by Katie Dowe
“You’re so funny Fran, I swear it's one of the things I love about you.”
“Er...” Frances said awkwardly, not knowing if she should ask about the ‘I love about you’ part…was that purely in a platonic way or…?
“I’m actually dead serious,” she said at last.
There was silence on the line.
“Hallo?” Frances said looking at the screen to see if Kareemshe had hung up.
“You’re serious?” Kareemshe asked.
“Yes. I’m serious. I have amnesia. I don’t know you Kareemshe,” she said. Allen covered his eyes and winced and she looked at him with raised eyebrows.
“Its just Kareem,” he whispered to her. Frances’ mouth dropped open as she realized she’d put her foot in it.
“Sorry, I meant Kareem. Ummm, do you want to maybe come over and visit?” she asked to make up for her rudeness.
“I would, if I wasn’t all the way here in Vegas,” she/he said. “Tell that no-good man of yours I’m not amused that he didn’t tell me about this.”
“I’ll pass on the message. Vegas huh? Sounds fun.”
“Hmmm, it's okay. They don’t care about what sex I am over here as long as I pull my weight in the shows.”
“And you’re fine with that?” Frances asked not really knowing what to say but not wanting to lose a friend if that was what Kareemshe was.
“Yeah. I have a holiday coming up in the next two weeks. Maybe I’ll come out there,” she/he said.
“That’s cool. Will you er, stay with us? I’m pretty sure we have enough space.”
Kareemshe laughed, “I guess you really do have amnesia. I’ll see you next week and we can catch up.”
“Okay…bye,” Frances said and waited for Kareemshe’s reply before she hung up.
She glared at Allen. “Do I have any other friends you neglected to inform of my condition?”
Allen shrugged. “I was distracted,” he said simply. There was something in his eyes though, when he said it; as if he’d been in far much more distress than he was letting on. This situation was so complicated and now there was a baby.
“Are we ever going to talk about the baby?” she asked.
“It takes nine months to grow one, right? We have time.”
Frances lifted her brow, “That is assuming we aren’t getting rid of it.”
Allen leaned forward on the table, “Do you want to get rid of it?”
Frances thought about it seriously, vague memories of her mother leaving her alone to fend for herself when she could barely understand what that meant, and her vow, made silently but no less resolutely, that a child of hers would never go through that. She looked at Allen with his thousand dollar watch and his entitled attitude; would he let his child rot on the street? Somehow she didn’t think so. She knew she wouldn’t let her child fall by the wayside like that.
“I don’t think I do,” she said at last.
“Well then, I guess we do have nine months to decide where to go from here.”
“Just one question, if we were fighting so much, when did we have the time to have unprotected sex?” she asked.
Allen smiled, “Make up sex is the best kind.”
*****
It had been a Tuesday, Allen remembered clearly because he’d had a full day at the office and he was tired as shit. Mondays were his day off…the weekends were technically not work days but there was always some work-related soiree, benefit, golf tournament, or other event that he had to attend that he pretty much thought of weekends as socializing work days. But Mondays…Mondays were just for him. He stayed home, he hassled Frances so she had to stop whatever she was doing and goof around with him, he cooked for them, they watched movies or stayed in bed all afternoon…it was usually wonderful.
That Monday though, Frances had been busy; some book thing that had been suddenly rescheduled from the weekend. So Allen had been…out of sorts. The negativity in the house had spilled over into Tuesday and when he had come home, he’d found Frances in the kitchen, arms crossed, ready for battle.
“How long am I going to be on double secret probation?” she’d asked glaring at him.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said crossing over to the wine bar to pour himself a whiskey. He was too sober for this conversation.
“I’m talking about the fact that you sulk every time I go out for some book function and I just want to know if that’s a permanent situation or something you plan to get over some time soon.”
Allen poured a second glass of whiskey and kept silent.
“What? You stonewalling me now Al? Me?” Frances demanded.
“I’m not stonewalling anyone Frannie Fran, I’m drinking my whiskey and avoiding an argument.”
“You’d do better to avoid an argument by not sulking in the first place,” Frances bit out.
Allen turned around suddenly, slamming his glass down on the counter so the liquid jumped and spilled. “Fine. I’m sorry I was ‘sulking’ or whatever. I’ll try to be happy to not spend any time with you from now on.”
“Oh, grow up,” Frances replied in irritation and stalked off down the hall to their room. Allen took a breath to steady his rapidly rising ire and followed her. He slammed the bedroom door after he walked in, startling her and making her spin around to face him in surprise.
“What?” she got out before he was on her like a shark swallowing its prey. He propelled her backward onto the bed and they both fell, Allen stretching his hands out to break his fall so that he wouldn’t fall on her.
“Shut up,” he said, even though she wasn’t exactly trying to talk. His lips came down and fastened onto hers, the caress more angry than tender. Frances wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in anyway, softening in a way that let him know she yielded, she submitted to him; whatever he wanted, he could have. He didn’t even have to ask. Well, what he wanted was all of it, all of her, all the time. It was all consuming, this feeling in his chest that caused him to rip her clothes from her body with controlled savagery and bite at her lip just so he could mark her, everyone would know who she belonged to for weeks to come. Her delicate honey complexion showed every bruise for as long as it took to heal. The site of the redness on her lip was like a red flag to a bull. Allen’s vision went hazy and he tore at his fly, not really coordinated enough to get them off efficiently. Then her hands were on him and he took his own away, letting her relieve him of his jeans and his shirt and his boxers. He stood naked and trembling before her as she leaned in and licked a line up his painfully hard penis. He shivered in reaction and snapped his hips forward, seeking the warmth of her mouth even as she moved away. She got on her knees and took off her shirt which was hanging half on, half off her. Her eyes were steady on him as he took in her body.
“Frannie,” he growled taking a step forward and putting one knee on the bed.
“Al,” she breathed in reply, leaning forward to place her lip on the side of his mouth, tongue peeking out to taste. “Fuck me,” she whispered as she took his ear between her teeth.
“Uh,” he groaned as he circled her waist with his hands and threw her backward so she fell sprawled onto the bed, legs spread wide. “Fran,” he whispered as he covered her body with his, penetrating her in one long thrust as his breath caught in his chest and he literally felt his heart stop. Her legs came up as she held onto them with her hands, giving him full access to her wet warmth. Hips snapping with vigor and speed, he rutted into her; mouth open and breath coming fast and hard and hoarse. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as he listened to the sounds she was making; full of want and lust and need. Allen’s stomach hurt with the need to be deep inside her and he doubled his efforts, the friction creating an impossible heat that fueled the fires of his passion.
“Fran,” he bit out, his lungs empty of oxygen as he forgot to breath. Her hands let go of her legs which wrapped themselves around his middle as her hands inched up to tangle with his. Her back arched propelling him even
deeper into her as she moaned, eyes fluttering as her internal muscles shivered with sensitivity. He thrust harder into her, reaching down to capture her lips as he felt his orgasm bearing down on him.
“Come with me,” he murmured as he fucked deeper and deeper into her. She made a sound somewhere between pain and pleasure, threw her head back and shuddered into her completion. He let himself go as she did, happy to be in sync with her at least in this one thing. He collapsed on top of her, breathing hard, not bothering to remove his weight from her chest for a moment. Too fucked out to care how heavy he was. She uttered no word of protest so Allen assumed she was too well fucked to care too. Eventually though, he moved to the side, leaving his hand around her as his head found that hollow in her neck to nestle into.
“I love you,” he murmured, his version of apology.
“Yeah, I know. I love you too,” she replied. “Just sometimes, I’m not sure I like you.”
Allen laughed, “You like me just fine. You just can’t remember it when you’re annoyed.”
Frances smiled. “Touché,” she said closing her eyes.
“So…friends again?” he asked sleepily.
“Best Friends,” she replied dropping of to sleep.
Three weeks’ later, she’d been in an accident, reversing out of their driveway.
Chapter 6
Hey Kareem, according to my book we’re pretty close so I have something to ask you. When you get this message could you call me back?
Frances hit the send button and then sat back on her chair. She was in her study, spying on her own life through her laptop. She’d looked at her Facebook page, which had mostly writing-related stuff and a lot of photos of her and Allen all dressed up attending various things. Or herself alone attending various things. Her updates were funny, sarcastic and self deprecating; it looked like, online anyway, she had it all together. Her twitter was even more work-related with announcements of various locations where she’d be doing book signings and appearances. There were a few personal posts, also funny or self deprecating. Very few of them had anything to do with her actual life. She sighed, resolving to go make some coffee and think about more important matters…like the constant, 24/7 nausea that was assailing her life right now; or the fact that she and Allen were living in limbo thanks to her memory loss. Her phone went off, taking her out of her head for a bit.
“Girl, whatchu goin through?” Kareem’s voice said.
“I’m just…I’m pregnant,” she blurted out and held her breath for his/her reaction.
“What?” Kareem yelled into her receiver, making her move the phone as far from her ear as it could go.
“From that reaction, I take it this isn’t good news?” she said when the echo had dissipated.
“No! Of course it's…it's just that…I…I mean it's great,” he stuttered to a stop at last.
“Like…seriously? Could you sound less devastated about it then?”
“I’m sorry. It's just that…” Kareem sighed. “Babies are so permanent.”
“And this relationship isn’t right?” she finished for him.
“What makes you say that?” Kareem asked at once.
“I figured that was what you meant,” Frances said.
“No, I just, God Fran, I’m still in love with you, you know that,” he said in a defeated tone.
“What? Really? No, I didn’t fucking know that. It didn’t say that in my book,” she protested, completely thrown by this confession. “Is this something you and I like…talk about or…?” Her breathing was coming hard and fast. Just what kind of tangled up love life did she have?
“Nah, of course we don’t talk about it. I mean I made a choice and so did you. We live with the consequences.”
“It sounds so complicated, why are we such good friends then?”
“Because that’s all we can be,” Kareem said.
“So…if you weren’t…and I wasn’t…” Frances stuttered.
“Naw…Allen always came first with you. Even when we were together…” Kareem sighed.
“But…I didn’t cheat on you or nothin did I?” she asked afraid of the answer.
“No, of course not. You were the best girlfriend a guy could ask for.”
“Well…that’s a relief,” Frances said with a laugh. “In light of that though, you still wanna come spend some time with us? Maybe add to the awkwardness factor in my life a little?”
“Baby, I can’t wait,” he said and she could hear the smile in his voice.
“Well…good. Because you seem like a really good guy.”
“Unlike Allen you mean?”
“That is not what I said,” Frances protested.
“You don’t need to front for me girl, I know you.”
Frances sighed, “I just…I’m having a hard time figuring him out. One moment he is wildly attractive, the next he’s just such a jackass. And then there’s the whole ‘I’m pregnant’ thing so I don’t know if it's that messing with my mind or it’s the amnesia or it's just Allen.”
“Probably all three?” Kareem suggested.
Frances sighed, “Hurry up and come to town Kareem. I really wanna meet you.”
“I will. Hold on okay? It's just another week.”
“Okay, I will,” Frances said.
“Bye girlfriend,” Kareem said softly.
“Bye…boygirlfriend,” Frances replied making Kareem laugh.
She felt a lot better after that conversation though and decided to look at her draft folder to see what she was working on. Maybe she still had writing skills. She could hear the chef pottering about in the kitchen. She really wanted a sandwich but she was afraid to go and ask him to make one, or to do it herself lest he be offended. He looked like a really uppity sort. If she didn’t get something inside her soon though, she might just start eating out her stomach…
She stood up and crept to the kitchen, peering around the wall to see what the chef was up to. There was a plate on the kitchen island. On the plate was a steak, some salad and a huge baked potato. Frances could feel her mouth water just looking at it.
“Are you going to have your lunch now or not?” the chef said not looking at her.
“Er…is that mine?” she asked tentatively.
The chef looked around in an exaggerated way. “Do you see anyone else around here?” he asked. Frances wanted to say that ‘yeah, I see you’, but she didn’t quite have the nerve. She walked slowly forward and picked up the plate, covering it with her other hand as if someone was attempting to take food from her plate. She walked into the living room, plopped on the chair and switched on the TV; watching some entertainment channel as she ate. As far as she could tell, pop culture had gone to shit while she was forgettin’ it in the hospital. Who the fuck were these Kardashians and why were they everywhere?
She fell asleep after lunch and woke to Allen shaking her.
“Hi,” he said smiling down at her.
“Hi,” she replied looking up at him with raised brows.
“You’re not answering your phone. I got three calls from your book people asking me panicked questions so I thought I’d come and find out if anything was the matter. Since you weren’t picking up my calls either,” he was smiling as he said it though so Frances figured she wasn’t in trouble.
“I didn’t hear the phone. Must have really slept deep,” she said.
“Yeah, and your phone was in your office,” Allen said holding it up.
“Should I call them back now?” she asked.
“Nah. Tomorrow is soon enough; I told them you were still in no condition to be bothered. They weren’t happy.”
“What do they want from me?” she asked shifting her legs off the couch so he could sit beside her.
Allen shrugged, sat down and put her legs in his lap, massaging her feet. “I’m guessing they need to reschedule your missed dates or something,” he said eyes on her feet. He was making electric shocks shoot up her legs to her center. Just from massaging her feet. Who knew.
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“Great. I mean, not great. Do they know I’m pregnant and nauseous?” she asked.
Allen shook his head and then looked up at her face, “Unless you told them?”
“Nope, don’t even know who they are,” she said.
“Okay, so they don’t know. I guess we can call them tomorrow and I can help you where I can,” he said.
“Don’t you like…have work to do?” she asked hesitantly.
“I can work from here, and I have a myriad of assistants and lackeys and minions to do my bidding when I’m not there. Don’t even sweat it,” he said with a wave of his hand.
“Well…good then, I could really use the help. Sometimes all this seems so overwhelming.”
“I know; I mean, I don’t know but I can imagine that it's not easy for you. And you’ve been taking it like a champ. I just wanna tell you that I’m gonna look after you and we’re going to be alright,” he said.
She stared at him. “Okay…thanks,” she said slowly.
He shook his head. “Don’t thank me. I owe you,” he said.
“What do you owe me?” she asked puzzled.
“My life? My sanity? Everything?” he said with a small laugh.
Frances put her chin on her knuckle. “That’s rather vague,” she said narrowing her eyes at him and causing him to laugh out loud.
“You’ve read your book right?”
She nodded her head.
“So you know that you literally picked me up off the street?”
“Yeah, that’s what it said. I wasn’t sure how true that was. You really were a street kid?”
“For a few days, before you met me and rescued me. I’d probably be dead now if it wasn’t for you.”
“But…you had a home to go to,” she said in puzzlement.
“Yeah well…” Allen shrugged. “Anyway, my point is it's probably time to balance the scales and pay you back for taking such epic care of me all of these years.”
“I think you already did that. You brought me back to live with you when the police found you, right? Took me off the street? Paid my tuition?”
“It was selfish. You were the only person in my life who liked me for me rather than what I had.”