by Sha Jones
An hour had passed by and I tried calling Michael again and his phone was still going to voicemail.
“Here we go again,” I sighed to myself.
He was doing so good and now he was being silly again. It seemed like he was only good on weekends but the minute Monday hit, he was back to fucking up. Around one in the morning, Michael comes walking through the door. I started to curse his ass out until I noticed that he didn’t look so good. He appeared to be worn out and he look like he had been crying. His tie was hanging on his shoulder and his suit looked wrinkle. Any harsh words that I might’ve had for him flew out of my head immediately.
“What happened?” I asked in a panic.
He patted his head and rubbed the back of his neck and replied, “I was at the police station all day being interrogated. I didn’t even get to my office when they asked me to come down to the station to answer a few questions.”
I stood there with my mouth open.
“Interrogate you for what?!” I asked.
“Melanie. They still don’t believe me when I told them a hundred times that I don’t know anything or anybody that would’ve killed her.”
I could feel the blood in my veins starting to heat up. For a minute, the whole investigation thing into Melanie’s death slipped my mind.
“Are you alright?” I asked with sympathy.
He lifted his head up and gave me this cold stare.
“No, I’m not alright. Maybe if you would’ve let me talk to her the night she called me then she wouldn’t be dead, and I wouldn’t have had to sit at a got damn police station for sixteen fucking hours.”
My eyes got big and my mouth dropped again. I could believe what he was saying.
“Are you fucking serious?!” I yelled.
He shook his head at me and walked up to our room. I wanted to follow behind him and hit him upside his head. It never failed. There was always something to ruin the fucking week. After my shower, I laid in bed with just my towel wrapped around me. I didn’t feel like changing into anything. I looked in the corner of my eye and saw that Michael was still up. He laid there like a dead man and I did feel bad. Although I should have let him talk to her, she still had no right to call Michael out of all the people, she knew and the fact that she called him again before she died was puzzling to me. I couldn’t wait until they caught the bitch that did this because I couldn’t take another day of this madness.
Today was just another boring ass day for me. I watched TV and cleaned and watched more TV and cleaned again. It’s been a few days since I had checked the camera and to be honest, I didn’t give a fuck if the damn boogey man was on it. Michael was mad at me once again like I’m the one that killed her. Last night was just fucked up, but that was nothing new. While lounging on the couch like a cat, my phone buzzed. I looked down at the screen and smiled.
“Hello,” I answered shyly.
“Hey beautiful, how are you?”
I smiled again and said, “I’m okay, how are you Darius?”
He sighed and replied, “Tired, I have to return to work tomorrow, but I thought I would call you before I got in relax mode.”
I really didn’t have much to talk about with him because I didn’t know him that well and I wasn’t ready to let him in on my personal issues so I politely tried ending the conversation.
“Okay, that’s cool. Well call or text me whenever you’re free.”
I guess he got the hint because he said okay and we got off the phone. I had too much on my mind to give Darius a lot of thought at the moment. Over the next few days, Michael and I didn’t really speak. We were back to being two strangers living under the same roof. He blamed me for Melanie’s death, but I truly think he just felt guilty deep down inside. She called him and for whatever reason, he didn’t answer and the next thing we knew, she was dead. While lying in bed, my eyes started twitching. ‘That’s a first,’ I thought to myself as I rubbed them hoping that it would stop the twitching. I noticed that Darius hadn’t called me, so I decided to give him a call. His phone rang for a long time. As I was about to hang up before his phone went to voicemail, he answered as if he knew he was one ring away from missing my call.
“Hello,” I smiled and said “Hello Darius, how are you?” He sounded like he was typing on a computer.
“I’m good. Just did a heart transplant this morning.”
I knew doctors did those kinds of things, but it was still amazing just to know that I knew someone who really cut people up and save lives for a living.
“That’s cool,” I said with excitement in my voice. I paused and then asked, “What’s the craziest thing that you’ve seen or experienced in your profession?”
The typing in the background had stopped and he became silent.
He sighed and took a deep breath.
“Well…a few weeks ago, there was a black young black woman in her late twenties was rushed into the E.R. She was bleeding badly from her neck. There was so much blood around her face that at the time, I didn’t know what race she was. If she wasn’t wearing a dress, I wouldn’t have known her gender either. The blood gushed from her neck like water from a busted pipe. When we rolled her in on the stretcher and I cut her dress off, that’s when I realized that she had a bullet wound in the middle of her head. To my amazement she was still alive. I rinsed as much blood off her body as I could. When I was able to see her injuries, that’s when I noticed that her throat had been slit. She was in critical condition. She was a strong woman because with the damage that was done to her, she should’ve died immediately. We tried saving her but it was too late. An hour after arriving at the hospital, she died.”
I sat up in the bed slowly and my eyes got big. I was silent for a minute. I then opened my mouth and slowly asked.
“What was the woman’s name?” I closed my eyes and began praying that this was just a coincidence.
Darius tone then changed and he spoke almost in a whisper, “Melanie Scott.”
It was like the sun turned black and everything around me got dark. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It was like a dream and the information that I was receiving didn’t kick in right away. This was some shit that you just couldn’t make up.
“Are you sure that was her name?” I asked praying to God that he would tell me that he got it all wrong.
“Yes, I’m positive. Every doctor has his day and the night she came into the hospital, is the night that I’ll never forget. Her name will always be in the back of my mind.”
He sounded broken up about at as if he knew her personally. I didn’t tell Darius that I knew her because the police were already questioning me and my husband and the last thing I wanted to do was to involve him in something that didn’t have anything to do with him. It was just crazy to me that she died in his arms. I was no longer in the mood to talk. I could feel myself getting physically ill. It was a feeling that I’ve never felt before. It felt like my lungs were tied in a tight knot because I was starting to get shortness of breath.
“Darius, I have to call you back,” I said quickly.
I hung up without giving him a chance to speak. I found the strength to walk to the kitchen and get a drink of water. I gulped the water down as if it would be the last drink I would ever have. I wanted to tell Michael so bad but I knew he would question me about Darius.
Chapter 20
I felt like I just couldn’t escape from all of this shit. Everywhere I turned, crazy shit was happening to me. I paced back and forth until Michael came home.
“What’s wrong with you now Tiff?” he asked.
Without turning to look at him I asked, “Who found Melanie?”
I turned to look at him and he stood still with his suitcase still in his hand.
“Why are you asking me that?”
It was so frustrating to me that he couldn’t give me a straight answer.
“Michael, it’s just a question!” I yelled.
“No, it’s not just a question. You’re asking me who k
illed her like I have an answer. I don’t fucking know. Please leave me alone about this whole Melanie thing.”
Before I could say something, he put his hand up like he was trying to silence me.
“Fuck you!”
As soon as the words escaped from my lips, I immediately wanted to take it back. I have never cursed at my husband before and I never thought that the day would come that I would have to do it. He was just as stunned as I was because when I said it, he squint his eyes at me. He put his suitcase on the floor and slowly walked over to me. He got close enough to where I could feel his breath on my forehead. His jaw was getting tighter and I knew he was upset. He stared at me coldly and said in a low tone, “You better watch how the fuck you talk to me.”
I didn’t know whether to say something or stay silent. This was a side of him that I didn’t know. It’s almost like he was threatening me. He turned and walked away. As he walked upstairs, he kept his eyes on me until I could no longer see his face. I was scared as hell. He had this look in his eyes that was crazy. I knew he wasn’t capable of hurting me, but at the same time, I didn’t want to take no chances. I wasn’t about to sleep in the same bed with him so the couch was my only option. As I was getting comfortable on the couch, my phone rang. I looked on the screen and quickly looked around making sure that Michael was nowhere in sight.
“Hello,” I answered in a whisper.
“I know I shouldn’t be calling you this late, but I wanted to make sure you were alright. I was concerned with the way you got off the phone.”
I looked at the screen on my phone and realized that it was 12:00 a.m.
“I apologize for that. I was just feeling a little sick,” I explained.
“Well I’m not going to press you for answers, but whenever you’re ready to talk about it, I’m here for you sweetheart.”
I couldn’t hold my smile in. His voice was sexy but it was even sexier with all of the lights off. Trying to keep my whisper I said, “Thanks Darius.”
There was this awkward silence and he quickly changed the subject.
“I’m a little surprised that you answered the phone for me because I figured you and your husband would be sleep already.”
I smiled and rolled my eyes. I knew he was being sarcastic.
“Well, my husband and I aren’t getting along right now so I’m sleeping on the couch.”
I don’t know why but after I said it, I felt a little ashamed.
“Wow,” he responded.
“If you were my wife, you wouldn’t be sleeping on the couch and if you were, you would be in my arms the whole time.”
I then started picturing me and him lying on the couch together and started to get a little hot. I made sure to keep my composure though because the fact still remained that I was still married and I didn’t want to cross too many lines.
“I chose to lie on the couch. It’s not like he told me to come down here,” I replied trying to defend myself.
Darius laughed and said, “I hear you.”
I felt silly as hell for even trying to defend myself and I’m sure Darius noticed.
“Why aren’t you married anyway?” I asked curiously.
“I just haven’t found a woman that can handle a man like me. I’m very strong minded and I know what I want. Sometimes that can be intimidating.”
I smiled and mimicked him and replied, “I hear you.”
The whole time Darius and I was on the phone, I had to cover my mouth at times just to keep from laughing too loud. Talking to Darius made me feel good. He took me to a special place and all my problems seemed to fade at that moment. I wanted to see him badly, but I knew where that would leave. He couldn’t be a friend like Carl. Carl was very attractive but I didn’t necessarily want to sleep with him. Being in Darius’ presence would only put me in the mood. The way he danced on me only sparked my interest and I could tell he had a big dick because it was poking my ass while we danced. In the middle of our conversation, I could hear a door opening from upstairs. I paused for a second.
“Tiffany?” Darius asked making sure I was still on the line.
“Yeah, I’m here. Darius, I have to go. I will call you tomorrow.”
I hung up and put my phone behind my back. Moments later, Michael comes walking downstairs. I was so nervous. I just knew that he was coming downstairs to confront me. My heart was beating fast as hell because I didn’t know what to expect. He walked right passed me into the kitchen and poured himself something to drink. I play sleep and didn’t budge. I was starting to feel like he was watching me because he stood in the kitchen for a while. It didn’t take that damn long to get something to drink. It was strange because I’ve never known Michael to wake up in the middle of the night. Maybe he just couldn’t sleep. I had a lot on my mind so I knew he probably has just as much on his as well. When he finally walked back up to our room, I pulled my phone from under my back and texted Darius “goodnight.” A minute later he text back and it read “goodnight sweetheart, don’t get too comfortable on that couch.”
I smiled and shortly afterwards, closed my eyes until I dozed off. I woke up feeling differently. I looked down at my phone and saw that I had twenty two missed calls and a voicemail. I didn’t even listen to it because I was sure I knew what was on it. There were a lot of things weighing heavy on my mind and what Darius told me yesterday was still shocking. I decided to call him hoping he would give me more answers. He answered the phone on the first ring.
“Hello beautiful.”
I didn’t even respond. I got straight to the point and asked, “Darius can you meet me somewhere today?”
I could tell he was a little surprised.
“Yeah sure where?”
I thought about it and finally asked, “Is it okay if I meet somewhere on your side of town?”
I didn’t want to be anywhere near my side of town.
“Ok, I’ll text you this address to my favorite restaurant.”
I told him, I would meet him in an hour and hung up the phone. I didn’t have to check the garage to see if Michael was gone. It didn’t matter anyway because I wasn’t going to be questioned and he wasn’t going to stop me from leaving. I was his wife, not a slave. As soon as I got Darius’ text, I rushed upstairs and took a quick shower. I only washed my pussy, underarms and my ass. This would be the first time that we’ve seen each other since the club and I didn’t want to go looking any kind of way so I carefully went through my closet. I tried on three different pair of pants until I found the pair that I was satisfied with. The jeans were so tight; I had to get in a squatting position just to pull them up. After I finally got my ass snuggled into them, I looked in the mirror and turned around and was pleased with the way my ass looked. I threw on a shirt with no sleeves and put on my favorite shade of red lipstick.
Finally, I grabbed my keys, purse and phone and left the house. Before I put the address in my navigation, I sent Darius a text to let him know that I was on my way. The trip was damn near an hour away. It was cool though because the further the trip, the safer I felt. After fifty one minutes of driving, I finally pulled into a restaurant in the woodlands. I didn’t know what kind of car that Darius drove, so I decided to call him to see if he was inside already. Before I could dial his number, he called me.
“Hey, I’m inside already.”
I walked in the restaurant and looked around. I had only seen Darius one time so I wasn’t sure if I would be able to recognize his face. All of a sudden, I felt a warm pair of hands grab me by the waist. It instantly brought back memories from the night at the club. Darius walked from behind me and stared at me with the most beautiful smile on his face.
“Hello there.”
He was so damn sexy. His skin was so smooth and shiny that I could almost see my reflection. He had to have been at least six foot tall. That was a lot of height compared to my five foot frame. He was dressed nicely and his facial hair was cut just right. Darius directed me to the table and we sat down. The whole time, I
couldn’t stop smile. Every time I tried to put on a straight face, I would smile again.
“So we meet again,” he said as he stared into my eyes.
I wanted to melt all over the table. I was speechless so I just nodded my head in a yes motion. The restaurant was very classy, but it was also a place where you could dress casually and still have a good time. We ordered our drinks and chatted for a while and I finally went on and broke the ice.
“Remember that story you told me about the woman named Melanie Scott?” I asked before taking another sip of my wine.
His eyeballs shifted to the side as if he was looking over at something.