A Designed Affair

by Cheryl Barton

  “We’re not doing this and you have to leave. Fasten your coat back up and leave. I know what we had in the past and back then I would have been receptive to this, but I don’t know how many times I have to tell you I’m involved with someone and it’s not casual. What you and I had was casual, but even that is now over. You need to understand that and move on.”

  He watched as Shelly left her coat open and pushed it back further by placing her hands on her bare hips.

  “Mike, I know that’s how it started, but you have to admit that we were beginning to develop something special and I want that back.”

  He had no idea what she was talking about.

  “Something special? Shelly we never had anything special going on because it was just sex. We had some fun and now that’s over. You knew the score when we started so this new attitude of yours is new and not welcomed. Fasten your coat and I’ll walk you down and please don’t contact me again.”

  He could see everything he was saying wasn’t getting through as she continued to stand before him with her coat wide open. He watched as she removed her hands from her hips and used them to grip her breasts, trying to lure him in. He had no doubt he was in love with Loren because Shelly’s display was having no effect on him.

  “Mike, you have to admit it was some great sex. I went along with that casual thing until you were ready to be more serious. I figured if you were thinking of being more serious with anyone, it would be me. We were spending a lot of time together and I want that back. I don’t mind that you’re seeing this Loren person. In fact I’m even open to you inviting her to join us for some fun. We talked about adding to our fun and she’s pretty enough that I’d be okay with it.”

  The conversation was not going as he had planned. He now knew how right Loren was. Shelly was indeed a woman scorned and she was covering it by playing the role of seductress. He could now see that he was the blame for Shelly’s current state. Even though he was involved with her strictly for the hot sex, he knew that she was feeling more for him than just sex, but he ignored what he knew was happening. This new Shelly was a lot to deal with. He needed to handle her a little softer so he spoke to her in a calmer voice.

  “Look, I’m sorry if you thought that something more was going on between us. If I led you on in any way I’m sorry and I apologize for doing that. I am involved with someone else and like I said, it’s not casual. It’s the real thing and I’m in love with her.”

  Once he mentioned the word love all color left Shelly’s face. She went from being seductive to being angry.

  “I never had a problem with you seeing other women and I don’t mind now either. I don’t see why this means you and I can’t continue what we had. You don’t fall in love with women, you screw them for sport.”

  “I’m sorry if you thought there was more to what we had, but there wasn’t. I’m in love with her and very happy. I can’t see you anymore and I need you to respect that. Stop following me around and stop stalking Loren. She told me she’s been seeing you at her place of business, at her home and when she’s with me. You have to stop this now Shelly, it’s not healthy. I will never get involved with you again. You need to move on,” he told her.

  He knew the moment her anger began to boil over and he knew he needed to get her out of his condo immediately. He reached for the door to escort her back out and into the elevator. Before he could get far, she let him have it.

  “You are a bastard Mike,” she shouted as she stepped out of his condo and walked toward the elevator, still with her coat wide open.

  “Shelly cover yourself up.”

  She ignored him and once again opened the coat wider by placing her hands on her hips.

  “You think you led me on? Well, yes you did. You men have no idea what it does to a woman to be played with. How dare you treat me like I was nothing to you. I know we were having fun, but I care about you. I fell in love with you and this is how you treat me because you found a new piece?”

  Mike let her speak and she got louder and angrier with every word.

  “I love you Mike and here you are telling me you love someone else.”

  “Love Shelly? We were having sex, not falling in love. What I have with Loren is real, true love. What we had was only sex. That has always been the case. It’s not new and you know it. I understand you’re hurt and I’m sorry about that.”

  “It was only sex to you Mike, but to me it was much more than that and you are a pathetic example of a man for leading me on the way you did. What about all the things you said to me?”

  “Those are things said in the heat of passion Shelly. They weren’t whispers of love. I never once said I loved you and I never led you to believe that we would have anything more than what we had.”

  He watched as her anger turned to uncontrollable rage.

  “Rot in hell Mike,” she said, spitting each word out with such venom, Mike could feel the hatred in each word she spoke.

  She turned away from him, still not closing her coat and pushed the button, wiping her eyes at the same time.

  “You know what they say about Karma Mike, so remember that.”

  Just then the elevator door opened and before Shelly could get in, Mike looked to see Loren standing in the elevator. His world just crashed and the Karma Shelly had just mentioned was visiting him with a vengeance. He didn’t know what to say and he was glued to his spot at the door as he watched Loren try to evaluate the situation before her.

  Loren couldn’t move. The sight before her was a shock to her system.

  She had come to Mike’s condo to take him up on his offer to accompany her to her parent’s house to talk to her mom and dad about their relationship. She originally told him she would do it by herself, but as she began driving to their house, she thought that she would be more effective if they did it together. She turned her car around and headed to his condo, knowing he was heading first to the office to get some work done and then to his condo to wait for her call about how her talk with her parents went. She had tried calling his cell and he never answered so she just showed up since she had a key that would let her off on the penthouse level.

  She used her spare key to the corporate floors of the elevator to first check his office and when she didn’t see him there, she got back in the elevator to catch up with him at home. What she didn’t expect to see when she got to the condo was Mike standing in his doorway and Shelly look as if she was coming from his condo stark naked. Time stood still as she took in the scene, not sure what to make of it. Mike saw her and Shelly recognized her, but no one moved.

  “Well look who we have here,” Shelly said entering the elevator.

  Mike was in trouble when he saw what first looked like confusion turn to hurt on Loren’s face. Before he could get his feet to move, Shelly pushed the button to close the elevator door and turned and smiled at him, still with her hands on her naked hips.

  Shelly thanked Karma.

  “I appreciate the good time Mike,” he heard her say before she once again gripped her breasts just as the elevator door closed with Shelly and Loren together on the inside.

  Fear like nothing Mike had ever felt before overcame him. He tried pushing the button to get the elevator to return and open, but he realized he needed his key for that and he’d put it on the table when he walked into the condo followed by Shelly. He ran into his condo, grabbed his key and ran back to the elevator to see if he could get it to return. When he realized it wasn’t working, he darted for the steps and decided to run down to catch the elevator. He knew luck wasn’t on his side because Karma was in control, but he had to try. He had to know that Loren was okay and that Shelly wasn’t filling her head with lies. Her last show of gripping her breasts and commenting on them having a good time was not what he wanted Loren to thin happened. He needed to get to her.

  Shelly loved how this was turning out. She couldn’t have planned this better if she’d tried to. This so called woman that Mike claimed he loved was in the elevator
and she was sure her mind was going crazy wondering what had taken place. Since they were stuck together in the elevator she couldn’t think of a better time to get her revenge on being tossed aside like trash.

  She proceeded to slowly close and zip her coat over her nakedness.

  “This thing with you and Mike won’t last long. I hope you know that,” Shelly said to Loren.

  Loren noticed she spoke with a lot of attitude and anger.

  “Don’t believe that he is as into you as he says he is. He’s told me the same lies I’m sure he’s telling you. I bet he told you he loved you. He told me the same thing and as a matter of fact, right before he, you know reached his peak before rushing me out, he screamed he loved me and only me. It was exhilarating and hot and sexy. He loves when I show up naked and he was an animal. I’m guessing you’re not satisfying him. If you had shown up a little earlier, we really could have had some fun. We have talked about adding a third and you are sexy enough that I’d go for it. Just don’t think he’s in love with you. Clearly he’s not a one woman man.”

  Loren didn’t respond. She didn’t know what happened between them before she showed up, but it was clear something had and it felt like someone had stuck a knife in her heart and sliced it to pieces.

  “Feel free to go back up and get you some. That man is a stallion, which I’m sure you know. I just want you to know that I’ll be here waiting for him when he drops you like he has other women he was seeing while seeing me. I always end up on top.”

  Loren listened, but still didn’t respond as Shelly spoke. She didn’t want to upset her any more than she already was. She just wanted the elevator to hurry and get to the lobby so that she could get out. She was going to go home and connect with Mike later after the situation cooled off. She knew there had to be an explanation around what she saw. There was no way she was going to believe that what they shared was not real. She loved him and he loved her and she knew it. For now, she needed some space and she wanted to get as far away from this angry woman as she possibly could.

  When the elevator reached the lobby, Shelly turned to Loren and said, “I’ll be seeing you around. Enjoy your time with Mike while you can. I don’t care how long you’ve been seeing each other, he belongs to me. Like I said, I’m not letting you or any other woman take him from me. Let’s be very clear about that.”

  Loren, still never saying a word, watched the woman walk out of the elevator. She waited until the doors were about to close before she exited herself. She was going to head home, but decided she just needed a little air. She decided to walk a block or two to clear her head and to make sure that before she got in her car, she was focused.

  Mike, exhausted from running down flights of stairs decided to try the elevator again when he reached the office level. To his luck, once he put his key in, he heard the elevator move and according to the lit up numbers, it was coming back up from the lobby. Maybe Loren was still in it he thought since he knew she would have parked in the garage and the elevator didn’t appear to go down that far.

  The elevator quickly reached his level and when the doors opened, his heart sank when he didn’t see Loren. He got in and took the elevator to the lobby. The security guard told him that there were two ladies in the elevator and they both exited on the main lobby floor. Mike thanked him and ran out of the door looking to see what direction Loren went in because he needed to talk to her. He didn’t know what Shelly had told her, but he was sure it was a lie. He knew that Loren was probably wondering what Shelly was doing coming out of the condo naked, especially when he knew Loren wasn’t expected to be there. He needed to catch her and do it fast so that they could talk.

  He wasn’t sure how things had gotten out of control. He never took the time to notice how unstable Shelly was. It wasn’t until his conversation today with her that the light bulb started to shine bright over the entire situation. He never meant to hurt her or lead her on. All along he thought they were both having fun when time permitted. He had no idea she had fallen in love with him and that love, not being returned had turned into a dangerous obsession. He felt bad and he wished he knew of a better way to handle the situation. He knew Loren would understand when he told her why he had taken Shelly up to the condo to talk which was so that they could have a little privacy to finally end things. He could only imagine the things that were going through Loren’s mind when she saw them at his condo. All he needed to do was talk to her and let her know that she was right about Shelly being more into him than he was into her. He was sure he would be able to reassure Loren that nothing happened and that Shelly was unstable and it was his fault. He felt sorry for her, but he didn’t know what else to do other than to tell her it was over and that he was in love with someone. Mike went in search of Loren, in the direction the security guard said she headed.

  ~~~

  Loren was walking and gathering her thoughts. She saw the hurt on Shelly’s face and she heard the hurt in her voice no matter how much she tried to cover it with insinuations that she and Mike had just had wild sex. She had once been that same woman so she knew how she felt. She tried to warn Mike that he may have gotten the signs crossed with Shelly. She would walk a block or two to clear her head and then go back in to talk to Mike, when she was sure that Shelly was indeed gone.

  She had walked almost two blocks when she decided to turn around and head back to Mike’s place. As she headed back in that direction, she saw Mike on the opposite side of the street, waiting for the light to change. She noticed the minute Mike spotted her. He looked agitated like he couldn’t wait for the light to change. He waved at her so that she could see and wait for him. She went to wave back until she spotted Shelly in her car looking right at Mike. She was about a half block away from where she and Mike stood, sitting in her car, idling.

  Loren could see clear enough that tears were pouring down Shelly’s face and she could see the black lines of eyeliner as it ran down her face. All Loren could feel was fear. She had a feeling this was about to turn very bad. The way Shelly was looking at Mike spoke volumes and Loren needed to get his attention. She watched as Shelly gripped the steering wheel like a mad woman and when she sped in Mike’s direction, Loren knew what was about to happen. She acted quickly and called Mike’s name to warn him to step back up onto the curb.

  Just as Mike heard Loren call his name and yelled for him to watch out, he turned his head in the direction that she was pointing in and made a split second decision to back up towards the curb just as Shelly veered toward him with her car. Everything that happened next seemed to happen in slow motion.

  He watched helplessly as Shelly looked at him like a crazed woman and turned the direction of her car away from him and headed straight for Loren on the opposite side of the street. Before he could react, Shelly plowed into the crowd standing on the corner with Loren and again, in slow motion, he watched as the car sent everyone on that corner up in the air and down to the street like they were pins being hit by a bowling ball. In the midst of that crowd was Loren. Mike held his breath as he saw Loren laying in the street, her leg twisted at an awkward position, not moving. In all of the mayhem that started to take place, he darted across the street, the short distance to get to Loren, all the while his heart was beating faster and faster. He prayed that she was okay. As he reached her, he also grabbed his phone at the same time and dialed 911.

  “911 operator, how can I help you?”

  “Yes, my name is Michael Bailey and there’s been an accident at the corner of Collier and Peachtree. There are several people here who have been hit by a car and some with serious injuries. We need an ambulance and the police please.”

  He tried to remain calm and not lose control. He needed to stay calm so that he could help Loren and the others.

  “Sir, we have several people also reporting this accident and police and ambulance services are on the way.”

  Mike dropped his phone as he tried to tend to Loren who was not moving.

  “Loren, baby, can
you hear me? Don’t move. Help is on the way. I love you baby, please be okay,” he pleaded.

  He felt a need to pick up her body and cradle her to him to protect her, but he didn’t because he didn’t know what injuries she had sustained besides the obvious one to her leg, He also noticed a huge gash on the side of her head and it was bleeding very heavily.

  There was screaming and hollering from everyone in the crowd and he could barely hear the sound of the sirens coming to the scene of the accident. He continued to hold Loren’s hand and whispered words of encouragement to her just in case she could hear him. He wanted her to know he was there with her and that he would not leave her. Mike knew in his heart he would never, ever leave her as he silently played for God to spare her life. He didn’t know what he would do without her. He continued to pray until a medic from one of the ambulances asked him to step aside so that he could tend to Loren to assess her injuries. He didn’t want to step away or leave her side, not even for a minute, but he knew he had to so that they could work to save her life.

  ‘God please let her be okay,’ Mike said to himself over and over.

  While the medics worked feverishly on Loren and the others who were hit, he looked to where Shelly’s car had come to a rest after hitting a pole. She was being pulled from the car by the police. As she was pulled out, she looked right at him, with her tear stained face and simply said, “I’m sorry.”

  He didn’t care if she was sorry or not. All he knew was she had turned his world upside down by her senseless act. No amount of saying she was sorry could ever fix what she had caused. In her anger and hatred, she had run down a dozen people, not caring about anyone’s life. He watched as she was placed in a police car and then they headed in his direction. He again looked down as the medics spoke to hospital personnel to let them know the state of Loren’s condition.

  Hearing that Loren was unconscious, critical but stable, Mike knew he needed to contact her family. He watched as the medics prepared Loren for transport to the hospital.