“What the fuck did you just say?” Those are the only words I can think of as I stand from my chair.
“Landon, calm down,” Michael begins.
“Don’t fucking tell me what to do.” I point at him. “You’ve just told me that there is another woman out there who is accusing me of being the father of her fucking kid as the product of a rape! You don’t tell me to calm the fuck down!” My voice fills the huge corner office. Livid doesn’t even begin to express how I am feeling right now. The room suddenly feels a lot smaller than it is, and even the air feels strangling. I need to get out of here. I begin heading to the door.
“Landon, we need to discuss this. Mindy has hired a public relations firm. That’s how they found this woman.”
I stop with my hand on the door. “A public relations firm? Which one?” I ask incredulously. At one point every PR firm in this damn city was begging to do business with me. That means some company that hounded me for their business is now working with Mindy to destroy me.
“McDaniels and Associates,” Michael responds.
“Son of a bitch,” I blurt out. I know exactly who is behind this little PR witch hunt. I knew this fucker would try to get back at me somehow.
“I’m leaving. I’ll be back first thing Monday morning to deal with this bullshit,” I say as I yank Michael’s office door open and leave. I need to get my bearings before I can think rationally about this.
****
Melody
“God, you don’t think I sound like one of the twit women who stand by their man no questions asked, do you?” I ask as Paulette and I dine at the Cheesecake Factory after hours of shopping at the King of Prussia Mall. We both found outfits to wear to this year’s graduation. I called Landon and left a message telling him where I was and I promised that I’d order him a slice of his favorite vanilla bean cheesecake. Now I was here venting to my close friend as we ate.
“No, I think you sound like a woman who loves her fiancé,” she reassures me.
“Husband,” I whisper across the table so patrons don’t hear me.
Paulette immediately cocks her head to the side and stares at me...more like glares. “I know damn well you didn’t run off and get married and not invite me.” Her voice is rising, and I can see her attitude erupting.
I look around, making sure others aren’t listening before reaching across the table to grab her hand. “Paulette, I’m sorry. It was kind of last minute. We flew to Puerto Rico over spring break,” I say apologetically.
Her eyes remain sharp as she stares for a few more moments. “That’s fine as long as I’m the godmother of your first born.”
She holds up her hand to silence me when I attempt to tell her I’d already promised Lina that she’d be the godmother of our first child.
“A child can have more than one godmother. Don’t deny me this.”
I see the sincerity in her eyes. “Okay, but you have to promise not to tell anyone that Landon and I are married,” I say sternly. I sigh with relief when Paulette agrees not to tell anyone, not even her husband. I nod and shrug. “At least our children will be well-loved with two godmothers.”
“Indeed, they…” Paulette stops short, looking at something over my shoulder.
I turn and my face falls. Coming towards our table at five-ten, beautifully tanned brown skin, and a solid build topped off by a confident stride as if he owns the world, is my ex-boyfriend, Evan. “Oh, God,” I groan out loud. It’s been months since I’ve seen Evan. It’s mostly been in passing at events I’ve attended with Landon, and every time he’s managed to stay far away. Likely, it’s because he realizes Landon wouldn’t hesitate to put him in his place.
“Melody, Paulette,” he nods at both of us and brings his attention back to me.
“Evan,” I acknowledge, not wanting to be rude. I hope he decides to say hello and then leave. Unfortunately, that’s not what he does. “What are you doing?” I question when he pulls up a chair to the table.
“Mel, I have to go,” Paulette says, checking the time on her phone. She has a late afternoon appointment before she has to head back home to meet her mom who is dropping off the kids. “Are you going to be okay?” she asks, glancing between Evan and me.
“Why wouldn’t she be? I’ll make sure she gets home fine,” Evan interjects.
“That won’t be necessary. Landon is coming to pick me up.” I had texted Landon just as Paulette and I sat down to lunch, and he said he’d come and pick me up from the mall since I didn’t have my car with me.
“Well, then we have a little time to talk since he’s not here yet,” Evan responds.
“Mel?” Paulette’s voice holds a bit of uncertainty.
“I’ll be all right, Paulette. You go and head out.” I rise to give her a hug. I watch as she walks away and turns to see Evan still seated watching me.
“I don’t think you should be here,” I say as I remain standing.
“Mel, I’m not trying to cause you any trouble, and I’ll leave before your fiancé shows up. I just wanted to talk. I saw you sitting here as I passed by and wanted to try to make peace.”
“Make peace?”
“Yeah, I know the way we ended things wasn’t right.”
“Evan, that was almost two years ago. You’re married, and I’m m-engaged. We’ve both moved on.” I wave my hand dismissively.
“I know, Mel. But just let me apologize. I know you’re going through a tough time right now with everything that’s happening in the news.”
“Landon did not do what he’s being accused of,” I defend.
“I believe you. Please just sit.”
I pause, looking at the time on my phone. I think I have at least twenty minutes before Landon will be here to pick me up. I sigh and slowly take my seat. “You have ten minutes,” I warn Evan.
He nods. “First, let me begin by saying I’m sorry for the way I treated you while we were together. I know now I was wrong and I feel terrible.”
I think back to the nearly two years Evan and I were together and how we never really went out much, aside from dinner here and there or to the movies located way outside of the city. Later, I found out it was because he believed I didn’t fit his image since I wasn’t a skinny, size two woman who should’ve been on the arm of a wealthy business owner. He went on to marry a woman who fit his image, while trying to string me along. As I recall the pain I felt back then, I realize I feel nothing now. I’m not hurt because in the end I came out on top and now have a husband who is not ashamed to tell the world exactly what I mean to him and loves my size sixteen body just the way it is.
“Evan, you can stop apologizing. It’s water under the bridge, and if it weren’t for what you did, I may never have met Landon,” I say, not to rub it in his face, but because that’s the truth.
I watch as the muscles in Evan’s lower jaw tighten. I can see my words have an impact on him, but I refuse to take them back.
“I’m glad you’re happy, Mel. You deserve it,” he says, reaching to cover my hand with his.
I let his hand remain there for a second as I look into his face trying to discern if he is telling the truth. I go to pull my hand back but before I can, my entire body stiffens with alarm as I hear a monstrous growl that booms throughout the restaurant.
“Take your goddamn hand off of her!”
Evan and I both jump, startled by the tone in Landon’s voice. I stand quickly as I see the venom etched on my husband’s face.
“Landon, we were just…” I manage to get out, hearing the guilt in my own voice.
“Just what, Mel?! You were just having lunch with your ex?” Landon looks toward me accusingly.
“Hey, Lan—”
“Don’t fucking talk to me and don’t even look at her,” Landon furiously points his finger at Evan, cutting him off. “Let’s go,” he growls, grabbing my purse and bags off the table and wrapping his other hand around the upper part of my arm.
“Landon, we weren’t having lunch. He j
ust stopped in to say hi. He saw us in passing. Paulette just left,” I explain, refusing to budge. I understand Landon’s anger, but I won’t let him think I’m carrying on with Evan behind his back.
“In passing, huh? Was that before or after you had your client drag another accuser into this case to lie on me?” Landon questions Evan as he scrutinizes his face.
My face must be one of total confusion because Landon looks back at me and answers my unasked question. “Oh, this didn’t come up as part of the conversation? Your ex here is now the PR rep for Mindy and has dug up some new liar to accuse me of hurting her also.” Landon is livid. His grip on my arm remains firm, but not overly tight or threatening.
I look at Evan and notice the smug look on his face. I want to lash out at him for playing Mr. Innocent all while he knew what he was doing to Landon, but I’m angrier at myself. I take note of the patrons around us who are now staring, some have even pulled out their phones to start recording this scene. I take a step back and begin moving toward the door, using Landon’s grip on my arm to pull him with me.
“Landon, let’s go.”
He glares at Evan for another second before turning and leading me out of the restaurant, and toward the parking lot where his car is parked.
“Landon,” I begin to try to apologize.
“Get in,” he cuts me off, holding open the car door.
Once I’m in, he shuts the door forcefully and goes around back to place my shopping bags in the trunk. When we pull off, his jaw is clamped tightly. I reach for his hand that is resting on his lap, but he moves it, placing it on the steering wheel. The sting of his rejecting my touch hurts more than anything, and I remove my hand and sink lower into the passenger’s seat, remaining silent for the rest of our drive home.
****
Once we reach home, Landon has our car parked in the lot one block over and brings my bags up, still not saying a word to me.
“Landon, I’m sorry,” I begin as soon as we step inside our condo.
“For what, Mel? For having lunch with your ex or the man who is working with Mindy to bring a case against me?” His voice is full of something I’ve never heard before.
“I didn’t have lunch with him!” I protest, growing frustrated. “I know the scene may have looked bad, but Evan and I had been talking for only a few minutes. I told him you were on the way to pick me up. I thought he would be gone by the time you got there.”
“Oh, so that makes it better? If I hadn’t found you two together, would you have told me you saw him?”
I hesitate in answering because I honestly doubted I would tell Landon I’d seen Evan if he hadn’t of walked in on us. I know it’s probably wrong, but I know Landon hates Evan.
“Fucking exactly! The man owns the PR firm that is helping Mindy and her lawyers!” His voice is filled with accusation. “Stay the hell away from him.”
“I didn’t know Evan’s firm was involved in this,” I defend myself. “I would never have spoken to him had I known. And besides, it’s not like I’m the only one withholding information.”
“What the hell does that mean?” he incredulously asks.
“It means, that you have shut me out of everything that’s going on. You leave early in the morning to work out and meet with your lawyers, and I have no idea what’s going on. I find out from the news like everyone else does…like I’m some stranger.” I hear the hurt in my own words.
“Because you don’t need to be worried about this shit,” he says, waving me off and storming off to the kitchen.
I follow him. “Why wouldn’t I need to be worried about it? You’re my husband. I—”
“Dammit, Mel! I said you don’t need to be worried. I’m handling it. You just don’t ever fucking talk to your ex again,” he says, jutting his finger at me. He angrily slams the Gatorade bottle he’s just retrieved from the refrigerator down on the counter and heads toward the door, yanking the second set of keys off the key holder mounted on the wall.
“Where are you going?” I question, both angry and confused.
“Out. I’m taking the Lexus in case you need the Range.” Those are the last words he says to me before slamming the door behind him.
Chapter Nine
Melody
“Come on, Mel. You know that was messed up,” my best friend, Lina says into the phone in her usual dramatic fashion. “What if you had walked in on Landon having lunch with an ex? And considering all that’s going on…” she leaves her last statement hanging.
“I know, Lina, but I didn’t have lunch with Evan. We barely talked for five minutes. He apologized for how things went down between us, and I thought he was sincere. I don’t have any feelings for Evan at all. Well…now I hate him for what his company is doing to Landon.” I sigh. “What if Landon doesn’t come home?” I whine.
“Now, who’s being the drama queen?” My friend throws the accusation I always toss at her in my direction. “Mel, you know Landon wouldn’t leave you over this or anything for that matter. He needs time to cool off.”
I nod, knowing her words are the truth. “I know you’re right. I just hate that I feel so frozen out of a major part of his life right now. I want to be there for him, but he won’t let me.”
“So tell him that. Communicate with your husband.”
“When did you become the expert on relationships?” I ask.
“I don’t know. Maybe seeing you and Landon get married made me realize how important real love is.” She laughs. “Anyway, you two will be all right. I have a feeling. Call me tomorrow to let me know how you’re doing.”
“Okay. Thanks for talking me down.”
“What else is new?”
“Shut up. Bye.” I hear Lina’s giggles as I hang up.
I feel a little better, but I still want Landon to come home. I decide to send him a text message since he hasn’t answered any of my previous calls.
I’m sorry. Come home.
After a few minutes of silence from my phone, I toss it to the other side of our huge sectional couch and head to the kitchen. I pull out my favorite Chunky Monkey ice cream and head up the stairs to eat and sulk in bed, while watching a marathon of Law and Order SVU. I turn it off when one of the episodes features a sexual assault at a college campus. That’s the absolute last thing I need to think of right now. Once the ice cream is finished, I drag myself out of bed and go down to toss out the carton in the kitchen garbage before going to take a shower. I try to wash the tension of the day away as I lather up. It helps a little, but I’d much rather be arguing with Landon on how I can’t get my hair wet in the shower than bathing alone. At any rate, I get out and go through my normal moisturizing routine and climb in bed naked. It takes a little while of tossing and turning, but I manage to fall asleep.
****
Landon
I sigh out a deep breath as I open the door to the quiet and darkened living room. It’s been a few hours since I stormed out of here and the truth is I miss Mel already. I’d rather be curled up next to her in bed than watching the NBA playoffs at some sports bar, which is where I’ve been. I sat in a corner all evening with a low-hanging baseball cap so no one would recognize me, because the way I was feeling when I left here I don’t know what would have happened if the wrong person had come across me. Seeing Mel with her ex after just learning he is the son of a bitch whose PR company was trying to ruin my career and reputation, made me livid. I know my wife, and I know she would never betray me in that way, but my emotions got the best of me.
I toss the keys on the stand next to the door, take my hat off, throwing it on the couch, and run my fingers through my hair. I smirk when I think about how pissed Mel will be when she sees my clothing strewn all over our condo, even as I remove my t-shirt and carelessly drop it on the bannister as I walk up the stairs. I don’t care about clothing or my disheveled look. All I want is to see my baby in our bedroom.
I enter our bedroom and leave the light off. From the hallway light illuminating our room,
I can see Mel’s body barely covered by the bedsheets as she sleeps on her right side. I quietly walk further into room and my mouth waters at the rise and fall of her breasts with each breath. She’s sleeping on my side of the bed, something she does when she misses me. I gently turn her onto her back, and remove the entire bedsheet, working as discreetly as possible. I remove my own sneakers, jeans and boxer briefs before climbing in bed next to her. I then position myself between her legs, placing each leg over my shoulders, nudging them apart. By now, Mel is stirring awake, but still has her eyes tightly closed.
I dip my head at the apex of her thighs and her scent undoes me. She smells like the body wash and strawberries from the body moisturizer she uses. I can’t get enough of that scent mixed with her natural enticing aroma. I don’t waste time as I put my whole head at the meeting between her thighs and begin eating her out for everything I’m worth. I lick and suck on her labia first, getting her nice and moist, before moving to her clit. It doesn’t take long before Mel’s body is responding to me and I hear her moaning.
“Mmmm… Lan-Landon,” she moans breathlessly, with sleep still evident in her voice.
It turns me on even more to know that even while half asleep it is my name she still calls out. I continue my ministrations with my tongue and slowly insert a finger into her wet hole. Mel’s legs have now tightened around my shoulders, but that only spurs me on more.
“Landon, baby!” Mel groans loudly, now fully awake.
I insert a second finger into her, angling them to make contact with the sensitive spot inside her as I continue to suck on her clit while flicking my tongue. I soon begin feeling the quaking of her thighs around my neck, but I don’t let up until I feel her pussy muscles tighten around my fingers. Seconds later, her gushing wetness coats my tongue, and her legs grow even tighter around my shoulders as she cums in my mouth.
Once her screams and moans subside, I remove her legs and position myself so that my rock hard cock is now at her entrance, teasing her, as I lay down fully over her. We are now eye to eye.
Forever: a standalone, interracial romance Page 7