“And that’s not going to happen. You’re not giving up Michael, are you?” Christina asked, shaking her head.
Julissa didn’t say anything.
“Are you thinking about leaving Michael for Quinton?” Shanice asked.
“I don’t know. I just don’t want to break anyone’s heart in the process,” Julissa said.
“Lissa, what’s important is that you listen to your heart. You don’t want a broken heart, either. You know that Christina and I are behind you one hundred percent.”
“Thank you.”
“Lissa, don’t let your decision be based on sex alone. A relationship is not all about sex,” Christina informed her.
“I know that. I told you that it’s not just sex.”
“By the way…is the sex with Quinton that good?” Shanice had a smile on her face.
Julissa smiled back, meekly.
“Well?” Christina pushed, eagerly.
“The sex is off the chain!” Julissa answered.
“I knew it! Brotha didn’t have so much sex appeal for nothin’,” Shanice exclaimed.
“Make up your mind fast, Julissa, before things get out of hand. This thing cannot come to light without an explanation to Michael,” Christina said.
“That’s the thing. Please don’t say anything. Not to Richard. Not to Brian. The only people that are aware are you two and Ed.”
“Ed? How does he know?” Shanice demanded.
Julissa cleared her throat. “He was the first to find out by accident. That night we went to club, Ed caught us together…kissing.”
“Oh! At the club? Damn, girl! You guys are that hot for each other?” Shanice yelled.
“Ssssh, girl. The people are looking at us,” Christina tried to quiet Shanice down after several people in the coffee house looked around at them. “How did Ed feel about that? You know he had a crush on you.”
“Ed and I have an understanding. He took it pretty well, actually. He told me that he’d moved on before he found out about Quinton and me. And there was no attraction to Ed and I never had thoughts about stepping out on Michael to see Ed. That’s why when Quinton came along I was pushed completely off guard by the attraction.”
“And Ed is just as handsome. So, maybe there is something there for you and Quinton,” Christina said.
“Be careful, Lissa. Be very careful about your decision,” Shanice said, quietly this time.
This warning coming from Shanice made Julissa take heed.
**
Over the next week it was extremely convenient for Julissa to go visit Quinton in the afternoons. Quinton was home from work every day around three. Some days, she would already be waiting in the hotel room for him using the spare key that he had given her. All this had to be accomplished by the time Michael got home in the evenings. Michael was pulling extra hours at the office. Eight hour days became ten hour days which gave her more time to stall and spend with Quinton.
She and Quinton had even dared to go out on a few dates with each other, out to eat, movies, wine tasting, and shopping. They were really becoming attached to each other and the more they saw each other the more they wanted to be together. Today, they had even more reason to celebrate. She and Quinton had learned this morning that his offer had been accepted on a house in his desired neighborhood.
Yesterday afternoon when they went in search of the six bedroom, five bathroom, five thousand square feet traditional style home, Julissa immediately fell in love with it. She was just as ecstatic about the fully remodeled basement as he was. The owners were leaving the custom built theatre and entertainment system in tact with the agreed selling price. They were also leaving a huge hot tub outside in the backyard. The kitchen was huge, gourmet style, and featured double ovens, a 42” inch refrigerator, and all stainless steel appliances. The master bedroom was nearly half of the second floor featuring a sitting area, master bedroom with separate Jacuzzi tub and shower. Both kitchen and all bathrooms were decorated in granite countertops and ceramic tile flooring. Julissa was completely floored by the impression the home had made, so much so, that she forgot that it was Quinton who would benefit from buying the house, not her. Nonetheless, he must have seen her excitement and they placed a contract on the home on-site before they left the premises.
At seven that morning, Martha intercepted the fax that said that Quinton’s offer was accepted. He was scheduled to close and move into his new home in one week. One thing about Quinton was that he didn’t like to waste time. He got right down to business.
“Time for a quickie?” Quinton had carried her through the hotel lobby, on the elevator, and all the way into his room.
“I don’t know. How quick?” Julissa teased.
“Hhmmm. We’ll see.” Quinton placed her down on the bed sheets and began kissing her body.
“Q, I thought you brought me up here to talk about us.” She let Quinton unbutton her blouse.
“We are talking about us,” he replied, kissing her belly button.
“Q, what are we going to do about this? Us?”
“It’s up to you, Beautiful. You’re the one who won’t let go.”
Julissa pulled his face up gently to her breast. He took the cue and kissed them.
“Q, I’m scared.”
Quinton paused and looked up. “There is nothing to be afraid of, Lissa. I’m here for you now and I’ll be here for you always. I can’t claim you as my own if you don’t let go.”
“Well, how do I know that you and I will work? How do I know that we’ll be together after I do this?” She caressed the side of his face. The day old stubble from his beard and mustache felt good against her fingertips.
“We will be together.” Quinton turned his lips into her palm and kissed it.
“How do we know that, Q?”
“Julissa.” Quinton groaned. “You ask too many questions. I know because one day you’re going to be my wife. Okay?”
The words came out of his mouth so naturally, but Julissa wondered if he was serious. “Are you just saying that?”
“That would be something stupid for any guy to say if he didn’t mean it. I mean it, Julissa. But right now I’m between a rock and a hard place. I feel like I have to compete with your fiancé every moment we’re together.”
“You don’t have to compete with him, Q. You win, every time, hands down.” Julissa pulled his lips in for a kiss. What she said was the truth, but she was still afraid to inform Michael that she was leaving him.
Quinton mumbled something into her mouth that she couldn’t make out.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.” Quinton shook his head.
“Hey!” Julissa wrapped a leg around his waist. “I thought this would be quick.”
Quinton smiled and they began peeling out of their clothes. He was already standing at attention ready to pounce, but first there was something that she had been dying to do since she first met Quinton’s dick.
Julissa got on her own knees and took his rod in her hands. She stroked him up and down from the shaft to the base, slowly, watching as his dick expanded in length and width the more aroused he became. She stuck her tongue out and licked the head and then took the entire tip completely in her mouth.
“Oh, Julissa…what are you doing?” Quinton moaned.
“What does it look like?” Julissa said, teasing the head with the tip of her tongue.
“You don’t have to do that…”
“Stop complaining. You know you like it. Now, shut up and enjoy it because I won’t be able to talk to you while my mouth is full of you.”
She took his head in her mouth again and sucked him, applying more pressure. She moved her tongue up and down his shaft until he was wet with her saliva. When he was slick, she stroked him using her palms while she began sucking the head like a lollipop. With her hands in sync with her lips, she opened her eyes and looked up at him.
“Feels good, baby,” he moaned.
Motivated by his encouragemen
t, she took him deeper into her mouth, until he was touching the back of her throat. The deep throat that she had perfected without gag reflex had Quinton moaning and groaning her name. She increased her pace and he tried to pull out, but she wouldn’t let him. Her mouth was like a suction on his dick, holding him in. When she felt him shudder, she sucked harder until the semen shot down her throat. When he was done, she licked up the last drop from the head.
Quinton was breathing irregularly, regaining himself. He chuckled softly.
“Good, huh?” Julissa asked, licking her lips.
“Hell yeah.”
Julissa leaned back and spread her legs to give Quinton a look at her moist pussy. “Now I’m all wet. What will you do about that?”
Quinton buried his face in her center and started lapping at her pussy. He licked her until she was on the verge of coming. Lifting her legs, he entered her with such force that it brought forth a climax and she came all over his dick.
The quickie was not so quick. She had twenty minutes to jump in the shower, get on the freeway, and make it home before Michael did.
**
She was lucky to have made it home before Michael did. In fact, she made it home way before she did. She began to worry when he didn’t come home and it was after eight. Calling his cell phone wouldn’t do her any good. He didn’t answer if he was busy at the office with something.
Finally, she heard the front door open and close around nine that night. She used the remote to turn the volume to the television down and listened as he moved about in the kitchen. When she heard his footsteps come up the stairs, she pulled the covers up to her chin.
“Michael, I was worried about you. Late night at the office?”
Michael looked at her with his piercing grey eyes for a moment, and then he said, “I had dinner with some of the fellas at the office.”
“Oh. I made grilled steak and potatoes for dinner, but when you didn’t come I stored everything in the fridge.”
“Good idea.” Michael disappeared into the bathroom. “Julissa?,” he called out, “Where are my clean suits? Did you leave them downstairs in the washroom?”
Julissa mouthed dropped open. Shit! She had forgotten to pick up Michael’s suits from the cleaners. “Michael…I completely forgot about your suits. They’re still at the cleaners.”
“Julissa? There is only one fucking clean suit for work in the morning. I have two meetings and dinner with very important clients tomorrow,” Michael shouted.
“I’m sorry. I’ll go in the morning and get them. If you want, I can bring one by your office.”
Michael appeared from out of the closet and stood there and looked at her.
Julissa could tell that he was furious.
“Don’t bother!” He threw up his hands and began loosening his shirt tie and unbuttoning his shirt. “You know…what has gotten into you? You’re forgetting to do everything these days. Are you letting that ring on your finger get to your head?”
“What do you mean? Get to my head? I’m only human and humans forget once in a while.”
“Once in a while?” Michael rushed towards her. “You fucking forget more than once in a while.”
“Stop yelling at me! So, what? I forgot your suits at the cleaners. It’s not the end of the fucking world!” Julissa was tired of putting up with his bullshit.
“What?” Michael eyes bulged. He reached down and snatched the bed sheets off her body and they landed on the floor in a heap. “What did you say?”
“I said…” Suddenly, Julissa’s whole body was cold under her nightgown.
Michael gripped her throat with his hands and stared her down, “Don’t you ever fucking curse me again. You hear me, bitch?” Her head was pressed up against the headboard behind her.
“I’m not a bitch!”
“Then what are you?” Michael challenged.
“Your fiancé!”
“Then act like it!” Michael loosened his grip, turned around, and finished removing his shirt and tie.
“What do you mean act like it? I come home. I cook, I clean, I wash your filthy underwear, I take your shit to the cleaners, I do whatever you ask, when you ask for it. What more do you want? Huh?”
When Michael didn’t respond, she went on. “What do you do for me? Huh? Nothing. Do you cook, clean, iron and wash clothes? No. Do you cater to my needs? No. Do you come home and fuck me? Hell no. What kind of a man is that?”
It was so quick that she didn’t see it coming. The slap that he laid across her face was so hard that she felt the blood rushing to the place where he hit her. It stung like hell.
“How dare you?” She touched her face where it hurt. Michael had never slapped her before. Sure, he had roughened her up a few times, but he had never laid his hands on her like this.
“What kind of a man? I’ll show you what kind of man.” Before she could escape, he straddled her, pulling her nightgown up over her thighs.
“No!”
“Shut up!” Michael unzipped his pants and pulled out his dick. “You want to get fucked, Julissa? Is that what you want? You want me to treat you like a fucking whore?”
“No.”
“Then stop acting like one.” Michael held her down and spread her thighs. He managed to thrust his dick into her pussy and she bucked on the bed trying to get him off. “Is this what you want? Is this the kind of man you want?” Michael pounded her repeatedly, grabbing at her breasts.
Julissa stopped fighting after a while and closed her eyes, letting the tears fall down the sides of her face on the sheets. Michael must have been really turned on by his own aggression and her forced submissiveness, because he was the only one grunting and moaning as he fucked her. She was too afraid to open her eyes, because she feared that she would not recognize the man on top of her. This could not have been the real Michael.
Finally, after three minutes, he pulled out and released himself, shooting his cum over her stomach and breasts. He took one smug look at her before heading towards the bathroom.
She rolled over into a ball and hugged herself. Her body shook, but no tears fell. How could she have just let that happen? She felt violated and used in the most disrespectful way possible. She jumped when she felt Michael’s cold hands on her back.
“I love you, Julissa. But if you ever, ever question my manhood again, I will hurt you worse than that, do you understand me?” His voice was stern and serious.
“Yes.”
Michael threw a hand towel over her body. “Now clean yourself up! When I come back up here again, I want to see fresh sheets on my bed.”
Michael slammed the door behind him. When she didn’t hear his footsteps anymore, she got up and tore all the sheets off the bed. With tears welling up in her eyes, she placed new sheets on the bed, as Michael commanded. It wasn’t until she was in the shower that she let the tears flow down her cheeks. She was crying silently inside, but she never made a sound.
Chapter Twelve
The next morning, she really didn’t want to be bothered with anyone. She was waiting in the parking lot of the dry cleaners as soon as they opened. She picked up Michael’s suits and returned home to work in the solitude of her own office. Besides looking like a wreck, she was still in shock from the events that went down last night.
Hadn’t her mother warned her many years ago about men who were physically and mentally violent towards women? But, yet her mother swore up and down that Michael was the perfect man. It wasn’t her mother’s fault for liking Michael; after all, she hadn’t seen his other side. If only Michael could be more like the man who proposed to her only weeks ago and more like the man she envisioned for her future, he would be perfect.
On the other hand, Quinton was the type of man that she had never envisioned for herself. He had some of the traits that she thought she would never find in a man. He was successful in his career, but he knew how to have fun. He was a generous lover and good-looking, too. He treated her with respect and never talked down to her ab
out her career or how she did things. He was almost too perfect, of course.
Her cell phone rang. Seeing it was Quinton, she answered right away. “Hello, Quinton.”
“Good morning, my beautiful angel.”
Julissa couldn’t help but smile. The first smile on her face since last night.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“Nothing. Working.”
“Are you at the office?”
“No, I’m at my home.” She nibbled on her bottom lip.
“I see. What are your plans for lunch? There’s this nice pizza parlor across the street from my office that I think you would like. Can I come pick you up somewhere?”
All Julissa was thinking about was Michael’s angry expression when he promised her that she would be hurt if she ever questioned his manhood again.
“Julissa? You okay?”
“Yeah, I…” Julissa ran her fingers through her ponytail. “I’m just not feeling so well. I think I may be coming down with something.” It was lie, but at least she didn’t have to tell him a straight no.
“I’m sorry to hear that, baby. I wish I was there to make it better. What is it? A cold, a headache?” Quinton seemed concerned.
“A migraine.”
“Well, I hope you feel better. Maybe we can do something later on or even tomorrow. I don’t think I can last without seeing you until the big closing day.”
“Quinton…I think that may be the case.”
“What do you mean?”
“We can’t do this anymore, Quinton.”
“What?” Quinton huffed in the phone. “Lissa, don’t do this again. You know how I get when I can’t see you. Why are you doing this to me? What happened?”
“Q, it’s just not right. Nothing will ever come of our relationship. Not now, not ever.”
“I believe differently. Do you want me to come over? To your home? You know I will.”
“Please, don’t do that, Quinton.”
“You belong to me, Lissa. How can I convince you of that? What do you want me to do? I’ll do it. I’ll do whatever it takes to have you. When will you realize that your fiancé doesn’t deserve you?”
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