Mr. Right.com (4 page)

It was getting late, and it was either put out or shut up time.

“Excuse me while I go to the ladies’ room.” Olivia went to the restroom, waited a few moments, and came out. Instead of going back to the bar, she headed for the exit. Drinks were one thing. She couldn’t bring herself to go up to his room.

The situation had nothing to do with
The Playhouse’s,
but it’s how she found out about it. All of the adult dating sites had advertisements for webcam girls. She ignored them at first, but then she saw this one with a picture of a woman in a business suit. The woman’s shirt was unbuttoned, just enough for to get a full view of her cleavage. It didn’t show the whole thing, but it was more than enough for you to get the point. She had on a hat that matched the suit. It was pulled down, covering up one eye. The woman looked powerful and sexy at the same time.

Her hand paused for a moment before clicking on the advertisement. To get pass the first page, you had to become a member, so she joined. To her surprise, all of the women were pretty and wearing gorgeous outfits. None of them were flaunting their naked bodies, unless they went private. Olivia went into a few girls’ chat rooms and got kicked out with a message stating, “Get credits to join in on the private show.” She wasn’t quite ready for that yet.

Olivia had to get some sleep, because she had to get up for work in the morning. As soon as she got home the next day and the twins were taken care of, she got back online. She looked around a little more and came across the link for interested models. “What the heck.” She filled out the application. Olivia took a picture with her webcam and sent it as well. A few days later, she received an email from Emily, aka Mercedes, and that’s what led to the interview.

She had the rest of the afternoon off. Olivia left the coffee shop and went to the bookstore next door. She tried to find adult books when she was interrupted by the sales associate.

“Can I help you find anything?” a young blond girl asked.

“Yes,” She lowered her voice. “I’m looking for adult books.”

“Erotic books or magazines?”

Olivia started to ask if she’d read any, but she barely looked eighteen. “Erotic, I guess,” she replied.

“Oh good. We have an entire section.” She led Olivia to another part of the store.

There was way more than she imagined. She picked up a few and read the synopsis on the back. The ones with instructions for enticing your mate caught her eye. Olivia made her purchases and left the store. She was eager to get home and start reading.

Chapter Six

She was sitting in the den, reading one of the books
as the boys played outside. They ran in and out the backdoor a few times. Olivia heard them clanking glasses on the counter as they poured drinks in the kitchen but it didn’t bother her. Her nose was between the pages. Mercedes really knew what she was talking about when she suggested Olivia read them. Forget the little ten step how-to’s in Cosmo. This book really explained it. She could do better than mediocre sex. Olivia needed to be the seducer as well as getting seduced. It wasn’t all about the man getting his.

Knock, knock, knock.

Who in the heck is beating on my door like they are the police?

Ding-dong, ding-dong!

Dang, I’m coming already!

She pulled the curtain to the side to see it was Travis, Mr. Cheater himself. He stood outside, looking confused and fumbling with the keys. She had changed the locks.

“What, Travis?” Olivia said, opening the door. She was just getting to the good part, and he ruined it. Of course.

“I came to get my boys.”

Her small frame blocked the doorway. “You came to do what? I haven’t seen you in a month! You show up without calling like it’s okay? It’s a school night.”

“I’ve been out of town on business. I just got back, if you must know. You’re the one who put me out, remember?”

He looked her up and down, but she didn’t budge.

“And you’re the one who said I couldn’t travel for my job, yet you can? What the heck is wrong with this picture?”

Ole double standard bastard.

“You said you didn’t want me anymore, right? What’s the issue? I didn’t come to see you. I came to get my boys. Now, where are they?”

Right on cue, they came running into the living room.

“What’s up, Double J?”

Now he’s a name stealer. He never called them that.

Reluctantly, she moved out the way so he could enter.

“Hey, Daddy!” they said in unison.

“You want to come with me to the movies?”

“Yes! Can we please, Mommy?” they asked, their dark brown eyes pleading with her.

Out her peripheral vision she saw Travis cross his arms and scowled while cutting his eyes at her. He hated when they asked her permission after he told them they could do something.

“Yes, and put on your good shoes. Put the play ones up.” She could see them kicked to the side of the patio door. They weren’t allowed to walk on the carpet with them, but they could at least put the stinky things up.

The boys took off to their rooms.

“You’re looking good.”

Huh, you talking to me?

She faced him and realized he was no longer sulking. “Thanks,” she said dryly.

His eyes roamed her body.
“I mean there’s something different about you. I can’t put my finger on it, but it is.”

Thankfully, the boys came back downstairs and saved her from having to continue with the conversation. He really could have cared less what she was up to. Olivia knew he was being nosey and was looking for something to toss back up in her face at a later date.

“Please don’t keep them out too late.” She kissed the boys on the forehead.

“Hey, they’re my boys too. I know what’s best for them.” Travis walked out the door.

And what was best was to dump them off with my sister for a week when you were supposed to be keeping them. Oh no, he couldn’t dare leave them with his folks because then all the BS he feeds them would come out. He has his family thinking the boys are joined to his hip because I work and never have time for them. He and his family can all go to hell.

Little did Travis know it, him taking the boys did her a favor. She was supposed to report back to Mercedes the things she’d learned. She sat down at her laptop and sent her a quick email. Olivia thanked her for giving her a chance and for suggesting the books. She finished by telling Emily what she’d learned. She left out the part about her idea of practicing with someone first.

Olivia started to log onto the dating site using her screen name, ShyGirl, but the sound from her Yahoo Messenger caught her attention. It was her friend, Devon. They ran track together in college and had been best friends ever since. They were so cool that, one day after the regionals meet they were hanging out and getting ready to go to his fraternity party. Olivia passed out on his bed from being out in the heat all day, running in five events, and drinking too much. Instead of being pissed off or leaving her behind, he stayed in the room. His girlfriend had been upset about it, but Devon hadn’t cared.

What’s up Liv? Where’ve you been hiding?

Nowhere. Just keeping to myself. You know, with all the Travis stuff.

Right, but I am your homey, your big bro. You can’t shut me out even though I know Travis would love that one…smile.

He was right. Travis hated Olivia hanging around Devon, but she had befriended him two years before meeting Travis. His accusations about her secretly wanting Devon or vice versa fell on deaf ears.

Lol…It’s okay. You can now say you told me so.

You’ve been through enough. But I did tell you to dump that loser back in college after homecoming, remember?

How in the world could she forget? She’d sat at that game, in the freezing cold, cheering for Travis until her voice had gone horse. He scored the winning touchdown. What did he do to celebrate? He went to a party with his football players and never called her.

The next day, she didn’t hear from Travis until about four o’clock in the afternoon. By that time, she’d heard all about his party. The football player groupies showed up and had a wet t-shirt contest. Supposedly, Travis was all over one of them, disappearing in a room for a few hours. Thanks to caller ID, she let him go to voicemail. She ignored him for a week, but then he sweet talked his way back in.

A few days after they had sex, she smelled a foul order. The more she washed, the worse the smell got. Olivia went to the clinic, and they said she had a bacterial infection that could’ve been caused by a number of things.
Back then, she was young and dumb and didn’t know that if your mate slept with someone else, even if they didn’t have a disease, a woman could still get yeast infections and bacterial infections just from the mixing of bodily fluids.

Yeah, you told me.

Hey, gotta run. I can start calling my best friend, instead of doing all this secret squirrel instant messaging.

Right! Smooches.

She’d missed talking to Devon. He had an infectious laugh she adored. Devon was a well-known DJ and in a motorcycle club. She hung out with Devon a few times when Travis was out of town.

She clicked off the messenger and logged onto a dating site. There were several new friend requests and a message from PlzTeachMe. He looked a bit shy and nerdy at first, but he seemed really nice the few times she had chatted with him. He didn’t ask for naked pictures of her. Olivia figured he would be a safe candidate to practice some of her newly acquired skills on.

Typing on her laptop, she sent him a message agreeing to hook up on Friday. She included her cell phone number off her new phone. Olivia still had her old phone but knew Travis would track her calls. He had a bad habit of that. She’d noticed every last person in her phonebook was in his as well one day. The idiot had taken out her SIM card and put it in his phone when she wasn’t paying attention. She wondered how he knew too much about the things she did. He had somehow linked the text messages to his cell. She couldn’t even go to the mall without him knowing it. He would make sure to leave right before she did some days, just to make it so she couldn’t go anywhere.

In reflection, Olivia began to realize she was becoming her mother as long she stayed with Travis. She’d become a woman so scared of being alone that she’d put up with almost anything, just like the household she grew up in. Love and her boys had kept her around for so long. It took a while but she’d woken up and saw the light.

Have fun trying to track me now, bucko.
Olivia laughed every time she left the phone on her dresser. He was not about to use GPS on her.

Chapter Seven

Mercedes messaged back, saying she was impressed with what Olivia had learned. They set an appointment for her to go to Mercedes’ house and use one of her rooms for Olivia’s test run.

Olivia set her practice with Earl, PlzTeachMe, during the afternoon, because she had a half day from work.

She
sat in her office, counting down the time. The day wasn’t going well. Travis hadn’t gotten the twins home until late. They both fell asleep in class, and she received a phone call from their annoyed teacher. In her eyes, Olivia was the bad parent and needed to rethink weekday outings if they went past a reasonable time for children to be in bed.

“Young minds need amble time to prepare,” she said.

Olivia half listened, because she was still upset about her company firing ten people without cause. They all were in there ninety-day window for the probationary period. Instead of hiring temps, full-time employees had been hired, and as soon as the project was completed, they were let go. All but one of them was a minority.

After the firing, the head leaders joked about it.

“With Obamacare, it’s not like we could afford them,” one of the floor managers whispered loud enough for her to hear. “One less supporter for him.”

The meeting was over, and she made her way to her desk without speaking to anyone. From the time the president had been elected, she’d heard numerous derogatory remarks and didn’t want to stick around for more.

Olivia found solitude in the safety of her office. She finished responding to the forwarded message to the assistant regional director from the managing director, Richard Lawson. He wasn’t happy with her assistant regional director’s response so the leg work was passed to her. Olivia ran the reports and knew the information like the back of her hand. She clicked send and responded to her boss, who would probably remove her name and pass it along.

She smiled on the inside at Richard Lawson chastising her boss. He was clueless. Olivia had been doing his work for years.

“You think they’ll call Jesse Jackson?” John, one of the floor managers, said, poking his head in her office.

Does he not see me working?

“Excuse me?”

“I mean, he’s the advocate for all things black,” he said, bringing his walrus-looking body further into her office.

“And I should care because?” She glanced at him over the rim of her glasses.