Undone by Deceit

by Falon Gold

  I nodded. Couldn’t speak as he leaned over to kiss my temple, cupping my cheek. When he strode away, I hugged myself, unable to watch him leave just the cafeteria. Knowing he’d soon walk away for good was breaking me down one fine-motor skill at a time. Life has taught me that I needed to break apart fully in order to pick up the fragments left behind then glue them back together in whatever way that allowed me to function, but if I went home to grieve Chance, he’d be stranded here. I decided to put my big girl panties on and meet head on what I had set in motion with my mistrust: being on the outskirts of his world but never really a part of it. It was about to become everyday life for me.

  ********

  ~Chance~

  I know I had promised Mahogany I’d give her space to get over what I’d done to her, and she had five days to do it. If that didn’t work, then I’d give her five more until the right amount of time had passed and she was willing to meet me at the end of a wedding aisle where we’d promise each other a lifetime. Whatever it took to get us in the same house, same bed, same last name, I’d do. If she thought she had gotten rid of me, she was going to have to think again. I anticipated egging along her recovery process while refusing to play fair, but I never do.

  With a secret grin while emailing Julia and texting Tommy, I watched Mahogany do her best to merge with the back wall again. My family wasn’t having it, taking turns entertaining her when Majestic wasn’t entertaining them or sleeping. They were assisting Mahogany into the family one relative at a time. Sometimes, two relatives talked over each other to insert her into one event after another.

  Three hours slipped away quickly as they wiggled permission out of her to pen to her calendar a wedding, play date for Majestic, a college graduation, and a baby shower for one cousin too pregnant to travel a few miles in Fredrickson without having to stop to use the bathroom, plus a family reunion in Hawaii, and the annual family trip to India. She had no idea what we all had in mind for her: to make her a part of the clan right along with Majestic. Mahogany mixing the best parts of herself with mine had earned her this family’s loyalty. She would be comfortable with us from now on if it killed every member in it, and once we put our minds to something, usually, it was good as done. I flaked on moving past her to another relationship because it wasn’t meant to be, but my heart was completely into moving into the rest my life with her.

  When Mahogany braved leaving the back of the room to take a chair in the midst of the people damn near climbing over each other to get to Majestic in my father’s arms, I knew she was tired, the last few months catching up with her finally, my truth laying heavily on her shoulders. I was a big man so my honesty had to weigh a ton, when I chose to give it that is, but my love was heavier so I spared her from that… for now, giving her time to come to grips with how even more demanding I was about to become of her. Except, there’s no time frame or pressure for her to give into me. We were moving at a much slower speed now. Would become more friends than lovers, confidants while parents before we were old and gray with matching rocking chairs.

  When Tommy finally arrived with crew, carrying heavy double-handle bags after I had ordered enough food to feed an army and a replacement for Mahogany’s meal that Majestic got to first, he separated Mahogany’s carryout tray from the others and gave it to me. “I’m going to love when you’re in town, Chance.”

  How often I came here or left at all depended on Mahogany, I thought while moving toward her. “I’m sure you will love it, Tommy, since I’ve spent more money in your restaurant in one day than I spend all month on just me eating.”

  She took the carryout while looking thunderstruck. “Chance—”

  “Don’t say I didn’t have to do this, sweetheart. I did after Majestic picked over your food because of me. Now I want you to take it home, eat, then sleep. For me. Please. You look like you’re about to drop at any second now. That’s no good for you or Majestic, and you need to be rested for when she comes home tomorrow.”

  She yawned then covered her mouth. “You’re right. I am tired. How are you gonna get home though?”

  Her eyes bugged out, after realizing what she had said. ‘Home’ sounded perfect to me, even if it meant being in her tiny apartment. She and it had humbled the hell out of me.

  “I’ll get home the best way I know how.”

  “Not necessary. I can Uber home.”

  I leaned over her, bracing my weight on the arms of the chair. “It is necessary, Mahogany. I don’t want you riding with strangers when you can drive yourself. If you’re too tired, I’ll drive you.”

  “No, I’m not that tired yet, but getting there. You should spend time with your family while you can. I’ll just take a two or three-hour nap then come back.”

  “Okay, call me when you wake up, so I can meet you outside.” I highly doubt once her head hit the pillow that she’d be getting back up today at all, but I’d say whatever to get her to rest.

  “O-okay.” She was still hesitant to accept that I wanted only the best for her, which was probably not like me, but I’ll be doing my damndest to prove otherwise.

  Sliding my hands under her arms, I helped her up, then had to postpone walking her to the car as everyone wanted to say goodbye. Some hugged her, while I grabbed her purse from the stand that great grandma’s plate was on, too close to Majestic, who was relieving it of its apple slices.

  Tommy snickered. “Once that fiber gets where it’s going, I do not want to be the one changing either of their diapers.”

  Rashi threw him a one-eyed gesture from behind her glasses that couldn’t mean anything good.

  Tommy threw up one finger. “Okay, time to go, Chance. Your great grandma is giving me the evil eye, so pay me now or I sue you tomorrow. Up to you.”

  Mahogany shook her head on her way out the door without me, while fumbling with her keys.

  “Walk with me, Tommy,” I commanded, as I followed her and reached for my wallet.

  On the elevator, I handed him a few hundred-dollar bills then escorted Mahogany to the car where she slid in untouched by me. When she reached for the seatbelt, I got there first and buckled her in myself then looked her square in the eye as I bent over her.

  “I’m returning the favor from last night. Forgot to thank you for releasing me from the Dodge.”

  She simply stared at my mouth. I swore she was holding her breath.

  “Breathe, Mahogany.” I demanded for selfish reasons.

  When she inhaled, I moved in for the kiss that had been premeditated before we reached the car, but I wanted it to last longer than a few seconds. Drawing back slowly, I uttered, “Sweet dreams, darling.”

  She raised her fist up then open it in front of me. In her palm laid a key.

  “It’s an extra just in case I don’t wake up by five and you can’t wake me by phone, then wake me when you get there please.”

  “Thank you.”

  Making no promises, I took the key, deposited it in my pocket then closed the door. Watching her drive off, I hoped I could wait at least eight hours before I got my next fix of her. A deeper pull of her essence. A longer high. A slower come down.

  Ten o’clock took its precious time getting here. A few hours after Mahogany left were spent dealing with issues brought to my attention by Dr. Blane. Issues that I took pleasure in dealing with my way. Not confident if Mahogany would appreciate it, but it was done, and I was on my way home in the Uber she wanted to take. She might get a little pissy about that too, rarely wanting people to go out of the way for her, but I was sure I could appease her… in my way.

  My family fought to stay after visiting hours were over. Dr. Blane declared Majestic had had enough excitement for one day and it was best if everyone left. Because I was leaving, Majestic a minor, Dania and Cena were the only relatives allowed to stay overnight, but they would’ve found a way to stay anyway. Persistence was the Middleton’s and Patel’s greatest strength and our weakness.

  Getting into the apartment was a noisy affair. The
knob was loose, so it put up a fuss as I turned the key.

  “Chance?” Mahogany called out worriedly.

  “It’s me,” I answered before stepping into the bedroom.

  “Hey,” she said softly from the side of the bed that I had claimed for myself. “What happened to waking me at five o’clock? Who’s with Majestic? Hmm… that was kind of weird to ask.”

  I began to strip off my clothes at the foot of the bed. “I didn’t wake you because I knew you needed to sleep. You still do and would still be if the slack in your knob didn’t double as an alarm system. Not a safe substitute by the way. Moving you out of here asap, and I imagine it would be weird for someone used to leaning mostly on themselves when it comes to Majestic. My mother is still at the hospital with Cena, who refuses to leave though she’s been barred from babysitting by mama who wants to do it. It would hurt their feelings if you showed up right after I left, and you didn’t forget that I told you I needed to finish making love to you, did you? I promise to be quick... but not too quick.”

  “I really do need the rest I guess and no, I didn’t forget,” she whispered. “One hour, Chance.”

  We’ll see about that.

  “Then open for me, Mahogany.”

  Her legs coasted apart. I crawled up the bed slowly. The air thickened as I began to leave kisses on her thighs, gradually covering her whole body with my lips, leaving my brand in light pecks, the longest and deepest reserved for the soaking wet place at the apex of her legs. By the time I reached her mouth, she was breathing shallowly and begging me to enter her. Who was I to refuse?

  Two slow pumps in, she tugged hard on my hair with both hands. “Harder, Chance.”

  “Not tonight, Mahogany. Harder is for punishing you. I have no reason to do that.” Only love her.

  “Well, you better find a reason because harder is how I like it, but you know that.”

  “Never forgot it, and you are high maintenance, Mahogany.”

  She snorted very unladylike in my face. “When it comes to this, yes. At least you can relate to high maintenance. Now, fuck me, Chance.”

  “You asked for it.”

  Like a good obedient man, I hammered the treasure between her legs until she began to shake, then screamed and I had filled her twice with my seed. The second I got her near an aisle, I was going to start talking babies.

  Chapter Fifteen

  ~Mahogany~

  At seven on the dot, I woke, well rested for the first time in a long time, feeling like there was something missing… besides Chance that is. Majestic. It was a lot later than I wanted to get up, but I didn’t regret the forty winks I got. Plus, I trusted Dania to take care of my baby girl along with the hospital staff. A little darker in the room than it should’ve been for this early in morning, too. I readied myself to face an overcast if not rainy day and a slowly-slipping-away Chance before crawling out of the bed. It was going to be a good day regardless. Majestic was coming home.

  On the way out of the bedroom to the bathroom, I peeked into the living room and got a glimpse of empty boxes stacked in front of the couch. Behind it was two clothes racks loaded down with apparel of all kinds. It took two seconds for what I was seeing to register fully, causing me to skid to a stop in the bathroom’s doorway.

  “What the hell! Chance!” He hadn’t had clothes delivered for me to try on since before we broke up.

  I had been down this road before with him, the old Chance, who wanted me to have whatever my heart desired, including him, but the organ in my chest was a fool and couldn’t afford to be toyed with. The more he gave me, the more it wanted to give him. No point when he only wanted one thing, to be free of me. Unless Chance was going to hang himself from a hanger on one of those racks. Even then, he would unknowingly provoke my heart into putting its dukes up for him when I was committed to letting him go for good... eventually.

  No, not eventually, Mahogany. Soon! Sorry, conscience, but I just can’t get with that yet. I tried to though, with a war waging between my heart and head the whole time. It might just be easier on both if he left already, but then, I’d regret the time I didn’t spend with him. I had enough regrets already.

  “In here, sweetheart!” he hollered from the kitchen.

  That was the umpteenth sweetheart he had called me. You don’t call people who you don’t want that, so who the hell was in the kitchen and what did they do with my Chance?

  Your Chance? Well, he’s mine until he’s gone.

  I speed walked to where he was fully dressed and pouring coffee into a mug on my table, seeming at home. His hot gaze fell over me, burning me as his eyes roamed from the top of my head to my feet then back up. Then I remembered that I was bare assed. Well hell, no reason to be modest now. He had seen the goodies with Majestic’s mark on them at least twice at this point.

  I flung a finger in the direction of the clothes racks parked between the kitchen’s doorway and the couch behind me. “What is that?”

  “Ah, that would be racks with women stuff on them.” Then he placed the coffee pot back on its base situated on the peeling countertop and sipped from his mug.

  “You know what I mean, smartass! What are they doing here?”

  “Waiting for you to get up and pick what you want off of them.”

  “Wait. What? This isn’t what you do for people you can’t even see yourself being friends with, Chance. This is what the old Chance would do, but he’s dead.” Which makes me a freaking killer.

  I didn’t want to be that and I’ll be damned if Chance and I weren’t finding more and more common ground to stand together on when he didn’t want to stand with me at all, except it didn’t seem that way anymore.

  I’m so fucking confused.

  He peeped at me over the rim of his cup. “Who said the old Chance was dead?”

  “I said it.” Then I redirected my finger towards him. “You’ve just been acting like it… or you were all the days before yesterday.”

  “Why can’t there be a combination of the old Chance and the new Chance in here? People have layers like onions, Mahogany. They don’t shed their old selves like snakes do their skin.”

  “I like the old Chance better.”

  “Well, the old Chance was broken into angry pieces, remember? But the new Chance thinks you should give him a chance to be friends like you and old Chance should’ve been, friends that communicate. The new Chance is better, a father who’s been built tougher, stronger, and smarter because of it.”

  Is he a Ford truck or what now? The only thing I knew for sure was that he was scrambling my brains with the back and forth of his personality.

  “What are you talking about a chance? The other night, there was no chance for us to be more than fuck buddies until you felt better about wanting me or didn’t want me anymore. The new Chance told me he couldn’t be with someone that doubted him. I can’t just be friends with either of them either, so give him whoever you are at the moment a chance to be what to me?”

  He slanted his head to the side. “There’s just no easing you into anything, is it?”

  “No, I like to know what the hell is going on at all times now.”

  “Noted, and no, I can’t just be friends with you either, because I most certainly want to be your fuck buddy. I know you don’t doubt me anymore because you said so. You wouldn’t have if you didn’t mean it and that’s what I love about you. What I want to be to you is a lot sweeter than ever before and more loving while adoring you therefore the designer clothes, purses, and shoes. However, when it’s time to pack the boxes with yours and Majestic’s things, I’m going to magically disappear so you can’t ask me to help you. Just kidding… sort of. I will go missing a lot of the times though. Women have too much shit.”

  But he never said he wasn’t still going home and I won’t add more meaning to his words because my heart couldn’t take it if he rejected me later, so I dead-eyed him who’d changed overnight, the other night. “I never thought the day would come when I’d find an ali
en in my house, and I don’t have a lot of anything. The furniture isn’t even mine. Majestic on the other hand has it all and toys. All would fit neatly in a car if you hadn’t brought the gigantic boxes and stayed around long enough to help me take that damn crib apart. I should just throw it away really.”

  He grinned with one side of his mouth. “That’s noted too, and an alien is not what you called me last night… and yesterday or the day before that.”

  “I knew who I was getting before… I think. This morning, I’m not sure who you are at all.”

  “You’ll find out soon enough, and it’s not this morning. It’s seven in the evening.”

  Shock smacked me in the face. “It’s… it’s seven in the evening?” I stammered then yelled. “Dammit, Chance! I told you to wake me this mor-ning!”

  Being late for picking up Majestic here didn’t leave time to address the new secret he was keeping.

  “Oh, I didn’t wake you at all, love.”

  “Duh! And what’s with the calling me ‘sweetheart’ and ‘love’ all of a sudden? You’re scaring me. What are you up to? You know what? I don’t have time for this, Chance! I need to go get my daughter! But we are going to talk soon dammit!” With that, I stomped away.

  “Our daughter, who’s doing fine and asleep in her crib in the bedroom. You’ve probably woken her up by now though.”

  I stomped back to my original spot, to look at him strangely. “Say what?”

  He grinned. “She’s here, love. Discharged earlier since twelve this afternoon because she’s doing so well. You’ve been out like a light all day and curled around her whenever she went down for a nap. I think that’s why you slept so long because she was home and she wouldn’t sleep anywhere else but in the bed with you. You knew she was there subconsciously. I think she missed you more today than ever, too. She wanted to wake you a thousand times. Daddy will do when it comes to feeding and changing her, but he’s not you. Then you woke up…” He checked his watch. “…two minutes after I put her in the crib because I was about to wake you with coffee. I’ve been missing you my damn self. You just caught me in the act of bringing you coffee in bed before I took you to an early dinner, but then you started to act up. I kept my distance and drunk some of your coffee.”