AWAKENING (5 page)

Now, it was over and wh
at the hell did
she
expect
,
empty confessions
on
how
great
the sex was
? Well, it served the purpose and frankly, it was
‘
ah’
, he had better.
Anyway,
he was kicking her
sloppy ass
out, case closed!

Alfonzo
stood there as Mandy or was it Sandy
hurriedly donned her cute little
cocktail
dress and
high heels
, grabbed her purse f
ro
m the chaise then slammed out
the
bedroom.

“Bye, Mandy or whatever the hell your name is.” He growled at the door
before going for
a
long shower.
Fucking musical poetry
killed his hard-on. The artist s
ang
Alfonzo’s private thoughts and it’s true, all he wanted was Selange!

He scrubbed his skin as if he’d contact
ed
with filth. He didn’t want
an
other’s
woman’s
smell
attached to his body.
He only wanted a quick piece
of ass
,
but many
wanted more. The
se
chicas
wanted int
imacy;
tongue swapping
kisses, hugs
, sleep-overs
and fake shit!

Many were g
old-diggers, crumb-snatchers, tricksters, trap
-stars
and masters of illusion
with their insincerity, body enhancements and everything in between
.
Sex didn’t equate to love
and anyone who believed this, w
ere
either stupid or desperate!
 

Alfonzo scrubbed harder, he hadn’t lied to any of them
.
No
commitment. No
pretense.
N
o small talk
. No
lies!

The minute he
finished
washing off the sex, he wrapped a towel around his waist and tore the sheets off the bed, tossing them to the floor. He didn’t want to
inhale
a woman’s perfume
or
dream because every goddamn one
became images of
his ex-wife.
He
marched to the
touchpad
screen near the entertainment center,
scrolled down
the playlist,
and selected
an old school
hit
by Big Pun. ‘I Don’t
Wanna
Be a Player No More
,
’
and other similar songs assembled in
to the cache.

No more romantic, depressing, sickening crap. He wanted the old Alfonzo
to emerge and wondered
, where
the
fuck
did he go
?

Th
e
classic
lyrics
from the
Bronx native and fellow Puerto Rican
seemed more
appropriate
. The first time he heard this
rap
he loved it.
Too bad the dude died so young. Sort of like his marriage.

The song became Alfonzo’s
mantra
, he
mumbled the bridge
in Spanish,
“I’m not a player
,
I
just fuck a lot!”

Yeah, before Selange he loved a variety of candy t
hen
she entered his life and
zap
, he lost his sweet tooth
and became
a
lovesick motherfucker!

His foul mood
actually began
days ago. Tonight, was only a culmination of
days of
sexual frustration
.
He’d gone
to pick-up the kids from Selange’s place. When
Anita told him Sal wasn’t
coming,
he
’d gone
upstairs to talk to the boy and came across Selange in the nursery.
The babies were what…
a month
or so
? They were
cute
clones of
Allie and Sal
.

Alfonzo dived on the mattress
,
put his hands behind his head
and stared
at the ceiling with dismay
as he thought about
how ironic Nico’s damn kids resembled his children
.
He considered for a moment the possibility the babies were his
and
quickly decided it was highly unlikely. There were no twins in
his or her side of the f
amily
, however
Nico
, well
,
it’s obvious isn’t it?

‘…
strawberry molasses, I don’t discriminate…you nasty beau…I don’t care,’
Big Pun’s
suave
voice crooned
in the background
.

Alfonzo replayed
the day
he
passed the
nursery
and halted
when
he
saw her
in the rocking chair
breastfeeding
the infant
. T
he adulterous
woman appeared so
beaut
iful
during the
private moment,
and
he sighed
at the memory.
S
he hadn’t noticed him and
rocked
as she sang a sweet
lullaby
.
She was a good mother, in spite of
everything,
a
damn good mother!

S
elange
turned. Maybe, she felt his presence
,
whatever made
her
react
caught him off-guard
–but
he didn’t look away.
Why should he? He wasn’t ashamed
.
He never hid
his adoration.
Looking wasn’t a
crime;
if he
’s
guilty of anything it
’s
loving her
too
much.
He
’s
a fool to think Nico was
a
friend
.

H
e walked into the cutesy pink and blue room
and looked down at the
infant
. The small face appeared content as she suckled hungrily from Selange’s
nipple
. Alfonzo hated to admit he envied the
baby
. D
amn you Selange
…thanks
for killing me!

H
e blinked hard
,
his ex-wife
was
life, nurturing, woman, beauty and
so sensual
with her swollen breasts and innocent face that he got the urge to
screw
the hell out of her,
right there. Believe it? After everything
the cheating lying
woman
did
and
he couldn’t kill the
yearn
ing. It put a cramp in his sex-life.
Thanks to Selange s
ex wasn’t pleasurable anymore, he was mechanically fucking
and the blame
lies
at her door
!

“
Ah
,
maldita
mujer
!”
He
focused on the mosaic design overhead
but
it didn’t distract from the
vivid image
.

“How are you doing?” He remembered asking.

Selange’s eyes
were tired, “I’m okay, thanks
.” She answered
,
then took a deep breath and looked at the baby who’d fallen asleep with her lips still attached
.
Selange
separated from
the tiny lips,
covered herself and the baby immediately aw
oke. The baby let out an ear-splitting wail and Alfonzo blinked. Holy shit, the mouth on that one!

“The tempered one?”

“Sal
reincarnated
.”

The baby’s eyes
were a
brilliant blue color
.
Most
babies’
eyes are either gr
a
y or blue
. U
sually
, the
permanent color comes around the tenth week
, so
t
h
ere was nothing
odd in the genetic similarity
.
After-all
,
there weren’t any twins in his family and the chances of it were null.

“
I’m taking Sal and Allie. You really need to get some
rest.”

Her eyes were droopy,
“
O
kay.”

He put his hands in his pockets, “Hire someone
to help with the babies
, I’ll take care of the bill.”

“
I
c
an’t let you do that!”

           
“You look like you’re about to pass out, it’s the least I can do.”
He said between
clenched
teeth as she rocked the baby against her shoulder to soothe the irritable infant.

The vein in his head began to pulse. Nico that sonovabitch! He should kill him, find him and put a dagger in his chest. Of course, he was off god-knows-where, hunting people like a predator for money when the woman he knocked-up was so goddamn tired
she looked about to topple over.
He made certain he told the guys if
Nico
ever showed his face to put it in the dirt.

He stepped in front of her and took the
baby
from her hands
. The second
he put the munchkin against his heart she quieted, gave a bored yawn and stared
boldly
in his face
before shutting her eyes. He couldn’t mask the grin,
yeah,
Angelina was definitely the
h
ell
-
raiser
. This
one demanded attention
,
while her brother was content to drink, poop and sleep. Little Vincent didn’t require much, huh?

Alfonzo walked around the room with the child, bouncing
with
each step until he was certain she’d fallen asleep before placing her
laterally
in the crib
a
cross
from her brother’s
. When he turned around, Selange’s eyes were closed
.
He
shook his head
. Man, he wanted
to share his legal woes. Talk like they
use to
about stuff
,
but he couldn’t anymore. She’d erected a wall. He
felt
in
the
silence
. In any event,
next
week
he
turn
ed
himself in to the authorities
. He
’d greased a few palms to guarantee bail, however surprises
were known to happen. Take her affair with Nico, for example, shit he hadn’t seen that
coming
now
ha
d he?

He wanted her happy
. He especially wanted his children happy; they suffered from the split, too. 
Alfonzo
dropped in often
and spent time with the
children to assuage their fears
by showing his love
. He remained a constant presence in their lives, even amidst the uncertainty of emotions over Selange.

Sal
was at
a crucial
age where social and emotional development
centered on self-confidence.
The child psychologist,
Erik Erikson deemed it
as
the stage of industry vs. inferiority.
Alfonzo viewed it as the stage of being knocked the fuck down or
when you learn to
hold your
fucking
chin up.
The
children
were innocent casualties of a broken marriage and none of
it
was their fault
, restoring their confidence was key
!