by Mary Monroe
The surprised look on her face confused me. She was a great lover, and I was sure that I was not the first man to compliment her. “Thank you,” she mumbled, dropping her head. I didn’t know if her sudden shy demeanor was for her benefit or mine. One thing I did know was that she was a stone freak and a sex machine and I had pushed all the right buttons. I didn’t have to be a mind reader to know what she was thinking: She was ready, willing, and able to do whatever she thought I wanted. She probably would have sucked the corns on my toes if I asked her.
“Lola, I know you’re very busy with other members, but would it be possible for us to get together on a regular basis?” I already knew her answer. I could tell by the way her eyes lit up like a fluorescent light. Then her mouth dropped open. She looked as if she wanted to swallow me whole. I gave her a woeful look anyway. I wanted her to believe that I was as ditzy as she was. A woman as stupid, naïve, and love-struck as Lola wouldn’t know any better.
“Yes, I’d like that,” she chirped. “I would like that very much, Calvin.”
I decided to say something noncommittal so she wouldn’t get too carried away and do something stupid, like stalk me. “I’ll be in touch.” I slid my tongue across my bottom lip and rubbed the back of my head. “I just don’t know when. I have a lot of hours I’d like to make up at work to offset the times I took off to go to Chicago.”
“I see,” she muttered. She cleared her throat and continued, speaking in a low, mechanical tone. “I’m going to be real busy myself over the next few weeks.” She was obviously trying to sound as if it didn’t matter one way or the other if she heard from me again.
I sat down at the foot of the bed with my back to her and began to put on my socks and shoes. “I’ll give you a call in a week or so. In the meantime, I hope you don’t run into somebody who’ll make you not want to see me again.” That comment made her perk back up. I could feel her crawling up behind me, so I turned around to face her. She leaned forward and gave me a hungry little kiss on my forehead. Then she stared into my eyes as if she were trying to see clean through me. I had never seen such desperation in my life. This woman was a real piece of work. She was enough to drive a normal man stark raving mad. No wonder she was over thirty and still single!
“I’m sure I won’t,” she purred, batting her lashes. “I don’t, uh, date as much as I used to. . . .”
I gave her a peck on the tip of her nose and then I stood up and buttoned my shirt. “Well, a beautiful woman like you should not be spending too much time sitting at home alone—or with that stepmother and your wicked stepsister. You’re a woman who needs a lot of attention, and you deserve it. Have as much fun as possible while you still can.” I had to hold my breath to keep from laughing some more. There was no way Lola could know the real meaning of my words. I wanted this bitch to enjoy the time she had left, which was only a few more weeks at best. “And don’t let those colorful customers you wait on at the grocery store get to you. Remember, it’s just a job. And somebody has to do it. That’s what I tell myself every time I climb into that eighteen-wheel contraption I’m practically married to.”
A curious look crossed her face. “I thought you liked being a long-haul truck driver.”
“I do,” I said with a sigh as I folded my arms. My eyes were on her, but my mind was on the door and how soon I could open it and bolt. “But it can be real monotonous and lonely. Sometimes I go fifty or sixty miles at a stretch without seeing another human being on the road. Especially in farm country like Fresno and Bakersfield.”
“That would drive me insane. I know it can be dangerous, but have you ever thought about picking up a hitchhiker every now and then? At least you’d have somebody to talk to. And if you deal only with female hitchhikers, you probably wouldn’t have to worry about them doing something stupid or violent to you like you would with a man.”
“I’ve thought about doing just that. But like you said, it’s dangerous. One of my coworkers gave a ride to a teenage chick along Interstate 5 a few weeks ago, and she robbed him at gunpoint.”
“Oh well. Then don’t give rides to strangers—male or female. I’d hate to read about you in the newspaper. It was foolish of me to suggest it.” Lola had an anxious look on her face, which made me think she wanted to keep talking. But I had said all I wanted to say for now, and I had heard all I wanted to hear.
“Listen, baby, I really do hate to leave. The room is paid for, so you can stay the night if you want. My credit card is on file, so you can order more room service, watch an on-demand movie, do whatever at my expense.”
“Thank you. I think I will spend the night. My folks don’t expect me home until tomorrow anyway.”
“Now, give me a kiss before I leave,” I demanded, licking my lips and rubbing the palms of my hands together.
Lola had that deer caught in headlights look again. I strolled back toward her with my arms outstretched and my lips puckered. I probably looked like a love-struck idiot, because I sure felt like one. She jumped off the bed and shot across the floor and into my arms like a bat out of hell. We embraced in such a vigorous way, it felt as though we had suddenly become conjoined twins. Then she pressed her lips against mine so hard, mine went numb. It was the kiss of death . . . for her. BITCH! BITCH! BITCH!
Chapter 53
Calvin
THIS WAS ONE SATURDAY THAT I WOULD NEVER FORGET. I HAD been with dozens of beautiful and sexy women, but not a single one had satisfied me the way Lola had. She had been so passionate and insatiable, I could barely stand it! I tried to imagine what my dick would say if it could talk. Spending so much more intimate time with her than on our previous date had done more for my morale than I thought it would.
I had already begun to feel like a changed man, and I was only going to get better, thanks to Lola. I had to fuck her at least one more time before I killed her.
My late wife was the last and only woman who had made me feel almost as good as Lola had. There were times when I wished I could communicate with that slut one more time. I would ask Glinda if all the pain she had caused me was worth losing her life over. I would never know, and I didn’t give a damn. Fulfilling my needs was all that mattered to me now.
I wanted to finish my business with Lola more than ever now. I was afraid that if I didn’t do it soon, my plans might fall apart. A tramp of her magnitude could meet another dude she liked more and move away and I couldn’t find her! There was no telling what all else I’d do if that happened. I had visions of myself with an assault rifle in each hand entering a beauty parlor or a nail salon and blowing away as many bitches as I could.
I was holding in so much rage, there were times when my body felt as if it had swollen to twice its normal size. If I had already disposed of Lola, maybe the beast in my belly might not have grown so large. Some days I felt as if I’d been stuffed with sawdust. The thought almost made me laugh.
I had actually been quite amused by the stories Lola shared with me about her stepmother and stepsiblings. They sounded like three of the most fucked-up and annoying jackasses on the planet! Lola had tears in her eyes when she told me how that Bertha hag had sabotaged so many of her relationships with men. She seethed with anger and literally gnashed her teeth when she told me how mean Libby and Marshall were to her most of the time. Her problems would be all over in less than a month. She would never have to deal with those three miserable assholes again, or anybody else.
* * *
I made it to Sylvia’s neighborhood just as that damn cookout she had made such a fuss about was about to end. I had a couple of beers, talked shit with some of her neighbors, and told some very tall tales about the bogus fishing trip I had told Sylvia I was going on with my buddies.
Most of Sylvia’s neighbors were silly and boring. The host, Jose Garcia, was a grinning, pudgy character in dingy blue jeans and a plaid shirt. Dude liked sports as much as me, so he was pretty cool. I enjoyed conversing with him. His moon-faced, no-neck wife, Rosa, rambled on and on about one thing
after another, from a diet she had just ruined to all the reality TV shows she was addicted to. By the time she finished babbling, I had a headache on both sides of my head. Less than a minute later, a middle-aged, bug-eyed, muumuu-wearing woman—whose ethnicity I could not determine—took me aside and grilled me like a cheese sandwich. She wanted to know everything about me, from my military experience to my job.
I’d eaten lunch with Lola, so I couldn’t eat much. I had to force myself to gobble up two chicken legs, a small plate of rice and beans, and a few tortillas.
Sylvia, decked out in a floor-length flowered dress that looked more like a couch cover, skittered around the patio like a hamster as she chatted with the remaining guests. I thought she’d never want to leave. Finally, when I couldn’t stand the agonizing boredom any longer, I told the Garcias that I had a headache so my lady friend and I needed to be on our way. We left immediately.
“Calvin, were there any females on that boat with you and your buddies?” Sylvia had the nerve to ask as we strolled toward the cute little beige stucco house she owned in the same block.
“What?” I stopped in my tracks and gave her a look that was so incredulous, she shuddered. We stood at the edge of her driveway, where I had parked my Jeep behind her Altima. “Why are you asking me such a ridiculous question?”
“Because there’s a woman’s scent on you and it’s not mine,” she whimpered. “You smell like a rose garden. . . .”
I had showered after my romp with Lola. But we had embraced long and hard prior to my departure. The last thing on my mind at the time was her loud-smelling perfume marinating my flesh after I’d washed. It didn’t take but a few moments for me to compose myself, gather my thoughts, and offer Sylvia a believable lie.
“Oh! I went to high school with the woman who works at the fish and tackle place where we bought our bait. She used to go out with one of my cousins. She was so glad to see me, she gave me a bear hug. She was always heavy-handed when it came to splashing on perfume.” I slid my arm around Sylvia’s waist. “Honey, I am surprised and disappointed to hear you even suggest that I might have spent the day with another woman. You’re worth five women to me.”
Before I’d arrived at the Garcia’s cookout, I had stopped by my house. I called the hotel to let Lola know again how much I had enjoyed her company. She got extremely excited when I told her I definitely wanted to see her again. For the next couple of minutes she spewed such a long stream of “You made me feel so good” gibberish, my ears throbbed as if somebody had mauled them. I wanted to bite my telephone just to shut her up. I was certain that if I’d told her to go jump off the Golden Gate Bridge, she would have asked, “Which side?” Women were so easy to manipulate. Lola was making things so easy for me! And since she was such a special project, I decided she deserved “special treatment.” Her murder had to be much more creative than the others. In addition to strangling her, I needed to do something elaborate first. I considered putting her in chains, locking her in my guest bedroom closet, and torturing the shit out of her for a few years like that Puerto Rican weirdo did to those three girls in Cleveland two years ago. I didn’t entertain that thought for long, because it sounded like too much work and a big risk. I inhaled and glanced at the ground before I resumed my end of the conversation with Sylvia.
“Maybe I should go on to my place and give you some time to think,” I suggested with a mild grunt.
“What do I need to be thinking about, Calvin?” she asked sharply. The menacing look on her face stunned me. And then she did something that almost made me grab her by the throat. She poked my chest with her finger as she berated me. “Look, I was not born yesterday, so don’t play with me. I’ve been in serious relationships with other men, so I can tell when something is not right. I care about you and I want to be with you, but if you do decide you would rather be with someone else, just let me know. I am not going to be made a fool of!”
Somehow I managed to keep my voice fairly low. A few of the Garcias’ guests were walking nearby and I didn’t want to give them something else to yip-yap about. “Wait a minute now. Where is this coming from? What the hell is going on? Are you trying to ease out of our relationship and think this is a good way to do it?”
“No, I am not trying to ‘ease out of our relationship,’ so please don’t even go there.”
I put my hands on Sylvia’s shoulders and looked into her eyes. She gave me a hopeful look, and I continued talking. “Sweetheart, I hope we’re going to be together for a very long time.” I let out a sigh that was so profound, it made my chest hurt and I winced. “This is so . . . painful,” I whimpered. I closed my eyes, swayed from side to side for a couple of seconds, and then I moaned. “Aaarrggh . . .”
“What’s the matter? You look terrible!” she gasped. She grabbed my hand and squeezed. Then she felt my forehead. “Baby, are you okay?”
“I . . . I just had a . . . a f-flashback of the w-war,” I stammered. When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t believe the expression of sympathy on Sylvia’s face. “Stress brings it on.”
“Oh, baby. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“I’m fine,” I insisted. I rubbed my chest, took several deep breaths, and placed my hands back on Sylvia’s shoulders. “Just bear with me, sweetie.” A thought suddenly exploded in my mind like a hand grenade. I decided that by the end of next week I would finalize my plans for Lola. I would choose when, where, and how I was going to kill her. When it was over, I could begin the transformation that would change me back to the law-abiding, honorable man I was before Glinda destroyed my peace of mind, integrity, and common sense. I knew that I would be completely restored! The exhilaration was so intoxicating it felt like I was about to slip into a trance.
“Calvin, you look strange all of a sudden,” Sylvia told me. “Honey, I’m worried about you. Are you having another flashback?”
“No, I’m not.” I shook my head and forced a chuckle. “I was just thinking about how amazing you are and how much I love you. I guess it all overwhelmed me.”
“Really? You think that much of me?”
“If God made a better woman than you, He kept her for Himself.”
“Ahh, honey.” Sylvia rubbed my shoulder and caressed my chin. “That’s such a sweet thing for you to say,” she cooed.
She was overjoyed, but I was even more so because I was still thinking about Lola and my final plans for her. I said in the most sincere and loving tone I could drum up, “Baby, um, I have a very important question to ask you, one I never thought I’d ask another woman.” I paused and blinked a couple of times. Words could not describe the tense look on Sylvia’s face. She looked as if she wanted to stick her fingers into my mouth and pull the question out herself.
“Don’t stop talking now! What do you want to ask me, Calvin? Don’t stand here keeping me in suspense!”
“I was going to ask you over a romantic dinner next weekend.” I finally offered up a huge smile too. “But I can’t wait any longer.” I paused again.
Lately I’d been thinking that if I’d met Sylvia before Glinda, my life would be less complicated. And a lot of females would still be alive. Sylvia was not perfect, but she was perfect for me. She was more attractive now than when I’d met her. And she seemed smarter too. But at the same time, she was still gullible. What man wouldn’t want her in his life?
I sucked in some air and took her hands in mine. Then I kissed the tips of her fingers. “Do you really love me?” I asked in a whisper.
The tense look was no longer on Sylvia’s face. Now she looked bewildered. She parted her lips and whispered back, “Is that all you wanted to ask me? You know I love you.”
I grinned sheepishly and shook my head. “You’re the only woman I will ever love, and now I’m ready to do something about it.” I didn’t give her time to let the words sink in. I looked into her eyes and with a straight face I asked, “Sylvia Bruce, will you marry me?”
Chapter 54
Joan
“I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU, LOLA,” I SAID WHEN I MET HER FOR dinner Sunday evening at the Denny’s closest to us—one of the many places Reed refused to take me to because he felt it was beneath him. She sat across from me in a booth near the entrance.
As usual, the restaurant was crowded with mostly blue-collar workers, cranky babies, and bored-looking servers. We had already placed our orders.
“Well, I was worried about you too. We haven’t talked since you got back from Phoenix,” she told me, toying with her silverware. She let out a loud breath and looked at me with her head tilted to the side. “How was it? Did LongJohn make you another indecent proposal?”
“I wish you wouldn’t call him that. The man’s name is John,” I complained.
“The man’s screen name is LongJohn,” she shot back, wagging her fork in my face. “That’s what he calls himself.”
I held my breath and leaned forward to keep our conversation private, even though I didn’t see anybody I knew. “He was amazing, and yes, he did ask me again if I want to move to Phoenix. And I told him no, again. Now”—I exhaled and leaned back—“you know I’m dying to hear about your rendezvous with Calvin on Tuesday.” A faraway look immediately appeared on Lola’s face.
“Tuesday was so wonderful, we got together again on Saturday. I want to marry him and have his babies,” she swooned. “He wants me to spend a whole weekend with him in Frisco in July to celebrate his birthday.”
I snickered, shook my head, and blinked. “Damn, girl. Was he that good?”
“It was not just about sex. Calvin Ramsey is a very deep man.”
I scratched my chin and gave Lola an inquisitive look. “Deep? Hmmm. That’s an interesting way to describe him.”
“Well, he is deep!”
“So is a bottomless pit. So is a black hole. So is an abandoned well. ‘Deep’ is such a creepy description to—”
