I waved my hands in his face. “Hello, earth to Aric!! Who in the hell are you talking to?”
He inhaled and cut his eyes at me. “Not now!”
His tone backed me up a bit. That was all he said to me and he had the nerve to move me to the side and walk toward the front door. All I saw was red and I slapped him and the phone from his hand. His phone went flying across the room under my couch. Hell, I shocked myself! So imagine the look on his face. After the initial shock wore off for him, and it was quick, I found myself slammed against the wall so hard that it knocked the air out of me. I didn’t even have time to get over the surprise of what he had done before his hand came up and around my neck.
The look in his eyes scared whatever boldness I had in me out. “Don’t you ever in your fucking life put your hands in my face again, Chyanne. I will beat your ass! You hear me?”
All I could do was try and grab at his hand around my neck. His lips were twisted in anger and he was talking through clenched teeth. Tears started to fall from my eyes more so because I couldn’t breathe. He moved his hand and I slid down the wall and watched through tears as he went for his phone. He snatched the door opened and stormed out. I knew he wasn’t leaving because his keys, watch, and wallet were still on my nightstand in my room. I sat there in disbelief for a while before getting up and turning my TV off. I could hear him outside still talking to whoever she was on the phone. He had just shown me my importance to him. How in hell could he tell me he cared so much about me when he knew damn well he didn’t? He couldn’t care like he said and do the things that he did to me. I went into my room and crawled into my bed. My head was pounding and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep. What seemed like a few minutes later, I jerked awake when I felt him climb into the bed with me. I moved away from him when he tried to wrap his arms around me.
“Chyanne.” He called my name slightly above a whisper. I didn’t answer. He turned me over on my back. He was leaning on his right arm with his body semi covering mine. I looked up at him. It was dark in my room but the moonlight gave enough light for us to see each other. All I did was look at him.
“You mad?” he asked me.
Was this man crazy? How in hell did he think I was feeling? I didn’t answer him. Only looked at him.
“So you’re not going to say anything to me now, huh?”
I still didn’t answer. He leaned down to kiss me and I turned my head away from him. He moved fully on top of me and urged my legs open with his. I tensed. He tried to kiss me again and I turned my head again. He pushed my robe up and around my waist. Then I spoke up.
“What? Are you going to take it like you did when we were in your office,” I asked him.
That stopped him dead in his tracks. His facial expression looked as if he was about to say something but he caught himself and got up. I watched as he turned the light on and found his white T-shirt. He gathered his watch, wallet, and keys then pulled on his Nike Air Force Ones. Once he was dressed, he turned the light back out. He kissed my forehead and then left. I didn’t have to get up because he had the key to my door so he could lock it on his way out. As I lay there, my mind kept wondering who was on the other end of his phone. I couldn’t believe he would disrespect me, in my house, like that! I guess you could say I was confused right now. Part of me wanted to get up and run behind him, beg him to come back. Aric had some kind of hold on me and as much as I wanted to break it at times, I just couldn’t. I stood, quickly walking to my front room window to see if he had gone. It was good he was gone because I probably would have gone after him.
I woke up the next morning with the same headache I had gone to sleep with. I looked at my alarm clock after doing my morning hygiene thing and it was almost seven thirty. Dang it! I needed to get Jo-Jo his PowerPoint project. I pulled on a terry cloth sweat suit I had and some sneakers and ran for my door. His bus would be there soon and I was trying to get it to him before I missed it. Instead of jumping in my car, since April lived only two streets over, I ran through a pathway the kids in the neighborhood had made. As soon as I hit their street his bus was pulling off. My heart fell out of my chest. Not because I had missed his bus either. I kept walking towards April’s house. I looked at the cream colored Escalade parked in her driveway as I pulled my cell from my pocket.
“Yeah,” Aric answered when I called him.
“Where are you,” I asked him.
“Home?”
“Really? You went right home after you left my house last night?”
“Yeah. Why?”
I jogged over to the Escalade sitting in April’s driveway and pounded on the hood. The alarm went off. I looked up towards her bedroom and saw someone peek out of her blinds.
“Shit,” is all I heard him say before his phone hung up.
A few seconds later he was coming out of her front door. She was not too far behind him, only she closed her screen door and stood behind it in nothing but her green bra and panties. There was that smug look of hers on her face again. I tried to move past Aric towards her, but he grabbed me. I pushed and swung at him, screaming for him to let me go. My mind didn’t want to wrap around the fact that I knew he had sex with April. I could just feel it in the pit of my stomach. I could look at her body language and tell.
I bit down on my lip while shaking my head and asked, “Really, Aric? This is what you do?” I was talking with my hands and was so mad that I couldn’t think straight.
He walked closer to me. “Chyanne, come on. We can talk at your place. Don’t do this out here,” he said while trying to grab my hands and pull me away.
Once again Aric and I were putting on a show for the neighborhood. I could tell he was annoyed by the way he was cutting his eyes at me and sighing. That pissed me off even more because he didn’t have a right to be angry or annoyed.
“Why, Aric? Why would you do this to me and with her?” I screamed at him using my right hand to point towards April.
“It’s not what you think, Chyanne,” he countered. I could tell he was lying because he kept avoiding eye contact with me and he kept running his hands up and down his face.
“Well please tell me what it is!” I snapped at him trying to keep the tears at bay that were threatening to fall.
“Let’s just go back to your place and talk.”
“No, we don’t have to go back to my place and talk. You can tell me all I need to know right here.”
Standing there like he hadn’t done a thing wrong with his arms folded across his chest, he sighed loudly and responded. “Look either we go back to your place or I’m going home. I’m not going to do this shit out here!”
My body was trembling and my mind was racing a thousand thoughts per second. April’s screen door opened and she stepped out onto the front steps of her house. We stared each other down for a minute before my attention turned back to Aric. I would deal with her later. I didn’t have it in me to stand in front of the neighborhood, let alone April, and have this conversation with him. So I gave in to his demands. No more than five minutes later we were back at my house. I didn’t say anything to him. I jumped out of the truck and slammed the door so hard it shook! I knew he was following me into my house so I tried to slam the door in his face, but he caught it and shoved it back open. Almost immediately, I started with the questions. I barely gave him time to close the door.
“Why? Is that who was on the phone last night?”
He casually sat down before answering, “No.”
“How long?” I was trying hard to keep my anger in check.
“How long what?” He arched one eyebrow, giving me a look that implied he really didn’t feel as if he had to answer what I had asked.
“How long have you been having sex with her?”
He sighed. “Do you really want me to answer that, Chyanne.?
I knew steam had to be coming from my ears, eyes had to be throwing daggers and I had to be foaming from the mouth! “Yes, Aric! Why would you do some mess like that? And then you
act like you don’t even care that this is hurting me.”
I wanted to scream. I wanted to yell, but . . . I just didn’t have it in me. I was weak. He had weakened me. My love for him made me weak. “I . . . I cannot believe you would leave my bed and go straight to hers.”
“It wasn’t like that, Chyanne. You’re assuming shit!”
“You keep saying that, but yet, you have been lying and were going to lie to me about it. So what is it like?”
“It was a spur of the moment thing. She called me when I was on my way home and . . .”
“Oh, so you gave her your cell number too? I guess that’s why the no title thing works for you, huh? Got me walking around her looking as stupid as I want to be. Did you at least use protection?”
He frowned. “Yes, Chyanne. You don’t ever have to worry about catching anything. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“But it’s okay to screw my best friend and all of this other mess you have been doing as long as you don’t give me anything right?”
I could tell I was annoying him because he only stared at me. I shook my head and walked off towards my bedroom. I didn’t even know why I was wasting my time with questioning him. It was clear that he didn’t feel he had done anything worth being questioned about. To be disrespected by this man, not once, but twice in less than twenty-four hours had me ready to kill somebody. I grabbed my car keys so I could get Jo-Jo his work at school. I noticed I had missed his call as I grabbed my purse.
“Where are you going,” he asked me.
He saw the disk in my hand so that gave him his answer.
“It was just sex. Nothing else. April was a quick fuck that’s it! She doesn’t mean to me what you do. She doesn’t mean anything to me at all.”
“I guess the woman on the other end of the phone last night means a lot to you too, huh?”
His expression was unreadable. “It’s not what you are thinking.”
“Then explain it.”
He walked over to me, bringing me closer to him and caressing my arms. “Listen to me. I have some things going on right now that I need to fix. Some things that I can’t explain right now, but you are the only woman that I care this much about. These other women don’t mean shit to me. I need you to always remember that, no matter what. Just chill and let me do what I have to do. In due time, everything will come together.”
“And I guess I am supposed to accept that there are other women,” I asked looking into his hazel brown eyes.
“Just accept the fact that I care enough about you to tell you the truth.”
I don’t know why, but at that moment Gabriel’s voice was in my head. Sometimes you have to listen to what’s not being said.
Chapter 8
For Thanksgiving the office was closed for a week. Aric and I spent that holiday together. It was just me and him for the day. Jo-Jo, Aaden, and Aaron came over and kept us company for a little bit then they were off to their dad’s. Jo-Jo wanted to thank me for helping to get an A on his project. Yes, Aric and I had worked through that whole April fiasco. Don’t get me wrong, I was still pissed that he had sex with her, of all people, but what was done was done. One reason I was not about to give up on him and let him go was because I didn’t want April to think she had gotten to me. I was pissed enough to let him go, but I didn’t want her to have him. I mean what exactly are the odds that I would even meet another man like Aric? A man like him could have a model type chick or a video vixen type, but he chose me.
He had kept his promise with leaving April alone, but other things were still bothering me. Like who that other woman was on the other end of his phone that night. He still hadn’t told me the deal with her, leaving me puzzled. Later on that night Aric and I had been invited to one of his boss’s house for a holiday gala. I didn’t mind going, but I never expected to see Jamie there. I would find Jaime watching me from time to time or maybe I am the one who had been checking for him. I hadn’t seen him since the last time he was at my house, but we had a few phone conversations. He and I had established a nice friendship from our conversations over the phone. Maybe he kept looking because I looked different. Aric had talked me into straightening my hair. No perm, but I had gotten it pressed. My hair flowed down to the middle of my back once the stylist was done styling it. I had on very little makeup and my red dress had caused a lot of people to compliment me. It was a long red dress that complimented my full figured shape and the platinum accessories and shoes set it off.
When Gabriel complimented me I noticed Aric pulled me closer to him. I had caught Gabriel staring at me quite a few times as well. The look in his eyes was readable. There was no doubt what he would do to me if I would allow him to. Once Aric had been pulled into a conversation on target markets and what not, I snuck away and followed Jamie into the secluded area of the backyard.
I lost sight of him when he rounded the corner. I called out to him twice and got no response. I cut my losses and turned back for the house. That’s when he scared the hell out of me. He was standing right behind me. I stumbled back and twisted my right ankle a bit. He caught me before I fell.
“Jamie, why didn’t you answer me?” I snapped. “You scared the crap out of me.”
We could still hear the music and the chatter coming from inside of the massive structure the owners called a house.
“My bad. You okay?”
He helped me to the bench that sat by a flowing angel fountain. “Yeah. I hurt my ankle though.”
He kneeled down and unhooked the strap around my ankle and took my foot into his hand. “Damn, Chyanne! Why do you wear these tall heels?”
“Because I like them and I have never hurt myself in them until now.”
I looked at him when he smiled. It warmed me. His locks were pulled back into a nice neat ponytail and he looked GQ ready in the black tux he was sporting. Those dark chocolate eyes were pulling me in. I started to feel bad about standing him up. I tried to apologize and he stopped me.
“I said it’s cool. I’m good. You should be too,” he said as he kept massaging my foot.
I could feel my foot swelling.
“You may have to get a doctor to look at this.”
I nodded. “Probably so.”
“You look out of this world sexy tonight. What made you straighten your hair?”
I smiled and thanked him. I didn’t want him to know Aric had talked me into it so I shrugged. Over the last couple of weeks he had darn near changed my whole wardrobe. “Just wanted to try something different. You like it?”
It was his turn to shrug now. “It’s beautiful. I mean you have beautiful hair, but I loved the way your fro looked on you.”
I laughed because I missed my fro too and this hair was too much to keep in check. I told him as much. He laughed with me.
“I miss hanging with you, Chyanne,” he said out of the blue.
I smiled and looked out over the vast expansion of the green landscape.
“I actually miss that too,” I admitted when I looked back down at him.
We continued to gaze at each other until the noise from the house got louder. I looked up the surplus of stone stairs and Aric and Gabriel were standing there. Aric’s face was as hard as the stone steps he was standing on. Jamie placed my foot gently down on the ground and helped me to stand when it was clear I couldn’t stand on my own. My heart rate picked up a beat or two when I noticed Aric coming down the stairs towards us. Jaime picked up my shoe and handed it to me just as Aric was nearing us. Gabriel was still standing at the top of the stairs looking on with a drink in his hand.
“Hey, baby,” I said nervously to Aric. “I twisted my ankle and Jamie helped me out a bit.”
I was trying to ease the obvious tension.
“What are you doing back here anyway,” he asked me looking at my arm still around Jamie’s neck. I quickly removed it and hobbled over to Aric.
“I came out to get some air. It was kind of stuffy in there.”
I knew Aric could sme
ll bull a mile away and I knew he was calling mine. Jamie didn’t move. I wished he would.
“Maybe you should be worried about her ankle instead of why she is outside, don’t you think,” Jamie casually asked.
My eyes got as wide as saucers. Aric glared over at Jamie. “Maybe you should mind your own business don’t you think?”
“Maybe she is my business,” Jamie snapped back. The cold look in his eyes chilled the already cold night.
If I could have been taken up in the Rapture right now, I wouldn’t even care. I couldn’t believe Jamie just said that!
Aric stepped forward a bit and said, “Say what?”
I could tell by the look on his face that this was not going in the best direction.
“Baby, please,” I begged Aric as I limped in front of him to try and stop him. “Not here. Not in front of your bosses,” I said so only he could hear me.
By now Gabriel had come down to give me a helping hand.
“Come on, Aric, man. It’s not worth it,” he said to Aric. “Chyanne needs to get to the doctor.”
I was so thankful for that. Aric gave Jamie another hard stare before picking me up and carrying me around the house to the front area where the cars were waiting. A valet quickly took his ticket and brought his truck around. We were in the black Navigator tonight. Once in the car and on the highway Aric didn’t say much to me and he didn’t say much as we sat in the ER getting my ankle wrapped. But when we got back to his place, that was when he let me know exactly what he was thinking. After we had gotten undressed and had showered, we were lying in his bed when he broke his silence.
“You fuck that nigga?” he asked.
“No. I have never done anything with him,” I lied because Jamie and I did have oral sex.
Full Figured 3: Carl Weber Presents Page 22
