His Betrayal Her Lies

by Angel de'Amor

  “Thanks for waiting. How can I help you, sir?” the receptionist asked.

  Kalon stood motionless. “I’m here to see Taylor Gallagher.”

  He noticed that she didn’t reach for the phone to announce his arrival. “Do you have an appointment?”

  Putting his hands in his pockets, he tried a little charm. “No, I’m sorry I don’t. But I was hoping that you’d be able to get me a few minutes with her. I’d really appreciate if you could do that for me, Ms. …” He waited for her to fill in the blank.

  “Just call me Jennifer,” she said, intrigued by this sweet talker. She smiled up at him. He smiled back, wondering why such a young woman would cake on so much makeup. That didn’t matter at all once she picked up the phone and dialed a few numbers. “Hi, Mrs. Tab. Is Mrs. Gallagher available? Okay, she has a …” She put her hand over the receiver and asked Kalon, “You are?”

  “Kalon Knight from Angel Kids.”

  She relayed the name to Taylor’s secretary and waited. “Okay, thank you.”

  Kalon’s heart dropped at the look on the receptionist’s face. Maybe Taylor told them to call security. “Ms. Gallagher will see you now.”

  He couldn’t believe Taylor had agreed to see him. He had to make this visit count and lay it all out because it might be his last.

  Chapter 10

  Taylor stood up from her swivel office chair, then sat back down. She stood again and finally decided it would look better if she was seated when Kalon walked in. She was so nervous but she didn’t want it to appear like her world revolved around seeing him. She started going through some papers on her desk to make it look like she was busy.

  For two weeks, she had obsessed about the card on her desk containing Kalon’s number, moving to call him one minute and changing her mind the next. She just didn’t know what to say. In the end, she had determined that it was for the best not to talk to him. She had shredded the card just yesterday. And now she was seconds away from having to explain why she hadn’t called.

  Mrs. Tab knocked and poked her head in the door at the same time. “Mr. Knight is here.”

  Taylor looked up from her stack of papers. “Send him in.” She heard the click of his shoes before she looked up into his deep dark brown eyes. He had on a black suit with a white button-down dress shirt. Because he wore no tie and had the first three buttons of his shirt undone, her eyes trailed down his smooth neck to the bit of chest that was showing. Her breathing shortened.

  With something close to arrogance, he stood before her desk with his hands in his pockets, rearing back on his heels. He had a smooth grin across his face.

  “How can I help you, Mr. Knight?” she asked, trying to sound aloof.

  “I prefer Kalon.”

  She could hear the mischief in his tone. “Okay, Kalon, how can I help you?” Leaning back in her seat, Taylor crossed her arms over her chest.

  Kalon took a seat and crossed his legs. “I was hoping you would have dinner with me tonight. I want to take you out.”

  “I’m married” should have automatically come out of Taylor’s mouth. Instead, she asked, “Why do you want to take me out?”

  He had a hearty laugh. “Where should I start? First, you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. You’re intelligent, smart, and witty. I like the way you carry yourself. You don’t try to be seen by others; you just let your soft beauty illuminate a room. And I like your smile, not to mention your body.”

  Taylor raised her eyebrow.

  “But most importantly, I like you and want to get to know you better.”

  At a loss for words, Taylor reached for the bottle of water on her desk. After a small swallow, she gave a snappy comeback. “I’m sure, Kalon, you say that to all your women.”

  The corners of his mouth raised into a slow smile. “I assure you, Taylor, I have never given a woman a compliment as great as the one I just gave you. And I don’t have women, I have acquaintances.”

  “Ha!” Taylor relaxed a bit and smiled. “Come on, Kalon, I know about your reputation. Hell, every woman in Chicago knows that you change women like you change underwear. I refuse to fall victim to your womanizing ways.”

  Kalon sat back in his chair. Taylor could detect that he was trying to figure out why his charm wasn’t working. He popped the collar of his shirt. “Okay, Taylor, I can see you already have your mind made up about me from other people. But I never took you to be a woman who would listen to others before giving me a chance. I can understand if your opinion was based on personal knowledge but if you want to find out if those rumors are true, then take me up on my offer for dinner and I won’t contact you again. The next move will be yours.” He turned and walked out of Taylor’s office.

  That hadn’t played out like she had visualized it.

  The remainder of her day went by slowly. She couldn’t concentrate on work because her mind was stuck on Kalon’s ultimatum. Here she was actually contemplating going on a date with him. She needed and wanted to get him out of her system.

  * * *

  Rounding the corner to her house, Taylor was glad to see Ari’s car parked in the driveway. One night with her husband was sure to erase every thought of Kalon Knight.

  She almost bumped into Ari when she opened the front door. He was standing there looking like he was hung over. “Hey sweetie,” she said, assessing his appearance then giving him a kiss. “Rough flight?”

  He leaned down and gave her a peck on the lips, then staggered over to the couch. Plunking down hard, he rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes. “Yeah,” he said, “I guess I’m just tired. I haven’t been home in weeks and this job is really catching up with me.” Ari let out a yawn.

  Four-inch pumps dropped to the floor with a thud as Taylor kicked them off. She walked over to the couch and sat next to her husband. When she laid her head on his shoulders, Ari jumped.

  “What’s wrong?’ Taylor asked, looking surprised.

  “Oh nothing, babe. I’ve just been tense lately. It’s no big deal.”

  Taylor knew differently. Something was wrong. Ari had never shunned away from her touch.

  Standing up, he reached for her and said, “I just want to hold you tonight.”

  “I don’t feel like going to bed right now,” Taylor replied.

  “A’ight, I’m going to bed. I’ll see you in the room.”

  Ari left Taylor sitting on the couch. She got up and fixed herself a vodka and cranberry. Her mind was in turmoil over this Kalon situation and the issues with Ari and that woman. There was no word yet from William, the investigator, and she was quite anxious to see what he had uncovered.

  She sat sipping on her drink and thinking about how little time she and Ari spent together. He seemed tired and she decided to let him be for tonight. The growing lack of concern they had for one another bothered her, too. The first year in their marriage, they were inseparable. Ari would never take a long assignment because he said the thought of being away from her was havoc to his senses. Now it was like they were roommates passing in the night. And their sex life was non-existent. Work and the problems of life had become their priorities, instead of one another.

  Worrying wasn’t going to change anything. Taylor got up and showered, then climbed in bed beside a sleeping Ari.

  The next morning, Taylor awoke in her husband’s arms. She decided that she would spend the entire day with him. They needed this time together to reconnect and put everything else on hold.

  She rolled over and dialed her secretary. “Good morning, Mrs. Tab. I’m taking the day off. Please forward all my calls to my home voicemail.” After giving Mrs. Tab a list of things that she needed her to handle that day, Taylor rolled over and kissed Ari on the tip of his nose. She needed to rekindle the romance in their relationship.

  Most importantly, she needed to get Kalon off her mind.

  Ari wriggled his nose and slowly opened his eyes.

  “Hey, handsome,” Taylor purred. “I thought we should spend th
e whole day together.” He smiled up at his wife, her hair tossed around her shoulders. “I like the way you think,” Ari said in a groggy voice.

  Taylor teased him more by placing kisses on his throat and moving down to his chest. She licked both of his nipples. He took in a deep breath. She knew all his hot spots. Sticking her tongue inside his belly button, she licked around it. She then blew lightly from his belly button down to his waistline. Ari alternately balled his hands up and then flattened them as she continued. She moved lower and kissed his inner thigh never taking her eyes off him. When she took his dick into her mouth, Ari’s body bucked and he made a hissing sound.

  Taylor flipped her body around so they were in the sixty-nine position. He spread her butt cheeks and licked from her crack down to her clit. She felt her orgasm building from the depth of her stomach. Ari always knew how to make her come. He stuck his tongue into her hole and moved it in and out. He came at the same time she released her juices into his mouth. Ari licked ever drop.

  “Damn, baby, that was great,” Ari exclaimed. He lay on the bed spread eagle a couple of seconds, then got up to take a shower.

  “I thought we could go out and get some breakfast,” Taylor yelled from the bedroom.

  “What did you say, babe?” Ari shouted back from the shower.

  Taylor got up and slid in the shower behind her husband. He dropped the soap, then picked it up with a laugh. “Dang, woman. You scared me.” Taylor lathered his back and whispered into his ear. “After this shower, we should go get something to eat.”

  “Girl, you know the way to my heart,” Ari said, turning around and taking one of Taylor’s nipples into his mouth.

  * * *

  Driving down Butterfield Road, Taylor noticed a black Bronco trailing them.

  “Where do you want to eat?” Ari asked from the passenger seat.

  “I don’t know,” Taylor said. She was still focusing out her rear view mirror at the truck making every turn she was making. It was riding her bumper. She made a quick turn into a Wendy’s parking lot and the Bronco pulled in right behind her.

  “Why did you stop here?” Ari asked.

  The woman in the truck jumped out, waving a bat.

  Taylor asked, “Do you know someone who drives a black Bronco?”

  Just when he turned to address Taylor, something smashed the back window. They both ducked down and shielded their heads from the flying glass. The woman with the bat came on Taylor’s side of the car, pulling at the door handle. Ari lifted his head and looked right into the eyes of Maci. She swung the bat at Taylor’s window and the glass shattered but didn’t break. Ari jumped from the car to grab the bat from Maci. She wasn’t letting go though, and they started to struggle.

  Taylor leaped out the car. Ari hadn’t gotten the bat out of the woman’s hand yet. She took a swing at Taylor. Taylor jumped back, as the woman began screaming at Ari.

  “This is why we can’t be together because you’re messing with her. What about your daughter and her needing you at home?”

  Taylor stood back, dumbfounded. Ari was still trying to restrain the lunatic from swinging the bat. He pushed her away.

  “You need to leave, Maci, and go back home to your daughter.”

  Taylor felt herself losing control. Her temperature started to rise. This was the woman who had been terrorizing her. She wanted to kick her ass but the bad publicity this would have on her company and her father was not worth it.

  How stupid she was for not confronting Ari about his unfaithfulness earlier. Instead of making him face up to it, she had tried to make herself believe the lie that he wasn’t messing with this woman anymore. No woman would act the way this woman was acting today unless she had a broken heart and the man was giving her hope of a relationship together. But that didn’t excuse the fact that she was taking her anger out on the wrong person.

  They needed to leave now, before the police came. Taylor couldn’t afford for the media to get wind of this. When she tried to get in the car, the woman reached behind Ari and grabbed her ponytail. Taylor’s head went back and she instinctively turned and punched the ghetto wild woman in her mouth.

  “Get in the car, Ari. We have to go,” Taylor screamed at the top of her lungs.

  Ari pulled Maci away from the car and held her hands down. Taylor jumped in the vehicle and put it in drive. Ari ran, jumped in, and slammed his door as Taylor sped onto the expressway ramp across the street from the parking lot.

  Taylor pulled the car over and started beating Ari with her fists. “Damn you, Ari. Why the hell did you go fucking around on me?”

  He ducked and dodged her punches.

  “You think I’m a stupid bitch. I already knew about your little infidelity.”

  Ari looked stunned.

  “Your little bitch already wrote me a letter about your daughter.”

  A shocked Ari sat paralyzed, accepting her physical and verbal attack.

  “You put my life in danger this whole time. You knew who was doing this stuff to my car and you didn’t say anything. You sat there like the punk you really are. I hate you.” Taylor didn’t recognize her own voice. She had never spoken to him like this but what could you expect from a year of built-up frustration? And this time, this Maci woman had crossed the line. Maci put her hands on her; that was something Taylor was not going to accept.

  She fumed and panted like a raging bull as she eased back into traffic and drove home. Pulling up to their house and putting the car in park, she dismissed Ari with words she never thought she’d say to him. “I will be back in four hours and I want all your shit gone.”

  Ari tried to explain his side.

  Taylor cut him off. “Don’t say shit to me. Just get the fuck out my car and get your shit.”

  He opened the car door but didn’t get out. “Please hear me out. I’m sorry for all of this. I didn’t know—”

  “You didn’t know what Ari?” She started pounding on the dash board. “You didn’t know she was fucking crazy? Or you didn’t know I would ever find out? Or you didn’t know I would put your ass out? Tell me exactly what you didn’t know.”

  Ari opened his mouth again and Taylor waved him off. “I don’t care what you have to say, just get out. I was the fool for trying to believe in you. I was waiting to see if you were going to ever tell me about this woman and child. And then silly me started to think the whole thing was a lie, that it was just somebody out there lying on you. Wow, stupid me.”

  He looked at her, his eyes begging for a chance to make it right. She refused to look his way. Ari got out of the car and Taylor made the tires screech on the pavement as she pulled off.

  Driving around Chicago for what seemed like hours was all Taylor could do at first. She didn’t want to talk to anyone about this. Right now all she wanted to do was think. She found herself at the lakefront looking out at the sparkling water. A couple was walking along the bike trail and holding hands. They stopped to kiss then snickered when they had to separate to let a group of cyclists go by. Tears started to run down her face. She never thought she would be in this situation. Her Briggs family upbringing had never prepared her for this type of deceit.

  Six hours passed before she felt comfortable going home. She didn’t want to run into her husband at all and felt sure that by now he had left. She had to turn off her cell phone because he wouldn’t stop calling. On her ride home, she thought to herself, “How do I go on now?”

  * * *

  Ari sat parked outside of Maci’s house for hours. He thought about busting down her door and choking her to death. He could plead temporary insanity. Her causing an altercation was something he never saw coming. He thought they had an understanding and she accepted his marriage because she knew there could never be anything serious between them. He was a sucker to think that he had it all under control.

  He was confident that after Taylor calmed down, he could explain things to her and she would take him back. He would just paint Maci as a crazy woman that he only mes
sed with one time, and she got pregnant. If Taylor accepted that, he might not have to kill Maci after all.

  It was a little after midnight when Ari arrived at his brother’s Wicker Park home. Jay was the menace in the family. Their parents never thought Jay would amount to anything. As kids, he always got into trouble at school and in the neighborhood. Ari kind of envied Jay because he did what he wanted and people never pressured him to excel. Ari had never had the courage to rebel. That had bothered him throughout his childhood.

  He let himself into Jay’s house using the spare key under the doormat. The alarm went off, followed by a loud shout.

  “Who is it?” Jay barked from the back room.

  Ari came further into the living room and lay down on the couch. “It’s me, bro,” he yelled back.

  Long dreadlocks swinging behind him, Jay came walking into the room with a towel wrapped around him. He began drying his hair. “Why you over here so late?” Adjusting his towel around his waist, Jay took a seat in his recliner. He looked over at his brother’s gloomy eyes.

  “Man, I fucked up,” Ari admitted.

  “How?”

  The keys in Ari’s back pants pocket began to stick him. He twisted around on the couch so he could reach them. Tossing them on the table, he gave his brother the short version of the day’s drama. “Taylor just found out about Maci, or should I say she has known about her for a year or—”

  Jay broke in, standing and pointing his index finger. “Man, I told you a long time ago to tell Tay about Maci, but no, you wanted to do it your way.”

  Ari covered his face. “If I would have told Tay about Maci, I wouldn’t be married today. I should’ve just stopped having sex with Maci after Adrianne was born but the sex was so good.”