Bi-Satisfied

by Nikki-Michelle

  I bounced my ass back against him while he pumped into me. All the while Michael was driving me to the brink of orgasmic insanity with his mouth.

  Well into the night, that was what we did. We stopped only to eat and drink. Laughed and joked around about creating our own hedonistic den. Michael called room service and asked for more towels, then placed the DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door.

  For hours we went at one another. Me on David. David on me. Me on Michael. Michael on me. David on Michael. Moans and grunts of exhilaration filled the room. Phone calls went unanswered. Texts and voice mails were ignored. We locked ourselves in a hotel room and binged on the drug called sex.

  David and I woke up the next morning to find we had been snowed in with the rest of Atlanta.

  “Damn. I didn’t think it would get this bad,” David said as he turned on the TV.

  “Me either,” I agreed.

  I stood in front of the couch in a white bath sheet, with my hair still wet from the shower. While David and I stressed about whether we would be able to make it home, Michael laughed at Atlanta coming to a standstill due to two inches of snow.

  “In New York my kids would still be on their way to school, and the expressways wouldn’t look like a car lot with cars all over the place,” he commented as he ate the breakfast we’d ordered.

  “Don’t act like you’re not from down this way. You know we don’t get snow but every once in a while. Nobody was expecting this shit for real,” David responded.

  I added, “Right. I’m mad that only certain counties had the wherewithal to close down their schools, though. There are children stuck on the side of the highway in the cold. That’s unacceptable—”

  “Still,” Michael noted, cutting in, “y’all let a few inches of snow shut the whole city down.”

  “It’s not about the snow. It’s about the fact that the tires are melting it, and then it’s turning into ice,” David explained, defending our hometown. “I guess since you’ve been in New York for the past ten years, you consider yourself an expert on driving in the snow.”

  Michael and David kept talking, while I went back to watching the news. I shook my head at all the people stranded on 75, 85, 285, and I-20. It was a mess. Atlanta had been turned into a winter wonderland, an unwelcomed one, but a white wonderland nonetheless. I walked over to the window and looked out. Saw a few guests trying to get the shuttle bus to take them somewhere, to the airport, I supposed, but it wasn’t happening.

  I turned around and asked David, “Are we going to try to drive home?”

  He scratched his chin. His five o’clock shadow was coming in. “I don’t know. Let me walk down and see how bad it is out there first. Not trying to have you stranded on the side of the road and not be able to make it to you,” he told me.

  “Okay. Hold on, then,” I said.

  “Why?” David asked.

  “I want to walk down with you. I have a bag in the car with gym clothes I can change into,” I answered.

  He nodded, then stood and grabbed his shirt. I quickly pulled on my clothes from the day before. I looked nothing like the well-put-together businesswoman I’d arrived as. I was as disheveled as a woman could get. David’s locks swung haphazardly around his shoulders. His dress shirt was untucked. Eyes were still droopy. Our appearance got curious gazes as we strolled hand in hand down the hall to the elevators.

  “What are we doing?” he asked me once we got in an elevator and the elevator doors closed.

  I looked up at him as he leaned back against the mirrored wall, and then I went over and stood between his legs. “What do you mean?” I asked him.

  “This thing with Michael . . . What are we doing?”

  “Having fun. Exploring another realm of sexual satisfaction.”

  “Are we? Is this for fun, or are we going to make this a habit? Will we do this every time he comes to town? He’s opening a shop here. Is this going to be an ongoing thing? We’re going to be a married man’s mister and mistress?” After he asked that, he quirked a brow, with a bemused expression that made me laugh.

  “So you want to stop? We can stop. We can get another hotel room—”

  “In the same hotel?”

  “We can brave the cold and walk down the street and get another one and stay there until we can get home.”

  David chuckled as the elevator dinged. We got off, headed outside, where the cold had its way with us. David shoved his hands in his jeans pockets while asking the valet for the keys to our cars. I pulled my coat tighter and tried to duck the blowing wind. David showed the valet our tickets and told him we needed to grab some things from the cars. It was so cold, my ankles felt frozen as I walked in my heels. I was a fan of the cold, but not the freezing kind. David had to hold my hand so I wouldn’t fall. We made it to my car, and I grabbed my bag. David had a gym bag in his truck too, so we rushed to get it. We stood at his truck, touching and kissing, until the cold forced us back inside.

  “Seeing you with Michael was different,” I said to David as we walked into the lobby. I figured we may as well talk about the bisexual elephant in the room. It’d been on my mind all night and since we woke that morning. David hadn’t mentioned it, and I figured that was because he was waiting for me to.

  “Different, huh? Is that good or bad?”

  I glanced up at him. Watched the seriousness on his brown face. There was that vulnerability again. He was genuinely worried about what my reaction was going to be. Wanted to know if I saw him in a different light.

  “I don’t know, honestly. That look of complete baffling satisfaction on your face when you’re with Michael . . . I don’t do that for you.”

  “Is that what you think?”

  “Yes. I watched the way your body moved. Watched the way you were into him. The way you touched him. The way you kissed him. You do with and to Michael what I’ve never known you to do with other men.”

  “You haven’t seen me with other men.”

  “No, but I’ve seen you interact with them while they flirted with you. You’ve told me you don’t kiss other men. You kiss Michael, and you’re very into it. You’re intimate with him beyond the sex.”

  He shifted his weight to his other foot as we stood off to the side. “Because I know him. We established more than a sexual relationship. We became friends. He’s one of my best friends besides you. I was with him back then the way I’m with you now. So, yeah, when it comes to sex with him and me, I was honest with you. I told you it was intense between him and me. It’s always been that way.”

  I was quiet as I looked around the place. There were a lot of angry people. Some were mad that they were going to miss their flight because of the driving conditions. Others were angry that they couldn’t make it to engagements they had planned. And there David and I were, talking about his sexuality and how it made me feel. More than anything I would always love and respect him for being open about his sexuality up front. Would I ever get to the place where I wouldn’t feel too insecure to be with him? That was still up in the air.

  We walked back to the elevators. Got on one with a woman who couldn’t keep her green eyes off David. He chuckled at her brazen attempt to get his attention as he held my hand. She was eyeing me with a smirk, trying to rile me up. I was eyeing the man who I’d assumed was her husband since they had matching wedding bands. I’d been friends with David long enough to know what to look for when it came to men wanting him. The blond male with the movie star looks was trying to make eye contact with David too. The man’s cheeks were flushed, and his breathing had changed. I laughed low. Looked up at David and saw him watching me.

  I was about to say something snide. Something loud enough for the woman and her husband to hear, but David planted his lips against mine and put a stop to all of that. I knew he knew the husband had been watching him. But his kiss put me at ease. Most of the time when people thought of down-low men, they thought only of black men. I knew better.

  Once the elevator stopped, David and I
stepped off, and I left behind the wife who didn’t know her husband was attracted to men. We used the extra key card Michael had given us to let ourselves back in the room. Housekeeping had been by, judging by the made-up bed and the cleaned room, and Michael had left a note that he was in the fitness center downstairs. David and I changed clothes. Got more comfortable, since we were going to be there for a while.

  David decided to join Michael in the fitness center. I would have gone, but I was really too worn out to do much of anything else. I lay across the bed and flipped through the channels on the TV. Didn’t find anything worth watching. Stopped on Criminal Minds and watched the BAU catch demented killers. Had a lot on my mind. I thought about my parents and decided to call my mother.

  “This is twice now that you’ve called me without me having to call first,” she greeted. “If you and David are fighting again, I’m officially coming there to kick your behind, because I know it’s your fault yet again,” she joked.

  “Ha-ha, Mama. No, we’re not fighting.” I laughed.

  So did she. “So, what’s going on? You two snowed in?”

  “You can say that. We came to visit a friend that had come to town last night and got stuck at their hotel,” I told her.

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Well, at least it’s at a hotel, and not on the side of the road, like all those people stuck out there.”

  “True,” I said and then got up the nerve to ask her what I really wanted to know. “Mama, may I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “How is it to love a man like Daddy?”

  “I’m not sure what you mean,” she said. The noise, the clanging of the dishes going on in the background, stopped.

  “Daddy being bi . . . his sexuality and all. How do you love a man like that?”

  “No matter your father’s sexual preference, Summer, he’s still a man. I love him the same way I would a straight man. Your father is really no different to me.”

  “Did you know he was into men when you first met him?” I asked.

  “No, not at first. There were some things that happened,” she said, then stopped talking and sighed, like she didn’t want to relive whatever those things were. Finally, she added, “There were some things that happened that forced him to tell me the truth. Times were different back then.”

  “So you never had a problem with him being sexually attracted to men?”

  “I did at first. But John gave me security over time. Proved that he could be faithful. He talked to me about his sexuality a lot. Never hid his feelings from me after that big mess we had happen before.”

  “He cheated on you with a man before?” I asked her.

  There was a long pause; then she cleared her throat. “That will have to be a story we’ll have to discuss another day. One that I’m hoping we can—” She stopped talking abruptly, then squealed.

  “Mama, you okay?” I asked her.

  “I have to go. This is your father calling in. Been waiting on his call all morning. I have to go. I love you. Talk later,” she said in a hurry, and then she was gone.

  She left me with more questions than answers. I sent a text to her cell and told her to tell Daddy I loved him and missed him more than anything. Told her to tell him I watched Sons of Anarchy to see Jax so I could pretend it was him I was watching on TV. I tossed my cell on the table beside the bed and then focused back on Shemar Moore chasing a man with a gun. I didn’t even know I’d fallen asleep until my phone started to ring. I didn’t know why I hadn’t changed that stupid ringtone yet. It had been the same since I’d purchased the new phone a little over a month ago.

  I rolled over and snatched up the bloodcurdling, earsplitting device. “Hello,” I yelled into the phone.

  “Um . . . hello?” A little girl’s voice sounded on the other end.

  “Yes, hello,” I replied, eyes still closed, still half asleep. At first I thought it was my brother’s daughter. She was always shy, even on the phone.

  “Daddy?” the little girl inquired.

  I sighed and frowned before sitting up. I looked at the phone to see who it was and saw the name Gemma. Gemma? I looked at the picture on the phone, then had to rub my eyes a bit. That little girl looked so familiar. I knew that face. Knew those eyes. Knew that smile. And it was then that I knew the phone wasn’t mine. I quickly hung up and then tossed it on the bed. The phone rang again, and I backed away from the bed like it was trying to harm me.

  Oh God, I’d answered that man’s phone. His daughter’s eyes staring up at me from her photo started to haunt me. I grabbed both phones and then the room key card. I made a beeline for the fitness center.

  Summer

  “No, Gemma. I left my phone in the fitness center, and a nice lady found it, then turned it in to the front desk,” Michael lied to his daughter.

  He was standing wide legged in the hotel room, looking over the Atlanta skyline as snow fell. I could tell it bothered him that he had to lie to her. I had seen it in the way he frowned at me when I told him what I’d done. Saw in the way he sighed and shook his head from time to time as he spoke with her.

  “Hopefully, I’ll be able to get to the airport in a day or so,” he said, then turned to look at me. It was more like he was staring me down. “If MJ is bothering you that much, Gemma, tell your mother. What do you mean, he doesn’t listen to her? Look . . . go get your brother and put him on the phone. . . .”

  Michael and I kept eye contact as he spoke on the phone. David had taken his flash drive down to the business center to print out some forms for work. After seeing how bent out of shape I was, he’d asked me if I would be okay before he walked down there. I’d told him I would be, and that was how Michael and I had ended up in his room alone.

  “MJ, you have to stop bothering your sister just for the hell of it, okay? She has a major test in science coming up and really needs her time. So let her be.... I don’t care that she’s ignoring you. She has to study. . . .” Michael chuckled. “You don’t get rewarded for doing what you’re supposed to do, MJ, but if you behave, we can talk about it.... Okay. I love you, too, MJ. Put your sister back on.... Okay, I spoke to him. You should be fine now. I love you too. . . .”

  He hung up his cell. Slid it in his pocket. He wouldn’t be fool enough to leave it lying idly about again. I’d be careful when I heard my ringtone again, even though I’d changed it. I’d never been one to want to break up a man’s home, even if it wasn’t so happy.

  “I’m sorry, Michael,” I began. “I was sleeping and jerked awake. Just grabbed the phone and didn’t think anything of it until it was too late.” I’d already explained that to him, but I felt the need to explain—more like defend—myself again.

  “It’s whatever. Be more careful next time. Don’t want my daughter thinking I’m doing something I shouldn’t be.”

  “But you are.”

  He frowned, hard. For the first time Michael looked at me with disgust and not lust. The man who hadn’t been able to keep his hands off me sexually looked as if he wanted to toss me from the window of the presidential suite.

  “She doesn’t need to know it. Gemma is very smart for her age. She could test to be a Mensa if she wanted to. She isn’t stupid by a long shot,” he spat at me.

  “I said I’m sorry, okay?”

  “Whatever, Freckles,” he said as he stalked over to the minibar in the room.

  David walked back in the room. Phone was glued to his ear. I swallowed hard and stared at him. My eyes fluttered a bit. Lips turned down in a scowl.

  “As far as I’m concerned, and I’m being truthful, Chad, I wouldn’t really care if the judge threw the book at him,” David said as he spoke to my boss. “He threatened his wife in court. No way Judge Prichard or Atlanta District Attorney Dixon is letting that go. Up-fucking-hill battle at this point,” he remarked, venting.

  I turned back to study Michael. His whole body language had changed. From the moment he’d stepped foot in ATL, he’d been as smooth as silk
and as slick as oil. He’d been in control. At least until now. Now he looked as if he was about to fall apart at the seams.

  I couldn’t get his little girl’s face out of my head. I took in Michael’s features, his eyes, lips. I remembered his devilish, sly smile. It shouldn’t have been surprising that his daughter looked like him. I shouldn’t have been surprised that she had his eyes, nose, lips, smile, dark chocolate complexion. No, none of that should have surprised me. And it wouldn’t have, had the little girl looked like Michael and not like an exact replica of David.

  Gemma, as Michael had called her, didn’t have any of his facial features. She didn’t have Michael’s eyes. She didn’t have his smile. She didn’t have his lips. Gemma had David’s eyes. She had David’s smile. Even down to the dimples in her cheeks, she was him. The little girl looked exactly like her father. Suddenly, my breath hitched. My eyes watered, and I felt like the walls were closing in on me. The little girl had the smoothest chocolate complexion I’d ever seen. And with box braids hanging down her back that were similar to David’s locks, it couldn’t be denied that she had his DNA.

  The pained expression on Michael’s face confirmed it. He’d known I’d seen her face as soon as he yanked the phone from my hands. I’d found his weak spot. Found the secret he didn’t want to be known. I needed air, needed to be outside of that room so I could breathe. As crazy as the situation was between David and me, there were certain things that kept me sane. There was a reason I was so content in the game he and I played.

  I knew that he would never love another woman as he did me. I knew that even when he gave in to his sexual desires and found sex elsewhere his love for me kept him from getting emotionally attached to anyone else. But . . . David had a child. A daughter, whom Michael had been raising as his own. David had a secret that he didn’t even know about.

  Suddenly, I was angry at Michael’s wife. No way she could look at her daughter and not know she belonged to David. The similarities were too strong. Not only had she cheated on her husband with his best friend, but she’d also committed the ultimate act of deception. I quickly made my way to the door.