Married Men (30 page)

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Authors: Carl Weber

BOOK: Married Men
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Rose and I talked and drank to old times for the better part of two hours before I dozed off on the sofa. I guess the fact that I’d seen her in that teddy, or naked for that matter, was on my mind, because I had a dream about her. It wasn’t your ordinary, garden-variety dream either. This was a wet dream, a very wet dream. Rose and I were on a Caribbean beach. I was standing naked with my toes in the water while she was on her knees doing her thing. I mean
damn
was she doing her thing. She was doing her thing so well I woke up moaning, and when I opened my eyes, my shirt was unbuttoned and my fly was down and she was doing her thing for
real.
“What the hell are you doing?” I jumped up on the sofa, my eyes wide with disbelief and my penis hard as a rock. To say I was confused was an understatement.
“Come back here. I was just gettin’ started.” She tried to pull me toward her.
“Not with me you’re not.” I didn’t wanna think about how some shit like this would impact on my friendship with Allen. I just wanted to get the hell outta there and as far away from Rose as possible. I rushed to the door with her hot on my heels. I think she finally realized I wasn’t with the program when I grabbed the doorknob.
“Kyle, come back. We need to talk.” All of a sudden she didn’t sound so confident.
“Talkin’s what got us into this.”
“We need to keep this between you and me.” Like I needed to be told that.
“Who the hell did you think I was gonna tell? Allen?” I opened the door and my worst nightmare was right before my eyes. Wil’s wife Diane was pushing her daughter Katie in a stroller down the hallway. She hadn’t seen me yet, so I tried my best to close the door, but it was too late. She turned her head my way and grinned from ear to ear like she’d just hit Lotto.
“Well, Katie. I guess I can’t get mad at you for not wanting to sleep.” She turned the stroller toward me. “Say hi to Uncle Kyle and Aunt Rose, Katie.”
“This isn’t what you think, Di.” I turned and looked at Rose wearing that teddy, then down at my unzipped fly. I could only imagine how sleazy this looked to Diane. How the hell was I gonna explain this?
23
 
Wil
 
“Wil! Wil! Get up, baby! Get up! You’re not gonna believe this!”
Diane’s voice was full of excitement as I felt the lights come on, glaring even through my closed eyelids. I was half asleep so I tried my best to ignore my wife. With any luck she’d think I was in a deep slumber and leave me alone, but that idea was shot to hell when my son Teddy started to stir next to me. He’s a real light sleeper so I pulled the covers over his head, hoping the commotion wouldn’t wake him. I tried to be slick, moving the covers as subtly as I could. Unfortunately I wasn’t smooth enough. Diane saw me move and started shaking me. She always did shit like that when I was getting some really good sleep. I opened my eyes and glanced at the clock radio.
“Di, it’s three o’clock in the morning. Why aren’t you asleep?”
“Katie wouldn’t go to sleep so I ...” She stopped herself in midsentence. “That’s not important.” She took a breath. “Guess who I just saw coming outta Rose’s room?” She sounded just like a little kid getting ready to share a really juicy secret.
“I don’t know, Di. Who?” I asked wearily.
“Kyle!”
“So?” I rubbed my eyes.
“So? He was in there messin’ with Rose.” I was beginning to become annoyed that she had woken me and now she was talkin’ some crazy shit.
“No, he wasn’t. Now can I go back to sleep?”
I lifted my head and looked at my wife. I was positive she was making something out of nothing. That’s what she did. She just couldn’t help herself. She loved drama and always had to be in the middle of it. The only problem was when she was in the middle of it, I always seemed to be placed there too. Like earlier tonight, not only did she tell Lisa that Kyle was seeing Val, which I told her not to do, but she had to hook Lisa up with John Hernandez, a Latino brother from work. Can you imagine what Kyle would have done if he’d known it was my wife who had hooked his lady up with her new man? I don’t even wanna think about the consequences.
“Yes, he was messin’ with her.” Di folded her arms like that was supposed to mean something.
“Okay, Di, whatever you say.” It was late and I wasn’t about to argue with her at three in the morning. I laid my head back down.
“Well, are you gonna go tell Allen or am I?” She was not about to let me end this conversation so easily. I sat up and shot her an angry look.
“You’re not tellin’ Allen anything.” I had an attitude now. “I told you about gettin’ in my friends’ business, so stay out of it. I’m in enough trouble with Kyle ’cause of you and your big mouth.”
“But—”
“No buts, Di. I said stay out of it. I’ll talk to Allen and Kyle in the morning. Go ta bed!” I turned my back to her and refused to answer any of her protests. Diane went to bed like she was told, but as soon as daylight broke, she was back at it again.
“Wil, are you gonna tell Allen that Kyle and Rose were messin’ around last night? I think he needs to know before he walks down that aisle.”
“What exactly did go on last night, Di?” I was rested enough to hear her story now.
Diane explained her side of the story, which was basically that she caught Kyle and Rose having wild sex in the hallway. I very seriously doubted her version of events. Even if Kyle and Rose were stupid enough to do the nasty, they’d never be dumb enough to do it in the same hallway where the entire bridal party was staying.
“Well, are you gonna tell Allen or what?” she asked as soon as she finished her story.
“I’ll take care of it, Di,” I told her with finality. I refused to discuss it anymore until I got a few more hours of sleep.
The wedding wasn’t until one that afternoon, but I was supposed to meet Allen, Jay, and Kyle at nine for what would be Allen’s last breakfast as a bachelor. When I woke up, I figured I had enough time to see Kyle and get the real story. I doubted there was much truth to my wife’s story. I dressed Teddy and told Di I’d be back soon. That way I could visit Kyle’s room and find out from him what the hell was really going on. And of course, I could apologize once again for having such a big mouth. I hated the thought of not telling Diane everything, but I had to face reality and stop opening my mouth around my gossiping wife.
Knock, knock.
No answer at Kyle’s door.
Knock, knock.
Still no answer. The first thought that came to mind was that he had already gone down to the restaurant, but then I noticed his plastic room key was still in the door.
“Kyle?” I opened his door. His room was pitch black, so I flicked on the lights.
“Turn off the light!” he yelled, pulling the covers over his head.
“Aw‘ight, man, calm down.” His room smelled like a brewery, which didn’t make any sense, ’cause when he left us the night before, he’d only had one drink.
“Get up. It’s nine o’clock. We gotta meet Allen and Jay.” I turned on a few more lights. To hell with his protests.
“I’m not goin’,” he groaned.
“Stop playin’, Kyle. Get up.” I pulled the covers off the bed.
“Stop it, Wil. I’m not goin’. I’m not going to breakfast and I’m damn sure not going to no wedding.”
“Man, you better get up. What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Stop messin’ with me, Wil. I know Diane told you what happened last night. She definitely wouldn’t pick now to keep her trap shut, would she?”
I didn’t move from the spot where I was standing.
“Oh my God. You really did fuck her?” There was a strange silence between Kyle and me. A silence that only two best friends could understand. A silence whose meaning could only be determined by his answer, and Lord help him if it was the wrong answer. He sat up.
“I swear on my kids, Wil, I didn’t touch her.” His voice was humble. He was begging me to believe him.
“Okay, bro. That’s what I thought.” I sighed thankfully.
I picked up his pants from the floor and threw them at him. “Get dressed. You still got a lot of explaining to do.”
Kyle told me his side of the story as he dressed. A story that actually made sense, although I still shoulda slapped him for going into Rose’s room in the first place. And why he stayed after she’d disrobed was beyond explanation and was as asinine as anything even Jay had done in the past.
“You think I should tell Al?” Kyle asked after he finished his explanation.
I took a deep breath. “Probably. But before we make that decision, I think we need to talk to Rose.”
“Why? Fuck that bitch.”
“Kyle, Allen didn’t have a chance to tell you this before you went upstairs last night, but Rose is pregnant. And you know how much he wants to have kids.” Kyle’s eyes were as wide as silver dollars.
“You serious?”
“Yep.” I walked over to the phone. “Why you think Rose and Ma Jackson been so tight lately?”
“I don’t know. I never gave it much thought.”
“Well, think about this. Rose mighta already told Allen her version of the story to cover her ass. And if I know her, you’re the one who’s gonna look like the bad guy in the end. We might wanna hold off ’til we know a little more.”
“Damn, you’re right,” he said sadly, scratching his head. “You think he’d believe her over me?”
I didn’t answer Kyle ’cause I didn’t really know the answer. What I did know was that if it was me and it came down to Diane and my kids or him, well, Kyle would be ass out in the long run. ’Cause I’m sticking with my family, even if Diane is wrong. My kids just mean too much to me. Chances were, on their wedding day, Rose had a good chance of beating Kyle in a game of “guess-who’s-telling-the-truth.” I picked up the phone and dialed 0 for the hotel operator.
“Can you connect me with room 1611? It’s the honeymoon suite.”
“Hello?” a female voice answered. It wasn’t Rose, but an older woman.
“Can I speak with Rose, please?”
“Rose is getting dressed. She’ll have to call you back. Can I ask who’s calling?”
“This is Wil. Can you tell her it’s important?”
“Hey, Wil, this is Mama Jackson. Everything all right, baby?”
“Yeah, Ma, I just need to speak to Rose. Can you tell her it’s about last night?” I never would have expected Allen’s mother to be answering the phone in Rose’s suite, but things seemed to be getting stranger and stranger. I hoped I hadn’t said too much by mentioning the reason for my call. No need to get her suspicious about anything, but I guess it was too late to worry about it. I’d already said it.
Apparently it hadn’t meant much to Ma Jackson, because she didn’t ask any questions, and a few seconds later Rose was on the line.
“H-hello?” Rose’s voice was trembling.
“This is Wil. We need to talk.”
“I’m trying to put my wedding dress on before the photographer gets here, Wil. Can’t it wait?” I didn’t appreciate her evasiveness. She knew damn well it couldn’t wait.
“No, it can’t wait. Now if you wanna play this little game, you can play it. But if you don’t get down here in the next five minutes, you ain’t gonna have a wedding to wear that dress to.” The line was silent.
“I’ll be right there,” she finally answered.
“We’re in Kyle’s room, 1624.”
“Okay.”
It took longer than I expected, but about ten minutes later there was a knock on the door. I got up and answered it, but to my surprise, it wasn’t Rose. It was Allen’s mother, and she walked right past me without a word. She sat on the bed next to Kyle.
“Wil, you grab one of them chairs and bring it over here. I wanna talk to you boys.”
“Yes, ma‘am,” I obeyed. Ma Jackson wasn’t my mother, but Kyle and I gave her that kinda respect ’cause she damn near raised us.
“Now I heard what happened last night and I hope you boys ain’t tryin’ to break up this here wedding.” Kyle and I both glanced at each other. I’m sure he was thinking the same thing I was. Somehow Rose had gotten to Ma Jackson.
“Ma, I don’t know what Rose told you but—” Ma raised her hand and Kyle shut up.
“Rose told me y’all had a friendly drink last night that mighta got misconstrued.”
“Well, that’s not exactly the truth, Ma. She—” Ma raised her hand again, turning so she was face to face with Kyle.
“It’s the truth. Let’s leave it at that, okay, baby? Ain’t no reason to stir up nothin’ on my baby’s wedding day.”
“But, Ma, she ain’t right,” Kyle pleaded.
“She’s carryin’ Allen’s baby, Kyle. That makes her all right with me. I know you wouldn’t wanna do anything that might keep me from seeing that baby, would you?” Kyle sat in silence a second.
“Would you?” Ma repeated.
“No, Ma Jackson.” He sounded just like a little kid.

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