Unfaithful Ties

by Le'Shea, Nisha

  Kenneth & Lena...Atlanta Georgia

  Lena’s life was going great. Her sex life was even greater. She and Kenneth were making love on a regular basis. He’d started spending more time with her and Khi and she’d stopped making him feel like he was less of a man because of the size of his paycheck. Business was banging for her. Chris had loaned her a few hundred grand to buy a foreclosed house a few months ago and when it sold she gained a huge profit. In no time Christine became her biggest investor. Prime Realty was back in business. Lena couldn’t think Chris enough.

  Right now Lena was sitting outside on the balcony at Shouts waiting for Chris to meet her for lunch. They had a scheduled meeting to talk about their next investment.

  For the past few months she’d continued sneaking behind Kenneth’s back enjoying the perks of the spending plenty of quality time with the person responsible for introducing her to her new found sexual freedom. To make sure that Chris’s cash continued flowing in she’d meet up with her and entangle herself in sin. Whether they got busy in Lena’s office, an expensive hotel, and even in the parking deck of Lena’s residence, one thing was for sure, they were bound to have sex. And yes, after every sinful encounter Lena would be left feeling guilty. Still she couldn’t stop. This new sexual journey was just too damn good to quit traveling. She had the best of both worlds, her husband and a woman on the side that knew how to sex her just the way she liked it.

  She should have ended things months ago. No, correction, she should’ve stopped the affair before she allowed it to start. Surely her subconscious had warned her that cheating on her husband was a mistake.

  “Hey what’s up sexy” Chris said while easing down into the seat.

  Lena pulled off her sunglasses and set them on the table.

  “Nothing just looking over the information about the Morrow property. I think it’s a great investment. The best one yet.”

  “Oh yeah, let me take a look at it”

  “I’ve already ordered your food” Lena informed her.

  “Cool beans” Chris smiled and glanced through the file. “I agree with you babe. I think that this is a great investment.”

  “I thought you would.” Lena smiled.

  “You know with the way that business has been going, and the way that we’ve been vibing. I think that we should make our partnership permanent, you know?”

  “Chris I’m elated”

  “There is also something else I’ve been thinking about”

  “What’s that?”

  “I think that it’s time that we make our relationship exclusive. I mean you’re not happy with Kenneth. You and I make a great team. Lena I’m in love with you”

  “Chris” Lena said grabbing her by the hand. “You know I really appreciate everything that you’ve done for me but...”

  “...But what?”

  “...and you know that I’ve really enjoyed every moment with you...“ She let out a long sigh.

  “I don’t think that I’m going to like the sound of this.”

  “I have no intention of leaving my husband. I’ll never take responsibility for breaking up my family. I still want to be your friend but we can’t continue to sneak around anymore. I want my marriage to work and it can’t work as long as I’m in it with one foot in and one foot out.”

  Chris pulled her hand away. “You want to work out your marriage” And you just want to be friends?” Chris said slowly.

  “Yes...Look I’m sor-”

  “-Sorry! Well that makes up for it doesn’t it?” Chris blurted. “When did you decide all of this? After I saved your company from folding?”

  “Look, yes you helped me and I will always be grateful for that. But the fact that you helped me doesn’t change the fact that I’m married.”

  “The fact that you’re married didn’t stop you from screwing me for months on end either, now did it?”

  “Chris this is hard for me, don’t make it harder than it has to be.”

  “If it’s hard for you to end things with me, then you must not truly want to do this. You’re doing it because you think that it’s the right thing to do.”

  “I’m doing it because I love my husband, and my son more than anything in this world. If I were to lose my family I don’t know what I would do.”

  “So you think that you can just use me and then when you’re done you can just say that it’s over between us?” Chris was getting loud.

  “I said I want us to remain friends” Lena said clinching down on her teeth.

  “You actually think that we can be friends?” Chris was getting to her feet “Either you tell Kenneth about us or I will”

  “Are you serious?”

  “As a motherfucker” Chris said and stormed off.

  ****

  By the time Lena made it home that afternoon Chris was sitting on the sofa in the living room having a conversation with Kenneth. Lena’s heart jumped into her throat when she saw them. She looked at them quizzically and unbuttoned the top button on her blouse. All of sudden she felt like she’d just stepped into hell. She was on fire. What in the hell could the two of them be talking about?

  “Hey baby, Chris was just telling me about this new investment that she’s interested in. She’s been waiting on you to get here” He explained and got up and kissed Lena on her cheek.

  “Oh yeah” She smiled feeling a bit more comfortable.

  They both sat down.

  “Yes. I did a lot of thinking about what we talked about earlier and I decided that I do want to invest.”

  “Is it the property in the Morrow community?”

  “Actually I was thinking about investing in your divorce”

  “Excuse me?” Kenneth said.

  “Please don’t do this” Lena begged.

  “Don’t do what? Kenneth asked feeling a bit lost as he looked over at Lena.

  “Your wife doesn’t want me to tell you that we’ve been having an affair.”

  Kenneth suddenly felt like someone was squeezing his heart. His stomach tumbled as he rushed into the kitchen. The garbage disposal seemed much closer than the waste basket so he headed to the sink and freed everything that he’d eaten that day from his stomach. Lena rushed after him.

  He looked at her. He needed answers.

  “How could you do something like this?”

  Lena’s eyes were watering. “I didn’t plan it, it just sort of happened. We were having problems and she was right there”

  “Problems? We could have talked about our problems. We could have worked them out.”

  “We couldn’t. I tried to talk to you about our issues but you always shut me out. For years I begged you to at least try to explore my sexual desires but you would always get so upset. We’ve been together since we were fifteen and we just recently started having oral sex.”

  “Was oral sex that big of a deal to you?”

  “How do you think that it made me feel when every time I attempted to go down on you, you acted like I was a hooker and you’d push me away as if what I was doing was wrong? Why do you do that?”

  “Since you want to air out all of our business in front of this woman that you’ve been cheating on me with. The reason I wouldn’t have oral sex back then is because when I was little my uncle made sure I went down on him every single time I visited him on the weekends.”

  Lena’s heart ached for Kenneth. She grabbed her mouth to keep her son from hearing her cry.

  “That’s the answer to your question. How does it feel knowing that your husband was forced to suck another man’s dick? Huh? Is oral sex still on your list of priorities?” He paused “A woman?”

  “Kenneth I was curious... I, I was desperate and I ended up turning to someone else.”

  “A woman?”

  This time Lena didn’t say anything, not that she didn’t want to but she simply couldn’t. Kenneth had a point; no explanation could justify her actions.

  “So you turned to a woman?” Kenneth asked again.

 
“Khi is in his room.” She reminded him after she saw that he was getting louder.

  “I guess a woman knows exactly what another woman wants. All this time I’ve been killing myself trying to figure out what I can do to fix this hell hold we call a marriage. I’ve been trying my damnest to prove to you that nothing is going on between Storm and I. And you’ve been having an affair with a woman. Maybe if it was a man I’d feel better because at least I’d feel like I can compete with another man. But a woman? How long has this being going on?”

  “Since her birthday” Chris said walking into the kitchen to join them. She stood right beside Lena and looked at Kenneth "She was easy too"

  Lena grabbed the sprayer and sprayed Chris down with water. “Will you just shut the hell up?” Lena dropped the sprayer and grabbed Chris by the arm, yanking her out of the kitchen “Get your shit and get out before I call the cops.”

  “Get your hands off of me” Chris snapped and jerked away. She chuckled as she wiped the water from her face. “Spraying me with water isn't going to change the fact that your husband knows about us. My work here is done. I’ll gladly leave.”

  Lena was following behind her as she walked through the living room. “I guess you’re happy now?”.

  “As a matter of fact I am, maybe now you’ll learn that you can’t just use people.”

  "Have a nice life.” Lena said. She opened the door and watched Chris walk out.

  When the door slammed Lena walked back into the kitchen. Kenneth was standing by the window, obviously in shock.

  He remained quiet.

  Say something” Lena begged.

  “It’s over”

  “Over as in divorce?”

  “As in divorce” He assured her.

  “No-o-oo” Lena cried grabbing her mouth. “Please, I know that you still love me. You can’t just turn it off that easily.”

  “I love you More than I need air to breathe and there is nothing that you can do to me that will change that. But there is something that you can do to make me leave you, and you’ve done it” He headed back into the living room and slid his feet into his shoes.

  “What about Khi?” She cried, following behind him.

  “I’m sure that we can work out some type of arrangement” He was searching for his keys. With what he’d just learned about his wife it was no wonder he couldn’t remember where he’d put them.

  He spotted them on the end table by the door.

  “Where are you going?” Lena asked him

  “I don’t know” He said, rushing to the door.

  ****

  Kenneth gulped the last swallow of his brew and set the empty bottle on the counter.

  “Alright man. I’m gone get out of here” Kenneth said to the bartender. He’d been sitting on that same bar stool for three hours and hadn’t moved unless he had to pee.

  The bartender tossed all of the empty beer bottles into the trash, and asked. “Need me to call you a cab man?”

  “Nah, I’m good”

  He got up and staggered all the way to his car. Your wife doesn’t want me to tell you that we’ve been having an affair? Tortured him as he hopped in and drove down the road. Where he was headed? He didn’t know but surely it wasn’t home.

  He was coasting down the road feeling like the car was driving itself. He wasn’t paying attention to anything surrounding him.

  Not even the traffic light he’d just flown by.

  “Shit” He hollered slamming on the brakes. His reaction was a little too late because the nose of his car was headed straight for a silver Toyota Celica. His day couldn’t get any worse.

  When his car stopped sliding he opened his door, limped to the victim’s car and climbed through the passenger door. The driver was unconscious. And the baby strapped in the car seat was screaming hysterically. He panicked and with trembling hands he pulled his cellular out of his pocket.

  “Yes. I need to report an accident She’s unconscious please send someone, please. Hurry” He panicked. “There is a baby in the car.”

  When the police arrived Kenneth was arrested for driving under the influence, and if the woman didn’t pull through his charges would be upgraded to intoxication manslaughter.

  He didn’t have a bond.

  ****

  Breaking news, homicide detective Kenneth Gibson was arrested tonight after he refused to stop at a traffic light and t-boned another vehicle. The victim a nineteen woman of a six month old baby is said to be in critical condition. Detective Gibson was driving while under the influence of alcohol.

  Lena was ironing Khi’s uniform when she heard those words blaring from her television. She turned to face the television, leaving the iron face down on Khi’s khaki’s. Steam was spouting from the iron before her gaze lowered to the ironing board. She yanked the cord out of the wall and picked up the can of starch then threw it into the wall. “I’m so sorry” She cried. “This is all my fault.” She shouted squeezing her head. “Calm down Lena, calm down. It’s okay. Don’t panic. The girl is going to pull through. She’s going to be okay.” She muttered tearfully to herself.

  She took a deep pained breath, looked towards the ceiling and closed her eyes. “I know that I don’t deserve this but please fix this” She prayed. She went into her bedroom grabbed her cellular off of the charger and dialed the Jailhouse.

  CHAPTER 35

  Malik...Jacksonville Florida

  Roxxy was barking hysterically so Malik slipped into his house shoes, grabbed his Taser and headed to the backyard.

  “What in the fuck are you doing?” He shouted.

  Regina was working on shoveling her second hole in the ground. Dirt covered her clothing. Sweat covered her skin and her stomach was bigger. She looked at Malik and a wicked smile spread across her face. “I’m digging these for you.”

  “And your goal is for me to do what?” He asked pretending that he wasn’t terrified. He knew at that very moment that he was dealing with a real psychopath. A psychopath that didn’t care about a restraining order.

  “I dug two of them for you so that you can decide which one that you think is more comfortable. I hate to bring up the oldest cliché in the book but you know the saying if I can’t have you no one will. This is where your body is going to rest after I kill you” She said and continued shoveling up dirt.

  She tossed the shovel to the said and headed towards Malik. He didn’t know what to do. He feared for his life, so he pulled out his Taser gun and tased her. She felt her body stiffen like a board and then she fell to the ground.

  From Malik’s cellular he dialed 911 “Yes, I need a police officer to come to 8001 Springdale Court. I have a woman on my property that has a court order not to come within one hundred feet of me. I just tased her.”

  ****

  It was a Monday, the last week of work before spring break began. Malik was passing out the test results to his last class of the day when the school principal stepped inside and asked if he’d join her in the hallway.

  “Ladies and gents please review your test results and we’ll go over the answers in a few minutes” He told his students and he followed the principal into the hallway.

  Two uniformed officers were waiting for him, one white the other one black.

  “Malik Shaw” An officer said.

  “Yes”

  “Please turn around and put your hands behind your head”

  “Is this some type of joke?”

  “Please sir I don’t want to have to force the cuffs on you so please do as I just asked you”

  “I have a right to ask what I’m being arrested for?”

  “Second-degree criminal sexual conduct and obstruction of justice in connection with an alleged relationship with Karina Wells”

  “That’s bullshit. That didn’t happen. I’d never do that” He roared.

  “Yeah right,” the officer said nastily forcing Malik to turn around. “That poor little girl is making it all up”

  He shoved Malik into the l
ockers and slapped the cuffs tightly around his wrist “I swear I didn’t do this. I have a twelve year old daughter I’d never do something like this.” Malik screamed while the side of his face was being smashed into the cold locker.

  CHAPTER 36

  Stacy...Chicago, Illinois

  Moments ago the meeting I’d been looking forward to was adjourned and I didn’t make partner. I’ve had it with this sexist, racist company. I’m so mad I’m trembling as I grab my leather portfolio. I hear Horrace call my name as I head for the door. I ignore him and keep walking. He catches up with me right outside of the conference room.

  “Stacy hold up a second” He says pacing behind me.

  “What is it?” I ask turning around.

  He knows that I’m pissed. It’s written all over my face. “You seem upset”

  “Shouldn’t I be?”

  “I really thought that you were going to make partner this year”

  “And I should have! Jackson, and Connor have been working for this firm just a little over two years. I’ve been working here for six. I have three degrees and I haven’t lost a single case since I started working here. No one in this entire firm has won more cases than I have. I’ve introduced several major corporations to this firm, which has earned the company millions of dollars. I have more than earned partner.”

  “I couldn’t agree with you more, which is the reason why I fought for you.”

  “I guess you didn’t fight hard enough. I’ve decided to resign from this sexist, racist company. There are only two reasons that I didn’t make partner, I’m black and I’m a woman. Making partner should be earned. It shouldn’t be decided by the color of your skin or your goddamn gender.”

  “They made a strong argument that Jackson and Connor were the more qualified attorneys.”

  “Why because they have a penis and two little balls? That’s bullshit and you know it. Maybe they should have checked out my credentials. I’m the most qualified attorney at this firm and I have proven it over and over again. They know I have. It’s just a shame that it’s 2012 and people in the corporate world would rather promote a damn chipmunk than see a black woman make partner.”

  “Are you sure that you’re making the best decision by pretty much quitting? This is one of the biggest law firms in the country. There is always next year”