few hours. Afterward he'd head out to his weekend sleepover.
His bag was already packed for his get-a-way with his lovely companion. And both were excited about spending two entire nights together. It had been years since they were able to be alone for days with no one else around.
Clarke never really considered himself a ladies man. In fact, he remembered the days when girls wouldn’t give him a second look, much less thought. That was before he crafted his skills on the basketball court.
Back then he witnessed how smooth his father was with the ladies, but considered himself the complete opposite. After his mother passed away and he was alone with his old man, they never wanted for anything.
Most of the women in the working class neighborhood he grew up in looked out for them with well-cooked meals and anything else his father needed. Clarke didn’t hang around much, after his mother passed away. He was two years away from college by then and well focused on his game.
In high school he had two girlfriends and both of those were during his senior year. By then he was captain of the basketball team and spent lots of time alone. His father owned a trailer rig and was constantly on the road during those years, so Clarke was independent long before most young people his age.
The more serious of his two high school girlfriends, Nancy, was devastated when he was accepted at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. She thought they’d both go to school in Arizona and get married after college, but that was the last thing on Clarke’s mind. What girls didn’t know back then was that his first and only true love was basketball. That was what he and his father had in common. Clarke Sr. loved basketball and Clarke knew if he wanted to win his father over, he had to be not just good, but great at the game. And his game earned him a full ride to UNLV, leaving his father awestruck. He would be the first Hudson to attend college.
Clarke met Persha within days of his arrival on campus. Over time he came to realize she loved him far more than he could possibly love her, but she was good to have around and made his time in school easier.
The main concern he had with her back then was her lack of motivation. He struggled to remember her major back then but couldn’t. Yes, she was pursuing a degree, but she really had no idea of what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. She had no vision, no dreams, so she latched on to his. He seemed to be the only thing that she was passionate about.
Clarke knew Persha wanted to be his wife, and that would’ve been enough for her, but not him. He understood that then, and even though he never told her, he always wanted a woman who posed a challenge, a woman who was passionate about something, something other than a man and not afraid to pursue that passion.
Clarke knew when he left UNLV that he’d be leaving Persha, and he knew she’d find someone else. But even knowing that didn’t make leaving her easy. He had learned something very important from her. Clarke realized back then that when a woman was passionate about a man, that man was comparable to king of the world. Everything he desired was a possibility. If Persha merely thought he wanted something, she’d make it her mission to see to it that he got it. And he liked that more than anything else. So Clarke vowed back then that he’d always find women who loved him more because it was easy for women to become passionate about him. He’d leave the challenge for someone else.
When the phone rang, he snapped out of the past and caught it on the first ring.
"Hello?" he said, hoping to hear the voice of someone in particular on the other end, but instead it was his wife‘s.
"He-eey what’re you doin' at home still?" Kelsa asked.
"Why'd you call if you didn't expect me here?" he asked, trying to mask his disappointment.
"I tried you at the office and they said you weren't in yet, so I figured I'd try you at home. So what gives,
personal demons by christopher fowler