Nasty (5 page)

He was right. She did love Monte Carlo. The luxurious hotels; the gambling; the beaches. But she loved Harrison more. Not at all happy with his decision, she reluctantly agreed to a monthlong stay at the five-star spa resort in the silver mining town of Taxco, Mexico.
Maybe,
she thought
, it’ll revitalize my tank.
Once there, Nicola enrolled in their popular regimen of activities created especially to de-stress busy, wealthy women. After three weeks of daily massages, healthy gourmet meals, and long herbal soaks, she began to feel like a new woman. The only disturbing things at the spa were the buff young men on staff whose only job was to cater to the client’s every whim. Some were quite brazen in their attempts to tease her into serious sexual activity.

Nicola ignored their advances. She was, after all, a one-man woman. Harrison was her one man. Besides, she could still hear him complaining about how long it took her to reach an orgasm.
If my own husband doesn’t have patience for me, these fine young waiters won’t either,
thought Nicola.

A seminar at the spa given by Dr. Ana Perez, an Argentinean reconstruction gynecologist, changed her mind. Her talk, “The G-Spot…Everything you need to know but were afraid to ask,” was enlightening. She was especially interested in the intravaginal injection that promised to heighten a woman’s sexual response. She called it the “G-Shot.” After the talk, Nicola literally attacked the doctor. Dr. Perez agreed to perform the simple procedure at her clinic.

“Hold still,
señora
…
por favor
…hold still…relax!” pleaded the doctor. With both legs resting in stirrups, Nicola squirmed and jumped every time the doctor tried to position the needle into her vagina. She hated injections and the G-shot was given in a spot that she just couldn’t fathom wouldn’t hurt. Though the doctor explained it was nothing…her mind told her it was something. Dr. Perez pleaded again, “I cannot do if you move!”

“I’m so sorry, doctor, I hate needles; and in my VAGINA!!!”

“I know. I put you to sleep.
sí
?”

Pleased with her decision, Nicola looked at the doctor and smiled, “
Sí!”
When she woke up from the procedure, as the doctor had promised, she had a new pussy. One, she explained, that would respond effortlessly to even the slightest provocation. She joked, “You’ll need a little hombre in your pocket now because you will want amor all ’de time, señora!”

And the doctor was right. She could feel that warm sensation when she walked, when she ran, and she swore on the Bible whenever she breathed too deeply. Her pink little electronic buddy, that she was happy she remembered to bring on the trip, never left her side. Nicola decided to cancel the last week of her spa visit, and make a surprise visit home to her husband. There was no way he could complain about her taking too long to respond now.

W
hen the limo pulled into their tree-lined block located in the famous Hamilton Heights section of Harlem, the sound of John Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things,” was blasting in the street. She knew Harrison was the culprit before she stepped out the car. Nicola smiled. Though the man was a virtual saint, he did have one bad habit…he played music way too loud. He was like a teenager. She opened the front door with her key. The driver carried her matching Gucci luggage, and set all four pieces down in the foyer. She tipped him generously and he left.

The house was pitch dark, except for a flickering light peeking out from the den.
Oh
, thought Nicola,
my baby’s chilling by the fireplace listening to his music
. Feeling lucky, she hoped he was relaxed and ready for action. She sneaked over to the liquor cabinet, poured brandy into two large glasses, and quietly entered the den to greet her man.

What she saw, she would not have been prepared to see in a million years. In front of the fireplace, facing away from the door, Nicola discovered Harrison ramming his penis into someone’s ass. She watched the scene for what seemed like an eternity. The couple was not aware that she was there. She was in shock.
As Harrison’s pumping action intensified, he yelled as he had never yelled with her. “I’m coming, baby! I’m coming!”

She watched as her husband thoroughly enjoyed what appeared to be an extremely intense orgasm. He had never responded with as much passion with her as she now witnessed. She was hurt and jealous. When his pleasure subsided, he spun his partner around and they engaged in a deep kiss. The light from the fire increased fully for a second, just long enough for Nicola to see and realize for the first time that Harrison’s lover was a man.

And it wasn’t just any man. It was Sebastian La Roux. She remembered him from her days at Riker’s Island. He was a notorious prisoner that had stricken fear in all the staff whenever he came to the clinic for a visit. Which, unfortunately for them, was far too often. In shock, all she could think was,
How could he betray me, and with such a low-life! HOW COULD HE!

The flames from the fireplace seemed to jump out at Nicola. She immediately transferred back into time. Back to when she was a little girl, watching the house she lived in burn down. They were both the same flames. They both destroyed something equally powerful in her life: the evil she unfortunately grew up in as a child and the love she had for a man she worshipped almost as much as she worshipped God.

The flames pulled all the horrible memories of her tragic life into the forefront. She screamed as thoughts of her earlier abuse mingled with the pain and disappointment she now experienced because of Harrison’s betrayal.

Harrison yelled at his lover, “Sebastian, leave! I’ll deal with you later!”

“But why I gotta go? Send her away!”

Harrison looked up at the towering giant, and decided to deal
with him less aggressively. “Please, just go down to the Rusty Nail. I’ll be there later.”

Sebastian looked at Nicola with disgust. She was oblivious to both of them.

“That bitch ain’t even here; she so in shock. But…I’ll leave…uh-ruh…” He held his hand out, waiting for a donation. “Forget something?”

Harrison looked for his wallet, snatched out several hundred-dollar bills, and threw them at him. Sebastian made a face at Nicola and left.

Harrison tended to his wife. She was hysterical. He never knew about the abuses in her life. Nicola was now rambling off details of what happened to her as if she were a reporter giving a biographical rundown of a victim. She spoke of her childhood in the third person, never admitting that it had actually happened to her.

Nicola finally stopped the endless chatting about her childhood. She sobbed uncontrollably throughout the night. She never yelled at Harrison. He was so disappointed and ashamed of himself. He had never wanted his princess to discover his extracurricular activities. He rocked her in his arms all night long.

He left home as the morning sun was rising.

“
N
icola, I never wanted to hurt you.” Harrison mixed chicken gravy into the grits, and while waiting for them both to cool, he stuffed a small piece of cornbread in his mouth, and added, “I love you completely.” Why did she meet him at T-Lilly’s Place? It was his favorite soul food restaurant. They were sitting in his favorite booth. It should have been a neutral location…a place she didn’t have to watch him eat. Knowing what she now knew about him made looking at Harrison pack his face with food a disgusting event. But curiosity and something called stupid compelled her to meet with the man she would have given up her life for.

Nicola spat out with vengeance, “You mean like a real ‘man’ loves a woman? I don’t think so.” Her lawyer had advised her not to have any contact with Harrison. She was now really mad at herself for not listening. The divorce was only two weeks away and there was really nothing he could say that would change her mind.

“I know, in my heart of hearts, that I am a man.” Squirming in his chair, uncomfortable, he looked around to see if anyone could hear his declaration and added, “I am not a homosexual. I just…just…” Harrison looked at Nicola and whispered, “I just need a little variety every now and then.”

“Oh, so that’s what you faggots call fucking now?
Variety
? Umm, interesting; very interesting.” Nicola coldly stared at the man she had once thought could replace the Pope in the Vatican; he had been that pure of heart.

“Before I met you, I only flirted with it, curious like. I went to the bars every now and then. Maybe had one or two or…”

“Or three thousand homo-dates or whatever you call them!”

Breaking the tension, the waitress arrived and set a cup of hot tea, lemon and honey in front of Nicola.

“Anything else, Miss?”

Nicola shook her head and the young girl, grateful for the opportunity to wait on other tables, left them alone.

Harrison looked at his beautiful, soon-to-be ex-wife. Her contempt for him was palpable. “When I met you, Nicola,
it
all stopped. You were my world. You rocked it completely. I never needed anyone but you. You have to believe that.”

With cold eyes ready to spit fire with the slightest provocation, she lashed out, “What the hell changed everything then?”

“It was not being able to give you that baby.”

Pissed at his flimsy, self-serving excuse, Nicola blurted out, “Give me a fucking break…”

Ignoring her dismissal of his explanation, he continued, “At any rate…that’s when I started hanging out at the Rusty Nail.”

Nicola looked at him, puzzled. “The Rusty what?”

“It’s a gay bar in Chelsea. At first it was to have a drink and listen to the music.”

“I know.….‘just a Coke and smile.’ Yeah…right!” Her sarcasm was biting. She poured honey and squeezed lemon juice into her cup of tea. A few drops squirted into her eyes. She wiped them away, wishing that wiping away the memory of Harrison’s betrayal could be just as simple.

“At first it was for a…‘Coke and a smile,’ as you call it. But then I met Sebastian La Roux.”

“That beast!”

“He’s not a…well…I guess…” Harrison stopped defending his lover as images of how, as part of their foreplay, Sebastian had repeatedly lifted him up and “playfully” slammed him against the wall. “…well…yes…he is kind of a beast. It’s probably why I was attracted to him.”

Nicola rolled her eyes. “I remember his demon-ass from Riker’s.”

“Nicola, I never wanted my downtown life to mix with my uptown life. But, I had vowed to myself that afternoon in the den that it would be my last time. And, darling, I’ve never been back with him, or anyone else. You are still the love of my life.” He looked at her with pleading eyes, knowing that it was all futile, but somehow hoping that she could forgive him.

She looked long and hard at Harrison. For the first time in all their years together, she got a real good look. He was not a saint. He was just a man; one who wanted life his way and on his terms. And sexually, well, he obviously wanted goodies from both sides of the aisle. She thought about how he had manipulated her. He had made her think her demands for sex were abnormal. Made her go all the way to Mexico to get collagen shots in her vagina; just to make sex easier for him. Dammit, every time she got that warm feeling between her legs, it made her gag and run to the bathroom to vomit up any desire she had ever had for this selfish creature who now sat across from her.

Angered and embittered by his adulterous behavior, Nicola rose up, knocked her chair down and screamed out loud, without any regard for the other customers in the packed restaurant, “But that last time was the bitch, now, wasn’t it? Didn’t expect
to have an audience for your last performance…NOW, DID YOU?”

Nicola, sickened by him and his deed, and wanting to hurt him as he had hurt her, looked down at the steaming hot tea, picked it up, and threw it in his lap. Harrison jumped up from the table and tried to dry himself off.

He yelled, “Have you lost your mind? ARE YOU CRAZY?”

“Yep! I’m the crazy bitch that can’t stand looking at you. Seeing that monster’s nasty hands on you…just…don’t ever…don’t ever call me again! I’ll see your ass in court!” She ran out of the restaurant.

Two weeks later, Nicola stormed into the top hair salon in Harlem, wearing a skintight black Jasmine Lee suit and a pair of diamond-studded stiletto heels designed especially for her by Stu Evans. She ordered Tia, the Dominican head stylist to, “Cut it off; just leave a little peach fuzz.”

The beautician had cared for Nicola’s long black thick hair for years. She could barely perform the deed. In a thick accent, as locks of hair fell on the carpeted floor, Tia pleaded, “
Mija
, you sure? I can stop now.”

Impatient for the deed to be completed, she yelled at Tia, “Goddammit, it’s just hair! Speed it up!”

The hairdresser pleaded, “But,
Mija
, all of it? I know; I’ll give you a nice bob or…”

Angry, Nicola rose up from the chair, and stared the petite Tia down. “I’ve got to be in court in less than two hours. If you don’t cut this shit all off and soon, I’ll go right on down the block to the barber. He won’t have any trouble.”

Thirty minutes later, Tia gave her exactly what she asked for. Never looking at the mirror, Nicola left the beautician a two
hundred-dollar tip. Tia called after Nicola as she quickly exited the shop, “
Mija
! Mommy! ’Dis…’dis…is too much!”

Nicola never looked back. She hopped into a waiting limousine and ordered the driver to take her to the courthouse.

Her soon-to-be ex-husband had loved her long black hair. She remembered how he had enjoyed playing beauty shop. He had assumed the role of the gay beautician as he plaited her hair. She would laugh uncontrollably for hours, never suspecting that he was not acting.

Harrison gasped as she strutted into the courtroom with her new look. Sitting in the chair next to her high-powered attorney, Nicola smiled. Witnessing his expression was worth every penny she paid Tia.

The proceedings went quickly, without any complications. Harrison was extremely generous. Nicola now owned half of his empire, which included several McDonald’s franchises, three apartment buildings on the West Side of Manhattan, the Harlem brownstone, beach houses in Miami and the Hamptons, and 1.5 million dollars in alimony every year.