by B. M. Hardin
“You sent flowers, but they say to “My Future Wife Desiree”. My name damn sure is not Desiree! So, who is she?”
“Oh, they made a mistake. Desiree is Terry’s new friend. He’s really feeling her too. He placed the flower order for me when he placed his for her. They must have gotten the names and jobs mixed up that’s all,” Elroy said. “Now baby, I love you. But I have to get back to work.” And with that he hung up.
I looked in my phone for Terry’s number. Terry was Elroy’s good friend. They’d been friends long before I’d came into the picture. They didn’t hang often because Terry was always busy with all of his women. We used to double date with him, a lot, but these days he never bothered to bring them around me anymore, once he’d caught on that I was purposely calling them by the wrong names. I enjoyed watching him explain himself, and Elroy told me that he said that he knew that I was doing it on purpose. I was. And I didn’t care if he knew it.
I looked through my contacts in my phone. Of course Elroy didn’t know that I had Terry’s number. But oh well, he would just have to get over it. I’d known enough information on Terry to do a little search on him at work, and I kept his information close, just in case I ever needed it.
“Hello?”
“Terry this is Serenity. I got the flowers that you were sending to a Desiree.”
“Oh yeah. How did you get them? I ordered her some and you some too for Elroy. Did you get both?”
“No. They must have gotten the names wrong,” I said to Terry and after he said that he was going to call them and complain, I hung up.
I took a deep breath. Okay. Just a little name mix-up. Good. That was a good thing for everybody, especially Elroy. But I’d had to check, just to be sure.
I coached myself to stop overreacting. I wanted nothing more than to be Elroy’s wife and now that he’d proposed, I didn’t want to run him off by showing him a few things about myself that he might not be too fond of. Elroy was as close to husband material as it was going to get. He was rare and one of the best men that I’ve seen around in a very long time. And guess what? He was all mine. So I needed to do whatever I had to do to keep him. And not run him away.
Tearing up the card, I threw it away and sat the flowers next to the other little things that reminded me of Elroy on my desk and got to work. I had a big case coming up and I needed to focus. I needed to win.
~***~
I watched Elroy. I knew that there was something wrong with him, but I didn’t know what it was. I could tell by the way that he was acting. Even the way that he was sitting looked as though he was sitting in a courtroom, waiting on them to sentence him to death row or something. He seemed uncomfortable or nervous.
“What’s wrong baby?” I asked Elroy confused as to why he was acting so distant.
“Nothing baby, I’m just tired. Today was a long day and I’m exhausted.”
Hmm…It was more to it than that, but okay.
“Oh. Well, I can make you feel better. That is if you aren’t too tired for the ride,” I teased, straddled him and I started to kiss on his neck.
“Oh that feels good baby,” he moaned, as I licked and kissed on him. I allowed my mouth to show him how much I loved him and how much I appreciated him. Elroy cooed in my ear and after showing more than enough attention to the top half of his body, it was time for me to take my kisses down low. I knew that was what he was waiting for anyway.
I moved from the couch, to the floor in front of him on my knees. Elroy lifted, slightly, and allowed me to tug on his gym shorts and his briefs. I was surprised to see that his manhood wasn’t already standing at attention. Usually he would have been on hard as soon as I touched him, but I guess tonight I was going to have to put in a little extra work. I didn’t mind. I was better at sex than Elroy was anyway.
As he watched me with a grin, I swallowed it. I showed no mercy on him as I pushed it all the way to the back of my throat. I waited for it to swell to its full potential but it didn’t, so I took it out of my mouth to give it a little tender loving and care. I licked on it a little bit. I spit on it a little more than usual. I stroked it. Kissed the head of it. And even though Elroy was moaning, his penis still wasn’t growing. Damn there wasn’t too much more that I could do to it! I hadn’t ever known a dick to need CPR but looking at how lifeless Elroy’s was, it surely needed something.
What’s wrong with him today?
After a few more attempts and another five minutes or so, finally I gave up.
“Why you stop?” Elroy questioned.
“Oh you noticed? Could’ve fooled me. Why aren’t you getting on hard Elroy? What, you don’t like it?”
“What? I love it. I’m just tired baby. Today, I’m just so tired. It’s work.”
I wiped my mouth and got up from the floor.
“Fine.”
I didn’t care how tired he was, he always felt like getting busy so it just had to be something else. It had to be something more. But I didn’t pressure him about it.
I went to the bathroom to wipe my face and brush my teeth. I hated the taste of it, but I did it because he liked it. I couldn’t help but to wonder what the real issue was. He was using being tired as an excuse. There had to be something else.
Opening the bathroom door, Elroy was standing there, with his shorts and briefs still down at his ankles. I looked down at his main missile with a smile.
“Baby. He’s ready now,” he said and he pushed me in the bathroom, and put me on the counter by the sink.
Okay! Let’s get down then big daddy!
But I still had my eye on you Mister!
~***~
The next time I seemed to come up for air, it was about an hour past time for me to go home. I was more than tired and ready to go, so I gathered my stuff and prepared to leave. I stuck my head into my father’s office, only to find that he wasn’t there. He usually worked later then I did and I was surprised that he was already gone.
Walking out of the building, I checked my cell. I was shocked to see that Elroy hadn't called me. He always called me. I got myself together, made it outside and then I called him once I was settled inside of the car, but he didn’t answer. If he was going to stay over at work, he would have called or texted me. He was used to me working late, so he usually called and at least confirmed that I was still at the office, but he hadn't.
Hmm…
After calling him one more time and getting the voicemail, I texted him and waited for his response. Driving, and once I was only about five minutes or so from my house, finally, my phone started to chime, and I smiled, thinking that he was calling me back but it wasn’t him.
It was Dion.
Dion and I have known each other for a few years. Of course we’d had sex, but that’s all that we were in those days; just sex. He’d wanted a real relationship back then, but I’d just wanted thirty minutes of his time on Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Friday’s. That’s it. No holidays or weekends necessary. But eventually, we didn’t exactly see eye to eye on our little arrangement, and we went our separate ways. We lost touch for a little while, and after running back into each other, we discovered that we made pretty good friends. He was now married, with kids, but he was always my voice of reason. I hated him for it most of the time but I was glad to have him in my corner, especially when it came to trying to figure out men.
“What are you doing Mrs. Ross? Well, soon to be that is.”
“Ugh, don’t say it like it’s a disease or something. And nothing big head. On my way home. What are you doing?”
“Nothing. Packing. Latrice and I are going away for a few days. We’ll be back next week though.”
Dion was a sweetheart. Always had been. He had just come into my life at the wrong time. Had I not been afraid of love back then, he would have definitely been the type of man to hold on to. But he’d gotten lucky. He’d found Latrice. She was amazing and they were a perfect fit.
“I think I saw your boy earlier today,” he said.
“My man. My fiancé. His name is Elroy. You should try calling him that sometimes. And where?”
“He drove past me downtown.”
“Downtown? When was this?”
“Earlier.”
“He was at work earlier.”
“Then maybe he took a break but I’m sure that it was him. His bright red Camaro, with the huge rims for no apparent reason is pretty hard to miss. Ugly. Tacky. But hard to miss.”
I wondered if it was before or after we’d talked earlier that day on our breaks.
“Well, kiss my god-kids for me. I’ll come see them next week, or after you guys get back home. But I’m just getting home. I’m headed in to relax and attempt to cook dinner.”
“You’re cooking? Oh my, you’re going to kill that man! Hey, that might not be a bad thing. Go on and cook him something. That’s the only way you’re going to leave him alone obviously. If he’s dead,” Dion joked and after I cursed him out, we hung up the phone.
Dion used to like Elroy. They used to occasionally chat and share a beer at the beginning of our relationship. But somewhere all of that changed. All of a sudden Dion just started saying that he got the feeling that Elroy wasn’t the one for me. He never told me why. But he was sure that Elroy just wasn’t the man that I needed.
But he was wrong. There was no one that I would rather spend the rest of my life with. Elroy had been good to me. He’d always been there for me and had yet to let me down. So Dion was just going to have to get over it and accept that Elroy was going to be around forever. I would cut ties with him before I ever let go of Elroy. That’s just how much I was in love.
Of course Elroy’s car was there, at my house, but I wondered why he hadn't answered or returned my calls. I hurried inside to find music wailing from the speakers of the radio and the aroma of fried fish was in the air. Well, he surely wouldn’t have heard a ringing phone over any of this mess. I sat down my things and then headed to the kitchen.
I giggled at the sight of him.
Elroy was wearing just a pair of boxers, some sneakers and an apron. He was singing and grinding to the music as he peeled what looked like shrimp in the sink. He had a half-eaten apple beside him. That damn man loved apples!
My mouth started to water. But not for the food. I wanted a taste of Elroy. I almost wanted to be freaky and hop on the counter for a little chef takes advantage of the overworked and stuck-up lawyer role play, but I changed my mind once I smelled my arm pits. I turned up my nose. I was lucky that I didn’t pass out or die! I definitely needed a shower, first, maybe two.
Tip-toeing in his direction, and trying to keep my arms down, finally I reached him. I raised my arm, just enough to tap him on the shoulder. Elroy jumped and turned around prepared to attack but stopped himself once he saw that it was me.
“You scared me,” he screamed over the music, grabbed the stereo remote and turned the volume down.
“I know,” I puckered up my lips to kiss him, and once he laid one on me, I looked around at all of the food.
“And what’s with all of this?”
“I just felt like cooking and I wanted to do something special for my baby. A little seafood night. It’s your favorite. So, relax. Go take a shower. Have a glass of wine, and let Chef El-Baby handle all of this for you. Go take a shower,” he said.
“You said take a shower twice. I must stink huh?”
“Girl, whatchu’ talkin’ bout? You smell like something crawled up under your arm pits and died! If those arms smell like that, I can only imagine what that pussy cat smell like,” Elroy said as if he was some ghetto girl from around the way. He moved his hands, rolled his neck and everything. Then he started to laugh.
“I think you need to pray over the water first. Regular water ain’t going to help you. Some good ole’ holy water just might do the trick. I love you though,” he snickered as I stuck up my middle finger at him. I walked away from him, smiling at all of the food he had prepared.
He always knew just what to do to make me feel special. I was just glad that he was cooking so that I didn’t have to. He was definitely a better cook than I was. I could cook, but I had never bothered to learn to do it as well as others. My mama had always been a stay at home mother and being that she was Latino, of course she loved to cook and loved to teach us how to prepare both American and Spanish dishes. But I never really paid attention. I was too busy eating the food instead of trying to learn how to make it. Sometimes I wished that I had. But lucky for me, I had a man that could cook. So I was fine.
After I showered and slipped on something comfortable, just a pair of panties, I headed back to the kitchen to pour myself a glass of wine just as Elroy had instructed.
“Dion said that he saw you today,” I said, taking the first sip.
“Really?”
“He said that you were driving downtown. Where were you going?”
“Downtown? I didn’t have time to go downtown today. I got off of work, headed to the grocery store and came straight in.”
“He said that it was your car.”
“I’m sure there’s other red Camaro’s with rims in this city. I’m sure there are,” Elroy said, never bothering to turn around and face me.
Hmmm…
“Elroy, I don’t want to ruin the moment, but,”
“Then don’t Serenity.” Finally he looked at me and then walked over to check the crackling grease that was smothering the frying fish.
“It’s just…I don’t know.”
“Everything is fine Serenity. I’m fine. We’re fine. Now, come on, let daddy fix you a plate baby so that we can eat.”
Even though I didn’t want to, I decided to drop the subject. I guess Dion could have been mistaken. There were plenty of cars that could look similar to Elroy’s. But of course I’d memorized his tag number so I would have definitely known if it was his car or not, had I been the one to see it.
As Elroy grinned and got my food together, I decided to shake it off and managed to enjoy the rest of my night with him. We ate. We laughed. We cuddled and watched a movie. And once I’d put it on him and put him to sleep, as he snored, I decided to get up and do some laundry.
I scooped up the same dirty clothes that he’d stepped out of and left on the bedroom floor and I headed to the laundry room. Checking his pockets for any trash, just as I always do, I pulled out two receipts. One was from the grocery store and another one was from the gas station; a gas station that was only downtown!
I shook my head and headed to get my phone. I checked to see what time it was that we’d talked on break and then I checked the receipt. Converting the time from military time format, I found that the receipt was about ten minutes after we talked.
Had he gotten off of work early?
Why wouldn’t he have told me that he was leaving?
Why was he downtown?
And more importantly, why in the hell was he lying about it?
*******************************************
CHAPTER III
“They have overtime available, so I’m going to stay over for a few hours,” Elroy said.
“I was just about to tell you that I had the rest of the day off and I was hoping that we could spend some time together.”
“I wish you’d told me that about an hour ago. I already agreed to stay. I’ll be there around seven,” Elroy said. I opened my mouth to say something else, but hurriedly I closed it. I guess I couldn’t argue with a man that wanted to work. Some men wouldn’t even do that.
Elroy drove the fork lift. He’d been working at the other company that he sued as a fork-lifter until the accident. But other than a few muscle spasms here and there, he was fine. Yet, my father had managed to get him a good bit of money, but eventually it ran out. I’d told him to invest his money in something a long time ago, but he hadn't listened. So back to the workforce he had to go.
I hadn't mentioned the whole receipt thing, yet, but oh, I was going to. I was just waiting for the right time.
> Now that I knew that he was lying about being downtown, I knew there was a reason, and I was going to find out why. It was really bothering me in the inside. Elroy had definitely lied to me this time. Last time I might have been wrong, but I wasn’t wrong this time around. I could feel it. It just wasn’t the normal from him though which was throwing me completely off. I mean, even when I would look for stuff or suspect that he was lying to me about something, I would always find out that he wasn’t. But the receipt was proof that he was downtown that day, and Dion had been right about seeing him. So as far as I knew, Elroy had told me his first lie.
But why?
But I knew that if I just asked him about the receipt, like most men caught in a lie, he was just going to get defensive, start an argument, and I was still going to be stuck without an answer. That was unacceptable. I needed an answer but more importantly, I needed the truth.
Once I’d left the office, I drove by his job just to make sure that his car was there. It was. And I told myself that I would make it my business to ride by a few more times, just to make sure. Just to make sure that he wasn’t lying. Again.
Lying was one of my biggest pet peeves, and personally I wasn’t in the mood to deal with a liar these days. I mean I lied for work, and if I had to tell a little white lie, it never directly involved Elroy, but still yet, I hated to be lied to. Lying to me might get you hit with my car, your dog set on fire and anything else that I could think of. I hated being lied to with a passion.
Though before Elroy, I hadn't been in a committed relationship in years, since college, since Rodney, I had dealt with plenty of men, and one that I’d been fooling around, regularly, was this guy named Antwan.
And that man lied about everything! And for no reason at all! I mean it was so bad that it made my ass itch! Everything that came out of his mouth was a lie.
For example, you could ask him what color shirt he had on and he would say blue, knowing damn well that the shirt that he was wearing was red. But he would only be lying about it just in case you spotted him doing something that he had no business. He just lied. Left to right. Front to back. Up and down and from his head, all the way down to his crack. He was just a liar and he couldn’t seem to stop.