Drunk in Love 2: An Original Love Story

by Tiece D Mickens

  Olivia took in a deep breath then let it out. So, he did sleep with her, she thought with a disappointed shake of the head. “Zay, I don’t need this right now.” She whispered, and then looked around to make sure that no one was looking at her with thoughts that she was crazy. She contemplated sending him a text message back then went against it as another message came through.

  Quit ignoring me, call me back. I was willing to fight for you. That should tell you that I don’t want anybody else and I’ll still fight for you. Just let me in.

  “Zay PLEEEEEASE,” she mumbled through gritted teeth. “He’d definitely hurt her and she felt just as betrayed, but Mark had certainly pulled an unbelievable stunt that had left her way past speechless. Even if she wanted to respond, she couldn’t. There were no words that she could say to anybody except her sister Zoe and so she quickly decided to call her.

  “Hey Sis,” Olivia spoke.

  “Hey Sis, so you’re good?” Zoe asked, feeling relieved to hear from her.

  “I’m getting ready to board my flight in less than ten minutes. I appreciate the trip to Montego Bay. The more I think about it the more I feel that this should be good for me. I need this getaway to clear my thoughts and figure out these feelings for my husband and Zay.”

  “Well, just know that it’s an early Christmas gift, because that trip wasn’t cheap.”

  “You got me staying on a Private Island Resort,” Olivia said with a faint smile. “I already know and I owe you big time.”

  “You just need to unwind and relax. You have a lot on your plate right now. You don’t need to talk to anybody for the next few days. You may say or do something that you’ll regret. You need time to yourself.”

  “I believe you,” Olivia said, starting to tear up again. She looked at her phone as it beeped. It was Zay calling. She ignored it. “I’m just so stressed right now.”

  “That’s why you need this time alone to think things through.”

  Olivia looked at her phone again as another beep was heard. It was Mark calling from the same number he’d messaged her from. She shook her head. If it wasn’t one, it was the other. “You’re right. I need this time alone to fully think about my life and what direction I want it to go in.” She stood up and grabbed her duffle bag and her Coach purse since she was taking them on the flight with her. “Sis, I know mom is going to have questions, but don’t tell them anything.”

  “They need to know that you’re okay.”

  “I know, so tell them that I’m okay. Nothing else big mouth,” Olivia said.

  “I won’t,” Zoe responded with a playful roll of the eyes.

  “Oh and I’m trashing this phone.”

  “What?” Zoe asked with a frown.

  “I’m tossing the phone and I’ll get another one when I get in Atlanta. Think it’s time I get a new number,” she said. “I’ll also need you to do me a favor.” Olivia added.

  “Since I’ll be gone, please call Brittany for me to hold down the salon. I’ll call her when I touchdown and get settled. Just let her know that I’ll be gone on a personal leave.” She said, speaking of her Assistant Manager and lead hairstylist at the salon.”

  “Okay, I got you.” Zoe responded.

  “Thanks and I’ll hit you up with my new contact info.”

  “Okay, and be careful.” Zoe said. “I love you.”

  “Love you, too.” Olivia said as she headed toward her flight that was now boarding. Once ending her call with Zoe, she quickly wiped out her information, and then tossed the phone in the garbage as she passed it. She looked back only once to see that she was now leaving Augusta and she wasn’t coming back until she was good and ready.

  Chapter 3

  Mark had been staying in the Double Tree Hotel. After being interrogated by the local detectives and the Chief of the Fire Department, he needed some rest. He was worn out and stressed to the max. The only thing that brought him some comfort was the fact that they had an accidental Fire Insurance policy on the house, and that saved him from having to come out of the pocket with more unnecessary expenses. Olivia had certainly left him in a bind and he had to do whatever he could to make sure that she would never be implicated in that crazy shit. He was the reason why she’d snapped and he had to deal with it even if it meant taking the blame for everything.

  He rolled over in the bed, feeling exhausted, hurt, and lonely. His woman was gone, and he hadn’t heard anything from her since the day she left. It had been four days and he was starting to look like a lost puppy. He’d been calling his wife for the past three days straight, every hour on the hour, but the phone would only go straight to voicemail. He had no clue where she was and Zoe wasn’t telling it. He’d thought about calling her parents, but he didn’t want to hear any grief. He knew that they’d seen their house on the daily news as it burned down to the ground. In a way, he was glad he didn’t have his phone, so he had an excuse to get a new number. He wanted to know where Olivia was, but he wasn’t about to find out from her parents, either.

  Their salon was being run by Brittany, and she seemed clueless, so Mark did too. He pretended that Olivia needed a relaxing vacation alone since she’d had so much on her plate. That’s all Brittany got from him, but she stepped up and did what she was supposed to do until Olivia returned.

  Mark lay in bed feeling like he’d lost twenty pounds in just that little time. Worrying about his marriage and not being able to contact his wife had him drunk. His beard had grown out and he hadn’t eaten anything since the day before. He found himself tossing and turning, then lying flat on his back. A spot on the ceiling caught his attention as he stared at it. For ten minutes straight, there was nothing. Then overwhelming feelings of fucking up swept over him and kept getting caught up in his thoughts.

  “What have I done? Where is my wife?” he pondered, full of concern. He reached over on the nightstand beside the king size bed and picked up his new Galaxy s4 phone. He dialed Felisha’s number. He didn’t know why he was calling her, but he needed somebody that could somewhat relate, or know what he was going through.

  She answered. “Hello.” Mark didn’t respond. He hadn’t spoken with her since the day the shit went down. He had to distance himself from the madness for a while. “Hello,” she said again, not recognizing Mark’s new number.

  Mark cleared his throat. “Uh… Hey,” he spoke.

  “Hey,” Felisha quickly spoke back. Even though she hadn’t heard from him in a few days she was happy that he was calling now. “How are you?” She started.

  “Not good,” Mark responded. “Have you heard from her? Have you heard anything?”

  “I haven’t heard anything. The last thing I even heard from you was that she’d set the house on fire. I still can’t believe that shit.”

  “Me either,” Mark said, feeling disappointed in himself for letting it even go that far.

  “Why’d you change your number?” She asked.

  “Trying to show my wife that I’m willing to start fresh, even if it’s starting with the change of my number,” he said. “I’ve been calling her and leaving messages, but apparently she’s done the same thing. I know she wouldn’t just allow her phone to keep going to voicemail.”

  “Yeah, that’s probably what she did,” Felisha said. She’d tried to reach out, but she caught the voicemail, too. She didn’t know what she would say, but she sincerely wanted to apologize for things going this far. “So, how are you? You sound like shit?”

  “I could be better.” He said, feeling drained and dead tired.

  “I know that this situation is fucked up, but you have to take care of yourself.”

  “I know,” he said.

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m good,” he said not feeling like it was a good idea for them to be together.

  “Come on,” Felisha said. “I’m probably the only friend you have right now.”

  As Mark sat quietly pondering if he should; she was right. He didn’t have anyone else he could turn t
o. She knew about the situation and could understand him better than anyone.

  “Okay,” he hesitantly said. “I’m at the Marriot, downtown. I’ll text you the room number.”

  “Don’t be playing, either.” Felisha said.

  “I’m not.” Mark said, knowing that’s the only reason why he said he’d text her. He had to be sure that he really wanted her company first.

  “What have you eaten?” She quickly asked.

  “Nothing since yesterday and that was a turkey sandwich on wheat bread.”

  Felisha let out a discouraged breath of air. “Text me the number and I’m coming,” she said, just wanting to take care of her baby daddy while he was down in the dumps.

  “Alright,” Mark said then ended their call.

  He stretched his arms out and sat up on the side of the bed. His feet touched the soft carpet as he stood up and headed for the bathroom. Looking himself in the mirror only made him feel worse. He looked just as bad as he felt. His thick beard had grown out in no time. The stress he was in had to have added to its extensions. His eyes were blood shot red and his face seemed sunken in. It was amazing how in four days things had totally gone from sugar to shit. Here he was suspecting his wife of fucking around on him, when all along, it was his guilty conscience that had him thinking so foolishly.

  “Damn, I really fucked up,” he said while turning on the shower water. He stripped out of his two day old clothes and got inside the shower. He hadn’t had a chance to go to the store to buy anything. Olivia had really fucked him up. Everything he damn near owned was inside of their four bedrooms, three baths family home. The only thing savaged from the fire was his fire proof safety lock box that contained all of his important paperwork, passports, work contracts, and fifteen-thousand dollars in cash. Their pictures, memories of their wedding, their furniture, clothes, and jewelry were destroyed in the fire. Olivia had to be out of her mind. He couldn’t understand what made her flip from being cordial enough to go out of town with him, only to burn the house down afterwards with him in it.

  Standing under the shower, he thought about Felisha. He shouldn’t have called her. A part of him knew that he was definitely making a mistake. Olivia had to be out of town, and for sure was ignoring him on purpose, but he still had no right still seeing Felisha.

  As he let the hot water run down his back, he started having a minor panic attack thinking that he was smelling smoke, but he was just having flashbacks. It was nothing but the steam from the hot water filling up the bathroom.

  “Damn, she got me fucked up.” He thought, and then quickly got out of the shower. He didn’t think that ever taking a hot shower was going to be the same again. Once he’d dried off, he grabbed the hotel robe and put it on. He didn’t have any clean clothes, and at the moment, that was the last thing that he was thinking about.

  He stepped out of the bathroom and lay across the bed, looking over at his phone. Fuck it, he thought then sent Felisha a message containing the room number.

  __________

  Mark had almost dozed off, but hearing a soft knock at the door woke him up. He got up and opened the door. Felisha stood there with a smile on her face. Even though he looked like he had gone through hell and back, he still looked just as handsome to her as he did nine years prior. She loved him, but only if he really knew how much.

  “You look rough,” she teased, walking in past him.

  “You don’t look so bad yourself.” He said, checking out her thick legs and thighs in a pair of skinny leg jeans and a fitted black Aeropostale shirt. She had on a low top pair of Converse sneakers with no socks.

  “Thanks,” she said. “Where are your clothes? Did you lose everything in the fire? I mean, what the hell happened? It’s been four days and that shit is still playing on the news.”

  “Like I don’t know,” he said, having to turn the TV off, because he was tired of seeing it. “Olivia went crazy. We were all good. She was talking about leaving out of the country with me so we could work things out and then the next thing I know, I’m in the shower and I smell smoke.”

  “WHAT?” Felisha asked. “She set the house on fire while you were in the shower?”

  “Yep,” he said. “But, something must’ve set her off. Mark shook his head as he thought back. “Did you call me back after we hung up that morning?”

  Felisha sat on the edge of the bed as she thought back. “I didn’t call you, but I did text you.” She said, looking stupid. “Did you have your phone in the bathroom with you?”

  “I didn’t,” he responded. “DAMN, what did you say?” Felisha shook her head. “You didn’t mention Lil Romeo did you?”

  “Noooooo,” she said. “Are you crazy?”

  “Well, what the fuck did you say? It had to be something that made her go foolish like that.” Felisha looked clueless, but she was no fool. She knew what the hell she’d said. “Well,” Mark said still waiting on a response.

  “I did say something that she wouldn’t have liked,” she said.

  “Why’d you do that? What’d you say?”

  Felisha sat quiet for a moment. “I said that I enjoyed your company and that I’d back off and let you mend your marriage,” she paused. “Or something like that.”

  Mark just shook his head. He knew now why Olivia had gone mad. He stared at Felisha. She always looked completely innocent with her baby face, but she could stir up trouble in a blink of an eye.

  “Why’d you do that? That’s the only thing I wanna know.” He said.

  “I don’t know,” she responded. “All I knew was that you’d gotten caught up and I was just concerned.

  “So you check on me by saying that you enjoyed yourself? She was your best friend first. You should’ve been calling her.”

  “But, you’re my son’s father.”

  “This shit is crazy. The more I think about it, the crazier and crazier it gets.” He said, shaking his head.

  “Come here, lay down.” She insisted, grabbing him by the hand, and then pulling him towards the bed.

  “Nooooo,” Mark said with resistance. “This ain’t why I wanted you here. I just need a friend. Honestly, I just need a friend.” He repeated.

  “Come on. I didn’t come here for that, either. I just want to help you relax. You’re not yourself. I’ve never seen you looking like this. I can even tell that you’ve lost weight in just this little time.” She pulled on his hand, but he still showed no interest in getting in that bed with her.

  “Mark,” Felisha said. “I know what you’re going through. I know it may not seem like I care, but I’ve lost a best friend. Olivia has never been anything but good to me and Lil Romeo. I’ll always love her for that. She even helped me in getting my business started. I’ll forever be in debt to her, but I can’t help who I love. I’ve loved you since the first day we met. I know that may sound crazy, but I have and I still do.” Mark just looked at her, because he’d heard this at least once or twice before, and said in the same way, so she couldn’t have been lying. “I’m only here now as a friend. I won’t try to come on to you. I won’t mention us being together or nothing. I just want to give you a massage. Let me help you sleep.”

  Mark was tired. He hadn’t gotten any rest, and if Felisha could by chance help him with that then he wasn’t going to oppose. “As long as there’s no strings attached.” He said.

  “I promise,” Felisha said, patting the side of the bed.

  Mark walked over by the bed and lay down on his stomach. Felicia crawled up in the bed beside him and lightly straddled his back with her thick thighs. She began to massage him around the neck, moving around the base of his shoulders, and then massaging the top of his back.

  “Mm-mm,” Mark groaned from pleasure. He needed this more than Felisha knew. For the next thirty minutes, she continued to massage him until his moans had grown quiet and the sounds of his light snoring had taken its place.

  Felisha eased out of bed so she didn’t wake him. She grabbed her purse, and then quietly ma
de an exit as Mark slept like a baby.

  __________

  Three hours had passed and Felisha was creeping back inside of Mark’s room. She had bags in hand as she peeked over at him to see that he was still asleep. She sat a few of the bags down on the floor by the bed. She then walked over to the nightstand and removed the chicken and dumpling platter from the Cracker Barrel bag and sat it down. She made sure that Mark’s sweet tea was still sweet as she sipped a little of it from the straw.

  Good, she thought.

  Mark woke up, stretching his arms out. He looked around the room, having to remember where he was at. The smell of the chicken and dumplings had instantly hit his nose. He was definitely hungry.

  “I see you left,” Mark said.

  “Yeah, I saw that you needed underwear, clothes, shoes, and food. So, I got you a few packs of boxer briefs, a few packs of t-shirts, three outfits and two pair of shoes that are all for sure name brand. I know you,” she snickered. “Oh and let’s not forget that I brought you something to eat.”

  Mark smiled. “Thank you,” he said. Even though Felisha was the main one that was causing him problems, she was also the main one there for him while he was in need. He immediately sat up and started eating the roll that was in a separate bag containing the muffins, rolls, and biscuits. He didn’t realize how much he missed food as he ate everything on his plate.

  “Thanks again,” he said with a smile on his face as he looked over at the bags from the mall that contained all the items that Felisha had bought him.

  “You can always count on me.” She said.

  Mark was feeling full and even more exhausted. He’d only gotten a couple hours of sleep while Felisha was gone. He rested his head back on the pillow and before he knew it, he was snoring again.

  Felisha walked over and kissed him on the forehead. She was happy that she could bring some kind of peace his way since the whirlwind he’d endured was about to take him out. She was going to be there for him no matter what. She loved Olivia but she loved Mark more, and that was just the truth. She didn’t know how things were going to be when Olivia made it back, but she was prepared for whatever.