by Leila Lacey
Under the understanding of taking over the company business, Andre’s family had paid their bills until he got his MBA in business and could take over the company his grandfather had built.
One night after getting completely drunk at a party, Angela and Andrea had made their second daughter.
Angela had never felt passion from a man for her. She had never felt like a man couldn’t keep his hands off her, or could take another breath unless he kissed her lips.
Now that she was standing here in Julian’s arms and after the passion and uncontrolled desire she had felt from him last night, she was at a loss for words.
“Can you handle that?” he said to her bringing her back to the present.
Looking up at him with her heart in her throat, she nodded and whispered, “I can try.”
CHAPTER 12
Angela and Julian spent the morning making love and getting dressed. Each time they took a shower, before they could get completely dressed, they would end up in bed again all over each other.
Before leaving the vineyard, Julian had set up a private tour for them and at the end of the tour Angela was presented with a case of special reserve label wine Julian had had made for her that he had named Angela’s Spirit.
“Oh my God, Julian!” she had said.
Smiling, Julian had told her, “I never want us to forget our first date and how much this weekend means to us,”
Angela had stood there dumbfounded at how sweet and amazing he was. She could wrap her head around this man wanting her and thinking so much of her. Andre was everything she had ever wanted in a man, which is what scared the crap out of her. But she was not going to let her concerns keep her from enjoying the moment.
“You are simply amazing,” she had whispered standing on her tip toes kissing his soft delicious lips.
Angela’s phone indicated that she had a text message. When she looked at her phone, she saw that it was a message from Andre.
‘I am bringing the girls home early. You better not have that neighbor of yours around my daughters. You know I only allow you to maintain custody of my daughters,’ it read.
Angela was instantly pissed off! How dare he think that he can tell her who to see and who not to see. She replied to him, ‘As if seeing their father take a dick in the ass than it is to see their mother make friends with their neighbor?’
She got a response back.
‘Unlike you, Angela, I do not feel everyone should know who I am having sex with on a regular basis. I gave you your divorce with the understanding that you would not have a parade of men in and out of the home my daughters live in. Do I need to get custody of them so that you can be the whore you divorced me to be?’
Angela felt like he had kicked her in her chest. She knew that with his money and clout and lies if he took her to court to get custody of the girls, she could lose them. That was a chance she couldn’t take.
“Everything ok?” Julian asked her. He could feel the mood in the car change. He could tell something was wrong.
“Ummmmm,” she said nodding her head.
“Can I help, baby?” he said rubbing her leg trying to reassure her that he was there for her.
Smiling a fake smile, Angela sent a response to Andre. ‘I will be home by 3. You can bring the girls then.’ Then looking over at Julian with a pretend smile, she said, “No there is nothing to help with, I am fine.”
*******
There was a five car pile-up on the freeway on their way home so Julian and Angela had been delayed by a couple of hours getting home.
Imani, Eliana and Andre were sitting on her porch when they pulled in.
Angela jumped out of the car and went straight to the porch greeting the girls.
“Hi, Mom! What did you do this weekend?” Imani asked with a mischievous grin on her face.
Angela attempted to laugh and not sound like she was as uncomfortable as she was.
“Nothing, I went to an event for my job at a winery,” she lied. Angela could feel Andre’s accusing eyes on her. She opened her front door and as they all walked in, Julian was not far behind.
Andre turned to Julian saying, “And you are?”
Julian looked at Angela and he could see that her pulse had picked up several paces from the vein in her neck and forehead.
“I am none of your business,” Julian said walking past him to sit Angela’s bag on her landing. He walked over to stand next to Angela for support but she shifted away from him as fast as she could without making it too obvious.
“Oh everyone that is around my daughters is my business,” Andre said angrily. The two men stood toe to toe squaring off each letting the other know they were not going to back down.
“He is my neighbor, Andre. He had done some work for my company so was invited to the event. Since my car is not working, he offered to be my ride,” Angela said.
Julian could not believe what he was hearing! Angela was denying the weekend they had just spent together. She had just LIED!
He waited for her to tell the truth and take back the lie but she just stood there looking at Andre.
“Thanks for the ride, Julian,” Angela said nervously going to stand by her door indicating she was ready for him to leave, “and for bringing my bag in. I will call you later,” still not looking him in the eye.
Julian gave one last look over at Andre and then walked passed him toward the door. Andre intentionally made sure they bumped shoulders.
Julian stopped and looked back, but felt Angela’s hand on his arm. When he looked at her, he could see the pleading in her face to let it go and leave. Shaking his head, he went to leave and leaned down to whisper to Angela. “Don’t bother calling. Who calls the chauffer after the ride is over?”
He looked at her for a moment, and walked out slamming the door behind him.
Angela thought she had just heard her heart literally break. She understood that she lied and how that would make him angry but he didn’t have to speak to her like that.
“You wore that to a work event?” Andre said looking her up and down with disdain.
“Ye..Yes... Yes I did,” Angela said.
“Mom, you look hot! I love that outfit,” Imani said to her mother, as she walked passed her to go up the stairs to her room.
Smiling, Angela said, “Thank you, baby.”
“Bye, Daddy,” Imani said.
“Bye, Dad,” Eliana said on her way up the steps stopping to kiss his cheek. “She is right, Mom, you look really hot!” she said to her mom running up the stairs.
Angela was smiling and feeling really good about the compliment her daughters had just given her.
“You know they are only being nice, right? I mean you are their mom,” Andre said with his arms crossed over his chest.
She felt like she had been kicked in the gut. Andre had always managed to come along and make her feel low. All throughout their marriage he had never paid her a compliment. His favorite line to her had been, ‘Lose weight for God’s sakes. Who is going to believe that I would be married to you?’
She had tried every diet you could think of. She had tried Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, and the Boiled Egg diet. She threw up in her mouth a little thinking of that one. Nothing had helped her to keep the weight off. When she had finally decided to divorce Andre, she had managed to lose thirty pounds without even trying and got down to her high school size of sixteen. Being away from him had helped her to realize that she had stayed overweight because of the stress of being his wife.
Now it was the stress of being his ex-wife she was worried about.
“Sorry about being late, traffic,” she finally said.
“A phone call wouldn’t have hurt,” Andre said sarcastically.
Opening her front door Angela said, “Get out of my house, Andre. I am not your wife anymore therefore I don’t have to take your shit.”
“You will take what I tell you to take,” he said walking to stand in front of her. “Don’t forget, I am letting you k
eep primary custody. I can take them like that,” he finished snapping his fingers.
“You were useless as a wife. I am sure I can convince a judge you are useless as a mother. Do you want to test it?” Looking down on the verge of tears, Angela said, “No.”
“That’s what I thought,” he said running his finger along her jaw line. “Have a nice night, Ang,” he said as he laughed and walked out the door.
Angela was so angry and so furious but all she wanted to do was go to her room and crawl in her bed and cry.
“Mom, why do you let him talk to you and treat you like that?” Imani said to her mother. She had been standing on the stairs listening to the entire conversation.
“What do you mean, baby?” Angela said trying to sound happy as she headed to the kitchen. “Are you guys hungry? Would you like some lunch?” she said to her daughters.
“No, Mom, we are not hungry,” Imani said. “We want you to stop letting Dad say that stuff to you.”
“Baby, it is more complicated than that,” Angie said digging into the refrigerator.
“How about some soup and grilled cheese sandwiches?” she asked. “Mommy, sit down and listen to Imani,” Eliana said.
Angela’s girls had never been disrespectful to her. So the way that they were talking to her now was surprising enough to get her to sit down.
The girls looked at each other like they were finally getting to act out a plan they had been working on for a while.
“Mommy, we know Dad is gay and that “Uncle Steven” is not just his best friend from college. We know that he was cheating on you when you were married and we know that he does not pay his child support,” Imani said.
“Mom, Imani looked it up on Google and she found that if Daddy tries to take us from you, we are old enough now that the judge will ask us what we want,” Eliana chimed in.
“And we would NEVER say we wanted to live with Daddy! So please, Mom, stop letting him hurt you,” Imani said.
Angela could not believe what she was hearing. First that the girls knew their father was gay. Andre had always believed that he was so good at keeping that secret and the only reason anyone knew was because of her so-called betrayal.
Next, that they knew she was holding back from telling Andre off because of her fear of him and all the lawyers he would be able to put against her in family court. She suddenly felt a surge of strength within herself. She never wanted her girls to feel like they needed to protect her. That was one of the reasons why she had finally decided to divorce Andre, knowing the hell he was going to inflict on her life.
She had wanted to protect them from the pain and stress of worrying about their mother like she and her sisters had done for their mom who had seemed to think the occasional punch in the face and kick to the gut from her husband was a sign of love like flowers.
From a very early age, she had expected to come home one day and find her mother beat to death in the kitchen with a lit cigarette burning its way down in the ashtray.
Angela had sworn that when she had the girls she would never make them worry about her. That she would be the solid point of light for them.
Standing up, she pulled both the girls into her arms hugging them so tightly they both screamed, “MOM, I CAN’T BREATHE.”
Laughing, she let them go and told them, “Girls, I do not want you worrying about me. I will deal with Daddy; I promise he can’t hurt me anymore. As far as your “uncle” well if you really want to know about that, I think that you should ask your dad.”
“I am good,” Eliana said.
“TMI,” Imani said raising her hands in the air and walking backward.
Laughing, Angela said, “What would you ladies like to have for dinner?”
“Pizza,” they both said simultaneously.
“Ok, pizza it is. Now go and get your rooms cleaned and get your clothes ready for next week,” Angela told them.
“Ok,” they both said turning and heading to go to their rooms. Imani popped her head back around the corner and said, “Mom, you should call Mr. Julian,” and ran up the stairs.
“SHIT,” she thought to herself. She was sure Julian was pissed with her. She was also sure that she didn’t want to lose him from her life. She guessed she owed him an apology.
CHAPTER 13
Julian was slamming closet doors and bureau drawers unpacking his bags. He had not been this mad in a long time. What was it with him and women that had a thing for assholes? Rather than the ones that would respect and care for them.
‘I thought Angie was different,’ he thought to himself. She had divorced that asshole after all. So why was she acting like a cheating wife that had gotten caught?
‘Why was she married to a gay guy anyway?’ he thought. It was obvious that Andre was gay and pretending to be something he wasn’t. Maybe that’s what it was, she felt this innate need to protect him and be his “beard”.
Julian really didn’t care what it was. He was done playing second fiddle. If Angela wanted a gay man that would treat her like crap, then she was welcome to him. He was done.
Knock, Knock, Knock.
Julian stopped moving. He was not sure if he heard a knock. When he heard it again, he grabbed a flashlight and headed down the steps.
His power would hopefully be on in a couple of days. He had decided to deal with it and work through it when he decided to ask Angela out on a date. He didn’t want there to be anything that could make her think he wanted to be with her for any other reason than that she was an amazing woman and his dick remained in semi-upright position when she was around.
When he got to the bottom of the steps, he looked out the window that was next to his door and saw Angela standing on his porch with a plate in her hand.
‘Really?’ he thought to himself yanking the door open. “WHAT?” he yelled standing in the way of her coming into the house. Angela had changed into a UNC t-shirt and a pair of acid wash leggings with her hair pulled into a pony tail. She had the look of a sexy school girl and it made Julian want to pull her into his house and make love to her until the sun came up.
Angela took the lid she had on the plate and revealed a couple of slices of pizza and a cold beer.
“I know that I am supposed to be feeding you dinner. I figured that stands even if I have a night that I don’t cook. So I brought you some pizza,” she rambled on finally giving him an unsure smile.
Deciding to do one of the hardest things he had done in a while, Julian slammed the door in her face.
Angela started frantically knocking on the door calling out to him. “Julian! Julian, please open the door! I want to talk and apologize, please!”
After standing there for a few minutes praying he would open the door, Angela turned to leave but before she could get half-way down the steps, he opened the door walking back into the house but leaving the door open for her to come in. Angela slowly walked into the house closing the door behind her following him into the den. It was dark but he had lit candles. She could see his face but only in the shadows of the light.
“Are you hungry?” she asked quietly extending the plate.
“What do you want, Angie?” Julian replied. There was such ice in his voice; she was a little unnerved at what to say.
“I...I’m sorry about this afternoon, Julian,” she started to say.
“What part are you sorry about? Treating me like I was a cab driver? Lying? Or letting him talk to you like that?” Julian said. He was so angry. Angela had never seen him like that. The eerie thing for her was she could hear, see and feel all of his anger but his voice had not gone up one octave. Her grandmother had always told her, “Baby, when a man looks calm as a baby in her cradle but you can see mayhem and destruction in his eyes; you need to find another place to be.”
Clearing her throat, Angie said, “Julian, you don’t understand. I lied this afternoon to protect myself, my girls, you.”
“ME? ME!” Julian yelled at her. “I will snap that little bastard in half! Second, p
rotect you and the girls from what? He is not your husband anymore, Angie! Or at least that’s the lie you told me.”
“First of all, STOP YELLING AT ME!” she screamed. “If you want to talk about this then FINE we can talk! But I will not stand here and let you scream at me. Are we clear, Julian?”
Still hurt and angry, Julian said something he knew he was going to regret before it even came out of his mouth.
“Then you and your raggedy ass pizza can get the hell out of my house!” he said pointing to the door.
Angela recoiled in shock, pain and anger. Looking at the plate, she threw it at his head. Before she knew it, glass, beer and pizza went everywhere.
“Fuck you!” she said storming out of the house.
Julian sat down in his recliner holding his head. Although he was pissed and had every right to be, he knew some of his response was from his past. Angela didn’t deserve to take the brunt of all his demons with women.
He sat back in the chair looking at the ceiling. He would go and apologize tomorrow. Tonight he was going to sit in a pitch black room, drink hot beer and exorcise his demons for good.
*******
Angela rolled over in her bed. She had the headache from hell since she had cried herself to sleep. Adjusting her eyes to look at the clock, she realized it was flashing twelve o’clock. ‘Crap, the power must have gone out again,’ she thought. Realizing it was Monday morning, she sprang out of bed grabbing her cell phone from her side table so that she could see what time it was. ‘Eight-thirty! SHIT!’ she thought. She was supposed to be on her way to the office after dropping the girls off at school by this time. Running to her bedroom door, she opened it and yelled, “GIRLS! GIRLS WAKE UP!”
Running back into her bathroom, she grabbed her robe to head to the girls’ rooms and get them out of bed. She knew if her clock was out so was theirs. As she got to the end of the hall where she could see inside both of their rooms, she saw that their beds were made but they were not in them.
