Risking It All

by Ambrielle Kirk

  **

  Shanice called Julissa on Sunday morning wanting to know if she could borrow a silver handbag and matching pumps for a date she was going on tonight. It was the perfect alibi to get away from the house and the long list of chores she had to do, so she jumped on it.

  With Michael in earshot, she stuffed the handbag and pumps into a duffle bag.

  “Are you sure you want me to bring the silver ones?” Julissa asked Shanice.

  “Yes, I have a hair appointment in about two hours, so I won’t be able to go shopping without being late for my date.”

  “As a matter of fact, I could bring it right now. I’m sure Michael won’t mind me coming to visit you.” Julissa looked at Michael, who was reading an article in GQ magazine. “I promise I’ll come back and finish dusting.”

  Michael looked over the magazine at her and raised both eyebrows.

  “Aw! Aren’t you being the good housewife,” Shanice gawked. “Do me a favor and say hello to Michael for me.

  “Say hello yourself.” Before Shanice could object, she handed Michael the phone. Julissa stood there as Michael and Shanice shared a greeting and a few words.

  When he hung up, Julissa said, “I’ll be back this afternoon. We’ll probably go out for coffee to catch up on a few things, and then I need to stop by the shopping mall to see if they have my favorite shade of lipstick in stock. They were out last week.”

  “Can you bring some bagels? You forgot to get some yesterday.”

  “Sure.” Julissa grabbed her purse and keys from the closet in the foyer, and rushed out the door.

  **

  It took Julissa thirty minutes to drop the handbag and purse off to Shanice. Twenty minutes afterward, she pulled up in front of Quinton’s home. One of the doors to his three car garage was open and she could see his Range Rover parked inside, so she knew he was home.

  He answered the door for her, smiling. “I was expecting you.”

  She smiled back entering his home. “How did you know I would come today?”

  “Let’s just say that I miss you as much as you miss me. In fact, I need to get you a key, so you can come and go as you please.”

  “What have you been up to?”

  “Unpacking some boxes. I didn’t know I had so much junk.”

  Julissa followed him downstairs into the basement media room. Several boxes full of electronics, wires, CDs, and DVDs were lined up against the wall. “I thought you got rid of some of this stuff back in Florida.”

  “I thought I did, too,” Quinton said bending down and picking up a box and putting it on the couch. “I guess I just couldn’t bear parting with most of it.”

  Quinton sat down on the couch and Julissa sat down beside him. “Quinton, I need to know something.” Julissa was tired of sneaking around with Quinton. She was tired of keeping things from Michael, in fear of how he might retaliate.

  “What do you need to know? Anything.”

  “I want to be with you.”

  “Me, too.”

  “I mean, I’m ready to leave Michael.”

  Quinton stopped short of opening the box between them. “Do you really mean it?”

  Julissa nodded. “I wanted to…for quite a while. The thing is, Q…you don’t know Michael. He has a temper.”

  Quinton got up and knelt in front of her. “Are you afraid of him?”

  Julissa nodded again.

  Quinton kissed her chin and lips. “I’m here for you. Just tell me what you want me to do.”

  “I don’t want you involved in the worst part of this. It’s my time to face my own problems. There were problems in our relationship even before you came along, Q, and it’s time that I let go.”

  “What will you tell him?”

  “That I want to leave him.”

  “Why are you so afraid to tell him that?”

  “I’m afraid of what will happen after that. And I’m afraid of losing you more.”

  “You won’t lose me.” Quinton rubbed her arms and shoulders. “I’ll be here for you forever.”

  “I love you, Q. That first night when we kissed I knew there was something about you that I could never resist. The connection was there from day one.”

  “I’m so glad to hear you say that. So glad that you feel the same way. I wasn’t lying when I told you that one day you would be my wife. Now, it’s just a matter of when.”

  They kissed each other for what seemed like several minutes.

  “Will you spend the night with me?” Quinton’s eyes were eager, excited.

  “Q, let me do this.” She caressed the sides of his face. “Let me take care of my business first. Please understand what I have to do now.”

  “I’ll go with you.”

  “No.” She grabbed his shoulders. “I got myself into this by myself…”

  “I understand. Will you tell him tonight? Tomorrow?”

  “Very soon.”

  Quinton sighed, got up, and began to open up the box next to her again. He pulled out several photo albums and Kodak envelopes. They looked as if they were filled with pictures. Putting the albums back in the box, he mumbled, “I think I’ll keep this one in storage.”

  “Are those pictures? Why would you keep them hidden away?”

  “They’re just pictures.” Quinton shrugged.

  “Can I see them?” Julissa was curious. A photo album could really tell you a lot about a person.

  Quinton reluctantly handed her a photo album out of the box. “Most of these came from my parents’ house.” He sat beside her and watched as she opened the photo album to the first picture.

  It was a bit faded and was of a man and a woman. They were a good looking couple. “Your parents?”

  “Uh-huh. They live in Miami. They’re retired. They weren’t too happy about me moving back to Atlanta, but when I told them about my plans to expand my business, they gave up on trying persuading me to stay.”

  The next couple of pictures were of Quinton’s parents together, labeled first married Christmas, first new year, first vacation together, etc. Several pictures filled the album of Quinton’s happy parents together. She studied the picture of them holding a naked baby boy in their arms. “Is that you?”

  “Yep. In my birthday suit.”

  “You’re so cute!” There were several more pictures of the fat little baby that was Quinton. Julissa flipped through the pictures of Quinton when he was age one, two, three, and four.

  There were several pages missing pictures in the album as if someone had taken them out. For whatever reason, they weren’t in the album. Several pictures sticking out of the back persuaded Julissa to move on. These pictures were of many kids grouped together, playing together, eating birthday cake, throwing balls, playing in the dirt. Julissa figured these may have been his brothers and sisters. There was one picture of several boys lined up shoulder to shoulder standing against a brick wall. The basketball goalie in the background and basketballs under several of their arms indicated that they must have been playing a game.

  “Are you in this picture?”

  “I am.” Quinton nodded. “Me and my cousins. That was the picture we took together just before I graduated middle school.”

  “Which one?” Julissa looked amongst the pictures and couldn’t quite pick him out from the group.

  “See if you can find me.”

  Julissa smiled. “I think I can do that. Just look for the cute one.” She went from left to right, looking at the faces, and making comments.

  “This one’s a little too short to be you. Also, he has big cheeks. That can’t be you…what about this one?” She looked closer at the picture. “Is that Ed?”

  “Yep. Edward Martin.”

  “And this is his brother, Richard.” She pointed at the two of them. “They never looked alike. They’re like yin and yang.”

  “They have two different fathers.”

  “I knew that. This little one is kind of cute, but that can’t be you. His skin is a bit lighter than
yours is now. But, you have the same nose. Is that you?”

  “You tell me,” Quinton teased.

  “No, can’t be. Oh, who is this guy? Those have got to be the thickest bifocals that I have ever seen in my life. Look at him!” The boy she was looking at appeared tall and gangly. The two front teeth were missing from his smile. Julissa giggled. “Look at him trying to flex muscles he doesn’t have like the other boys. You boys were too funny!” The shoulders on him were awfully wide for a skinny boy. His feet were noticeably bigger than the rest of them. “How could he see out of those things? He looks a mess. He must have been a real geek of a cousin. He looks like Urkel from Family Matters. Oh, my God! What a mess!” Julissa moved her finger to the next boy. He was also light-skinned and skinny, but did not resemble Quinton in the least bit. The last boy was a little on the heavy set side. He also had a set of lips that were way bigger than Quinton’s. “Are you even in the picture?” Julissa looked up at Quinton, a little disappointed that she hadn’t noticed him.

  “I am.”

  “Okay, I give up. Which one?”

  “Believe it or not…I was the one with the glasses.” Quinton frowned.

  “What?” Julissa looked down at the photo again. At the boy that looked like the type of geek that she and her friends used to make fun of in middle and high school. She stared at the picture for a few seconds and finally she saw past the thick, fogged up bifocals, and the missing front teeth. She saw the beautiful dark set deep brown eyes and the full sexy lips with the slight quirk when he smiled. Oh, my God…it was Quinton. “I…I…is that really you?”

  “Yes, that’s me.”

  “I am so sorry.” Her cheeks grew hot with shame. She felt like a complete idiot for talking about Quinton’s childhood pictures right in front of him. She buried her face in his chest in embarrassment.

  “Don’t be sorry. Those are the kind of comments I got back then, by the way.”

  “We all look so funny when we’re young. I didn’t mean to be rude.”

  “It’s okay, Lissa.” Quinton smiled. “I’m a grown man now.”

  It was not okay. She just made fun of Quinton to his face. How was she supposed to know? She assumed that since he was so damn fine, then he must have been just as good-looking as a boy.

  “I have some pictures that I want to show you of me when I was young. I’m sure that you’ll get a pretty good laugh off those.” Julissa flipped the page to the next picture. There were pictures of him with other boys and girls. He looked the same in every one of them, except that he kept getting taller and it was more apparent that puberty was taking over. However, he still hid his handsome face behind the wire rimmed glasses and smiling pictures turned to pictures with no expression on his face. He’d grown into a gorgeous man. No one would ever guess that the boy in these pictures was the sexy man sitting beside her today.

  Quinton handed her another album. “I was teased pretty much all through day school, middle school, and high school. My parents moved to Florida and I attended community college in Florida. Would you believe that I didn’t lose my virginity until my sophomore year of college? Not only was I teased for that, I was teased for not having any self-confidence at all.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with losing your virginity late. I didn’t lose mine until three years ago,” Julissa added. She began flipping through the second album. This album was of him surrounded by computers and electronics. It looked like he was working on something. There were also several pictures of him labeled Programmers Only Club. There were also pictures of him standing alone with trophies and accepting several certificates at competitions. “What are the first place trophies for?”

  “Science projects. Programming competitions.”

  “When did you lose your glasses?”

  “After I left college, I wasn’t much for taking pictures. The same year I graduated, I discovered that if you were smart and treated females really nice, then some of them would give you what you needed…if you know what I mean. My girlfriend at the time was a freshman, Lola. She was a preacher’s daughter, but she asked me to take her virginity because she wanted to have had sex just like the sisters at the sorority that she wanted to pledge to. So, being a guy, not getting much sex, I took it. Lola pledged and was accepted in the sorority and she was also the only freshman on the cheerleading squad. Even though her boyfriend was the popular quarterback, she came to me over and over again for sex. Not only did she proposition me for sex, but so did her other friends.

  I didn’t understand why any girl would want to have sex with me and I was just a geek with big glasses and a nice smile. Her friend, Paula, told me the answer. They had fallen in love with my penis. Never having seen another man’s penis up close and personal in my life, I didn’t understand what she meant. Paula, blond and not the smartest person in the world, said, in her words, exactly, it’s big and you know how to work it.”

  Julissa laughed. “You sure do.”

  He chuckled. “So that’s when I realized that I could be just like the football players they wanted to be seen with and all the other jocks they wanted to marry. Five months later, I had gained thirty pounds and could bench press more than some of my competition. I began lifting weights every day of the week, several hours a day. The only thing left to do was lose the glasses with the help of Lasik surgery. It’s wonderful what a little motivation and self-love will do. So…here I am.”

  Julissa looked at him without saying anything. Taking in everything that he had just told her. “I admire that determination, Q. I understand you a little bit more. But, I have one question?”

  “Yes?”

  “You’re still smart and you treat me really nice and I guess I give you what you need. Do you find pride in sleeping with females whose boyfriends are a bit lacking in some areas?”

  “What?” Quinton chuckled nervously.

  Julissa made a straight serious face. “I didn’t think that was funny.”

  “No, I don’t find pride in that. I like having my women to myself. It’s not my fault that those females weren’t as truthful as they should have been with me.”

  Julissa frowned.

  “I didn’t mean it like that. You’ve always been truthful with me, Julissa. I know that.”

  “You still slept with those women even after you found out the truth, didn’t you?”

  Quinton nodded.

  “How do I know that you’re not playing a game with me? Using me?”

  “Playing a game?”

  “Yes, how do I know that I’m not just some girl that you’re using to increase your pride? Doesn’t it do something to your pride to know that my relationship and my sex life is lacking, and I come to you because I know what I don’t get at home is here?” Julissa was yelling now. She was bothered. Furious! “You sensed that Michael and I were having problems and you enjoyed that. You took advantage of that, didn’t you? How do I know that you’re not playing games with me, huh? How do I know that you’re not taking me for one those sex hungry females who crave big dicks and rough sex and you give them what they want so they can keep coming back to y—.”

  Quinton stopped her yelling by kissing her mouth closed. He kissed her with such force that Julissa thought he was angry too. His lips massaged hers and before long they were tonguing each other.

  “How do you know I’m not playing games? Is that what you want to know?” Quinton picked her up in both of his arms. “Is that what you need to know?” He kissed her neck and shoulders as he took her up the stairs to the first floor and then up the spiral staircase.

  “Q, I just want to know that this is for real.”

  “It is for real, baby. I’m for real.” Quinton used one arm to open the door to his master bedroom.

  “Q, I want you, too. But, there’s more to us than sex. I can feel it, but I want to hear that from you.”

  Quinton placed her in the lounge chair next to his bed. “Sit there.”

  “What are you doing?” Julissa was confused as
he reached in his nightstand. Instead of pulling out the box of condoms that she knew were there, he pulled something else out that was hidden in the palm of his hands.

  When he came back over to the chair, he picked her up, sat down in the chair, and placed her on his lap. “You love me, Lissa?”

  “With all my heart, Quinton. Do you love me?”

  “Cross my heart.” Quinton opened his palm and revealed the diamond ring in the center.

  She gasped and her hand went up to her heart, as it felt like it had stopped beating. “Quinton, what is this?”

  “It’s premature. But I want to show you that I am not playing games with you.”

  “Q, it’s beautiful,” Julissa took the ring that he offered her.

  “I don’t know what to do now, Lissa.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “This is the part when I’m supposed to ask you to marry me and you’re supposed to accept the ring on your finger. But, I’ve never proposed to a woman who already had a ring on her finger. As a matter of fact, I’ve never proposed to any woman at all.”

  “Oh, Q.” Julissa hugged him. “I would accept your proposal in a heartbeat.”

  “Then you will marry me some day?”

  “Yes.” Julissa reached down and pulled Michael’s ring off her finger. The ring she should have never accepted.

  “Does that prove that I’m not playing games?”

  “Yes, it does.”

  Quinton picked up her hand and kissed it. “You go and do what you have to do with him. I will be waiting right here for you. And when you come back, we can start our life. Together.” He slipped his ring on her finger. “This is what I want. It will be if you want it to be.” Then, he slipped the ring back off. “But, first, you go and take care of your business.”

  Quinton kissed the inside of her wrist. She had no idea a kiss there could arouse her. He moved to her neck, licking and sucking, making her moan and she grinded her pussy over him. She was straddled him, pressing her pussy against his erection. His groans were proof that he wanted more. So did she. She pulled the straps to her tank top down and arched her back, bringing his lips to her breasts.