home. “I can’t believe you embarrassed me like that. Nisha happens to be—”
“Yes, you told me; an old college friend. Umm, hmm, like I’m supposed to believe there was nothing more between y’all.”
“Candy, I’ve never kept anything from you. You know the gruesome details of mostly everything else that has happened in my life. Why would I lie to you about something as trivial as an old girlfriend? If that were the situation between me and Nisha, I would’ve told you, but it wasn’t. She and I were more like—”
“Brother and sister. Yeah, I’ve heard that line before.”
“You really need to seek some counseling about your problems with infidelity.”
“What did you say?”
I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I knew the monster was going to make an appearance that night.
“I’m not the one with a problem, Mama’s boy. You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“I didn’t mean anything by it, Candy. I was simply trying to say that I’m not like your father.”
“You’re damn right; you’re not my father.”
“Candy, look—”
I went to walk out of the room and turned around to catch the TV remote with my forehead. Just like in a Looney Tunes cartoon, the hickey quickly rose up. I stumbled my way out of the room and into the guest bedroom where I fell on the floor. I could feel a trickle of warm blood as it snaked its way down the side of my head. Before I could recover, she was on me, punching and slapping and pulling at my clothes. This time she undid my pants and pulled them and my boxers completely off. She hastily slid out of the black slinky dress she was wearing and removed her thong. Then she ripped open my shirt, sending the buttons flying across the room. With nothing on but a pair of stilettos, she slid on top of me and began to ride her way to ecstasy. The harder she pushed, the more she cursed.
“I keep telling you, this is my dick. No other bitch is going to get any part of my dick. Lil’ skinny yella bitch all up in your face grinning. Was her pussy as good as mine? Could she fuck you like I do? Answer me, Eddie! Tell me how much you love my pussy and how good I fuck you! Tell me this is the only pussy you want! Tell me, Eddie, that you’ll never leave me or do me wrong! Tell me! Tell me!”
I couldn’t bring a response out of my mouth if my life depended on it. I couldn’t believe how hard she was humping on me, in an attempt to punish me and teach me that I wasn’t to look, let alone talk, to another woman.
Once again, when we were finished, she calmly walked into the bathroom and returned with a warm rag for me to clean myself.
From then on, the encounters worsened. Whenever we had a problem, it would start with a physical confrontation, more than likely to be followed by rough, aggressive sex. My only use was that of a prop.
CHAPTER TWO
Candy was holding me hostage on the phone while I had a lot of work to do.
“What time you finish today?”
“I’m not sure. I still have quite a few patients in the waiting room. We’re extremely busy today.”
“Things are pretty much the same around here. Muthafuckas complaining about waiting in line. Complaining about the service. I mean, what do they expect when they wait until the last minute to come in and get their shit taken care of?”
“You know that’s human nature. Seems like once we see that final notice or deadline date, we get the fire under our asses that we should’ve had from the beginning.”
“I can understand that, but to wait until your tag or license is expired makes you really stupid. In the middle of the month, you can damn near walk in and out. You’d think everyone else would know that by now.”
Lana poked her head into my office. “Mr. Harris is prepped and waiting in room five, Dr. Adelson.”
“Thanks, Lana. Let him know that I’ll be there in a minute.”
“I guess duty is a calling.”
“Got to finish up so I can get out of here. Do you want me to pick something up, or were you planning to cook?”
“I was hoping we could get dressed and go down to Preston’s. I really have a taste for the seafood dish I love.”
“I’m really tired, Candy. Can I get a rain check?”
“Damn, Eddie. I was really looking forward to it,” she said in a whiny voice.