****
Meanwhile, by five o’clock Lena was walking through the doors of the Sundial dressed in a Red strapless dress that stopped right above her knees, and leopard stilettoes. Her hair flowed down her back, her makeup was immaculate, and she smelled like fresh strawberries. If eyes could eat Lena’s entire body would have been devoured the exact moment she sat down at the table. Chris eyes were locked on her. She couldn’t determine whether the look in Chris’s eyes was lust or desire. Truthfully she didn’t care. She felt desirable again. It’d been a long time since she’d been looked at that way. Not even by her husband. All he cared about was work.
Chris lowered her head and dug a fork into her plate. “How did the meeting go?”
“Not good at all” Lena sighed. “I’ve accepted the fact that I’m going to lose everything.”
“What if I agree to help you?”
“You’d do that?”
“Of course I would.” Chris insured her grinning triumphantly. “But it’s going to cost you something. Don’t worry it doesn’t involve money”
Lena flashed her a quick smile. She knew what Chris was getting at. “What exactly do you have stirring in that naughty mind if yours?”
Chris smiled. “I have a question for you”
“What?”
“What color panties do you have on up under that sexy dress?”
“What makes you so sure that I’m wearing panties?”
“Are you?”
“As a matter of fact I’m not.”
“Let’s cut to the chase. You came here because you haven’t been able to quit thinking about what happened between us. You enjoyed it just as much as I did and that’s why you came here without any panties on tonight?
Lena leaned across the table and whispered. “I don’t know about you but I’m willing to skip this dinner and check into a suite”
“I brought my friends this time” Chris informed her, pulling a hot pink dildo out of her purse along with a silver bullet.
“Mmmm. I can’t wait”
Chris pulled away from the table, grabbed Lena’s hand and they headed towards the elevator like a million dollars was hidden in it. “Forget dinner, the only thing that I want to eat is you” Chris said.
****
It was nearly nine o’clock by the time Kenneth and Storm made it back to the station. He was tired...and tensed....and frustrated. Sitting at the desk he began rolling his neck in a circular motion and rotating his shoulders back and forth when he heard Storm moving in behind him.
“Gibson I think that the combination of this job and the problems in your marriage are starting to wear you down.” Storm said. She tossed a case file onto his desk. “You need a vacation”
He continued to twirl his neck. “I can’t argue with you there”
Landing her hands on his shoulders, Storm began massaging them “Damn, your shoulders are so tensed.”
“I can’t argue with that either”
Gliding her hands over the small of his neck, she massaged her thumbs into the tough knots, helping him become more relaxed. “Is this helping?”
“Mmmm” Kenneth groaned. “It sure is”
She inched right below is shoulder blades alternating between pressured kneads with the palm of her hands and deep tissue massaging. “I hope so because I don’t know what I’m doing. Your muscles are extra tight right here” She told him.
Kenneth’s eyes were closed “Mmmm” He groaned again. “It feels damn good to me. I can’t remember the last time I had a massage.”
How does this feel?” She whispered in his ear, lowering her hands to his lower back.
The smoothness of her voice and the warmth of her breath had turned him on. In that moment he fantasized about Storm and the things that he’d do to her if he weren’t married. Something he’d never done before. “It feels great” He groaned. The satisfaction steaming through him and not to mention the fact that his nature was starting to rise made him realize that he had to stop her. “I think I’m good now”
“But your still so tensed” She said into his ear.
Her voice was sounding sexier. He couldn’t allow her to continue. She was turning him on, causing him to think of things that shouldn’t cross his mind. He heard the sound “Mmmmm” creeping through his lips again. She was really getting to him now as she slid her fingers up his spine and landed her hands on his shoulders again.
Digging into his tendons she smooth out every tight nerve. “I can feel your muscles loosening up” She mumbled, her hot breath still inches away from his ear.
“Mmmm” He groaned more. “It does feel good”
That’s when Kenneth felt Storm’s tongue suckling his earlobe. It felt so good to him. He couldn’t stop it. The suckling continued along his neck. If he didn’t stop her now....and soon, his dick was going to jump out of his pants. “Storm. Stop I can’t do this. “ He told her, getting from the chair. “I’m married”
“Kenneth I...I’m....”
He walked away from her rubbing his hand across his hair. “Storm as bad as I wish that things could be different. They can’t. I gotta’ go home to my wife. Sorry if I confused things for you. I should have stopped you at the massage.” He said, looking away from her.
“No need to apologize. “ She said. “Still need me to give you a lift home?”
“I’ll just drive an unassigned car home, but thanks.”
“So I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” She said, and headed for the door.
“Good night” He mumbled.
****
Kenneth pulled into the parking space and just sat there. The ignition was still switched on but the engine wasn’t idling. He was listening to some old school R&B while smoking on a cigar and thinking about what had taken place back at the station between he and Storm. The feelings surging through him were strong. Storm appreciated him, respected him and understood him. Most importantly she made him feel like she wanted him. She gave him what he’d been missing from his wife. It was a nice feeling knowing that a woman as characteristic as Storm desired to be with him. Especially when he wasn’t so sure his wife still believed that he was the man she should spend the rest of her life with.
It was five o’clock in the morning and Kenneth was still sitting in his on-duty car. He dreaded going in the house, but he couldn’t sit out there all night. Although sleeping in the backseat of a car couldn’t be any more uncomfortable than sleeping in the bed with a woman that treats you like she’d rather sleep alone. As he switched off the ignition and swung open the door, he prayed he didn’t wake her when he got into the bed. He wasn’t in the mood for any of her nagging.
“Another late night?” Lena asked nastily as Kenneth sank down into the bed.
“Yeah. I picked up a pretty gruesome homicide case today”
“You’re really going to blame it on work. When you smell just like her?”
“Just like who?”
“Who else? You’re reaping of her perfume. Gosh, why don’t you just admit that you two are sleeping together?”
Kenneth settled into the bed. “Lena, it’s late, I’m tired and I really don’t want to deal with this shit right now okay”
She sprang up from the bed. “Fine. You don’t want to deal with this and I don’t want to deal with you. Neither do I want to sleep in the same bed as you. You lying, sneaky, cheating, dog.” Lena rushed to the closet and pulled out her luggage.
Kenneth jumped out of the bed. He scurried into the walk in closet “What are you doing?” Through his tired eyes he watched his wife as she angrily yanked down a few shirts off of the hangers. “Lena stop” He insisted grabbing her hands.
“Don’t touch me” She warned, and broke away then walked out of the closet. “I’m moving into the guestroom” She snatched a few panties and bras out of the chest drawer, grabbed a pair shoes, her make up kit and flat ironers and shoved them all into her luggage.
“So what we’re roommates now?”
“Kenneth
we’ve pretty much been roommates every since you resigned from your damn job and chose to spend all your damn time playing Robocop. Which is the reason why I’m broke. I’ve been stuck here paying all the damn bills by myself”
“No you’re broke because you blew through the savings by making bad investments. I had plenty of money saved up. The financial issue is only half of our problem”
“Finances wouldn’t be a factor if you would have been honest about the money you’ve been keeping from me.”
“That’s what this whole I’m moving to the guestroom thing is all about. It has nothing to do with Storm. You’re mad because of the account that you didn’t know about. I hid that account from you because I know you. I know that you live above your means. I know that you’re not good with money and I wanted us to have something to fall back on. We had enough money saved up to live comfortably. My little Robocop job as you so blatantly put it has nothing to do with the reason why we are in this financial crisis.”
“Like I’ve said a million times. We were fine until you wanted to start being a toy cop. Why can’t you be a man and go get a real job?”
“I am a man. I buss my ass every day for my family. It’s just too bad that I have a wife that doesn’t recognize it. You know you are a very smart woman but you have a stupid way of thinking. I’m tired of trying to please you. In fact I’m tired of everything. So it’s fine, if you want to sleep in the guest room go right ahead I’m not going to stop you”
“Even if you wanted to, you wouldn’t be able to stop me” She snapped, dragging her luggage out of the bedroom.
chapter 9
Brandi...San Antonio Texas
The room was pitch black. Quiet. It was four A.M. and Brandi was lying in her cold bed butt naked staring at the ceiling. She’d lain down for bed just before eight o’clock and she still hadn’t fallen asleep. Sleeping when her heart was broken was not easy. She felt a bit despondent. She couldn’t believe that Trae actually did it. He actually left his family for another woman. And he wasn’t coming back.
Her eyes moved from the ceiling fan to the lamp on the nightstand. She eased up the headboard. Switched on the lamp. Then grabbed the picture of her and Trae and just gazed at it. Out of the blue she found herself mumbling something.
“All the years I wasted on your motherfucking ass”
She snatched the covers off of her, tossed them to the side, marched into the master bathroom, snatched the picture out of the frame, crumbled it into pieces and watched them circle down the toilet drain. When the toilet bowl cleared she walked over to the sink and stared at the reflection staring back at her through the oversized mirror. She herself even thought that she looked like who shot John. Her hair wasn’t combed, her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and she hadn’t washed her face since Trae’d left. She looked a hot mess. And her body? She thought she looked like a nude professor Clump. She looked down but couldn’t see pass her stomach. It was always in the way. She turned around and looked at her backside. She counted four rolls and turned back around. She hated to look at herself. In fact she hated the way she looked. That’s why she hadn’t looked at herself naked in years. She didn’t even know why she was doing it now. It was only going to make her feel worse than she’d already felt. Uncontrollable tears slid down her cheeks. She caught them before they slid to her neck. “That’s enough” She said out loud. “That’s enough. No more fucking crying. It’s time I take control of my life. I’m not going to keep crying over your trifling ass. I’m not going to keep crying over this weight. I’m going to do something about it.”
She walked from the bathroom back into the bedroom. Nothing in her life was going right. Trae left her for the woman next door. What terrible thing was going to happen next?
She fell backwards onto the bed and closed her eyes. Her past flooded her memory-The horrible way that Trae had treated their children, the mental and physical neglect, the name calling, the late nights, and the overall total disrespect. She was an emotional disaster.
All those hurtful images flashing through her mind brought anger. Suddenly her eyes popped open like a jack in the box. A sense of rage rushed through every part of her body. She needed to hurt Trae. She wanted him to share the same humiliation. The same pain. She walked over to the window that overlooked their front yard, and stared at Trae’s Jaguar. It was parked in the driveway. It’d been parked there since he and Cassy had left for their trip a few days ago.
“You dirty son of a bitch” She yelled, anger filling her eyes. “You walk out on your family. You leave me after all of these years. And after everything that I’ve put up with from your scandalous ass! You think that you can just humiliate me like this? Leave me for the bitch next door?” I’ll show your motherfucking ass” She said walking away from the window.
The spare key had to be somewhere. She rushed to the chest drawer and yanked open each dresser drawer, fumbling through T-shirts, socks, and trousers hoping to skim her fingers across a piece of metal. Still, she didn’t find the key.
She was sure that it had to be somewhere.
Quickly she rushed into the walk-in closet, ran her hands across the shelves. No key. She crawled around on her knees, checking the insole of every pair of Trae’s designer shoes. No key. She searched the pocket of each designer jacket, coat, and slacks. No key.
After pulling herself up from the floor, she walked back over to the bed and sat down. Then something told her to look up under the mattress. There it was, right there on her side of the bed, Trae’s spare key.
Tears blurred her sight as she dressed. Her conscience warred with the anger stemming inside of her. She knew that two wrongs didn’t equal a right but she didn’t care. Her good conscience lost the battling war that twirled inside her mind. Anger urged her to jog down the steps. She was tired before she made it to the bottom. But not tired enough to change her mind, and before she knew it she was sitting behind the wheel of Trae’s pride and joy.
Midmorning sun was just peeping through the clouds when she crank up the car and drove through the front yard grass, past the driveway, the azalea bushes on the side of the house, into the backyard, pass the garden, the fire pit, and the pool. When the car stopped Brandi was parked right in front of the private late. She left the engine on, put the car in neutral, quickly hopped out of the car and watched it coast into the lake. As she walked back towards the house, she felt a grin tug at her lips. “Let’s see just how hurt you’ll be when you come back into town and realize that your little baby has been in the lake since you left” She mumbled.
When she made it back into the house she was tired. All that walking had worn her out. She didn’t feel guilty about what she’d just done the least bit. In fact she felt good about it.
Chapter 10
Jason & Vanessa...NYC, New York
Jason was standing directly under the shower spray, where he’d been standing for over an hour. The water had gotten cold and his skin had shriveled like a dried prune. Still he hadn’t even lathered the washcloth. He didn’t want to move, couldn’t think straight, and grievance and hurt had stayed with him since the day his wife became a victim of a near fatal vehicle accident. It seemed the only thing that he could do was weep. The woman that had been the glue that held him together since he was a freshman in high school was in a coma. There was no certainty that she was going to wake up today, tomorrow, or that she’d ever wake up again. And if she were to wake up, there was no certainty that she’d remember him.
The reality of it all was hard for Jason to accept and it almost didn’t feel real.
Countless times he’d caught himself dialing her number. And sleeping? Sleeping was the hardest thing to do because he could smell her in his dreams. He’d hear her voice when the house was quiet. Life was now, like an inferno. Miserable. Like waking up in hell.
Today was their thirteenth year anniversary. Memories of he and Vanessa saying their vows while they showered together had revisited him since he’d awakened that morning.
Still in the same spot, shower spray drizzling through his dreadlocks, the palm of his hands pressed flat against the shower wall, and his limbs shivering and trembling, he hollered out his vows.
“Vanessa”
He spoke as if she was showering with him. A long deep yowl followed. “I promise.” He sobbed.
“To continue to be your wedded husband.”
He wept.
“To have and to hold”
A spine-tingling weep crept through his throat
“From this day forward”
“For better”
“For worse”
“For richer”
“For poorer”
Flashbacks of countless love making sessions raced through his memory like a flat horse race and he hollered with heartache uncontrollably. “In sickness or in health”
“To love and to cherish”
“'Till death do us part.”
He cried hard.
“Lord please don’t take her. Don’t take her Lord. I beg you” He cried, pounding his hands against the shower wall. “Don’t take her from me Lord”
When Jason’s feet hit the floor as he stepped out of the shower, he collapsed on the tile. Vanessa’s hair accessories, and make-up, and perfume that were aligned across the vanity on her side of the sink were difficult to look at. He pulled himself up and within seconds he’d drooped over the sink.
He stood at his side of the sink for the longest time twirling his wedding ring around his finger and staring at the running water because he’d forgotten why he’d turned it on in the first place. Eventually he remembered that he’d turned on the water so that he could brush his teeth.
Simple daily task were hard to remember nowadays. And living was even harder! Vanessa’s spirit was everywhere in their home but yet her body lay in a hospital bed. For Jason that was a lot to get use to.
****
The house felt empty.
Jazz wasn’t blaring from the speakers, rose pedals weren’t trailing from the garage, and the scent of burning candles didn’t linger in the air, no sound of laughter, no gifts being exchanged and no lovemaking. This was torture. No way to spend an anniversary.
Unfaithful Ties Page 18