BOMBSHELL

by Xyla Turner

  “Ohh!” Alura brightened up, “You should check out Tennessee, if you ever have a chance. I’m sure Joshua would bring you. He’s knows it quite well and he has business out there.”

  Is that so, I thought. Which reminded me, I didn’t know where Joshua was from and how come I didn’t find that in my research. He didn’t have an accent, nor did he disclose much information about himself. It’s only been a few days since we’ve spent time together or lips together, so this ‘first date’ was when I was supposed to find all this out. Maybe I could use this awkwardness to my advantage. Find out everything from Alura. That would drive him crazy, because I wouldn’t have to talk to him, but be talking about him right in front of his face. Sounded like a plan.

  “Ahh that sounds like a plan,” I smiled. “So, Alura, tell me. How did you and Joshua meet? I’m dying to hear about him prior to his move to DC. He doesn’t share much about himself.”

  “You must know him well,” she laughed.

  “Actually, not really.” I laughed with her.

  Joshua’s cool disposition changed and I could feel it across the table. He was pissed. Oh well, he might as well put on a seatbelt, because he clearly didn’t know me. I was artic and about to unleash hell.

  “So, Joshua and I met in business school at UC Berkley. He was one year ahead of me, and his focus was on International Business. I kept seeing him on campus, but he never acknowledged me even when I went out of my way to touch him, show some cleavage and laugh at something he said in class. So one day, I walked up to him and said, ‘how else would you like me to show you that I’m interested?’” she paused for a reaction, but I kept the planted smile on my face. “You know what his response was?” she asked rhetorically. “He said, ‘I don’t, you should wait for me to approach you’ and walked away.”

  “Arrogant bastard, huh?” I laughed, “Sounds familiar.”

  We both started laughing in agreement. He had fire in his eyes and I had danger in mine.

  “So what happened?” I asked.

  “Well, I totally ignored him after that, because I’m a Nichols and we don’t chase men. Then about a month later, he asked me out, I told him hell no and walked away like he did. Then a month after that, he asked me out again, but under the pretense of studying together.”

  “It wasn’t under any pretenses, I wanted to study,” Joshua chimed in to clarify.

  Alura gawked at him, “You didn’t need a study partner, any more than a cow needs milk. Even after fifteen years, you are still sticking to that story?”

  “It’s not a story, that’s the fact,” he said.

  “Whatever, anyway, she asked me to tell the story.” She turned to me and continued, “So, I ‘studied’ with him that day, we hooked up and then we were a couple until he graduated. He proposed on his graduation day and we were married within the year.”

  “Wow!” I said. “College sweethearts. That’s awesome. Did you guys have any kids?”

  Alura’s cheeks heated up and she took a gulp of water, while Joshua gave a stern shake of his head. I must have hit on something sensitive, so I quickly changed the subject.

  “Alura, where did you get that divine necklace from. It’s beautiful!” I exclaimed.

  “Ah, yes,” she recuperated and reached up to touch the necklace. “Joshua bought this for me. Honey, where did you get it?”

  He looked directly at me and said, “I bought it as an anniversary gift twelve years ago. It’s from Paris somewhere.”

  I shifted my gaze to Alura and rave, “It’s absolutely exquisite with that chiffon dress.”

  Alura looked at me and said, “You have impeccable taste.”

  “Thanks,” I smiled at her.

  Our food arrived around this time and I did not hesitate to dive in. Alura picked at her salad, while Joshua consumed his salmon and asparagus. What?

  Alura suddenly declared, “Let’s have a toast.”

  She began to pour wine in all of our glasses, but I stopped her and said, “I’ll just have water.”

  “You can’t toast with water, its bad luck.”

  “Well, then we shouldn’t toast, because I don’t drink.”

  “It’s just wine,” Alura said with her eyebrows pulled together.

  “I know, but I don’t drink,” I replied.

  “At all?” Alura questioned.

  “Never,” I replied.

  Joshua put his hand on Alura’s arm and I made a point to smile at her. I lifted my water glass and said, “It’s not bad luck, let’s toast. Wait, what are we toasting?”

  “Let’s toast to love,” Alura said dreamily.

  “How about we toast to friendship instead, love is overrated.” I smiled.

  Joshua and Alura both looked at me and I guess that was it for Joshua. He glared at me with the most intense, non-sexual look and commanded, “Alura, excuse us for a second.”

  Alura quickly got up and stammered, “Yeah, I n-need to powder my nose.”

  When she was gone, Joshua growled, “What the fuck was that?”

  I looked around the restaurant and finally took in the scene. We were in a section all to ourselves, there was no one to witness if this man would strangle me or if I was to stab him with a fork.

  “What are you talking about Joshua?” I asked innocently.

  “You know damn well what the fuck I’m talking about.”

  “I have no idea, actually. You’re going to need to spell it out.” I smiled and added, “Honey!”

  “For fucks sake,” he growled.

  I started cutting my salmon again and he warned, “You’re playing a dangerous game, baby.”

  I held the fork with salmon in mid-air, glared back at him and said, “What game might that be? Honey! I’m just here for dinner.” I ate the salmon and slowly chewed, while smiling probably looking deranged. I felt crazy at that point.

  Alura came back and continued, “Are we toasting?”

  “Yes, Alura, my apologies. Let’s toast to love,” I said with a smile.

  “Love it is,” she smiled back.

  We held up our glasses and went to clink, then I said, “To first loves.”

  Joshua damn near dropped his glass and Alura almost turned purple. I laughed and asked, “What is wrong with ya’ll? To love!”

  Alura slightly laughed and whispered to Joshua, “She’s a wild one.”

  I smiled brightly at her and said, “That’s my last name.”

  Joshua continued to glare at me. We ate the rest of our food with no more snarky comments from me, because I had to make sure I timed my Uber ride just right. The waiter asked if we wanted dessert and we all said no. We made more small talk, well, Alura and I talked, while Joshua looked like he was about to throttle me. As we stood up to leave, I put on my shawl before Joshua could get near me, as I did not want his paws on me at all. He helped Alura put on her coat, which was a fucking fur. Damn, like I thought – rich. Well, she is married to a billionaire.

  We made our way out the door and there was a limousine and a Honda Accord with an Uber sign in the window. I went to hug Alura and said, “It was so nice to meet you, Alura. I enjoyed myself.”

  “So did I Samantha, I hope we’ll see more of each other.” She seemed to be genuine.

  I nodded and then said, “Farewell, Mr. Kelly. I’m sure we’ll be talking via email.”

  “Where are you going?” he asked with a strain in his voice.

  “I’m going home,” I replied.

  “Your ride is right here,” he pointed to the limousine. “We are going to drop off Alura at the hotel and then you’ll be with me.”

  “Oh, no need,” I said with a smile. “I’m exhausted, plus I called Uber, so I’m going straight home.”

  He was in front of me in a flash it seemed. He grasped both my elbows with his hands and pulled me to him, while whispering, “Samantha, you do know that I’m going to spank your ass red, right?”

  I stood on my tip-toes and whispered in his ear, “Sorry, you don’t possess
the right to do that anymore and quite frankly, I don’t want you touching me.”

  I lowered myself, subtly jerked away, well he let me and quickly headed for the Uber car. “Bye Samantha,” Alura called.

  I waved, climbed in and swiftly closed the door, because I saw Joshua coming towards the car. I signaled for the guy to go and I heard Alura yell for Joshua who was right near the car. He was coming to get me. Oh shit. The driver pulled off just in time, he must have been oblivious about the altercation that was about to happen or he was just that professional. The look in Joshua’s eyes was murderous. I knew I was poking the bear, but he poked the lioness. On that note, I thought I’d probably need to spend some time at my dear friend Elliot’s house tonight, because Joshua didn’t look like he was going to let this go. I defied him publicly. I’m sure he’d seek his revenge. Maybe he’d pull the deal? This was why I didn’t want to get into this sort of situation with him in the first place.

  Chapter 10: The slap

  SAMANTHA:

  Elliot opened his doors to me with a smile then a smirk. “Who are you running from now?” he asked.

  “What the hell is it with people saying I run from people? I just cut my damn losses and get out. Why prolong the agony?” I shrugged my shawl off, kicked off my shoes and plopped down on his sofa.

  “Whatever, it must be Joshua.”

  “Whatever is right,” I mumbled. “What are you doing?”

  “I was just watching the Mindy Project.”

  “Great, what episode are you up to now?”

  “I’ve caught up to the last one.”

  “Great!”

  “You want to talk about what happened?” Elliot queried.

  “Not really.”

  “You want to talk about Roslyn and why you aren’t returning her calls?”

  “Not especially.”

  “Mindy, it is,” he sighed and plopped down on the couch right next to me, pulled my legs up over his and put the throw over them. He knew my feet were the first things to get cold.

  Did I say I liked Elliot, he knew when to be a friend and just let well enough alone. During the commercial, I asked, “Why didn’t you and I ever happen Elliot?”

  He turned and looked at me, while I kept looking at the television. I didn’t want it to get weird between us, but at that moment, I thought about what Trevor had insinuated. Elliot lifted his hand, turned my face to look at him and said, “You know how long I’ve yearned for you?” He smiled, “but I’m not your type and even if you were to go against the grain, I would take whatever you would give me if I didn’t think that your heart belonged to another man.”

  What in the actual fuck? I was officially done for the entire year, for the entire three years. I just had a bomb dropped on me less than an hour ago and now another colossal bomb with one of my best guy friends. Fuck me.

  I turned away from him and he let my chin go. “My heart doesn’t belong to another man,” I said solemnly, “he’s dead to me.”

  Elliot laughed, “Is that so? Is that why you are so tense, turned your phone completely off and hiding out over here? Because he’s dead to you?” He laughed. “The Samantha that I know wouldn’t even let dead people phase her.”

  “Don’t do that.”

  “Do what?”

  “You know what you are doing.”

  “What, not letting you lie to yourself. Not letting you off the hook about your feelings.”

  I lifted my legs to try and get up, but he pinned them down on his lap. “Are you going to run from me to?” he asked.

  “Elliot,” I looked down at my lap.

  “Babe, I care about you. I’m going to tell you the truth, always. That’s what good friends do, so be mad at Roslyn all you want, but she’s a good friend. I don’t know the details, but I know she always has your back. I don’t know the details about Mr. Kelly either, but I know that man doesn’t pursue women like he’s pursued you both professionally and romantically. I know that he’s intense and an alpha, which I may not be, but I know it’s what you need and secretly crave. He affects you and that makes you want to run for the hills. You like to be in control, like to call the shots, and like to bend things to your way, and he won’t let you and that scares you. So you run.”

  I looked at up him. He pushed my hair behind my ear and rubbed the side of my face. I pressed my face against his hand and he pulled me towards him so I was now sitting on his lap with my face in his neck. I started crying uncontrollably. I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to stop, because it felt good, like I needed a cleansing. Elliot continued to rub my hair and back, telling me to let it out and that it was going to be okay. I cried harder, because everything Elliot said - he was right, but I didn’t know the first way to change or stop my behavior. I cried and cried. Eventually, Elliot picked me up and put me in his guest bedroom, where he sat on the bed and rubbed my back and I silently cried in the pillow.

  There was a knock at the door, but I just kept crying. I was so lost. Elliot left to answer it and I heard some whispering. Hopefully, I wasn’t intruding on his significant other, because he never talked about anyone else. I figured he was celibate or something. He mentioned that he thought women were cute, but as long as I had known him, he never mentioned anyone significant. Elliot came back to the room, sat on the bed and I turned to him. He handed me some tissues and said, “Babe, there is someone here to see you. For what it’s worth, I think you should talk to them, because this is important. Plus, they might castrate me if I don’t allow it.”

  He must have texted Roslyn when I started losing my shit. Guys didn’t know what to do about girls crying. I nodded my head and he said, “I’ll be right back.”

  My back was against the headboard, as I sat erect in the bed. Tears were streaming down my face, but I decided to fix my hair since it was matted from the wetness of my waterworks. It was then that I smelled him before I saw him. Not Elliot, but Joshua. He smelled like the ocean.

  What the hell?

  When I finally looked up, I blankly stared into his eyes. It was evident that he was upset, if the scowl on his face gave any indication. His anger was not a concern of mine after what he pulled. My focus was on the fact that I did not want him to see me like this, as if I was crying over him.

  “Listen, can we speak at another time? I’m going through some things right now and I’d rather not talk to you,” I asked, calmly.

  “Is this about dinner?” he gestured to me, moving his finger up and down my frame.

  “No, this isn’t about no damn dinner, this is about my fucking life,” my voice elevated slightly.

  Elliot came to the door and raised an eyebrow in my direction.

  “We’re fine,” Joshua snarled.

  “Are you alright Sam?” Elliot ignored Joshua.

  “I’m fine,” I replied.

  Elliot nodded, then left. Joshua closed the door while I swiveled my legs around so I could stand. He stalked towards me like a lion with his prey in sight. In a panic, I held up my hand to signal for him to stop. His face contorted as if he smelled something bad, thus causing his scowl to grow deeper.

  “What you did and said at dinner today was so --” he seemed to be looking for the right word. “So immature.”

  It was my turn to wince.

  He continued, “I invite you to dinner and you embarrass me in front of my --”

  “Wife!” I screamed.

  All I could see was red, as I was livid. He had the dirty nerve to come in here and give me a goddamn lecture on my behavior.

  Before I realized it, I was stalking towards him with my finger in his face yelling, “You have a fucking wife and you failed to tell me that. You’ve been married for thirteen goddamn years and that somehow slipped your mind. All while you were providing me with orgasms, telling me how much you want me and what you’re going to do to me when you get me in bed.”

  I was on a roll. “First you dismiss me via email, send me a message via your driver, and then have a woman, I mean your
wife,” I emphasized, “intrude on what would constitute as our first date. She pushed the dagger in more by dropping the bomb that she is still your wife. So, excuse me if I feel angry about you bringing me into an uncertain situation, provided me with no heads-up, background or anything. I handled that bombshell the best way I could and put on a hell-of-a performance. After all of that, you thought it would be wise to stalk me down to my friend’s house, in the midst of me going through some personal things and proceed to reprimand me about the way I behaved at dinner. Silly me, I was under the impression that you were trying to start a relationship with me, not throw me in the water to fend for myself.”

  Joshua remained in the same place he stopped; legs shoulder width length apart, with a stoic look replacing his earlier scowl. He chose that moment to provide clarification.

  “My ex-wife, not wife.” He retorted.

  Before I knew it, my hand came across the right side of his face. I could not believe it myself, as I had never slapped anyone a day in life. Joshua’s face turned crimson. His cheek carried my embedded hand print, with clear evidence of my fingertips. There would be no bouncing back from this for either of us. I was D.O.N.E. with this man and after what I just did, I’m sure he would be done with me as well.

  “I, uh,” I stammered. “I’m sorry.”

  I looked at my hand and brought it down. Elliot came busting in the door, looking around the room to take in the scene. I must have slapped him pretty hard, because Elliot looked at my face, then Joshua’s, who had a red hand-print across his face. That would bruise. Oh shit. Joshua was still stunned, but seemed to be considering what just happened. Elliot quickly came to my side, I assume just in case Joshua wanted to retaliate and smack the hell out of me.

  “No, um,” Joshua looked down. “I’m the one that is sorry.”

  I stared at him.

  “You are right. I was out of line. I wasn’t thinking about you or your feelings, I was just looking at a means to an end. I was trying to get her out my life, so that I could be in yours. I didn’t think it through and I hurt you.” He looked up at me and asked, “Could you ever forgive me?”