Reserve My Curves 2: He Still Belongs to Me

by B. M. Hardin

  Josephine was definitely different these days; especially since we’d lost Sonni.

  She took it pretty hard of course but afterwards, she decided to make a few lifestyle changes.

  She was on a diet and losing weight.

  She was also planning to renew her wedding vows with Grant.

  I was happy that she was actually keeping her word and staying as far away from Sonni’s used to be husband as she could.

  Well, not that she had much of a choice in the matter anyway.

  Only a week after Sonni’s death, Mark packed up the kids and he moved somewhere towards the west coast.

  All he’d said was that he had family out that way and he and the kids were going to try their best to get through life without Sonni.

  He promised to keep in touch and vowed to send the kids down for summers and holidays.

  And I was sure that he would keep his word.

  I kept the urn of Sonni’s ashes right beside my bed.

  The sudden closeness of our relationship before she’d died made me miss her a lot more than I expected to.

  But at least I still had Josephine.

  Josephine was meeting me to shop for a dress.

  The wedding wasn’t all that far away and I still hadn’t found a dress.

  And with these curves and hips of mine, I knew that whatever dress I chose, it would need weeks of alterations, so I had to get on it.

  “Hi gorgeous,” Josephine squealed and embraced me.

  I smiled at her and hugged her.

  She was looking sexier than ever.

  She was showing off her curves and she’d changed her hair back to how she used to wear it years ago.

  Yes!

  She had better work it!

  I smacked her booty as we entered the dress shop but suddenly I got this eerie feeling.

  I couldn’t quite explain it but I felt as though I was being watched, again, so I checked my surroundings.

  And just as I suspected…Carmen.

  Okay, so this whole stalking thing was out of control!

  Maybe she and Mr. Ben were related or something; stalking must have run in their family.

  It wasn’t okay!

  It was crazy!

  Besides, she was supposed to still be at the hotel.

  Why was she sitting outside the dress shop?

  My phone started to ring, but instead of answering it, I headed back out the door.

  “Carmen why in the hell are you following me?”

  “I’m not following you. I was just passing through and saw your car, so I decided to stop,” Carmen lied.

  Yeah right!

  She was definitely following me…again.

  “Carmen, you are acting like a stalker. And it’s starting to freak me out and piss me off all at the same time. It’s crazy Carmen. Look, yes we’re cool and all but stop showing up uninvited,” I said to her and turned my back to her.

  “What are you doing here Envy?” she asked as though she hadn’t cared about anything I’d said.

  “If you must know, my sister is renewing her wedding vows and she’s looking for a dress. I will call you later, okay,” I said, trying to sound nice as I went back inside of the shop.

  I didn’t care if she’d saved my life or not, she had to go!

  I was trying to keep my cool and be nice to her but she really did need some type of help.

  She really needed to see someone about her issues.

  I was starting to think that prison might not be the best place for her.

  She needed to be in a place with folks of her kind.

  After about thirty minutes and seeing out of the window that Carmen had no intentions of pulling off, instead of me trying on dresses, I had to convince Josephine to try on a few, since Carmen was watching.

  I briefly had to explain the situation, or at least what I wanted Josephine to know about it.

  I was so frustrated but I knew that I couldn’t react the way that I wanted to, which made me so mad that I almost wanted to cry.

  I knew that I still had work to do and that I still needed Carmen in order to do it.

  So, I was just going to have to put up with Carmen and all of her crazy ways.

  I just didn’t have a choice.

  It wasn’t until we exited the store that Carmen pulled off.

  Absolutely ridiculous!

  She was insane and she had no shame at all.

  Lord I wasn’t going to make it too much longer under these conditions, so it was time to turn things up a notch, or I was going to end up just as crazy as she was; or in the jail cell right next to hers because I couldn’t get the job done.

  Suddenly, all of the mixed emotions about throwing her under the bus because she’d saved me were gone.

  Carmen’s ass was going down!

  And I still didn’t have a damn wedding dress!

  ***

  “Let’s get away soon; just the two of us. It’ll be sort of a pre-honeymoon type of thing,” Silas suggested.

  It was late fall and winter was soon to make her presence known, so somewhere warm was just what I needed.

  I hadn’t been on a vacation in years.

  About two years or so before Keymar died to be exact.

  We’d gone to the beach and it was a week that I was sure that I would never forget.

  We walked and talked on the beach all night long.

  He’d told me how special I was and how lucky he was to have me.

  He’d told me everything that any woman wanted and deserved to hear.

  But come to think of it, it had to be around the time that Marie, his other child’s mother, had popped up pregnant.

  Apparently he hadn’t meant a thing that he’d said.

  He was just trying to ensure that he had me wrapped around his little finger just in case he was exposed.

  Love can be such a tricky thing.

  You can think you have it and feel like you have it, but you just never know what the other person involved is really up to.

  I’m assuming that’s where trust comes in but then that brings about this question:

  Can you ever really trust someone?

  Maybe.

  And then again, maybe not.

  “Did you hear me?”

  I looked at Silas.

  I loved him.

  I really did---enough to spend the rest of my life with him.

  Did I trust him?

  Not one hundred percent.

  It was obvious that he had a couple of secrets but so did I.

  We were just two imperfect people trying to find a perfect love.

  And I was okay with that.

  “Yes baby, somewhere warm would be nice. I haven’t been on a beach in forever,” I said with a smile and kissed him.

  Maybe we could make a couple of new memories and hopefully they would last forever.

  He told me that he would plan everything and then squeezed my tits, and walked away.

  I couldn’t do a thing but laugh.

  Boy, did I love that man!

  I headed to shower.

  I was going out to dinner with Carmen for the second time this week.

  She was all over me…like always.

  She called all the time and when I wasn’t with a client at the hotel, I couldn’t get her to shut up.

  She still never apologized for her stalker issues, and I was sure that she didn’t plan to.

  At this point, it was pointless to even worry about it…I just had to learn how to get around it.

  But tonight I was hoping that she would give me something good; good enough for the police to use.

  I was ready to get it all over and done with so that I could peacefully go on with my life.

  And I was close.

  I could feel it.

  Being around Carmen, I’d learned a few things about style and I’d updated my wardrobe.

  Though I had plenty of money to do so, I’d let Silas take me shopping.

  Of course he
’d allowed me to buy anything that I wanted, with no questions asked, worries or complaints.

  Don’t get me wrong, money and all, I was still cheap.

  I checked every price tag, on everything, and if it was way too high, it stayed where it was.

  I learned from Carmen that the key to any outfit was to accessorize.

  A twenty dollar dress with the right accessories, shoes and bag, could go a long way.

  So, tonight I was wearing an all-black top and skirt outfit that I’d found on clearance, with a single two-carat gold and diamond bangle, one hell of a gold diamond necklace, and black Dolce and Gabbana stilettos with a matching clutch, which I’d actually gotten from the hotel.

  I looked like a pocket full of money, but I had to in order to step out with Carmen.

  I knew that no matter what I threw together, she was probably going to still look ten times better but I wasn’t too far behind her.

  Though she knew where I lived, I still didn’t allow her to come to my home, so I headed to the restaurant in a hurry.

  When I arrived, Carmen waved for me to head over to the table.

  She stood up to show off her all white pants jumpsuit that was accessorized with everything gold.

  Even her shoes were gold.

  I had to give it to her…the bitch was fly!

  Just like always.

  “Hey,” she said.

  I smiled at her.

  I was getting used to having what most called a girl-friend, outside of my sisters.

  I was even a lot more casual with the women on the thirteenth floor, but our conversations never went outside of work.

  Hell, even then, they could barely talk to me because Carmen was always in my damn face.

  So, the outings with Carmen were actually very different for me and I kind of liked it.

  I knew that once she was gone that I was going to have to make a friend or two.

  Though Silas didn’t have family in town, he had a host of friends.

  I’d had the pleasure of meeting a few of them.

  They all seemed happy and most of them were married.

  I promised that we could double date with some of them soon and as soon as Carmen was out of my hair, I was going to fulfill some of those promises.

  Some of the wives seemed pretty cool and were maybe even friend material.

  But as for tonight, it was all about Carmen.

  “You look good enough to eat,” Carmen complimented me.

  I was sure that she had a thing for women but I dared not ask her.

  “Thank you. And you look great as always,” I said taking my seat.

  We chatted briefly and then ordered our food but before we could spark up another conversation, Carmen’s phone started to ring.

  Usually she stepped away, but tonight she didn’t.

  “Yes?” she asked.

  I tried to pretend as though I wasn’t listening and started to fiddle with my phone but my ears were straining to hear just even a little of what the other caller was saying.

  I could hear that it was a man’s voice, but that was about it.

  “Yes, more than the usual. Yes. Everything is set. No. I’m not. Yes it will be.”

  Carmen was very short with her answers as though she was already on to me and pretty much knew that I was trying to listen.

  It was obvious that it was a business call, hotel business I was sure, but her words were short and simple.

  “Okay. And I have to talk to you about a replacement. Bye,” Carmen hung up.

  A replacement?

  Was she trying to get out?

  But she was too late.

  The police were already on to her and if no one else was going down, she was.

  And I had to make sure of that in order to ensure my own freedom.

  “Everything okay?” I asked.

  She didn’t respond, only waited for the waiter to place the Scotch in front of her.

  She was pissed off, I could tell.

  “I hate men.”

  I looked at her.

  “Men think they can do it all on their own when really they are nothing without a woman. Whether it’s on a personal or professional level, they need us. It’s time that they admit it. Damn!” Carmen said and swallowed her drink in less than two seconds.

  “The men in my life suck. They have always sucked,” she said and looked as though she was about to cry.

  She wasn’t drunk yet, but I was sure that she was about to go deep on me and I was all ears.

  “It seems like every man in my life or that I come across reminds me of him. He’s the reason that I hate men. Because I hated him.”

  “Who is him?” I asked her, though I already knew that she was talking about Silas.

  “My father.”

  Oops---I was wrong.

  I remembered that Carmen had said that her mother had killed her dad when she was younger but somehow she’d gotten off on the charges and away with it.

  Carmen always seemed uncomfortable when she talked about it and I knew that she took his death pretty hard.

  “How was your father? What was he like?”

  “He was like the Devil…from the hood. If I had to describe him in one word, the word would be evil. He was awful to my mother. Awful to my siblings and awful to me. He’d deserved to die; which is why I killed him.”

  What?

  Wait a minute.

  Time out!

  I thought she’d told me that her mother killed her father.

  But now she was saying that she killed him…huh?

  But honestly, I couldn’t say that I was surprised.

  As I said, she’d looked extremely comfortable holding that gun when she was pointing it at Mr. Ben, so I was sure that she’d done it before.

  “He was beating my mama one night and after listening to her scream for what seemed like forever, something in me snapped. It’s like I’d had an outer body experience. I wasn’t myself for those few minutes. I was someone else. But I ran to the kitchen, grabbed a knife and I entered their bedroom. And without so much as a second thought, I stabbed him. I only stabbed him once, in the back, but once was all that it had taken. Mama and I both watched him die without even attempting to help him. Of course she wiped my prints off of the knife and she took the blame. Thankfully she’d got off or I would have never forgiven myself. But hell, I found it hard to forgive her for even putting us in that situation and for keeping us in it for so long. All she’d had to do was leave. She would tell others that it just wasn’t that easy but at the time, I just didn’t understand. Anyway, the sad part was that after that day, I was changed forever. I was never the same. The only thing that stayed the same was my hate for men. Well, it’s like I will somewhat love them…but I hate them too. It’s hard to explain,” Carmen said.

  I sat with my mouth open and Carmen reached over and closed it as the waiter came back to the table.

  Well, she hadn’t shot him like I’d assumed, but stabbing him was just as bad.

  I’d always known that some things in her past made her who she was, but I definitely didn’t sign up for these types of confessions!

  “I’d been dying to get that off of my chest. I trust that you won’t tell a soul. Thanks for being my friend Envy,” Carmen said, smiled as though she hadn’t just confessed to murder and then she started in on her meal.

  She put the C in crazy.

  I wasn’t sure if this was something that I was going to tell the detective or not.

  It didn’t really pertain to the case, at least not this one, so I figured that I’ll keep her little secret, this time.

  But I wasn’t her friend.

  For her sake I wished that I was, but I wasn’t.

  The rest of the night went by slowly, but it wasn’t a miserable time.

  As I said, I often found myself enjoying Carmen’s company, as long as she was wasted, but I was always focused.

  Sure my conscious would kick in here and there, and I would feel bad, ju
st a little bit, but if the shoe was on the other foot, there was no doubt in my mind that Carmen would be doing the same thing.

  And that thought alone made me feel just a little bit better.

  Just a little.

  **************************************

  Chapter SEVEN

  “Look, ride it or get off of it!”

  The client screamed at me from below me.

  See, this is why I had to get the hell away from this place!

  It was so frustrating that I was still there taking the disrespect and being treated like some floozy when I didn’t have to be.

  Detective Wiley was constantly breathing down my neck for more information that I still didn’t have.

  So I was still in the same situation.

  Fewer dicks on a daily basis---but the same amount of humiliation and disrespect.

  Well, not all of the clients were assholes; only the new ones, or the ones that I’d seen a time or two.

  But a few bad apples always spoil the bunch.

  “All these curves and ass but you scared to take some dick?” he asked and pushed me off of him and forced me onto my back.

  I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about but I was the best.

  I never got complaints and I knew without a shout of a doubt that I did everything top notch.

  There were plenty of men that would agree on that.

  Maybe he was just used to something different.

  I wasn’t sure, but I was ready to get this whole thing done and over with.

  This was my last day for a whole week.

  Silas and I were going on vacation and I just couldn’t wait.

  Though I wasn’t supposed to, I’d told Carmen that when I got back that I would work only one more week and then I was done.

  I just couldn’t do the hotel thing anymore.

  So when I got back, I was going to do whatever it takes, in a week’s time, to find whatever it was that I needed to find and I was getting the hell out of there.

  I’d tried to get it from Carmen and I had got some things but not enough.

  So, I was going for paperwork.

  I didn’t even care if she caught me or whatever; I was going to get what I needed.

  If I had to beat her ass and drag the whole filing cabinet out of the hotel, I was going to find what I needed and that was that.

  Of course Detective Wiley wasn’t happy about me taking a week off but I told him that I needed a break and I was going to have one.