In Her Mind (Mountain High Valley Low )

by Renee Daniel Flagler

  “I’m good. How’s my baby girl this evening?” I asked, playing along.

  Lexie’s soft, plump lips against mine gave me the answer I was looking for. Thoughts of Shelly waiting in Starbucks melted away as Lexie sucked on my bottom lip right outside on the sidewalk.

  Lexie pulled away and whispered breathlessly, “Let’s go upstairs.”

  Shelly popped right back into my mind. I cursed her under my breath.

  “What was that, sunshine?” Lexie asked.

  “Nothing, baby.” Then I acted as if I’d just remembered something and slapped my forehead for effect. “Oh damn, baby girl. I have to make a quick run to handle some business with Jeff.”

  “Oh, Brian,” Lexie whined. “Not now. I need you. Can’t that wait? I’ve been waiting to get to you all day. Don’t make her wait,” she pleaded, referring to the kitten purring between her legs.

  Lexie stuck her lips out and gently rubbed her thumb over my nipples. Damn, damn, damn, I thought to myself. The more she pouted and the more she rubbed, the more my manhood stood at attention, threatening to bust a hole right through my front zipper. I thought about Shelly traipsing around the corner to search for me and immediately went limp.

  “Babe, I promise I won’t be long. Go upstairs and get her ready for me. I’ll be right back.” I ran off before she could respond.

  When I got to my Escalade, she was still standing in the same spot pouting. I rolled down the window and yelled, “Hey, baby, you got a man?” as I passed her. In my rearview mirror, I could see her beautiful smile as she waved me away and entered the building.

  I’d hit at least sixty miles per hour by the time I reached the corner and practically made the left on two wheels. Shelly had to talk fast because I had business to tend to. I didn’t know what to expect with Shelly, but I sure knew what I’d walk into if I didn’t get back home at a decent time.

  Chapter 3 Shelly

  I made it into Starbucks just seconds before Brian arrived, but I saw him standing out there swapping spit with that harlot. He thought I had left but when I saw Lexie coming down the block, I slowly pulled into a nearby parking spot and got out to watch her. I knew Brian just wanted to get rid of me when he asked to meet me here in a half hour. He didn’t want Lexie to see me in front of their building. Well, little did he know that soon both he and Lexie would be seeing a lot more of me!

  There was no way Lexie could compete with me. I was the mother of Brian’s son. Besides, Brian came looking for me and he knew my terms—all or nothing. I knew he wouldn’t let me into the house he shared with that woman. It would be just a matter of time before he was all mine again. Brian just needed a little bit of coaxing. That Lexie had him wrapped around her finger, but I would be the one to unravel her hold on him. I just needed a plan and a little bit of time.

  “Over here, sweetie,” I yelled to Brian from across the popular coffee house. I was hoping that someone he knew would be there to witness us being together, someone who would be sure enough to carry the news back to that trifling, man-stealing Lexie. “Did you want me to order you anything, hon?”

  “No thanks,” Brian said as he slid his fine, tall, well-built frame into the sleek amber-colored leather chair. “I don’t have much time, Shelly—”

  I placed my index finger against his sumptuous lips, silencing him. The softness of those beautiful robust lips brought back fanciful memories. The remembrance of their subtleness invaded my thoughts and I closed my eyes to savor the image of their moisture covering my body. It didn’t take much for me to recall the images since I imagined I was making love to him each and every time I had sex with my lame husband.

  “Sweetie, I realize it’s been a while and I apologize for that. Ever since you called me that day, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do.”

  As I spoke, Brian lowered his shoulders as if he had been holding his breath since he sat down.

  “I want to work this out. But I really need to take it slowly. You understand, don’t you? It’s been hard keeping him away from you. You have to know that. It’s just that I was disappointed because I felt that you chose her over me.”

  “What do you mean I chose her over you? Shelly, this wasn’t a contest. Please don’t make it seem like that.”

  “Well, what was I supposed to think? All of a sudden she just came into the picture and tried to take over. For a while I just let her. But then once I was carrying our baby, I was no longer interested in playing games with that woman. I had my family to consider.” The room began to feel warmer. I had to keep my cool. Brian got mad easily and I knew I needed to pacify him for a little while to make things go my way. “Listen, Brian, I didn’t come here to argue with you. Please let me finish,” I told him.

  “Shelly, I—”

  I held my hand up. “Brian, let me finish. That’s why I ran away. But I’m back and I’m ready to move forward. I won’t keep your son away from you any longer.”

  “What does your husband have to say about this? Does he know?”

  Damn you, Brian. Why’d you have to go bringing him into this? “We are no longer together, sweetie. I couldn’t live a lie. My heart was never in it. I ran to him to forget about you, but even after more than a year, it just didn’t work. I felt bad for keeping you away from Brice.” I fumbled through my bag and retrieved the wallet-sized photo from his last photo session and handed it to Brian. “He has your eyes.”

  Brian took the photo and stared at it as if he was studying every feature. After a few moments he smiled and asked, “When can I see him?” Brian finally looked relaxed, as if seeing the picture had made his day. He fingered the picture and spoke his name softly, “Brice.” Then he smiled a warm smile that I can’t recall ever seeing before.

  He never looked so affectionate when my name came up. Believe me, I would have known, especially since I had done so much spying in the past.

  “How about this weekend?” I offered.

  “Sure! Where?”

  His excitement was back along with that twinkle in his eye. One day he will realize how important I am to him and that twinkle will glow when he speaks of me. I know it will. I just have a little work to do to make sure it happens. Right now, Brice is the key. Once Brian sees his cute little face, he’ll be smitten, and nothing will be able to separate them. Then I’ll be more important to him than that wench Lexie. When all is said and done, I’ll have what I always wanted—my man and a family of my own.

  Chapter 4 Lexie

  I wanted to make the evening special. Actually, I just wanted to come home after a long day of work and lay up with my man, but he went running off to his friend. I don’t mind him spending time helping out a friend. It’s just that my libido was running at an all-time high and I wanted to feel him. I needed to talk about my reservations about getting married and I always feel a little freer talking about tough topics after an orgasm. I still needed to talk so I called my girl Brooke.

  “Hey, girl,” I said the moment she answered. I didn’t even give her a chance to finish saying hello.

  “What’s up, Lex?” she asked as if she knew something was wrong.

  “Nothing, girl. I just called to—”

  “Bullshit, Lex! Spit it out,” Brooke demanded.

  “My goodness! Is it that obvious?” I asked, twirling the telephone cord in my hand. As soon as I did that I felt restricted. “Hold on and let me get the cordless out of the bedroom,” I said before putting the corded wall phone down on the counter and running to the bedroom. I clicked the cordless phone on and released a breathy, “Okay, I’m back.”

  “All right now, Lex. What’s up? Whenever you start running off at the mouth before I can get a decent chance to finish my greeting means you’re anxious. When you’re anxious it’s usually because there’s something bothering you. Now go lie down on your couch and tell me all about it,” Brooke teased.

  I laughed at her silliness. As my lifelong best friend, Brooke could always sense when something was up. She was my self-procl
aimed free therapist and I was hers. Together, we’ve saved one another loads of money by simply being there for each other. I had to admit, no therapist in the world could deliver the cold-hard truth the way Brooke could.

  “Just those reservations again,” I admitted as I stretched out on my cream leather sofa and began twirling my hair since I no longer had the telephone cord.

  “Aw, man. Here we go again. Do you love him, Lex?” Brooke asked, beginning her usual line of questioning.

  “Love the damn man to pieces,” I responded.

  “Has he given you any reason to believe that you would be making a huge, insurmountable, irreversible mistake if you took him as your lawfully wedded husband?”

  “Of course not, fool. You know my problem. Actually, besides my little insecurities about the fact that he has a son out there somewhere, things have never been better. It seems like the closer we come to getting married, the more I love him. But I just can’t help but think that one day soon, Shelly will come along holding that baby over his head and I’ll lose everything we’ve built for the sake of the baby. It’s not that I don’t want him to be a father to his child—I would never stand in the way of that—I just don’t know how to handle the fact that something outside of us, that I have no power over, can impact what we have. And no matter what you say, this will have some impact.”

  “Lex, listen. You’ll have to cross that bridge when you get there. You are four weeks away from becoming Mrs. Alexia Mitchell-Turner and that’s what you need to focus on right now. Look how long you waited. He proposed to you before that baby was even born and it’s been damn near two years. If he wasn’t committed to you, he wouldn’t have waited this long to finally marry your finicky ass. Look how long you pushed him off. Do you really think he would do anything to jeopardize what you guys have built? Your insecurities are what made you put him off all of this time, but he’s still there, isn’t he? If I may say so, Brian is the epitome of what most women would wait a lifetime for. He’s working, he has a good job—actually it’s his own successful business. He’s dedicated to you, he’s responsible, and he’s got a job.”

  “Brooke, you said that one already.”

  “Yeah, I know, but that’s a point that needs to be stressed. Brothers don’t wanna work these days. I hate to say it, but there are a lot of lazy-assed mamma’s boys out there. But as I was saying, you’ve got a good man that half the women of the world today would want. If you could bottle him up and sell him in pieces, girl, you’d be a millionaire. If these women could just get a taste of what it’s like to have a man like Brian, they’d kill for it. Most good catches are boring as hell. Brian is a cool dude. So now you think about it—what problem do you really have?”

  “I hear you, Brooke, but when it comes to an ex-girlfriend and children, you never can tell.”

  “Well, like I said, keep having your fun and cross that bridge when you get to it. That man loves you. Don’t be unfair to him,” Brooke said as if she was pleading with me.

  “I just don’t want the past to come between us,” I said just as I heard the key in the door. I quickly sat up and put my reservations at bay. “Brooke, he’s coming in now. I’ll call you later,” I said and hung up immediately. I didn’t even wait for Brooke to say good-bye.

  I ran to the kitchen and quickly removed the robe I was wearing to reveal my sexy black lace thong, bare breasts, and silver stiletto sandals. I jumped my near-naked behind up on the countertop separating the kitchen from the small formal dining room and put a cherry-flavored Blow Pop in my mouth. By the time Brian walked in, I was sitting there on the countertop, leaning forward so my plump breasts would hang nicely while I seductively scrolled my tongue along the surface of the hard candy.

  Brian didn’t say anything in a verbal manner, but with his eyes he said it all. He began to undress as he slowly sauntered over to me. By the time he reached me, only his black designer boxers and socks remained on his tight, dark chocolate frame.

  “What’s for dinner?” he asked before covering my waiting lips with his full ones.

  “I assumed we’d start with dessert,” I whispered seductively, then took his extra large, strong hands and placed them on my behind.

  Brian pulled me into him and planted a trail of passionate kisses from my forehead to the tip of my stiletto-clad toes. “Mmm, chocolate!” he said in a husky tone. “You know how much I like chocolate.”

  I popped the lollipop out of my mouth and inserted it into his, then created my own trail of sticky wet kisses along his chest. After a few strong sucks, Brian removed the lollipop and pulled me closer to him. He rolled the blow pop across my vagina and leaned in to lap up the sticky residue. My eyes rolled back in ecstasy until he stopped. I opened my eyes and giggled at the sight of him lapping at the lollipop like a ten-year-old child. Then he threw the candy behind him and dove in for more. His skillful tongue drove me to a speedy orgasm that left my body pulsing breathlessly. Brian caressed my body until my convulsions slowed, then carried me to the dining table where we continued our erotic feast across the table and in the chairs.

  When we were finished satisfying our overwhelming appetite for one another, it was time for some real food. When my breathing returned to a more reasonable pattern I realized that my stomach had begun a stirring of its own.

  “Okay, babe. Let’s freshen up and get some real food. I’m starving,” I said as I walked around picking up our belongings scattered across the kitchen floor.

  When I picked up his slacks, a picture of a baby fell out. With just one look I knew exactly how old this child was. My heart dropped and my breathing sped up once again. But this time it wasn’t because my libido was running on high.

  This child was undoubtedly Brian’s son, Brice. I remembered the name from the DNA paperwork. Where did the picture come from? Over and over I wondered about how long he’d had it without telling me. Still naked except for my stilettos, I walked over to Brian, trying my best to steady both my balance and my emotions. It took every bit of my self-control to keep from crying. I dropped the picture before him at the table. He didn’t even look at me. Instead he closed his eyes, placed his hands at the sides of his head, and stared at the wood table. For the first time since we’d been together, Brian seemed to be at a loss for words.

  Chapter 5 Shelly

  I tried to hurry and finish dressing before my lame husband, Brandon, finished up in the shower. I didn’t feel like arguing anymore and I surely wasn’t interested in reconciling. He just didn’t get it. It was over. In fact, it was over way before it started. Why I ever listened to my father and married that man, I’ll never know. Saving face never concerned me before. When I heard the water from the shower shut off, I cranked up my gears and started moving in double time.

  I hopped to BJ’s room and grabbed him and his prepacked baby bag before dashing down the stairs. I could hear Brandon calling my name in that annoying pretentious tone of his as he exited the master bathroom. The image of his moist half-white body and shriveled up penis came to mind. I chuckled a little. That was another reason I wasn’t interested in reconciling. Brandon never satisfied my insatiable and somewhat exotic appetite for sex. Other than Brian, no man had ever been able to truly satisfy me. I needed Brian back in my life.

  “Shelly! Shelly!” Brandon continued to call after me. I could hear the thud of his footsteps along the plush carpet as he made his way toward the top of the spiral staircase. Quickly, yet quietly, I slipped through the side door leading to the two-car garage and jumped into my Mercedes. It was the day that Brian would finally meet his son, Brice. To say that I was excited was an understatement. Unfortunately, it was also the day that manstealer, Lexie, was going to have her bridal shower. All week I tried to think of ways to ruin her party or spoil the surprise. I wasn’t even sure if it was a surprise since my informant hadn’t disclosed that bit of information. Instead, I decided to focus my energies on getting Brian back and Brice was the key. And today was perfect because the bitch, Lexie, wo
uld be preoccupied with her friends at the shower. As far as I was concerned, all of this celebrating was in vain because I planned to put a stop to this wedding madness. I wasn’t worried because I knew I had the ticket to Brian’s acceptance. As the mother of his first and only son, I was sure to come out on top.

  I looked back at Brice in his car seat to find him fast asleep and we were only a few blocks from the house. He looked so much like his father with his smooth chocolate brown skin, brown eyes, and lengthy eyelashes. Although it was very sweet of Brandon to accept Brice as his own, I was no longer interested in living the charade. It was time to go after what I wanted and not try to appease everyone else. Somehow, I’d have to find a way to break the news to my pompous father. I loved my daddy, but I was tired of living to make him happy. After all, it was him and my acquisitive mother who taught me to go after what I wanted. And right now what I wanted the most was to have Brian back in my life, no matter what it took.

  I sped all the way from my home in Long Island to a trendy café in downtown Brooklyn, making it in record time, despite the stop-and-go traffic on the Belt Parkway. That roadway was known for its backups. If there was anything you could count on, it was traffic on the Belt.

  I carefully lifted my sleeping son from his car seat and placed him in his Maclaren Techno stroller. As I entered the doors to the nicely decorated restaurant, I quickly glanced around in search of Brian. It was clear that he had yet to arrive. The hostess led me to a seat near the window as I requested. I figured I’d let BJ sleep until his father arrived.

  The moment Brian walked in, I knew he was there. The depth of his manly voice gingerly wafted into my space and filled me with delight. I instantly felt warm all over and couldn’t keep the smile from trying to break through my serious face. The smile won out when I looked into Brice’s cute little sleeping face.

  Brian joined me at the table and I was so excited I didn’t know where to begin. I knew I couldn’t afford to lose my cool. Starting this conversation right was extremely important. Brian could be testy at times so I tried to gauge his demeanor.