“Mandy? Do you want to hear this?” I hand Mariah a box of tissue and she gives some to Mandy.
“Do you want him to stop, Mandy?” Madison whispers.
“Give me a moment,” Mandy whimpers.
“Are you happy to see your wife like this, Twerp?” Evelyn asks.
“Stay out of this,” Russell hisses.
“No. My friend... my sister... is in pain. Look at her.”
We sit quietly while Mandy sobs. Finally, she calms and says, “Go on.”
Joshua sighs. “I stopped her before I... lost control... and she straddled me.”
“No condom?” Marcus asks.
Joshua shook his head. “I thought it was my wife. We don't use them.”
Nathan looks at Joshua with disbelief. “How do you not know the feel of your wife? You've been with her how long? Twelve years?”
“I don't know,” Joshua shrugs.
“Finish,” Tom snarls.
“She straddled me and she um, was uh... aggressive. She whispered she missed me and that she was glad I remembered what she liked.”
Mandy gasps.
I raise my eyebrows. Remembered? It's someone he's slept with before.
“What were you doing to her?” I ask.
Joshua closes his eyes and entwines his fingers to his mouth, “Using my mouth and fingers, while she, uh, stroked me.”
“You sucked her nipple and circled her clit while she rode you?” Madison asks, bluntly. I like her.
Joshua reddens as he nods.
“In rhythm?” Madison asks as she narrows her eyes at Joshua.
“Um...yeah.”
“She was on top?” Mandy croaks out.
Joshua nods again. Mandy tilts her head at him and scowls.
“What is it, Mandy?”
“My favorite position; he's never let me.”
“Let you be on top?” Mariah asks.
“Yes. He says he hates it. But he fucks another woman, and it's okay.”
Oh, this is not good.
Madison turns to Mariah and whispers to her. Mariah tilts her head at Marcus and frowns.
“No, not while I'm on top,” she says quietly.
“I remember Adam saying Marcus gave him a tip on how to 'love' me while I was heavily pregnant with AJ. If he shared with Adam, then I know he and his brothers have as well,” Madison mutters looking between her husband and his brothers. “Marcus doesn't do that, so that must mean you did because you do,” she says to a befuddled-looking Matthew and an even more confused Joshua.
Mental note: find out who this Adam is.
“What? What do I do?” Matthew asks, wide-eyed.
“You told Joshua that move or he told you. You guys have discussed that. You do that to me all the time. That means...” Madison blinks then gasps loudly. “Oh, no... No, Joshua! You didn't!”
“What,” everyone shouts as Joshua pales.
Madison shakes her head and moves to whisper in Mandy's ear.
“What?” Mandy screeches, sitting straight up in her chair. “Are you sure?”
“Ninety-five percent,” Madison says staring at Joshua. “Ask him.”
Mandy looks at Joshua, “Did you fuck Sidra?”
Chapter Five
Revealed
“Sidra?” Marcus asks, looking at his youngest brother. “It was Sidra?”
Joshua looks at the floor, jaw clenched.
“So it's true?” Matthew scowls.
“Why do you care, Matthew?” Madison snarls.
“I don't, Smooch. Well, I find it... odd he'd fuck a woman I had been with.”
“Joshua?” I call to him.
Joshua nods. “It was Sidra.”
“Okay, so who is Sidra?” I ask.
“Sidra is Matthew's ex. He was engaged to her for like twelve minutes back in 2018,” Evelyn snarls.
“More like eight hours,” Matthew corrects. “She was pregnant, it wasn't mine and I dumped her. Why she would be fucking my brother, I have no idea.”
“We are night and day!” Mandy screeches. “How the hell could you have mistaken her for me, Joshua?”
“It was dark and I was half sleep, exhausted. Why would I think anyone but you was coming into the office to have sex with me? In Matthew's office! Come on, Mandy... it wouldn't have been the first time!”
Mandy frowns. “I thought she was happily married.”
“Sidra and Von were having trouble. Von was away a lot and Sidra thought he was cheating. She told Von about the fling she had.” Mariah points to Joshua. “I had no idea it was him. Danny has no idea either.”
“Danny?” I ask.
“My cousin, Sidra's brother,” Mariah explains.
“She thought it was going to be Matthew in that office,” Madison says, glaring at Matthew.
“Don't look at me like that, Smooch. I'd know it wasn't you; sleepy or drunk, whatever. I wouldn't have.”
“Damn right, you wouldn't. Rooster to a hen,I meant that.”
“What happened next, Joshua?” I ask, shaking my head.
He sighs heavily. “I came and she went.”
“Then how do you know it was this Sidra person? Did she realize it was you and not Matthew?”
“When she got up, she went into the bathroom. She took forever in there so I went in, still thinking it was Mandy. I opened the door and there she was fixing her hair. I just stared at her. She laughed and said 'if you don't tell his wife, I won't either.' I told her that was me and she paled. She apologized and cried. I felt like total shit.”
“And the baby?”
“She came to see me, about a month ago. That's when I told Mandy what happened.”
“But in the interim, you decided to keep it to yourself and told no one?”
He nods. I sigh.
“Not one soul did you tell?”
Joshua remains silent.
“I meant what I said about the lying, Joshua. Do you want to salvage your marriage?”
“Yes, he does,” Marcus glares at his brother.
“Let him answer, please, Marcus.”
“Answer her, Twerp,” Matthew snaps.
Joshua glares at his fingers. “I don't know...” everyone gasps, including me, “...how to live without her,” Joshua whispers.
Angry glares shoot Joshua's way. Broad statement, I think. I am about to ask a question about that statement when Ethan beats me to it.
“How to live without whom?”
Joshua frowns at him. “What?”
“You said, 'I don't know how to live without her.' You don't know how to live without whom?” Ethan asks.
“My wife, fucker! Who else?”
“I agree with Vicky. You should be more forthcoming. Literal.”
I nod. “Is there anything else you all want to work on? Outside of what's been discussed, that is.”
Silence.
“Okay, how about this, if an issue comes up, we'll discuss as needed. Sound good?”
More nods.
“Great. Let's start with Mandy and Joshua. Mandy, do you accept Joshua's version of that fuck?”
All heads turn to me. They all gape at me wide-eyed.
“What? Is there something wrong?”
“You said 'fuck', Vicky.”
“So have most of you at one point or another, Thomas.” I cross my legs and smile. “Thought I was too much of a 'lady'? In my line of work, you have to be tough and let your clients get to know you first, to trust you. I think you guys do. You all have gotten extremely personal after only knowing me for an hour. A therapist has to follow their patient's lead; otherwise,you'll end up in a corner crying your eyes out over the heartbreaking state of people's lives. You're here because you love Mandy. You've stayed because you want to help her and Joshua in any way you can. Understand?”
They nod.
“Besides, that's what it was. Now, Joshua... about that fuck: I'm not buying it.”
“Excuse me?” he says, raising his brows.
“There are se
veral inconsistencies in your version of events. If it wouldn't hurt Mandy so much, I'd give this Sidra a call and have her high-tail her ass over here.”
“What are you talking about, Vicky?” Mandy asks, frowning.
“Well, the first thing is, Joshua says a woman whispered to him 'I thought I'd find you in here.' Do I have that right, Marcus?”
“Yes,” he replies, icily.
“Had you and Mandy had sex in Matthew's office before, Joshua?”
Silence.
“Mandy?”
“Hell no; only in his office and the, uh...” she names something, but it was whispered and I didn't hear it.
“I'm sorry, where, Mandy?”
“The conference room,” she groans, then puts her head on her knees.
“All right, Twerp!” Matthew chuckles.
“Excuse me, Vicky,” Katherine sighs. She walks over to her middle son. My eyes widen when she smacks the back of his head and he grins.
“Love you, Mommy,” Matthew sings.
I make a note to get back to that and chuckle with the others.
“Okay, she commented that you remembered what she liked.”
“Yes.”
“Uh-huh. And Madison recognized the position you were in; the moves.”
“Yes.”
I shake my head. “You know what that tells me, Joshua?”
“No, what?”
“It tells me you knew from the moment she said ‘I knew I'd find you here’ that she was not your wife.”
“I didn't know it until I went in that bathroom.”
“Joshua,” I say, shaking my head. “I agree that you did not know it was Sidra. I disagree it took you that long to figure out it wasn't your wife.”
Silence.
“Did you cup Sidra's breasts before you sucked the nipple?”
He stares at me.
“I'm going to assume that's a yes. No offense Madison, but Matthew?”
“Uh, yes?”
“The ratio between Mandy's breasts and Sidra's, size wise...”
He looks at his wife, who nods and looks at her fingers.
“Oranges and grapefruits,” Matthew murmurs.
“Are you telling us you didn't know the difference between the size of grapefruits and oranges, Joshua?”
Silence.
“And that 'remembered' remark. That raised no red flags for you? You were so intent on satisfying 'your wife'that you didn't think that was an odd comment for her to make? When was the last time for the two of you?”
Joshua says nothing, so I look to Mandy.
“The night of the Mateo's birthday party,” Mandy says quietly.
“January eighth,” Ethan mumbles.
“And it's already May sixteenth; sounds like the timing is the only thing you got right, Joshua.”
Silence.
“Tell us, Joshua. How was your sex life?”
“Fine,” he mutters.
I smirk. “’Fine,’ okay. Marcus? How's your sex life?”
“Frequent and exciting,” he grins. “Exhausting.”
Mariah blushes.
“Matthew?”
“Indescribable. I mean that in the best way possible.”
Madison smiles.
“Tom?”
“Exhausting, exciting, frequent,” he laughs.
“Ethan?”
“All of the above,” he smiles at his wife.
“Russ? Care to change your answer?”
“All of the above.”
“Nathan?”
“Better than everything these guys said.”
“Thomas?”
“Ew,” Mariah murmurs. A chuckle goes around the room.
“Amazing.”
“Stephen?”
“Never better.”
I smile. “So there are no complaints from any of you?”
“Just that the parents don't take the kids enough,” Marcus laughs.
That draws a laugh from all of us.
“That's probably because they're having 'amazing, never better' sex, Marcus,” Nathan chuckles.
“Damn right. And they have twenty-four children between them!” Rachel chuckles.
“Twenty-four, wow,” I murmur.
“And two more coming, as you can see,” Thomas smiles.
I look around; Mariah and Alissa with swollen bellies.
“Three,” Madison mumbles.
“Well, it's possible that's not Joshua's child,” Katherine says.
Madison looks at the floor. “Four, then.”
I raise my brow and look at Matthew, who sits straight up then looks from one brother to another, around the room then settles on his wife.
“Smooch? Are you pregnant?”
“Yes,” Madison says quietly. “November twenty-eighth. If you look at Marcus, I will kill you; slowly and painfully.”
Matthew laughs as Marcus and the other men slap his back. Their women glare at them, shaking their heads.
“They always do this,” Lisa murmurs. “Like that one successful swimmer does all the damn work.”
I chuckle. “Congratulations, to all of you.”
The men sit back down and Matthew beams at his wife, who smiles then rolls her eyes at him. Hmm.
“So we have 'exciting, frequent, exhausting, amazing, indescribable’ and ‘all of the above’. Care to change your answer, Joshua?”
“I mean, it's fine. I don't have a complaint.”
“What was your sex life like before Mandy?”
“Fine.”
I drum my fingers on my knee and glare at Joshua. Guess he needs to be treated like his father. Fine, let’s do this.
“How old were you when you married Mandy?”
“Twenty-eight.”
“And how old was Mandy?”
“Twenty-four.”
“Did you have sex with Mandy before marriage?”
“Yes.”
“How old were you the first time you had sex?”
Silence. Joshua glares at me. I glare back.
“Uh, Vicky,” Marcus says.
I hold up my hand, not breaking my glare with Joshua.
“Are we going to glare at one another for the rest of the session?”
“Twelve,” Joshua murmurs between clenched teeth.
A sharp gasp goes around the room.
“What? Did he say... twelve?” Katherine gasps.
I nod, “Why so early, Joshua?”
Silence. Suddenly, Joshua jumps up and leaves the room.
“Mandy, do you know the circumstances of his first time?”
“He lied to me. He told me he was seventeen,” Mandy says, numbly.
I look around the room and note the expressions. Everyone is stunned. Except...
“Marcus?”
He shakes his head and leaves the room.
“I think this is a good time to take a break, everyone. Let's come back in fifteen minutes.”
Mariah pulls out a bag of diced watermelon and quickly starts to eat like it's the last in the world. I smile as I walk to the refrigerator. I look up and see the younger men leaving the room as well.
I sit at my desk, sipping an apple juice and watch the women interact. They seem unconcerned about Joshua's admission, probably convinced the men will encourage Joshua to open up.
Seems like the next hour will be quite something, and I, for one, am curious why Joshua began relations at twelve.
“Cookie, how many children do have?”
She grins. “This will be six, living. I cheated.”
“Cheated?” I smile.
“I have two sets of twins. Boys,” she smiles proudly.
“Wow.”
“Would you like to see them,” Katherine smiles, pulling out her wallet.
I smile back, “Oh, absolutely.”
I have picture after picture thrusted at me.
“What a group of beautiful children. Is this the only girl in the bunch?”
“So far,” Mariah nods. “I hope Sugar a
nd Matthew pull one out this time. My poor Lila needs a female companion.”
“Are you not having a girl, then?”
“No, it's a boy,” she smiles. “It's all the Harvey and Cannon men seem to know how to make.”
Katherine nods. “Evelyn is the last girl, before Lila.”
“Lila has Bella and Kelli,” Lisa says.
“Yeah, but not since Gia and Robert moved to San Francisco, and Kristen and Tony are in L.A.; I was hoping Ella’s new baby would be a girl but…”
“Yeah, what's with all the non-girly sperm?” Lisa chuckles.
“No idea,” Mariah sighs.
I look at my client silently still sitting in her chair. “Mandy? Are you all right?”
“No.”
I stand and go to her. “What's wrong?”
She looks at me. “Is this a pattern? Am I stupid?”
“I don't think it's a pattern, Mandy. Something triggered Joshua into continuing that tryst. I do not believe he's a serial cheater and I don't believe he intended to have sex with Sidra. I do think something happened in his past that made him respond to her. We just need to figure out what and help him work through it.”
“Do you think he was... um...?” Stephen asks.
“Sort of; there is something he's holding back and I don't think it's going to be the least bit pleasant. I hope the others will get him to open up.”
“I blame myself. I shut down most of the time around my boys, but when Joshua was twelve, Marcus was in his second year of college. I just can't understand why he told Marcus and not me.”
“Katherine, no son wants to tell his mother about his sex life, good or bad, especially that young. Let's hope it wasn't too bad an experience for him so we can help him, and his marriage, heal.”
A moment later the door opens and the men are back. They quietly take their seats as a red-eyed Joshua remains standing and stares at me.
I take my seat, never taking my eyes from him, giving him an understanding, sympathetic look.
Chapter Six
Man at Twelve
“You have something you want to say, Joshua?” I ask in my professional tone.
“I was twelve. She was... not.”
“Joshua!” Marcus shouts.
Joshua closes his eyes and sits. He rubs his face then looks at his fingers while he twirls his wedding band.
“Twenty-five, I think,” Joshua whispers.
Matthew's hand clamps his shoulder while his mouth tightens with anger. Katherine gasps and cries. Stephen stands and paces the floor.
Broken: Book One of the M Series Page 7