Single Husbands (16 page)

She was right. There was nothing to debate. Lexington sat in his theater chair, turning up the volume on the television to
drown out Donna’s annoying voice. Most of what she’d said made sense; it was her delivery that made him want to regurgitate
his lunch in his wife’s face. Why didn’t she talk to him when
The Tyra Banks Show, Oprah, Judge Mathis,
or those drama-driven soap operas were on? Donna’s timing was always off.

Donna stood in front of him with her pussy at eye level. “Maybe I should call Nikki back and ask her what’s going on. She’s
feeding you those sex recipes, huh? Got your dick all hard for every woman except me.”

“Donna! Move the fuck from in front of the TV! The Hornets are playing for the biggest opportunity ever, and your mouth is
wider and louder than the fucking television. I don’t want to stare at your pussy, or lick it, or fuck you. You let yourself
go, not me. Now move.”

“Oh, so you think Nikki is prettier? Is that it? My ass is wider than hers? I’ve given birth to two kids to her none,” Donna
said, holding up two fingers in his face, like Lexington didn’t know how to count. “She doesn’t have to hide from me. I’m
not stupid. She’s not woman enough to show her face over here anymore.”

“That’s because her business is thriving,” Lexington said in Nikki’s defense.

“Oh, now you can give me a direct response. I want her to come over here so I can talk to her, woman to woman. Let her see
what I have to deal with every day, crying myself to sleep. She needs to see what kind of empty-promises man you really are.
You want me to move? Is that it? Then you make me move,” Donna said, edging closer to him.

“Haaaa,” Lexington exhaled, then stood, nudging Donna out of his way. He snatched his keys and wallet off the red-stained
glass coffee table and walked outside.

“Oh, you think you going somewhere?” his wife heaved after him. “Not today, baby. Like it or not, you’re staying home with
me. It’s time you make a change. It’s time you concentrate on me,” Donna said, marching behind him. “It takes separation to
bring appreciation. Remember that song, Lexington? I’m warning you, if I leave your ass, you won’t have to wonder where did
we go wrong, because I promise you there will be no getting back together for us.”

“You promise,” Lexington said, standing in the driveway. Donna had parked her three cars, bumper to bumper, sideways, behind
his. “What, Donna? What do you want from me? If I make you so unhappy, why don’t you find somebody who loves you? That would
make both of us happy.”

“You mean the way you love Nikki? I need to find another husband because the man I married doesn’t love me anymore?” Donna
countered.

Lexington’s trembling voice said, “Exactly. I love Nikki. There, satisfied? Is that what you wanted to hear me say? I said
it. I’ll say it again. And I’ll keep saying it until you get the fuck out of my face! Yes, I do love Nikki. Always have. Always
will. And she might be having my baby.”

No sooner than he’d spoke, Lexington regretted every word. Not because what he’d said wasn’t true. His wife didn’t deserve
to hear that. He watched the tears that filled Donna’s squinted eyes. Not the sad ones. The angry “I wanna kill your trifling
ass for telling me you love another woman” kind of tears. Thank goodness his girls were on an overnight camping trip with
their friends and didn’t have to witness Donna’s incessant rage, and, luckily, their closest neighbors were too far away to
hear Donna scream, “Fuck you, Lexington Lewis! You can have that bitch!”

Lexington hoped that if the girls were home, Donna wouldn’t conduct herself in such a reckless manner. Each day, Donna grew
more careless with her words. Shouting at him in front of the girls, making his girls cry. Each time the girls got upset,
they clung to him, not his wife. The girls would make separating from Donna difficult. Nikki was too busy to watch his girls;
he was too. Lexington had to make sure that if Donna left, the girls went with her. He’d provide for them, the same as he
did for his son and two daughters in New Orleans.

He considered walking over to Nikki’s to borrow one of her cars, but Herschel was home alone again, probably depressed like
Donna. Maybe they should wife swap. Yeah, two depressed married people should be together. Hershel didn’t deserve Nikki, and
Donna sure as hell didn’t deserve him. Herschel and Donna were both miserable and deserving of one another.

“Let me take a piss and I’ll give you five minutes of my undivided attention,” Lexington lied. “Wait right here.”

“Don’t do me any favors. You’re going to be here more than five minutes,” Donna said, tossing her ass on the sofa.

She’d already blocked his cars. If she didn’t move them by morning, he’d have the Mercedes, Lexus, and Bentley he’d bought
her towed to the Salvation Army. Lexington exited the rear of his home. His feet lightly stepped along wooden planks until
he reached the dock. He got in his yacht, stood at the helm, and started the engine.

Donna came running onto the dock, yelling, “Don’t come back here, you liar, you hear me!”

Get real,
he thought, speeding away, watching water splash in her face, hoping the water would help cool Donna off.

Rocking with the currents, Lexington turned off his engine, floated on the bay, then powered on his television to watch the
last few minutes of the game in peace. Disappointed the Hornets lost, he phoned Nikki, thankful she’d answered on the first
ring. “I’m ready to talk. You got a minute.”

“I’m sorry about the other night at the club. I shouldn’t have fucked you like that, but I was jealous of those Queens,” Nikki
said softly in his ear. She knew how to calm him. Nikki never yelled, or cursed, or disrespected his feelings even when she
had cause.

“It’s okay, baby. It’s not your fault. It was mine. I shouldn’t have disrespected you. That’s why I just wanted to hold you
in my arms the last time we were together. Whatever the situation is, even if we’re pregnant, we’ll get through this together.
Just don’t communicate with Donna. She knows about our affair,” he admitted.

“Lexington, no. You didn’t. Please tell me you didn’t tell her. What about me? What about Herschel? What if she tells my husband?”

“We can’t worry about that right now. Neither one of us is happy with either one of them, so Donna will do both of us a favor
if she tells Herschel.”

Lexington didn’t want to fight the Lewis versus Henderson battle alone. He didn’t want to have to do anything without Nikki
by his side. Removing all of his clothes, letting the sun warm his naked body, he asked, “Where are you?”

“At my hotel, downtown New Orleans. I’m catering a private affair on the
Queen Mary
tomorrow. Shit. Not the
Queen Mary,
that’s a tourist ocean liner in Long Beach, California. I meant the
Cotton Blossom
. See how confused I am.”

Hearing Nikki say the word “Queen” made his dick harden. The Queens were still in his fantasy repertoire. Lexington had to
get Nikki focused on him, not his promiscuous behavior or her husband. Could he give up going to swingers clubs for Nikki?
Would she want him to?

“Where are you?” she asked.

“On my yacht. Drifting mentally and physically as far away as possible from Donna. Nikki, I love you. I have every letter,
e-mail, and birthday card you sent me while we were in college.”

“You never told me that,” she said.

Lexington heard the smile in her voice. “There’s a few things I haven’t told you that you need to know.”

Nikki’s voice trembled. “Like what? I thought we shared everything.”

“The most important thing is, I love you. I’ll tell you when I see you. Don’t worry. It’s nothing that’ll change my love for
you.”

“Isn’t it funny how we’ve always been crazy about each other, would do anything for one another, but never married one another.
Why didn’t you propose to me?” Nikki asked.

“You were always so self-assured, seemed like you didn’t need me for more than having a good time. I accepted that,” Lexington
said, relaxing on the foredeck.

“But I wanted you. I wanted you to ask me to marry you. You know I come from a matriarchal family that strongly believes a
woman should never ask a man to marry her. To do so is to take the kiss of death at the altar. I believe that’s true.”

“So you’re saying, if I would’ve asked, you would’ve married me?”

“No. Not then. But that’s exactly what I’m feeling now. But it wouldn’t work. Baby, you know you don’t want to stay married
to Donna, but at the same time, you can’t admit that you don’t want her to leave you. Why?”

“When do you get back?” Lexington asked.

“Tomorrow,” Nikki answered. “Why?”

“Don’t come home tomorrow. I’m going to meet you at your hotel. I’ll take the first available flight out. Tonight or in the
morning. I’ll be there.”

“You are so crazy. That’s why I love you,” Nikki said.

Smiling on the inside, Lexington confirmed, “I am crazy. About you. So what are you wearing?”

Nikki moaned. “I have on a black lace thong.”

“And?” he asked, massaging his dick.

“Nothing else. That’s it. It’s pressing against my clit. You’re getting me wet,” Nikki moaned in his ear.

“Take it off and spread my pussy for me,” Lexington said, teasing his head.

Exhaling, Nikki purred, “They’re dangling on the tip of my toes.”

“Put the phone between your legs so I can hear you spank my pussy.”

Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!
“Like that?” she said loudly.

“Ou, damn. I wanna fuck you so bad, Nikki. My dick is so hard,” Lexington said, watching the sun fade. The late-evening temperature
was a warm 80 degrees. The blue sky softly blended with clouded gray streaks. “Stick your finger in your pussy, then put it
in your mouth.”

“Um-um, yes,” Nikki moaned, then said, “Baby, you wanna taste my pussy?”

“Fuck yes. I want you to sit your sweet pearl on my face,” Lexington said, opening his mouth. He inhaled, picturing Nikki
squatting above his mouth when they were at the sex club. Lexington could never take Donna to a sex club.

“Squeeze your dickhead until the precum oozes to the tip; then I want you to rub it on my watering mouth,” Nikki moaned. “I
wanna taste my dick. Then I want you to push me against the rail of your yacht and fuck this pussy—nice, deep, and slow—until
I cream all over your big-ass dick, baby.”

Sweat beaded all over his glistening body. Releasing his dick, which stood at attention, Lexington tied his locks into a bundle,
then stroked his shaft.

“Damn, baby. Hold on tight. You making my dick drip cum. It’s rolling down my shaft. I need to let go, baby. Is it okay if
I blast off deep inside your wet, hot pussy?” Lexington asked, closing his eyes.

Stroking his shaft felt so good. He pressed his finger alongside the frenulum, about one inch below his head. Just like the
left side of Nikki’s pussy, between her labia and her shaft, was one of her favorite hot spots, massaging that same left area
on the underside of his dick made him come quicker.

“Come with me, baby. Come all over my pussy. Fuck me, Lexington. Fuck this pussy. Lexington. Lexington,” Nikki moaned.

He loved the way she called his name.

“Lexington! You hear me calling you!”

Opening his eyes, he saw Donna standing on their dock watching him.
Fuck!
Marinating in his moment with Nikki, he had allowed the damn boat to drift back home. Lexington dropped his phone on the
foredeck, then hurried to the helm. By the time he revved up the engine, Donna leapt onto the back of the yacht with a high
jump that would’ve earned her a gold medal. She did a fireman’s tuck and roll when he started the engine. Wrestling him at
the helm, she turned off the motor.

“You got your naked ass out here stroking your dick for who? That bitch Nikki.”

So now Nikki was a bitch again. Why? Because Nikki knew how to treat him and his wife didn’t.

Slap! Slap!
Angrily Donna hit him repeatedly on his back. His dick hung low, praying she’d leave him alone. What was Donna proving? Would
her physically hurting him make him want her more?

Slap!
His hand landed across Donna’s cheek.

“Ahhh! Are you crazy? Why did you hit me?” she screamed, stumbling toward the floor. Donna picked up his phone and hurled
it into the bay.

Lexington quietly stepped off the yacht, went inside, put on his blue linen slacks, buttoned up his shirt, stepped into his
blue sandals, then swaggered straight to the guard shack at the entrance of The Island.

“Man, let me call my driver,” Lexington said.

The security guard handed him the cordless phone without asking questions. Donna was crazy, but she had sense enough not to
act a fool in front of security. The last time she’d followed him, security called the police on her.

In ten minutes, Lexington was en route to his office, then Miami International Airport for a late-night flight to New Orleans
to lay his head in the arms of the one woman, other than his mother, who loved him unconditionally.

D
raped in a vibrant tangerine strapless dress that barely covered her curvaceous hips, Nikki motioned for the bartender at
Drago’s, then ordered a French martini—vodka, Chambord raspberry liqueur, pineapple juice, and sweet-and-sour mix.

Ruminating on her conversation with Lexington, listening to him complain about Donna on his driver’s cell phone while in transit
to his office, Nikki knew it was time for her to have a more in-depth discussion with Lexington about his marriage. Everything
bad in his marriage wasn’t Donna’s fault. Nikki had heard Donna scream in the background, right before a splash, then silence;
Lexington verified his wife had intentionally disposed of his phone, hurling it into the bay. The slapping Nikki had heard
made her wonder if Lexington was beating Donna. Nikki hoped not. An abusive man did not discriminate. If Lexington abused
Donna, he’d eventually abuse her too.

“Compliments of the gentlemen seated at the high table by the window,” the bartender said, setting two drinks on the counter
in front of her.