Married Men

by Carl Weber

  “You damn right you did! You don’t remember?” He wouldn’t look me in the eye.

  “Told you about what?” Jay spoke up for the first time.

  “This fucking guy comes to my office and lies to me about Lisa seeing some guy named Mike. That’s why I started messing with Val in the first place. I figured things were over with me and Lisa.” I sat back in my chair, fuming.

  “Ohhhh, shit.” Allen and Jay turned to Wil in unison.

  “I was just tryin’ to help,” Wil mumbled.

  “Well, you didn’t. I was gonna go home that night until you came by with that stupid-ass lie. Ask Jay!” I pointed to Jay for confirmation as I gulped down what was left of my tea.

  “Yeah, he did tell me he was going home at Katie’s christening. He even had an appointment with a shrink.”

  “Kyle, man, I’m sorry. If you want me to tell Lisa what I did, I will.” He gestured like he was getting up.

  “Nah, man. It’s not gonna help now. In the long run it’s probably for the best. Val and me are working out pretty good. I just wish I could see my girls more.” I scanned the bar for our waitress ’cause now I needed a real drink. I didn’t see her anywhere so I got up to get my own drink.

  “I’m going to the bar. Anybody want something?”

  “Yeah, but I’ll go with you.” Jay stood up.

  We walked to the bar and ordered our usuals. Jay checked to make sure no one was within listening range. Then he leaned toward me in a conspiratorial whisper.

  “That lie Wil told you, that’s why you let them strip him down in the club last night, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah.” I nodded, looking away from Wil.

  “I figured as much. It all makes sense now. That shit musta really pissed you off.”

  “You can’t imagine.” I took a sip of my drink.

  “You still mad at him?”

  . “Naw, not anymore. I’m just disappointed.”

  “Yeah, I can understand that.” He looked back at Wil and sighed. “What’d you do with the film, man? You know that shit could get him in a lotta trouble if Diane finds it.”

  “Don’t worry. I left it in the camera.” We both glanced at Wil, who had the camera around his neck.

  “Aren’t you worried about Diane seeing them pictures?”

  “Nah, she never goes near that camera. I bet she doesn’t even know how to work it.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right,” Jay laughed. “Man, he’s gonna be hot with you when he sees those pictures.”

  “Fuck ’im. He can’t get no hotter than I am right now.”

  “True, true.” We picked up our drinks and walked back to the table. When we sat down, I glanced across the bar and made eye contact with Lisa for the first time. She immediately looked away.

  I sat and nursed my drink until I just couldn’t take it anymore. There was only so much I could bear, watching Lisa play kissy face with her Latin lover across the room and listening to Wil apologize over and over. Finally I said good night to my boys and carried my black ass upstairs to my room to call Val. I was hoping she wouldn’t still be pissed about me refusing to take her to the wedding. Maybe if I was lucky, she would still wanna come.

  Just as I was about to stick the plastic key in the door, I heard, “Pssst, pssst.” I turned around to see Rose sticking her head out of her room.

  “Kyle, com’ere a minute.” I didn’t hesitate to go to her. Rose and I had actually been pretty good friends at one time.

  “What’s up? You ready for the big day tomorrow?” I smiled.

  “I guess I am. I’m a little nervous, though.” She did look nervous.

  “Yeah, well, that’s to be expected. Don’t worry about it.”

  “How come you’re not downstairs with everyone else?”

  “Lisa showed up with some guy.”

  “Damn, I’m sorry to hear that. Allen told me you were getting divorced. It must be tough.” She didn’t sound like she was very sorry, though.

  “Yeah, well, life goes on.” I glanced at my watch. If I was gonna call Val to come over, I needed to do it in a hurry.

  “You got somewhere to go?” Rose asked.

  “Nah, I just needed to make a phone call.”

  “Oh, too bad. I was hopin’ you might have a drink with me. My girls all abandoned me for some male strip club down the block.”

  “I’d love to, Rose, but I’m not in the mood to sit in that bar with Lisa and her friend down there.” It was too bad, ’cause I coulda used another drink.

  “You don’t have to go downstairs. I’ve got everything we need right here.” She opened her door and I was amazed. The room looked more like an apartment than a hotel room. “This is the honeymoon suite. It’s got a fully stocked bar. You still drink Dewars on the rocks, don’t you?”

  “Yep, that’s my drink,” I smiled.

  “So come on in. I’ll fix you one.”

  “I don’t think so, Rose. What if Allen comes by? We don’t wanna give him the wrong impression.”

  “Oh please, Kyle. No one is coming by. All my girls are tryin’ to get their swerve on tonight and I told Allen it’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding. You know how superstitious he is.” There was something almost sarcastic in her voice when she mentioned Allen, but I figured I must have imagined it.

  My better judgment told me not to, but for whatever reason I accepted Rose’s offer and walked in her room. I did promise myself it would only be one drink, though. No reason to tempt fate. All my boys seemed to be at odds these days. All I needed was for Allen to find me having a drink with his girl the night before their wedding, no matter how innocent things were.

  “Have a seat.” Rose pointed to the sofa as she walked to the bar to make our drinks. I sat down and watched her mix the drinks as she chatted away.

  “You know, Kyle, we never hang out anymore. We used to hang out all the time before you got married. How come we don’t hang out no more?” She walked around the bar and handed me a drink, then settled next to me on the couch. “I made yours a double. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Nope, a double is probably just what I need right about now.”

  “You didn’t answer my question. How come we don’t hang out no more?” I sat back on the sofa and put my feet up on the coffee table.

  “Probably ’cause for the past seven years I’ve had a wife and kids. Then, of course, you and Allen hooked up, and well, I just didn’t wanna give anyone the wrong idea.”

  “You sure are worried about what other people think, aren’t you?”

  “Perception is what people judge you on, Rose. You might wanna remember that after you get married tomorrow.”

  “So you think me and you hanging out would be perceived the wrong way?”

  “There is no doubt in my mind it would be taken outta context. And you know it too. Stop tryin’a play dumb.”

  “Yeah, you’re right, but that’s not the real reason we stopped hanging out.” Rose stretched her legs out on the coffee table. I couldn’t help but notice her robe only covered the top half of her thighs.

  “Oh no? What’s the real reason then?” She leaned over and I could see one of her nipples through her opened robe. I’m embarrassed to say it, but my manhood stiffened a little.

  “The real reason is every time we hung out back then we’d end up in bed.” She looked at me and smiled wickedly. Everything she had said was true. For some reason back in those days, she and I had always been quick to get naked whenever everyone was gone. Shit, one time we did it in a lifeguard chair on the beach in Far Rockaway.

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I thought about the many times we’d slept together before Lisa and I met. Truth is, Rose was the best lover I’d ever had until I met Lisa.

  “Stay right here. I wanna show you something.” She ran toward what was probably a bedroom and ran back smiling. “Do you think Allen will like this?” She held out a sheer white teddy.

  “Yeah, it’s nice.” I said, certain he w
ould like it. But I guess my answer wasn’t sufficient, ’cause she frowned like I insulted her.

  “What you need is a visual.” In one fluid motion she let her robe fall to the floor and she was naked. I almost choked on my drink, and before I knew it, my manhood jumped straight to attention like it had a mind of its own.

  “Wh-wh-wh-what are you doin’?”

  “Please, Kyle, you act like you never seen me naked before.” It amazed me how vain she was. “And if you got a problem with it, why you starin’ so hard?” She was right. I was staring like this was the first naked body I’d ever seen. I couldn’t help it. Rose’s body was much nicer than I remembered. She’d definitely put on weight in the right places. Thank God it only took her a few seconds to put on that nighty.

  “Now what do you think?” She struck a sexy pose.

  “Oh it’s nice, real nice.” I took a huge gulp of my drink and decided that it was about time for me to go. I stood up, but Rose took exception.

  “Where are you goin’?” She took her hand off her hip and frowned.

  “I think I’m gonna go to my room.”

  “Oh, don’t do this. The least you can do is finish your drink. Please?” She gave me this sad look.

  “Sorry, Rose, I didn’t come here to see you take your clothes off.”

  “Come on, Kyle, I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to offend you. Just stay and finish up your drink. Please?”

  I was about to say no, but that’s when I heard the unmistakable laughter of Wil and Diane outside the door. They were probably headed for their room, so now was not a good time to be leaving Rose’s suite.

  “Aw’ight, I’ll stay. But after I finish this drink, I’m outta here.”

  “Okay,” Rose smiled.

  I sat back down and Rose walked over, sitting down beside me. She laughed out loud before taking a long sip of her drink. “Ya know, it’s funny how things work out. Tomorrow I’m getting married to your best friend.”

  “What’s so funny about that?” I was still trying to get over the fact that she was half-naked.

  “Eight years ago I woulda done anything to marry you.”

  “Huh?” I raised my eyebrows and turned so that we were face to face.

  “Don’t act like you didn’t know. You knew I liked you.”

  “No offense, Rose, but you liked a lot of people back in those days. Especially Jay.”

  “Jay? Please. The only reason I liked Jay is ’cause everyone else liked Jay. You were the one I wanted to be with. You just never took me serious. Other than in the bedroom, that is.” I took a sip of my drink. How the hell could she have expected me to take her seriously when she was banging half of South Jamaica? But she did have me intrigued now that my erection had gone down and I’d gotten past the fact that she was sitting next to me half-naked.

  “So why did you want me over Jay? I mean, I’m just a short, ugly, dark-skinned guy.”

  “You need to stop. You are not ugly and you know it. And as far as picking you over Jay, there was no contest. Everyone knew you were gonna be successful, even back then. You just wanted it more than anyone else did. And then of course there’s ... well, you know.” She smiled.

  “No, I don’t know.” I knew what she meant, but it’s always good for the ego to hear it out loud.

  “Look, I’m not tryin’ to give you a big head, but you was the bomb in bed.” She said it like it was a fact, and I smiled.

  “Ohhh, so Jay was a dud in bed?” I looked at her with a smirk.

  “No, no, that’s not true. Jay could sling some dick. But you had that tongue thing goin’ on. I never met anyone who could go down on me like you. I’m surprised that white girl was willing to give you up so easy.” She looked down at my glass with a smile. “Another drink?”

  I had to think about that a second. She’d behaved herself since dropping her robe so I was sure I had things under control. And if she did try anything stupid, I knew where the door was. So I agreed. Truth is, I was enjoying myself.

  Rose and I talked and drank to old times for the better part of two hours before I dozed off on the sofa. I guess the fact that I’d seen her in that teddy, or naked for that matter, was on my mind, because I had a dream about her. It wasn’t your ordinary, garden-variety dream either. This was a wet dream, a very wet dream. Rose and I were on a Caribbean beach. I was standing naked with my toes in the water while she was on her knees doing her thing. I mean damn was she doing her thing. She was doing her thing so well I woke up moaning, and when I opened my eyes, my shirt was unbuttoned and my fly was down and she was doing her thing for real.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I jumped up on the sofa, my eyes wide with disbelief and my penis hard as a rock. To say I was confused was an understatement.

  “Come back here. I was just gettin’ started.” She tried to pull me toward her.

  “Not with me you’re not.” I didn’t wanna think about how some shit like this would impact on my friendship with Allen. I just wanted to get the hell outta there and as far away from Rose as possible. I rushed to the door with her hot on my heels. I think she finally realized I wasn’t with the program when I grabbed the doorknob.

  “Kyle, come back. We need to talk.” All of a sudden she didn’t sound so confident.

  “Talkin’s what got us into this.”

  “We need to keep this between you and me.” Like I needed to be told that.

  “Who the hell did you think I was gonna tell? Allen?” I opened the door and my worst nightmare was right before my eyes. Wil’s wife Diane was pushing her daughter Katie in a stroller down the hallway. She hadn’t seen me yet, so I tried my best to close the door, but it was too late. She turned her head my way and grinned from ear to ear like she’d just hit Lotto.

  “Well, Katie. I guess I can’t get mad at you for not wanting to sleep.” She turned the stroller toward me. “Say hi to Uncle Kyle and Aunt Rose, Katie.”

  “This isn’t what you think, Di.” I turned and looked at Rose wearing that teddy, then down at my unzipped fly. I could only imagine how sleazy this looked to Diane. How the hell was I gonna explain this?

  23

  Wil

  “Wil! Wil! Get up, baby! Get up! You’re not gonna believe this!”

  Diane’s voice was full of excitement as I felt the lights come on, glaring even through my closed eyelids. I was half asleep so I tried my best to ignore my wife. With any luck she’d think I was in a deep slumber and leave me alone, but that idea was shot to hell when my son Teddy started to stir next to me. He’s a real light sleeper so I pulled the covers over his head, hoping the commotion wouldn’t wake him. I tried to be slick, moving the covers as subtly as I could. Unfortunately I wasn’t smooth enough. Diane saw me move and started shaking me. She always did shit like that when I was getting some really good sleep. I opened my eyes and glanced at the clock radio.

  “Di, it’s three o’clock in the morning. Why aren’t you asleep?”

  “Katie wouldn’t go to sleep so I ...” She stopped herself in midsentence. “That’s not important.” She took a breath. “Guess who I just saw coming outta Rose’s room?” She sounded just like a little kid getting ready to share a really juicy secret.

  “I don’t know, Di. Who?” I asked wearily.

  “Kyle!”

  “So?” I rubbed my eyes.

  “So? He was in there messin’ with Rose.” I was beginning to become annoyed that she had woken me and now she was talkin’ some crazy shit.

  “No, he wasn’t. Now can I go back to sleep?”

  I lifted my head and looked at my wife. I was positive she was making something out of nothing. That’s what she did. She just couldn’t help herself. She loved drama and always had to be in the middle of it. The only problem was when she was in the middle of it, I always seemed to be placed there too. Like earlier tonight, not only did she tell Lisa that Kyle was seeing Val, which I told her not to do, but she had to hook Lisa up with John Hernandez, a Latino brother from work. Can yo
u imagine what Kyle would have done if he’d known it was my wife who had hooked his lady up with her new man? I don’t even wanna think about the consequences.

  “Yes, he was messin’ with her.” Di folded her arms like that was supposed to mean something.

  “Okay, Di, whatever you say.” It was late and I wasn’t about to argue with her at three in the morning. I laid my head back down.

  “Well, are you gonna go tell Allen or am I?” She was not about to let me end this conversation so easily. I sat up and shot her an angry look.

  “You’re not tellin’ Allen anything.” I had an attitude now. “I told you about gettin’ in my friends’ business, so stay out of it. I’m in enough trouble with Kyle ’cause of you and your big mouth.”

  “But—”

  “No buts, Di. I said stay out of it. I’ll talk to Allen and Kyle in the morning. Go ta bed!” I turned my back to her and refused to answer any of her protests. Diane went to bed like she was told, but as soon as daylight broke, she was back at it again.

  “Wil, are you gonna tell Allen that Kyle and Rose were messin’ around last night? I think he needs to know before he walks down that aisle.”

  “What exactly did go on last night, Di?” I was rested enough to hear her story now.

  Diane explained her side of the story, which was basically that she caught Kyle and Rose having wild sex in the hallway. I very seriously doubted her version of events. Even if Kyle and Rose were stupid enough to do the nasty, they’d never be dumb enough to do it in the same hallway where the entire bridal party was staying.

  “Well, are you gonna tell Allen or what?” she asked as soon as she finished her story.

  “I’ll take care of it, Di,” I told her with finality. I refused to discuss it anymore until I got a few more hours of sleep.

  The wedding wasn’t until one that afternoon, but I was supposed to meet Allen, Jay, and Kyle at nine for what would be Allen’s last breakfast as a bachelor. When I woke up, I figured I had enough time to see Kyle and get the real story. I doubted there was much truth to my wife’s story. I dressed Teddy and told Di I’d be back soon. That way I could visit Kyle’s room and find out from him what the hell was really going on. And of course, I could apologize once again for having such a big mouth. I hated the thought of not telling Diane everything, but I had to face reality and stop opening my mouth around my gossiping wife.