Avenging Alex

by Lewis Ericson

“Yeah, I know. That didn’t sound as lame in my head.”

  “Then maybe that’s where it should’ve stayed,” Alex responded.

  John smiled mannishly. “You’re not going to cut me any slack, are you?”

  “Should I?”

  “I was hoping you would. I thought I might hear from you yesterday. I kinda got used to worrying about you.”

  “I thought this was a rescue mission to save you.”

  “It is. You could save me from eating alone if you would agree to have dinner with me.”

  Alex sighed. “It’s been a long day. I need to get home.”

  “Do you want company?”

  “I was trying to make a conscious effort to give you your space, John. Keeping whatever this is as professional as possible.”

  “How’s that workin’ for you?”

  “Apparently about as well as it is for you.”

  “Look, I can’t stop thinking about you. I know what I’m opening myself up to, but the bottom line is I’m attracted to you.”

  Alex sidestepped him and tried to open the door to her car. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back toward him. “I’m not going to let you jump in your car and go speeding off again, leaving me standing here to pick up my pride. I’m not going to press the issue either.”

  “Have you been drinking?”

  “I had a few beers with my brother.”

  “Needed a little liquid courage?”

  John sighed and rubbed his hand over his head and face. “Well, I’m not blaming it on the alcohol.”

  “Cute.” Alex smirked.

  “Maybe it’s the full moon,” John countered. “Maybe I just need to be straight up with you. Now, we can either be adults about it, or you can be childish. I thought you were more woman than that. Was I wrong?”

  Alex cut her eyes and huffed. “You apparently don’t know me as well as you think you do. I’m a lot more woman than you can handle, Inspector.”

  “Then prove it.”

  Alex tossed her purse onto the hood of her car, traced her fingers over the outline of his broad shoulders and the veins that popped from his muscular arms protruding from his T-shirt. She licked her lips seductively as her hands stroked his chest, and she pressed her body into his, fondling his hardening erection.

  “So, is that a yes to the company?”

  “I haven’t made up my mind yet,” she whispered.

  John leaned in and kissed her. Long. Hard. Passionate. “Does that help?”

  “Are you sure you want to do this, John?”

  “I know that I’ve wanted to do that for a very long time.”

  “What about—”

  He pressed his mouth onto hers again. “I think that if we don’t go somewhere fast I’m going to take you in the bed of my truck and show you just how hard it’s been for me to keep this thing professional.”

  “I didn’t think you were that kinky.”

  “You don’t believe me?” He pulled at the hem of her skirt to assert his claim and she slapped it away.

  “Okay, okay. Why don’t you come over to the house . . . for dinner?”

  “Oh, yeah, I wanna eat, but what I have in mind I don’t think we should be doing in front of your mother.”

  “Then it’s a good thing that Mama’s going out with friends tonight.”

  “I’ll meet you back at your house.”

  Alex exhaled as she drove away from the boutique and watched John following her from the rearview mirror. She was prepared to throw caution to the wind and give herself wholly to the temptation that had been courting her for months.

  When she arrived home she was startled by the sight of a strange man in her living room. Ade courteously stood up, nodded to her, and straightened his tie.

  “You must be Janette’s daughter.” He extended his hand.

  “Yes, I am.”

  “I can see that you are just as lovely as your mother.”

  “Where exactly is my mother?”

  “She’s getting dressed.”

  “I’m sorry. Who are you?”

  “Ade Obafemi.”

  “Here you are, Omolola.”

  Alex turned with a puzzled expression on her face.

  “I see you’ve met Ade.”

  “Mama, I assumed when you said you were going to dinner it was with one of the ladies down the street.”

  “Why would you assume that, Omolola?”

  John stepped in behind Alex and interrupted an uncomfortable moment.

  “I thought we’d settled this,” Jamilah continued.

  “I didn’t mean that, Mama.”

  John shifted his gaze between the two women and then looked at Ade suspiciously.

  “Ade Obafemi,” he said, extending his hand to John.

  “John Chase.”

  “Mama, can I talk to you for a minute?”

  Jamilah glanced at Ade, who smiled and nodded. She then followed Alex to her bedroom.

  “Before you say anything, Ade is a nice man,” Jamilah started.

  “He’s the man you met at the market?”

  “Yes,” Jamilah huffed. “He’s the widower. He’s from Nigeria. He’s been in this country for twelve years. He has two children, a son who still lives in Abuja, and a daughter who lives in Chicago.”

  Alex brushed her hand over her mouth. “Mama.”

  “Do you want his social security number and blood type, too, or is that enough information for you?” Jamilah snapped. “He’s lonely just like me, and we’re just going to have dinner.”

  An awkward silence seeped between them.

  “I’m sorry, Mama. I know you’re lonely. I’m sorry I made you feel like you were being interrogated. I don’t have the right to dictate who you can go out with.”

  “I’m glad you understand that, daughter.”

  “If you say he’s a good guy I trust your instincts.”

  Jamilah opened her arms and Alex melted into her embrace. “Thank you, Omolola.”

  “So, where is Mr. Obafemi taking you?”

  “The Café Mundial.”

  “That’s a nice restaurant.”

  “I should probably get back in there before John drives him off. Cerena’s been fed. I put her down about an hour ago.”

  “Thank you, Mama. You go. Have a good time.”

  “I will.”

  As their roles reversed, Alex stood at the door and watched Jamilah ride off with her date. John walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

  “I sent a text to Harley and asked him to run a check on your mother’s friend.”

  “Am I crazy to be concerned?”

  “No. You’re not.” John swept the hair away from Alex’s neck and licked and kissed it.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Picking up where we left off.”

  He pulled her back into the house and closed the door. His mouth found hers and their tongues and lips fervently intermingled. She yanked at his T-shirt and pulled it over his head. His heartbeat kept time with her intensified breathing. They continued to kiss and giggle like horny teenagers, bumping into walls as she led him to her room.

  “Shhhh,” she cautioned him. “Don’t wake the baby.”

  He teetered from one foot to the other, kicking off shoes and quickly shedding his jeans and socks.

  “Well, that answers that question,” Alex teased.

  “What question is that?”

  “Whether you wore boxers or briefs.”

  “I could show you something that these boxers can’t contain.”

  “I can already see that, too.”

  He removed his watch and laid it on the bureau and grabbed her and spun her around. She released a small yelp and pressed into his groin. His large hands gently caressed her stomach and cupped her breasts, kneading them like putty. She moaned appreciatively as he brushed his face over the curve and nape of her neck, simultaneously sliding the straps of her camisole off her shoulders. He backed up slightly, taking his time unzipp
ing her skirt, and pushed it away from her hips. He ran his hands seductively down her body, and slid her panties down far enough to allow his fingers ample access to massage her clitoris. Alex threw her head back and moaned as his exploration took on a life of its own. Her legs trembled. She backed up into the wall for balance, nearly knocking down a framed picture as he kissed and licked a trail over her body, until his lips and tongue came to suck the upper part of her fleshy thighs.

  “Oh shit,” she sighed.

  He licked and tongued his way into the most sensitive recesses of her vaginal walls until she shuddered into orgasm, grabbing his bald head and pulling it closer into her.

  “Shit! Shit!” she moaned.

  He wriggled free of his boxers and his penis danced buoyantly between his legs as he crouched back down to finish what he’d begun. She pulled her hair and held her breath to stifle a scream as another orgasm burned through her. They were jarred by the ringing vibration of his cell phone.

  “Don’t answer it,” she pleaded.

  “It could be about the guy your mother is with.”

  John pulled away and finagled his phone from the pocket of his jeans. He looked back at Alex and winked as he licked her juices from his fingers. Breathlessly, Alex peeled herself off the wall, ambled over to the bed, and lay back, waiting as he read the text. “What did it say?”

  “Apparently Ade Obafemi seems to be exactly who he says he is. He has a son in Nigeria. Daughter in Chicago. Your mother is in good hands.” He removed a condom from his pocket, tossed the phone onto the pile of clothes on the floor, then climbed on the bed between her legs. “And so are you.”

  “If I ever doubted it before I don’t anymore, Inspector.”

  He extracted the condom from its packet and teased her with a look as he rolled it on. “I want you so damn much.”

  Alex coquettishly spread her legs farther apart. “Then what are you waiting for? Bon appétit.”

  John lowered himself on top of her and smothered her with tender kisses as he worked his manhood into position. He rose up and balanced on the palms of his hands, purposefully staring into her eyes. His hungry penis glided over her wet hole, teasing it into submission until it seemed to scream for his entry. He slowly worked his way inside inch by delicious inch. She gasped and quivered, accepting all of him. He was deliberate and methodical, rhythmic, thrusting only fast enough to teeter on the brink of ejaculation and then pulling out and reentering. It was slow, sweet torture. Alex clawed at his back and dug her nails into his butt cheeks as she came again. Finally, he launched into a fevered pitch. His loins tightened and his tempo quickened. There was no more holding back.

  “Damn,” he shouted, burying his face into the pillow under her head. “Fuck!” He rolled over and dropped to her side, laughing.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “That was one of the best damn dinners I ever had.”

  She pulled up and straddled him. “There’s plenty more where that came from.”

  “Give me a minute to catch my breath, woman.”

  She ran her hand over the perspiration on his chest, kissed him, and laid her head down.

  “You know, I just thought of something.”

  “What?”

  “Do you think your mother is havin’ this much fun with Ade?”

  Alex rose up and popped John on the side of his head. “That’s not funny.”

  He sat up and pulled her back to him. “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean anything by it. You forgive me?”

  “I know it’s crazy, but it’s hard enough for me to think about her with anybody but my father.”

  “Your mother is a beautiful, vibrant woman. Any man would be a fool not to see that. It’s not as if she’s cheating on your father. Not like . . .”

  “Not like what?”

  “Never mind. Forget it.”

  Alex pulled herself up and looked at him. “No . . . finish what you were about to say. Not like what?”

  John blew a disgusted breath. “Not like Lorraine did with me.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Now is not exactly the time to be talking about this.”

  Alex smiled and ran a manicured fingernail across the base of his neck. “You said you needed a minute, right?”

  John rubbed his head and lay back against the pillows. “The whole thing was partially my fault, with the job and all. I’ve hardly been there for her or the kids.”

  “So, she dealt with that by sleeping with another man?”

  “She was screwing some guy she met at the gym months before we separated. She was sharing our personal business and they were getting closer while we were drifting apart.”

  “How did you find out?”

  “I accidentally picked up the extension in the house one day and heard the two of them on the phone making plans to meet. I followed her to his place and I saw them together.”

  “What did you do?”

  “It shocked the shit out of me. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t confront her about it . . . not right away. I was angry enough to kill both of ’em, but I wasn’t about to get into an OJ situation, you know what I mean. So, I drove home and waited for her. She cried and begged me to forgive her. We even tried counseling, but it was never going to be the same between us after that. I tried. But once trust is broken it takes a helluva lot to get it back.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

  John sat up and leaned back on the headboard. “This changes everything between us, you know that, right?”

  Alex readjusted accordingly. “Yeah.”

  “But I’m not sorry we did it.” He reached out and caressed Alex’s backside.

  She leaned in and kissed him. “Me either.”

  “You better stop before you get me up again.”

  “I thought that was the objective,” she teased.

  “You wouldn’t want your mother walking in on us, would you?”

  Alex glanced at the clock on her nightstand and laughed. “No, that wouldn’t be a good thing to have happen at all.”

  “We should probably get dressed.”

  They got out of bed and Alex slipped into her robe and went to the linen closet for a towel. When she came back to the room she leaned against the doorjamb and watched John’s naked form from behind as he peered out the window. “Damn, I feel like singin’ that Salt-n-Pepa song right now.”

  He turned away from the window and strode over to her, smiling. “Oh yeah, what song would that be?”

  “‘You’re packed and you’re stacked ’specially in the back. Brother, wanna thank your mother for a butt like that.’”

  John grabbed hold of Alex’s rear and laughed. “Your mother didn’t do such a bad job herself.”

  He kissed her and slid her robe off her shoulders. She squirmed free, pulled it back up, and tossed him the towel.

  “You just gon’ leave me hangin’?”

  “For now.”

  “Okay, I see how you are.”

  John stepped into the bathroom and Alex picked his T-shirt off the floor and held it to her nose, inhaling his scent. She looked down and saw that his cell phone was vibrating and picked it up. She smirked when she read Lorraine’s name on the caller ID.

  A few minutes later when he came out of the bathroom he found Alex lounging on the bed, draped in his T-shirt.

  “Your wife called. I didn’t answer it, but I have to admit I was tempted for about half a second.”

  “So, what stopped you?”

  “Didn’t feel like being malicious.”

  He pulled on his boxer shorts and jeans and held out his hand to her. “Can I have my shirt, please?”

  She slowly pulled it over her head and helped him by pulling it over his.

  “I won’t be washing this shirt anytime soon.” He picked up his cell phone and noted the message indicator on the phone. “Lorraine apparently called more than once.”

  “I guess we were too busy to notice,” Alex said, slipping her ro
be back on.

  “I should go.” He took her by the hand and led her out of the room to the front of the house. “I’ll have to take a rain check on that dinner.”

  “I wasn’t that hungry anyway.”

  He smiled. “I wasn’t talking about food.”

  They embraced and kissed again and then she watched him as he sauntered out to his truck. She closed the door and fell against it with a satisfied purr. After checking on her daughter she cleaned herself up and put her room back in order. She then went to the kitchen for a glass of juice.

  It was after ten and Jamilah still had not made it in. Alex stared out the window as if expecting to see them pulling up in the driveway, and dismissed the feeling that something might be wrong.

  She sat down on the sofa, turned on the television and flipped listlessly through the channels. Anxiety washed over her as it neared eleven o’clock. She shut off the television and dialed Jamilah’s cell phone; it rang straight to voicemail. She grabbed the telephone book.

  “What was the name of that restaurant? Café? Café? Here it is. Café Mundial.”

  She dialed. There was no answer. She tried again.

  “Café Mundial. May I help you?”

  “Um, hello. I was calling to see if you could tell me if a particular couple was there having dinner tonight?”

  “Sorry. We’re closed,” responded the female on the other end of the line.

  “Okay, but maybe you saw the people I’m looking for.”

  “I’m sorry, Miss. I don’t think I can help you. There were a lot of people in and out of here tonight.”

  “Please. This is extremely important. It’s a matter of life and death.”

  She could hear the woman’s annoyance. “Okay, what do you need?”

  “Hopefully you saw a black woman in her mid-fifties come in tonight with an older, distinguished-looking black man with all-white hair.”

  “I don’t really recall anyone like that.”

  “Please. The woman would have had medium-length salt-and-pepper hair. She was wearing uh . . . uh . . . a purple silk blouse with a beige skirt.”

  “I’m sorry. It would be impossible for me to tell you that.”

  “Well, can I speak to your manager? Hello . . . Hello.”

  The line went dead.

  Alex threw the phone up against the wall. “Dammit!” The fierce clanging noise woke Cerena. Alex collected herself and ran to her room. She scooped the girl up from her crib, stuck her pacifier in her mouth, and rocked her. “Shhhh. I’m sorry I scared you. Mommy’s just worried about your nnenne. Shhh. It’s all right. It’s all right.” Alex’s insides twisted into knots as she tried to comfort her daughter. Carrying the baby in her arms she went to her bedroom to retrieve her cell phone and went back into the living room.