by Tiana Laveen
Minutes later, they were in the small shower stall together, talking and joking. At times he found himself pausing and staring at her, his sexual desire for her never letting loose, and his love for her growing and flowing in the most natural of ways.
“Thank you for letting me be me,” he uttered as she rinsed soap off her naked body.
She glanced at him from over her shoulder and smiled. “Of course, Chancellor. Who else would I want you to be? You’ve been nothing but honest with what you have to offer and who you are. No faking. No pretending.” She leaned in and pressed her mouth against his.
“Speaking of honesty—tonight, over dinner, I want to tell you about Lily.”
The woman arched an eyebrow. “Lily? This better not be a current relationship that you’ve hidden from me, Chancellor, so help you God!” Her tone was serious, and he knew, had that been true, he would have been verbally beaten to a pulp. And rightfully so.
“No,” he said, shaking his head and chuckling. “This was a long time ago, but I want to tell you, because…” He shrugged. “It seems like the sort of thing you just may like to know…”
CHAPTER NINE
Have You Ever Held a Lily?
He bought Bernie a rhinestone collar. Chancellor hates dogs, but he loves Bernie…
Bailey smiled at the thought as she and Chancellor walked hand in hand on the Magnificent Mile, a popular area in Chicago filled with upscale boutiques, department stores, bargain basement shops, quaint cafés and five-star eateries. The blustery wind forced her to lean in close to him from time to time, sharing the body heat that only he could provide. They’d discussed many things, but one topic delved deep into her mind: Chancellor’s account of a beauty named Lily, a Black girl with naturally curly light brown hair that contrasted with her dark, rich mahogany skin. She’d been tall, lovely, intelligent and everything that Chancellor could have hoped for, but that dream faded away before full materialization. At the time he hadn’t been certain who to blame for this but today, he blamed himself. Before they’d even left the B&B for their day out on the town, she’d demanded details on this Lily person. She didn’t dare admit it now, but Chancellor’s confession sparked a flame of jealousy within her.
She’d never coined herself as the envious type in a relationship, but Lily had been her boyfriend’s first love, and he’d been haunted by the matter for years. He’d reassured her that she was no surrogate—they were two totally separate issues, people, the whole nine. He’d also admitted that her intelligence and carefree ways did attract him, and Lily had possessed those qualities as well. So, what began as a kernel of concern deep within her morphed into admiration and pure understanding. Chancellor was now even more transparent and three-dimensional. It must have taken a hell of a lot for him to put himself out there like that, show some vulnerability and admit to a mistake in judgment that cost him the woman of his heart, mind, body and soul. She squeezed the man’s hand. After a morning and early afternoon of sightseeing, they got an Uber ride and stopped to enjoy some time at the Field Museum of Natural History.
Chancellor proved himself an aficionado of useless but interesting information, such as his knowledge of the 112-million-year-old mammal jaw discovered in Japan, which they found in the Jurassic exhibit. Taking a seat on a hardwood bench, they took in the sights.
“Don’t you love people watching?” He looked around, fully in his element.
“I do.” People moseyed about, some with exhibit brochures in their hands, pausing at various displays. She observed the way Chancellor sat in a confident pose—back straight, one hand on each knee, legs not too far apart, feet planted firmly on the ground and head high. He smelled of rich leather, musky cologne, and the sporty scented shampoo he used to lather his thick, luscious tresses. With an inner smile, she thought about the word, ‘luscious’. She sounded like a hair product commercial, but oh, how she loved twirling the silky strands between her fingers and giving a gentle tug while he ran his soft lips all over her pussy.
Damn, he can eat some pussy…
“I contemplated moving to Chicago during college.” His words shook her out of her wicked deliberations, but her panties already felt wet. “I thought it would be a great place to start fresh.”
“Why didn’t you?” She opened her thighs slightly wider, hoping a bit of air would take care of the issue.
“My ex-wife. She didn’t want to, said it was too busy here, too much noise, pollution, things like that. She also didn’t think it was a great place to raise a family.”
“Well.” She shrugged. “There have been some concerns with crime, but you know, that’s an issue almost anywhere. You just have to do your research.”
“Yeah, I told her there were options, like us living outside the city, but she was dead set against it so I eventually just let it go. I’m sure it didn’t help that she learned Lily had moved here.”
“Did you know she’d moved to Chicago around the same time you were thinking of relocating?” He turned and looked at her… a sullen expression on his face. “Some part of me must have.” They remained silent for a spell. “I heard she moved from here though a long time ago, not sure where she went though. Enough of that though. The fact of the matter is that I love this city. I enjoy it here.”
“How often do you come up?” She flapped her legs a couple of times, pretending to simply readjust for comfort. The quick little breeze she worked up seemed to do the trick.
“At least a few times a year. Sometimes it’s for business, other times for pleasure.”
“You know, as we were walking along, I started to think about how much museums are like people.”
She swung her legs back and forth, pumping them like a child on a swing. Something within her had burst free, like a caged bird taking flight. She had a man who made her wet simply by thinking of him touching her. And he made her laugh … and he made her think … and she was grateful for their shared moments in time.
“That’s an interesting analogy. Not sure if I understand it though. How are people like museums?”
“We are empty when we are born, and then we begin to fill up with artifacts.”
“Your way of thinking I’ve found interesting, to say the least. You’ve taught me some things.” He wrapped his arm around her, drew her close, and deposited a warm kiss on her cheek. “Keep going, I want to hear this.”
“Our past, our wishes, our beliefs … our regrets. Our Tonys, our Lilys, our ex-wives, ex-boyfriends, lost jobs, new gigs, our anger, our fears… some of these things about us are on display. We might wish that they weren’t, but they are because someone in the big wide world, somebody out there, knows what happened to us, even if we wished it were a secret. On the other hand, some of our achievements we are happy to exhibit, we sometimes even invite others to pay attention to them … like, ‘Hey! Look at me! Look what I’ve done!’” She reflected on the numerous award banquets and red-carpet affairs she’d been to. “Then some parts of us are stored away in a musty basement. They’re covered in old, dusty plastic bags, dry rot, and threadbare sheets that have yellowed with time. Some are under restoration or not deemed fit to be on the main floors of our mind and hearts now, if they ever were. On the outside, the museum is just a building. On the inside, it is full of history, discovery, pain, achievements, love, hatred, glory … proof of a bad job done, evidence of exceptional achievement completed. I’m glad we came here.”
She nestled close to him, wrapping her arms around his as she looked off into space. The people travelling around them became mere shapes in the hues of life and shadowy wisps of love.
“You baffle me … in a good way. You sometimes say the type of things I can’t respond to, at least not right away. I need a second to think about them. Anyway, I’m glad we’re touring each other’s museums, Bailey. I have a feeling there is a lifetime of treasures inside of you that I’ve yet to see. I’m excited to watch it all unfold.”
She looked up at the man and smiled. His eyes twinkled, his h
andsome face called to her, and at that very moment, they made an emotional bond, sealed with a kiss…
…Two weeks later
What a violation!
Champagne glasses lay haphazardly on the bedroom floor. The empty bottle of bubbly had been cast aside, a pair of red, lacy panties strewn atop them like a lipstick kiss on a love letter.
Bailey had done the unthinkable—played hooky. She’d had a meeting that morning with the director of a radio station to do a series of ads, but instead called in sick when Chancellor arrived at her doorstep clad in a black coat, scarf, and little else. The man was a damn nudist! They’d been living by the seat of their pants, going to restaurants he’d once snubbed his nose at because the food seemed “strange.” She’d managed to get him to step a bit of out of his comfort zone, to live a little, and not so conservatively for a change. Once she saw he had pushed himself that much further, she couldn’t deny the man!
The night previous they’d read a naughty article in one of her Cosmopolitan magazines about spontaneity. Chancellor was a very good lover, but spontaneous was something that wasn’t exactly on his menu. He admitted how the mere act of approaching a woman had to be planned in advance, and this included those times when he wanted sex. There was no ‘on the whim’ with him. But he was trying, and he’d claimed her as his muse.
“Oh God!” she screamed, her words wrapped around a burst of giggles as he dragged her naked body down her bed like some caveman. Soon, she felt the prickle of his facial hair against her ass, and the sensation drove her mad. “Stop it!” She laughed harder when he bit into her ass and shook her about like some rag doll. Suddenly, she heard the clamor of thumping paws up the steps, as well as the sound of a tiny bell that had been meticulously attached to the new rhinestone collar. A burst of air hit her naked body when Bernie charged inside the room, barking and growling like a werewolf under a full super moon. The dog jumped onto the bed and began to bat and nip at Chancellor’s naked body as if he were made of bacon.
“Ahhhh! Bernie, stop! Damn it! Shit! Stop it! Jesus! Heeeelp!” Bernie latched onto Chancellor’s ankle and yanked him hard until his body hit the floor.
“BERNIE! NO!” she yelled, quickly crawling to the bottom of the bed and peering over the edge to see Chancellor lying on his back, breathing hard and his pupils dilated. Bernie’s barks grew louder, practically drowning out her screams. Leaping off the bed, she cradled Chancellor’s head onto her lap. Her patient looked up at her, a goofy grin on his face. She glanced down at his ankle; Bernie’s teeth marks were noticeable, but the skin didn’t appear to be broken. “Oh, God, I’m so sorry! He must’ve thought I was being attacked.”
“I want my rhinestone collar back.” Chancellor looked at the dog who’d finally grown quiet, but remained sitting there, as if on guard.
“Shame on you, Bernie!” she chastised, causing the dog to drop flat onto the floor and cover half of his face with his big paw. Chancellor slowly rose up, then hobbled on one foot into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. A horrible flood of guilt welled within her, not only due to the attack, but the fact that she was now trying with all of her might to fight the bursts of laughter that threatened to explode from her very soul. Her eyes watered as she listened to Chancellor’s cursing, the water from her bathroom sink running.
“Mangy son of uh bitch!” Chancellor belted. “I walked you, Bernie! I thought we had something special!”
She covered her mouth, fearful that her cover would be blown if the man continued on like that.
“Jesus! The one on my ass is turnin’ red! I hope you had your rabies shots, you long-faced fucker!”
“You bit his ass?!” She turned towards Bernie as if he could offer an answer.
I didn’t see that!
“Uh, Chancellor, did I hear you say you have a bite on your ass?” She got to her feet and stood outside the bathroom door.
“Yes! He jumped on the bed and nipped at my ass, then dragged me off the bed!”
“Are … are you okay?”
“Yes, I’ll be fine. I found a Band-Aid in your medicine cabinet and put it over the bite wound.”
“Maybe he, uh, saw you bite my ass, too, and just wanted to get in on the action.” And that was it … the catalyst to her undoing. Leaning against the door, she let boisterous laughter roll out like a parade. The door swung open. Chancellor walked out with a towel wrapped around his waist and a smirk on his face.
“You’re hilarious, aren’t you? You and Bernie should travel the comedy circuit. Just make sure the audience has health insurance.” He went and sat on the bed, but she didn’t miss that he, too, was stifling laughter. “I guess he had a bone to pick with me.” Grinning, he reached across the nightstand and picked up the Cosmopolitan magazine that had set these crazy, bruised, and bitten wheels in motion. She joined him then, still laughing, her face hot and her man clearly bothered.
“Well, Bernie sure busted his butt to get up those stairs, didn’t he?” She could barely get the words out without going into another fit.
“I am the butt of your jokes today, I see. Well, isn’t that a nice kick in the pants!”
“You better be glad he went after the back. The front would’ve been a much different result … chew toy comes to mind.” She was now sliding down the bed, her throat burning with laughter as she came alive and undone all at once. He nodded as he leisurely flipped the pages of the magazine, smiling all the way.
“It’s a dog-eat-dog world, and I can see that this conversation has gone to the dogs.” They were both laughing so hard now, their bodies shook. When he turned to place the magazine back onto the nightstand, he rolled over enough for her to see the Band-Aid smacked on his backside, and that ensured there’d be no coming back for her.
“I am stuck on Band-Aids, and Band-Aids stuck on meeee!” he sang, sealing her fate.
“You shoulda … you shoulda seen your face!” she blurted between guffaws. “Then, when I heard you in the bathroom, that was it! I really am sorry about what he did, though, Chancellor. Seriously.”
“Yeah. I can see how sincere you are. Your emotional despair is choking me up inside!”
She laughed impossibly louder now.
“He’s had all of his shots. I will pay for any medical bills, though you seem okay.” She caught her breath for a spell and then fell back against the pillow. “Once bitten, twice shy…”
“You and your funnel-faced mutt are in for a rude awakening if you think that I’m going to have sex again without you locking your bedroom door first.”
“Awww, I bet your bark is louder than your bite!” She patted him, but he shoved her hand away as they both fell into a fit of laughs again. “Okay, okay … jokes aside. Bernie! I want you to leave. Go on, now!” She rose up on her knees to watch until the dog was on his feet and reluctantly clip-clopping out of the room, looking like some wounded K-9 soldier. She got up and closed and locked the door, then slid back in the bed beside him, this time closer than before.
“You’re barking up the wrong tree if you think I’m walking his ass again after what he did to me! He can piss all over your furniture for all I care!”
She struggled to catch her breath. “Oh, come on! Don’t hold a grudge. Isn’t that what you’d want him to do, though? Protect me if he thought I was being attacked?”
“Bernie has allowed all sorts of strange people to practically make themselves at home in your house without so much as a peep. This dog has slept through countless nights of my being over here, you having your friends over and the like, but then, all of a sudden, he woke up from one of his many naps long enough to figure out something was going awry with someone he is more than accustomed to now, and he viciously attacked me!”
“Oh, come on. It wasn’t vicious! You are being kinda dramatic, don’t you think?” She grinned as she pulled the sheets over herself.
“A fuckin’ Collie attacked me, Bailey. Do you know how embarrassing that is?” She snatched her empty tea cup from earlier in
the day off the end table, hoping a drop was still available to squelch another bout of the giggles. “It might as well have been a terrier! Lassie, of all dogs!”
“Hey now, I remember the Lassie reruns. Lassie saved lives!”
“Well, this is no sitcom. It’s my ankle and my ass, and a collie is not what comes to mind when one thinks of intimidating. I could hold my head up like a man had it been a Pitbull or Rottweiler. What would I say to the doctor, huh? ‘Oh, see, me and my girlfriend were screwing and the dog thought that I was assaulting her, so he grabbed my left buttocks then dragged my ass off the bed like I was one of the damn sheets!”
She rested her head against his shoulder, her eyes flooding with tears of mirth as she held tight to the handle of the empty cup. Chancellor went on and on, but she knew he was getting joy out of complaining about the issue. In some way, it probably made him feel official … like a true-blue member of the family.
I wonder if that little bite is going to leave a scar? If so, he’s marked as mine for life!
She giggled to herself, but kept the thought near and dear to her heart…
CHAPTER TEN
You Spin Me Round and Round…
…Several weeks later
“Okay, Bailey, take it from the top.” Mike, the producer, gave her the thumbs up. The studio was so hot, Bailey grasped the collar of her pink and white polka dot shirt to let air down her blouse and fanned her face several times. On a swallow, she resituated in her chair in the booth, in front of the microphone. “Everything okay?”
“Uh, yeah, just a little warm. Can I get a glass of water, please?”
