Bro-mance 101 Read Online Free PDF Page B

Maybe Devlin felt bad for her.  Whatever prompted it, the man had temporarily tilted her world on its axis. 
    “ Now, are you convinced? ” Devlin asked.
    His cockiness hadn’t abated.  If anything, it had magnified, along with her desire for him.  S till, she wouldn’t let him off the hook.  “ You know my story ,” she said.  “Now te ll me yours. Who was t his woman who broke your heart?”
    He d idn’t bother to deny it. “She was no one of importance.”
    “Oh no,” Zhané wagged her finger at him.  “ She must have been important. When did you t w o break up ?”
    “Five years ago.”
    “Around the same time as when your show launched.”
    “How did you–”
    “Lucky guess.  Only a catastrophic event like a woman making a fool of you could have spurred you to create Bro-mance 101.”
    He frowne d.  “You don’t play fair, lady.”
    “Neither do you, Devlin Hart .”  The look on his face told her she’d hit a nerve.  “This is about the woman who wronged you,” Zhané ventured.  “You’ve created this show to heal yourself.  She was your muse.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous,” he waved her away before edging slowly edged back into his corner, putting some distance between himself and her. 
    “ I can see it in your eyes ,” she prodded . “ I’m not the one in denial. You are.  That’s why you bash women. ”
    He rubbed his palms over his dreadlocks.  “I’m not a basher,” he objected.  “ I like to think of mys elf as a cyber - psychi atrist. ”  
    “ Let me get my shovel out so I can clear away this manure you’re spreading .”
    He shook his head.  “ I’m fulfilling a need.  My lis teners need me.”
    “I beg to differ.  You need them.  Without them, you ’d be nothing.  There’d be no show.”
    “ Look, Zhané … ”
    “ No, you look. ”   He was clearly irritated, w h ich made her feel good.  There was a chink in the black knight’s armor.  “ You asked me to take a long , hard look at myself and I did.  Now, it’s time for you to do the same.  You demand all these people open up to you , but you don’t reciprocate. Y ou’re a hypocrite .”
    He was silent, but she could still see the s torm brew ing in his dark eyes.  “ I thought I loved her , ” he finally spoke .  “ Worse, I thought she loved me.  It ended up badly.  It t ook me a l ong time to get over her , but I did. ”
    Zhané watched the raw emotions flicker across his face .  Anger.  Bitterness. Defeat .  “You don’t realize it, ” she told him, “ but you’re making women everywhere pay for what your ex did.   That’ s the whole basis of your show.”
    He h eld up a warning finger. “ You don’t know what you’re t alking about. ”
    “ Yes I do ,” she boldly pressed on.  “ And this time, yo u can’t silence me with a kiss.”
    A spark of defiance glinted in his eyes.  “ Sweetheart, it took m ore than a kiss to shut you up.”
    She couldn’t argue with that. She’d come here to give him a piece of her mind and end ed up giving him a piece of the pie.  She should be ashamed of herself , but she wasn’t done with him yet. “What you told Malik was wrong,” she said.  “ You should have advised him to talk to me first, not just throw me aside like an old rag.  I don’t think you realize what an impact your words have on people, De v l in.  You have the power to sway others.  That is a huge responsibility that you should not take lightly.”
    “I don’t,” he battled back.  “I speak the truth.  I’m sorry if you can’t handle that.”
    She gave him a sideways glance .  Devlin Hart was holding onto some serious baggage.  Someone would have to fight tooth and nail to get him to fess up to it.  “I guess you’ve never made a mistake in life.”
    He opened his mouth, she was certain to give a back-handed reply, when the l ights flickered and the e levator lurched back to life. 
    “The p ower’s ba ck on,” Devlin stated