by H.H. Fowler
Michelle eased her daughter’s Altima to a stop in front of her two-story mansion, trying to appear as inconspicuous as possible. She still wasn’t sure if she wanted to go through with Tayah’s suggestion of ‘hashing’ things out with Leroy, and for a moment, she wrestled with the idea to turn the car around and head back to the hotel. Nostalgically, her eyes scanned the majestic views of the property, and took in the life that Leroy had built for her and their children. They didn’t want or need, anything. Everything that they asked for was there for the taking – it was a life worth cherishing. However, what was the sense of having everything when she couldn’t enjoy it?
She was fed up with her husband’s lies. What could Leroy possibly explain to her? There wasn’t anything to explain. She’d caught him, a pastor, lying on top of a woman that he’d made his assistant, polluting the house of God with their unrestrained appetites. He might have brainwashed their daughter, Tayah, into thinking it had not happened, but Michelle had seen them with her own eyes. After all this time, she could finally put her miserable assumptions to rest. She pulled her ebony curls into a ponytail, and then removed her diamond studs from her ears – tossing them into her purse. She had no reason to look fashionable now.
Her miniature terrier greeted her at the door, wagging its tail excitedly. She acknowledged him with a pat on the head and then proceeded slowly over the marble terrazzo. There were only two places where Leroy would be at this time of night – her first choice led her up the grand staircase to the second floor. She intuitively looked around and inspected the area for signs of his indiscretion. When she’d been on the phone with Leroy earlier, he’d told her their son had invited a female up to his room. Michelle had heard the girl’s sensual voice, cooing in the background and commenting on Leroy’s legs. However, the way Leroy had been lying these days, that female could have very well have been another one of his little dirty secrets.
That thought made her even more upset. She was a decent woman. She shouldn’t have to put up with this kind of mess. When she got to her bedroom, the first thing she noticed was that the bed appeared to be undisturbed. The quilt, pillows, and cushions were exactly the way she’d left them, which probably meant Leroy did not sleep in the room last night. Even the empty juice bottles they’d drunk from had been left where they were. She pondered his actions for a moment, completely unaware of his presence behind her.
“How long have you been standing there?”
Michelle's heart leaped in response to Leroy's voice, but by the time she turned to face him, her expression was loaded with attitude. “You intentionally did that, didn't you?”
“Sorry. You were just standing there. I thought you knew I was in the room.” He wanted to ask her about the evening gown she was wearing, but he was certain his inquiry would be met with some clever remark. He attempted a softer approach. “You didn't have to come home, Michelle. Because I completely understand the position I've placed you in.”
Leroy’s statement took her by surprise. “You understand? After I finally caught you in the act, you mean? Suddenly, you understand. I've been trying to get you to understand for five years, and for five years all you have done is lie through your teeth!”
Leroy walked across the room and pulled their bedroom door toward him until it snapped shut. He didn't want the boys walking in on what he was about to confess to his wife. Maybe he should have asked her about her evening gown. That might have been an easier opening, but any way the board was spun, Michelle was going to let him have it.
“I didn't know how to tell you,” he told her. “Believe me, I've tried repeatedly to tell you the truth, but I was placed in a position that forced me to do things against my will.”
“There's nothing forced about having an affair. And certainly, you weren't doing it against your will. You and Shaniece were all over each other, trying to tear each other's clothes off...”
“I will tell you this over and over again because it is the truth and I will stand by it.” Leroy kept his voice low and balanced. “What you walked into was a fight between Shaniece and me. Contrary to what you think, we were not making out in my office.”
“Who are you fooling, Leroy? I was born premature, but I wasn’t born stupid!”
“I’ve never slept with the woman…”
“My God, even with the guilt stitched to your face, you are still in denial. How could you deny it? Oh, we’re just having a little holy fun. Those were Shaniece’s exact words when I walked in and saw you on top of her.”
“Anything that woman tells you will be nothing but lies.”
“If she’s such a shady character, then why the heck did you make her your assistant pastor? I mean, what other reason is there? I simply don’t get it…”
Leroy knew this was it – the moment he’d been rehearsing in his mind for years. As the words traveled up his throat and through his mouth, he imagined Michelle laughing at him.
He hid his face behind one of his palms. “I made her my assistant because she’s blackmailing me.”
“What? Blackmail?” It sounded absurd coming out of her mouth. “You really expect me to swallow that garbage?”
“Michelle, you asked for the truth and I will give it to you.” He used his fingers to massage the bone behind his brows. “I think you should sit…”
“No. I don’t plan on staying here much longer.”
“Well, suit yourself.”
He took a seat on the edge of the bed, took a deep breath, and then began to unburden his soul, one word at a time. “Five years ago, I should have listened to that voice inside my head,” he told her. “I should have never gotten in that car. As I drove, my hands trembled. I gripped the steering wheel, knowing what I was about to do could blow our perfect world apart…”
Yet, Leroy kept his right foot, which felt as if it had morphed into a huge boulder, fastened to the accelerator. A cloak of darkness encircled him as he thought about the corruption that awaited his arrival.
“You can still turn around,” the voice had warned.
It wouldn’t leave him alone. At one time, he would have listened. At one time, he wouldn’t have questioned the wisdom of such admonition. But months of lewd meditation had weakened his spiritual resolve, and fed his obsession to experience something he couldn’t have – a taste of the forbidden. Every fiber in his body screamed danger, but he could not disengage the sexual tension that had mercilessly choked the life out of his willpower. His theological background told him that what was happening was the result of a demonic attack, which had taken advantage of his weak disposition. If this was a test, he was failing it big time.
He ditched the rental car at the main road and walked quickly along a dirt path that took him directly to her doorstep. Every hair on his copper skin stood at attention as he envisioned running into Chris Hansen from the Dateline NBC program, ‘To Catch a Predator”. He could see his name and face plastered over the headlines. She was not an adolescent. She’d told him that she was eighteen.
“Final opportunity,” the voice said. “Get out of here and run for your life...”
“It's too late now,” he remembered telling himself as he crept ahead, and left the pleading voice behind.
Reaching the first step, he took a deep breath to quell the butterflies flapping around in his stomach. She'd told him she would leave the door unlocked, and would wait for him while wearing something comfortable. It sounded like a ploy, but he’d come too far to give it any serious thought. Where had that voice been when he needed to hear it? Was it possible he’d finally discouraged its pleadings? He thought he’d never live to see that happen, but the voice was no longer there.
“Hi, Ellie…”
“You're here,” she said, swaying seductively in a black, revealing outfit. “I thought you’d changed your mind. Lock the door and follow me…”
Up to this point, Michelle hadn’t uttered a word. She stood there, numb from the floor up, afraid to question the evitable.
“Do you n
eed a minute before I go on?” Leroy asked her.
She shook her head in an inexplicable manner. The pain came alive in her eyes and when he saw it, he immediately regretted his decision to tell her the truth.
“I think you know what happened next,” he said quietly.
They both grew silent, as if to determine if this moment would mark the end of their marriage – the end of life, as they knew it.
“You had sex with someone you didn’t know? A complete stranger?” They were Michelle’s first two questions, but there were a million others behind it.
“We’d communicated for several months…”
“Several months?” Michelle swallowed her astonishment. “How did you meet her?”
“Does it matter?”
“Leroy, please, just answer the question.”
“I met her over the Internet.”
“Was it a dating website?”
“Michelle…”
“Answer me!”
Leroy dropped his head between his knees. “Yes…”
Michelle walked off, and took a seat on one of the sofas opposite her husband. She tried her best not to drop a tear until she pulled everything out of him that he’d hidden from her over the past five years.
“So, how does Shaniece fit into this picture?”
“She knows…”
“What do you mean she knows?”
“She knows about everything, Michelle. Everything.”
Michelle felt a streak of jealousy toying with her heart. The one woman she couldn’t stand knew something about her husband that Michelle didn’t know. “How did she find out?”
Leroy kept his head hung, knowing things were about to get even more complicated. “She caught us together…”
“What?” Michelle spat incredulously. “What do you mean she caught us together? I don’t make the connection. What was she doing there in the first place?”
“Ellie and Shaniece are sisters,” Leroy said, glancing up to get a peek at his wife’s reaction.
“Oh. My. God…” The words dropped from Michelle’s lips as if each one weighed a hundred pounds. Suddenly, Leroy’s confession eclipsed the pain of any she’d ever experienced in her life. The pain was so unbearable that her airless lungs felt as if they wanted to collapse.
“This is too much for me, too much,” she kept repeating, as she stumbled to her feet. “I can’t stay here, Leroy, and listen to you go on about…” She stared at him vehemently. “What you did was so sick! I don’t think I will ever forgive you for bringing this mess into our marriage…”
What if I’d told Michelle that Ellie was only fifteen when I slept with her? Leroy thought. He was certain Michelle’s reaction would have been twice as horrendous.
He jumped up, as if to block her from leaving. “I tried to protect you from this, but it has gotten out of hand. To keep quiet about this, Shaniece wants half of what the church owns…”
“Get out of my way, Leroy!”
“Are you listening to me?”
“I said to move!”
“We can’t let her do that, Michelle. It’s my father’s legacy…”
“You should have thought about that before you spread her sister’s legs. Don’t expect me to support you in your foolishness. The hell with you, the hell with the church, and the hell with Shaniece!”
“Michelle, don’t leave…” Leroy followed her like a desperate five-year-old child. “What am I going to do without you?”
“Trust me, you’ll survive. I’ll be seeing my lawyer first thing Monday morning.”
Other Books by H.H. Fowler
When Things Go Wrong (Church Boyz – Book 2)
My Last Cry (Church Boyz – Book 3)
Javier (urban crime/romance)
Connect with H.H. Fowler on Twitter:
@fowlerguy1
Blog: www.churchboyz.org
Author’s Note:
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to entertain and inspire you. Rod of the Wicked is the first installment of the Church Boyz series and it has truly been an adventure writing it. I hope you’re thrilled enough to stick around for the duration of the journey. Join me in book two When Things Go Wrong, as we explore the fate of your favorite characters. Please my blogsite: www.churchboyz.org and leave your comments about my story.
• What will happen to Dominic and Tayah? Will they survive and find happiness together?
• Will Leroy and Michelle overcome the enormous obstacles facing their marriage?
• With so many tricks up her sleeve, how far will Shaniece go to use Ellie to her advantage?
• How will Leroy deal with Ellie’s reappearance in the middle of his life crisis?
• How will Abraham’s sudden disappearance shake everyone up?
• How will the bodacious A’moree and her brother, Sanchez, make A’moree’s heart’s desire a reality?
Questions for Group Discussion
• Why is Dominic’s anger and unwillingness to forgive his mentor so strong? What character flaw/s do you see in Dominic? Would you consider him to be self-righteous?
• Michelle sees Leroy as being stubborn and controlling. Leroy sees Michelle as being disrespectful. Do you agree with their assessment of each other? Why or why not?
• In the past, infertility was largely blamed on the woman, but recent studies show that it is just as much of a problem with the man. Phillip hides the status of his fertility from Tayah. Do you think couples should have fertility tests performed before they get married?
• Chapter Twenty talks extensively about the topic, ‘Friends with Benefits’. Do you agree/disagree with any of the views expressed?
• It appears as if Eric and Sean are growing up without their father at in the home. Leroy spends most of his time at the church, not realizing his role as a father comes first. How important are fathers in the lives of their children, in particular, their sons?
• Even though Phillip is a partner in with Shaniece’s plot to blackmail the Paxton family, do you think Phillip genuinely loves Tayah?
• Abraham said that the hardest thing for humans to do is to be accountable. Leroy thinks that there are too many wolves in sheep clothing and would rather keep his secrets between him and God. How do you feel about accountability?
• Dominic believes Tayah married the wrong man. Do you think it’s possible for a Christian to marry the wrong person?
• If this book were made into a movie, how would you cast the roles?