“Still using that thing, I see.” He said as he blew out a harsh breath.
“Whatever, “I- I--”
“Will you spit it out? I don’t have all fucking day. What is your problem?”
“You actually are going to ask me that, knowing what you did to me in here?”
“What did I do to you in here?”
“What! Are you serious? You raped me in here,” she whispered, looking around as if someone would hear her.
“That’s what you say.”
“No, it’s what happened. You and I both know it.”
He rose from his desk and walked over to her.
She held her hands up, “Look, Kevin, I just want to talk.”
“You say some shit like that to me and now you want to talk. What do you have to talk about?” he said as he backed her up to the door.
“Last night…you hit me, and you know I could have…”
He put his hand up to the door, causing her to flinch.
“You could have what…what could you have done, Cheryl? If you knew what in the hell Kayla was doing, I would not have been called to pick her up from the police station. So you tell me what you should have been doing?”
“I should have called the police. You are not my husband anymore and you should not put your hands on me. You left a huge bruise on the side of my face: one that I had to cover up before bringing her here today.”
“So…that’s my problem?” He said while walking back towards his desk.
“You damn right it is,” she yelled. “You can’t keep hitting me. We have been divorced for over two years. In all of the 20 years we were married, I never told anyone what happened while we were married. There is nothing to stop me from…”
“From what?” He yelled while slamming his hand onto the desk. “Don’t you ever think about threatening me!” He said while jumping up from his desk and moving towards her.
“I’m not threatening you.” Instinctively, she lowered her voice and held her head down. “I’m just saying…Matthew.”
“Matthew? Matthew what? Told you to tell me that? I will kick that niggas ass. Don’t you ever bring that nigga up to me, do you understand me?”
His hand moved to her throat so quick she didn’t have time to react. Kayla started banging on the door.
He released her and she turned and opened the door quickly.
“Kevin. I’ll pick her up around three.”
“I’ll let you know when to come by to get her,” he said, while opening the front door and pushing her through it. Her mind was racing as she turned from the door and headed back to the car. She didn’t want to leave her but she needed Kevin to see that raising a teenage girl wasn’t as simple as he thought it was.
Matthew started asking the question before she was fully in the car. “Do you plan on telling me what happened?”
“There is nothing to tell.”
“First of all, let me tell you something, I don’t like being lied to.”
“What have I lied about?”
“Are you honestly going to sit there and tell me that he didn’t man handle you again?”
Cheryl remained silent.
“You don’t have anything to say?”
“You don’t know how it is.” She said almost so low he didn’t hear her.
“Then tell me how it is!”
He saw her flinch and immediately regretted it. “I’m, sorry. I don’t mean to yell. How are you going to lie to me? I told you, I don’t like to be lied to. That is one thing that I will not stand for. Do you understand me?”
“Please, don’t do this, I am not lying. I just don’t want to discuss it right now.”
“When will you feel like discussing it?”
“Soon,” she said as she touched his hand.
They pulled up in front of her home a few minutes later. “Are you coming in?”
“No, I have something I need to do. I will be back in a little while.”
As he drove he made a few calls and pulled into the parking lot of the gym.
“What’s up nigga? Why don’t I ever hear from you when you don’t want to spar?”
“You know I love ya,” Matthew said and gave him a slap on the back. “Let me get changed, I’ll be right out.”
After sparring with David for almost two hours, he felt better. He should have been angry at Cheryl for lying to him but her way of coping with the abuse was to lie to everyone around her.
Chapter 9
After having one more drink, Kevin went to the stairs and called his daughter down.
“Kayla, Rebecca is coming over, and I want you to be on your best behavior.”
“I’m not a baby, dad. I know,”
“I told you not to speak to me that way,” he said while walking up on her. “I don’t know what your mother is teaching you.”
“Nothing. Dang, if you…”
“What did you just say?”
“Nothing,” Kayla said while stomping into the kitchen. Before she could reach the refrigerator, he had slapped her in the back of the head.
“Don’t touch me!” she screamed. “This is bull…”
“Who do you think you are talking to, young lady?”
“You! You don’t have to always be hitting on us. You get on my nerves.”
“Don’t you ever speak to me like that again, do you hear me?”
“Get off of me! I’m calling mom,” she yelled.
“Go to your room and don’t touch that fucking phone!”
He walked upstairs to Kayla’s room and heard her crying.
He blew out a breath. Nothing irritated him more than a woman crying.
“Kayla, can I come in?”
“Your house.”
“Kayla, I think you should stay here for a couple of weeks. I don’t know what your mother has been telling you, but I want us to get closer.”
Kevin moved closer to her bed and sat down. She moved away.
“Kayla, look. You are a little too young to have such an attitude problem. What is wrong? You can tell me.”
“Dad, why you always got to be so mean to mom?”
“Your mother is always blaming me for things and sometimes she pushes me too far. You know some people have limits and you have to know when not to cross them.”
“You said that we should never fight but the two of you are always fighting.”
“Look Kayla that is none of your concern. Why don’t you get dressed and when Rebecca gets here, we will go out to get something to eat?”
“I don’t want to,” Kayla said while rolling her eyes.
“This isn’t a choice. So get dressed and I don’t want to hear anything else about it.”
Chapter 10
Cheryl felt her phone vibrate but she was giving her order at the seafood counter.
“Yes, the shrimp look good today,” she told George, her favorite worker behind the counter.
He smiled at her and said, “You should really cook them yourself. It isn’t that hard to do.”
“Yes, I know, but tonight is a special occasion and I really just want to take the easy way.”
“I guess your husband is a lucky man to have such a pretty wife making dinner for him.”
“Oh, George, you’re so cute. I’m not married, just fixing dinner for a friend,”
She noticed the guy that was at the counter walked away when she did.
“Can I suggest that you pair your shrimp with a red wine? One that is not dry, but mellow.”
“Thank you for the suggestion and have a nice night.” She said to the stranger with the patch on his eye.
Before exiting the store, she looked around. Not sure why but she had an uneasy feeling and dismissed it as her nerves being frayed after dealing with Kevin earlier
She got home and checked her phone. She saw that she had a message from Matthew and smiled at his voice.
Rebecca called out when she got into the foyer.
She walked up the stairs and heard h
im talking to his daughter. God knows Rebecca tried to be civil to the little brat, but her mother had poisoned her mind against her. Rebecca walked back down the stairs when she heard him tell her to get dressed. She went into his office and poured herself a glass of wine.
“Hey sexy.”
“Hey yourself. I used my key. I hope you don’t mind.”
“That’s the reason I gave it to you. You know, you could just stay…”
“Let’s not start that again,” she said while stepping past him.
“Ok, ok. Hope you don’t mind, but Kayla is coming with us to dinner. Her mother let her go to one of her little friends’ houses last night and they went out and got caught by the police for violating the curfew laws. After that little stunt, I have called the lawyer and told him I want an emergency custody hearing. She is only fifteen years old and there is no way I am going to have her out here running wild.” He said as he poured himself a glass of wine.
“Do you think that is wise, now that you have all three of the offices open? Between coming to Atlanta and then going to the office in New York, who will be home with her?”
“Look, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Right now her dumb ass mother has her out here running wild. Kayla come on!” he yelled.
“I haven’t taken my shower yet,” she yelled down.
“Hurry the hell up! You have thirty minutes! God! She is just like her mother, always waiting until the last damn minute.”
“Look, just relax. I could think of something we could do for thirty minutes,” Rebecca said as she walked behind him and put her hands around his waist. Kevin turned around and embraced her.
“Mmmm, it’s been a while since we had any alone time,” she cooed in his ear.
“Well, we are alone right now, aren’t we?” He said.
She licked his lips and guided his hands under her skirt.
“You seem a little horny, Ms. Hardy.”
She didn’t say anything, instead she reached inside his trousers and felt his manhood. She started to bend down, but he turned her and bent her over his mahogany desk.
“I want you right now, Rebecca.” he growled in her ear, and with that he pushed himself into her.
He entered into her so hard, that he sucked his name from her mouth.
“You feel so good,” he moaned in her ear.
She pushed him away, turned and lay back on the desk and pulled him down and he entered her again.
She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him deeper inside of her.
“Oh, my god!” She moaned.
The moans and groans filled the space and bounced back at them. They released simultaneously and he rolled onto his back. They both stared at the ceiling
When he was able to stand, he said “What are you trying to do to me?” and finished pulling his pants up.
“Nothing baby, I just needed you. Let’s hurry up and eat, because I want more of this,” she said while pulling her skirt down. Just then Kayla came knocking on the door.
“Now, I’m waiting on you.” Kayla said from behind the door
He swung the door open and gave her a nasty look as he went upstairs. Rebecca grabbed her purse and went into the bathroom as her phone rang. By the time she hung up, she was irritated.
They were finally heading to dinner after an hour. As they walked into McCormick’s and Schmitz Kayla stomped her feet, sucked her breath and answered Rebecca rudely whenever she tried to ask her a question.
“Can you stop talking to me? You’re here with him, not me.” Kayla said moving around Rebecca.
“What in the hell is wrong with you?” Kevin asked as Kayla sat down hard in on the chair in the lobby of the restaurant.
“I don’t like this place. I thought we were going out for Chinese or pizza.”
“I didn’t say anything about Chinese or pizza. This is where Rebecca and I were planning on coming, so this is where we are eating.”
“If I knew that, then I wouldn’t have come,” Kayla said nastily.
“Don’t you dare come out of the mouth like that to me, do you understand me?” he said to her while grabbing her upper arm. She tried snatching free of him, but he held her arm harder. “You better settle your fast ass down. Now get yourself together before I…”
“What? Hit me like you do mom?”
“Kayla, that is just about enough.”
The waiter came over to announce that their table was ready. Kayla stomped ahead of Kevin and Rebecca.
“Maybe we should just…” Rebecca started to say.
“No, I planned on taking you to dinner and her ass better get it together, or I will get it together for her.”
Kayla pulled out her chair, sat down and folded her arms. Kevin pulled out Rebecca’s chair as she sat next to Kayla and he sat across from them. Kayla rolled her eyes a couple of times, and he gave her a look that told her to get it together. She put her hands down and picked up her menu. As he was talking to the waiter about wine, Kayla got up and went to the restroom. Dinner was uneventful, especially since Kayla only ordered a salad and was done before his steak had gotten to the table.
As dinner wore on, Rebecca decided to bring up the subject of a new office manager.
“Kevin, now that we have all of the offices open. Don’t you think it is time to hire a new manager for the office here? I have been thinking…”
“Have you? Because I didn’t really think we would need one. Ashley is still here and knows the office procedures and the new temp secretary is working out great. I don’t think we should put someone in there that would have to be trained.”
“Well, that’s what I have been thinking. I have the perfect person. I know that she is a hard worker and that she also knows our business. She is a friend that I have known for years, and she just fell on some hard times and I was hoping that maybe you would give her a shot.”
“What are her qualifications?”
“She graduated from WVSU with a degree in management. She has lived in New York for about 5 years, but she is looking to relocate.”
“I don’t know. I hadn’t planned on paying for anybody to relocate.”
“Don’t be so cheap.”
Kevin shot her a look.
“I only mean, if you want someone good, you have to be willing to show them that you are serious and that K & B Alliance is not some nickel and dime company.”
“You sound very sure of this woman. What is her name?”
“Her name is Antonia, but I call her Toni.”
“Well, let’s set up an interview. I am not promising you anything, but if she is the good, you know I will hold you personally responsible for her.”
“You won’t regret it. I will call her tomorrow.”
Chapter 11
“I picked up some seafood and your favorite fruit, strawberries,” she said as she opened the door to Matthew
“Have you spoken to Kayla since we dropped her off?”
“Briefly, she said they were going out to eat and she didn’t want to go because Rebecca was also going.”
“Well, baby, she is going to have to get used it to, after all, they are engaged.”
“Don’t remind me.”
“Oh, jealous are we?” Matthew said as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
“Are you kidding me? I’m mad. He made her the head of the new office, when he knew I would give anything to work with him, hell, even as a damn secretary, but he always told me that I needed to be home with the kids. I guess I couldn’t…”
“He didn’t know what he had. Good thing for me though, because I will never let you forget how important you are to me. Cheryl, put the plates in the oven warmer.” He said as he kissed her neck and his hands moved from her hips to her breasts.
“Matthew…”
“Shh, don’t say anything.” He pulled her to the living room quickly. “Just lay here and let me take care of you.”
He laid her down on the carpet and quickly removed his shirt and pulled
his pants down. He pulled her nipple to his mouth as he let his fingers slide past her panties and entered her wetness.
“Oh Matthew,” she whispered in his ear.
Their release came fast and hard. Her hands scratched his back as his hands found her hair, grabbing a handful, his face buried into the side of her neck. He rolled off of her and she curled up next to him. He welcomed the comfort of feeling her arm drape across his body. As he felt her breathing slow down, he heard a small snore escape from her. He pushed his hand through her hair and kissed her head as a smile swept across his face and he let sleep take him into its embrace.
Matthew’s cell phone rang, breaking his sex induced nap. He picked it up without looking at the display.
“Hello.”
“Tired? I guess she wore you out, huh?” The husky voice said.
He sat up and Cheryl rolled off lazily. “Who is this?” he whispered.
“I already answered that question before, so stop asking it, it’s getting a little old.” The man said.
“Look, I don’t know who the fuck this is, but if I find…”
“Don’t make me laugh. I will come for you soon enough. Did you enjoy the shrimp that your lady friend picked up tonight? I sure hope she took my suggestion and got the red wine.” The line went dead and he nudged Cheryl.
“Cheryl?” He nudged her awake.
She stretched her long legs and looked up his face.
Sorry, I fell asleep. Thank you for that. I guess you have worked up quite an appetite, huh?”
She got up and went into the bathroom. She talked from behind the door.
“I picked up some red wine. I am not sure if you will like it, but…”
He dropped the glass, “Did you say red wine? Did the butcher recommend it?”
“No, actually it was another customer…”
“Look, don’t go talking to everyone in the store. You never…”
“Are you serious?” she asked him as she walked out and towards the kitchen. “Don’t worry, I didn’t give him my number, although….”
He cut her off, “Look, just don’t get too friendly with the people in the store.”
Cheryl flinched as he walked up to her.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound like that…but you have to be careful.”
Let Me Say This, Again Page 5