Riches To Rags

Chapter 10: Self Improvement

Chapter 10: Self Improvement

"We need to accept that we won't always make the right decisions, that we'll screw up royally sometimes-understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it's part of success."

~ Arianna Huffington

A Cola wasn't enough to take the edge off. He needed something stronger. Maybe a couple shots of Patron or a double shot of Hennessy to take his mind off of her. Something to take away and ignore the sudden urges to go back to Rae's apartment and do things to her that he never imagined he would do to her when they met.

It was something about Rae that Levi couldn't place his finger on and he truly didn't want to decipher it. Definitely not his type, Rae was from a different world then what he was accustom to. The private jets and designer clothes was a lifestyle that he never wanted to be part of. It was never a dream to get out of the hood and become a suit and tie kind of guy. With millions in his bank account and women solely after those riches. He never wanted to live that life because he believed he would be to consume within himself. Like most of the rich people that he heard about.

His mother and father wasn't the best of parents. Money was something that they didn't have, but their bad choices in life was the main reason why they didn't. His mother turning to drugs after his father had left them when he was younger. Spending her last money on cocaine and LSD, they didn't have much growing up. Being in and out of rehab showed him that some people wasted their own lives. Julie allowed his father to take over her heart and mind. He controlled her emotions, her state of being in ways that Levi couldn't comprehend. Without his knowledge, his father was a puppet master fiddling the very strings that were connected to his mother.

His father leaving his family behind to start a new one was something that Levi couldn't see himself doing to his own family. Ultimately, he learned from their mistakes and through their rough dealings vowing never to become a product of them. He was going to be different and money wouldn't be the influence.

Levi was afraid in the beginning when he meet Rae. Every fiber in his being was alerted with signs that told him that she was going to be just like Julie.

Selfishness. Something he knew to much about and witnessed. But now as the days turned into weeks, he saw a new side of Rae. Taking the appropriate steps to becoming not a different person, but a better her. Yes, she had her days were she would revert back, but she also landed back from that cloud down to reality.

He had to clear his head of unadulterated thoughts of Rae. She was beginning to consume his mind. From the way she walked to even the way she savory her food when they went out. His emotions was telling him that he wanted her. How he wanted to kiss her full lips so bad whenever they were together. To bad, Levi didn't want to go down the route.

Closing the refrigerator door with his hip, he opened his beer with an opener. It was the only thing he had to ease his mind, before he rushed down to her apartment and regretted it later.

Not knowing what he was getting himself into, Levi tried to have an open mind about taking Rae to the elite party. A gathering filled with a bunch of snobs talking about their latest investments and how good life was wasn't the type of party that he wanted to go to. Instead, he volunteered without even concluding to the consequences of going. Getting dressed up in a tux and having Rae on his arm was a luxury to others, but Levi knew he would be out of his element. But it was for her.

A knock on his apartment door shook him out of his current thoughts. Maybe hanging out with the fellas from the neighborhood would stop his mind from wandering. He strolled over to the door and without look through the peephole he opened the door. As soon as he opened it, he wished that he had looked.