We Take this Man (24 page)

“Tell her to come up here tonight.”

After a drink and more coaxing, I called home. Dwight answered, “Hey, Alicia.”

“Hey, where’s Tracey?”

He said, “You don’t want to talk to me?”

“Yes, but the girls want to meet Tracey.”

“Oh, no. Y’all not corrupting her.”

I frowned. “What?”

“I’m just joking. Here, Trace, Alicia wants you.”

She picked up. “Hey . . .”

“I’m out with my friends and they all want to meet you.”

She hesitated and finally she said, “Are you serious?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought you said they—”

“They’re over it. Let me give you directions here.”

“But—”

“Dwight can keep the kids. C’mon.”

She made it to the restaurant in about thirty minutes. Tracey was practically family to me so I paid little attention to her country-fresh attire. I’d given her style that label because she was always shopping, new clothes every day, name brand and all, but she was still country. As soon as she walked in, Gina said, “Is that her?”

I smiled and nodded. Tammy laughed. “She’s a straight bama.”

I waved at her and she headed to the table. It was clear that all my girls were shocked. She came over to the table and spoke to everyone. She had that outgoing country swagger that made everyone like her. It appeared that she was innocently naïve, but it dawned on me . . . now
I
was in
my
element. The home was hers.

I was surprised that my friends didn’t interrogate her. They actually were extremely nice and open. They asked questions about our situation and we tag-teamed them. By the end of the night, our arrangement seemed ten times more desirable than being single. The big question remained: How many other women would be down for this type of relationship? Tracey defeated all the skepticism with her final comment.

“It’s not about the women. It’s about the man. I know my husband is a good man.” She looked at me. “And Alicia obviously knew as well. I could spend the rest of my life searching for him again or I could be with him”—she paused—“ . . . and her.”

Tammy leaned in and said, “So do y’all get down? Like, have y’all had a ménage à trois?”

My eyes nearly popped out of my head. “Hell no, it ain’t that kind of party.”

Tammy laughed. “Bitch, don’t act like you’ve never had a girl before.”

As drunk as I was, I could read Tracey’s expression. She was shocked. I could have jumped across the table and choked Tammy. That wasn’t necessary. Didn’t she realize that, despite how good our situation was, there were things that I wasn’t ready for Tracey to know about me? My stomach balled in knots and the only thing I could do to make me feel better was to keep the drinks coming. In less than thirty minutes, I’d gulped down three martinis. They continued to ask Tracey inappropriate questions, but I felt so good that it didn’t matter what they said.

CHAPTER 38

Tracey

W
hen Alicia asked me to come out with her friends, I didn’t know how to react. On the way there I thought were they inviting me out to beat me up or see if I really exist? Before I could sit down her friends hit me with questions: “How do you like Maryland?” “Girl, why’d you leave that good-looking man up here and alone?” they asked in unison.

Alicia introduced them to me as I looked them over one by one, like
mind your business
.

I wasn’t as intoxicated as they were. I just smiled and they couldn’t detect what I was thinking or how I felt. An hour in, their questions began to rub me the wrong way. They were very loud, but were treating me like they really knew me.

“So let me ask you two! Are all of you having sex?” one shouted.

“Of course not,” I said, wondering why her friend would ask such a disgusting question.

“So y’all don’t be having a threesome?”

“We don’t have sex together at all,” Alicia answered before I could.

“Oh, don’t act like it wouldn’t have been the first time.”

As we were leaving Sea Blue I noticed Alicia was too intoxicated to drive herself home.

“Alicia, ride with me. You’re too drunk to drive,” I said, noticing her slow, lopsided walking.

“Okay,” Alicia said, stumbling into my passenger seat.

“Put your seat belt on,” I said as I started the car. She drunkenly put the seat belt over herself. I put the car in reverse and looked out the rearview mirror. I began the drive home.

“It’s nice to see that you care about me. That’s so sweet,” Alicia slurred. I looked over at her as she continued, “I’m so glad me and you are getting along. Because Lord knows I didn’t want to end up like my mother. You know, my mother was a mistress her entire life. I never wanted to be like her. My father was a married man that never married my mother, and the other day she tried to tell me the same thing is going to happen to me. I told her we are different. Right, Tracey?”

“Yeah, you’re right, we are different. So your mother never married your father?” I asked, probing her for more details about her upbringing.

“No, she waited for my father to leave his wife and he never did. And she just sat back and watched her life slip away. I looked at her my whole life like I’m not going to be like her.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, so I promised myself I wouldn’t have ever let my son go without his father. I’m glad we both have Dwight and you realized how much he loves me.”

“How much he loves you,” I repeated, staring at her and ignoring the highway in front of me.

“Yup, ’cause if you didn’t I would have still been with Dwight. No matter what you thought or did. And I probably wouldn’t have stopped until he was all mine. Well, I did take him from you already.” She laughed. Something in her choice of words made my skin crawl. I was about to pull the car over and put her out. She squirmed in the passenger seat. There were a few times I wanted to just knock her head into the window. Instead, I used the time to ask her questions I normally wouldn’t ask her if she was sober.

“What did your friend mean when she said it wouldn’t be the first time with a woman?”

“Oh, that. She was only playing. I kissed this girl in college and I let her eat me out at a party.” She laughed.

“Did you like it?” I asked as I studied her face.

“A little, but all that shit about a woman knowing another woman’s body makes no sense to me. ’Cause a woman can’t do anything for me. I love dick, girl. I love dick so much, when I can’t get any I use my dildos and vibrators. And I love for a man to fuck me. I love pornography, just watching a man’s motion as he pumps himself into a woman. It’s just beautiful. Like Dwight’s dick isn’t the biggest, but he works it right. You know, like he hits every angle,” she said as she went to high-five me. I pulled the car over and began to vomit.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, springing up from her drunkenness.

“Nothing,” I said as I bent over my door, throwing everything up.

“Probably that lemon shot you had,” she said as she fell back.

“Yeah, that’s probably it,” I said.

“I wish it was my night with Dwight. I need some bad. I guess the vibrator will be working tonight.” She giggled. I looked over at her in disgust. I didn’t even bother to tell her when we made it home. I opened the car door and began walking to the house. She could sleep her drunk ass in the car. I didn’t want to say good night to her. I wasn’t even sure I liked her anymore. By the time she got out of the car I was already at the top of the steps. I pushed all thoughts out of my head. I felt happy that it wasn’t her turn with Dwight. I blocked out the thought that a drunk woman was downstairs in my house, lusting for my husband.

CHAPTER 39

Alicia

D
wight sprung up at five-thirty in the morning to creep upstairs when he stayed with me. That often made me feel empty, like a random one-night stand. Mornings were our bonding periods. We used to make plans, share dreams, and just gaze outside at the rise of a new day. I woke up shortly after he left the room and put on my workout clothes, made DJ a bottle, and called for Dwight to come and get him. He slouched down the stairs and reached for the baby.

“I’ll be back in about forty minutes.”

He nodded, but still he stared at me. “You look so good in those tights.”

“Tights; baby, these are spandex.”

Holding the baby in one arm, he tugged at my Under Armour pants. “I want you.”

I looked in the open foyer. “Not while the detective is around.”

We giggled, and sure enough, I heard Tracey moving around. It was as if she could smell our affection. He shrugged. And I didn’t wallow in the moment. I opened the door and headed out for my run. This would probably drive most women wild, but it was the lesser of two evils. I’d come to realize we had to pacify Tracey. It was simply a matter of us being creative. I found other ways to steal my quality time.

Tracey got in a habit of dropping DJ off at my mother’s house in the morning so that I could work nine-hour days. Since I get paid the same salary for working nine hours as I did working eight, she didn’t realize I was taking longer lunches. Sometimes I’d sneak off with one of my coworkers, but most days I went with Dwight if he was free.

Our anonymous lunch dates were so we could do things that prissy Tracey didn’t like. So, in addition to sneaking off, we got the opportunity to do our own thing. It was slightly as if we were cheating on her, but the way she had it designed, she got more at-home time than me. So I had to do what I had to do. Working does have its advantages.

When I called to let Dwight know that I was outside of his job, he said he’d be down momentarily. It just so happened that Desiree walked out of the building. I hadn’t seen or spoken to her since that day that I harassed her. She smiled and I beeped just to be courteous. She came over to the car and said, “What’s up, stranger?”

“Nothing, what’s up with you?”

“Picking up your slack. I’m sure Dwight told you.”

Why did that make me uncomfortable? I didn’t like her working so closely with my man, but I nodded although he really hadn’t mentioned it. She smiled. “I wasn’t sure if you guys were still together.”

I frowned. “Why?”

“Because he never mentions you.”

Ain’t this the damn devil. I was happy and content when I pulled up and this depressed whore transferred her unhappiness to me. “So what made you feel you should tell me that?”

“I was just shocked to see you, and he doesn’t talk about his relationship at all, but he will say a thing or two about the kids, and I got the sense they were living with him and . . .”

Dwight walked out of the building and she said, “All right then, girl.”

He noticed me shaking my head when he jumped in the car. I took a deep breath and he said, “What’s up?”

“Nothing.”

I refused to talk about Desiree, because I knew it was probably uncomfortable for him to talk about me
or
Tracey. But I guess for some strange reason, I thought I was the work wife, since all of his coworkers knew we’d gotten married. Of course, they were all shocked by our whirlwind love affair, but nonetheless they knew we were together. And it was just strange that Desiree wondered if we were even together.

We drove to Wendy’s before heading to the movies. I still hadn’t said a lot to him. He kissed my cheek and I pulled away. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Something is wrong.”

“It’s not,” I snapped.

He grabbed my chin and began kissing me. It’s funny that a kiss makes it all better. Maybe it released some happy hormones in me. When the loud horn of the car behind us in the drive-thru interrupted us, I smirk-smiled at him.

“Now that’s my baby.”

“Am I really your baby?” I asked.

I couldn’t hear Dwight because the drive-thru attendant shouted through the speaker, “May I help you?”

We ordered our food, and as we drove to the first window, I asked again, “Am I really your baby?”

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know.”

He stared deep into my eyes and said, “You know you’re my baby.”

His words were sincere and suddenly I was secure again. By the time we inhaled our lunch, it was time to stand in line for the movie. I looked around and wondered if anyone even worked. How do people have time to wait hours to see a movie? Luckily, we’d purchased our tickets online. At least we didn’t have two lines to stand in.

He wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on my shoulders. “I love that you like the same stuff I like.” We swayed together as I rubbed his forearm. He continued, “That’s why we have so much fun.”

When they let people enter the movie theater, Dwight laughed at me running to grab middle seats in the middle row. He shook his head as I nearly tackled the young kids to get it.

After we were settled, we laughed at the hysteria surrounding us. It seemed as if we sat in the theater for nearly an hour before the previews started. I looked at my watch. It was after one and I imagined we probably wouldn’t get out until around four. “Are you going back to work?”

He shrugged. “It depends.”

As he massaged my leg, I wanted to climb on him and make love to him in front of everyone in the theater. I stroked his upper thigh and leaned in for a kiss. We rubbed and kissed like two horny teenagers. Oblivious to the people around us, I unbuttoned my pants and guided his hand down. He played with me and thrust his middle finger in and out. I moaned and he started laughing, interrupting my moment. I stopped. “What?”

He whispered in my ear, “You can’t be making all that damn noise in the theater.”

“So what do you want to do?”

The movie had been playing way too long anyway and it hadn’t exactly got my attention, so I said, “Let’s get out of here.”

After I buttoned my pants, we rushed out of the theater. When we got into the car, I leaned over for him to kiss me. He grabbed my hair and pulled me to him. I struggled to unbutton his pants. Then I unbuttoned mine. I yanked his penis out and began toying with it, while he fondled me. He begged, “Kiss it, baby. Kiss it.”

He didn’t even have to ask because that had been my plan all along. I bent over and slowly put my mouth on it. His scent. His touch. The way he massaged my neck. Everything about the moment made me yearn to taste him. I wanted to swallow his erection. I wanted us to be one. My head slowly lowered and rose on him. His tip poked at my throat. He thrust his fingers aggressively in me and expressed his undying love for me as he spilled out into my mouth. And I took it all in. I looked up into his face. His eyes remained closed and a look of exhilaration spread across his face. He was motionless, but moved by the way only I knew how to love him.
Bet she can’t do it like me
.