by Bianca
I smiled at her message, and then placed my phone on charge, so I could start getting dressed. Russ probably didn’t respond because he was still salty about his truck being messed up but that crazy woman. I wrapped my hair up and put a shower cap on it, so I could get in the shower. I spent thirty minutes in the shower, making sure I went over every spot on my body twice with my favorite shower gel. Once I got out, I put on my favorite vanilla and almond cream from The Body Shop. After putting on two coats of my body cream, I sprayed on my Michael Kors Exotic Blossom perfume. I sat down at my vanity and started putting on make-up. I hardly wore make-up, so a bottle of foundation literally lasted me about six months. It took me another thirty minutes to apply my make-up to perfection. After applying my make-up, I looked at the time to see that I had twenty minutes before the car arrived.
It only took me ten minutes to put on my clothes and unwrap my hair, and here I was staring at myself in the mirror. The dress fit my five foot eight, petite body perfectly, and it stopped a few inches above my knees. The heels had my legs looking amazing. I’m so glad that I made it my business to keep my full body wax appointments every five weeks. While I was admiring how good I looked, I heard the horn beep. I grabbed my clutch and walked outside to see a man standing outside of a black Tahoe waiting to open the door for me.
“Ms. Barksdale,” the man said, and I smiled at him.
Once I slid in the truck, I noticed the roses, and I hurried up and picked them up to smell them. I pulled the card out of the stick, and it read, beautiful flowers for a beautiful girl, making me smile like a schoolgirl with a little crush. I actually couldn’t wait to see Alton because I wanted to get the dinner that Kriss was having with Trevor and his girlfriend off my mind. I’m sure she was going to text me with all the details later, and I couldn’t wait to hear how much of snob she was.
Twenty minutes later, we pulled up to one of my favorite steakhouses. Once I was out of the truck, and inside of the restaurant, the hostess ushered me to the back to a private room. Once I entered the room, Alton stood to greet me, and he looked amazing. Alton had on a black suit that fit him perfectly. Alton’s skin was chocolate and blemish free. His face was free of any hair, making him not look a day older than twenty-five. When he told me that he was thirty-two, I literally couldn’t believe it. His hairline was crisp and fresh, and he had enough waves in his hair to make you seasick. He looked me up and down and then licked his full, thick lips. His eyes were light brown, and when the sun hit them, they looked beautiful. They were so easy to get lost in.
“You look amazing, Lawrynn,” he said, and then pulled me into a hug.
His cologne smelled so damn good. He kissed me on the cheek and then walked me around the table and pulled my chair out for me to sit down. Once I was seated, he walked back to his seat and sat down. He poured me a glass of wine and then himself.
“So, how was your day?” Alton asked.
“You don’t want to know,” I replied before taking a sip of wine. “Where are the waiters?”
“Yes, I do want to know about your day, and they’ll be in here when the third party gets here,” he replied.
With a confused look on my face, I replied, “The third party? I was under the impression that—”
“Sorry, I’m late,” a voice interrupted me.
I turned around to see a beautiful, chocolate woman walk in the private section and then close the curtain. Alton stood to greet her, the same way he stood to greet me. My eyes followed her all the way until she approached Alton and placed a kiss on his lips, and then looked at me.
She stretched her hand out to greet me. “Hi, I’m Chantelle, and you must be Lawrynn. Alton didn’t do you any justice when he described you.”
I looked at her hand because I was not about to shake her hand. When she realized that I wasn’t about to shake her hand, she put it by her side and then took her seat next to Alton.
“What is going on? Did I… did I miss something?” I finally managed to stutter.
“Oh, he hasn’t told you yet, I’m sorry. My name is Chantelle Sayer, Alton’s wife,” she said.
“Wha-wha-wha—”
“Oh girl, we have an open marriage, so it’s completely fine that you two are messing around. We always meet each other’s partners,” Chantelle spoke.
“I’ve… I’ve been to your house, Al,” I whispered.
“We don’t live together.”
Not wanting to show that my feelings were hurt, I blinked back my tears. I wasn’t interested in being a part of this mess they had going on.
“Why did you ask me here, Al? You should have been told me that you were married. You don’t wear a ring. You two don’t live together. What kind of marriage is this?” I hissed.
“Well, that’s what I brought you here for, Lawrynn. I’m feeling you, so I wanted my wife to meet you, and then hopefully, we could make things official between us.”
My mouth opened and then closed again. I couldn’t believe that I had wasted all of this money to come to a restaurant to be made a second wife, or second girlfriend, or whatever the hell they had going on. I became angry because I couldn’t believe that Kriss would set me up like this. I knew that she knew that he was married.
“I thought we were… you know what? I’m just going to have to decline any offer that you were about to put on the table. I’m not interested in being a part… a part of…” I couldn’t even finish the sentence before I bolted out of the section and out of the restaurant.
I walked as fast as I could in my heels before I called for an Uber. This wasn’t an area that an Uber would frequent, so I had to wait for twelve minutes before one showed up. I was standing on the corner pacing and dabbing at the tears that were pooling in my eyes. I wasn’t going to mess my make-up for him, but I was so angry that I couldn’t stop the tears from forming. The clacking of heels got my attention, and I turned my head to see Chantelle walking up the sidewalk towards me. I sniffed and turned my back to her. She stood next to me and didn’t say anything for a few moments.
“I’m sorry that we just sprung that on you like that, Lawrynn, but if it makes you feel a little better, Alton really likes you. I never met a woman after only a month of them fooling around. Our lives are not—”
“Chantelle, please, okay. I’m not interested. I’m really not interested. I want to get married and have children one day, and Alton will not be able to give that to me. I’m not interested in having fun with a man. I want to settle down and just—”
“You’re going to hurt his feelings, Lawrynn. He’s really sorry. He’s been trying to tell you for weeks that…” she said and paused.
I looked down at my phone to see that my Uber was now five minutes away, and I was so annoyed because I didn’t want to spend another moment alone with this woman who’s out here pleading with me about hurting her husband’s feelings. She’s out of her goddamn mind.
“Lawrynn, you really don’t know what you’re missing. Alton really wants to take care of—”
“Until the next woman comes along that he really likes, and now I’m left out in the cold. Save it, Chantelle,” I hissed and walked away from her.
I was so thankful that I didn’t hear her heels come after me. When my Uber pulled up, I jumped in the back and told him to speed away. I was going to Uber home, but I changed my mind and Ubered to Kriss’s house. I was too angry, and I needed to vent right now. My phone chimed, and it was Alton.
Alton: Baby, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have sprung this on you. I’ll give you a few days to think about this arrangement, Lawrynn, because I really like you, and can’t get enough of you. Promise me that you’ll think about it. Life’s too short to be with one person.
“Ugh! Delete and block,” I whispered.
I was so thankful that my driver didn’t want to have a conversation. Thirty minutes later, we were pulling up to Spence’s palace. I typed in the code that Kriss gave me, and the Uber driver drove through the gates.
“Wow… this
is a house,” the driver whispered.
I didn’t reply to that, but I thanked him for driving me there. I would make sure to tip him later. Once I was at the top of the stairs, the door came open, and it was their butler.
“Ms. Barksdale, the Spencers are having dinner, and they are not expecting any more company,” he said.
I brushed past him, and he kept trying to stop me, but once he realized that I wasn’t going anywhere, he immediately got in front of me.
“Spence, I tried to stop her, but she was very persistent,” Edward said.
Ignoring him, and everyone else in the room, I said, “Kriss, I need to see you, please, right now!”
“Ms. Barksdale, what is the meaning of this?” Spence queried.
“Wow, look at you! It seems as if the knight in shining armor has turned back into—”
I whipped my head towards Trevor, and said, “Shut the—”
“Ms. Barksdale, my wife will see you in my office,” Spence said, stopping me from cursing his brother out. “Kriss, please escort Ms. Barksdale to my office, please.”
“With that ugly shirt on,” I mumbled under my breath, but loud enough for everyone in the dining room to hear.
“Told ya…” I heard Trena say.
In Spence’s office, Kriss leaned against his desk. “Lawrynn, you look like you are getting ready to fall to pieces. What the hell is going on?”
“Did you know?” I asked her and started pacing.
If we were back in college, I would have a joint for stressful moments like this. I hadn’t felt this way in a long time. My feelings were really hurt because I thought that Alton had the potential to be a husband to me.
“Did I know what, Lawrynn?”
“Did you know that Alton had a wife? Did you know that he was in an open marriage?”
“Gosh, no, Lawrynn. Do you think that I would let you do that?”
“He was at your wedding. He is Spence’s cousin. You mean to tell me that he didn’t happen to mention to you that he had a wife?”
“No, Lawrynn. I didn’t know half of the people at my wedding. That was that old lady’s doing. I had never had a conversation with Alton,” she said.
She walked over to the wall and pressed the button on the intercom.
“Travis Spencer the third. I need you! NOW!” she hissed into the intercom.
I swear her finger wasn’t off the button a full two seconds before Spence was coming through the door. That man was sprung off Kriss.
“Yes, ma’am. What is it?” Spence asked breathlessly.
Kriss grabbed the bridge of her nose and sighed heavily. “Why didn’t you tell me that Alton was married, and was trying to drag my best friend into his love triangle?”
“Um, because I figured—” he started.
“What did you figure, Travis? Did you figure that Alton would have told her by now? Did you figure that—”
“Kriss, Alton’s life is none of our business.”
“It becomes my business when it involves my friend. My best friend at that. This is not someone that I just went to school with or whatever. This is someone that when she hurts, I hurt. When her heart is broken, so is mine! How dare you let that happen to her? Travis, I think that you should sleep in the guest room tonight.”
“Kriss, it’s okay,” I whispered.
She glared at me. “No, it’s not. My husband should have told me that my friend was dealing with a married man. I don’t like seeing you like this, Lawrynn, because you are a great person, and you deserve to have a man who only wants you.”
“Kriss—” Travis called her name.
She held her hand up, and he immediately closed his mouth. “I’m not talking to you right now, Travis.”
“Kriss, this is your husband. Please don’t be mad at him for that. I forgot that in this day and time, you have to ask questions or people won’t say anything. It’s fine. Don’t kick him out; I’ll just go. Sorry for interrupting your dinner, Kriss,” I told her.
“No, you can stay here with us. You shouldn’t be alone right now,” Travis said.
“Right. You should end the dinner, Travis,” Kriss said to him.
“But...”
“It wasn’t a suggestion.”
Instead of moving, Travis pulled his phone out of his pocket and stared at it for a few moments.
“Ah, great,” Travis sighed. “Alton just sent me a text detailing what happened at the dinner, and I’m supposed to talk to you, Kriss, so you could talk to Ms. Barksdale. He really wants her, and I just… this… honey… is why I wanted to stay out of this,” Travis said and placed his phone in his pocket. “I’ll end the dinner.”
Travis left out of his office, and Kriss looked at me and shook her head.
“Let me go get my son, and I can show you where you will be sleeping tonight,” she said.
We walked out of his office and into the foyer. I followed her up the stairs, and I stared at the different pictures of them at their wedding along the wall, and I couldn’t help but smile. Kriss looked so damn happy. Once we reached the top of the stairs, I stopped and stared at the last picture. It was a picture of me, Kriss, and Russ in our signature pose that we used to do in college.
“I have extras if you want one. Actually, I haven’t gotten around to sending out all of the thank you cards and stuff with gifts and pictures. If it was left up to the elder Mrs. Spencer, she would have hired someone to do it,” Kriss said.
I chuckled at her statement because I knew how Kriss felt about hiring anyone to do anything. Once we were outside the door, we heard Quad almost screaming his head off. Kriss opened the door, and Prie had him on her shoulder patting his back, but it wasn’t working.
“Mrs. Spencer, he’s fighting his sleep. I’ve fed and bathed him, and he’s still trying to give me the blues,” she said.
“Please call me, Kriss,” Kriss said and took a fussy Quad out of her arms. “You can leave for tonight if you want.”
“But, Spence—”
“Spence doesn’t run anything around here, Prie. You can leave if you want.”
I watched as Prie gathered her things and bolted out of the door before Kriss could change her mind.
“Girl, Spence wanted to have sex tonight, and that’s why he wanted her to stay here tonight, but nope, I’m not giving him anything. Come on, let me show you to your room.”
I took Quad out of her arms and started patting his back. While we were walking to the other side of this palace, Quad’s cries turned into light whimpers, until he finally went to sleep. I kept patting his back until we finally got to the room where I would sleep for tonight.
“Gosh, every time I think I’ve seen all of this house, you wow me with more,” I whispered, not wanting to wake the baby.
“You’ve seen this room before; I just had it repainted and got different furniture. It looked old in here,” she whispered back.
“I’ll take an Uber home in the morning before you wake up. Thank you for letting me stay here with you tonight.”
“Nonsense, have breakfast with us in the morning. We can talk about tonight’s events over some crispy bacon. Give me this baby, and you get some rest. The bathroom has everything you need; soap, pajamas, toothbrush, and toothpaste. Everything. Make yourself at home,” Kriss said and kissed me on the cheek before leaving out of the room.
Midnight
I had been tossing and turning for most of the night. I had to block Alton’s work phone and even Chantelle’s number. I was not interested in being in that type of triangle, and nothing he said would make me want to even try it out. He should have told me that from the beginning. My stomach started to remind me that I didn’t eat dinner, so I got out of bed and slid on my robe and house shoes. When I opened the bedroom door, I looked left and right, as if someone was going to jump out at me or something. I chuckled to myself for being so paranoid. The hallway was dark with the exception of a few small night-lights spread throughout the house. I cursed myself for not bringing my
phone.
Once I made it to the top of the stairs, the foyer was lit up a little more, so I could see clearly. I eased down the steps into the kitchen. I could have been stomping, and no one would have heard me because of this pillow soft ass carpet they have in this house. In the kitchen, it smelled as if someone had just gotten finished cleaning up. Because of the light in the foyer, I didn’t have to turn on any lights in the kitchen, so I opened the pantry to see what kind of snacks Kriss had because I didn’t want to use the microwave. Satisfied with a big bag of kettle chips, I went over to the fridge and opened it to get me something to drink. Instead of my mind telling me to get that bottle of water, I opted for the bottle of wine that was halfway empty, but enough to give me a great buzz. They wouldn’t miss it. I grabbed it, closed the refrigerator, and damn near had a mini heart attack. I’m glad I had a good grip on the wine.
“Shit!” I hissed. “You scared me, Trevor. Why are you lurking around here in the dark like a ghost or something?”
“Seems like you had an interesting night. If you weren’t so quick to hop on the next—”
“I’m super grown and don’t need your approval. So, goodnight. Don’t you have a girlfriend to get to?”
“Mind your business, shorty.”
“Great, we’re on the same page. Goodnight.”
When I tried to walk away, Trevor gripped my elbow and turned me around, making me look at him.
“What?” I hissed.
“You’re acting like you don’t want me. That’s what.”
“I don’t. What could have ever given you that impression? We both had a thing that we don’t remember, and that was the end of that. If you think I’d ever sleep with you on purpose, then you are out of your mind.”
I stood there waiting for his comeback, but he didn’t have one. He took the bottle of wine out of my hand, opened it, and tilted it up. He kept his eyes on me as he downed some of the wine. When he pulled the bottle from his lips, he licked his full lips.
“Girl, this a ten-thousand-dollar bottle of wine. You don’t know nothing about this taste.”