Chapter 2
1047 Words
“ ‘I wanted to catch the cleaners before they closed,’ Jason whined to me. “ ‘Okay, that makes sense. Did you explain that to her?’ I asked. “ ‘Yeah, but convincing her that it’s the truth was the hard part,’ he said. “This is when I decided to go in for the kill. “ ‘Why doesn’t your wife trust you?’ I asked. “Just like a fool in love, he rushed to his wife’s defense. ‘She does trust me.’ “ ‘Not just you, Jason, a good woman should trust your judgments as well.’ “He sat quietly for a second, going over in his head what I had said. He sipped his coffee and set the cup down on his desk. He leaned back in his chair and con- templated. Then he popped the question. “ ‘Since you know so much about being a good woman, why aren’t you mar- ried?’ “ ‘Because I also know so much about being a bad man,’ I replied with a seduc- tive grin. “The conversation took off from there, and before long I was meeting Mr. Right
in the parking lot after hours. Now, I was used to sleeping with married men, so I felt no type of way about it. But when he told me we couldn’t see each other any- more because his wife had miscarried stressing over me—the other woman—I felt guilty. And it was a type of guilt—” “YOU b***h!” one of the women cut me off as she leaped toward me in rage. I tried to get out of my chair and run, but it all happened so fast, I found myself paralyzed. The woman knocked my chair over with me still sitting in it. She hunched over me, her knees pressed against my chest. Her eyes were full of anger and hate. I was disoriented, struggling to move, when the woman pulled a blade from her pocket and slit my throat. I couldn’t feel my own pain, but I definitely felt hers. She was Jason’s wife. Beep! Beep! Beep! Angela jumped up out of her sleep, grabbed her butcher knife from beneath her pillow with one hand, and banged her alarm clock to death with the other. She was breathing heavily, and in a panic she began rubbing her neck checking for a cut. Looking around the room, she realized she had been dreaming. She put the knife back in its place and took a sip of the water that sat on the nightstand beside her bed. She looked at the clock. It was nine thirty. Today was the day. She drank the last of the water, got out of bed and into some sweatpants, then took her daily four-mile jog around her apartment complex. When she got back in, she showered, ate some breakfast, and waited for the phone call. Maybe the dream was a sign to call everything off. But she had taken the day off for this, so that was not an option. Angela was anxious. She had planned every- thing to a T: from what she would wear to every word she would say, even the restaurant where they would meet for lunch. She knew this was her final chance to convince Carlos of their love for each other. If she waited any longer, he would slip through her fingers, especially if he went on that trip with Monica next week. This was her last shot to get him to leave his family and be with her. She was ready. The only thing she was waiting on was the phone call from Carlos. But it never came.
“What the hell?” Angela mumbled to herself as she paced her one-bedroom lux- ury apartment. “It’s going on three o’clock.” Angela contemplated calling Carlos’s cell phone, despite the fact that he had asked her not to unless he gave her direct instructions to do so. But she had ex- pected to hear from him hours ago. Her patience was wearing thin. All the possible reasons why he hadn’t called her yet ran through her head. Did he have an acci- dent? Is he sick? Or worse, did his a*s back out of our agreement, she thought. She finally broke and picked up the phone to call him. “The number you have dialed has been disconnected at the subscriber’s re- quest.” “That bastard!” Angela shouted. She was sick and tired of playing games with Carlos. For the whole three years of knowing him, it had been one game of cat and mouse after the other. But this was it, Angela thought. She wanted Carlos badly, and she wanted him to herself. She knew it wasn’t likely for a married man to leave his wife for another woman.But she thought she was the exception. She was sure she could make Carlos do just that. All she felt she needed was a little more time. “Mm, Carlos,” Monica sighed as she rolled over on her side of the bed. “It’s been a while since we went at it like that.” “I know, with the kids here all the time, it’s hard,” Carlos explained. “Well, I’ll be sending them to my mother’s more often for a treat like this,” Monica said with excitement. The two giggled and smothered each other’s body with their arms. They rolled around in their moist passion until they fell asleep in each other’s bliss. After a brief nap, Carlos woke up to the smell of cooking food. He turned over and realized his wife was not beside him. Getting out of the bed, he walked down- stairs wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts. “Hey, honey,” Carlos said as he kissed his wife on the cheek. Monica was standing at the kitchen sink breaking fresh collard greens with her
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