He finally emerged about an hour after I arrived. He was wearing this ratty old bathrobe that looked like it had seen better days. He picked up his paper, glanced in my general direction, but there was no way for him to know that I was there. He lived in one of those double duplexes that had a more conventional feel.
He didn’t look like I remembered. He was not shaved; his hair unruly and there were bags underneath his eyes like he hadn’t slept in days. I could hope that was due to my influence in his life. I was worried that some buxom young barmaid was going to step up behind him and wrap her arms around his waist.
I had the window down and I could feel the cool breeze. It made me know that I was alive. I hadn’t called him in two days and I wanted him to feel what it was like for the female gender. This did not look like an act. This was necessary to see him fall from grace. I had arranged for us to meet later that afternoon. Once I found out where he lived, I went to the small shops in the area and had discussions with the owners. I knew how to flirt information out of any man. It didn’t take long to find out that Marshall had a habit of going shopping for his supplies on Saturday afternoon at precisely 2:00 PM.
The door to his condo was wide open and his ears perked up like he was a dog trained to sniff out anything that would make his alarms go off. He rushed in and grabbed the phone with a look of anticipation on his face. Once he started to talk, his expression changed like it wasn’t exactly who he was hoping for. I could read lips a little bit and I could ascertain that he was talking to his mother. I wondered if they really did have a good relationship.
My phone began to buzz in my pocket. That initial vibration and looking at his handsome but disheveled face had turned me on something fierce. I let it buzz for a few seconds, closing my eyes and letting my mind drift with images of his naked body to fuel my fantasy.
I could’ve easily let my fingers do the walking, but I had already done that a couple of days ago. He wasn’t the only one that could use what god gave them to give themselves pleasure. I had the advantage with several interesting implements. I had an addiction and I would go to the local sex shop and get my thrill by buying things that I really didn’t need. I was exactly the same as those guys, but my habit didn’t cost more than the gross national product of Lebanon.
I finally sighed, shivered in place and let the excitement slowly diminish to a simmer. I turned on the speaker portion of my phone and the voice that greeted me was somebody that wasn’t very happy.
“I know that you said that you needed a month to complete this transaction. There might be a problem.” I didn’t like that word. Problems were made to find solutions. “I think that you may have noticed that there was one in our little group that wasn’t saying much when we met. Julia has misgivings and has been thinking about telling him what we are up to. I’ve tried to talk her out of it, but she won’t listen to me.” I could tell that Lillian was at her wit’s end. I was worried about Julia and the way that she kept looking away during our conversation in my office.
“It might be time for an intervention. Get her over to your house on some pretense. I’ll be there to confront her with you. I have some news of my own, but I think that it should wait until everybody is present. It’s nothing to worry about, but it does change things. I’ll explain when I see you. Send me a text message to confirm the time that I should show up at your place.” I hadn’t told them that he had caught me, but I didn’t want to make them think that all was lost.
“I hope that you have things handled. I haven’t been able to sleep since the moment that I met him. My husband knows that something’s wrong and it’s only lucky that he is an international salesman. He’s always on the road and right now he’s in Australia for a few weeks. I try to keep a stiff upper lip, but it’s hard when we talk almost every day and there’s this tension in the air. I’ll feel better when Marshall gets his comeuppance for making my life a living hell.” I could feel for her, but I also knew that it took two to tango. She was as much to blame for this indiscretion as Marshall was for seducing her with words and then actions. He needed to be held accountable and I was just the girl to do it.
“I’m a bit busy at the moment. I’ll be more than happy to discuss this in depth when I see you. I understand how hard it was for you to resist him. He knows how to read people and tell them exactly what they need to hear. His charm is unmeasured and those dimples and blue eyes really do set the stage for an erotic play.” In the last two days, I had vivid and very explicit dreams of him in various positions.
“Be careful and he has a funny way of making you think that everything is innocent and then it turns into an afternoon delight. He preys on weakness. He filters out what he doesn’t need to know and zeros in on the feeling of neglect or that desperate need for something more than a 5-minute wonder.” I could see through the picture window in his condo and I saw that he was drinking coffee alone.
I looked at the bedroom window and the curtains didn’t flutter like somebody was afraid to get caught taking that walk of shame.
“I have to go.” I looked in my rearview mirror and a police car was no more than a few feet away. It did not have its lights flashing, but it must have been informed that there was somebody suspicious lurking about. The man stepped from his vehicle. He was wearing a shiny badge that I could tell that he took pride in.
There was no point in denying why I was there. I had no idea how long he had been sitting there before I noticed him. I didn’t try to hide the binoculars and then his crotch was right in front of me.
“I don’t suppose that you want to tell me what you’re doing here young lady.” He knelt down by the window. I motioned for him to come closer like it was some sort of secret.
“If you must know, I have my suspicion that my boyfriend is cheating on me. I told him that I had an early morning and then I came up here to keep an eye on things. I am relieved. There doesn’t seem to be any proof of his cheating ways. I just got this feeling. I know how that sounds, but I’ve learned to trust those feelings. It could be that I’ve been in this position before and I really don’t want to go down that same road again.” He listened with a smirk on his face like he understood my reasons for being here.
“I figured that it was something like that. Nobody called me and I was just out on my rounds and I saw you sitting there. I wanted to make sure that everything was OK. I’m glad that he’s not cheating and I don’t see how any man could even fathom to think that they can get away with something like that. I would have to shake him and remind him that he’s lucky to have you in his life.” He was a man in uniform and that was a weakness of mine. I swallowed hard and felt my cheeks flush. That only led to him to touching my shoulder in a reassuring gesture.
“There are times that I just need to hear that from somebody else. It’s nice to know that I still have it. You probably think that I should have them beating down my door, but I think that I might intimidate them. I know that I scare my boyfriend. I can be quite a handful in the bedroom. I like to think that I satisfy my man. I’m always willing to entertain the idea of doing something out of the ordinary behind closed doors.” I saw that he was waiting for me to elaborate, but I felt that his imagination was better than anything that I could come up with.
“If I thought that I had a chance to lure you away from him, I would make a play for you myself. I’m not someone that goes around and uses my authorit
y and uniform to drive girls wild with desire. I’m not opposed it. I could tell you a few stories, but I think that I need to get back to my rounds. Don’t stay here too long and the joggers will be showing up in less than ½ hour. If they see you, they will call and I’ll be out here again to have this talk all over again.” The weapon on his belt snapped into his holster reminded me of the one that was hidden behind the zipper of his pants. The unfortunate thing was that he didn’t fit the criteria of a young buck in the prime of his life.
“Not to worry, I’m practically done here anyway. I appreciate you looking in on me. I will say that I’m the kind of woman that loves a man in uniform. I even had my boyfriend dress up like a police officer. Let’s just say that we put good use to the handcuffs.” This time he was the one that was blushing and pointing at me like he was chastising me with one finger.
I heard the sound of his boots crushing against the pebbles underfoot. I looked into my side view mirror and got a damn good view of his backside. He knew that the way to a woman’s heart was in the gym. I could definitely think of a few ways to make those pants come down a little.
“Settle down girl or you are going to set off the smoke alarms.” I put my hands on the steering wheel, bowing my head and breathing deeply with thoughts that were enough to make a grown sailor blush.
I arrived at exactly 2:00 PM, pushing a cart and not really paying attention to where I was going. The other customers were in their own little world, dealing with kids yammering about some favorite cereal that they wanted or a husband that was grumbling about how he was missing the big game.
I was just doing some browsing and picking up some things that I would probably not buy otherwise. I reached for a bottle of pickles and out of my peripheral vision; I could see Marshall down by the produce manhandling a couple of melons in both hands. I could only imagine what was going on in his head. Those melons were remarkably similar to the size of my chest.
He was wearing this long black leather coat, a pair of casual blue jeans and a pullover green sweater that hugged his frame and had me drooling.
I turned the corner timing things perfectly so that I slammed into his cart. This irked him and he looked ready to take off my head. That anger died off when he saw my apologetic face.
“I can’t believe that you’re here. I was just thinking about you.” I was sure that he was thinking about putting his hands where he had them on those melons. “I guess it’s true about asking the universe and you will receive. What are you doing here? Don’t tell me that we live that close that you could come knocking on my door anytime for a cup of sugar.” This was a little out of my way, but they did have a unique international section that was above and beyond the big box stores.
“I come here from time to time, but I didn’t know that you frequented this place. I’m sure that you’re wondering why I haven’t called. If you think about it, it’s pretty damn obvious that I want you to suffer. I don’t know how many times I sat beside a phone and waited for a guy to call. Guys make us wait all the time and men have no idea how annoying that can be. If it helps, I was going to call you tonight and see what we couldn’t do about getting together.” I had just been given a confirmation from Lillian that Julia was going to be at her house for supper.