by James Ross
Tindra reached behind her body and groped for the knife. When she got a grip on the handle she pushed away and quickly held it between the two of them. It was inches from his stomach. “I worry about you.”
“Put that down.” A tense second or two existed.
She smiled and dropped her hands to her side.
“Why do you worry?”
“Because I want you for myself.” She lowered her chin and looked up at him sheepishly. “I worry that someone else is going to come along and sweep you off your feet and take you away from me.”
Raul did his best to ease the situation. “That’s not going to happen,” he said before pausing and adding, “Bombon.”
“Because if you did I think that I would cut off your manslem.”
Raul grabbed his crotch. “Ouch. Don’t even think about that.” The mood turned serious. “Are you loco?”
“No, but I am serious. If I caught you messing around I might.”
The words rang loud and clear for Raul. He had better cover his tracks. Sleepless nights did not sound appealing. “When I walked in here you said you needed help with the kids. That’s not the problem, is it Bombon?” Shari’s apartment started to appear a lot more lucrative. “I’ll be damned if I’m going to stay up all night to make sure I don’t lose my pene.”
“I’m not going to do that.”
But the seed had been planted. Raul didn’t want to close his eyes and take the chance that some crazy woman would cut up his crotch.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
She was late. Shari was always late. Raul paced back and forth across the carpeted front room. There was no cable TV hooked up. They didn’t want the extra expense. The refrigerator was empty. Only the bare necessities were in the furnished one bedroom apartment at the Cosmo Lofts apartment complex: sheets, duvet, and a few towels in the bathroom.
What had been done had been done. The rules had been laid out. She would provide the cash. Raul would pay the rent. Two payment plans were considered. One plan that Cosmo Lofts offered was to take an apartment option with utilities included and the second was prepayment for one year at a slashed rate. Shari considered both before choosing the one-time yearly payment with all utilities paid. That was easier for her to cover her tracks.
It was meant to be quick, convenient, and very secretive. Either could come and go as they pleased and sneak in and out of each other’s lives stealthily. She finally had her freedom and he wanted fun and diversion. She didn’t mind the friends with benefits scenario and he craved variety. In theory it was ideal.
But, not everything goes as planned. A simple thing like an agreed-upon time cannot always be honored. So Raul waited and waited. Then he dozed. Finally Shari bounded through the door.
“I thought you said this was to be secret,” Raul said after being awakened.
Shari leaned over and gave him a peck on the lips. “It is.”
“Dressed like that?” She wore a chic pair of tennis shoes with trendy neon highlights. They stood out against her long, tan legs. A short tennis skirt and bright yellow leotard pullover top completed the look. “If you were trying to hide, you couldn’t in that. A yellow jacket may want to mate with you.”
“Hmm. Just so you do.” Shari brushed her hand through Raul’s hair.
“I suppose you drove up in the Jaguar so the world could see too.”
“I never knew you to be one to pry.”
“It’s not every day that I get threatened to have my pene cut off. If we’re going to do this, we have to be careful.”
“That works from my end too. I’ve got more to lose by doing this than you.”
“You don’t have a pene. I’ve got…”
“A lot to lose.” Shari playfully giggled. “I misspoke.” Then she groped. “Hmm. You do have a lot to lose, don’t you?” She nuzzled closer to him.
“If Tindra finds out about us, I may be sleeping over here. I’ll be afraid to close my eyes around her. She’ll cut it off in my sleep.”
“She wouldn’t do that.”
“She waved the knife in front of me. When she gets angry it’s hard to say what she’s capable of doing.”
“If she did the chop-chop thing then it would be her loss too.” The talk about Raul’s asset got Shari hot and bothered. She unbuttoned the top button on his shirt and rubbed her hand across his chest.
“What would your husband do if he found out you were playing around?”
“Tyler Cy!” Shari gasped. “I’m not worried about him. He loves me. He’d do anything for me. It’s my lawyer that I’m scared of.”
“Huh?”
“Look, I’ve had a boyfriend for over fifteen years. That stupid SOB…”
“Your husband?”
“Yeah. That stupid SOB thinks that we’re just friends. I’d go out with Richie three to four nights a week. We’ve been an item all around town at a lot of the social events. Everyone thinks that we’re just friends including Tyler Cy.”
“How can that be?”
“I like to dance. Tyler Cy doesn’t.”
“So what’s that?”
“Richie is a great dancer. When I won the Mrs. Missouri contest I was on the ballroom floor dancing with Richie while Tyler Cy sat at the table and watched. You should have seen how many heads that turned.” Shari laughed. “They almost yanked my crown the very night they gave it to me.”
“How did you…”
“Look, Tyler Cy worked all the time. Lots of times I told him I was out with my girlfriends. He knows I don’t like to sit at home. I would meet a girlfriend for a drink and Richie would conveniently show up. I could disappear easily. What Richie and I did in private was our own business.”
“You slept with him?”
“All the time. We’ve been lovers forever it seems like. Tyler Cy wasn’t paying any attention to me. Hell, Richie and I would go away on three and four day weekends and stay at a resort or a bed and breakfast somewhere. Tyler Cy never asked. He never even acted like he cared. The only thing that he wanted was to make money.”
“Why are you telling me all of this?”
“Because I like you.” Shari stroked his one-day stubble with the back of her hand and then leaned closer to kiss him. “And I may need you to help me.”
Raul was puzzled. “How?”
“I don’t know, but I’m scared,” Shari purred. “You talk about how scared you are of Tindra. Well I’m really scared of Richie.”
“Why? What would he do to you?”
“It’s hard to say.” She paused to think about what to say next. “He loves me. He always thought that if and when I divorced Tyler Cy, he and I would be together.” Shari nuzzled Raul’s neck and nibbled on his ear lobe. “But I told him that I didn’t want to see him anymore.”
“Why?”
Shari whispered ever so slightly. “Because I found you.” She kissed him passionately, but Raul cut the kiss short.
“What’s wrong?”
“I may be getting in way over my head with you, Bombon.”
Shari brushed her hand through his hair once again. “It’s okay, Raul.” She tugged at his belt.
Now it was Raul’s turn to interrupt. “What’s Richie going to do?”
“Right now I don’t know and I don’t care.” Shari sat up and undid Raul’s belt and a button on his pants. “All I know is that he is history and he doesn’t like it one bit.”
“Does he know about me?’
Shari was non-committal. “I don’t know.” She paused then giggled playfully. “But he knows me.”
“And you don’t want to see him.”
“That’s right, and he knows that I can’t go too long without it.” Shari grinned sheepishly. “So I imagine he suspects that I’m seeing someone.” Shari unbuttoned all of the buttons on Raul’s shirt. “But that’s his problem.”
“Well, I don’t want his problem to be my problem.”
“It won’t because we’re keeping it a secret.” Shari snickered again. “I�
�m not going to say a word about this to anyone.” She leaned forward, kissed Raul on the lips, then the neck and on his chest. “The last thing I want this to do is ruin my settlement with Tyler Cy.”
Raul squirmed. “Bombon, maybe we better not…”
“It’s okay. We’re a perfect fit together. I just need Richie to quit whining and leave me alone. The last thing I need for him to do is get drawn into my divorce, and he’s threatening to do that.”
The cell phone in her purse rang. Shari scrambled to see who was calling. The caller ID indicated it was Richie. She mouthed it to Raul.
“Go ahead and talk to him.”
“But I don’t want to. He’ll carry on and on and want to know what I’m doing. Then he’ll threaten me.”
“Answer it.”
Shari shook her head. Raul nodded. Shari thought for a second and then answered the call. “I asked you not to call me anymore, Richie.”
“Who are you with?”
“I’m shopping.”
“That’s a lie.”
“I’ve been at the Galleria.”
“I saw you driving, Shari. I followed you, but fell behind you when you ran through the yellow light off of Clayton Road,” Richie said. Shari shook her head at Raul. “Now tell me who you’re with.”
“Nobody now. I’m home.”
“Quit lying.”
Shari started to cry. “Richie! Stop it! I’m home.”
“If you don’t stop the crap I’m going to get in the middle of something that you don’t want.”
“Quit threatening me, Richie! Dammit! I’m home!”
“Then why is your car parked in the Cosmo Lofts parking lot?”
Chapter Thirty
Shari was back in Leslie Potter’s office two days later. The lawyer had mixed news to relay.
“I hate to use a cliché,” Leslie began, “but I’ve got the proverbial good news, bad news.”
“What could that be?” Shari surmised. “Tyler Cy agreed to the divorce but he didn’t give me anything?”
“No, no, no,” Leslie laughed, “we’re nowhere close to that.”
“Then I’m out of guesses.”
“The bad news is that I don’t have an answer yet for you on some of the divorce items I needed to research.”
“That keeps your fee growing.”
Leslie forced a grin but didn’t appreciate the cheap shot. “The good news is that I got a job lined up for you that I think will help your situation.”
“Really? I don’t want to work too hard. I’m allergic to it.”
“This might keep you in front of the people that you like to mingle with but the pay is next to nothing.”
“Then why on earth would I want to waste my time?”
“You can work for Congresswoman Lisa Boudreau. She’s a lawyer and before being elected she was a partner here.”
“At Canton, Mayfield?”
Leslie nodded. “It was several years before I got here. Some of our senior associates know her well.”
“I can’t do it.”
“What do you mean? This is an opportunity of a lifetime.” Leslie was surprised as Shari’s matter-of-fact answer and lack of enthusiasm. “Why?”
“I’m a Republican.”
Leslie was caught off guard. She hadn’t expected that response. “With what she plans for you to do, I don’t think that it will make any difference. You won’t be working in politics.”
“Then what will I be doing for her?”
“It will be managing her social calendar and travel plans—more personal things.”
Shari thought for a moment. “You know what? That might be the perfect job after all.”
“Why the quick change of heart?”
“I can’t think of a better way to piss Tyler Cy off.” The women chuckled. “Tell me about her. I know that she’s been in office for what seems like forever.”
“That’s because she runs unopposed in maybe the most Democratic district in the country.”
“Why is she unopposed?”
“The Republicans only have about 10 percent of the voters in her district. They can’t muster a challenge,” Leslie explained.
“So she’s there until she dies?”
“Or gets tired of politics and wants to retire.”
“How did she fall into that?”
“She’s a Missouri gal. Went to school here and was a college classmate of Bethany Boudreau. You might know her by her married name, Bethany Mueller.”
“The Congresswoman?”
“Yeah, Bethany was the sister of Elvis Boudreau, Lisa’s husband. She married Davis Mueller and became Bethany Mueller, obviously, and then went on to win the Democratic seat here in St. Louis. After she got breast cancer, and right before she died, she picked her sister-in-law to fill her seat. So Lisa Boudreau fell into good fortune and has been a Congresswoman for over two decades.”
“Some people are so lucky. Something like that would never happen to me.”
Leslie thought that was a self-serving answer. Shari had a heckuva lot more than a lot of people and had done well for herself financially in her own right in the sense that she had married Tyler Cy. “But it gets better.”
“How could it get any better than that?”
“Elvis Boudreau. Have you heard the name?”
Shari shook her head negatively. “Only five seconds ago.”
“He’s from a prominent oil family in Louisiana and is on the Board of Directors of TexArOkLa.”
“So. What’s that mean?” Shari could play dumb when she wanted to. She knew that Tyler Cy needed to get the pipeline easement with TexArOkLa settled before he could go further with his golf course development.
Leslie was flabbergasted. She couldn’t get a read on the lady across the table from her. Was she a smart, well-versed woman or a space cadet? Or did some things just not matter? “TexArOkLa has property rights all over the country to transport oil via pipelines. They just so happen to have the pipeline easement on the ground that your husband has under contract.”
“Ooh.” The light bulb went on for Leslie’s benefit. Shari decided to admit that she was aware of more than Leslie knew that she knew. “Now I get it. Congresswoman Boudreau has oil connections.”
Leslie did a double take. “First off, you can call her Lisa. She’s very approachable and informal. Secondly, she’s married to one of the main guys calling the shots for TexArOkLa. You can’t get any closer than that.”
“So you think that if I get tight with Lisa then I can mess up Tyler Cy’s plans for the golf course development?”
“Sure.” Leslie wanted to make certain she drove a point home. “But you may want to rethink your motive. I can understand you being ticked off at your husband and not making his dream come true, but if he can get the zoning decision that he needs, then the value of the property may skyrocket and of course that might be more lucrative for you financially.”
Shari thought for a minute. “I can’t stand the bastard. He wants to control everything that I do.”
“But that bastard is soon to be on every eligible woman’s hot list once he becomes available.”
“Then I’d like to screw him.” Shari paused and then laughed. “Not literally of course. He’s flaccid anyway.” She laughed some more. “That’s something money can’t buy.”
“Nevertheless, you need to think about your motivation. If his net worth increases before your divorce is final, you’re obviously going to benefit from it.”
“So what should I do?”
“Get to know Lisa. See where the relationship takes you. She might be a contact that you can utilize.”
Shari shrugged. “Are we done?” Leslie nodded. Shari got up and walked toward the door. “Call me when you find out the other stuff.” She exited and sneaked a quick smoke in the restroom before getting on the elevator.
“Stuff,” Leslie mumbled. “And by the way, you’re welcome…you ungrateful bitch.”
Chapter Thirty-One
>
From Shari’s point of view life couldn’t be better, and, of course, the world revolved around her. But for the others, let’s just say the list of people who wanted to avoid her was growing.
Such was the case late one night when Tyler Cy parked in the garage, traversed the breezeway, entered the laundry room, opened the door to the kitchen, and noticed his wife dozing on the couch in the great room. He found it odd that she wasn’t gallivanting all over town at night spots. He tiptoed over to the stairway that led to the lower level.
When he reached the first step a voice erupted. “We need to talk.”
Tyler Cy froze in his steps. Talk, talk to her, was the last thing he wanted to do. “I thought that we agreed to do that through our lawyers.”
“Oh, cut the crap, Tyler Cy.” Shari’s back was to him. A moment elapsed. “Are you?”
“Am I what?”
“Going to come in here and talk to me?”
It was useless for him to resist. She was going to get her way. It might as well be sooner than later. He strolled toward the great room. “Sure, Woobie, what do you need?”
“It’s about Kara and Del and Jayla.”
“What about them?” Then he noticed it. A glass of wine was on the end table. This could become volatile.
Shari reached for her cigarettes, grabbed one, hacked up some phlegm, and lit another. The ashtray was so full of ashes and butts it seemed lucky she hadn’t passed out and burned the house down. “I was thinking.”
Tyler Cy had been around long enough to know that when she said that, something off the wall was about to happen. “About what?”
“Their future.” Another prolonged cough distracted the topic.
“If you’re worried about what is down the road for them, you can rest assured they are taken care of in trusts set up for them. They have also found a lucrative place in my will.”
“There you go again! It’s all about money with you, isn’t it?”
“Isn’t that what you wanted to talk about?”
“Why is it men always think women always think about money?”
“You like this house and a new car and shopping for the latest in clothes. That all takes money, doesn’t it?” Tyler Cy let a moment of silence calm the room. “Somebody has to earn it so that you and they can enjoy the things that money can buy.”
