by Ancelli
***
Karen heard everything Matt was saying over the baby monitor. “I have to start paying that fucking baby some attention or else I’ll lose everything I’ve worked so hard for. I told him this would happen.”
Chapter Nineteen
One month later.
It was Sunday, time to take Matthew back home to his mom. He knocked on Shannon’s door.
An African American man answered. He was about six feet tall, just a few inches shorter than Matt. He sized him up. He had a short, tapered haircut.
“How can I help you?” the guy asked.
Matt looked at the man dumbfounded, passed him, and went right in.
“Excuse me, you can’t just come in this house.” He closed the door, watching as Matt strolled in.
Matt ignored him, putting the car seat with the baby sleeping inside on the sofa. “Where’s Shannon?” He turned angrily to face the guy.
“Who are you?” He walked closer to Matt.
“I’m the father of her baby. Who the fuck are you?” Matt asked staring at him angrily.
“I’m her fucking date. Soon to be her man.” He smiled.
“We’ll see about that.” He took the baby out of the car seat, walked into the nursery, and placed him in his crib. Then he went searching for her.
“Shannon.”
“I’m in here,” she yelled.
When he opened her bedroom door, she was putting on a pink T-shirt. He ogled at her now flat stomach. Looking farther down, he noticed she was only wearing a black lace Cheekies, which defined her butt. He instantly became aroused. I forgot how amazing she looks, he thought.
Shannon got the T-shirt over her head and was startled when she saw him standing there, glaring at her. “Oh God, Matt,” she said, trying to cover up. She grabbed her jeans and ran into the bathroom. “I’ll be right out.”
Its not like I haven’t seen your body before. He walked into her room, then stepped back when she came out of the bathroom with her jeans on. Pink brings out her beautiful chocolate eyes. “Who’s that in your living room, opening your door?”
She ignored his question. “What are you doing here so early? I thought you were bringing him back later.”
“My mistake. I thought you missed him.” He stared at her, still having the vision of her in her panties in his mind.
“Of course I did. Where is he?” she asked, about to pass him.
He grabbed her arm and turned her to look at him. “He’s in his room, sleeping. Answer me. Who is he?”
“He’s someone I started seeing about two weeks ago.”
“So when were you going to tell me?”
“I don’t have to tell you what I do in my personal life.” She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let go.
“You do when it involves Matthew,” he said, clenching his jaw.
“It doesn’t involve Matthew. He came to pick me up because Matthew wasn’t here. I wouldn’t let anyone meet our son unless they are going to be involved in his life.” He let her go and stalked through her bedroom door and on into the nursery.
She followed him. “He’s getting so big, and his hair is getting really curly.”
“I guess you better cancel your date.” He walked over to the crib, kissing Matthew. “Bye, Shannon.”
She gripped his arm. “Can you stay with him?”
“No, not for you to go out with that guy.” He took her hand off his arm.
“Matt, you have a wife. You found your soul mate.” His eyebrow arched. “I haven’t found mine yet. I thought you wanted the best for me.”
“He’s not the best for you.” He cupped her face.
“You don’t know that. Give me a chance. Just two hours.”
He moved in closer to her and leaned down, staring at her luscious lips.
“Shannon, are we still going to lunch?” her date yelled from the other room.
She looked at Matt. He released her. “Okay.”
“Okay what?”
“I’ll stay, but just for two hours.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, walking out of the nursery. “Yes, David, we’re going!” Matt was right behind her. “Matt, this is David. David this is Matt, my friend and my son’s father.”
Both men remained silent. She grabbed her purse, pulling David’s hand, and headed out the door. “See you in two hours.” She closed the door.
Matt went back into the nursery, picked up the baby, and walked back out to the living room. “What’s wrong with me? I almost kissed your mommy.”
***
Three hours later, Shannon strolled into her house. Matthew was asleep on Matt’s chest, sucking his thumb.
“You said two hours.” He said arching his brow.
“Sorry, time passes by really fast when you’re having fun. Thank you.” She walked over and picked Matthew up from his chest. “How’s my prince doing? I missed you.” She kissed his chunky cheeks.
Matt got up, stretched, and slowly moved to the door. “I hope you had fun.”
“Matt, wait,” she said, putting Matthew in his bassinet. “What’s wrong?”
He turned around and rushed towards her. “This is what’s wrong.” He cupped her face, leaned down, and kissed her.
He felt Shannon’s hesitation at first, but then she placed her hands on his chest and eventually opened up for him. He plunged his tongue into her mouth, tasting every corner, feeling the electricity pass between them.
He gently pulled away from her. “That’s my problem, and I don’t know what to do about it.” He turned.
He looked back at Shannon. She just stood there in shock, touching her swollen lips. “What just happened?” she whispered.
He opened the door and walked out.
Chapter Twenty
Three months later.
“Da da!” Matthew tried the new word, bouncing up and down on Matt’s lap, giggling. He was now crawling and trying to walk.
“That’s my boy. Say Dad-dy.” Matt laughed at his son. “Pa-pa.”
Karen came in the room. “Hi, Matthew.”
He looked up at her and began crying.
“He doesn’t like me. That’s why I don’t touch him. Every time I touch him or talk to him, he cries,” she said.
“Because you don’t even try, Karen. He doesn’t know you.” He left the family room.
She followed him. “I tried.”
He turned around and tried to hand her the baby. “Hold him.”
After a few seconds of staring at the baby, she took him. “Matthew, you’re getting so big.” She held him away from her.
Matthew looked at Matt, stretching his hands out for him. “Da-da.” He cried when Matt didn’t take him.
“Here he goes again. Take him.” As though he were a rag doll, she placed the baby in his arms.
Matt held him, and he stopped crying. “Yeah, you’re really trying.”
“I do try! All he does is cry.” She looked at him, agitated, rolling her eyes.
“With you, because he senses the same thing I sense—dislike,” he said, kissing him.
“I’m going out!”
“What’s new?”
“I need some more money. I’m getting my nails and hair done.”
“Karen, that’s all you do: spend money. Instead of spending time with me.” He sat down.
“Whatever, Matt. You said you’d take care of me. That means giving me anything I want, remember?”
“I don’t recall saying those words. I don’t mind taking care of you, but you take it to another level. You’re running me dry. What do you do all day, Karen? When are you going to find a job?” He looked over at her. “When we met, you had a job.”
“I don’t need to work. You make enough to support us both, and him.” She grabbed her purse, yelling, “I’m leaving!”
“Leave!” Matt yelled back. He was getting tired of the way she treated him, and his son. “Maybe it’s time to let go.” He said playing with Matthew. “What do you think?”
“Dada!” cried the baby with a laugh.
Chapter Twenty-One
“I can’t get Shannon off my mind.” Matt took another shot of tequila, swallowing slowly. “She’s beautiful, intelligent, independent, funny, a great mother, and she cooks and cleans.”
Andrew laughed. “What? Did you just notice this?” He drank some water, letting his brother drink his sorrows away.
“No, she’s everything a man would want in a woman, but she always said she didn’t want kids, and that’s why I never pursued her.” He took the shot glass in his hand studying it. “But look at us now. We have a gorgeous baby together. I could’ve had it all if I’d known. Instead, I’m married to an emotionless, selfish woman. All she does is spend my money, Andrew.” He took another shot. “She doesn’t clean, cook…nothing, man. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t expect her to do this because she’s a woman, but fuck, what does she do all fucking day? If she worked, I would understand.”
“What does she do all day?”
“Good question. Milk my bank account. Shannon, on the other hand, works and still goes home, cooks, cleans, takes care of Matthew, and she also finds time for that fucking guy.”
“You’re talking about David. I saw her at lunch with him. She introduced him to me. He seems like a nice guy. They looked very cozy.” He placed his arm over Matt’s shoulder.
“Fuck him. I can’t let him have what’s mine. Because she might not know it, but she’s mine.”
“She’s not yours. You’re married, dude.” Andrew took the glass away from Matt.
“She’s mine. That night she became mine. I felt it when I kissed her.”
“You did what?”
“I kissed her a few months ago, and it never felt so right,” he said, getting serious. “I love her. La amo.”
Andrew was stunned when he heard his brother say he loved Shannon. He had never heard him say he loved any other woman, not even his wife. “You’re fucking married.” Andrew got up, helping Matt off the stool. “I’m taking you home. Tomorrow you won’t remember anything you just said.”
***
Matt got his cell phone and dialed her number.
“Matt, what’s wrong? It’s after midnight.” Shannon answered.
“You’re mine, Shannon!” he yelled into the phone. “Mine!”
Andrew grabbed the phone from him. “Sorry, Shannon, he’s drunk. Go back to sleep.” He hung up. When he looked over at Matt, he was passed out. “You married the wrong woman,” he whispered.
***
It was Matt’s weekend with Matthew, so Shannon and Sherry had gone out to dinner.
“I think I love him.” Shannon said above a whisper.
“You think you love who? David? So soon?” She asked taking a drink.
“What…no.” Shannon also took a big gulp of her wine. “Matt.”
Sherry almost choked on her food. She cleaned her mouth. “Thank God you finally noticed it. I saw it years ago, but you wouldn’t listen to me.”
“I just thought we didn’t want the same things. Matt has all the qualities I wanted in a man, except he wanted kids, and I didn’t.” She smiled, thinking of all the changes in her life. “Look at us now. I can’t see my life without my baby, he’s everything to me.” She took a bite of eating her dinner. “He kissed me.”
“He what?”
“He kissed me,” she said, touching her lips, remembering how his lips caressed hers. “I’ve never felt that way before. I can’t forget the night we shared together, the way his mouth and hands felt on my body.” Shannon closed her eyes. “The best sex I ever had was that night.”
“TMI, Shannon—I’m here. Stop that! I can see the lust on your face.” They both laughed.
“The strangest thing happened the other night. He called me drunk and yelled that I was his. I couldn’t sleep the rest of the night. My body was yelling yes, yes I’m yours.”
Sherry laughed harder. “Girl, you’re crazy.” She got serious. “What are you going to do about your feelings for him?”
“Nothing. He’s married.”
“Not happily.”
“I know he’s not happy. I can see it.”
“He doesn’t talk about his marriage?”
“No. I respect him for that.”
“If I were you, I would fight for him. He only married her because she was pregnant, not because he loved her. Andrew and I spoke about that at the wedding. He didn’t want Matt to marry her.”
Shannon got serious. “I’m not doing any such thing. I’m dating David. He’s a good guy.”
“Do his kisses affect you the way Matt’s do?”
“No, but he’s taken. I wouldn’t want someone to do that to me.” She said, feeling the loss of something she never had. “That’s why I’m not going to the conference next month. I don’t trust myself alone around him.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Matt took the opportunity, while out of town and away from the mess that was his marriage, to reflect on his life and the choices he’d made. He’d tried everything to work it out, but he wasn’t happy, and he could tell she wasn’t either. His son was almost a year old, and Karen still couldn’t accept him, even if she said she did.
He arrived home a day early, ready to have a serious talk with his wife. Pulling up to their house, he stopped short to see an unfamiliar car parked in the driveway. He hoped she hadn’t bought a new car. “Karen, I’m home,” he called as he opened the door, but he got no response.
He walked up the stairs, and that’s when he heard moaning and groaning coming from his bedroom. He gently pushed open the bedroom door and saw Karen—and his mother’s accountant—having sex. The man was deep inside his wife.
“Oh, Tommy, fuck me harder, sweetie!” she yelled in ecstasy.
“Baby, you’re going to be the death of me,” he said, thrusting deeper into her deeper.
“Just like that! More give me more!” She rocked her hips back and forth.
Matt watched in shock. He was about to make a scene but changed his mind. Instead, he pulled out his cell phone and took some pictures and a recording. He’d had enough and turned to leave.
“Four years together and you still have it, baby.” His wife’s pleasure was unmistakable.
Matt continued down the stairs, through the door, to his car. “Fucking bitch! She’s been cheating on me even before we were fucking married, and she had the nerve to judge me.” He started the car and drove down the street. He was angry and hurt, cussing and hitting the steering wheel, feeling like a fool for everything he’d put up with. “I gave her everything! She doesn’t work, stays home, spends my money, and this is what I fucking get!”
Without even thinking about it, he drove to Shannon’s house, parked, got out, and tried to calm down as he walked up to her front door. Knocking with one hand and turning the knob with the other, he discovered the door was open. I need to see her.
The thought evaporated.
Shannon and David were making out on the living room couch. It took Matt a minute to find the correct words.
“Fuck, I’m sorry.” He turned around, heading back to his car.
Shannon pulled away from David and jumped up. “Matt, wait.” She ran after him, catching up and grabbing him by the arm. “Matt, talk to me!”
“Sorry I interrupted you. Where’s Matthew?” He couldn’t meet her eyes.
“He’s with my parents. Matt, what’s wrong? I can tell you’re angry.”
He gently pulled away from her. “Nothing you can fix.” He turned got into his car, and drove away like a maniac.
She ran into the house, put on some flip-flops and grabbed her keys and purse.
“Where are you going, Shannon?” asked David.
“He’s my friend, and he’s hurt.” She ran out the door. “I’m going to find him.”
He followed her. “If you leave, I wont be here when you get back.”
“If that’s what you want,” she said, getting in her car. She s
tarted it and drove off after Matt. She caught up with him at the stoplight, but the light changed. “Slow down, Matt!” she said, knowing he couldn’t hear her. She tried calling him, but he ignored her calls.
“Matt, please slow down, you’re going to get yourself killed.”
***
He drove for half an hour, finally parking at a private, secluded beach. He got out of the car and stood on the sand, looking out at the ocean. I was such a fool.
Arms looped gently around his waist. He jumped, surprised to see her.
“Matt…I…I’m here for you.”
“Shannon! How—”
“I followed you.” She moved in front of him.
She was wearing a short white sundress and flip-flops. Damn she’s beautiful, he thought.
“Why were you driving like a maniac? You could’ve left our son without a father,” she said, looking up at him.
“Don’t say that, Shannon. I would never leave him.”
“Are you going to talk to me?”
“Go home. You shouldn’t have followed me. There isn’t anything you can do.” He sat down in the sand.
“I’m not going home without you.” She sat next to him, taking his hands in hers. “I can listen, you know.”
“What about David?” He said clearing his throat.
“I no longer have a boyfriend, if that’s what you want to call him. According to him, if I followed you, it was over. I’m here, so I guess it’s over.” She pulled her hands away to move his hair from his face.
“Go back. Remember, he might be your soul mate.” He leaned away from her to look at the ocean.
“No, he’s not. I think I’ve already found my soul mate, but I was foolish and couldn’t see beyond my needs.” She also stared at the ocean.
He turned at her the same time she did. “Who?” he asked.
