Infidelity (11 page)

She started looking around the room, but didn’t say anything. When her eyes met his again, she seemed a bit calmer.

"I don’t understand. Soft music, lights dimmed, and a porno playing. What are you doing with this type of shit, all by yourself?"

Clarke sat on the sofa. "What, now you don’t trust your man? You don’t trust me now, because you came home and found me watching a flick?" He threw is hands up and started shaking his head.

When he saw worry starting to creep across her face, he knew he’d be okay.

"If I can’t watch a flick at the house, then I don’t know where I can see one. You ought to be glad your man ain’t out roaming the streets and sniffing every skirt he can find. Instead, I’m sitting here thinking about you, wishing you were home, but willing to put my needs on hold anyway I try to stay faithful and this is the shit I get for it?"

Clarke stormed over to the couch and sat down.

"Oh, Clarke, I’m sorry," Kelsa said as she walked over towards the couch. With Kelsa’s back toward the front door, she couldn’t see the bright blue piece of cloth that caught Clarke’s eye.

"Shit!" He whispered.

"Darling, I said I’m sorry. You’re right. I should be happy to find you here all alone, even though you’re watching a dirty movie. The point is, most men would probably be out on the prowl somewhere. I love you," she walked over to him and leaned in for a hug.

He moved up just enough to use his foot to scoot Persha’s thongs under the sofa. Clarke released a huge sigh of relief when they finally separated.

Kelsa glanced at the screen, then back at Clarke’s face.

"Baby, it’s okay to look at flicks," Clarke attempted to convince her. "Lots of married people do it you know."

Bashfully, Kelsa shook her head in agreement, but purposely avoided looking back at the screen. "Why don’t I go upstairs, take a shower, and change? Maybe I can help you out, if you know what I mean," she winked.

Fuck the shower, Clarke thought to himself. How about you just let me get under your skirt, move your panties to the side, take care of my business, then you can take your ass to sleep?

Clarke didn’t feel like waiting for her to take a shower, nor did he really feel like touching her. Kelsa’s body had nothing on Persha’s. All he could do was think about those nice big tits and that poppin’ ass of hers.

"How does that sound?" Kelsa asked.

"Oh, yeah, that’ll work. I’ll just watch this for a few more minutes and clean up down here while you get in the shower. I’ll be up real soon."

She reached over and kissed him before walking to the staircase. When he heard her open their bedroom door, he quickly dug out Persha’s panties. He picked up his pants and stood in front of the TV for a few minutes.

Clarke tried to absorb as much as he could of the x-rated images. He held Persha’s thongs up to his face and inhaled long and hard. Oh, how he wanted her ass.

He could all but taste her pussy standing right there. Clarke reached for the remote and turned off the movie. Just as he turned off the radio he heard a soft tap on the front door.

"Damn! Perfect timing, Persha!" Frowning, he rushed over to the door and swung it open. "What the hell took you so long? Kelsa’s here! She’s upstairs taking a shower!" he whispered.

"What?" Persha said, her eyes darting over Clarke’s shoulder.

Clarke could see the alarm in her eyes. She was nervous, and he hoped she could tell just how mad he was.

"Man, Shorty, you fucked up! Where you been anyway?"

"I had to go to a store to find some condoms!"

"See, I told your ass let’s do it one last time, but no, you had to go find your fucking condoms. Now look what you’ve done. I probably gotta go upstairs and fuck her now!" he huffed.

Persha jumped back. "What?" she all but screamed.

"Ssssshhhhhhh! You want her to hear us? This is your fault! She caught me up in here in my draws watching a flick. I told her I was horny as hell. What else could I tell her?"

"I thought you guys didn’t have sex anymore. That’s what you told me," She whispered, hot and heavy.

"Persha, don’t go getting all-soft on me now. You know I don’t fuck her anymore. But how else was I supposed to explain the way she found me and this place. She’s not stupid you know."

"Clarke?" Persha and Clarke heard a voice called as they turned and looked toward the stairway. "Is somebody there?" Kelsa’s voice asked.

"Nah, baby, that’s the TV," Clarke answered. "I’m about to come on up. You showered yet?"

"No, I’m about to. Give me a few minutes. I’ll be ready soon."

"Okay," Clarke answered.

He looked back at Persha and shrugged. "So what’s up?" he asked.

"Let’s just go get a room," she said.

He frowned. "Go get a what? A room? What a brotha wanna spend cash for something he could get right here for free?"

Persha had a puzzled look on her face. She was speechless.

"Look, you can stay here tonight. Just wait ‘till I close the door and sneak up to your room. I’ll turn the radio on. But you’ve got to be late tomorrow, because Kelsa won’t leave for class until about six o‘clock. Cool?" Persha didn’t answer. "Shorty? What’s up?" he asked, keeping an eye on the staircase.

"I don’t want you to sleep with her tonight," Persha admitted.

"What?" Looking into Persha’s eyes, Clarke told himself not to feel bad. After all, he was doing what he had to, he reasoned. It was her screw up to begin with.

"Clarke, I mean it. You said yourself you don’t love her anymore. You’re leaving her, so I don’t think you should be having sex with her."

For a moment he wondered if she knew what she was saying. Kelsa was his wife. How was she expecting him not to sleep with her? Realizing his time was running out, he reached for Persha and kissed her passionately.

"Okay, you’re right," he said in defeat. "I’ll just tell her my head hurts. But that means you’re gonna square a brotha away later, right?"

She nodded and watched as he reluctantly walked up the stairs to go and be with his wife.

~ Persha

Persha bolted up from bed and glanced around the darkened room. Her heart was racing and she felt horrible. She eased back onto the bed and squeezed her eyes shut. The images haunted her thoughts, so her eyes snapped open and she glanced around the room again.

"There!" she whispered. "I know I heard something that time." She strained to hear, but all was quiet. Again, she eased her body back onto the bed and pulled the covers up around herself.

Persha couldn’t sleep a wink. Throughout the night she continued to toss and wonder what was going on merely a few feet from the room she was occupying. This time when she sat up, she swung her feet around and got up out of bed. She took a deep breath and grabbed the door handle. She eased the door open and glanced down the hall in both directions. She tiptoed her way out of the room and crept up to Clarke and his wife’s bedroom door.

With her ear pressed against the door, she held her breath and pushed her ear up as far against the door as it would go. Despite her struggle, she didn’t hear a thing. Frustrated, she crept back to her room and quietly closed the door. She calmed herself by closing her eyes and counting to ten silently. Somewhat satisfied, she climbed back into bed and eased her body down.

After tossing a couple of times, she settled and convinced herself that her mind was playing tricks on her. Moments later, she knew for sure she had heard faint sounds of music coming from Clarke and Kelsa’s. Again, she bolted upward and snuck down the hall and back to their bedroom door.

Persha had a good mind to burst in there and tell ole’ wifey poo exactly what was up; Plain and simple! She burned with anger and sheer jealously as she sulked back to her room. If Clarke wasn’t man enough to speak up for what he really wanted, then she’d just have to do the job herself!

For the next two hours, painful images of Clarke having sex with his wife, danced through her mind.

A couple more times, Persha popped up, thinking she had heard sounds of passion coming from the room. She finally convinced herself again that it was just her mind tripping.

And what about that comment Clarke had made earlier, saying he wasn’t gonna pay for something he could get for free at home? Was he talking about the room, or the sex? The thought made Persha sick with anger.

She started thinking maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all. She knew he meant well, but the pain of knowing he was in that bed with another woman was just too much. If he’d tortured her for hours and watched her die a slow and painful death, that wouldn’t be as bad as what she had been feeling.

Persha believed in the fairytale. Her mother never had it, her mother’s sister never had it, but she still believed in it. She wanted to be the one who had it all. She felt deep down in her bones that with Clarke, she could have that fairytale. They could get married, raise a family and actually have a chance at happiness. That would make her Bible-toting mother proud beyond words.

But that night, Persha’s mind continued to play tricks on her. When the digital clock proved it was 4:45 in the morning, she was still determined to get some sleep. Maybe she should’ve let him go bare again. He did have a point. They’d already done it one time, so what was a second time gonna hurt?

But then if she had, Kelsa would’ve walked in on them in the act. Then what would they have done? Clarke was always talking about timing is everything, saying he couldn’t leave her just yet. Persha started thinking, If they had been caught, that might have helped the divorce move a bit quicker.

The last thing she remembered thinking about was Cricket dressed in all white standing downstairs while she and Clarke were whispering in the wee hours of the morning.

"Self Respect! Love yourself! Where’s your dignity? Have you any pride or morals left? Sistahs should be held to higher standards! We need to help not hurt each other!"

Waking up, Persha couldn’t believe she was dreaming about Cricket. She was glad her friends would never learn the depth of her lows, because sometimes even she found her actions hard to believe.

Suddenly, fear struck her heart. What should she do? It was 7:45 in the morning, and she hadn’t seen nor heard from Clarke since last night. How was she expected to know if Kelsa was gone?

Persha swung her feet onto the floor. She got up and quickly made the bed. She didn’t dare try to make it to the bathroom, even though she had to piss like a racehorse.

After a few minutes and she still heard no sound outside her room, she was considering leaving for the bathroom. Forget the fact she didn’t get to call work and tell them she’d be late. There was usually only two of them in the small insurance office, so hopefully the agent wouldn’t be coming in today.

It didn’t take long for her to start wriggling and squirming to hold her pee. She wondered why Clarke hadn’t come to rescue her. Suddenly her mind went from escaping to relieving her bladder any way she could.

She quickly scanned the pretty room, but the only thing she saw was the vase of flowers. Persha didn’t want to, but it seemed since she looked at it, she wanted to pee even more.

"Five minutes! I’m giving him five minutes to come get me, then I’m just gonna have to do whatever I can," she said to herself, trying to take her mind off the need to pee. "Nah-ah two minutes. I’ve already waited all damn night. "Two minutes; that’s it," she swore.

But soon she made her way to the vase. She could barely lift up her slip before she was able to move the flowers over and get the vase between her thighs.

The relief she felt was immeasurable. With her eyes closed and more pee than she had ever experienced leaving her body, she was quickly overcome with relief.

When Clarke cleared his throat, she nearly dropped the vase as she felt the warm fluid run along her arm.

"Persha, not in my Tulips!" he screamed.

She couldn’t stop the flow; especially since she was nearly finished. When she was finally done, she sighed and used the edge of her slip to dry herself.

"I’m so sorry you had to see that, but Clarke, I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t know if I should try to make it to the bathroom or just wait here for you to get me. I had to go. I tried to hold it, but after 15 minutes, there was nothing I could do."

He didn’t say anything. He just looked at the small spot on the carpet and the vase sitting next to it.

"I didn’t know if your wife was leaving this morning, or if y’all were sleeping in." Her voice was laced with sarcasm.

Clarke ignored her comment and leaned against the door.

"Well, I suppose it was a good thing you didn’t come out. Kelsa didn’t go to class this morning."

"What’s going on with her? I mean why did she just pop up like that last night?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don’t know. She says she wasn’t feeling well."

"Is she still here?" Persha asked, wondering just how the hell she was going to shower and get ready for work.

"No, she’s not, but she’ll be right back. I sent her to the store for some syrup and milk. So that means you’ve got to hustle."

"Okay, well, let me take a quick shower and hopefully I can get out of here before she gets back."

Clarke stood at the door. "No, Persha, that’s not good enough. I mean you need to leave now! You don’t have time for a shower. Just grab your stuff and go! I’ll call you later at the office and we’ll talk about tonight."

"What? I can’t even brush my teeth?"

"Look, Shorty, this ain’t easy for me either. You think I wanted to sleep with her last night, especially knowing you were a few doors down? That was probably one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. But hey, I managed, because I know better things are on the way."

"But, Clarke."

"Shorty, she’ll be back soon, so you need to leave before we get caught. You know that wouldn’t even be cool."

Persha didn’t want to give up that easily, but she knew she didn’t have a choice. She cast her gaze down at the carpet and said, "Okay, let me grab my stuff and I’ll leave."

She drove into the basement parking lot of her building in the Galleria area and made a quick dash for the restroom. No one used the basement restrooms, so she had a few minutes to give herself an Indian bath in the sink and brush her teeth.