was used to watching porn, but he had never acted it out.